"HA HA HA, HE HE HEH HA, HA HA HA HA!"

The Joker had been laughing for some time now. He hadn't even stopped to take a breath. He alternated between holding his gut and throwing his head up, his eyes squeezed shut. At one point a tear formed at the corner of his eye and rolled down his cheek.

Superman, as irritated by the laughter as he was, was fine with this. The longer the madman was distracted, the longer he had to recover, which he was most certainly doing. He had almost caught his breath and once he did, he would be retaliating.

As for Flash, he was too overcome with anxiety to help. He was twisting and turning within the light pole that was wrapped around him, finding no way out of it. Once the Kryptonian was at full strength, he would be remedying that.

Calling upon his heat vision, he felt his eyes heat up, his vision going red. He was close enough for being 100% for his taste. Firing the beams, his heat vision went right for the Joker's hand, specifically the joy buzzer. Due to the man's hands being wrapped around his stomach, he couldn't just fry it. So he kept the beams light, strong enough to jolt the clown the moment they hit his hand.

"Ow!' he helped as he immediately cut off his laughter. He threw up his hand to reveal the joy buzzer, which was all Superman needed as he fired his heat vision again, this time making it strong enough that the beam instantly caused the device to begin melting on contact. "Ow, ow, ow!" the Joker cried out before he slipped the joy buzzer off and dropped its melting remains to the ground.

"Alright, Big Blue!" Flash cheered. "Now cream his goofy butt!"

He didn't have to be told twice. Gathering his legs underneath him, Superman made to launch himself at his opponent, only for the Joker to open his mouth wide, his mane of snake heads rising up as they all hissed at him. That's when a glob of green mucus fired out of his mouth, flying through the air, and smacking the Man of Steel right on his chest. The goop splattered everywhere, including his chin and face.

"Ewww," Flash hissed.

"What are you ewing? I'm the one that got hit," Superman grumbled. Raising a hand up, he made to wipe it away.

Suddenly, a wave of terror ran rampant through his mind. His eyes shooting wide open, he jerked back, his back hitting the cracked wall behind him, and causing the cracks to grow wider. Eyes looking to Flash, he saw his comrade's concerned look morph into a sinister one, right before his mouth snapped opened to reveal snake fangs. The light of the street lamp that held the speedster grew longer, it too changing until a snake head had formed, baring its venomous fangs as well.

Across the street, the buildings behind the Joker took on a sinister look as well. Windows became slitted eyes, doors flying open to reveal sharp teeth. The buildings seemed to be a hundred feet tall, looming over the Man of Steel...and growing bigger.

What was this? What was going on?

In the meantime, the Joker wiped his mouth with his arm, cleaning it of whatever that green goop was. "That one's an oldie, but a goodie. I can feel the terror and fright you're feeling and it is oh so delicious."

He then moved both of his hands up, one to open his jacket and the other to slip inside of it. A moment later he pulled out a large handgun, one seeming to grow bigger in size. "But now it's time to try something new. Seeing as how my host has so many toys on him, I couldn't help but change each and every one of them to suit my needs. It's a motif, a stylistic choice, which we all have."

Then he leveled the gun towards Superman. "Of course, this one is...how does this man call it? Oh yes, an ace up his sleeve. I am no fool, you see. My brothers and sisters, they cannot be trusted, so one needs to have a contingency plan for them. This one is mine—a god-killing gun. One bullet and BAM! Dead God. What it'll do to a mortal is anyone's guess, though I'm betting on messy."

None of that was making sense. The Joker, or his look-alike, had brothers and sister? Why did he find that so terrifying? An army of pale-faced, giggling maniacs was a nightmare the world didn't need.

"Now, since my host is telling me you are the closest thing to a god here, I find this weapon apropos. Say hello to Hades for me when you reach him."

There was a flash of metal then. The next thing Superman knew, something collided with the Joker's hand, causing him to yelp as his gun was sent flying out of his grasp. The Kryptonian followed the gun as he clattered on the ground, then spotted what looked like a throwing star impaling the ground with one of its sharp points.

