Author's note

)

°)

͡°)

ʖ ͡°)

͜ʖ ͡°)

° ͜ʖ ͡°)

͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Did somebody say rated M

By the way, this chapter was suppose to come out way earlier, but I faced many unexpected obstacles in my life and had no time to write it and when I finally did the first file got corrupted and there was no way to restore it. So this is a second version and I'm sorry if the whole chapter feels a little like I just rushed to get it online.


Chapter 3

March 15th, 14:24 PM, Bruce is reading the news on his computer in his office; Jervis Tetch had just been released from Arkham Asylum after an entire month of perfect behavior. This was not a surprising event to him for he has been spying on him by reason of Tetch being moved to Quinn's last cell. Just like Harleen, the psychiatrists qualified the man's rehabilitation as sudden and inexplicable, which make some workers to go as far as to call these recoveries miracles. However, the detective could not be more puzzled by this case. The mysterious graffiti, Tetch moving to this particular cell, he definitely was not ready to believe in simple coincidences and miracles only to easily give up on his suspicions. Although he had been anxious in regard of the bomb situation with Joker, he had followed his butler's advice and been waiting for another meeting with his nemesis, which somewhat gave him some free time until then. Tonight he would go to Harleen's place in order to figure out what was really going on with the inmates sudden improvements.

Night time, on the same day, the vigilante is at the kitchen window, he knocked and noticed that an opaque shower curtain was now serving as a door hiding the living room. From behind it, she showed up, smiling as usual, but what was unusual was him, Jervis was sticking his head out from the room giving the hero a confused look. She opened the window, stepping back to give Batman enough space to enter.

"We have a door, don't we?" He asked Quinzel puzzled.
"Get used to it, I asked him to do that. What is it this time? You're here for him, I guess?"

That was answering one of his question already, she must have been his ally in some way.
"What's going on between you two?"

Tetch glanced at Harleen who answered for them.
"When I heard he was getting out of Arkham I just figured we could help each other out. It's hard out here, ya know?"

The small man fully stepped out of the room, looking slightly more comfortable with the dark knight's presence.
"We don't know each other that much, but I had nowhere to go. Nobody wanted me in an apartment, especially the ones where families were living there too, so I accepted her offer."

"Why don't you both go back to your families?" Harleen burst into a laughter.
"You wanna get'em killed!? Being near them would turn them into targets. People really hate us, and I get why. I mean, if I'd had a penny for every person I'd killed, I'd have like... I'd have like..." She started mouthing numbers while using her fingers to count.

Batman could understand the motivation behind this bizarre cooperation in their new life, still it was no explanation to their rapid behavioral changes and how the graffiti got into the right cell. He walked past her and Jervis, entering the living room. On the couch was resting some pillows and blankets, and some baggage were on the floor next to two controllers, they have been playing Soulcalibur before his arrival.

"This is my room."
"I know." The vigilante was seeing nothing noteworthy, he turned to the small man. "How did you get here?"

"I'd have around...! Hold on..." The woman screamed from the kitchen.
"Like we just explained, she came to me and I followed her. That's it."
"What about the kitchen window?"
"The kitchen window? What do you mean?"

He sat down on his bed while Harleen walked into the room ignoring them. She grabbed her phone and opened the calculator application. Batman drew his attention to her.
"Hold on... Hold on..."

"There was a graffiti in his last cell, it was saying knock on the kitchen window. Now here he is and..."
"Don't make me lose my focus! I'd have like..."

He was irritable and impatient, he was not about to let them play dumb. He had a feeling that something was up and was ready to get brutally persuasive in order to get his answers.

"Are you really here for a meaningless graffiti?" Jervis mocked.
"I'm here because this graffiti was anything but meaningless. It had something to do with Harleen..." He approached the sitting man menacingly. "... and now it have something to do with you too."

"I... I really don't know what to tell you. I can't even figure out what is it you're trying to ask."
"I'd have... Oh my god..."

"You both know why I'm here. How convenient it is that a message concerning a way to get into the only recovered person appears in a cell which is then used by the next suddenly recovering patient. I wont believe in coincidence. How did it get there?"

"But... No one comes in here using the window besides you!" Tetch replied agitated.

"I'd have a fuckload of pennies!" Harleen screamed out seemingly proud of herself.

Quickly, the hero grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up in the air. Jervis jumped up and tried pulling the taller man's arm begging him to stop, but he got pushed back with force on the floor.

