AN: Sorry for the 10-day wait. The family decided a spontaneous vacation was a good idea, and we managed to avoid all the hotels with wireless internet. I'll get back on a regular schedule soon, and I've got two chapters to hold you over until then.

I couldn't see very far into darkness inside the building. There was a small lamp that kept the entrance area illuminated, and I took it off its hook and held it in front of my body as I entered.

My shoes made soft, padded sounds as I stepped across the cement floor. At the back of the building was a metal ladder that ran up to the higher floors. I grabbed the first rung tightly after setting down the light, and shivered at its coolness.

I climbed for what felt like hours, until I had reached around the tenth story. I could hear some muttering, what sounded like an argument. I was able to see quite clearly thanks to the light reflected off the moon, and I was able to make out the faint shapes of two men standing near the edge of the building, where the wall would eventually be, though whether either of them was the Joker was a mystery to me.

As I approached them, I could hear the monorail in the distance, speeding along its track toward the building, and it covered the noise of the two figures' bickering for a second. I was finally able to hear them again when the monorail had passed by, and I saw that the two weren't arguing. One was arguing at the other, who stood facing out, towards the city, directly facing Wayne Tower. The purple coattails of his jacket hung low, and in his right hand he dangerously twirled a switchblade.

I tripped on an uneven section of cement, and the man who had been trying to argue turned to face me. He produced a pistol, and just as he leveled it with my chest, the Joker gave him a slight push backwards. He looked confused for a second, then his eyes widened before his face disappeared as he fell over the side of the building. He didn't scream until the very end, and then, he was silenced before he made much noise.

"Well, well," he said, walking towards me. "I wish all of my hostages were so cooperative. I wouldn't have to keep such a close… eye on them."

He gestured towards my eye with his knife, and for a moment I nervously wondered if he was going to lunge at my face in the hopes of taking my eye, but he kept himself restrained.

"I figure as long as you've got me, there's some other innocent person you're not dragging around trying to kill." I said, and hoped that that was my only real reason for following him.

"So you're not innocent?" he smiled. "That makes me feel so much better. The guilt was tearing me apart." He swung his body around as if he was capable of feeling remorse, and was doing just that now.

"Not as innocent as most people." I replied. The bits of memories that had resurfaced in my mind didn't exactly fill me with pride. I couldn't recall any extreme violence, but there was quite a lot of burglary. I could only remember a small period of time, though, and then there was a long, gray area. Then a lot of darkness, and then waking up in the rubble outside of Arkham Asylum through to the present.

"That's quite an achievement in a city like Gotham." He said, and it seemed he was finally getting serious. Up until now he had been just blowing off steam, entertaining himself. Now it was time to plan, and that little growing goblin in the back of my head snickered in excitement.

"In a few minutes, we're going to have a …visitor." He said, and the way he grinned, I assumed our guest would be an arms dealer with a truck full of bombs. I asked anyway, on the off chance he really was being serious.

"Well, ah, he's an old friend. You probably know him, though. He, ah, he likes to glide around like a bird or, ah, I don't know, maybe…." He licked his lips and his eyes widened.

"A bat?"