A/N - So this chapter started out shorter than what it has evolved into. A few more scenes added...a bit more dialogue here and there. I hope you enjoy.

Clara opened her eyes and felt a heaviness in her head. It took everything within her to keep her eyes open. Hollow sounds echoed as she forced herself to understand what was going on around her. Lights flashed in front of her eyes and she reached up to cover her face. It was then that she discovered that she couldn't move.

She moved her arms and then her legs. Clara was on her back, firmly bound to the top of a hard, wooden table. Tears came to the young girl's eyes as she struggled. Clara whimpered softly as she fought both the heavy sedative that she had been given and the ropes that wrapped around her small extremities.

"Ah, shhh, shhh, shhh," a man said before he leaned over her face, brushing her dark hair away from her eyes. "There, there."

Clara strained to focus her vision on the man in front of her and gasped when she came face to face with the same image that haunted her dreams.

Joker.

"Let me go, please," she begged as she sobbed. The tears came came down her face mercilessly as she trembled in fear.

"You see, uh, I can't," Joker said, leaning over her.

"You..." he began, a smile creeping onto his face. "You...are my bait."

Joker turned around and walked towards a small table with a chair that sat against the wall. It was then that Clara looked nervously around the room.

The dark, dingy room was uninviting. The walls shook and vibrated as the sound of a train passed by. The room was cold and smelled funny. The only lighting that she could see came from a single light bulb hanging over top of her. Two large men stood near a metal door. She glanced back at the Joker to see him open and then shove a drawer closed. The loud sound startled her.

As he turned to walk back towards her, she watched as he held a small video camera. He opened the side LCD screen and aimed the camera in her direction.

"Now, we're going to make a little movie to send to...the good folks at GCPD," Joker cooed.

"Then you'll let me go?" Clara asked softly, her voiced trembling as she spoke.

Joker winced playfully and shook his head. "We haven't had any fun yet. Besides, we have to wait around for a big fish to show up."

As Clara began to cry once again, Joker looked down at the screen.

"And...action!"

Pain.

A deep throbbing pain quickly found its way into the back of her neck.

Julia forced her head upward only to find that the muscles in her neck had seized from being in the uncomfortable and prolonged position. She winced and gasped as she moved. It only brought attention to the fact that her arms were securely fastened behind her as she sat in a small wooden chair. Not only were her wrists tied together, but her ankles were bound to the chair legs as well.

She looked ahead to find that she was facing a wall, yet she knew that there was activity going on behind her. She could hear a television and saw the lights flashing against the wall in front of her. Whether she was alone or not, she didn't know. Julia tried to turn to glance behind her only to find herself being slapped in the face.

She instantly turned her face back and gasped from both the shock and pain. Her cheek stung so much from the impact that it brought tears to her eyes.

"Eyes in front," a low, menacing growl ordered.

"Who are you? Are you the Joker?"

Whether it was from the slap to her face or from her current situation, Julia's voice didn't come out as strong as she hoped it would.

That menacing growl began to chuckle. "You flatter me. He's busy right now with the brat and left you to entertain me." He paused. "Detective 1481, I've got your shiny badge right here. Oh, and try to turn around again and I'll give you more than a quick slap to the face."

Julia let out a nervous breath and pinched her eyes shut.

"You know, I always thought that you GCPD's would have had more in ya," he stated. "No resistance or fight in you at all. Those drugs knocked you right on your pretty ass. Must be low on your hiring quota if you're as good as it gets."

"You could always let me go and we could test that theory of yours," Julia goaded boldly, earning herself a loud boistrous laugh from her own personal warden.

"I'd pay good money to see that."

Julia scoffed.

Just a few minutes in the room with the faceless man and she was already starting to pin him down for the type of man he was.

Arrogant, quick to anger, and by the smell in the room, he was in the company of some hard liquor; not a good combination. Julia's hope at the moment was that she could get on his good side long enough to distract him before making a move.

"You and me both," she mumbled, knowing that he'd hear it.

The man laughed out loud as the sound of a chair being pushed out across the floor was heard behind her. Glasses clinked together as the distinct sound of a liquid was being poured. There was an audible gulp before a light, content sigh before the glass was set down on a hard surface.

"What's your name, Detective 1481?"

His voice was coming from right behind her. Julia knew that if she looked up she would have surely seen his face. Still, she looked ahead.

"Morgan." She wasn't about to hear her given name come from that man's mouth.