"I had it with you playing dumb! What's really going on with you two?!"

She kicked him in the stomach and he dropped her instantly under the impact.

"The fuck's wrong with you!?" She yelled at him furious.

He replied nothing, he was completely shocked. The girl was barefoot, lifted up in the air while strangled, yet she had successfully hit him with a startling force. She had never been this strong and that set off an alarm in the detective's mind.

Tetch stood up troubled and went to stand beside her as she continued her rant.

"Okay so now there's a graffiti in my last cell that kinda sound like something I said. That doesn't mean Jervis had something to do with it. That doesn't mean I had something to do with it. That doesn't mean shit!"

She was staring at him with such intensity he felt somewhat ashamed of himself as if he was wrong.
"What now? Are you going to torture us until we make up some answers?" The small man asked.

"You're nothing but a paranoid freak who sees crime and conspiracies in everything!"

He could not believe that he was wrong, still he did not knew what to reply.

"Sir?" He heard Alfred's voice from the communication system under his cowl.

"What is it?" He placed his hand against his ear to hear him better.

"All of Arkham's cameras has just been shut down."

She was staring at him with her arms crossed and he was next to her, an ex-delusional killer and an ex-murderer. He would have liked to immediately turn around and leave casually, but the simple thought of turning his back on them made him feel like knives or bullets were piercing through his armor, shredding his skin and destroying whatever organs it would have reached. He started backing up slowly and uncomfortable under the weight of his own paranoia and distrust of them.
"This must be him. He's escaping tonight."
"If you are referring to the Joker, yes he is. He even left you a message, I shall send the footage from the surveillance system your way."

He started walking toward the window, glimpsing at her repeatedly as she was now following him with a smirk.

"Thanks, I'll be heading there."

Before leaving, he fully turned around and looked at Harleen.
"What are ya waiting for? Go to him and do us a favor, stay with him."

He swiftly exited the kitchen taking the fact that she knew who it was about as an assumption for he had no time to waste. Furthermore, he felt like he was not about to get any evidences nor answers from them on his suspicions concerning their uncanny behavior.

March 16th, 0:43 AM, he was in the Batmobile next to the asylum where he opened up a screen in order to watch the video Alfred had sent him. The very second he saw Joker he was surprised of how comforting the sight of his nemesis was to him, after all it seemed as if he was the only one still acting as himself in this city. Here he was, standing in the middle of his cell, facing the camera with a cast on his leg. He proceeded on taking off his shirt and biting his wrist until it started bleeding. Blood was dripping down his chin and landing on his torso. He licked his lips as he turned his back on the camera. Dipping two fingers in his wound he used the sanguine fluid to write on the wall, scribbling SEE YOU SOON followed by a smiley face. He glanced at the camera and gave it a wink before the system shut down.

The vigilante was in the security room with three guards, one of them was the same as last time. He spoke up.
"We've checked all the cells since the shut down, the bad news is that Joker got out, the good news is that this entire building is completely sealed, there's no way he can go further, so he's probably hiding right now. We've been looking for him."

He seemed confident that it was impossible to escape, but the hero knew better. Normally, Batman would have asked the guards to get to safety and let him seek the clown himself, but he remembered that he told him that when he was to escape he would have to stand back and do nothing.
"I'll help."

There was no trail of blood in any corridors, he figured that he must have used his shirt as a bandage.

His mission was not to put an end to his breakout, but to protect the Arkham workers. He had confidence that his foe could do this stealthily and he believed that making his operation go as smooth as possible would reduce the need for victims in the process. Simple sabotage, focusing the guard's attention on useless thing and fake events was in his mind. Helping Joker was the only way of protecting people from him.

4:48 AM, they have been roaming Arkham's hallways for hours and had not found him, but no one had been killed. The workers had no choice but to call GCPD to advise them that the inmate had successfully escaped. The dark knight was secretly thrilled, he had nothing to do but to wait for his next meeting with him, which would surely lead him to more information which could mean ending this case and moving to properly work on the sudden recoveries of Jervis and Harleen.

March 23th, 0:12 AM, a man has been running blind in the city street with a red device stuck on his head. He had been lucky that no car had hit him until the police arrival who quickly discovered that the machine on his head was a bomb and called Batman. The explosive had a one to two meters radius, was made in a way that the victim could not see nor hear a thing, only his mouth and nose were exposed, which caused him to be in a constant state of panic and fight back anything touching him. The hero recognized the clown style. He ordered the policemen to hold the running man down while he diffused the bomb. It must have been one of Joker's simplest mechanism as it only took around five seconds to diffuse it. However, it was not without reason that it was so easy to breach, a card fell down the machine as he took it off the person's head. On it he read some coordinates and a message: I CAN'T WAIT. He asked GCPD to take the man's testimony and left them for he was needed elsewhere.

