He watched him scowl for a second longer before laying him down upon the grass. Its green so prominent in comparison to the pale skin and dark brown hair of the Joker. Batman stared at the pale face of his enemy. From further away, the Joker had looked like any ordinary man taking a stroll in the park. Batman had been standing on a nearby building, catching a glance of the brown haired man staring at the river. Only when he had seen the man plummet into the dark depths of the water, did he catch the purple hue of the suit the man was wearing. What looked like a suicide attempt by a simple man who had given up life in the rotten city, Gotham was, appeared to be false. Nothing unusual, Batman had thought. He jumped off of the building and landed in the park where he ran the few feet to the river. He caught the green glint in the water below and realized who was buried within the river's dark contents.

"Joker." Batman tried to speak forcefully, attempting to snap the man out of his dazed state before the unusual green eyes had closed. Brown tinted drops were sliding from the Joker's hair down to his jaw where they disappeared down to his neck. His hair had been dyed recently, Batman took note. He held his hand under the clown's nose and waited for the gust of air, telling him Joker was still breathing. When he felt it, he started slapping his cheek, trying to revive him.

"nng" Joker groaned softly. His head twitched to the side, but it bounced back just as quickly. Batman took the Joker's head in his hands to try and steady him as he woke up. "Jean…" The word faded along with his breath. Batman strained to hear him, but it made no sense to him and thus decided it'd be more sensible not to try and understand the Joker's insanity-riddled mind. "Jeanie." A hostage? Batman pondered the matter over and decided to question it the moment Joker woke up. That was, until the clown said, "Jack."

"Joker." The vigilante tried again. He couldn't wait. He was still holding the Joker's head, but he felt him starting to strain against his hands.

"Baby." The clown muttered. The word, so clearly spoken, made him bite back an angry growl of frustration. Batman felt rage boiling within him. The lunatic had either taken a couple hostage or had killed them along with their baby. He was not going to be playing any games tonight.

"Joker, what did you do?" He asked, shaking the clown's head forcefully. Joker's eyes snapped open, staring directly into the slits of Batman's cowl. "The baby. What did you do to it?" Joker didn't look away, nor did he laugh like the vigilante had expected he would.

"Doe killed it." Joker said. His gaze never strayed away, instead, the Joker's green orbs stayed focused on the bat in front of him. Staring unblinking as if in a trance.

"Doe?" Batman asked, almost forgetting to take his hands away from the clown's head.

"Jack Doe." Joker answered, transfixed by the blue eyes behind the white cloth of the cowl.

"Joker." He warned the clown, but it had no effect.

"Jack Doe killed him. The car's brakes had been malfunctioning for some time." Joker spoke, nodding in agreement to a voice Batman couldn't hear.

"Joker, what are you talking about?" Batman moved to stand up, but purple gloved hands came up to hold him in place.

"Jack knew about the brakes." Joker's eyes seemed to be tearing up. Bruce could only stare at his enemy as he broke down over something he couldn't even begin to understand. "He killed my wife, my son." Joker shook his head now, trying to shake away something Batman couldn't see. "I killed them both." He said at last. His voice barely heard. Batman just stared down at the man. "You." Joker focused back on Batman, his eyes settling onto the white slits once more. "Thank you." The clown said. Still, there was no malice-filled grin. There was no laughter. There was only pain and suffering. Bruce was confused and blaming his current predicament fully on Joker and his jokes. He was almost certain the clown was playing one of his mind games now. He just had to figure out what he was after this time. The only effect it was having on him was a growing confusion he couldn't contain above the levels of rationality, something Joker lacked according to anyone who met him, though contrary to popular belief, rationality was something the Joker was the personification of. The sheer notion would make anyone feel -and rightfully so- offended. However, the embodiment of sanity was the very person who was deemed insane merely because he couldn't handle the deeper hankerings of the 'shadow' that lives in any man. The Joker was just as sane as any person, perhaps even more so. Mania's fuel is sanity after all. Joker's fuel was mania.

Seeing the Joker in his current state only confirmed Bruce' theories. This was insanity. This precious moment of clarity present in the Joker's head would be the hope for any doctor to be able to cure madness. Sadly, the doctors didn't know they'd be trying to extinguish a flame that shouldn't be extinguished in the first place.

