Thanks once again everyone for reading, reviewing, following and favoring. As I mentioned before, I'm new to this site so I had no idea you could respond to reviews - oops -and that you can't respond to reviews from guests. Learning by doing I guess. :)

I have already a lot more chapters of this story written - just working on filling in some of the gaps. So I already have a pretty good idea where this story is going. Love to hear what you think of the this chapter.

"He has a long police record Master Wayne." Alfred said as they were going over his files.

"Yeah but so far nothing out of the ordinary. He robs banks, blows things up on occasion. Any luck yet on his identity?"

"Not yet sir. He never leaves finger prints and no one knows his real name."

The irony didn't escape him. The Joker was also wearing a mask to protect his identity.

"What about that warehouse? Any details on that?"

"I printed you a list of stolen items sir."

"Good. I'm going to head to the warehouse and see what I can find."

"As Batman or Bruce Wayne sir?"

"Batman of course. Wouldn't be very subtle if I showed up as myself."

"Ah yes sir. What vehicle are you taking?"

"The tumbler."

"Much more subtle..."


I walked in to work in early in the morning, already knowing what story I would be covering today.

"A crazy guy in a clown's mask... What's happening with Gotham. First we have a crazy guy with a bat mask, now we have this guy..." Jacob said looking at the screenshot of the Joker.

"He's not wearing a mask. That's his face." I said while putting down my cup of coffee on my desk.

Jacob looked at me. "Any word from Gordon yet on this?"

"Not more than the press release already said." I hated press releases. Once they were sent, officials were able to say the magic words no journalist wanted to hear I don't have anymore information beyond what's in the press release. Even if they had- they felt like they already gave you something.

"So what's your plan today? More break-ins?" He smirked at me.

"Ha-ha! Very funny. No, I'm just going down to the warehouse for live hits."

He had hit pretty close to home though. When I left Wayne Manor I had played with the idea of following Bruce, since I didn't believe he was actually going to work. But after my most recent disaster on the whole break-in front, I opted against it.

"That doesn't sound like the Catherine Hunter I know."

"I'm on a short leash these days Jake. Can't afford to run around doing crazy shit." At least that was what I would tell him.

"I believe it when I see it."


I had a bunch of live hits from the warehouse, but I felt so useless just standing there telling the public that all we knew was that a crazy man in a purple suit with a face like a clown just stole a bunch of explosives. The Batman must know more and I'm sure he's working with the police. What I would do to see them meeting.

For now, all I could do was to stand at the warehouse and do nothing.

"30 back," the director said in my ear.

"This is WXY 8 - News you can count on." I heard the intro to the news as I was staring at the bright light of the camera.

"Good evening I'm Dan McPherson. We begin tonight with a bizarre incident at a warehouse on 117th St. Catherine Hunter is there live. Catherine what do we know so far?"

"Mic - cue!" The director said.

"Good evening Dan, this is the warehouse that got broken into last night. Gotham PD officials tell me numerous containers of explosives were taken, although they couldn't tell me specifics of how many containers since the investigation is ongoing. Security footage shows the suspect in this case - you can see the image now. They do not have a name for the suspect, many refer to him as the Joker because of his appearance. He is wearing clown-like make-up and has a very noticeable scar on his face. At this point Gotham PD cannot give out a whole lot of information.. We will of course keep you updated as we learn more. Dan - back to you."

"You're clear."

I yanked my IFB out of my ear, annoyed with the lack of information I had to give out.

My hunch was that this Joker guy had something to do with the Greenwood murders. In that moment I saw Gordon walk out of the warehouse.

I quickly walked up to him, he already looked unhappy seeing me.

"Come on Lieutenant, I mean no harm." I said jokingly.

"Nothing personal Ms Hunter. I'm not a fan of the press. I probably won't have much to tell you."

"Is this Joker guy at all connected to the Greenwood murders?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"Are you investigating that."

"Both investigations are ongoing and we're looking into all possibilities but at this point we're not suspecting a connection."

"But there could be one?"

"Look, I really don't have anything new to tell you beyond what's in the press release."

Damn press release.

"I gotta go." He said and left.


Bruce had spent all night at the warehouse looking for clues. No fingerprints. The Joker was definitely good but what was he planning with all these explosives? Maybe he needed to scare the mob? They were probably after him now. Or maybe he wanted to use the time of a leaderless mob - since they were in prison - to establish himself as the new boss in town? Whatever it was he needed to find out soon. The first thing he did was making sure Greenwood was safe. The Joker was probably connected to the double Greenwood murder.

