Did you think I'd for gotton you guys? Of course not! This thing has been sitting on my back since I started it, and now it's off! That's right. I'M DONE! Last chapters are my weak point, and I haven't even edited it yet, so sorry if it's a let down. :Sniff: this is the last time I get to do this!

Pirate Gyrl: I'm glad you think I captured the spirit of the comics. Guess what? I got one of the originals! It makes me happy...
MadisonReloaded: I love new readers! Glad you noticed how messed up Carm is... because she is. Why is it that everybody thinks this should be a movie?
Maid of the Mer: Thanks for the suggestions... but no. I actually might write a Dick Greyson/OC fic... but I'm not sure.
Savitri: WHY MUST YOU WRITE IN ALL CAPS?
Nightshade0020: MIA is missing in Action and a readerdom is howmany people regularly read your fic. Glad you like, I've been meaning to check out your stuff but I'm always busy.
fluffyllama: New reader welcome! Why is it that everyone thinks I'm smart.

Alright, enjoy, because it's the last you'll get. I'm so sad, I almost cried when writting this, but not because I'msad. Figure it out!

Losing what you never had

Carm woke from her little pity-party with the shock of realizing Bruce was in the doorway. The look he gave her made her already shriveled soul cry for her mommy, but Dragon picked her up and carried her out the door, sending the nastiest subliminal message ever. Bruce was crying inside too; he'd ascertained that there was no hope for Carm and wanted to crawl into a dark hole and wait for death, but Batman caught him while he fell and trekked after the Dragon-supported Carm.

"You amaze me." Bruce called, letting Batman use his voice.

Dragon bid Carm to sneer at him. "I do what I can."

"How can you live like this?" Bruce caught up to her and wrenched the suitcase out of her hands and chucked it over the banister.

"Easily. I live so that I can fight, I fight so I can live. Of course a sniveling coward like yourself wouldn't know about that, would they?" Dragon snarled through Carm's mouth.

Bruce spun her around, his eyes on fire and screamed, "You're letting Dragon control you, and she's no kind person, Carm! You talk about how I let my morals keep me from true justice, but you're letting your selfishness keep you blinded from it! Your need to avenge K.C. is driving you of a cliff, and you're jumping with it! Step back, realize what you're doing before we lose you!"

Dragon stepped back, and Carm screamed on her own. "I'm doing what I need to, Bruce! What's your excuse? You say justice isn't death to murders like him? What a load of bull! He's insane, and the faster I can get you out of my way the better off we'll all be!"

Bruce snarled. "Listen to yourself! He's insane? YOU'RE insane! But I'm not going out trying to kill you! You need to discern Carm from Dragon, you need to keep them separate, or it'll kill you!"

"Keep them separate? Just like you? Can you honestly tell me that if it were a choice between Bruce's emotions and Batman's duty you'd choose Batman? Batman may be the vehicle, but Bruce is the driver of everything he does! When you say "we" you mean 'I.' Practice what you preach and keep Bruce out of Batman and let me be!"

"No."

Carm turned and went down the stairs. "You are weak."

Bruce watched pathetically as she walked down the stairs. To keep from crying out him clenched his fist in his pockets, his right hand closing on a thing that made his heart stop. It was a small square box. His whole body shuddered and he pitched the box as if it were on fire.

By some odd twist of fate, the box bounced behind Carm's descending head and into the den where it hit the power button on the TV. Carm paused, and instead of making for the door, went into the den. Bruce sat down on the steps and watched as her shadow on the wall watched the news for several moments – and collapsed on the floor. Forgetting his anger and hate he rushed down the stairs to make sure she was alright and froze as soon as he stepped in the room. Trembling on the floor, Carm watched in horror at the scene played before her eyes.

The evening had started with an average homicide investigation. But as police entered the building in question, they had all dropped dead, their faces twisted into strange parodies of themselves. It had been an apartment building with 24 levels, and every soul inside was dead. Sitting on the building of the massacre was the Joker, laughing his ass off. He'd killed the camera crew quickly, and everyone else on the site was either following suit or running like mad. He'd left the cameraman alive and was now speaking to the public.

"Good evening, Gotham! Welcome to my first masterpiece, more soon to follow! But of course, not all of Gotham is art loving, I'm sure. Even the Louvre has its set of haters. If you don't want your Gotham to become a grand museum of art, I'd suggest voting for the mayor's impeachment… don't worry, we'll take care of the rest.

"Oh, and one more thing. Batman, your girlfriend did a hell of job on me, so tell sweet cheeks to get her fine little booty over to Wayne Hotel if she doesn't want YOU to be number two in my art collection. And Carmine Lordly, I've got a job for you."

