AN: So just to clarify, this will be the first of many chapters revolving around the original universe's Batman, and how he reacts to what happens in his world after Dick and Damian disappear. There will be several chapters just like this one, but they will appear randomly. There is no reason for this other than that I thought it would be creative, but if you disagree then please, politely let me know in the comments.

This particular chapter is set during the same time as chapter one.

Enjoy!

xXx A Couple of Days Ago, Elsewhere... xXx

The Mission started off simple: Nightwing and Robin were to take care of a couple of Black Mask's men while Batman broke into the Joker's hideout.

Easy enough, right?

Batman thought so, and that's why he didn't worry about the two younger heroes as he crept through the foliage surrounding his destination. The lenses of Batman's cowl narrowed as he recognized the building - that was the Joker's very first hideout. The Joker was never one to do the same thing twice, so there was no reason for him to be reusing a building.

Something wasn't right.

'Hey B.' Nightwing's voice suddenly said in his earpiece. 'We handled the thugs and now we're on our way to your location.'

That quickly? He had almost forgotten how well Nightwing and Robin performed together, even with their clashing personalities. Well, he certainly wasn't complaining. If they were able to regroup with him quickly, then it wouldn't take the three of them too long to foil the villain's plans. "Understood. Maintain radio silence from this point on. The Joker's hideout is in sight."

'Understood. Nightwing out.'

The radio went silent, and Batman crept closer to the building. So far, he couldn't spot any snipers, and there was an absence of any thugs guarding the exterior. It was so quiet that Batman could hear the shift of the fallen leaves on the ground as a breeze came through.

Wait. It was very quiet. That itself should have set off an alarm bell in his head. The Joker was always making a ruckus somewhere. He probably couldn't even sit still for more than a few minutes. If it was that quiet, there was a good chance that the clown wasn't even there.

Batman growled and picked up his pace. When he was at a close enough range, he grappled up to an open window. Another alarm bell went off in his head as he landed. Joker wasn't stupid enough to leave an open exit unguarded. Something definitely was up...

Beep.

Batman stopped, inches away from jumping off of the window ledge.

Beep.

His eyes swerved over to the corner, where he saw a timer counting down. He had five seconds left. Without thinking, he jumped backwards out of the window and pulled his cape in front of his face. The warehouse then exploded, and the force of the blast threw him a few yards away. He was aware of the massive amounts of heat surrounding him, the way his leg twisted when he hit the ground, and the large piece of rubble that landed on top of his back. He had a brief meeting with unconsciousness, but he forced himself out of it.

Everything went still.

Batman slowly pushed himself off of the ground, gritting his teeth as he struggled to remove the rubble off of him. After a few tries he managed to push it to the side and sit up. Flames ate up at the remains of the building, and it wouldn't take long before he was caught in it. He had to move.

He slowly got to his knees and pushed himself up to his feet. Immediately, a sharp pain engulfed his ankle, and he let out a short puff of air to keep himself from moaning. Every step he took was painful but after the first five, he was able to ignore it. When he was safely away from the destruction, he activated his comm once again. "Batman to Nightwing."

'Nightwing here. What's up, B?'

Batman narrowed his eyes. 'What's up'? What kind of hero says 'what's up'? Scowling, he replied. "The lead was a false one." He then looked down at the computer installed in his wrist. There were two dots on the other side of the map of Gotham, the opposite direction they were supposed to be in. Was it that difficult to do what they were told? "Care to tell me why yours and Robin's signals are on the other side of Gotham?"

'Um, what? Batman, we're in the same building as you."

Batman glanced over at the fiery remains of the warehouse. He was certain that they were most definitely not in there. "...Where are you?"

A pause. 'The abandoned candle factory on Whipple Street."

He knew that place. He went there for a school trip when he was a kid. Not that that was important. "I'm not there."

'What? But-' his voice changed to one of concern. Good, he was finally taking this seriously. 'Someone must have messed with my ability to track your signal. There's foul play."

"Agreed. I'm tracking your signal as of now. Leave the premises of the building, but stay nearby. Once I am there, we will investigate the cause."

'Understood. Nightwing out.'

His eyes sought the remains of the building once again. Just what was Joker planning? He was about to turn away from the chaos when a fluttering object caught his eye. A lone Joker card drifted through the air, landing at his feet. He crouched down, ignored the way his ankle protested, and picked it up, inspecting it closely. He then turned it over and paused.

A robin symbol was on the back.