Gordon had a unit patrolling Greenwood's apartment.

He went back to the scene of the Greenwood murder, which was still taped-up.

"What are you looking for? We scanned the whole place?" Gordon asked him.

"Fingerprints."

"There are none. We triple-checked."

He started cutting into the wall where a bullet had hit.

"Remind me what you're doing again?" Gordon asked.

"Finding out who did this." He replied in a husky voice.


I was back at the station, having my fourth cup of coffee, reading that darn press release for the thousandth time. What was I missing? Where was the clue? I pulled out my phone again looking at the document from Tom Greenwood. I wish there was something helpful on here - something that would have made that whole drama around breaking into Wayne Enterprise worth the hassle.

In his biography it said he worked in upper management at a small boxing company before. It was worth a shot. I googled the company and called the manager. He was willing to talk to me - off the record - about what an amazing person Tom was.

I told Peter I went out for lunch since he wouldn't approve of me investigating this case anymore after what had happened.

"He was such a good guy. Honest. Always a smile on his lips." The man in a cheap looking suit said to me at the box company. "This was just devastating for all of us. Do you have any idea yet who did it?"

"Police are still investigating. How long did you work with him?"

"For about four years. He was my boss at the time and then he got the position at Enterprise. I mean no one says no to that."

"I know he left behind his wife. Do you know her?"

"Sandra? Oh yes. Great gal. She must be devastated. They were high-school sweethearts."

"Do you happen to have a number for her? I would love to talk to her."

"I do but I don't know if I can give that to you."

"How about you give her my number?"

"Sure I can do that."

I was just in the cab on the way back to the station when I got a call from Sandra. She agreed to talk to me. I wasn't sure what - if anything I was getting from this but I felt like I had to give it a try. Somewhere the Joker was planning on using all those explosives and I didn't want to find out after the fact.


Fox was sitting at his computer. "Here it is, your bullet re-engineered."

"And this is his thumb print when he put it in the gun." Bruce said pointing at the image.

"I'll get you a copy."

He was hoping there was a print on that bullet but he didn't believe it belonged to the Joker. In fact, he probably wasn't even in the room when the Greenwoods were killed. He had someone else do the dirty work for him. Now it was a race against the clock before those explosives would go off somewhere.


Sandra welcomed me in her home. She was wearing all black, her eyes red from all the crying, her skin pale.

"Can I get you anything? Water?" She asked me in a faint voice.

"I'm fine thank you so much."

She nodded, sitting down on the couch next to a wedding picture.

"Well what do you want to know?"

"Just what kind of man he was?"

"He was...the most amazing man you can imagine. He was kind, funny and caring... He was always there for me..." She started crying again. "I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about. I can only imagine how hard this must be for you."

She nodded. "I'm getting some more tissue." She got up and left. I was walking slowly through the room, looking at happy memories on their wall of pictures.

She walked out of the bathroom with a box of tissues.

"This was us in Paris on our honeymoon," she said noticing me looking at the pictures. "This is Tom at his first day at Wayne's - he was so proud."

I noticed a picture in what looked like a medical facility.

"Where is this?" I asked.

"Tom and I did a lot of charity work. That was at Arkham were we worked with patients."

The word Arkham almost made me gasp out loud.

"We were working with a charity group out there. Tom loved helping others."

"What kind of charity work?"

"We would talk to patients, bring them books. The non-violent ones of course. Sometimes we would do a movie night. I feel really bad for some of those kids in there."

The bitter taste of adrenaline hit me almost immediately. This was it - there was a connection between the Joker and Tom Greenwood and I could feel I was so close.

"Did you always work with the same patients?"

"Yes, like I said mostly the non-violent ones."

"Do you happen to have a list of names?"

She looked at me suspiciously. "Why?"

"I would love to talk to some about Tom, seeing that he helped so many of them."

"I don't but I'm sure Ashley with the charity group does."

"Do you have her number?"


Bruce was looking for a match of the finger print in his data base.

"Any luck sir?"

"Yes. His name is Todd Dexler. 29 years old. He was a patient at Arkham until recently."

"Looks like you got him sir."

"There are 34 Todd Dexler's in Gotham."

"Well, you better get going then Master Wayne."


I went to Arkham to talk to the doctor who was responsible for this charity program. This place always gave me the creeps, you could hear screams in the darkness when you were walking through the hallways.

