They had taken the Joker away from me, and while drifting towards shore, I realized that I didn't know how I felt about that. The adrenaline rush seemed to be the only thing keeping me from thinking straight – which was…different. As I pulled myself onto shore, I wondered why and couldn't think of the reason.

I watched the remaining of the flames of the Ace Chemicals Factory as many fire trucks sprayed water over them, putting them out. I shivered as I pulled my legs into my chest, hugging my knees tightly. Being near the water, a chilly wind blew in from the harbor, blowing my wet hair harshly.

"Two weeks and I've become attached to him…" I couldn't believe that I was saying it out loud, but it made sense. It was so possible that I had just lost my mind in the adrenaline rush that I suffered from during the encounter with Bob and the explosion, but deep down, I doubted it.

"…the woman must still be in there!"

I turned my head to see that three people were standing not far from where I was sitting. One of them was a woman, maybe in her late thirties, the other two men, one in his mid-forties – maybe – and the other in his fifties; the guess is based off of the gray-and-white hair he had.

"By now, she's probably dead," the woman said.

"You know we still have to search for her, Ramirez," the older man replied. He sighed as he pushed his glasses up on his nose before shoving his hands in his pockets. "No matter what the Joker does, it's awful."

"It doesn't matter how many times we catch him, Commissioner," the other man said, "He'll always have the defense of insanity that puts him in Arkham, where he seems to be able to get out of like it's a revolving door."

"For most of their higher level patients, that's how the door seems to work," the Commissioner sighed. I zoned out at that point, deciding that their conversation had nothing to do with me. Of course, my curiosity got the better of me, and I tuned in only a minute later.

The Commissioner clapped the other man's shoulder. "Mind if I let you keep an eye out here, Stephens?"

Stephens nodded. "I'll do that. You and Ramirez can deal with the clown."

The Commissioner and Ramirez headed back to their cars while Stephens turned and watched the water spraying over the flames.

I turned my attention back to the wind coming off the harbor, and I realized that I felt angry. It burned in my chest, and my head throbbed painfully with the tension.

I stood up and moved away from where Stephens was, deciding that I'd better move before he happened to catch sight of me.

So, the Joker had been caught. I was conflicted with my emotions on that simple fact. It felt good to know that I was free from him, no longer his sidekick, but I also sensed that I had a duty to perform. The pressure of being the Joker's henchwoman…if he was caught by the police, it was my job to get him out. And like before, I realized that I didn't like the fact that the cops had taken him away from me.

Now if I had set him up, that would be different, but I didn't so I felt compelled to rescue the Joker from the MCU.

Fat chance at this point.

I shadowed to a random street that I merely thought of in a second, and I walked, digging my hands into my pockets and paying little attention to where I was going. I could feel the adrenaline rush fade from my system, leaving me with only my will to keep me going. I felt exhausted after all that had happened.

All it started with was my thinking of the past and causing my regrets to surface. If only I hadn't started talking to the Joker about my regrets…

There really is something about dark alleys that cause people trouble. It's dark for one thing, blinding the innocent walker to what awaited him or her in the darkness. The ambushers had the advantage of the cover of the dark, and, if it was nighttime, no one was around to save the person ambushed.

Twelve years living as a criminal, seven of those years being for Mobsters I presented my abilities to willingly, I had my share of alley fights. My fighting instincts were in tune, even when I was exhausted after almost getting blown to pieces by the Joker.

The guy attacked me from behind, but I spun, raising my arm to block what he was going to hit my head with. He hit me with a bat, and the blow hurt, not enough force to break my arm but enough to give me a large bruise for later. My attacker seemed surprised by my block, and I caught him off guard as I slugged him in the jaw.

He fell back, and I felt the chilling sensation of my moving into my shadow state. The man lunged forward, swinging his bat, but I shadowed behind him, shoving him forward so that he tripped over his own feet, collapsing to the ground. Even as I approached, he scrambled to his feet, snatching up his weapon.

"Dude," I said, "What's this about?"

The guy hesitated, obviously shocked that I was talking to him while in the middle of an ambush. Then, he growled and ran towards me, swinging. I fell backwards to avoid the swing, catching myself on my hands, and I kicked my legs up, catching him in the chest with my feet.