The place was an old cabin located in between trees in an environment that was too small and too close to the city to officially be called woods. Still, there was no electric lights, no buildings, no roads led there and it was pitched black. The detective had activated his night vision. There was only one window to the cabin and a blanket was covering it from the inside. He put his hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath. He opened it only to get a load of light in his eyes temporarily blinding him. He grunted while turning off his vision and hearing him laugh.

"I just knew you'd use night vision!"

When he slowly started seeing again, the pale man was sitting on a mattress on which lied some blankets and a pillow. He was wearing nothing but his underwear, had some lipstick on, no longer had a cast and was holding the flashlight toward to ceiling lighting up the room for most part. Next to the bed was a pile of clothes, a box of cookies, two knives and a gun.

"I'm glad it's you. Close and lock the door, only freaks roam around this part of Gotham."

"I never thought you were into nature." He said while doing what he had been told.
"You're right, I don't like it here." He stood up pointing the light toward the door so he could see if it was shut properly. "But this place is perfect for what I have in mind..." He then took the flashlight to his face like a kid ready to tell you a lame horror story. "Do you trust me, Batsy?"
"I don't."

He smiled devilishly.
"Then we're off a good start."

The clown rapidly threw the flashlight against the wall next to the vigilante, shattering it. He swiftly put his night vision back only to find out that the smaller man had not moved.

"You want me to assault you in the dark?"

"Of course, but there's more to it..."

"What do you want?"

"No suit!" He rubbed his right hand's knuckles. "You can't really feel me and I want you to..."

"Joker, you know I can't..."

"I can't see you, Bats!"

There no longer was any source of light in the room. He was confident in his skills enough to be comfortable in a fight without his suit and gadgets, but what was bothering him were the weapons next to the bed.

"Give me your knives and gun."

"Pick them up yourself, I can't see them!" He answered moving his arms around as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

Batman took and placed them near the door, away from the man who was waiting impatiently turning his head toward any sound he heard.

"Are you done now?"

"I need to make a call first."

"You mean you haven't started yet!?"

He placed his hand on his ear activating his communication system in order to reach Alfred.

"You won't be able to contact me for a moment."

"Sir, are you sure?"

"I'll be fine." He took off his mask and cowl.

"Are you done now?"

"I am starting."

He heard Joker sighed with exaggeration.

Bruce was standing near the door in his boxers, the rest of his body was covered by gloom. He was realizing how cold this place was and that was motivating him to move, to fight.

"I'm done."

"Great! Now all you have to do is follow the smooth and sensual sound of my voice."

He extended his arms and walked slowly toward where he was hearing him now giggling.
"Oh boy, we must be looking very stupid right now."

The hero felt a hand touch his shoulder and grabbing it, he then felt his other shoulder being grabbed.

"There you are!"

"Can we fight now?"

He was feeling him for the first time, feeling his hands with his long nails always softly scratching the surface of his skin. He was caressing his shoulders, biceps and pecs.

"You're really buffed... I was scared that your suit made up half of your mass, but you're not disappointing." He sounded calm.

He patiently placed his hands on Joker's waist bringing him a little closer. As much as he was eager to get on with the violence he could understand his enemy's fascination, for he somewhat had the same. The jester sealed any distance left between the two of them as he placed one of his hand on the larger man's back and with the other ran his fingers on the back of his neck scratching it only to end up in his hair.
"I always pictured you with shorter hair." He could feel his face close to his. "Batsy, are you blond?"

The detective never thought about the fact that his foe might be wondering what hair color he had, but it was logical yet it amused him.
"Maybe I am."

He moved his hands from his waist to his lower back, they could now feel each other breathing on their neck.

"You smell like expensive perfume and sweat." He chuckled faintly. "I don't know if I'm seduced or disgusted."

The hero could feel the smaller man's spine under his finger, he was surprised of how soft his skin actually was.
"I always wanted to feel your skin."

"Really, you did?" Joker purred in his ear to which he gave a delicate bite wishing to provoke him.