That was when the roar of a motorcycle rang out, causing everyone to turn their heads. A woman in red and white came riding in, her brown hair trailing behind her. She was making a beeline right for the Joker, every intent on running him over.

The Joker didn't look the least bit perturb. Calmly he raised a hand and waited until the motorcycle ran right into him. His hand caught the bike at its front, stopping it instantly. The rider was pitched off of it as her momentum forced her forward, the woman flying over the Joker's head.

Yet she didn't seem to be out of control. In fact, she was going into a flip, landing on the ground on her feet before going into a roll. Damn, that was graceful, Superman couldn't help but think. As the woman ended up on her feet, this time remaining crouched, she pivoted to face the evil clown, a staff in her hands, one end pointed directly at him.

"Eat pavement, freak!" she barked before a bright light formed at the end of the staff. An energy blast then fired from the staff, flying right for the Joker, and exploding the moment it hit him.

"Gaaaahhh!" the man cried out as he was sent flying through the air, dropping the motorcycle to the ground on its side. He crashed to the asphalt a moment later, bouncing a few times before he came to a stop.

Suddenly, there was someone next to Superman, "Hey, you alright?" an concerned voice asked, causing him to tear his eyes from the scene before him. Next to him was a rather beautiful blonde woman, dressed in black and fishnet stockings. She placed a hand on his shoulder, a comforting gesture that he was grateful for.

"Who are you?" Superman couldn't help but ask.

"Name's Black Canary. My friend with the staff is Manhunter. And you two look like you're having a little trouble with our clown problem."

Yeah, that was a good word for it. He even nodded his agreement. "Well, you and your friend over there just take it easy. We'll take it from here."

Alarm ran through the Man of Steel, his head jerking up. "But he has powers he didn't have before. You'll need—"

"Look alive!" Manhunter suddenly shouted, interrupting their conversation. "Insane Clown Posse at twelve o' clock!"

Black Canary turned her attention to the Joker, who was pushing himself up onto his feet. He shook his head, looking quite shaken. "Well, that was unexpected," he commented before turning his attention to the red-and-white-dressed vigilante. "Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?"

"An escaped asylum patient," she shot back.

"That's...kinda true actually." The Joker suddenly winced, then shook his head, as if ridding himself of some random thought. "But that's not who I am. Before you stands the God of Terror, the terrible Deimos!"

Manhunter shared a look with Black Canary, the two returning their attention back to the crazed man. "That's a new one," Manhunter remarked. "I always knew you had a massive ego and now I have my proof."

The Joker stared at her before he appeared distracted. His head even tilted to one side, as if he were trying to hear something. That changed though as he returned his attention back to Manhunter. "As much as I would like to banter with you I have places to be and things to do. Now be a good girl and…"

Before he finished his sentence, his cheeks puffed out. Then he opened and mouth and spat out that same green blob that had hit Superman.

In response, Manhunter dove to one side, dodging the spit as she rolled over her shoulders and back and ended up back on her feet. Without hesitation, she fired another blast from her staff.

However, unlike the first one, the Joker didn't let it hit him. With ease, he slapped the beam away, sending it flying into a building, where it exploded. "You're gonna have to try something a little better than that, sweet cheeks," he snarled.

"Then let's try this on for size," Black Canary declared. She then sucked in air, her chest expanding before she opened her mouth and screamed. Whatever this strange fear Superman was feeling vanished the moment his ears exploded with pain. He cried out, though he couldn't even hear himself do that much, his hands clamping down on his ears. That didn't seem to help at all as he could still hear the high-pitched ringing coming from the blonde woman.

Flash didn't get that much protection, unfortunately for him. With his hands pinned at his sides, his face took on the look of incredible pain, his mouth wide open in a silent scream. Superman wished he could help, but his super hearing was leaving him incapable of moving.