The broadcast was finished when he shot the cameraman. Carm shook her head, and Bruce was terrified to notice the grin she was wearing. Looking up, she glanced at the square box Bruce had thrown. She laughed and slipped it in her pocket. Walking past Bruce she spat on him and muttered, "I told you so."

Bruce gave up, grabbed a pillow, and screamed into it. He screamed for Gotham, he screamed for what the Joker had done, but most of all he screamed for Carm. She'd been one big mistake. He never should have given her a ride that day, then he never would have asked her name, he never would have invited her for dinner, he never would have loved her, Joker never would have been created, and he never would have been so miserable.

He must have fallen asleep there on the floor of the den, because that was where he was when Alfred woke him. "Master Wayne, the manager of your hotel is on the phone, and he says you'd best get down there fast.

Fifteen minutes later Bruce stepped out of his car, staring at the burnt husk of what had been the penthouse suite. "What the hell happened here?"

Gordon stepped up to him, holding out his hand to shake. It took Bruce a moment to remember that he didn't know this man. "I'm Jim Gordon, I'm in charge of the investigation, Mr. Wayne. So far we suspect arson, but we've yet to discover who."

Bruce ran his hands through his hair. "Was anyone staying up there?"

"Yup, couple of crime lords. We managed to arrest them, but to be honest I doubt they'll be convicted of anything. They were all part of a gang alliance, headed up by the Joker. Maybe you've heard of him?"

"How could I not have? Is he the main suspect?" But before Bruce's question could be answered an officer whispered something to Gordon, who nodded grimly.

Looking at Bruce, he motioned for him to follow before he walked away. "They just found the security feed from the time of the fire and a little before. Since it's your hotel I'm assuming you want to see it."

"Of course I do." But he didn't really. He already knew it was Joker who did it, did he need any more proof than the TV broadcast he'd watched earlier?

"Here we go, Mr. Wayne." And they popped the tape in. Bruce was shocked at what he saw. First it was average hotel activity, mixed with several gangs meetings, but they just skipped past all that. Then Joker appeared, waved at the camera, and left, no doubt for his killing spree. That was when they let the feed play at normal speed. Just as he left a head peeked into the window – a good two hundred feet up. The face wasn't recognizable, but the rest certainly was. It was Dragon. With skill only credited to expert thieves, she cut a large hole in the glass and began to feed in a large bag. She quickly surveyed the room, taking note of the structure supports with an expert eye. Then she coated the ceiling, walls, and furniture in a liquid that Bruce assumed to be Dracoignis. Then she coated the floor with another substance, this one much gooier than the first, so much so that she perched on the desk. Inspecting her work, she contemplatively stroked her chin, bringing down the sleeve of fabric that covered her face. Bruce was grateful they couldn't see her face, but his stomach filled with dread as she located the camera and grinned right into it before setting the whole place ablaze and leaving with a parting rude gesture.

"Shit," was all Bruce could say as he cradled his head in his hands. He'd dug himself a nice deep hole, hadn't he?

"Can you identify her?" Gordon asked.

Bruce wanted with all his heart to say no, he had no idea who she was, but he couldn't do that, no matter how much he loved her. "Yes, I can."

Gordon waited for him to elaborate when he didn't he said, "And she is…"

Bruce sighed. "Carmine Alexia Lordly. She and I… we just broke up."

Gordon nodded knowingly. "Well, she didn't take it lightly, did she? Let me guess, she's violent, high maintenance, and she kept secrets from you."

Bruce nodded. "Something like that."

"Did you have any idea she was Dragon?"

Bruce nodded, unable to speak any more.

She perched on the highest cathedral spire in Gotham, contemplating what she was going to do next. She had replaced the sleeve, merely out of habit, so when he came up behind her, even if she had turned around he wouldn't have learned anything.

"Wow, you're crazy, you know that? I'm mean, burning down a whole penthouse just 'cause I pissed you off? Now that's holding a grudge. By the way, what did I do to piss off such a beauty as yourself?"

She whirled around, knocking him off his spire and flattening him against the floor.

"You took everything I ever had."

"I've got a meeting in five minutes, I trust you boys can continue the investigation without me?" Bruce snatched up his coat and was already in the car before he got his answer. Just as he pulled into Wayne Manor he caught sight of the Batsignal in his rearview mirror.

He dashed into the Batcave, Alfred at his heels while he explained things. "Carm's totally lost it. She just set fire to my penthouse suite, and I've got a feeling that her next target went survive as well as Wayne Hotel did."