He realized the double meaning of what he just said and was shocked of how much his enemy's action had filled him with lust. He stayed calm, trying to bury his desire under self-control.

"I was wondering if it had a unique texture due to the chemical incident you had."

Still holding on to him, the smaller man threw his head backward and sigh.

"Bats, you're so dumb!"

At this moment, the larger man leaned against him, placing his face close to the clown's neck.

"And you smell like rain and iron which is... different."

No reply, not a word, nor a single sound came out of the jester's mouth who's fast heartbeat could be felt through his chest. Sweet silence was filling the room and the hero was appreciative of it, but he knew where this was heading. A wave of heat rose up in his chest as he anticipated the other man's demand with his voice breaking the tranquility.

He moved his head easily finding the other man's lips ans started kissing it. At first Joker seemed surprised, but was very into it and began kissing back passionately. His nails were tenderly digging into the skin on the back of the dark knight. His lips were sweet and sticky because of his lipstick which earned him to get bite hard on the lower one. Bruce pulled back tasting the pale man's blood in his mouth, but it did not bother him, he loved subduing him in any way possible. He went on biting his neck and shoulder, hearing the clown's breath quickening. He no longer could hide his desire for he was hard and intensely horny, but so was Joker.

"Get on the bed." He said in a low voice almost letting him completely go, taking hold of one of his hand only.
"All right I'll just... This is harder than it looks, well sound... Okay, I'm fine." The detective's arm was being pulled in weird ways.
"Be silent."

"Found it!"

He got pulled onto the mattress in a more logical way. Carefully getting on it, he used his free hand to caress the other man in order to find out in what position he had. He was laying down on his back with Bruce standing on his knees next to him.

"If you want me to be silent you could always use that gift I gave you." Joker mocked him, pulling onto the taller man's underwear.

He pushed his hand away and undressed himself.
"I don't..."
"Oh right! You just had to throw it in the lake, I remember now!" He giggled.

The vigilante placed his hands on him in wonder of what he should do next but it seemed that the smaller man was only interested in talking some more.

"I really did put a lot of thoughts into that present. I just love making you happy, Batsy. Why do you always have to make things difficult?"

"Can't you just be quiet?!"

"Poor darling, if only you had..." He felt nails scratching his muscular thigh going toward his crotch,then he felt the hand taking a hold of his length stroking it slightly. "If only you had something you could gag me with."

In no time, Bruce was on top, with a knee on each side of Joker's hips. He grabbed his shoulder and clutched his green hair, pulling his head toward himself in a way he could control him. The jesters was in an uncomfortable position holing on to his partner by digging his nails in his lower back and thigh. At the moment he felt the tip in his warm mouth he had to pull him closer, he had to fill up his big stupid mouth, he needed to satisfy himself. His eyes were closed and his head thrown backward as he was letting the pale man pleasure him, which made him moan and gasp. From time to time, he would try to withdrew from his cock, but the taller man would always push him back on it. He loved how submissive he was, not making a sound and unable to stop sucking him off.

Suddenly, he let go of Joker's hair who pulled back panting.

"I need to fuck you." He said in what almost sounded like an order.
Before he moved, the smaller man gave him a few slow long licks in order to get his dick as wet as possible. He proceeded to rudely push him and got in between his legs, holding on to the man's hip and his own cock so he could fuck him just right, sliding it inside slowly.

"Oh fuck..."

"Shut up."

He was holding the other man with both hands and penetrated him as deep as he could before he began humping him in an irregular rhythm that was pleasuring them both madly. The clown let out loud moans as the hero started going harder and faster.

"Shut... up."

Talking as proven to be difficult as he was panting and roughly screwing his nemesis who had a firm grip on the taller man forearms.

"Fuck..."

Bruce broke free of the smaller man's hands and quickly found his throat. He started strangling him putting a stop to his voice. He had never felt this powerful, his neck seemed so fragile under his strong grip. He kept fucking him, enjoying the silence as he was feeling nothing but intense pleasure and a fading pulse under his fingers. He was close, but he did not want this to end this quickly. He stopped and pulled out. Joker's breathing came back gradually, he must have passed out, yet he asked.

"Don't stop."

"Get on your hands and knees, we're changing position."

"The eye-contact making you nervous?"

He ignored the clown's idiotic joke while hearing him move, obeying. Again, he hold the man's hip and a part of himself and started screwing him once more, only this time he was aloud to moan. As much as he hated his voice, he had to admit to himself that there was something sexy in his ecstatic whining. He took a hold of the jester's cock and started masturbating him.

