Bruce stood in the back of the opera theater as the mezzo-soprano's voice filled the enormous room. He didn't have a ticket but it was easy for him to be allowed entry. He knew that Lucius was here with his wife and he was debating whether or not to text him or to wait for the show to be over. He could not wait.

He let Lucius know which doorway he was standing in. After he his send, the singer's voice reached the peak of the song and her voice shook the fear, confusion, and desperation in him. Lucius was tall enough that Bruce could see him making his way down the aisle from afar. Once he was sure that Lucius had seen him, Bruce turned and walked out to the hall.

"Is everything alright?" Lucius asked Bruce once they were outside.

"No," Bruce said.

"Bruce?" Lucius asked.

"I need to know where you relocated him," Bruce said. "Now."

Lucius was quiet. He knew who Bruce was referring to.

"I went back to..." Bruce said, frustration filling him. He didn't want to have to explain. He just wanted answers. "He was gone. You didn't tell me he had been moved yet."

The Joker was still in Gotham. Bruce didn't know that. He was being relocated to the Dominican Republic in just a few short days. Bruce had trusted Lucius with moving the Joker from the underground prison he had been in, but what Bruce didn't know was that he had long been freed. The secret both Adriana and Lucius had kept from him for months.

"Bruce," Lucius said, trying to soothe Bruce with his voice. "There's no need for you to be concerned about that. Everything is being taken care of-"

"No," Bruce interrupted him. "I don't want him held in a secure location...guarded...no. No, no, no-"

Bruce stopped talking and looked at Lucius for a moment before continuing.

"I want him dead," Bruce said under his breath as a man walked by them and through the doors to audience seating.

"That's not necessary," Lucius said. "Everything is fine-"

"It's not!" Bruce's voice echoed off of the high ceilings. He went on nearly whispering. "If you knew what that son of a bitch has done...you'd tell me where he is right now so that I can take care of this."

"Who have you been talking to, Bruce?" Lucius asked.

Bruce squinted and looked at Lucius. "What do you know?"

"This...has something to do with Adriana," Lucius answered.

"She told you," Bruce said, unable to believe what he was thinking. "How long did you know? When did she tell you?"

Lucius took a breath to answer but Bruce didn't give him a chance to speak.

"When did she tell you about Arsenio?" Bruce asked. "How long have you known?"

"It was before he was born, Bruce," Lucius answered and Bruce immediately half-turned away from him and placed a hand on his forehead in shock. "Listen, Bruce, I am not sure who told you about this but whatever you know..clearly isn't the entire truth-"

"What makes you say that?" Bruce asked in such a harsh tone that Lucius could tell he didn't even want an answer. "I don't understand this. Why are you protecting him? Did Adriana ask you to? Like when she made me swear not to kill him, which I should have done instead of putting him underground. Tell me where he is."

"Bruce, I can't do that until you understand the situation," Lucius told him.

"He manipulated her," Bruce said. "And she...somehow she fell for it and became protective of a monster. I don't need to dissect this situation Lucius, I just need you to tell me the location right now. Now."

"We need to sit down and talk about this Bruce," Lucius tried to speak again but Bruce was already cutting him off.

"Fine then," Bruce said. "You won't tell me. I will find out where you've placed him on my own, Lucius."

Bruce turned to walk away and after taking a few steps he turned back to Lucius.

"You're fired."

.

.

.

"Hey," Bruce heard Harri's voice whisper behind him as he stood by Arsenio's crib.

He turned and looked at her. When she saw the look on his face she went over to him and took his arm and pulled him out of the room and gently shut the door.

"Everything okay?" she asked him.

He nodded and reached for the door knob to go back into Arsenio's room. She took his hand.

"Bruce.." she said. "I'm here to help with Arsenio..but also to hep you. This is a hard time for all of us...you can talk to me. You know that."

"I...can't..." Bruce said, his words sounding like it was talking all he had to speak. "Talk...to anyone..about-"

"Bruce..Bruce..." Harri said, suddenly a bit worried about how broken he sounded. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. "It's okay...it's all going to be okay. I promise."

"I don't know what to do," she heard Bruce murmur. "If I can't find..."

"Find what?" she asked.

Bruce released himself from the embrace and took a step back. "Nothing.." he said, realizing in his emotional moment that he was saying too much.

"Bruce...please..talk to me," she said. "You can trust me."

He was shaking his head.

"I promise," she said.