His eyes narrowed dangerously. Was that a threat, or was Joker messing with him? It could definitely be both. He considered radioing his son but decided against it. Nightwing was there, and he wouldn't let anything happen to the younger. They would both be fine.

"It's Batman!"

The vigilante spun around and finally took notice of the squad of men. Promising himself to mentally scold himself for not noticing them, later, he quickly threw a smoke pellet to the ground and crept towards the forest.

"Where did he go? He's using smoke to get away!"

Batman slipped through the coverage and made his way around the squad, batarang in hand. His stealth was perfect up until the moment his entire leg attempted to give out on him, and he stumbled, stepping on a twig. He then froze, praying that the goons were too inexperienced to have been listening to him.

"I found him!" One of the men exclaimed as they turned around.

No such luck.

Batman dove to the side to avoid being struck by the onslaught of bullets and latched onto a tree branch. He then climbed up the remainder of the tree, being careful to not make too much noise and to balance his weight to avoid breaking any branches. When he was at a safe enough distance, he put a hand up to his comm. "Nightwing, I'm preoccupied." He said without greeting. "You and Robin are to go back to the Bat Cave."

There was a long period of silence before he got a response. 'Sorry B, but we're preoccupied too.'

"He's up there, in the trees!" Someone announced before shooting at him.

Batman grunted and threw an explosive disk at him. The man shouted upon impact and fell to the ground, unconscious. "Preoccupied with what?" He growled. Didn't he tell them to leave the building?

'Ah, you know, the usual. The Joker threw me a welcome back party. I thought it would be kinda rude to decline his gracious invitation.'

This was not a time for jokes. "Decline it anyways," he snapped. "The Joker isn't someone to take on by yourself. Grab Robin and retreat immediately."

He waited for a few seconds, but didn't receive another response. He assumed that Nightwing was busy trying to get himself out of his situation, so he forced himself not to worry. They would be fine, they have both dealt with the Joker before. Now he could deal with his own problem.

He jumped from his branch and used his cape to glide to the ground. As soon as he hit the ground, the other two men jumped out from behind their hiding spots and fired. Batman twisted out of range and rolled towards the man on the right, uncurling and wiping his feet out from under him. When he was down, Batman grabbed him by the collar and shoved his head against the ground, hard. When it was clear that he was unconscious, he slipped into the shadows again.

"Don't come anywhere near me!" The other man shouted. "I'm warning you, I won't hesitate to- ACK!"

Batman grabbed him by the back of his uniform and threw him into a nearby tree. He heard a couple of bones snap, but wasn't concerned. He knew his own strength, and it was clear that he didn't kill him.

Besides, Nightwing still hasn't said anything.

He put a finger to his ear. "Batman to-"He stopped short. Static filled his hearing. Unless Nightwing was out of range, he should be hearing silence, not static. Even if the earpiece was broken, it should have still been inside of his range. Batman's communications could be used throughout the entirety of Gotham City without issue, and some of his higher tech communication devices could connect to each other from other sides of the planet! With this in mind, it was almost impossible for him to be hearing static.

What did Joker do to him?

He tried Robin's communicator. "Batman to Robin." Silence. Not static, but silence. "Robin? Do you copy?"

There was no reply.

Robin was in range, but Nightwing was not? That made absolutely no sense, as the two of them were located in the same area not too long ago. There was definitely something wrong.

And Batman was going to find out what.

xXx

The journey to the abandoned candle factory was a short one, but it was filled with undesired thoughts. He was concerned that both Nightwing and Robin were in serious trouble, and the thought of either of them being injured sparked the protective instincts he had long since buried.

"Hahaha!" Came the Joker's laugh from inside the building, and he felt his muscles tense up in response. He hated the sound of that damned clown's voice. "I didn't realize how easy that would be! Did you see the look on his face? Priceless."

"Right you are, puddin!"

The look on whose face? And what was easy?

He grappled up to a ledge and pulled himself inside through a window, closing it silently behind him. The lenses on his cowl narrowed as he took in his surroundings. There were three men, plus Joker and Harley, and none of them appeared to be armed with guns. The clown probably was, but the chances of him actually shooting Batman were very slim.

The odds were with him.

Without wasting any time, Batman launched himself off of the window ledge and tackled the closest man to the ground. The force of that was enough to take him out, since he was already injured before.

"Oh, hiya B-Man!"

Batman ignored Harley and moved on to the next man, stunning him with his cape and then taking him out with a couple of punches to the head.

And then with a kick to the ribs, just to be safe.