He could watch though, and he saw what looked like a vortex of swirling air ramming right into the Joker. Just like Superman and Flash, his face was twisted with pain as he clamped his hands down on his ears.

Black Canary then stopped her scream, not that you could tell from the ringing that never seemed to stop. She then launched herself at the Joker, arms drawn back. She then slammed a fist into the clown's pain-wrecked face, followed up by a gut punch. The Joker bent over from the blow, but didn't say leaned over as a palm strike rammed into the side of his face, sending him stumbling away.

The blonde vigilante would have kept her assault, had it not been for a thick tail that whipped out at her. Instantly, she flung herself backwards, going into a flip as she dodged the attack.

A hissing sound was made and it was soon revealed the end of the tail had a large snake head, baring its fangs as its warded off any attackers. It took Superman to remember the large snake that had attacked him and Flash at the beginning of this encounter, but now he realized that the snake was the Joker's—or rather, Deimos'— tail. "I think I've overstayed my welcome!" the Joker shouted, a result of impaired hearing. "When will the ringing stop? Gah!"

Then his body suddenly exploded into a cloud of green and purple smoke. It only took a few seconds for the smoke to dissipate, but eventually it was as if the man had never been there.

"Well, that was weird, even for him," Manhunter said after a moment, coming to stand next to Black Canary, the two staring at the spot the madman had been standing. "Any idea what that God of Terror stuff was about?"

"No clue," the blonde shrugged before looking to Superman and Flash. "Maybe they know?"

"You saying something?!" Flash shouted. "I can't hear you over the ringing in my ears! I think I busted an eardrum!"

If it weren't for Superman's super hearing, he probably wouldn't have heard that, even with his own ringing and pain still going on. It was going to be awhile before he could get over it, that was for sure.

John had no idea how it happened. The primary reason a power ring would be out of juice was if it was all used up. The amount of power each ring held was staggering, so it took quite a bit of use to use one up. He knew that because he had accomplished that feat a time or two.

Yet here he was, his ring drained with no plausible explanation. Without his ring, John only had his military training to fall back on and he felt that wasn't of much use as the Phobos creature slowly approached him and Shayera, a sway in his gangly body and disturbing smile on his face.

"Stay back!" Shayera demanded as she swung her mace back and forth, an attempt to ward off Phobos. The bald man didn't seem alarmed by this as he continued his slow approach, taking a step one at a time.

"I can smell your fear," Phobos spoke, sucking in as much air as he could to highlight this statement. "It's growing with every passing second. I can hear it calling me." A long tongue then slipped out of his mouth and licked his lips. "And I hunger for it."

"Any bright ideas?" John asked his Thanagarian bodyguard, backing away to keep that creepy god away.

"Just one," she admitted. "Hang out for a second."

Before he could respond, Shayera leaped forward, yelling out a war cry. "Haaaa!" Gripping her mace with both hands, she had it drawn back, swinging it at the last possible moment. The mace slammed against the side of Phobos' head, knocking it to one side, his neck actually turning at a ninety degree angle as the spine snapped loudly.

John's eyes widened even as Shayera froze at the sight of the man. Then she bounded back to stand in front of the Green Lantern. "Well, I think that worked," she commented.

"Yeah, I'd say so," he agreed.

That's when Phobos blinked his eyes. "Well, that hurt." Then he smiled that horrible grin again, which was then followed by a look of strain on his face. With a sickening snap, he forced his head back up until it was right side up. "Care to try again?" he taunted.

"Tell me that wasn't your only idea," John said.

"Unfortunately, yeah," the winged woman admitted. "The only thing left is to make a hasty retreat."

John was not an advocate of retreat, especially when confronted with an incredibly powerful foe. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of a better idea, especially with his ring in its current state. Withdrawing to fight another day was the best course of action they had at the moment.

That was assuming Phobos would actually let them leave.

Before they could figure that one out, a shrill whistle rang out. John and Shayera leaned to either side to look around Phobos, finding two women standing on the opposite side of the street. One was in a black bodysuit, a purple mask and cape completing the ensemble. Next to her was a woman of Asian decent decked out in a red-and-yellow costume. Both stood confidently as they observed the three metas.