"I need to talk to someone..but it can't be you," Bruce told her. "Alfred.."

"Well he's asleep and it seems like you need someone to talk to right now," Harri told him.

Bruce considered it for a few moments. He knew that he could trust her but he didn't know how much of the truth she could handle.

"Come with me," he said and Harri followed him.

He went into his bedroom and she went in behind him. He yanked off his jacket and tossed it onto a chair and then went over to a dresser drawer and pulled out a shiny strange looking fabric. He held it for a long moment and then handed it to Harri.

She looked at him strangely as she stretched out the material, finding out that is was a full body leotard in a type of material unlike anything she had ever seen or felt.

"Um..." Harri said, still lost. "Is it Versace?"

"No," Bruce said. "It was Adriana's."

"I figured that it was her's..I mean, it's a little girly for you," Harri said. "Why are you giving me this?"

"I'm..not giving it to you," Bruce said. "I'm showing you. Do you recognize it?"

She shrugged one shoulder, not understanding the guessing game. "Balmain?"

Bruce shook his head, as though he was not going to tell her if she couldn't figure it out.

"Well..." she said. "I mean I don't know any designer's that would make something like-"

She was reaching inside one of the sleeves and pulled out a thin mask.

"Wait..." Harri said, finally recognizing what she was holding. "This looks like..that woman..Shade? This looks like what she wears. The vigilante-"

Bruce was nodding.

"I don't get it, Bruce," Harri said. "Why would Adriana have this?"

He was still quiet and Harri looked back down at the fabric in her hands. Slowly she walked over to the bed and sat on the edge.

"No.." Harri said. "I mean..this is some kind of replica? A Halloween costume."

"It's not a replica," Bruce said.

"What are you trying to say? Shade? Is.." Harri paused. "Was...Adriana?"

Bruce felt a chill come over him as Harri made the connection.

"I saw.." Harri said. "Some people on the news..some group...they were...saying they wanted Shade to return.."

Bruce nodded, weakly.

"This..can't be Bruce," Harri said. "I've seen things about Shade. I mean, on TV..on Youtube even. She's..a bad ass! She fights! Adriana couldn't fight...she'd never even been in a fight-"

"That's why..." Bruce walked over and sat on the bed beside Harri. "I didn't figure it out until she told me. Adriana..she was so sweet and delicate and..I never put the pieces together."

"I can't grasp this, Bruce. I need to see her..Shade. I don't believe it."

Bruce pulled out his phone and found several photos with a simple Google search.

"No.." Harri said, simply denying it. "Dark hair and eyes-"

"Wig and contacts."

"She fights! How would Adriana even learn-"

"I trained her," Bruce said.

"Bruce," Harri chuckled. "Come on..you? Of all people? Shade was a real fighter-"

"And so am I," he said. "I was a vigilante as well."

"Right," Harri said, looking at him like he was crazy. "And which one are you?"

"The one that Gotham hates at the moment," he said. "After they saw released footage of what happened to their beloved former DA, Harvey Dent."

"So..you think you're the Batman?" Harri, now sounded more concerned than amused. "Bruce...I think the grief is making you...disassociate from reality."

"Okay," Bruce said and took the suit and stood to put it back in the drawer.

"Bruce..it's okay..none of us want to face reality sometimes-"

"It's fine," Bruce said. "We don't have to talk about it anymore. I'm...rather tired. I think I'll turn in now."

"Okay," Harri stood and walked to the door. "I'm sorry for laughing Bruce-"

"No worries," he said. "It's a lot..I understand it sounded ridiculous. It's fine...goodnight."

"Ok...goodnight.." she said and walked over to the door and watched him lift the suit and refold it more neatly, placing the mask on top with care. "Bruce.."

Bruce looked up quietly.

"Adriana and I..." Harri said, remembering something. "We were on video chat once...she...she was wearing a dark wig."

Bruce raised his eyebrows.

"And she...all of a sudden," Harri was in disbelief remembering her own memories. "I mean she was always so skinny...but then she started getting.. a body. Like..she had muscles and everything-"

Bruce closed the drawer slowly.

"Surely..these are coincidences," Harri said, her voice a bit shaky. She put her hands into her long curly hair for a moment.

"No," Bruce said.

"And you're the Batman," Harri said.

"To be fair..I also had more of a body before..all of this happened."

Harri nodded. Bruce had lost a ton of weight since Adriana's death. But Harri remembered what he looked like before.

"How did all of this happen?" Harri asked and walked over to Bruce.

