Chapter 6
Wayne Manor
Barbara sat on the bed in the guest room reading a book when Richard came in knocking on the door.
"You feeling alright?" he asked her. Barbara sighed as he walked up to her.
"I'm just worried about my dad, it's all." Dick sat next to her.
"You two are pretty close?"
"You have no idea. He was my hero when I was younger, he was the only one there for me when my mom died. I kind of looked up to him, you know? I wanted to be a cop when I grew up, but he wouldn't let me. He was a bit overprotective, and now I see why."
"I know the feeling." Barbara turned to look at him "I was really close to my mom, she used to teach me a few things she and my dad did at the circus to be an acrobat, just like them before they…"
Barbara put a hand on his knee "I heard what happened, my dad told me about it. I'm sorry."
"It's okay." The two teens looked into each other's eyes for a moment, not noticing that Alfred was standing by the door. "Barbara, we're gonna find your dad. I promise."
The Bat Cave
"What?" Robin asked in disbelief.
"We can't simply start looking for the Commissioner until we learn as much as we can about the Joker." Batman replied "I already arranged a meeting with the head of Arkham Asylum to read the Joker's psychological profile. Maybe even figure out who he is."
"So, what? We're just gonna talk to the people at Arkham while the Joker does who knows what to the commissioner?"
"No. I'm going to talk to Dr. Crane while you go look for him."
The boy stood there dumbfounded by this claim "So, you want us to split up?"
Batman turned to smile at his protégé "Precisely."
Abandoned Amusement Park
The Joker walked into the cage he held the commissioner in. James Gordon looked dreadful, his body was dripping with sweat, his eyes were red from both crying and the light from the projector, his hair was a mess and he smelled like he hadn't bathed in weeks.
The bleach faced maniac had a wide grin of his face as he walked into the cage.
"Oh, wow. You really let yourself go, didn't you?" he asked the commissioner who remained motionless on the chair "This is was a dose of reality will do to you, that's why I never touch the stuff. So, Commissioner, how's thing?" the commissioner remained motionless, without making a single sound "Commissioner?" there was no response "Hello? Anybody home?" the Joker waved his hand in front of the Commissioner's face, again there was no response. "Oh, wow. This wasn't supposed to turn out boring." The mad man then began to walk out of the cage "Oh well, I've got some errands to run. Let's just hope our main attraction gets livelier, given time to reflect upon life and all its random uncontrollability."