As for Phobos, he didn't turn to look at the two women. No, he did everyone one better. He craned his head backwards, his neck snapping until he was able to hang his head upside down to look at the interlopers. "Well, well, fresh meat," he greeted them, showing his sharp teeth in a wide smile. "I can't wait to suckle the meat off of your bones."

Neither woman looked disgusted by this. Instead, the purple-clad woman replied, "Congratulations, you're the third creep to say that to us this week. You win the grand prize."

"Oh? What do I win?"

"My foot up your ass."

Shayera glanced at John over her shoulder. "I like this one."

"Of course you would."

Phobos then snapped his head back into place before turning around to regard the two women. By then, they had taken off running, both of them taking wide arcs as they attempted a pincer maneuver on the god. Phobos looked from one side to the other before looking to the purple-dressed woman, slobbering as he said, "I'll eat you first."

That turned out to be a mistake on his part as the Asian woman sped up. With a sword still covered in its sheath, she went in low, swinging the scabbard-covered sword right into the side of her foe's knee, causing it to buckle. Phobos yelped as he began to teeter off-balance, which allowed the other costumed woman to attack, leaping into the air as she swung her leg. Her kick collided with the side of the bald man's face, forcing him down to the ground, where he landed head first.

The dark-haired woman touched down on the ground a moment later, but promptly leaped back into the air. Twisting her body around, three sharp, metal knives stuck out from between her fingers. With practiced ease, she swung her arm out, sending the thin steel blades flying towards her opponent. One embedded itself in Phobos' thigh, the other in his calf. The last one sliced right into the god's heel, assuredly cutting the Achilles tendon.

As John watched, he stared right where the throwing blades were sticking out of their target. Much to his surprise, a thick, black fluid began to leak out, looking much like dark blood.

However, that little combo was not enough to put that gangly creature down. As if nothing had happened, Phobos pushed himself up, climbing to his feet. "Well, that was fun," he spoke sarcastically. "But now—"

That was when he took a step with his sliced foot. The moment he put pressure on it, the foot gave way, the ankle turning at an awkward angle. Phobos' eyes widened as he stumbled, the creature quickly trying to regain his balance. "How dare you injure a god?!" he bellowed.

"You've got a high opinion of yourself, Baldy," the purple-clad woman retorted. "And if you think that's bad, you haven't seen anything yet."

"I will not be spoke to like that. I am the God of Fear and you will tremble before me!"

The woman snorted. "You must be new to Gotham. We aren't afraid of fear in this town; it just pisses us off."

"I really like her," Shayera repeated.

Phobos roared and lunged at the dark-haired woman. Spinning to one side, she moved a hand behind her back and pulled out what looked like a small pole. An instant later both ends extended out, revealing it to be a bo staff. She easily evaded Phobos' sloppy charge, continuing to spin and gain circular momentum. With both hands on the staff, she swung it like a bat and cracked it against the back of Phobos' head, causing the god to cry out as he stumbled and then fell to the ground, landing on his face.

"You're gonna have to try a bit harder than that," she taunted.

In an instant, Phobos suddenly exploded into a cloud of smoke. A similar cloud erupted behind the vigilante, the God exploding out of it as he roared. Without breaking a sweat, the woman ducked down even as she spun to one side. Swinging her staff, she hit the god against the back of his knees, causing them to buckle as Phobos once more stumbled to the ground, this time landing on his knees.

This left him wide open as the vigilante stood back up, continuing to spin and swing her staff. She hit it once again on the back of his head, causing Phobos to cry out. He recovered quickly as he suddenly shot a hand up, his arm extending rapidly.

The woman's eyes widened as she leaped backwards, barely avoiding the hand grabbing at her. However, he managed to latch onto her staff and ripped it out of her grasp. Retracting his arm, Phobos snarled, "Let's see if you can hit me without this."