He grunted in pain and stepped back as I jumped back to my feet, lunging forward and digging my elbow into his chest. With a whoosh, the wind was knocked out of him, and he simply collapsed on his back. I bent down and took up his bat, swinging it hard at the brick wall and breaking it.

Then, I walked around him, still keeping my distance. I halted at his head and looked down at him. Upon seeing me, he growled at me as he tried to push himself up. I shadowed to his side and placed a foot on his chest to hold him.

"All right, pal," I said, leaning over him. "Let's get our differences worked out."

He punched my leg, and I winced, stepping off him. The guy came to his feet and swung at me. I caught his fist and lifted it over my head as I turned into him, yanking on his arm and throwing him over my shoulder. He hit the ground with a pained whimper, but rolled over and scrambled to his feet again.

"C'mon, man," I said, beginning to get irritated. He charged me again, but I crouched and swung my leg from underneath me, tripping him and causing him to tumble head-over-heels over me. I got back up and glared at him as he climbed to his feet once again.

He came at me again and swung quickly. Despite my irritation, I simply dodged his blows, waiting him out. He growled with frustration and kept coming on, trying to kick me down. I finally took a stand and blocked his hits, knocking them aside, waiting for him to tire.

As I protected myself, I analyzed his movements, noting that they seemed familiar, not the punches or kicks, but the irritation he held behind them. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn't quite put my finger on whom. After about twenty-five seconds, I realized that I knew the guy, and it definitely seemed like he was holding something against me.

Finally, as he punched, I grabbed his fist with one hand, and swatted aside his following blow. I lifted my leg, pulling it in and then thrusting it forward, my foot catching him directly in the stomach. Originally, that well-placed kick would have just knocked him down to the ground, a few feet away from him, but being in my shadow state, I was much stronger and ended up kicking him so hard that he flew in the air, smashing into the alley wall, possibly breaking his back.

After hitting the wall, the guy dropped to the ground and fell flat on his face, lying still.

Cautiously, I stalked over to him and heard his ragged breathing. I hadn't killed him, but might have knocked him unconscious.

Unbelievably, as I approached, the man jumped right to his feet, but then, staggered, whimpering in pain and stumbling into the wall, leaning against it and using it as support.

The black skit mask that he wore convinced me of who he was.

"Hunter," I said, darkly, "What is this?"

"Where's the boss?" he demanded, his voice slightly higher than usual, because of the pain. "What have you…done with him?"

"I haven't done anything," I snapped, angrily. "He's the one who decided to blow some factory to bits!"

Hunter lunged forward and grabbed the front of my jacket. With sudden strength, he threw me against the wall and growled. "Where. Is. He?" he demanded.

"Gone," I replied, "Caught by the cops."

Through the eye slits of the mask, I could see horror flashing across Hunter's eyes, and I blinked, sensing that I had seen those eyes before somewhere, when he wasn't Hunter.

"How…how could you?" Hunter screamed at me, slamming me against the wall again. "How could you let them take him? You…you stupid…" He was unable to come up with a word to call me so he just hit me against the wall again.

But I wasn't having it. There have been a few people that I allowed them to do this to me, the Joker being one of them because he scared me when he was angry, but Hunter wasn't going to be on that list.

I lifted my knee, getting him in the groin. Hunter gasped, his eyes widening in pain, and his grip on me relaxed. I grabbed his head and smacked mine against his, headbutting him hard. He lost his grip, and I shoved him away from me. I tried running and tripped over his falling form, but I caught myself on the brick wall.

I broke into a run, racing for the other end of the alley. I burst out of the alley, and ran for the other side of the street, narrowly avoiding death by reaching the curb as a car drove around the corner at a high speed. The car screeched to a halt, and I slowed to a stop, turning around to see that a guy had stepped half out of the car.

"Hey, Shadow!" I recognized Dean's voice, and I headed back towards the car.

"Get in the car!" I yelled at him, jumping for the passenger's side. Dean looked at me strangely, but then, a bullet grazed the hood of his car, making him flinch before stepping back into his side. I opened the side door, catching sight of Hunter in the mouth of the alley, holding out his gun and aiming for me. He fired, and I ducked into the car, sliding into the seat and slamming the door shut.

