A Beautiful Madness

Arkham Asylum]

"And it was at that moment...that I felt something new...something beautiful...I never felt so alive..." J explains to the blonde woman sat beside him. J was strapped down from the wrists and feet to a steel gurney. He looks up to the ceiling directly at the light. His lips were in a nightmare-themed grin. Harleen Quinzel sat with her legs crossed as she took notes on the clipboard in hand. She found herself looking over the man tied down before her. She was clearly on edge, however, she found something strange in herself that was drawing her to him.

"I see. I noticed that you were talking about that bat guy like you know him?" Harleen raises an eyebrow.

"My sweet Harley. I have always felt alone in this cruel world...so cold...so confused. Well...that's all that I can remember...everything else...is fuzzy...but I never forgot him..." J cranks his neck so he could look at the doctor "You want to know something...funny? I made him into that..." J chuckles.

"Made him into that? I don't understand. Why would you do that? He put you back in here" Harleen fixes her glasses.

"I did it...because it was the only way I could have anyone who would understand me. You'll be surprised. Once you are known as a madman...everyone thinks that everything that you say or do is...crazy. Tell me my dear...do you think that I'm...crazy?" J's soft-spoken words contradicted his outer appearance to the point of confusing the doctor of what is real and what isn't. She took a minute or two to gather her thoughts on him. Could this man really be the monster that people made him out to be?

Harleen has been in Gotham for years and worked at Arkham for just as long. She has seen the strangest of people in her time. It was her job after all. However, this "J" was something in an entirely different category altogether. This man in front of her was feared by mostly everyone in the city. She has heard the stories about how Jeremiah Valeska along with his brother tormented the city of Gotham. The destruction and death that they brought with them, but this J seemed to be nothing like the stories described.

The man before her seemed to be so calming. A polite manner that heavily contradicted his grimace look. She felt sorry for the man. Like he was unfairly and unjustly thrown back in here where he would never get the help that he desperately needed. Everyone in the madhouse was too frightened to even look at him, let alone actually try and talk to him. Harleen knows that she would be the only person that would give the guy a chance. That's why she chose to be here of course.

And she would honor the vow that she made to herself.

"I don't think that you're crazy. Just misguided. Everyone treats you like a monster. No wonder why you are starting to believe that, but I promise...that I won't. You're not a madman...or some scary monster. You're just a person who the world has abandoned. I promise that from now on...you won't be alone" Harleen smiles at J.

"You are too kind my dear. That means a lot" J smiles back to her.

"That's why I'm here" she leans forward and slides her hand into his.

"We've talked about me a lot, but I'm not too sure I know that much about you? Tell me about yourself, Harley?" J asks the blonde.

"Well uh...I don't know...uh...what would you like to know...?" Harleen inquires as she was taken back by the man's question.

"Oh...I don't know...how was your day, perhaps maybe you could tell me about your greatest desire in life or your deepest fear? or my personal favourite: your defining moment, I'm not picky, I would just like to know something about you. You sat here and listened to me ramble on...I feel it is only fair that I do that for you? After all...we all need someone to talk to, otherwise, we would all go mad..." J gives a full smile.

"I...Uh..." Harleen was clearly unconformable with the man's request. Not because of the question itself, but for the answers that it could possibly lead to. She rubs her nose and decides since it was the two of them alone. She wouldn't have to worry about other people overhearing it "Promise to keep doctor-patient confidentiality?" she jokes.

""I won't tell a soul" J was quick to reassure her.

"I remember on my twelfth birthday. My family and I went to the local circus that just came into town. I had never seen a clown at that point so I was really excited. When we first got there...well it was amazing. The rides, the booths even the performers were amazing and the fireworks! Oh, the fireworks...they were so beautiful. Blue, purple, red and even yellows sparks all over the sky. It was the most amazing moment of my life, everything was amazing..."

"Then what happened?" J interjects.

"Nothing. The whole thing was amazing and one of my fondest memories. It's what happened after that scared me..."

"Really? What could have possibly happened to ruin that moment for you?" J asks.

"My Father...he had a history of drugs and alcohol, but he managed to fight off his addiction for me and my siblings. He loved us all with all his heart. He wasn't wealthy or anything, but he used every bit of money that had on his family. He would have done anything for us. He was such a good person, but that didn't stop my mother from sleeping with another man. Then leaving my father. She took me and my sisters with her and left him with nothing..." Harleen had to try to hold herself back from tearing up.