The vigilante stared at him before she rolled her eyes. "Katana," she called out blandly.

That was when the Asian woman leapt back into action. This time she had her sword drawn and she came in slashing. Phobos must have sensed her as he turned his head to look at her, only for the sword to cut into his arm. Black blood sprayed out of the wound as Katana spun around in a circle, avoiding the dark fluid. This put the red-and-yellow-clad woman right behind Phobos, where she promptly slashed his back.

And still she wasn't done as she continued her spin. As she came to face the god's uninjured arm, she didn't leave it that way as she performed a thrust, her sword stabbing into her foe's upper arm, which caused his hand to spasm and he dropped her comrade's staff.

All of this happened in a matter of seconds. Her attack complete, Katana pulled away, her sword ripping out of Phobos. The god cried out as he writhed on his knees, unable to decide which part of his body to try and nurse. "You'll pay! You'll all pay for this!" he screamed, whipping his head around to look at the two Gotham vigilantes.

"Mind if we take a line of credit?" the purple-clad woman remarked. "Trust us, we're good for it."

Katana then held her sword up. "My sword tells me you are not of this world. I wonder, will you become trapped inside of it?"

Phobos stared at them with hatred. That's when Shayera took a step forward, electricity crackling on the head of her mace. "I think it's time you gave yourself up," she recommended.

A hissing snarl left Phobos' lips before he erupted into a cloud of smoke, though this time he didn't reappear. Clearly he valued his own life more than revenge at the moment.

John sighed. That wasn't the outcome he wanted, but he'd take it, at least until he recharged his ring. Turning to look at his and Shayera's saviors, he said, "Thanks for the help. I don't think we've met."

"Name's Huntress," the dark-haired woman replied. "And my friend's Katana. Mind telling us why two Justice League guys are in Gotham? And why were you getting your butts handed to you by that thing?"

Blunt, thy name was Huntress it seemed. "We'd love to tell you—" he began.

"But it's been a long night and we need to get going," Shayera finished for him. "It's a League matter and all."

"And now it's a Gotham matter," Huntress retorted. "Did Batman give you permission to come down here, or did you bumble your way here? If so, I'm beginning to question Bats' decision making."

Alright, helping them out went only so far. Disrespect was a no-go with John. "There's no need to be rude," he reprimanded.

"It is best that you leave," Katana spoke up then. "There is no telling when that Fear God may come back and you are in no condition to fight it. We will track it down from here."

As much as that annoyed John, he knew the Asian woman was right. That didn't mean he had to like the delivery though. Thankfully it was Shayera that responded. "Good luck to you. I think you'll need it."

"Lady," Huntress said, "luck doesn't belong in Gotham. If anything, we've got bad luck in spades."

What was most galling was that everything had been settled before he had gotten to the scene. Don't get him wrong, he was glad the chaos and destruction had been stopped, but he rather it not come from meta-humans.

But what could he have done honestly? He was just recently back on his feet on the other side of town. By the time he had seen the signal in the sky, a certain Justice League member had ended the threat.

For now, Batman would just have to stew on that. There was no telling what repercussions were on the way with a city threat being taken care of by a flying Amazon. They were coming, he was certain of that. From what he had been able to gather, two large plants had been grown right in the middle of Downtown Gotham. To him, there was only one culprit capable of doing that, and he had last heard she was on the way out of town. Either she had gotten free, or someone was picking up right where Poison Ivy had left off. That was just another in a line of investigations he needed to go through.

In the meantime, he had a dream-based telepath to take care of. With downtown taken care of, Batman sought out places Dr. Destiny could be hiding. Lord knew there were so many of those in Gotham, so that made for a very lengthy search.

Fortunately, he got a lead thanks to J'onn. The Martian had called out to him via telepathy to hurry to some warehouse at the docks. It was here he was currently, kneeling in front of what was definitely a crime scene—and a bizarre one at that.

