Hi! I am sorry that I haven't updated the story for so long, but I have been preparing for my maturita examinations, and I had a little bit of a writers block, since I had my head filled with a lot other things. And because I really think that one should write about something only when he's 100% concentrated on it, I deciced to take a little break. :) But now, I have returned back to Batman, so I am going to finish the last chapter of this story, so I can finally start the Arkham City themed sequel I'm planning. It will be a short chapter.

Chapter 11.

The Batman was having a bad day, or rather, a bad night. The whole experience in the asylum was extremely tiring, and a challenge for his nerves. As he flew out of the burning Botanical Gardens, leaving the fallen Poison Ivy behind, it didn't take him a long time to recover enough so he could hear the sound that was carried across the whole island. Fireworks. When he looked up, he could see the bright, colorful fireworks coming from the western part of the island, from the Penitentiary. As he looked around, he saw the whole island was a mess. The plants, fueled by Ivy's enhanced powers, were now quickly dying, and withering. The grounds were full of dead or uncounscius inmates and guards. He needed to end this, and quickly. He could hear the Joker's voice, inviting him for the final confrontation. Collecting his courage, he followed.

...

K

I was standing in a secret laboratory, hidden in the elevator shaft under the Intensive Treatment. It wasn't a pleasant place, but it had to do. It was a small cave, probably still undiscovered by the Arkham staff. But the Scarecrow knew about it. It was his secret place. A light smell of chemicals lingered in the air, but it was bearable. I was grateful to Jonathan that he would let me use this for what I needed to do in peace. I was only hoping that he would be able to get out of the island without any problems. I took a microscope out of a small closet and then I took out the vile with the Titan. I gently aplied a few drops of it on the examination glass and put it under the microscope. Don't be mistaken, I never was much of a chemist. At first I didn't know what to do, but then I had an idea. I took a knife, and I cut my finger. I let some of my blood fall on the glass, and then I looked in the microscope to watch the reaction. The blood cell were rapidly mutating, changing their size and shape. I decided to add a little more Titan to see what will happen. As I held the vile over the glass, my hand slipped a little and the Titan formed a little puddle on the glass. I quickly looked in and suddenly, I saw it. One by one, the blood cells in my sample started dying, they were cracking like if they were killed by some kind of a virus.

I gasped, and then I growled in anger, when I realised that Joker made a chemical without thinking about all possible consequences. Anyone who would use too much of it, will return to normal eventually, but their blood will be mortally damaged, and he will die. The Titan was too unstable, too dangerous. But I was mostly worried that the Joker would use the Titan on himself, only to defeat the Batman. I needed to find him. When I get outside of the building, I could see that something was happening. I heard the sounds of the fireworks, but there was also not a sigle inmate around, the grounds were empty. But there was no time to think about it.

I went to Arkham West and I saw that the fireworks were coming from the Penitentiary. As I opened the door to the visitor center, I saw a huge pile of thungs lying there, all wearing a rather ridiculous party hats, like if they were celebrating, but they were unconscious. It was evident that the Batman went through here, which meant that I should hurry. I tried to open the second door, but it was stuck, something was blocking it from the other side. Fortunately, it took some effort, but it wasn't impossible to open. As I squeezed myself inside, I could see why it was so difficult. It looked like a bomb blew up in there. Suddenly, I heard some noices, so carefully, I stepped through the broken glass in the back of the hall, and there was something that looked like a remains of a television on the ground. I went though a short corridor on the right and my eyes went wide as I glanced around the corner. It lead to a small backyard, one that I never saw before, and there was the Joker, sitting on a throne on top of what looked like a pile of... figurines. Down under him, I saw the Batman, fighting off a few tens of thugs. So far, no one has noticed me, so I stayed in the corridor, and watched. I glanced at the left, when I saw two giant mutants, dressed in the guard's uniforms, and I frowned in pity, but then I looked up at the Joker, and I saw an injecting gun in his hand. Just then, the Batman has taken down the last thug and the Joker clapped his hands.