"Soon after that. He had relapsed back to his old self. The drugs, the alcohol. He even started smoking. He continued that downward spiral until one day he just couldn't deal with his life anymore. He decided to end it all and shot himself. I only found out because I overheard my mom one night when she was drinking with her friends. I remember a couple years later, I learned that my dad had tried to contact my mom and asked to see me and my sisters. My mom just said no and acted like he had no right to do so..." Harleen adds.

"That's when I promised myself and in the memory of my father. That I would never let someone who needed help go without it. That's why studied psychology and why I am here now. I heard the stories about Gotham and how badly the mentally ill were treated here. I knew that I could finally make a difference here. I always tell my co-workers that this is just the beginning of my career, but between you and me. I'm happy as things are..." Harleen took a deep breath.

"Wow...that was...I have never opened up to anyone like that before...not even my mother. I feel so conformable with you. Like I can trust you with anything...thank you, Mr. J., I feel so lonely sometimes, but now that I'm with you...I feel so...I can't describe the feeling with words..." the blonde stresses "I was always so scared to open up to people knowing that they could be judging me. Laughing at me..." Harleen gives a shy smile to the man lying in front of her.

"My dear Harley. You are seeing it" J comments.

"Seeing what?"

"The cracks in what the people call society. They laugh at your fears, call them irrational. They make you feel foolish for not playing along with them. They just don't want you to see the truth. Truth be told. When the chips are down and the pressure is on. Your neighbour, the bank accountant, that pimple covered teenager who works in the shop. When they become desperate enough...they will snap in an instant and kill to survive. Sure people like to hold on the notion of normal behaviour for us and will do anything to keep it even after they are proven wrong again and again. If you ask me...those type of people are the lunatics..." J smirks as his eyes look into the blonde's eyes "And we are the only ones who are truly...sane..."

"I...I can see where you are coming from...people can be so cruel" Harleen was in deep thought over the man's words. Her mind was now burning from the ways that he looked at her. The way his eyes tracked her. The sound of his voice and even the little details of him tapping his fingers against the steel surface. Everything about the man was entrancing to her.

"Exactly! That's it! I knew that you were one of the smart ones. That's why he and I exist. The Bat and Me. He'll fight with everything he has in the misguided hope of making this city better while in reality, he's only been fighting just to keep it the same and from getting worse. I exist to show the world that the world we already live in is a lost cause. That's why we are destined to fight each other...not to show which one of our ideas will prevail, but simply because with...we can...whose going to stop us?"

"It's making sense. Without light...darkness is an abyss, without darkness...light is blinding. Where's the one, there will be the other..." Harleen observes.

"In other words. When there is the Bat...I'll be there and to have a few laughs on the way"

"..."

"...Bruce..."

"...Bruce..."

"Can you hear me...?"

"...Wake up..., Bruce..."

"Bruce!"

"...Talia?" Bruce whispers as his eyes open, his vision still blurry and sides sill arching. A took a couple of seconds, but his vision soon sharpened and before him sat Selina Kyle. His eyes look to her as he realizes that he was in an unfamiliar location. A well-kept room with a king-sized bed which he happened to be lying in. Selina was holding a soaked scrunched up towel to his forehead as she leans forward. Her green eyes look over him as she breathes a sigh of relief.

" I hope You know when I wished I could get you in my bed...this wasn't exactly what I had in mind..." Selina raises an eyebrow. Bruce moves his hand down to his stomach was a bloodstained bandage was wrapped around him. His eyes wince as he moves his hand across the concealed wound.

"...What happened...?" Bruce asks.

"You were stabbed and nearly bled out in the ally behind the GCPD. Also...I had to cut you out of that suit of yours...so yeah...it's ruined" Selina explains as she raises an eyebrow "But since I just saved your life. I hope you won't be too mad about that..."

Bruce sits up "No...I mean what happened to your hair? It's...black now?" Bruce holds his wound tightly. He looks to Selina whose once long blonde hair was now neck-long black. Selina's eyes widened at the man's remarks.

"In my line of work...let's just say the old hair just wasn't cutting it, also it's been like this for two months now...which you have known if you actually tried to talk to me...but you're always busy roaming above rooftops and scaring the hell out of criminals and almost getting killed - remember to add that one to the list..." Selina removes the towel from Bruce's head "Seriously? What the hell happened last night to put you into that situation? I thought you were supposed to have been trained by the world's greatest martial arts masters or something like that..."

"It was him..."

"Who would that be?" Selina asks.

