Chapter 9: Crane Family Values

Jim Gordon rushed back into the police station. Ramirez had texted him to come back after he came home to his grieving family. The revelation had been a heartbreaking one for him and his wife. She had been angry with him for the lies, but relieved that he was still alive and healthy. He had been named Police Commissioner by the mayor as the Joker watched only an hour ago and he could still see the Joker clapping with a look of dark amusement on his face. He knew it was a look that he would never be able to rid his mind of for all of his days.

He burst through the doors and looked at his specialized team, minus Bagheera Lewis, with worry on his face. He didn't want anything to cause them to lose the Joker. Bagheera had made sure that he was brought to them and he was going to make sure that she received the credit for her job. He made sure that every cop and criminal stayed away from the clown. He did not want to lose him because of some wise guy mob lawyer. He was on a mission to put the madman away that had killed dozens of innocent citizens and political servants and hospitalized a good cop.

"Has he said anything," Gordon asked of the man that had no matching finger prints or links to a life before he worn the clown make up like war paint and wreaked havoc on Gotham with the ferocity of an Old World warrior. There was nothing they could find on him.

Ramirez shook her head as the simple answer. She watched as her boss walked into the highly guarded and highly secure holding cell that he had been taken to after being rid of his many weapons. Gordon opened the door as a buzzing noise introduced his presence to the clown that was sitting in the dimly lit room. The only furniture in the small interrogation room was a table that was bolted to the floor and two chairs, one for the criminal and one for the interviewer. A two way mirror was the only decoration in the small room.

"Ev-a-ning Cah-mission-ER," the Joker lolled out lazily as Gordon walked deeper into the dark interrogation room and sat down in the free chair across the table. The Joker watched in amusement as the man wiped an unseen particle of dust from the table as he sat down.

"Harvey Dent never made it home," Gordon said with a level tone as he looked the Joker in the eyes.

"Of course not," Joker answered simply with a shrug of his wide shoulders.

"What have you done with him?"

"Me," the Joker asked in mock confusion, his voice mimicked that of a confused child as he spoke to the new commissioner of Gotham, "I was right here," he lifted his cuffed hands up for a reminder, "Who did you leave him with," he pointed to Gordon and gave a small, knowing smile, "Hmmm," he licked his painted lips, "Your people? Assuming of course that they are still your people, and not Maroni's. You still have Detect-ave Lewis, but she's in Gotham General," he smiled as he watched a small sparkle of fear shine in Gordon's eyes, "Does it depress you Commissioner," his voice lowered significantly, "to know how alone you really are? Does it make you feel responsible for Harvey Dent's current pre-dic-a-ment?"

"Where is he," Gordon asked in a steady voice, but inside he was growing weary of the clown's knowing words.

"What's the time," Joker asked quickly.

"What difference does that make?"

"Well," the Joker said with a smile as he leaned in towards the table, "depending on the time, he may be in one spot or several."

Gordon smiled at him with a knowing glint in his eyes as he pulled the handcuff keys out of his jacket pocket, "If we are going to play games," he unlocked the cuffs and jerked them off his dirty wrists, "I'm going to need a cup of coffee."

"Ahh the good cop, bad cop routine? Baggy already showed me her bad cop," the Joker announced with a growing smile as he watched the new commissioner walk away from him and towards the door.

"Not exactly," Gordon answered honestly as the buzzer sounded again and the door opened, allowing him to make his exit.

The Joker licked his lips as he sat in the dimly lit room alone once again. It only took a moment for the bright lights to turn on and for a hand to shove his head into the hard table in front of him. The pain rushed through him as his brain rattled in his skull.

He groaned and grabbed at his throbbing forehead with a free hand and blinked to see the Batman now standing in front of him.

"Never start with the head," the Joker informed him, "The victim gets all fuzzy. They can't feel the next-"

The vigilante punched down hard on the Joker's exposed hand that lay on the table, but the Joker did not flinch. He rolled his eyes under his closed eyes and looked back to the Batman as the fuzziness recoiled out of his head.

"See," he said with a proud smirk as he looked to the masked man.

"You wanted me," the Batman said in his husky voice as he glared at the killer clown, "Here I am."

"I wanted to see what you'd do," the Joker answered in a contained, calm tone as he sized the Batman up, "and ya didn't disappoint! You let five people die, you let a good detective get taken all for the safety of one little mayor and the uh," he smiled to himself, "the unblemished DA. Then you let Dent take your place," he licked his lips as he glared at the man in front of him, "Even to a guy like me that is cold!"

