I know it's short, less than 1000 words. I know I'm skipping around from person to person, but it'll all make sense eventually. Maybe...

Chapter 2

Amelia fled the rooftop, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out she did it. Or maybe it would. At least there was no Batman to deal with. Her head pounded, feet slammed against the sidewalk and her chest heaved. Running was hard with the cumbersome cloak on. She stumbled through alleys.

Thud.

"Hello?" Amelia asked, hands gripping her staff.

"Ah... The grim reaper... Where's your... Where's your scythe?"

The owner of the voice stepped out into the pale streetlight. Amelia could barely see its eyes, but the rest of its face was white. Save for the mouth, a ruby red smile painted on nearly from ear to ear.

"Joker," she breathed.

His smile grew larger. "Grim," he laughed.

"Grimace. Not Grim," Amelia corrected.

"Grim's child?"

"The only known offspring," Amelia smiled.

"Are you... Are you looking for the Batman?"

She blinked, appearing deep in thought. Batman, the Batman. "Yes. I believe I am."

"Well your stunt at that restaurant isn't enough to get his attention. You need more pizzazz. Aggressive excitement! Nitroglycerin, dynamite, gasoline! Things that go..." the Joker cross the alley, moving closer to Amelia. He pulled her up, placing his mouth by her ear. "Boom," he whispered.

**

Another sleepless night, Bruce thought bitterly. Two days had passed since Bruce had seen Gordon, since he had seen that corpse. He was no closer to discovering who or what had done it. GCPD was investigating the possibility of it being a murder, which it probably was.

"It's not the Joker," Bruce said aloud. "Who else could it be? Harvey... No, Harvey's dead..." he sat up, rubbing his temples.

The dead man was there for a date. His date couldn't be found. No one saw her go up or down. Nobody saw him go on the roof either. Rumor had it that the woman had been missing for a long time.

"Crane? No, Crane's locked up. Who, who, who?"

Bruce racked his brains some more.

"Batman," he muttered hoarsely. "It's only one murder... Just some ex-con. If it escalades, then I'll take action. This is Gotham after all..." he fell back on his bed. Bruce continued to think until his vision grew hazy, eyelids grew heavy and the billionaire playboy fell asleep.

**

"Do you know how I got these scars?" the Joker asked as he escorted Amelia to his van.

"Do I want to?" Amelia inquired.

"Oh I'm sure you do. You see..." the Joker began his tale.

Amelia sank into the passenger seat, eyes closed, as the Joker explained his story. She pulled her hood down, exhausted.

"I need... I need an idea. Something to get the Batman off his feet. You, you're perfect. Like a ghost. A ghost in flowing black. But first, we need his true identity," the Joker mused.

"Why not just harass Commissioner Gordon? Batman might take action if we try for someone important to Gotham," Amelia suggested.

"... Gotham... Who owns most of the businesses in Gotham?"

"Um... No idea. What about Wayne Enterprises?"

"We blow it up!" the Joker giggled, swerving the van wildly.

"Well, we can... I was thinking more along the lines of kidnapping Bruce Wayne."

"Then the Batman will have to save him. He's already lost Harvey Dent, how many more idols of Gotham will he sacrifice?"

"We'll just have to find out," Amelia smiled.

**

"Want me to make another pot?" a detective asked.

Gordon looked up from his desk. "Yeah... Good idea. Any leads yet?"

"None yet, Commissioner," she replied.

Gordon just nodded and gazed out the window. Smog covered the Gotham skyline, Wayne Enterprises was barely visible. Gordon took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair.

"Here you are Commissioner," the detective said, setting a mug down.

Jim Gordon thanked her and kept staring out the window. She nodded her head and left his office. Gordon sighed and kept racking his brains.

"Bruce Wayne..." he muttered.

**

"Bruce Wayne is really only a figurehead. Technically it's his company, considering he owns most of the shares," Amelia began.

"What? Shares? It's not a Wayne legacy anymore?" the Joker demanded.

"It went public a few years ago or something like that. Anyways, he doesn't run it. Some other guy does."

"But it's his company, right? And he's still Bruce Wayne, the Prince of Gotham," the Joker shrugged.

"We could get two birds with one stone. Kidnap Wayne and kill the president on his board of directors," Amelia offered.

"You've got good ideas, keep them to yourself. Just Wayne and it'll be... Big," the Joker waved his hands to emphasize on the word.

Amelia sighed and nodded, "all right Joker, big it is."