Dean stepped on the gas, and we accelerated down the road. I glanced back to see Hunter walking into the middle of the room, firing after us. A bullet smashed the back window, sending pieces of glass at me and Dean. I ducked down as another bullet was shot, but then Dean took a sharp right and we were driving down another road, away from Hunter.

"Who was that?" Dean asked, his pitch high from the fright.

I looked across at him and said, "One of the Joker's guys."

"If there's anyone who didn't like you, it was Bob," Dean said, "And I haven't seen him since last night. I'm gonna have a chat with him-."

"He's dead," I told him.

Dean threw a startled look at me. "You're kidding!"

"No, I'm not. He went up in the explosion that the Joker had planned." I settled into my seat, feeling the adrenaline rushing through my system for the second time. If this rush stopped, I doubted I'd be able to keep myself from passing out, which kept me from reverting to my original state, and remaining in my shadow state.

"Who was it?" Dean asked me, his voice a bit steadier from having some time to calm down.

"Hunter," I said.

"There's no 'Hunter' among the Joker's guys."

"That's an alias. It's what he calls himself when he comes to talk to me with that ski mask on." I glanced back and then at Dean. "Sorry about your window."

"It's fine, this isn't exactly my car." He glanced at me, concerned. "One of the Joker's guys has something against you?"

"I guess so." I didn't really want to talk about it, but it didn't seem like Dean would let go of the meat. "I don't know who he is, but he seems to have some kind of obsession with the Joker, calls him 'the boss', and the way he says 'boss', makes me feel like he means it with a capital B."

"Of those who are still alive, besides me," Dean began, "Dave and Peter have been with the Joker the longest. Dave obeys the Joker and does whatever he says, but can be slow about it. Peter's the one who seems to be very…protective of the Joker. No, that's not the word for it. More like he thinks he's the Joker's right-hand man, likes the Joker values him because he's be alive much longer."

"Would you use the word 'obsessive' for Peter's relationship with the Joker?" I asked.

Dean thought about it, his face scrunching in concentration. "Not really. He's really good at hiding his emotions. I believe the guy's a schizo, which explains why the Joker took him in. Boss is always saying that the insane work better than the sane." Dean grinned to himself. "Of course, you and I are an expectation, according to the Joker."

"Cory, Shaun, and Dave don't seem to have problems," I said.

"Shaun has ADD. Cory's just quiet – which seems like a problem to the Joker, and Dave's just stupid."

I shook my head, cracking a smile.

"So how did Bob come to end up dead?"

"The Joker set me up, locking me in a building, rigged to blow, with Bob, and we had a shootout."

Dean looked down at me. "Why are you wet then?"

"I jumped out a window and landed in the harbor, barely managing to survive the explosion." I growled and slumped into the seat. "Makes me glad that the Joker's with the police."

"He got caught?" Dean exclaimed, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Sure," I said, offhandedly. "And he can stay there, and go back to that asylum place that he's always sent to."

"But he needs to be at the meeting," Dean protested.

I looked at him. "Do you think I care about whether or not he's at this 'meeting' that he needs to be? What is it? A criminal meeting or something? A group therapy session?"

"Well, that's what he likes to call it." Dean looked at me surprised. "Boss never told you?"

"I've only been with him for two weeks," I growled. "He hasn't told me anything besides the fact that he was teaching me to be his right-hand." I shut my mouth, realizing that I might have said something that could have turned Dean against me.

Dean shrugged. "I guess it's better for you to be his partner-in-crime rather then end up dead," he said casually.

"You weren't, um, trying to be his right-hand, were you?"

"He already has a right hand. Why would he need me when he has one of his own?" I blinked, before realizing that Dean was grinning, showing that he was joking.

"C'mon, Dean," I said.

"I was kidding, Shadow. No, no one seems to be able to match his expectations…until you showed up, and you're not even his expectations for a right-hand. It just makes me curious why he would take the time to train you before taking you on as his assistant."

"It didn't sound like he was making me his assistant. It sounded like he was making me his equal, as a partner."

Dean shrugged. "I don't know what goes on between you two, and I'd rather not know."