Dr Baxter was in her late 20s, pretty with short blonde hair.

"So, you're thinking about running a story about our patient program?"

She asked me, her blue eyes seizing me up as she was standing in her office, the walls covered with college degree diplomas. PhD at Harvard, Masters at Princeton.

I nodded.

"Well, we certainly would love the publicity. Arkham definitely doesn't have a good reputation but we do some wonderful work here."

"Could you tell me a little about what patients have participated?"

"Sure. What do you want to know exactly?"

"How many have participated so far? Do you happen to have a list?"

"No, I don't. I know all my patients by heart, I don't need a list." Her cold eyes staring at me while she rested her hands in the pockets of her white coat.

"Absolutely. I would love to base it around someone who participated. I talked to Sandra Greenwood. She just loved this program. Any patients she interacted more with than others?"

"No Sandra got along with all patients really."

I nodded. This was a dead end. I was already thinking about where I could next when Dr Baxter added one more thing.

"Her husband was really close with one patient though."

"Oh? Who was it?"

"Todd. He is bi-polar."

"Could I speak to him?"

She shook her head. "He...escaped."

It was him!

"When was that?" I asked feverishly.

"I can't give that information out to you. Police are investigating."

"Of course. Why were Todd and Tom so close?"

"They would just sit together and talk."

"About anything in particular?"

"Um... Not that I can remember. Actually, Todd was fascinated with architecture. Particular City Hall."

I just stared at her in shock - it all made sense - he was blowing up City Hall. I felt the color drain from my face.

"Are you all right?" The cool blonde asked me.

"Yes, this is a great story. I will pitch it to my assignment editor. I have to run but I'll be in touch."

I ran out of the old stone building and jumped in my car. Frantically I called Gordon. Voicemail - great!

"Gordon -it's Catherine Hunter. I need to speak to you immediately. I have very important information regarding the Joker. Please call me back asap."

My next call was to Bruce - though I wasn't really sure why. Also voicemail - are you kidding me?

"Bruce... Oh my God, I don't know what to do. I'm freaking out. I have figured it out. The Joker is going to blow up City Hall. The Greenwood murder... We got it all wrong... It wasn't a death threat against Greenwood - it was a promotion! He's going to kill the mayor and then Greenwood will be new mayor. Call me."


Bruce went from one address of a Todd Dexler to another, pretending to be a pizza boy on a motorcycle. So far no luck.

Finally he walked into an empty looking apartment - Alfred had researched that this Todd had just moved in a couple of days ago. Wearing his motorcycle helmet he walked through the tiny apartment. All it had in it was a mattress on the floor. Next to it were blueprints. He picked them up. It was blueprints of City Hall and its sewer system. It all made sense now. He needed to act as fast as possible. He called Alfred to call Gordon. Unfortunately he couldn't just call Gordon without blowing his cover. Alfred would send an encrypted message to Gordon. Hopefully it wasn't too late. As he jumped on his motorcycle headed towards City Hall he heard his phone ring. It was her but he had no time to waste right now. He had to try to prevent the mayor getting blown to pieces.


I got to City Hall and was about to walk in when Gordon finally called me back.

"Gordon! Thank God. He's blowing up City Hall you need to evacuate everyone asap."

"I know. I'm sending all units now. The mayor has been alerted..."

BOOM! The impact of the explosion threw my body through the air against a wall of another building. My ears were ringing, everything hurt. I slowly opened my eyes again to see the entire bottom floor of City Hall gone, fire spewing out of the gaping hole. Glass was everywhere. I slowly got up again.

Suddenly a hand grabbed mine, helping me up. It was Bruce. He wrapped me tightly in his arms.

"Thank God you're ok." He was holding me against his chest which felt like an armor.

"I can't believe it actually happened." I said in shock. "I can't believe I wasn't able to stop it." I looked into his eyes in desperation.

His lips in a tight line, big frown lines on his forehead.

"I...I should have made the connection sooner. Why didn't I think about it sooner?"

"Come on, we need to get out of here."

"But what about the mayor and the people inside?"

He didn't answer but grabbed me by my hand and pulled me away. In that moment I heard a loud rumble like thunder.

"Run Cat!" He told me, pulling me down the street. I turned around and saw the whole building implode.

Out of reflex I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and filmed City Hall falling to the ground.

"Cat!" Bruce pulled me around a corner so we would avoid the massive dust cloud that followed.