A corpse laid in the middle of a circle, arms and legs tied to tent pegs. The deceased man had been bled dry if the large pool of dried blood was any indication. The circle itself—what could be made of it—indicated this wasn't just some random killing, but one that had a purpose. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it looked like something out of a black magic ceremony.

He had just gotten rid of Barbatos worshipers, he did not need some new cult sweeping in to fill the void.

Though he wasn't an expert by any means, he was able to make out some of the symbols drawn. If he wasn't mistaken, he was spotting elements of Greek hieroglyphs. Obviously they weren't ones used in modern day Greek, but their origin lay in the older, ancient form. He had already circled the thing upon arriving, making sure the lens in his cowl captured every angle.

"What do you make of this?" J'onn asked after awhile. He had been staring at the circle himself and was giving the vigilante the first crack at interpreting.

"This is definitely a ritual killing," Batman replied as he stood up. "The circle was made prior to the kidnapping. The work that went into it is not something you do at the last minute. I don't recognize all of the symbols, but that one," here he pointed at a symbol towards the left of the body, "indicates a summoning of some kind."

"You are familiar with Ancient Greek?" J'onn asked.

"I've picked up a few things. You?"

"About as much as you, my friend. Diana would be more informed of this than I."

Unfortunately, that was the same conclusion he was coming to. Studying the circle some more, he spotted a symbol that he recognized. "That one," he pointed at a marking close to the victim's left foot, "represents night. So we're looking at some sort of creature of the night that was being summoned."

"Or perhaps a god?" J'onn offered.

"What makes you think that?"

"Dr. Destiny referred to himself as the God of Dreams. A number of people have been doing the same. If we're in agreement that Dr. Destiny was aligned with the people Flash and Superman encountered, then they're summoning the same things."

That was a fair point. Before he could add to that, Batgirl suddenly appeared at his side. "I found this," she announced, holding up a jacket with one hand by the collar. With her other hand, she searched its pockets before pulling out what looked like a wallet.

Batman silently accepted the wallet from his protege and opened it, checking its contents. "Not much money, a couple credit cards with the same name as the license holder—John Dee." Pulling out the driver's license, he then held it out to J'onn. "Does he look familiar to you?"

J'onn took one glance at it before he responded, "That's the man I pulled out of your subconscious, the one calling himself Dr. Destiny."

Well, well, it seemed they had an ID confirmation on their telepath. A search through the criminal database would be done shortly. Checking the rest of the wallet, he then found a business card, one addressed to Maximilian Zeus.

Batman paused at that. He knew of that man; they shared similar social circles. While Bruce Wayne had done minimal business with the shipping tycoon, they attended many parties together. What was his business card doing in Dee's wallet?

The plot thickened when Batgirl pulled something else out of Dee's jacket. "This looks like a badge," she said before holding it out to the Dark Knight. Taking it from her, he saw she was indeed right. A picture of Dee's face was on the badge, the name of Zeus' shipping company at the top. So Dee was one of Zeus' employees.

Hmm, that could prove useful.

"So Dee makes himself this ritual circle and finds himself a victim," Batman started. "He takes off his jacket and shoves his belongings into the pockets—why? Clearly he was expecting something to happen."

"When I saw him, he was dressed in a Greek toga," J'onn supplied. "Perhaps he saw to a change of clothes?"

"Yet that wasn't how he appeared in my subconscious, right? He was some man in a cloak with a skull for a face, or so you've told me." Vaguely he could recall the same description attacking him just before he was knocked out. "So he has the power to change his appearance, at least in dreams. What would be the point in taking off his jacket and valuables?"

"He could have been anticipating a wardrobe change," the Martian suggested. "Previous rituals performed could have ended with the performers in different costumes."

Definitely a possibility, though Batman felt he was getting to hung up on what Dee was wearing. "We need to learn more about Dee," he concluded. "And Maximilian Zeus will be helping us."

"You intend on interrogating him?" J'onn asked.