Heat rose in my face. "We don't do anything," I said.

Dean chuckled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to phrase it like that."

Dean pulled up into the back of the apartment building that the Joker had claimed as his hideout, and I stepped out of the car, curious to see a black BMW sitting in one of the parking spots.

Next thing I knew, something hit me in the head, and I cried out in pain, covering the spot with my hand, rubbing it. "What was that?" I said.

"Shadow!" Raven appeared, sitting on the hood of the BMW, and she looked slightly frustrated. "Where's Mister J?" she demanded.

"Greetings, Raven," I said, grudgingly. "Mister J's been caught by the police."

"He did what?" Raven jumped off the BMW and ran at me, grabbing fistfuls of my purple jacket and shaking me violently. "The Joker went and did what? Let himself get caught! He owes me a favor! His week is up tomorrow night, and I need him to help me! Why's he in the MCU?"

Dean came over, placing a hand on Raven's shoulder. "Whoa, Raven, gal, gentle on Shadow. She's had a rough night."

I whimpered as she finally stopped shaking me, her eyes blazing. "He set me up with one of his guys in a factory, rigged to blow," I explained, shakily.

"What's that got to do with him getting caught?" Raven demanded, harshly.

"I think he was waiting for me to run out of the place as it exploded, and he ignored the cops as they arrested him, still watching the explosion."

Raven growled as she shoved me away from her. I collided with the car and nearly collapsed, but Dean caught me and steadied me until I could stand on my own. Raven walked away from us, but spun around and glared at me. "Why are you here?" she demanded. "Aren't you supposed to be getting him out of the MCU?"

"You think I want him out of that place when he tried to kill me?" I demanded, with a burst of anger. "He deserves to be there right now."

"He owes me a favor, Shadow!" she yelled at me.

"It's not my favor," I yelled back. "That's a deal between you and him! Go break him out of the police station yourself! I'm not gonna help you! I'm going to recuperate from the near-death experience I just had! I already have someone trying to kill me, besides the Joker!"

Raven stepped toward me, but I lifted my gun – the weapon I had completely forgotten about and hadn't known that I had taken it from my belt – stopping her with a surprised look on her face.

I gave her a cold stare. "I've already killed someone tonight. I'm not in the mood to kill another, but I will if you push me, Raven."

The fear in her eyes was evident. The raising of her hands only proved that she was afraid of the possibility of me pulling the trigger on her.

"Whoa, calm down, Shadow," Dean said, but I aimed the gun at him too, moving backward from them both. "All right, I won't push ya," he said, looking wary.

I glared at him and Raven and then lowered the gun before turning and heading toward the apartment door.

"You're just like the Joker!" Raven yelled as I climbed the steps.

I spun on the top step. "Maybe I am!" I said, loudly. "That just makes us a perfect match now, doesn't it?" Then, I opened the door and slammed it shut behind me.

Inside, I pressed my back against the door and hit my head against it. Closing my eyes, I whispered, "I hate having to admit that the Joker's right. We really are alike." I opened my eyes and said, "At least we're different in some ways."

I pushed off the door and headed upstairs, my steps heavy on the metal stairs. I entered the Joker's bedroom and closed the door, purposely resisting the urge to look at the bed. I knew I'd go for it if I did so I went into the bathroom and closed that door too, so I wasn't tempted to look.

I tore off my jacket, leather vest, and shirt, leaving myself only in my bra to check over my injuries. My shoulder was caked with dried blood from where one of Bob's bullets had clipped me, not to mention the large bruise forming on my forearm where Hunter's bat had hit me. I did the best I could, cleaning my shoulder and bandaging it. The bruise I couldn't do much except ice it, and it was rather strange – but fortunate – that the Joker actually had a mini fridge underneath the bathroom sink, filled with ice packs. I took one and strapped it to my arm.

After that, I pulled off my shoes and leather pants and unwrapped my leg. It was a nasty, ugly-looking wound, and again, the best I could do was clean it with Peroxide – boy, did that hurt – and wrap it with a clean, and real, bandage. That done, I pulled my pants back on, along with my Skechers.