Alfred sat at the computer, rapidly pressing buttons. "Do you know why she set it on fire, Master Wayne?"

"To get back at someone." Bruce slid quickly into the Batsuit.

"Who?"

Bruce paused. "Either me or Joker. Please, lord, let it be him."

Joker hit the balcony below with a thud, opening the back of his head. Rolling up he grinned. "Play nice, sweetie."

Dragon snarled and elbowed him in the gut. Then she slashed across his stomach. Then she kneed him in the face. Then she pulled him up by the hair. Groping, he clutched at her face, opening four parallel stripes on her cheek. Down slid the mask, and the Joker gasped as he recognized the face.

"C-Carmine Lordly? What the hell are you doing in the Dragon suit!" He stumbled back, the back of his knees hitting the protective railing on the old cathedral's edge.

She laughed and set the wooden rail on fire, holding his face in the flames.

Gordon stood on the by the signal, tapping his watch to make sure it was still working.

"Make it quick, Gordon, I've got business to attend to."

Gordon tuned around, trying to appear as if that hadn't unnerved him. "I assume you heard that Wayne Hotel was partially burned?" Batman nodded. "Well, we know who did it."

"Dragon, I know already."

"You don't miss much."

"Was that all?"

"We think her motivation may be extremely personal, because she showed no qualms about removing her mask, identifying herself as-"

"Carmine Lordly. My personal opinion, she's getting revenge on the Joker for a past wrong. He used to be a co-worker of hers, but when he came to power, he whacked the wrong people."

"But Dragon's been around before the Joker."

"Right, she refrained from mixing the personal with business before this."

"Well, no prizes for guessing what made that change."

But Batman was gone, heading for the Gotham Baroque Theater Church, where Dragon's signal was pulsing on a computer in the Batcave.

Dragon laughed out loud, while Carm sat in the corner with the morbid curiosity of a horror film fan. "As one sadist to another, I've got to tell you this is the most fun I've had since you killed K.C.!"

Joker could only whimper, "Please, I didn't mean to do it."

Dragon kept smiling. "Yes, you did. Be with you in a second, darling."

Batman took a step closer. "Stop it Carm."

"No, I don't think I will."

He took another step and then –

CRACK!

The burning railing broke. Joker fell face forward, plummeting toward the thick cement below. Screaming, he was still on fire as Dragon pushed him down. She clutched his charred lapel grinning in his face. In a final desperate attempt to rid himself of her he kicked out, meeting her stomach just so. She fell away, just in time. He hit the brick of a ledge and his body gave a sickening crunch.

Batman was stunned, but jumped as soon as his wits were back. It was too late, though. He watched Joker hit the outcropping and roll over with the force. Carm twisted her body to look up. It was a strange thing he witnessed. Dragon smiled and then an almost physical transformation took place. Dragon left and the smile was all Carm.

And then she hit the cement.

There was the thud of her spine compacting and a small gasp. Batman almost forgot to slow his own decent. She was hardly breathing, but at least she was alive. "Carm! Carm, are you alright."

She blinked. It took an eternity for her to speak. "Hey, Bruce. Did Dragon get him?"

He could only nod for the tears.

"I thought so." She gasped for breath. "So, guess my work here is done."

Bruce clutched her tight. "No it's not. It's not and you know it."

There were a million things she could have said, but she only had time for, "I'm sorry I lied to you so much, Bruce. But I wasn't lying about one thing. I wasn't lying when I said I loved you."

Bruce kissed her vigorously, as if he could breathe his own life back into her. For one joyful moment, she kissed back, just as hard. But just for a moment.

She went limp. Limp, right in his arms.

By the time the police showed up, Batman was gone. All that was left was Carmine Lordly's dead body… and the almost dead body of the Joker.

Short of his parents funeral, hers was the most painful he'd ever been to. He wasn't even ashamed of the tears that came as freely as they did when he was a child. In his hand he clutched the ring without the box. He didn't know where the box was. He'd found the ring on her finger in the morgue. So she wasn't lying when she said she loved him.

"Neither was I."

:Sob: It's over! WWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Review or I'll cry on you!

Oh, I'm thinking of writing another Batman fic, focusing more on Dick Greyson. Summary's below, tell me if I should write it. And what should her name be?

They found her bruised and broken and bleeding, but all around her were raving lunitics. They hadn't been before... Before what? She's got a special talent to make peopleher and feeland see things that aren't there. Dick is smitten, but Bruce is wary? Living in Wayne Manor, she posed athreat before she figured it out, now what?

Keep in touch, guys! I'll miss you!