"Where's Dent," Batman asked, ignoring the clown's words of truth.

"Those mob fools want you gone so they can get back to the way things were," the Joker said as he fluttered his hands about for emphasis, he rolled his eyes slightly and licked at his scars on the inside of his mouth, "But I know the truth. There's no goin' back. You've changed things," he looked around momentarily before adding, "Forever."

"Then why do you want to kill me?"

The Joker burst out in manic, uncontrollably loud laughter at the question that he had been asked. He did not understand why they thought he was out to kill the people that he found the most interesting. Bagheera had thought he was going to kill her, and now the Batman thought the very same thought.

"I don't want to kill you," he said in glee as his chuckles slowly ceased, "What would I do without you? Go back to rippin' off mob dealers," he shook his head as he scratched at his shoulder, "No. No. No," he leaned closer to the table to get a better look at the Batman's face, "No, you…complete…me."

"You're garbage who kills for money," the Batman informed him harshly.

"Don't talk like one of them," the Joker answered defensively, "You're not! Even Bags doesn't talk like them! Even if you'd both like to be," the Joker glanced over to the two way mirror and then quickly placed his eyes back on the masked man that sat across the table from him, "To them you are just a freak…like me," his voice took on a childish quality when he referred to himself as a freak, "They need you right now," he looked back to the mirror and then back to Batman with a knowing glint in his eyes, "But when they don't, they'll cast you out…like a leper. See their morals, their code…it's a bad joke. You'll be dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you," he stared into the Batman to emphasis his point, "when the chips are down, these uh…these civilized people, they'll eat each other."

The Joker smiled as he pulled away from the Batman and leaned back in his chair comfortably as he added, "See I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve."

The Batman shoved himself out of his chair and grabbed the Joker by his vest and jerked him across the table. He held the clown in the air so his feet dangled a foot above the concrete floor of the interrogation room.

"Where's Dent," the Batman asked again, his voice was husky and growing tired of waiting for a straight answer from the Joker.

"You have all these rules," the Joker said, "You'd think that that will save you."

He shoved the Joker into the cinder block wall. Anger coursed through his veins, but he had to keep it under control.

"I have one rule," Batman informed the deranged man he held by the throat against the wall.

"Then that's the one rule that you are going to have to break to know the truth," the Joker replied with an amused smile, his yellow teeth gleamed in the bright light.

"Which is?"

"The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules," the Joker answered, his voice darkened as he added, "And tonight you're going to break your one rule."

"I'm considering it."

"Oh, there's only minutes left," the Joker said as he held onto the Batman's arm as he dangled in the air, "So you're goin' to have to play my little game if you want to…save one of them."

"Them," Batman asked in anger and confusion.

"Ya know for a while there," the Joker replied with a softened voice, "I thought you really were Dent," he adjusted his weight as he dangled in midair, "the way you threw yourself after her-"

He began to chuckle, but the angry vigilante jerked him away from the wall and flipped him backwards onto the hard table. The Joker slammed hard against the metal and gasped only momentarily for a catch of air. As he caught his breath, loud chuckles escaped his lungs as he listened to the man dressed as a bat walk towards the door. He could hear a chair being grated against the concrete floor and shoved under the door handle to keep the commissioner and his lackeys out of their business.

"Look at you go," the Joker announced as he began to push himself off of the table and crack his back to rid himself of the small pain that radiated through his backbone, "Does Harvey know about you and his lil bo-?"

Batman grabbed the Joker by the back of his neck and shoved him hard into the two way mirror. The Joker's forehead busted the mirror and tiny shards of glass fell to the floor as he collapsed to the floor.

"WHERE ARE THEY," the Batman screamed.

"Killing me is making a choice," the Joker informed him just as the Batman punched him square in the jaw.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!"

"Choose between one life or the other," the Joker demanded with a smile as he lay on the floor with blood slowly dripping from his busted lip, "Your friend the district attorney or blushing bride to be!"

The Joker broke out into a fit of giggles as the vigilante lost his control and punched him again. His giggles turned into loud, uncontrollable laughter as he rolled onto the floor as the pain radiated through him.

"You have nothing," the Joker informed him as he pulled himself back into a sitting position against the wall and looked up at the angered man, "nothing to threaten me with, nothing to do with all your strength!"