At some point the pale man was quivering at the dark knight's almost every move and screaming in pleasure. That is when he stopped stroking him, pulled out and got on top of him, holding his arms in a way he could not move.

"Why... Why are you stopping this time?" He tried breaking free unsuccessfully. "What are you doing?"

"I'm done." He lied.

"No, you can't do that... Batsy, you're not done. Just give it to me..."

"I'm done" He was burning with desire as Joker was rubbing himself against him in an indecent, pathetic and demanding way.

"Oh please, I'll kill people if you stop, I'll... I'll... I'm perfect for you... Please, just fuck me! Why are you doing this!?"

"I was wondering what you sounded like when you beg."

The jester did not even had enough time to think of a clever response as Bruce brutally shoved his cock back inside of him, making him moan loudly. He went back to stroking and humping him. The pale man climaxed first and the vigilante followed a few minutes later. He kept going for a moment afterward before pulling out. He was feeling relaxed, dominating, in control and he loved it.

Standing up, he began heading toward where he remembered the door and his equipment were. It did not took long for him to find it and started putting it back on with his mask first, switching night vision on.

"So you're the type of guy who just leaves."

"I am."

He turned around to look at him, he must have lied on the bed for a moment after sex since he had some semen on himself. His hair were messed up, his lipstick was smudged, he had blood on his chin, neck and shoulder, plus he had some ecchymosis on his hips and neck. He was looking filthy, still he had a smirk.

"Well you can't just leave, I'm threatening people with a bomb, remember?" The dark knight stood still and silent while his foe continued speaking. "Did I made you forget about all your problems? My bad..."

"You didn't." He replied ashamed of how forgetful he had gotten during their intercourse. "And this time was the last, because I'll be putting an end to your game."

Joker burst into a laughter.

"Dream on! Come here..."

He extended his arms waiting for Batman who obliged. The clown put his hands behind the hero's neck, holding on to him.

"I think I'll let you leave sooner than what I've planned. I think I'll even give you a head start for your cute little investigation on my bomb!"

"Why would you do that?"

"Shut up and take my gift, Bats!" He responded annoyed before slightly coughing and getting back to his usual tone. "The man who gave you tonight's invitation knows a thing or two about the bomb."

"I won't have to take anything from you next time." He replied without moving.

"What will you do if I don't show up? If someone finally gave me what I really deserve."

The detective was surprised by his foe's question, still he was glad he knew just what to say.
"I would track the person responsible and bring him to justice."

He chuckled and leaned in to give the taller man a kiss before letting him go.
"Goodbye, my darling."

The caped crusader rapidly left the cabin feeling deeply uncomfortable with the conversation he had just shared with his nemesis. It was usual for him to speak of his own mortality in such a realistic way and it was worrying the hero, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He contacted Alfred a few minutes after he had left the cabin in order to ask him about tonight's victim. That is how he learned that the unfortunate man had died from poisoning around thirty minutes following his arrival to the GCPD building and that his corpse was being kept in the morgue there. Before rushing to this location he took some time to wash smudged make up and blood from his face.

2:10 AM, it took only a few second before the doctor with the night shift, noticed him.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked very calmly.

Long time GCPD workers were no longer shocked upon Batman's stealth arrivals, for it was a common thing.

"A man has died of poisoning tonight, tell me how it happened."

"Tell you? I'll even show you!" She put on some gloves and went to a locker. "Give me a second."

Ironically, the morgue doctor was one of the building's workers who was the most lively. She came back with a bag containing a small red ball.

"I found this in the man's stomach, it had been there for around an hour when he had died. It was covered in poison."

"Didn't the victim felt sick?"

"Yes, but I believe that since he just had been through a traumatic experience he brushed it off as stress which is why he did not ask for anyone to examine him."

The detective felt depressed, if he would have dared staying a little longer with the victim he might have noticed that something was wrong and maybe could have saved him. Unfortunately here he was, another death on his conscience with nothing left but a red ball. He took the bag from the doctor's hand and opened it, grabbing the object he broke it.

"You just broke our evidence!" She expressed confused.

In his hand he delicately scattered the pieces finding a small folded piece of paper. He opened it while the doctor seemed reassured upon seeing this hidden item. A small message was scribbled on it, and while reading it, the dark knight felt his heart sank as unbearable anger rose up in his chest: JOKE'S ON YOU – THERE'S NO BOMB