Finally, I cupped water from the faucet in my hands and splashed in my face, trying to wake myself up for what I still had to do. I gripped the edges of the sink and looked into my reflection, startling myself with the purple eyes looking back at me. It scared me, until I realized that I was still in my shadow state, thus explaining why my eyes had altered colors.

Last I had to do was pull on my shirt, which I did carefully over my ice pack, and then pulled on the leather vest. I opened the bathroom door and tossed my purple jacket onto the bed, not wanting to wear it. I went over and switched the gun I had taken from the factory, checking the ammo of my own semi-automatic before heading back out.

I passed Dean and Raven on the stairs down.

"Where are you going?" Dean asked.

I stopped a few steps down and half-turned, my hand on the railing. "I've something I need to do," I said.

"Going to get the Joker out?" Raven snorted.

"As if that's what I was going to do…" I murmured, turning and starting down the stairs again.

"Ya know, he's gotten himself out of that place before," she called after me, stopping me in my tracks. "He doesn't need your help."

"How?" I asked, half-turning again.

She grinned at my shocked expression. "Oh, are you sure you weren't going to break him out?" she asked, teasing me. I glared at her. "No, you'll have to ask him sometime about his first breakout of the MCU. He loves to tell stories."

"Sure he does," I murmured under my breath as I turned and headed down the stairs again. I heard Dean call my name as I left the building, but I closed the door behind me, blocking him out. Rather than let him catch me before I walked off the premises, I shadowed on the doorstep, appearing before the MCU – silently thanking the Joker for having me walk to this place a few days ago.

I went in the back, looking into one of the windows and shadowing into the room beyond since I didn't have an ID card to scan. I moved into the storage of criminal items where I looked up the Joker, finding and opening the locker that held his jacket and knives. To make it easier to carry, I pulled on the Joker's jacket and slipped all of his knives into his pockets before heading off.

After checking the holding cells – and discovering that the Joker wasn't there – I wandered, keeping to the shadows and melding into them, being as quiet as I could manage while my heart pounded with the anxiety of being in enemy territory.

I passed what must have been the breakroom because a couple detectives were chatting over a late dinner meal – or early breakfast. I caught the name of one of the criminal masterminds and wandered back, eavesdropping like the naughty person I was.

"…gathering a bunch of diamonds to power up his suit-thing," one detective said.

"How many cops were frozen because of Mr. Freeze?" the second asked.

"Seven."

"I heard nine," a third protested.

"No, it was seven," the first argued. "Hawkins told me himself."

Out in the hallway, I had stiffened, my body hardening with a thin flow of anger, my hands clenching into fists. I did not just hear that name…

"Hawkins was there?"

"Yeah, he is a lieutenant after all, and since he came here a year ago, he's just about outsmarted every high-ranking officer and detective, excluding Ramirez, Murphy, and Stephens."

"What about Gordon?"

"The Commissioner is the top no matter what. Besides, with his success at catching Mr. Freeze when the iceman gave them quite a fight, Hawkins will definitely be promoted one way or the other. Who knows? Maybe he'll be part of the Commissioner's top detectives."

I walked away, feeling rage flooding through me. Digging my hands into my pockets didn't help much but when I transferred them to the Joker's jacket, I found that holding one of his knives in each hand helped focus and control the unpredictable anger that was building rapidly inside me.

It had been years since I had crossed paths with Hawkins, four to be exact, and now, I doubted that I'd be able to control myself if I saw him face-to-face. I even doubted if I would be able to handle it if I caught sight of him here in the MCU. The anger was growing so I shook my head and told myself to concentrate. I was here for the Joker, not Hawkins, but eventually, I'll come here for the man for whom I will never forgive and forget.

I stumbled upon the Joker's location by chance, more like by overhearing a few more detectives talking about how he wasn't talking much. I backed up and realized that I had stumbled upon the room outside the interrogation room. Here, officers and detectives could watch the criminal from behind one-way mirror glass, and the criminal wouldn't be able to see them.

I looked through the glass from the door, being careful that no stray light was hitting me and giving away my shadow position.

The Joker sat at a metal table in the interrogation room, sitting with a straight back, his handcuffed hands resting under the tabletop. Across from him was Commissioner Gordon, who was calmly questioning him.

