Chapter 2: Past History

"I'd like to thank you for dinner, Bruce…" Victoria Star said as she turned the key in her apartment door.

"What are fiancés for?" Bruce Wayne remarked lightly with a shrug and a small smile.

Victoria laughed and leaned over to kiss her fiancés cheek, her tall frame just a few inches shorter then the handsome Bruce Wayne's. She pushed open the door to her penthouse apartment. Victoria made to flip on her living room light to find that the light no longer worked. She pushed the door wider and peered into the living room.

"Victoria, what's wrong?" Bruce asked from behind and opened the door wider to see past Victoria's unmoving frame.

There, silhouetted in the moonlight from the large windowed doors that led to the penthouse's porch, was a tall figure whose red eyes shown in the light from the hallway.

"Hello, Victoria," the Joker said darkly and switched on a floor lamp to reveal himself in his clean pressed purple suit.

Victoria's light-hearted countenance grew dark so she appeared even taller and more rigid than before. The expression she wore was one of cold hate that overshadowed even her vivid blonde hair and pink pearl dress. "What do you want?" here voice was sober and hard.

"Why just to wish you a 'Happy birthday' of course!" Joker exclaimed, remaining light and playful.

Victoria casually ignored the Joker and walked into the adjacent bedroom. Defiantly she flipped on the light and sat at her vanity.

"Awww, Victoria," Joker popped his head around the corner of the wall. "Don't be so mad at me, besides, have you forgotten us?" He walked behind her, placing his white-gloved hands on her shoulders while smiling into the vanity.

"Yes." Victoria did not break her gaze from the mirror. "I forgot the day my old fiancé, Jack Napier, died…" she put on a cold emphasis on the Joker's old name.

"But Victoria, it's me, Jack. I never died." He shook his head in a worried fashion. "You know I was like this even before my accident, or is it that you can get over my stunning new look?" He posed in the mirror.

"It's over Joker. There never was anything between us. I've moved on."

"Oh no you haven't," the Joker leaned close to Victoria's ear. Reaching out, he picked out a medicine bottle amongst her perfumes and makeup, and shook it gently in the mirror next to their two faces.

"You can't forget me… Or that night… Or what's inside you…You forget, I've seen your darker side," the Joker's voice was low and foreboding. "The one you hide from society with these," he shook the bottle furiously. "Let me give you a little advice… In the end, you can't hide who you really are…"

"Joker…" a dark voice said from the window door.

Both the Joker and Victoria looked to see the shadowy figure of Batman standing in the open door.

"Leave her be…" the Dark Knight threatened, advancing on the Joker.

"Easy Bats!" the Joker drew himself up to his full height and raised his hands to show he meant no harm. "I was just bringing Miss Star her birthday present." He reached into his jacket.

Batman slowly edged his hand to this Bat Grapple, ready for anything the Joker may pull out.

Instead of a bomb, Joker took out a small ox wrapped in purple paper and tied with an emerald bow. Slowly and deliberately, he placed the present on the edge of the vanity.

Batman's hand relaxed a bit on the handle of his grapple hook, but he still did not trust the Joker.

"Well, look at the time!" Joker pushed up his sleeve to look at his watch, making a face of mild surprise. "Got to go," he patted Victoria on the head, "bye V. See ya around, Bats." Casually, he walked past Batman and onto the porch.

Batman followed the Joker with his gaze, unsure of what he was up to.

Joker stopped at the edge of the porch. He turned and gave Batman and Victoria a salute and fell over the side.

Batman rushed to the side of the veranda just in time to see the Joker fall into a dump truck full of hay. He then turned his attention back to Victoria. She was staring blankly at the present next to her.

"Miss Star?" Batman stepped over to her fearing another one of Joker's traps.

"Don't worry, Bruce, it's not booby-trapped…" She said in a vacant tone, her eyes unfocused.

"What did you call me?" Batman's heart skipped a beat.

Victoria blinked and looked up at Batman, realizing what she said. "Bruce Wayne?" she whispered in shock.

"How did you know that?" Batman questioned, attempting to keep his shock from showing.

"I don't know… I cold always do things like that when I was younger… I could even move things by looking at them… but this is the first time in what seems like forever that I did that," Victoria went on in a panic. "Maybe my medicine is wearing off. Oh, I'm so sorry, Bruce! I mean… Batman…"

Batman shook his head. "It makes no difference. I would have had to tell you eventually… but what I need to know is how the Joker knows you…"

Victoria grew quiet and looked at herself in the mirror. "It seems like such a long time ago…" She picked up a picture of her and Bruce and pulled a photograph from behind. Without a word, she handed it to Batman.

Batman turned the picture over in his hand. In the picture stood Victoria, clad in a white, corseted, wedding dress with a collared overcoat that hung down showing off her shoulder. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun under a small white top hat that was tilted over her brow with a ribbon bow in the back, trailing down past her shoulder blades.

What surprised Batman, however, was the man who was on her arm. There in full suit and hat was the image of the Joker himself, but it wasn't the Joker. Jack Napier was dressed in the groom's black. His red hair was neatly rushed ask out of his eyes, which held a kind, joyous, yet reserved, glow. His long nose was the same, but his smile was simple and normal, even serious.

"We were to be wed two weeks after that picture was taken… Until the accident…" Victoria's eyes were sad and empty as she gazed at her reflection. "We knew everything about each other. We were partners at work and in life…"

Batman handed the photograph back. "I did everything I could to save him…"

"It doesn't matter now. He will always hold you responsible for his death, whether he admits it was an accident or not… The Joker was always inside. There's a darker side to everyone. We just need the right situation to snap…" She gave a weak smile to Batman.

"Can you help me find him, then?"

"I couldn't tell you anything more except that it is a good chance he will pay me a visit again… As far as I am concerned our loved died when Jack Napier did, but he seems to think differently." Victoria looked around, but Batman had already disappeared.