He held me against his chest. For a second all I could hear was his heart beat as the dark cloud of rubble spewed down the street, covering everything in its course.

"You ok?" He asked me breathlessly.

I nodded.

"Let's get you to the hospital."

"I'm fine."

"You just got thrown against a building by an explosion..."

"I'm fine."

"Cat, you have glass sticking out of your arm."

I looked on my arm. A shard of glass was indeed sticking out of my arm. I didn't even feel it I was so adrenalined up.

"That's nothing. I need to call my boss."

"Cat..."

"Trust me. This is what I do. I'm fine."

He sighed and frowned at me. Then he nodded.

"Ok, but be careful. Who knows what that freak has planned next."

"Of course. I'm always careful."

He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Fine. I'm never careful. But this is now the safest place in Gotham. All of Gotham PD is headed here. I really doubt anything else is going to happen."

I looked back at where City Hall used to stand.

"How many people do you think were in there?"

"Too many." He replied in an angry voice, his hands balled to fists, his face stoic.


He had a hard time leaving her behind but he needed to find the clown before he could do anymore harm. He had underestimated the freak iin the cheap purple suit.

It wasn't quite dark yet so he wasn't able to go out as Batman yet. He sped through Gotham's streets, passing one police car after another, all headed to City Hall.

He needed to find the clown and find him fast. The question was - how? More research was needed and a plan.

"Cat where are you? An explosion was reported at City Hall..." Peter said frantically as he answered my phone call.

"I'm at City Hall. The building is gone."

Silence on the other line.

"I am uploading footage right now to you. It's not the greatest angle but you can definitely see it."

"What happened?"

"Massive explosion took out the bottom floor and then...the building just collapsed."

"Dear God."

"I'm trying to figure out details now as police are slowly arriving."

"You were there when it happened?"

"Yes. The impact of the explosion threw me against another building."

"Holy shit. Are you ok?"

"Totally fine."

"Do you need another reporter to do it? I could send..."

"I got this."

"Ok, well Bill is on his way with the live truck already he should be there soon. We wait on your signal but the sooner we can go live the better of course."

"Of course."

"You think it was the clown?"

"Yes."

"Alright, keep me updated."

"I will."

I hung up and Gordon was walking towards me. He looked friendly for the first time in my life.

"Miss Hunter. Are you ok?"

I nodded. "Any word of the mayor yet?"

He shook his head. "My guys just got here. We're carefully searching through the rubble with K9s."

"You think he might still be alive?"

"There is a chance."

"How many people were in the building at the time?"

"We're trying to get numbers on that right now. At this point I knew as little as you do. But I will keep you updated."

That was a first.

"How did you know he was going to blow up City Hall?" He asked me.

"I got lucky in my research."

"Well, I appreciate it very much that you came to me first with the information before going on TV with it. I may have misjudged you."

"Thanks Lieutenant."

"I need to get back to my crews but I'll keep you updated. What's your cell number?"

I handed him my business card. He took it and ran back towards City Hall.

"Yo Cat!" Bill yelled at me from the live truck.

"Try to set up right here." I pointed at a spot that gave the best view of the disaster area.

"Dude what's that in your arm?"

I forgot about the glass sticking out of me. "It's nothing."

"It looks like a piece of freaking glass is sticking out of your arm."

"I'm fine."

Bill was setting up the live shot while I was going over what I was about to say on live television. A young medic walked up to me.

"Ma'am?"

"Yes?"

"Are you Catherine Hunter?"

"Yes."

"Mr Wayne sent me saying you needed medical assistants."

Bill chuckled at me.

I sighed. "It's not a big deal. I just got this piece of glass sticking out of my arm."

"May I?"

"How long is this going to take? I'm about to go live."

"Shouldn't take long but you definitely want this taken care off before it gets infected."

"Fine."

He put down his case with supplies and looked carefully at my arm.

"Looks like you're lucky. It doesn't look like any nerves were impacted."

"Sweet."

"I'm going to pull it out now."

A sharp pain rippled through my arm.

"It looks good."

"Well then that's all that matters." I said wincing in pain.

He started cleaning out the wound, which was more painful than being thrown against a stone wall.

In pain I looked at Bill who stopped setting up and just stared at me.

"What are you looking at? Keep setting up!"

"Make sure you give her enough pain killers." Bill said to the medic shaking his head.

After I was all stitched up I was finally ready to go on air and we were the first ones to do so.

I just finished my first live hit when I received a text from Gordon.

423 people were in building at the time