The third one pulled out a knife, but Batman was in no mood for it. While the man tried to slice at him, the vigilante sidestepped and then disarmed him by slamming his elbow into the crook of the thug's arm. The man yelped, and attempted to retreat, but Batman was not having any of that. It only took a quick head but to the thug's forehead to knock him out.

Next was Harley.

Batman twisted out of the way just in time to avoid being smacked in the head with a mallet. He ducked, turned, and sidestepped to avoid several attempted hits, eyes narrowed in concentration. Harleen was not like a normal thug, she was faster than most of his foes, and her acrobatics were easier to deal with when he had Nightwing's matching style to counter her with. Brute force didn't always beat speed, and if he wanted to know what happened to the two younger heroes then he would have to outsmart her.

Or throw her off with the oldest trick in the book.

Batman rolled to the side to avoid another blow, and when he unfurled he flicked a batarang towards her. Harley ducked immediately, and when she came up she looked slightly put off. "Did you honestly think I could be hit that easily? I oughta-" the batarang slammed into the back of her head with enough force to knock her onto the ground, unconscious.

Joker didn't look very impressed by the shenanigans. "Hm... That took you a full five minutes. You are really starting to lose your touch! Old age, I presume?"

Batman spun around and grabbed Joker by the throat, nose flaring. He was not in the mood for the usual games, not tonight. "Where is Robin and Nightwing?" He demanded in a low growl.

A twisted, dark smile formed on the clown's face, and he threw his head back as much as Batman's death grip would allow, laughing. "You are much too late for them."

His blood ran cold, and he tightened his grip. "What was that?"

"They're dead," Joker choked out, grinning at him with disgustingly yellow teeth. "I killed both of them in one shot."

He froze. "You what?"

"Heh, I didn't even mean to get the original brat, just your new one. The other one just got in the way. Pity, I liked that one. His screams were like music to the ears"

Dick and Damian were... gone? No. They couldn't be. "Liar," he hissed, shoving the giggling man away from him. "You would be showing off their corpses if you killed them!"

"Yes, that does sound like me..." a shrug. "Couldn't though. They were completely obliterated by this new weapon." He snickered. "And you're about to join them." He suddenly pulled out a strangely designed gun and aimed at Batman's head, firing quickly. The Dark Knight barely managed to roll out of the way as a bright beam came towards him, and it hit a crate behind him instead. When he turned around to look at it, it was completely gone.

If Nightwing and Robin were hit by that... They had no chance of survival.

Joker killed them.

A loud snarl echoed through the factory as Batman moved, and in seconds, he had the clown pinned to the ground and had his hands wrapped around his pasty neck. The edges of his vision were filled with a dark crimson color, and his entire being screamed for blood to shed. He could only focus on this... this monster that took his sons away from him.

Joker laughed from under him, but it sounded more like a strangled cough. That's when Batman realized that he was, indeed, strangling the clown, and that he was very close to becoming a murderer himself. With another deep growl, he forced himself away, choosing to instead create a crater in the closest wall. With his fist.

His control over himself didn't please the psychotic clown. "That... That's it?! Come on, Bats, I didn't kill the original Boy Blunder for this nonsense!" Another laugh came, this one not as strained as the last, due to being able to get air to his lungs. "I mean, seriously? This is what, the third rugrat I've gotten rid of? The fourth? Well, if you didn't care about them, I'm sure you have another one running around..."

In a second, the heel of Batman's boot connected with the Joker's side, earning a loud CRACK as several ribs snapped. The impact forced the clown to go flying backwards, and he slammed into the farthest wall, sliding down and slumping forward. Another round of laughter shortly followed, and Joker tilted his head back to spray blood out of his mouth. "Have I hit a nerve?" He asked with a giggle. His smile widened as the Dark Knight approached him, and he hurriedly pushed himself up to his feet. "Now now, Bats, there's no need for-" A gloved fist flew into his jaw, making his head snap to the side. "-violence."

Batman gave him the coldest glare he could muster, raising his fist for another strike. He couldn't kill the clown, no matter how much he desired to, but there was still hell to pay for killing his sons.

The sound of bones breaking and Joker's insane laughter was the only thing that could be heard for hours soon after.

xXx

"What happened?" Was the first thing Gordon asked as he surveyed the scene, wide eyes trained on the limp and bloody clown. His officers worked on getting the other criminals into cuffs and into the police cars, but they were unable to lay a hand on the Joker until the Arkham Asylum ambulance came. That would take a few minutes, which meant that the madman would have to suffer a little longer. Batman was fine with that.

