Notes: the next two chapters are for people who want to see some batman and some action. Two be honest I wasn't planning on writing them (apart from a few paragraphs) as writing action usually gives quite boring storylines, and I'm not 100 fond of them either. But the entire Two-Face-problem does give a view into the effects of insomnia on Batman's thinking abilities and he actually even projects these problems on situations where he isn't to blame for an error. As always I don't own the characters (well apart from some minor ones) and I don't earn anything. In case anyone wondered, I added Zeus for some comic relief. Chapter 10 will be up as soon as I finished chapter 11. Read, enjoy, review, do whatever you please.

Chapter IX Getting away

Paul Dini Square

The area was quiet. Could Robin have been wrong? The area would make sense though, as it was where the Second National Bank was located. Maybe Two-Face had only been scouting the area. Or maybe he had lost his coin flip. The Dark Knight hoped it was the latter, but there was no way of knowing for sure. Two-Face could be awaiting the right time, perhaps 2 am or 10 pm, 22:00 hours in 24 hour notation. His obsession with the number two might even go further, he could make his move at 2:22 or 22:22, or any of these hours in the time zones GMT +2 or GMT -2. At least he had an idea of the possible times Two-Face could be planning to rob the bank, if he was, but the timeframe could hardly be called narrow: 10 pm, 10:22 pm, 1 am, 1:22 am, 2 am, 2:22 am, 3 am, 3:22 am, 5 am and 5:22 am were all plausible hours for Two-Face's actions. On top of that, Batman had no idea whether the bank would be Two-Face's only target. He couldn't focus on the bank for the entire night. There were still other madmen at large. Especially the Joker and the Scarecrow should be found as soon as possible, not to mention Bane, the man who probably started all this misery. Yet all of these men had vanished into thin air, not even leaving the Caped Crusader the slightest clue of their whereabouts. He couldn't sit here all night hoping that Harvey would show himself, he had better things to do. But as it was almost ten o'clock anyway, Batman decided waiting for about half an hour wouldn't do that much damage. It was a complete waste of time though. Dick must have noticed more than just Two-Face and his gang being at the square, maybe he saw where they were heading to. He took his Bat-communicator and contacted him. Not knowing whether he had to say Dick or Robin he opend with: "Partner, do you hear me?".

For a couple of moments the communicator was silent, but eventually a reply returned. "Partner ay, I was starting to doubt you still considered me as such."

"Are you sure it was Two-Face you saw?"

"Well, if you know someone else with half a blue face."

"Can you tell me more, where was he heading and by what means of transportation?"

"He headed north, I think, and he was on foot. … Wait … I remember a white van standing still for a while where I first saw him and his gang. It left right before I saw them, I think it was a Sprinter."

"Hmm, well I don't see any white Sprinters here."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm keeping an eye on the Second National Bank, but I don't think I'll be here for much longer."

"Hmm, aren't there any other things in the area in the theme of the number two. Pairs, couples, twins, deuce. Perhaps other languages: duo, deux, Gemini, jumeaux, διδυμος, …"

"Wait, can you repeat that last one?"

"Διδυμος, that's Greek for twin."

"The Didymus is a posh Greek restaurant only a few blocks north of Dini Square." The sound of sirens, moving closer, could be heard in the distance. "By the sounds of it I'd better hurry. Batman out." The Dark Knight fired his grapple gun and headed towards the restaurant. The white sprinter left as he arrived. Even though the van was out of reach to catch up with, Batman was just in time to fire a magnetic homing device towards it. Two-Face might have escaped for now, but he would be found soon enough. Nevertheless the Caped Crusader wondered how he could have forgotten about this place. How could he have put all his focus on only one single place? That wasn't like him, the insomnia really was taking its toll. Maybe he should take some nights off, but he couldn't, Bane would do whatever it takes to get him. He had to leave Robin out of this until Bane was caught. Hence he couldn't rest, not for now at least. He took his grapple gun and aimed at a nearby flagpole. He was about to leave as a bearded man appeared. Zeus?, the Batman thought, fits the surroundings. There had to be an easy way to handle this. Zeus thought he was a Greek deity, and he thought Batman was Hades. That could be used against him. The Dark Knight addressed the former CEO: "Zeus, my brother, what brings you here?"

