Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Batman or any DC comics characters

Chapter 2

The Batmobile roars through the cave before coming to a stop at its usual parking space. The top opens and Batman leaps out as he pulls his cowl off of his head, letting it hang behind him. He walks toward the computer and sits in his usual chair. Beside the computer is his personal file cabinet. It is small and black with a keypad on top of it. He presses the code in and pulls the first file out. He pulls a small flash drive out and inserts it into the USB port. He always starts at the beginning, although he always arrives at the same dead end.

"Coffee sir?" Alfred's voice breaks the silence and Bruce flinches in his chair.

"Dammit Alfred, why are you the only person that can do that to me?"

Alfred smirks. "Years of practice sir."

Bruce smiles a crooked smile. "Yes I'll have some coffee, I think I'll study this a while."

"Very good sir." Alfred sets a cup down on the desk and fills it. He then turns on a warmer at the edge of the desk and places the pot upon it. "I'll leave the pot sir." Bruce barely nods as he stares at the computer screen. "I think I shall retire for the evening, sir. If you have need of me just ring my room."

Bruce doesn't look away from his data. "Ok goodnight Alfred."

"Goodnight Master Bruce." Alfred turns and heads for the stairs. Bruce continues to examine the pictures that were taken of various Red Hoods. Most were taken from surveillance cameras at different crime scene locations. There were seven pictures. He deduced from this that at each heist the Red Hood was someone different at almost every crime. Some were obvious size differences but others were more subtle. In two pictures the Red Hood was carrying a bag in his left hand, the other five in his right hand. This indicates that either the Red Hood was ambidextrous or two Red Hoods were left-handed. He assumed it was the latter. Another difference was the skin tone of one of the suspects. The clothing on one of the Red Hoods didn't fit quiet right so a portion of his wrist was visible in one photo. In this photo the man had an African-American skin tone. Bruce knew the Joker wasn't African-American before his unfortunate accident. During his chase of that particular Red Hood, his sleeve caught the railing of the catwalk and came up enough to see that his skin tone was Caucasian.

Bruce always came up with the same conclusion here. The name Red Hood wasn't far off the mark. It should have been Red Herring. He believed whoever was wearing that mask at the time would have been the fall guy if they were ever caught, most likely someone with inside knowledge or maybe even some small time crook off the street.

He closed the pictures of the other Red Hoods and focused on the photo of the one that would become the Joker. He reaches into his file and pulls the police report on the incident and looks it over. It didn't have much helpful information in it. He wished the other perpetrators had survived to get information from. Unfortunately, they were shot and killed by the security personnel at the chemical plant. He wasn't sure but he assumed they had only broken into the plant to access the credit card company next door. The chemical plant had nothing of real value to the common thief. It would have held a lot of value for someone planning a big crime. But that wasn't the m.o. of the group, although it would fit the Joker's profile now. In fact he did try to steal a number of chemicals from that plant a few years later so he could poison the city.

Bruce tapped the keyboard and three personnel files popped up. These were from three former employees that quit up to four months before. None of the three had a previous criminal record. One of them disappeared a month before the heist, an apparent suicide after the death of his pregnant wife. Another one disappeared a few days after the heist after his stock portfolio plummeted. It was believed that he also committed suicide. It's possible that either could have been the Red Hood but very unlikely. The third one quit four months before the heist and is alive and well living in Central City working at Star Labs under a different name. The reason for his name change is currently unknown.

Piecing together the stories of his origin is difficult, even those that Joker has told the story to have varying accounts. The Joker himself has said that he remembers the story differently every time. The one constant was his career choice before the incident, a stand-up comic.

Bruce taps the keyboard again and a new list comes up. This is a list of the five comedy clubs that were operating when the heist took place. After He finishes tapping the keys he notices a quick shuffling sound behind him. Bruce looks at the clock in the corner of his screen and sees that it is ten minutes after one. He simply closes his eyes and says, "You're late."

"Dammit!" Tim exclaims. "I know but Dick and I just got to talking and…"

Bruce turns in his chair to face Tim whom is already out of his mask and cape. "Tim, I may not be able to control what Dick says but I can with you. So watch your mouth and go to bed."

Tim drops his head and says, "Yessir." He almost reaches the stairs when he mumbles under his breath, "Like you've never said dammit before."

"TIM!"

"Ok…ok."

Bruce turns back to his computer smiling slightly and begins studying the screen again.