She heard a sigh above her. "Rare, but beautiful. I believe it originates from Great Britain...Wales or Scotland perhaps. I'm a history buff. Where does your family from?"

Julia swore inwardly and added intelligent to her internal assessment.

"Gotham."

Julia heard him scoff and chuckle before she felt a pair of hands on either side of her head, Julia gasped until she realized the man was simply holding her steady before placing a kiss on the top of her head. He lingered there longer than necessary and Julia was certain that she heard him inhale. It made her stomach turn. The hands trailed down and rested on her shoulders. Julia did everything in her power to keep herself from trembling in fear as he rested his hands alongside her neck.

"Where is the little girl?" she said softly.

"Oh, you're really in no position to be asking that and it really isn't any of your concern anymore," the man replied, speaking into her ear. "She's in good hands as are you."

Julia scoffed.

"Like hell, she's in good hands!" Julia exclaimed boldly, quickly moving her head to the side and effectively hitting the man square in the face and by her guess, his nose.

He shouted and let out a string of profanities while Julia braced herself for retaliation as she struggled within the restraints. She remembered his earlier threat but she wasn't about to become a willing participant in whatever sick game he was going to play. She had a job to do and if Clara was in danger she wasn't about to sit around and wait. In those few short weeks that Julia had had her assignment, she had gotten to know Clara and it had made her heart ache for her own daughter.

She wasn't about to let something happen to Clara.

Julia waited for a punch or a slap but instead she felt the sudden coolness of a gun barrel touching the back of her head. She heard the man scoff.

"And I was going to be gentle with you," he said, his voice much deeper than it had been before.

"Try that again, and play time will be over sooner than you think. How ironic would it be to be shot with your own gun."

Julia swallowed, feeling that pressure on the back of her neck. She didn't even realize she was shaking until she looked down at her knees to find them trembling. When she looked back up at the wall, the gun barrel was no longer on her neck. It took her a half a second to realize what was happening when she felt the gun hit her in the forehead, knocking her unconscious.

"I told you all I know!" Jonathan exclaimed, throwing his hands up. The chains rattled from his wrists before he leaned back in his chair.

"That isn't good enough!" Gordon exclaimed as he paced in the room, visibly angry. "I need names, addresses."

"I gave you the address!"

"My guys checked it out." Jim clenched his teeth as he rested his hands on the table and glared across at Jonathan. "Your address brought us to a damn corner store! So, you had better give us something a little more to go on!"

Jonathan sighed as he leaned forward on the table and rested his elbows on it before running his hands through his hair. He was obviously frustrated. In his haste to get out of the Gordon's dark glare, he had given him an address that didn't pan out. Jonathan had quickly back peddled and insisted that he wasn't as certain about the address now.

Gordon was starting to feel sick to his stomach as he glanced down at his watch. It was nearly 1am. Too much time had already gone by and he knew with every passing hour, the chances of finding Clara or Detective Morgan would diminish greatly, especially when they're in the company of a psychopath. They were wasting too much time and he was done playing nice.

"Do you have any idea what the fellas down at county think of men like you who prey on children?"

Jonathan's face turned upward. He scoffed.

"Do you think they'll care when they find out that I also helped rid the city of one of Gotham's finest?"

Jim clenched his teeth and walked out of the room. He needed to cool down before he lost his temper on the piece of trash that was keeping the chair in that room warm. The moment the door closed behind him, he was face to face with Nicholas Montero once again.

"Let me have a turn with him," Nick begged. "I'll get something out of that piece of shit."

"No, you certainly will not," Gordon stated sternly, knowing what Montero was implying. "We need him speaking and we don't want him to lawyer up on us."

Gordon walked around the corner with Montero following behind and looked at Esselink through the window. Lt. Michael Dougherty turned when he saw the Commissioner come in to join him.

"My officers pulled that store apart," Dougherty told him. "I had them do background checks on the owner, management and all the employees. Besides a couple of minor felonies dating back 15 years ago, they're clean."

"He's playing with us," Gordon stated softly as he watched the man sitting alone in the room. "He knows something. Joker wouldn't have left a loose end for no reason."

"Maybe the clown is getting sloppy in his old age," Nicolas quipped.

Gordon paused and thought for a moment before he spoke.

"When he went through processing, what did they find on his person?"

Nick grabbed the file from the table beside him and flipped it open, searching for the answer.