Remaining in the doorway, I could hear their conversation through the microphone, and from what I was hearing, it sounded like I had just come at the beginning of a new subject.

"You're aware of the new killer on the streets, correct?" Gordon asked.

"I'm ah-ware," the Joker said coolly. "The one who killed some guy and, ah, threw him in the river." He grinned. "The guy must've been happy to die. He had such a, ah, a big grin on his face."

"As well as a Yin and Yang symbol on his forehead," Gordon said. "Do you know anything about this killer?"

The Joker scoffed. "Of course I do, Com-mish-ioner. I'm a criminal. All criminals know ah-bout each other."

"Do you have an alliance with the Yin and Yang killer?"

"Is that the name you're giving her?" The Joker burst out laughing, throwing his head back and tilting backwards slightly in his chair. He struggled to contain it, but apparently it was simply funny for him to resist.

The Commissioner was patient, even though I could see his nose flaring with irritation. When the Joker's laughter had subsided to a softer volume, he asked, "The killer's a woman."

"Did…did I say that-ah?" the Joker asked, between giggles. "Slip of the tongue." He smiled, and I blinked, realizing that he had purposely let that information go. It didn't seem like he would be protecting my identity for long if he was willingly giving them information – or purposely letting it loose.

The Commissioner waited for the Joker to continue, but when the Joker simply turned his head to the side, giving him a look, Gordon continued. "I'll ask again. Are you in league with the woman?"

"Me? In league with her?" Again, the Joker started laughing, but this time, he cut it short on his own, leaning forward over the table, and looking Gordon in the eyes. "She's in league with me, Com-mish-ioner."

"Did you order her to kill Tyler Samson?"

"No-no-no-no-no. It was, ah, her decision." The Joker shifted back in his seat and said, "I could intro-duce you, if you'd like."

Gordon's eyes narrowed with suspicion, and in return, the Joker's face fell with what looked like innocence.

"Gee, Com-mish-ioner. It's like you don't-ah trust me."

"I wouldn't trust you as long as you were meant to be in Arkham," Gordon said, coldly.

The Joker winced. "Ouch…and I thought we were-."

"We weren't anything, so don't even try that, Joker," Gordon growled as he stood up. "You can think in your cell about whether or not you want to talk more about the new killer."

As if that was a cue, two of the detectives – I recognized Stephens from the explosion – moved out of the room. I just barely moved out of the way before the younger looking one almost bumped into me. I dogged them towards the door to the interrogation room and stopped quickly as Stephens turned to the younger detective.

"You remember the last time he broke out the MCU, Murphy," Stephens said. "Be careful."

The younger detective, Murphy nodded, and Stephens opened the door.

Upon seeing the interior, I shadowed inside, finding a shadowy corner right away, one that had a camera pointed at the Joker. Stephens and Murphy entered, and Gordon stepped out of their way as they headed toward the Joker.

The Joker had gone still, his eyes scanning the room, almost like he had sensed my presence. He didn't stand as Murphy ordered him to so the older detective went over, placing a hand on his shoulder.

The Joker burst into action, standing up and twisting, catching Stephens under the chin with a crack. A swift kick between the legs brought the older detective down. Murphy came up behind the Joker with a gun in his hand, but the Joker turned suddenly, knocking Murphy's gun out of his hand, letting it fall to the ground.

Seeing Stephens slowly climbing to his feet, I shadowed over and kicked him hard in the chest, knocking the air out of him, placing my foot on his back to hold him down. I turned to see the Joker on Murphy, his wrists flexed, his hands behind the detective's head, palms pushing his skull forward. It took me a split second to realize that he was choking Murphy on the short chain of his handcuffs. Gordon stood in the doorway with Ramirez, his gun trained on the Joker.

Lordlink13: Yet another intense chapter! I want you guys to know that I appreciate all the reviews and welcome all the new readers who have read all my chapters thus far in a single night. Either my chapters are too short or you guys are really fast readers with nothing better to do. It's all good though; I could take the reason that the story's so good that you read faster because it's so fast moving. *shrug* I don't know. Well, I'm signing off for now, but will return with another chapter next week. (Anyone notice that I tend to update Sunday afternoons?) And don't forget to review, people!