"Joker, I need you to focus." Batman started. When he got no response other than the searching gaze trying to pierce through his cowl, he continued, "Do you know where you are?" Batman asked. He didn't attempt to move for the fear he would only make Joker's current condition worse. The Joker, who finally showed signs of hearing him by turning his head this way and that, nodded slowly. The clown's eyes fell on the river beside them and realization seemed to hit the clown like smilex on a Sunday morning. The only missing this was the smiles and the laughter.

"The park. I…" He halted and tilted his head to the side. He let go of Batman's arms and shook his head as if to clear it. "Arkham, Rossdale." He spoke with animosity.

Robert Rossdale. Bruce had done all the research he could regarding the new doctor in Arkham, the doctor was top of his class in psychology. Unfortunately, the man lacked the needed empathy to be able to work anywhere but Arkham asylum. How the man passed was beyond even Bruce Wayne. Heck, how Harleen Quinzel had passed was an even greater mystery.

"Do you remember jumping into the river?" Batman asked suddenly. Truly, he wanted to know.

"Oh, would you like to know." Joker started smiling. He pushed himself off of the ground, a grin forming on his lips. Batman backed away, but not too far away should the clown try and get away.

"I'm going to get you back to Arkham." Batman told him. He got up and grabbed the clown's arm, pulling him up after him.

"Come now, Batsy, I just broke out." Joker said with a laugh. "Can't allow you to put me in a box already." He tested Batman's hold on his arm, his eyes glinting in amusement when he felt him tense his arm against the Joker's movement.

"Doctor Rossdale is your doctor, ri-…" Batman stopped speaking when Joker started snarling at the mention of the doctor.

"Doctor Annoying is probably dead." Joker stated with renewed anger blazing behind green eyes. "If he isn't, I'll make sure to fix that." He said. His smile had turned into a disapproving frown by now and the tugging had increased tremendously. A well-aimed kick made Batman lose his grip on the clown's arm, but Joker didn't run. He just stood there. Fuming. "Look at what he did." He said through gritted teeth. "Look!" He shouted, tensing up. Joker's posture had him hunching over, making him appear much smaller than he actually was. Now, he stood at full height with tightly clenched fists. It made Batman aware of just how tall the other was. He knew the joker was 6'5", which was a staggering height in comparison to the average citizen of Gotham city. Batman himself was 6'2", but the difference in height wasn't all that noticeable.

"Joker, I don-…" Again, he was cut off by the clown,

"He wanted to change me." Joker said, his eyes bright and suddenly filled with determination. "He can't." Joker smiled eerily. "Couldn't." He corrected himself.

"He's probably just trying to help you." Batman told him to which Joker snorted in mock-amusement. His eyebrows were drawn together in scepticism while his smile, albeit forced, was still present. Batman took out a pair of bat-shaped handcuffs and took on a defensive stance in case the Joker decided to attack.

In a split second, a forced smile turned folly. Yellowed teeth came from behind blood red lips as they parted in a way Batman had seen countless of times before. It was an unsettling sight, but a familiar one. Joker seemed to catch the same kind of nostalgic-ness hanging in the atmosphere, dangling in the air around them while they waited for either of them to move first. Each daring the other in silence. Blue eyes never strayed from their piercing glare while green ones flicked this way and that, never quite focusing on one thing.

"Admit it, just as much as you complete me, I complete you." Joker said ending the phrase with a knowing smile. Batman growled lowly. The clown's words caused his mind to start reeling though, what would break one into obsession driven madness? The Joker was obsessed beyond what was healthy, the man had slaughtered thousands of people for what? Him, Batman? He looked up again, Joker was gone. Disappeared. Batman straightened back up, surveying the area. There was no one. He hadn't heard Joker leave, nor had he seen anything despite having trained his eyes on him for the entirety of the time the man had been there. His previous train of thought picked up again, heading off in a different direction full of 'what if's'.

What if it wasn't madness but something else brought forth from the depths of the mind caused by despair, masking itself as folly thoughts woven into a merciless world full of uncertainty. Or simply put, confusion and the mind's attempt at trying to keep both hands on the wheel. Not insane, just too sane. Headed towards a certain goal but seeing it fall apart and thus creating chaos. Or was it the mind's obsession leading one to actually reform reality in one's head? Did madness actually exist at all? What if it's just a state of mind, temporary blinded by lies they told themselves because society wanted them to. Or was it really just an obsession turned insanity? Batman could only try and guess, but it was fruitless without someone knowing the answers and he doubted even Alfred would be able to provide them.

So he left to ponder further upon the matter inside the coziness of Wayne manor.

TO BE CONTINUED