Batman lunged at him and grabbed him by his lapels once again, successfully jerking the clown off of the stained floor.

"But don't worry," the Joker answered as he shook his head and looked into the angered eyes of the Batman, "I'm gonna tell ya where they are! Both of them. And that's the point. You'll have to choose."

The Batman listened to the addresses that the Joker had given them and shoved him away. The Joker chuckled as he watched the masked vigilante hurry away from him, leaving him alone with his hands free in the small holding cell laughing.

...

Bagheera opened her weary eyes to see a bright light looking down at her as if it were trying to blind her. She could make the appearances of men and women in white medical masks. She could feel a calmness splash over her body, no pain radiated through her as she looked up to the ceiling. Small stains of old blood that had been forgotten littered the white panels above her. She could hear the nurses speaking to the doctors, but she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. She knew that it had to be about her stab wound.

"Detective Lewis," the voice sounded far off, but she could see that it was coming from the handsome doctor that stood at her side. She blinked at his words as she looked into his deep green eyes.

"I'm Dr. Blinn," he informed her, his voice was slowly becoming louder as she focused on him. Her eyes were weary but she forced them to stay open so she could know what was going on with her own body.

"You've lost some blood," he informed her, "We were told that you were O+. Is that correct?"

She nodded for the doctor. She could hear the nurses working quickly around her, the constant beeping from the many machines around her sounded like some far off sirens in the distance. A cold metallic object touched her skin and glided through what she knew to be her green dress. She could feel the bitter chill from the hospital's air conditioner move over her body as the nurses cut her dress so they could get to the wound on her lower stomach.

"Bagheera," the doctor asked as he looked over her now exposed body to see the bumps and bruises that she had received from her time with the dangerous Clown Prince of Crime, "We need to know if we," he stopped as he looked down at the ghastly, red wound that she carried on her abdomen, "Jesus!"

Bagheera groaned as felt fingers prodding around her wound and the many cuts and bruises on her exposed body.

"Are we going to need to perform a rape kit," he asked as he looked into her weak blue eyes.

The detective shook her head, her wild hair moved around her as she moved, and said weakly in defense of the clown that had placed her in the hospital, "No."

"Okay," Dr. Blinn answered with a nod as he slightly moved away from her line of sight, "We're going to put you under and take care of this nasty gash," he watched as she nodded, "We're going to put the mask on you now."

Bagheera looked up at the ceiling as the mask moved over her face. She could smell the gas that they were pumping with her along with the oxygen that the tank beside the bed would provide her while she was under. Her eyes grew heavier than they had been while she was with the Joker and her eyes closed as if she were dead to the world. While she was under and the surgery progressed, she was oblivious to the explosions that occurred in the distance, explosions that were going to place her right back in the Joker's pathway again.

...

"I want my phone call," the Joker announced as he sat like a young child on the floor of the small interrogation room that doubled as a holding cell for the moment, "I want it. I want it," he looked over to the male detective that stood in front of the door as a guard, "I want my one phone call."

"That's nice," he answered in a bored tone.

The Joker lipped his lips as he turned his eyes away from his little guard friend for the moment and asked, "How many of your friends have I killed?"

He looked back to the detective with hard eyes and watched in contained glee as the man took a deep breath and looked to the floor to collect his anger.

"I'm a twenty year man," he answered, "and I know the difference between punks that need a little lesson in manners and the freaks like you that just enjoy it."

Joker lipped at his lips and rolled his eyes. He didn't have to deal with rudeness and name calling from Detective Lewis. Now she was a good cop. She knew how to interact with him, even if she didn't know it herself. She wasn't disrespectful and didn't throw around harsh words like this other Gordon lackey did.

"And you killed six of my friends," the detective answered in bitterness.

"Six," the Joker mouthed in shock.

The Joker smiled as a silence came over the two of them. The silence was tugging at him. Time was of the essence for him.

"Do you wanna know why I use a knife," he asked of the detective that stood in front of him and freedom.

The man didn't answer so he continued on unperturbed, "Guns are too quick. You can't savor," he shook his head as Bagheera's reactions entered his mind, "all the little emotions," he smiled at the cop while he thought of his little panther and how she had fell into him and held onto his pants while she slipped into unconsciousness, "Ya see in their last moments, people show you who they really are," he held back his smile, Bagheera had fallen into him revealing to him that she did not want to be alone, he could see the fear of dying alone in her eyes as she had looked up at him from the dirty ally floor, "so in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did," the Joker smiled and added underhandedly, "Would you like to know which of them were cowards?"