"Hades? … What do you mean?", the puzzled wannabe god replied.

"What are you doing in Hades? This is my empire you know."

"This is Hades?"

"Can't you tell? Death lurks around every corner here. You're not even that far from Tartaros. How did you get here?"

"Someone has made a gateway to this place from Olympus. I thought I'd find out what it was all about."

"An escaped titan has done that. We're already taking care of him and the gateway, don't worry. No dead man will escape to Olympus, as long as I am in charge here." Maxie Zeus easily bought the story. Batman invited him to enter a police car, as they had arrived at the robbed restaurant in the mean while. Maxie Zeus entered the car. "My assistants will take you back to Olympus", Batman said as he turned towards the officer driving the car, "Arkham!"

The Joker's underground hideout

"She's gonna be OK, she's gonna be OK, she's gonna be OK, …" The same sentence was repeated all the time, as regularly as the dripping sound of the water droplets. Still tied up to his chair Jim Gordon sat in the middle of moist room, surrounded by pictures of his daughter being assaulted by the Joker's men. He didn't want to see them, but they were everywhere. He couldn't open his eyes, not even blink them, without being confronted with Barbara's ruthless assailing. It was sick, he was sick, this man, no, this monster calling himself the Joker. Was this his idea of a joke. How can a person even think this could be funny? Then again, this was the Joker. One could barely call him a person. He was one of the most twisted criminal minds Gotham City, maybe even the world, had ever known and hopefully would ever know. "She's gonna be OK, she's gonna be OK, …", Gordon kept telling himself, but he didn't believe it, he knew, or at least he thought he knew, she was going to die, if she hadn't already. The Scarecrow was to blame for this. James Gordon wouldn't under any circumstance lose faith in his daughter's strength. He knew she was a fighter, she was strong, maybe even stronger than Batgirl. But Crane's diluted toxins had forced the abducted commissioner to give in to pessimism and despair. "She's gonna be OK, she's gonna be OK", he kept repeating, "she's gonna be OK."

It was music to the ears of the Joker, who was standing behind the supposed door. He grinned, he always did, but his current grin was more than ever filled with satisfaction. "I'd say we made quite some progress, wouldn't you, Johnny-boy?"

The Scarecrow nodded. He couldn't deny the results had actually satisfied his curiosity, as disgusting as he thought this plan was. He realized true science needed extreme methods from time to time. He was also concerned though. What if the Joker wouldn't need him anymore? That day didn't seem to be too far away and the Joker would definitely realize it. Even though their cooperation had been fruitful, he didn't trust his partner in crime. The Joker probably wouldn't even expect it any other way. His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of splashing footsteps. "Joker, I think we've got an intruder on our premises", he said as he took a handful of his fear powder.

The sound of the footsteps became louder with every step. A man appeared from one of the sewer halls. The horrific duo immediately recognized him. "Hey, what are you doing here!?", the intruder asked with a clearly annoyed voice. Instead of getting an answer however, he was welcomed with a handful of the Scarecrow's adrenaline-driven fear powder. "Hey! What's the big idea?!", the man angrily yelled at them. His respiration accelerated, as he took a closer look at his opponents. At first he thought he knew them, but now he didn't understand why. They didn't even remotely look like anyone he knew. In fact he had never seen such hideous creatures. These things weren't men, they were monsters and they sure looked hungry. This was not good, two vicious sewer monsters were preying on him, he wouldn't stand a chance, he had to get out of here and fast. He turned around and ran off like a madman.

The Scarecrow made motion to follow him, only to be stopped by the Joker. "We can't let him escape", the puzzled Scarecrow yelled, "He'll give away our location!"

The Joker remained calm. "Let him", he replied