"She worked for the police..I needed her services," he said.

"You..as in the Batman," Harri said, even though it was obvious.

"Correct," he said. "She figured out my true identity very easily. We became close..she asked me to train her. I had no idea she would actually become a vigilante. She was good, but she always held back in our training."

"Bruce.." Harri said. "This sounds like..something out of a movie. For real."

Bruce laughed weakly. "You could say that."

"How did you find out? That she was Shade?"

"She told me on our honeymoon."

"Really?" Harri asked. "That..late?"

"Yes."

"So..it this why you're so upset tonight? You were remembering both of your..vigilantism?"

"No. That...is a bit more..insane."

"Bruce..tell me. Look..I believe you. Whatever you say. I mean it can't get any crazier than you both being Shade and the Batman."

"Sit," Bruce gestured towards the end of the bed again and Harri sat as he continued standing.

"I'm ready, just tell me."

"While she was Shade, she was forced to work for a criminal," Bruce said. "One who threatened to kill people if she didn't cooperate. Threatened to kill children."

Harri's face gave him pause but she composed herself quickly to get him to go on.

"Did she do something terrible?" Harri said, not wanting to hear terrible things about her late sister who she loved so much, but she told Bruce she was prepared for anything. She forced herself to be.

"Something happened to her," Bruce said.

"What happened?"

"This..criminal.." Bruce said as if fighting the need to be sick. "I don't know all of the details but.."

"Bruce..just say it."

"He manipulated your sister. And got her pregnant," Bruce said. "I think..maybe she got confused. Began caring for him. That doesn't matter. But I just found out tonight. That is why I am upset."

"Pregnant?" Harri said. "Did she have an abortion?"

"No," he said. "Arsenio..isn't my biological son."

"And..someone told you this tonight? There's no way this is true-"

"I've always known he wasn't mine," Bruce said. "Biologically."

Harri was stunned.

"Bruce..the timeline of this makes no sense. She was pregnant when you got engaged and..you knew she was having someone else's child? And you both just lied to everyone? And she didn't even tell you she was Shade until after the wedding?"

"She didn't want to talk about her previous relationship..and I didn't care. I loved her too much to care," he said. "And I still think highly of her..no matter what happened. None of it was her fault. She was kind and forgiving to everyone. Too kind..too forgiving."

"Bruce.." Harri said, hesitant to ask. "Who's Arsenio's father?"

Bruce looked down and away. "It doesn't matter. I will kill him and he won't be remembered."

"You have to tell me Bruce," she said. "Or I will think all sorts of crazy things. Like maybe it's that guy that robbed central bank a few weeks ago..or the one who was robbing gas stations for months..or the guy who killed that woman out jogging-"

"Worse than all of them combined," Bruce said, his anger finally showing. Harri could see he was vengeful.

"Who?" she asked, her voice meek and nervous.

"Apparently," Bruce said looking Harri in the eyes. "It was the Joker."

Harri looked like she didn't even know what to say. The man was practically a celebrity..of the worse kind. America's most wanted. When she tried to imagine his appearance, all she could see was a madman painted up like some kind of devil.

"But...that..that guy is dead-"

"No," Bruce said. "I had him held underground after abducting him. He's been moved and I haven't been told where. Lucius..you remember him-"

"Of course-"

"He's relocated him and won't tell me where. It seems he doesn't believe that monster hurt your sister, even though it's obvious. He's protecting him."

"Why did you put him underground? Why didn't you kill him already?"

"Because you sister made me promise not to. But obviously..I have to break that promise-"

"She told me about someone..someone she was with," she said. "She never told me any details..but she told me he wasn't a great person-"

"What?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah..I mean the timeline would add up..to when she got pregnant..But it didn't seem like she was being hurt or anything..to say the least-"

"What the hell are you saying Harri?"

"I'm just..telling you what she told me," Harri said.

"You're saying she was happy?"

"Yeah..I mean," Harri said. "But-"

She reached over and looked at Bruce's phone..googling the Joker. She looked at the news images of him. The list of crimes, pictures of victims, a body painted and hung up downtown. There was no way this was the man Harri remembered her sister practically gushing over. She remembered, for the first time in her life, her sister sounding truly pleased and happy. She sounded carefree and joyful in those moments.

"Maybe it was someone else.." Harri said. "Someone else she was with-"

"Yes," Bruce said. "Whoever she was telling you about wasn't the Joker."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going find him and kill him."