Bagheera hadn't been. She had fought him, she had done whatever she could to survive, but she had been brave about it…and smart. He had never seen intelligence in a potential victim of his before.

The Joker glared at the detective and waited patiently for the officer to make a move that would give him the perfect opportunity to escape. He watched with a poker face as the detective rolled up his sleeves as he moved away from the door. The Joker slowly reached for the forgotten shard of glass on the floor, unknowingly to the watchman, and waited for his opportunity.

"I know you're going to enjoy this," the detective informed him with a gruff voice that attempted to hide the anger that he was feeling, "I'm going to have to try and enjoy it even more."

The Joker saw his opportunity as the man swung forward. He swiftly lurched his arm around the man and held the sharp shard of glass against his jugular. He couldn't help the chuckle of triumph that escaped him as he leaned into his ear.

"Oh shush, shush, shush," the Joker whispered and pushed the man towards the door, "I'd like to reminisce on old buddies, but I do have prior engagements," he pointed to the door, "so if ya don't mind opening the door there."

The detective did as he was told as the glass shard bit into his skin. A thin red line of blood escaped him and ran down his neck as he was shoved forward towards the other holding cells of the Gotham Police Department. Officers pulled their weapons on the Joker and his hostage as they came into view.

"Put the weapon down now," a male officer demanded with his gun pointed at the Joker.

"Let him go now," another officer demanded as the Joker held his hostage close. He smiled as he listened to their demands.

"What," the Joker asked as he looked to his poor hostage.

"What do you want," the young officer asked as he pointed his shaking gun at the clown.

The Joker looked at him with a sparkle in his eyes as he answered like a sane, middle class working man that had been brought in over a misunderstanding with a neighbor, "I just want my phone call."

"Alright," the officer answered as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket as he watched the glass shard against his superior's throat closely. He threw the phone to the Joker who caught it in midair.

The officers watched in confusion as the Joker dialed out. They could hear the beep of the other phone, but there was no answer. The Joker smiled wickedly at the officers as the room shook and filled with smoke as his bomb that he had surgically inserted into a petty thief went off in a jail cell underneath them. The Joker threw his hostage to the side as useless paperwork flew around him from the strength of the blast. He smiled as he looked around to see all of the armed officers laying on the floor unconscious from the blast.

He smiled as he bounced away from the mess and towards the holding cells were he would find a squealer that the Batman had taken from him. He would deal with the Chinese mob banker and then go check on Bagheera in the hospital. He had already picked out the perfect outfit to see her in.

"Well hello there," he said with a smile as he jingled the cell keys in his hands as he approached the cell of Lou.

...

Two days had passed since the explosion that had killed Rachel Dawes and disfigured Harvey Dent. Bagheera Lewis lay in a hospital bed in Gotham General Hospital. She slept peacefully with a thin, blue blanket covering her body. The constant beeping from the machine beside her bed lolled her out of her sleeping state. She opened her eyes slowly and felt the morning sun on her skin that poked in through the plastic shades that covered the window that looked over the parking lot of the hospital.

She felt a gaze on her and she looked around her private room to see William Barba sitting in the chair beside her with his chin touching his chest as he dozed in an uncomfortable position. She eyed the small hospital room and smiled as she noticed his brown jacket laying across her the bottom of her bed atop her feet. He wore dark brown trousers and a white and brown pinstriped button up shirt. His bland tie was pulled away from his neck. He looked as if he had not slept well in a few days as she took in his appearance. She looked to the floor where a file lay forgotten on the floor with her last name printed in dark letters on the side panel.

"Mr. Barba," she asked in confusion as she slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, careful to avoid pulling out the stitches again.

Bagheera smiled as she watched him jerk his head up and blink quickly. She smiled at him as he looked at her with slight embarrassment in his eyes.

"You just couldn't resist me could you," she asked as she eyed his tired eyes and his rumpled clothes, "Where's Frick?"

William Barba smiled at her and stood from the chair as he replied in slight confusion, "Frick?"

Bagheera smiled at the man's confusion and explained, "Harvey Dent. He's Frick and you're Frack. I'd expected him to be here to witness you questioning me."