"In a manner. Zeus is about to receive a visit from Bruce Wayne. We'll see if he's willing to offer up what we want to know without resorting to...rougher measures."

John Dee had felt the battles that had gone on this night. It was a presence in his head, one that increased with intensity throughout. It wasn't painful, just an awareness.

He definitely steered clear of those. He had no doubt that Martian would be part of them and he did not need to have that man locate him just now. His mind was formidable, not to mention he did not seem to sleep at any given moment. He had been waiting for his opportunity to move in, one that was hard to come by.

John was certain that it was the Martian, not that little girl he had met inside the Batman's mind that had removed him. She was just a figment, a creature created by dream dust by the Martian to misdirect him as to the source of opposition. She had never appeared to him before and it wasn't until the second battle that she had emerged.

Dr. Destiny would not be fooled so easily.

For now he was making himself a moving target. Those Bat vigilantes would be searching for him as well and they had a well-earned reputation for tracking down hard to find people. Staying in one place for too long was a sure way to get caught. Perhaps he needed to make a false trail to throw them off?

At the very least, there wasn't anyone that could tell them anything. Anyone he encountered he put to sleep and left them with a sweet, sweet dream. Even now he could feel them in the back of his head as they frolicked and played in their imaginary wonderlands. Those dreams would sour into nightmares though, ones so bad that it will be all they can think about. People remembered negative emotions a lot more than positive ones. He was counting on these people to only focus on their scary nightmare than to say they saw him creeping around.

"Yooohooooo!"

John frowned. Was someone trying to hail him? He wasn't on the strip where prostitutes would be vying for his attention, so this was a curious place for that.

Turning around, he was greeted with the sight of a man in a dark trench coat and hat. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" the man asked pleasantly, his hands shoved into his pockets.

John had just came that way and he hadn't seen the man there; yet, he stood there as if he had been there the entire time. Something about this wasn't right. "That's none of your business," he retorted shortly. "Why don't you just go to sleep, alright?"

"Well, I would, but you see, I ran into an old friend of mine." The man pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and faced John. "It's been awhile, wouldn't you say, Morpheus?"

That caused his head to perk up. How did he know that name? And how would he know about the god he was bonded to? The name was so obscure, the common man wouldn't have dropped it by accident much less on purpose.

John held a hand up. "You're going to wish you hadn't ever said that," he threatened.

"And what are you going to do? Gently urge me to fall asleep? Force me into unconsciousness? Tsk tsk, I thought you would be more refined than that." The man stopped his approach. "Something like this."

Suddenly, something wrapped around John's body, pinning both of his arms at his sides. It was thick and heavy and surprised the dream god. Then something scaly brushed up against his face, causing him to look at it.

Much to his astonishment, a large snake was moving into view. It turned its head to regard him, staring him down with slitted eyes. "Now that I have you, my captive audience, let's put this charade to bed." The man then moved a hand inside of his coat and pulled out a pink flower. He took a few more steps to John and held it out to him. "Here, have a whiff."

Suddenly, a yellow gas sprayed out of the flower, causing John to gag as he began to cough violently. He continued to cough even as his body began to go rigid and he lost feeling. Then he stopped coughing all together as his entire body went numb.

"These mortals come up with all sorts of neat tricks, don't they, Morpheus?" the man asked as he admired his flower before sticking it back into his coat. "Now then, the others are waiting on us and it would be rude for us to be late."

John tried to talk, but he found he could not. He was paralyzed! That gas, it had something to do with this!

Suddenly, the man paused. "I can feel your fear growing. Oh, that's nice." Despite the shadows covering his face, John could see the man's tongue stick out and lick his lips. "I know! Let's cause you a little more terror!"

And then he reached up and pulled off his hat, much to John's growing horror. He knew that face! Any rational Gothamite knew it on sight! The Joker looked back at him, snakes growing right out of his head as this wiggled and slithered about. "I think we have a few more moments to spare," the Joker said with a grin growing across his face. "Why don't we enjoy them together?"

Somebody! Anybody! Help me!