"Uh, here it is," he said once he found the small document. "A lighter, five cigarettes, a cell phone, a wallet with ID, twelve dollars and seventy-two cents in change. Not to mention, a .45 caliber handgun."

Nicolas looked up from the file and shrugged. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Did they run up a log of phone calls made to and from that phone?"

Nicolas nodded and read the information. "It's a burner phone. It hasn't been used."

"The gun," Mike stated. "Did they get any prints off of it or made a note of the serial number?"

Montero shook his head. "No prints either than those belonging to Esselink and they got the serial number. Turns out it was evidence linked to an unsolved murder 8 years ago but the prints taken from then were not Esselink's."

He paused and looked up at Gordon.

"It never ceases to amaze me how evidence turns up on the streets."

Gordon shrugged, taking the file from Montero. "We've had our fair share of dirty cops walk through these doors over the years. Nothing is too far fetched anymore."

He looked at the case file that was tagged to the gun and smirked. "I remember this one. It had my guys working overtime to find this killer before the Mayor ordered us to sweep it under the rug. The gun was found in the warehouse district. The case file is down at the archives."

Gordon began to walk towards the doors when Montero made his way up beside him.

"I'd like to help you out with this one, sir, if I may," Nick said.

Gordon paused and looked back at Lt. Dougherty for any sign of disagreement from his department head. Finding none, Gordon looked at the younger detective, seeing much of himself in those determined eyes. Finally, he nodded. "Very well son, but remember what I said about cool heads."

"Yes sir."

Batman waited anxiously in the shadows on the rooftop. Ironically, he finally knew how Gordon had felt all these years as he himself had waited for Batman to show up.

When he had gotten the call that they had found something, Batman sped over in the tumbler as quickly as he could. All leads that he had were ending no where and it frustrated him. He was still berating himself for not knowing that Joker was going to attack the school in broad daylight while he was in the middle of a board room meeting at Wayne Tower. Bruce was angry with how complacent he had become when it came to the Joker. All of his focus had turned to figuring out who this Miss Monroe was only to discover she was one of Gordon's undercover officers. He had become apathetic towards everything else. It just simply wasn't him. Emily's death had certainly changed Bruce. The only thing that kept him going was Clara. Had she not been around, he would have certainly found himself once again in the middle of the Himalayas or deep in Tibet or perhaps not even alive. He had become a hollow shell that was simply living day to day. But once he knew Joker had taken Clara, it had awoken that sleeping anger within him. It scared him to even realize that he was considering breaking his one rule.

When the door opened, Batman stepped out of the shadows as Gordon met his eye.

Gordon quickly replayed how they traced the gun on Esselink to an unsolved case from years prior. On a hunch, himself, along with a police squad returned to the scene where the gun had been retrieved only to find it completely abandoned. But they did find an envelope.

"I had forensics check it over," Gordon told him photo's of the envelope along with the contents. "There were no prints on anything.

He watched as Batman flipped through the photos and stopped on one of a necklace.

Batman instantly recognized it as the one he had given to Clara the night of the recital.

"I'm guessing that belongs to her," Gordon said, already knowing it was.

Batman nodded, as he flipped through the remaining photos.

"I was told that officers came to your house to question you earlier tonight and you were unavailable for comment," Gordon said, as Batman nodded, remembering how he told Alfred to say that he wasn't up to answering questions.

"I'm sorry about that, but it's standard procedure."

Batman nodded, looking back down at the photos.

"A video tape?"

Gordon nodded, reaching into his pocket and pulled out a DVD envelope. "My guys are looking it over for clues. But I thought you'd like a copy to do your own analysis."

Without a word, Batman took it from him before turning to walk off the rooftop.

Clearing his throat slightly and glancing around the rooftop as a precaution, Gordon took a step forward.

"Bruce," he said softly, causing Batman to pause on the edge of the rooftop. "We're going to find her."

Batman nodded, silently agreeing. "And when I find the Joker, this time I'm not going to let him get away."

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Batman jumped off the side of the building, disappearing into the darkness.

Bruce didn't know how long he sat in front of the monitor before getting the boldness to play the video. He had rushed home to the cave, not even bothering to do anything else but remove his cowl. He had been eager to get some clues as to where he could find Clara until he realize that he may be seeing a video of his child alive for the last time. As much as he wanted to dive into the case, he had to face the reality that she was in the company of a monster; the same monster that took the life of his wife and could easily do the same to his only child. It wasn't until he felt the supportive hand of Alfred on his shoulder and a cup of tea resting on the desk beside him that he finally reached forward to press play.