Barba looked away from her and towards the door. A solemn grimace fell upon his handsome face as he turned to look back at the hospitalized detective.

"Harvey Dent was in an accident," Barba informed her solemnly.

"Oh my God," Bagheera said, her eyes fell away from the IA agent and shook her head in disbelief, "Is he okay?"

"He was disfigured," Barba answered her as he watched her facial and emotional responses, "He is refusing pain killers and skin grafts," he paused for a moment and looked to the floor, "Rachel Dawes didn't make it."

Bagheera shook her head in disbelief and asked, "How did it happen?"

William Barba looked back up to her and replied honestly as he stared into her blue eyes, "The Joker kidnapped them. It was an explosion. Rachel died instantly. The Batman saved Harvey."

A look of confusion came over her face as his words sunk in. The Joker had murdered the ADA and attempted to murder the DA.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she looked to the man that had visited her.

"It happened right after you brought the Joker in," he informed her, his voice became livelier in an attempt to change the solemn atmosphere that had entered the small hospital room, "You're a hero, Detective Lewis."

"Bagheera," she corrected with a small smile, "Call me Bagheera."

"Bagheera," he said as he tasted her exotic name on his tongue, he chuckled as he asked, "You never thought of having that named changed?"

She shook her head and said with a smile, "I kind of like being named after a Disney character," she shrugged her shoulders and added, "I guess I should start finding a good deal on a flight to the Bahamas since I'll be starting my vacation soon."

Barba looked at her and shook his head and asked, "How long have you been out?"

"I'm not exactly sure," she answered, "This is the first time I've been fully awake. Why?"

"You were in here for half the night before the Joker escaped," William Barba informed her, "He blew up the holding cells with a homemade bomb inserted into a man's gut."

Fear filled Bagheera's heart, but she kept it from her eyes, as she thought of the Joker being free once again. Her hand moved towards her mouth and she shook her head in disbelief.

"He got Lou," she asked.

"Yes."

"He's gonna kill him," she informed Barba, her old accent slipped momentarily as she sat in his presence, "then he's going to come back for me."

"He's not. I promise you, he's not going to hurt you again," he said in reassurance as he grabbed at her pale hand and held it tightly in his own momentarily before realizing that he had overstepped his bounds with her as he felt a shiver run through her arm, "I'm sorry."

Bagheera shook her head as she felt his warm hand leave hers as she said warmly, "Don't be."

A silence entered the small room as they looked to each other, examining each other, trying to figure the other one out in their minds.

"What brought you here, Mr. Barba," she asked as she looked down to the forgotten file on the floor, "You've been the first person to visit me and by the looks of your clothes you look like you've been here for a while," she watched a look of confusion cross his features before she added, "I'm good at what I do."

"I wanted to see you," he answered honestly, he chuckled as he added, "Plus I wanted to see if the Joker had dressed you up in clown make up," he smiled as he looked to her cut up dress that a nurse had brought to her while she was sleeping, "the dress was a surprise though. Bruce Wayne couldn't get you out of those boring clothes, but I find it fantastic that the Joker was able to get you into a dress where Gotham's playboy could not! I'm certainly jealous of that sharp suit he wears," he shrugged his shoulders as he smiled at Bagheera brightly, "I mean for a crazed clown, he has some damned good style."

Bagheera felt the laughter escape from deep inside of her. It was a laugh that she hadn't allow escape her since she had come home to Gotham City. As she laughed, the pain radiated through her body enough to cause her minimal discomfort. She didn't want to end the jelly feeling inside of her as the sound escaped her. The sound of William Barba's own laughter was music to her ears when placed up against the Joker's horrible, unnerving laughter.

"Oh ow," she cried as she wiped the tears from laughing so hard out of her eyes, "Don't make me laugh."

"I'm sorry," Barba said through his own chuckles as he looked her over. He smiled down at her as she lay upon the hospital bed, happy to see that she was in much better spirits.

"Let's play a game," Bagheera said as she took a deep breath to end her soft chuckles. She watched as a look of confusion came over the man's face, "It's called 'What's in the Folder?'."

Barba looked down to the forgotten files then back at her with a guilty look upon his face as if he were a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. His eyes softened as he looked at the mysterious woman that had survived the Joker's abduction.

"I did a little digging into your background," he informed her, "after you told me about Crane."