"My doubleganger...he's back and working for the Court of Owls..." Bruce explains as he pulls the sheet off of his bottom half and tried to get up. Selina quickly moved and forced him back down with her hands "I need to get back out there...I can't let them take control of Gotham all over again..." Bruce tells the black-haired woman.

"Woah, hold on just a minute. Are you talking about the guy who pushed me out a window? Because if he's back...I didn't get payback on him" Selina bats her eyes as she finds herself leaning into the man under her "Where is he?"

"Don't think about it, Selina. He has all my training...the court made sure of that. If you fight him...you will die..." Bruce glares up to Selina.

"Cats have nine lives, remember? Unlike you, you should be grateful that I was in the area when I heard all the gunfire. Otherwise, you would be dead..." Selina taps him on the nose "Plus how are you even planning to go after him? You are in no condition, plus your suit is trashed" Selina tries to remind him.

"That suit was just a prototype...I had Lucius working on a new one...I need to get back out there..."

Selina showed a sign of annoyance at the man's stubbornness "You are sounding very confident for someone who was drowning in their own blood less than ten hours ago"

"I need to stop him before he hurts anyone else...I'm the only one who can..." Bruce's narrows his eyes as he moves the woman's hands off his chest "The Court of Owls were stopped before and I will make sure they will be again, and this time...they won't be returning" the man stands to his feet and holds the bandage that was covering his wound "If I don't stop them...Gotham will just become theirs's again...and they will kill whoever stands in their way! No other child is going to be put through that!"

"Fine! Whatever! Go out and get bloodied up again, just know I may not be there to save your ass again. And that if you are thinking of going to Gordon for help...the whole city thinks you were the one who killed those cops!" Selina throws a newspaper towards Bruce. The billionaire catches it and looks at the front page.

"Bat Vigilante blamed for the murder of cops...by Vicki Vale" Bruce scans through the newspaper "The whole city will be looking for Batman...I need to find Talon, stop the court and clear the Batman's name..." he throws the paper back onto Selina's bed. Bruce looks to the corner of the room where the cut-up remains of the Batsuit was. He kneels down and takes out an earpiece from the cowl. He presses it into his ear "Alfred, I need a ride back to Wayne Manner...also tell Lucius to prep the Batsuit 2.0"

"Master Bruce, thank the lord that you are alive. You made me and Lucius bloody worried, right. I got your location and I'll there soon..." Alfred replies to Bruce.
"I would say that you should be careful, but I know you better than that" Selina directs towards him.

"I didn't spend the last ten years training just to be careful" Bruce responds.

"And I didn't wait for the last ten years for you to come home just to watch you get yourself killed!" Selina runs in front of him and pushes him back "After all we have been through...every painful moment that we shared...every second of suffering that we endured...you just left me with a letter - that I couldn't even read because my tears soaked the ink and paper. I only read halfway through it before it became unreadable!" she tells Bruce.

She looks up to her eyes could meet his own "And you can't even bring yourself to say Hi once you get back. You instead dress as a bat to scare lowlifes. Do you have any idea how inadequate that made me feel? How many nights a spent awake thinking about how worthless I was? Do you even know what that was like?"

"This isn't the time for this" Bruce tells the woman in front of him.

"It's never been the time with you lately. I want to get this Talon guy as much as you. Trust me...but if you are even thinking of going out there again to fight him...you are bringing me with you. We can do this together" Selina hisses at him.

"I don't think so. This is my fight. Talon has all my training...and none of my morals. He will kill you without a second thought! I will not have that on my shoulders...I am going alone, understood!" he growls back to Selina.

"You are just one man, Bruce. You can't save Gotham all by yourself! Gordon has been trying ever since that night in the ally and things haven't gotten better! The City has only gotten worse and just to go back to the normal Gotham that he was trying to save in the first place. Why are you so insistent on saving something that can't be saved?" Selina tries to appeal to the man's reason. She desperately tried to knock some sense into his thick skull.

"My parents believed in this city. They saw the good in it. The good in its people and they were gunned down for it. We saw the good too! When we were standing off against Bane and his men. We should have been killed, but the people of Gotham stood together! That was hope for the city! And that is what I fight for. Those people who choose to be good. Who decided to do the right thing even with the city being as it is. They need to know that the criminals of this city do not own it! I show the people that the filth of the city can be stood up to! That is what I fight for and is who I am. That is Batman"

"All the times that I helped you...all the times I told you to believe in yourself. If I knew that it would have led you down this path of yours...I would have done things differently. I'm sorry you had to become this, Bruce" Selina turns her back to him as she folds her arms "This feels like it was my fault. I failed you, Bruce..."

