Bruce answered his phone. "Talia. You have information for me?"

"Yes, beloved," she replied. "My father is in Gotham City."

"Where?" asked Bruce.

"The ruined chapel on 66th Street," said both Talia and Joker at the same time.

Talia paused. "Who is that?" she murmured.

"It's…uh…" began Bruce, but Joker seized the phone from him.

"Hiya, toots, it's the Joker!" he said. "Just wanna have a quick chat with your Daddy about all this bringing people back from the dead nonsense. It's simply not polite. There are certain rules to life, and one of 'em is that when you kill someone, he's dead. Permanently. If we start changing rules randomly like that, where would we be? What would happen to society? There'd be anarchy, chaos, rioting in the streets! And I can't allow that to happen unless I'm the one who started it! It's a matter of principle, sweetheart! Plus I don't like all this magic crap – it defies all the logical rules of comedy. A joke's based on a mutual understanding of facts – change the facts and you ruin the gag. And immortality is a pretty lame punchline, sweets. All joke's have gotta have an ending, otherwise they're anticlimactic. A gag that just keeps on going gets real boring. Anyway, toots, don't wanna bore you too much with the philosophy of comedy. Dames don't usually get it anyway. No sense of humor, y'see. All you need to know is that I'm gonna stop your Daddy's joke of a life. Permanently. Which means no coming back, not ever again. Oh, and I look forward to meeting you at the family reunion someday! What with your kid and my kid being crazy in love and all, I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the future. Ta ta!"

He handed the phone back to Bruce. "Talia, I can explain…" began Bruce, but the phone suddenly clicked off. Bruce glared at Joker.

"I'm not going to let you kill her father," he snapped.

"Yeah? Guy who's been dead and reborn more times than he can count still deserves to live, does he, Bats? That still sits right with your precious code?"

"I don't have the right to take his life, and neither do you…"

Joker waved his hand. "Just doing what Father Time should have done a long time ago, Batsy! Helping the old man out!" he chuckled. "Anyway, I'd like to see you stop me."

"You think I won't?" growled Bruce.

"I think you'll try," retorted Joker, nodding. "But it'll end up being as effective as you trying to stop me from killing Jason Todd. Both times. You should have seen him this time around, Brucie. He was so dazed and confused at being alive after the long drop, and he seemed relieved at first. But then he realized that I had regained consciousness first, and that he was tied up in his own cape, and completely in my power, and it was funny to watch his relief slowly turn to horror. Did you know a guy can live up to six hours missing some of his vital organs? It's not pretty, but it's possible. Although maybe his dip in the Lazarus pit had something to do with it. Either way, I don't think he'll be coming back from this. I imagine there's some rule about the body having to be in one piece? Cause it wasn't, by the end."

"You should have let him live," murmured Bruce. "I could have talked to him…"

"He tried to hurt my kids," interrupted Joker. "People don't live after they try to do that. Except you, Bats, but then you've always been the exception to the rule!" he chuckled. "Anyway, you can't talk to people like that. They're crazy. And you can't just talk people outta being crazy. I should know!" he laughed.

Bruce glared at him but didn't respond. "Aw, are you gonna give me the silent treatment now 'cause you're angry with me?" asked Joker, grinning. "Well, if it helps, I'm sorry, ok, Bats? Now how about we kiss and make up?"

Bruce ignored him, hobbling toward the door. "I'm going to find Ra's," he said. "Damian, you're coming with me."

"And I'm going with Damian," said Arleen, firmly.

"And I'm going with Leenie…" began J.J.

"Oh, not this again!" interrupted Joker. "Let's just all go, ok? We'll take three cars. Joker family in one, Bat family in another, and other random lame freaks in the third one. Let's go!" he chuckled.

"I haven't missed him, you know," muttered Crane to Tetch as they followed Joker to the door.

"Daddy, if we do get to fear gas this Ra's al Ghul, may I be the one to inject him?" asked Katrina. "I would love to see the result of your toxin on someone immortal – his fears would be fascinating."

"Of course you may, my dear," said Crane, handing her a syringe. "Remember to aim for the jugular."

"Thanks, Daddy," said Katrina, kissing him.

"She is such an intelligent child," sighed Crane, staring after her.

"Hardly a child anymore, if you don't mind my saying so," said Tetch.

"Neither is yours," agreed Crane, nodding at Alice, who was holding Dinah in her arms and trying to calmly talk to Ace, while the two animals hissed at each other. "You've done well with her, though. Her mother would be proud."

"She does so resemble her, you know," murmured Tetch. "And I do still miss her every day. As does Alice."

"Perhaps this revenge will be the first step towards giving you both peace," said Crane.

"Perhaps," agreed Tetch. "But I doubt it. Revenge as a concept is all very well, and in practice there is a certain satisfaction in executing it. But it never really heals the wound, you know. I have always been puzzled by the idea of a revenge tragedy – such a name is redundant. Revenge is always a tragedy. Revenge is born of tragedy, and is tragically unsatisfactory. That is its nature."

"Perhaps it gives a great deal more satisfaction if you rename it justice," retorted Crane, dryly.

Tetch smiled. "Judging by Mr. Wayne, it does not."

He frowned. "I can't believe I used to work for Batman. If I had known, he wouldn't have been able to fire me. I would have quit. And then controlled his mind so he'd have given me unlimited funding and complete control of Wayne Enterprises."

"Hindsight is 20/20," said Crane, shrugging.

"Well yes, quite," agreed Tetch.