"Nicely done, Bats. You deserve a price. Your old pal, commisioner Gordon." as he said that, I jerked my head as the commisioner suddenly sprang down behind the Batman, hanging on a rope. "Say, he look's all run down. Let's pep him up."

Before the Batman had time to do anything, Joker took the injecting gun from and fired on the commisioner, but the Batman jumped forward and caught it himself, which, I was sure, was what the Joker expected. He fell to the ground and yanked the dart from his body, and I watched in slight horror as his muscles started to react to the Titan. He was bubbling up all around his body, but so far, nothing else was happening. Was the Batman really that strong to resist it?

"You're trying to resist the change. That's not fair!" I was so concentrated on the Batman, that I haven't even noticed as the Joker climbed down from his perch. He kicked Batman angrily, trying to make him stop fighting, but the Bat gave him a hard punch in the face return, and that was a moment when I finally saw Joker's optimism starting to fade. Until I saw what he was about to do next. "So, you wanna play hardball, Bats? Do ya? Your call!"

I blinked twice when I saw the feather he was holding in his hand now, and I would almost laugh if the situation wasn't so serious. But as he leaned in to use it, the Batman hit him again and knocked the feather out of his hand, and this time, the Joker really growled in frustration.

"Oh! You're ruining my big night! Months of planning down the crapper! I just wanted to bring down your grim facade and for once let you see the world as I see it, giggling in the corner and bleeding. But you've denied me even that. I have nothing to live..."

As soon as he started talking talking, I knew what he was gonna do. The time was up. I jumped from my hiding place, and ran forward. "No, wait... Joker, you can't do that!" I called, and I watched as he paused to look at me. "You? How can you possibly be still alive? I thought you would be dead by now. Oh, never mind, I'll keep you as my next plaything." he said and as he pressed the needles to his neck, I screamed. "Joker please, listen to me. You can't do that, that stuff is too dangerous."

The next second, I knew I made a mistake, as he growled angrily. "I'm in a middle of my triumph, and you're messing it up. This is between me and the Bats."

In that moment, I should have walked away and find a way out of the island, but I just couldn't do that, even after his words I couldn't just leave like that without making an effort to stop the clown from making a lethal mistake, so I had to try one last time.

"Joker, ple..."

"Oh, you really are becoming a bother, I think I'll get rid of you for the night..." he cut in, and suddenly, he reached to his jacket and pulled a small gun from his pocket. I gasped and tried to jump out of the way, when I felt a searing pain in my left shoulder. The impact hurled me forward, and I could do nothing as I was slammed in the metal fence. I tried to stay conscious, but it was in vain, and as the darkness were slowly closing in, I had just enough time to turn around and watch as the Joker emptied the rest of his Titan inside his veins.

...

The first thing I noticed when I woke up, was the great pain in my shoulder, and in my head as well. It took some time before I felt better enough that I could sit up. I took my head in my hands, and in that moment, I noticed something else. My mask was gone. I opened my eyes to look around, and I groaned in desperation when I saw that it was a cell, just as feared. My spinning head was giving me a hard time, but as I looked down, I could see that someone took the care of bandaging my shoulder, so I assumed the bullet was out too. After a few minutes I stood up and walked to the front glass to look out. My cell was in a long corridor I didn't recognize, and I was here alone. Turning around, I saw that there was a small window on the opposite wall. It was out of reach, but still, as I walked to it, I could see the bright, shining moon through the bars. I was watching it, thinking of what I missed. Was this still the same night, or was I out for days, or even weeks? And was the Joker alright? Did Jonathan made it out of the island safely? I haven't noticed the tears creeping into my eyes, so, surpised, I raised my healthy hand to wipe them away, when I heard the voice behind me, and for some reason, I could feel the hair on my neck rise.

"So, you have woken up, doctor Jones. Good. There is much we need to talk about."