"And what did you find," Bagheera asked as she eyed him closely, her heart beat quickly in her heart, thinking that he had discovered the secrets of her past that she had kept hidden for so long.

"It was mostly doctor files," he answered, "and your school records from teachers and other administrations."

"How did you find them," she asked with furrowed brows.

"It wasn't hard," he said with a shrug as he sat back down in the chair and pulled the file into his lap, "I'm good at what I do too."

She nodded in satisfaction of his answer and asked, "And what did those files say?"

"It's what they didn't say," he answered, "Your parents died and you were sent to live with your grandmother and Jonathon Crane who lived with her as an orphan as well."

Bagheera felt her heart drop at the word 'orphan'. It made her feel alone in the world, a feeling that she had never loved to have.

"Yeah," she said simply as she bit at her bottom lip in anxiousness, "She beat him on a regular basis. She could barely stand to look at him."

"You broke your arm twice, your collar bone," he informed her as he continued through the files, "and multiple teachers wrote that you had been covered in bruises all the way up until high school. She beat you too."

Bagheera's brows furrowed and she shook her head as she recalled all of her teachers asking where her bruises had come from, she could remember every lie that she had told them.

"No," she answered softly, "She didn't beat me."

William Barba looked at her with confusion that slowly melted into understanding. His features softened as he watched her look down at her hands that she twiddled. He felt sorry for ever bringing up her past. He wished that he would have just left it alone, but it was his job to investigate her connection to Crane when it had been brought to his attention that she had visited with him at Arkham.

"He beat you because she didn't beat you. He resented it and wanted you to feel the same pain he did," he replied, "but it stopped after you both entered high school."

She nodded replied, "She would tie him up in the old barn for days during the summer. Scarecrows were constantly pecking at him out there. She never knew, but I'd sneak out there and bring him some water and some food, " she blinked back the tears as she thought of those summer days of her youth, "after that he'd beat me for trying to help him," she shrugged her shoulders and added, "He was bullied in high school to the point that he wanted to drop out," she shook her head and allowed a solemn smile to come across her lips, "even though he had hurt me, I couldn't let him do that. There was still some good inside of him and he was so smart, so smart. I knew he was sick, but I believed that he could get better if he was able to get out of there."

"How did you forgive him after everything," Barba asked, genuinely interested in what she had to say, "Administrators wrote that you two were seemingly inseparable in high school."

"We were both orphans," she informed the IA agent, her blue eyes were soft as she recalled her high school career, "We were still Cranes. We only had each other there for a while so we both encouraged each other in high school to be the best that we could be. Crane wanted to be a doctor and I wanted to put people in prison that harmed others," she shrugged her shoulders, "We're still family. I can't just forget about him, I've never forgiven him, but I can't just ignore him or what he has become."

"Did he ever do experiments on you?"

"I was the first experiment," she said with a sad, uncomfortable smile, "He would see the fear when he hurt me and he enjoyed it. He didn't need the fear toxin back then. Hurting me fed his addiction while we were young."

"Thank you Bagheera," Barba whispered as he placed his hand over hers once again and squeezed it lightly, "I'm sorry I had to bring this up."

"No," she said softly and shook her head, "No. It's okay. I don't like to talk about it, but it's good, ya know? It's good to finally get it off my chest. Thank you, Mr. Barba."

He smiled at her and replied, "Call me Will."

"Will," she replied, tasting his name on her tongue, as she lay down as the man began to collect his jacket from her feet.

"Can I see you again," he asked as he pulled his jacket on. His eyes sparkled with hope as he awaited her answer.

"I'll be right here," she answered and gave him a soft smile, her blue eyes sparkled as she gazed into his eyes, "I'd like that…as long as you are buying."

Barba chuckled at her answer and nodded as he turned away from her, "Get some rest."

"The Joker," she started to say as he walked towards the door.

"You'll be safe here, Bagheera. I promise."

So I tried to put in a soft element for Bagheera in this chapter. I was originally going to have her wake up alone, but that was kind of boring. So I thought about Barba and decided that we needed to know about the Jonathon/Bagheera connection. What do you think about it?

What do you think about Barba? We're going to get to know a little about him as this story progresses and later into the sequel that I have planned. I really want your opinions on him.

And the Joker...will he come after her? Will he take her?

Give me your thoughts people! I've uploaded three chapters in one week I want to hear what you think of my story so far :)