It took a few seconds of darkness before it begun, but it may as well had been an eternity.

When Bruce finally saw her, his hands gripped tight around the arm rests of the chair. It was clear that Clara was strapped down. The movement of the director was anything but smooth. For most people, they would have certainly gotten nauseated by the movement. Still, Bruce stared at the video. It was eerie how much Clara looked like Emily.

"Now, lets hear your name," Joker said, his voice echoing into the cave.

The video focused on Clara's face, her bottom lip pulled upward in a feeble attempt to keep herself from crying. It was obvious that she had been sobbing. Her face was blotchy, her eyes were red and her cheeks wet with tears.

"Clara," she said softly.

"Clara, who?"

"Clara Wayne."

"Good girl," Joker cooed gently. "Who are your parents?"

Tears once again come to her eyes as she spoke. "Bruce..."

"And?"

"...and...Emily. You killed her."

The sob that she had been trying to hold back erupted from her throat.

"Yes, I most certainly did and do you know why, Miss Wayne? Because you didn't obey me when I said to come. Now, are you going to obey me now?"

Clara nodded her head, her sobbing quieting once again.

"It's your fault that she died," Joker stated boldly. "Because you're a selfish little girl! I would bet to guess that your dear old Daddy doesn't even want you anymore. He's angry with you that you killed her."

Alfred removed his hand from Bruce's shoulder as they listened to the continuous accusations against Bruce towards Clara.

"Oh, my dear girl," Alfred said, his own voice betraying him.

Even Bruce couldn't bear to listen to it. Instead, he stood up and walked away from the monitor as Joker continued his rant. Bruce was angry and clenched his fists as he controlled his rage.

"Would you like me to turn it off, sir?" Alfred asked softly, as he watched Bruce stare out towards the waterfall in the distance.

Bruce put his hands on his hips and sighed, shaking his head.

"No," he said, turning and running his hand over his face. "He's trying to break her psychologically. I need to hear the whole thing."

He glanced back up at the monitor and was met with Clara's face, full of tears.

"You're lying," Clara said softly, her voice wavering as her bottom lip quivered.

"Am I? Where is your Daddy anyways? Huh? I heard that he missed your birthday and even that piano recital of yours." Joker paused, watching how his words were sinking into Clara's mind.

"How did you know that?" Clara asked, her voice barely audible, yet it was clearly understood.

"I know...things," Joker replied.

A loud shuddering sound echoed over the audio of the recording. Bruce looked up, and watched. The distinct sound of a horn echoed in the distance as a smile came to his face. With a long stride, he paused the video and rewound slightly, replaying it at a certain part.

"How did you know that?"

"I know...things."

The sound of the rumbling occurred just as Joker spoke.

"That's a train," Alfred announced as Bruce nodded.

He made his way to his computer console and brought up a map of the city with the outlines of the train lines running through it. It looked like a horribly weaved loom. Train lines intersected the city in various patterns. It was a visual needle in a haystack.

"But which line is it?" Alfred asked aloud.

Bruce quickly went back to the recording and within minutes had an audio copy of the section that he wanted to pay closer attention to. Quickly, he filtered the voices out and brought up the sound of the horn.

"There aren't too many train lines running at this time of night that will blare their horn, unless they aren't anywhere near a residential area," Bruce said, increasing the sound. "And every train line seems to have their own type of horn, much like how you can decipher between the siren of a police car, an ambulance and a fire truck."

"So, if you can find out what line it is that is running overnight, you can narrow down a search area," Alfred stated, sounding much more hopeful.

"That's the plan," Bruce said as he looked at the audio once again. "My guess is that it passes through a warehouse district. This video was found in that area and chances are, they're not that far from there."

Alfred looked at the map on the monitor as Bruce played with the audio on a separate computer.

"There are three lines that go through that area," Alfred said. "Only two of them operate 24/7. The other is only during hours of operation."

Bruce walked over and a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

"Send me the grid location of those two within a 1km radius of where the video was found," he said, as he made his way over to the tumbler.

"Shall I inform the Commissioner of your discovery, sir?"

"Not yet," Bruce replied. "Wait for me to give the call."

Alfred nodded as he watched Bruce disappear into the tumbler.