Batman's face betrayed no emotion whatsoever, but his hands gripped themselves into fists.

"They were right," he murmured. "You're back."

Joker giggled. "I never truly left, Batsy, if I know you!" he chuckled. "I've been in here, haven't I?" he asked, rapping on Batman's helmet. "Inside your little Bat-skull? Oh, you've been drowning in guilt for what you did to me! I'm like your little Jiminy Cricket, your little conscience inside your head, whispering to you, making you feel bad for not doing the right thing. Ain't that a funny joke, Batsy? That after all this time, I'm the good guy!"

"I didn't do anything to you!" snapped Batman. "And I don't feel guilty about what happened to you. It had to be done. You were all too dangerous to continue on…"

"So you broke your little rule, didn't you?" chuckled Joker. "You killed me."

"I didn't kill anyone!" snapped Batman. "I have never taken a life!"

"That's not strictly true, though, is it?" giggled Joker. "You took my life."

"You took my life," agreed Harley, tears in her eyes. "You took my life with Mr. J. You took Red's life, and Harvey's life..."

"They're still alive," snapped Batman. "They're just not homicidal maniacs anymore!"

"That's who they were, Bats!" retorted Harley. "That was their lives! Maybe they weren't good ones, but it was all they had! It was all we had! And you destroyed it!"

"My job is to defend innocent people!" snapped Batman. "Not worry about ruining the lives of criminal lunatics!"

"Aren't we human too?!" demanded Harley. "Don't we deserve your protection?!"

"We are protecting you," growled Batman. "We're protecting you from yourselves."

"And who's protecting you Justice Creeps from yourselves?" giggled Joker. "Or do the super aliens not need protection? Just weak little humanity, is that it?"

"Don't try to put words in my mouth," retorted Batman.

"I'm not. This is a conversation you've had with yourself a lotta times, ain't it, Batsy?" giggled Joker. "Maybe it's a conversation you've had with me a lotta times too – do you see me here sometimes? The ghost of that guy you allowed Superman to murder…"

"I didn't allow anyone to be murdered!" shouted Batman. "Don't pretend you know anything about me! You don't! You don't know who I am, or why I do what I do…"

"No, I dunno the details, but they don't matter!" snapped Joker. "You had a bad day once, right? So did I! And I don't remember the details of it – the past ain't important. It's only who you are now that's important. Are you a hero now or not? Because a hero wouldn't stand aside and let crap like this continue! He wouldn't live in a tyrannical world like this without fighting against it!"

"The Justice Lords just want what's best for humanity," muttered Batman. "No more pain and suffering. No more crimes, no more victims…"

"Add no more free will to that list," retorted Harley. "No more choice. No more happiness. When's the last time you saw somebody smile in this paradise of yours, Batsy? Or are you just glad that the rest of the world is as miserable as you at last?"

Batman glared at her and then turned away. "You two need to leave here," he snapped. "If you do that right now, I won't turn you over to Superman."

"Why not? Don't have the balls to do it again?" demanded Harley. "Don't have the guts to hear Mr. J's voice calling after you, and then cut off by his screaming as Superman blasted his brain? He trusted you, and you turned away from him! I hope his cries ring in your ears every night the same way they ring in mine!"

"Sometimes pain is necessary for a better world," muttered Batman. "Sometimes sacrifices are necessary…"

"That's not the Bat I know," interrupted Joker. "He'd never say the sacrifice of a human life was necessary to anything."

Batman said nothing. "This ain't you, Bats," murmured Joker. "I know you. However much of an order Nazi you are, you believe in free will. Otherwise what are you fighting for? Death for everyone who opposes you? Or just living death as a lobotomized zombie?"

Batman turned to look at him. "Your…death was for the greater good," he murmured.

"Yeah, maybe a lotta deaths have been," agreed Joker, nodding. "You're right - I dunno what exactly happened to you on your bad day, Bats, but I know it must have been something really big to make you into this. Someone really close to you must have died or something. You know how that feels, to lose someone you love. I always kinda thought that's why you didn't kill – because you knew how it felt, and you wouldn't wish that kinda pain on your worst enemy. And now you've inflicted that same pain on Harley. Might be for the greater good, but I guess so was the creation of Batman. Was it worth the pain you went through, though? Is anything?"

Batman just studied him. "What chance do you think any of us have against them?" he murmured. "Even if I wanted to help you, there's nothing we can do. They're too powerful."

"Now that's definitely not the Bats I know!" chuckled Joker. "He'd never admit anyone's more powerful than him, especially not a buncha alien freaks! And however powerful they might be, we got a secret weapon they can't predict."

"Which is?" asked Batman.

Joker tapped his forehead. "Insanity, Batsy," he said, grinning. "Good old-fashioned human insanity. Never met an alien alive who could compete with my madness, or defeat it. We got a lotta lunatics on our side. Well, you gotta be crazy to try to fight superheroes!" he chuckled. He held out his hand to Batman. "But there's always room for one more nutjob."

Batman was silent as the minutes ticked by. "Take off the joy buzzer," he muttered at last, nodding to Joker's outstretched palm. "And you got yourself a deal."