"What do you think happened?" He snapped, sending him a glare.

There was a pause. "Well, you were obviously the one responsible for his list of injuries," his eyes racked over the blood on the hero's uniform. "but why? You have a strong control over yourself, so what was it that made you snap?"

His hands curled into fists at his sides, and the urge to send Joker into the afterlife rekindled. The mere thought of what he lost was enough to send him over the edge. If he thought about it too much, he would lose control, so the solution was to avoid thinking about it altogether. "Joker had this," he said, holding up the strange weapon that he used to destroy Nightwing and Robin. "I don't know where he found it, but it has the ability to completely obliterate its targets."

If Gordon was surprised by the change of subject, he didn't show it. Instead, he studied the weapon carefully, eyebrows drawn together in concern. "That's not the kind of weapon we want any of our criminals to get their hands on."

"Agreed." Batman shoved the gun into an empty slot in his belt, but its presence did nothing to help his agitation. "I'm taking it to the Bat Cave for further analysis. I suspect that a force outside of Gotham is responsible for its creation, so it is possible that I will have to bring this to the Justice League for answers."

"Very well," Gordon agreed, but didn't look happy about his loss of evidence. The two of them watched as the ambulance finally made an appearance, and Batman barely restrained himself as Joker was lifted onto a stretcher and carried away. The Commissioner noticed his reaction, and gave him a puzzled look. "He must have really pushed your buttons today," he mused, watching him carefully, "which is strange, because I've only seen you react this way once."

Batman remained silent. Now that his anger had ebbed away, he was left with a hallow feeling in the pit of his stomach. His eyes became fixated on the spot where the crate had completely disappeared. Robin and Nightwing... They had met that same fate.

"Commissioner," An officer greeted, coming to a halt in front of the two. He looked at Batman hesitantly before pulling out a plastic bag. Inside were broken pieces of a black communicator, with what looked to be a yellow R in the center. "Found this over there." He pointed a thumb to his left. "Some other guys found birdarangs, and some other weird weapons that I haven't seen before."

Gordon glanced at Batman before replying, "Tell them to bring their evidence here." Minutes later, they were presented with Robin's red birdarangs, and a batarang that was fatter in style, and had blue trimming along the edges. The Commissioner's eyebrows rose when he saw these, and he handed the weapons to the silent vigilante. "Didn't realize that Nightwing was in town."

Batman remained silent, and another man spoke up, "Nightwing, as in the hero of Bludhaven?" His eyes widened, but he hid his surprise with a sheepish smile. "I guess that makes sense. He was a Robin at some point, right?" His gaze fell onto the blue and black batarangs. "So what does he call his weapons? Nightarangs?"

"Wingdings," Batman corrected without much thought.

Gordon laughed. "Sounds like something he would say, that kid of yours was always playing with words, never doing things the normal way. Almost like a cheerful version of you, I'd say." He looked around. "So where are they anyways? Are they waiting for the opportune moment to sneak up on me?"

There was no reply. Instead, the Dark Knight tightened his grip on the plastic bag holding both of his son's weapons. His throat tightened to the point where he didn't trust himself to speak. Something in the air shifted, and everyone in the room seemed to finally be aware of the grief that clung to the vigilante like a cloak. Gordon quietly ushered everyone out, and soon, the two of them were all that remained.

There was a period of strained silence before the Commissioner spoke up again, "He killed them, didn't he? That's why you did what you did."

Batman remained silent.

"I'm sorry," the older man said softly, turning away. "They were good kids. I remember back in the day when you had your first Robin. It really changed you for the bett-" he turned back around, only to see that he was now talking to himself. He sighed. "One dead was bad enough, but now there's three? If he was their father like rumor says, then he must be going through hell..."

Batman paused in the window ledge, taking his words into consideration before finally leaping out. Yes, that could definitely be said to describe what he was going through.

...His sons were dead, and just like that, the light to his darkness was extinguished.

xXx

AN: So, what did you think? Bad idea? Good idea? An alright idea that doesn't affect you in the slightest? Please tell me! I was originally going to have this chapter be a part of a separate story, but, uh, with my updating problem I decided that that would be a horrible idea, but then I had this idea instead! Yay!

These chapters will serve as an explanation to things that will happen later in the main storyline. They are completely optional, so if you see the words "Batman's Adventures" for a chapter title, you can completely skip over it if you want. You won't hurt Bruce's feelings. Probably.

See you next chapter!

(And in case you've somehow forgotten, Nightwing and Robin aren't actually dead. xD)