"Don't feel sorry for me. Save your sympathy for the Court and the Talon once I am through with them. They'll regret coming back to Gotham and crossing my path"

"Bruce! You are talking like a madman. Can you please just sit down and try to talk and you're gone, aren't you?" Selina turns only to see that Bruce had vanished along with the remains of his Batsuit "That dumbass is going to get himself killed..."

[Arkham Asylum]

"Hey let go of me!" Riddler yells as two guards push him into his cell, quickly locking the door behind him. Now dressed in the white and black stripped uniform he screams "Back in Arkham! Ed, how could you be such a fool? If it wasn't for that flying rodent I would still be a free man! He thinks that he is so much better than me? Well, I hope the Court kills him!" Riddler vents his frustration as he sits on the bed of the room "The Riddler defeated...how can this be?"

"Sounds like you are having a rough day, my friend" a voice comes from the next room along.

"That voice..." Riddler's eyes widened as fear washes all over his body "Jeremiah Valeska? Look about that thing about ramming the thing into your leg...I can explain..." he tries to explain while he stumbles over his words.

"Jeremiah who? He moved out a long time ago. I'm the new Tennent to this mind. Look, pal, water under the bridge. I'm guessing that Batman put an end to whatever party you had going, eh.?" the voice from the other room laughs.

"Batman? Is that he's called now? I'm going to devise the most elaborate conundrum to defeat him and prove to everyone that I am the strongest intellectual mind in all of Gotham!" Riddler forms his hand into a fist.

"Slow down there. You beat Batman? Now I thought that I was the one with the knack for making bad jokes" the voice ended with a couple of chuckles.

"Well J or whatever you call yourself. I will beat Batman! I am his greatest villain! I will prove that I am superior to him!" Riddler quickly shoots back.

"Sorry, J ain't home either. I finally figured it out...the hidden beauty that was trying to emerge. The beauty that I didn't understand until now. I see it all. The pointlessness of life...I see the funny side to the dull reality that we live in...I am Batman's greatest foe. This city is a wonderland of lunatics and Batman and I will become its main attractions. I feel it all ready to burst within me...bubbling...heating up...ready to pop at any moment...I can feel it..."

"Who are you then...?" Riddler asks nervously.

"...Why spoil the surprise...it deserves an audience to bear witness Ha Ha Ha..."

The Batcave

"Master, Bruce. You need to rest! Who knows how much blood you've lost!" Alfred calls over to Bruce. Bruce snaps his utility belt into place and pulls over his cowl. Batman now stood in his place. Wearing a new black suit covered with armour. Batman begins to walk over to a large monitor where he begins to type "Bruce! Bloody Hell! I thought you were dead...and you are just going to go back out there when the whole city is out looking for you? The Court is now on your back! What can you do?" Alfred tries to get the man's attention.

"I'll win. That's what I'll do. I'll show them that this is my city" Batman replies as he searches through the files on the monitor.

"How the bloody hell are you planning on doing that? The Court of Owls is a secret society for a reason. They will be almost impossible to find if not. It could take weeks!" Alfred calls back.

"Talon said that they have been in Gotham ever since the city was being reconstructed. That's around ten years...which means there has to be some information on them somewhere, and there is only one person in the city that would know it. Roman Sionis aka Black Mask: biggest crime boss in Gotham for the last 8 years. He lays back while he gets his men to do the dirty work. Almost impossible to find. Commissioner Gordon has been trying to find Black Mask for years...though he has only managed to find three of his men" Batman explains as he turns and begins to walk away from Alfred.

"Where are you going?" the older man asks.

"I think it's about time that Roman met The Batman. Once the Court knows that I am looking for them...they are bound to come to me. And this time. Talon will be the one crawling away" the dark knight adds.
"Bruce! These are the same people who had your parents killed. Please tell me that you aren't planning to..." Alfred shouts out to the caped crusader.

"I'm not planning to kill them...but they are going to wish that I was" Batman yells back as he grabs the grapple gun from the workbench "The Court ordered the hit on my parents. Defeating them will be the only to know if I am the one meant to save this city. End of discussion. They may have intimidated Bruce Wayne as a kid, but this time. Batman is going to be the one who will show them fear!"

"I bet Oliver Queen's butler doesn't have to put up with this..." Alfred sighs.