Author's Note: Hello again. I finished another chapter today. I had hoped to work on my other stories, but you don't argue with your Muse because she'll get mad at you later. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

DeppThroat: Carly and Freddie's relationship in this story is more closely related to Chris Reeve's Superman and Superman Returns along with heavy influence of 'Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman' than say Smallville. I personally could never really stand Smallville Lois and thought the executives just chickened out in having Chloe be Lois all along. I thought the story would have worked far better if it had gone that way.

I thought Freddie's 'interview' was a good way to have exposition without it looking like a straight information dump.

It would make Tori Barbara if David Vega is Gordon and her heroic identity would be obvious, but it would obviously be some great overlap with the main heroine of the story as it is titled 'The Dark Dame'.

pbow: With all the background I've given the characters so far, is it really a question of who is 'The Bat', unless you think I'm going to do a head fake. 'The Bat' did not rob Mason and Tori was quite late 'running an errand'.

Harley is Caucasian in this story and I hope I had already hinted at who was Harley, but that was a good observation of the name.

Fanfic-Reader-88: It wouldn't look good if an outside observer would pull back the curtain and show the world what's really going on with crime in Gotham. It would upset a lot of boats. It won't be the last time they work together without the costumes.

Twilight Warrior 627: Thanks. I wouldn't go so far as to write comics, but I have seen a little what they've been doing with their new storyline. I think the Superman/Wonder Woman is an interesting couple for them to explore. I'm not sure when exactly they will meet in that manner, but it should be quite interesting.

Challenge King: Thanks. For the interactions, I based a little off Tori's subconscious reaction to first meeting Freddie in 'iParty with Victorious' and a more mature relationship between Jade and Tori as they are several years older than the series finale characters.

Boris Yeltsin: I hope to have a few more characters at least cameo during the course of the story. Depending on how well this story goes, any sequel could revolve around a JLA story.

Rating: T Language/Violence

Chapter 3

Mason Thornesmith's Penthouse

The officers in the room quickly stepped aside as their boss and the business man entered the office.

Dickers quickly asked Gary, wanting a walkthrough of the scene than just a brief summary as they rode over, "So what exactly happened?"

"According to Mister Mason's associate, about an hour and a half to two hours ago a young woman dressed in basically a skintight jumpsuit had cracked the safe. He caught her, but she turned and was able to subdue him then he woke up sometime later when some of the other security showed up. The safe was closed, so we couldn't determined what was stolen.

Dickers asked with a thick voice of disbelief, "Overpower him? How did this cat burglar manage that?"

"Apparently with a bullwhip around his neck then put him in a chokehold when he was down."

He rolled his eyes in disgust then asked, "How did she get up here?"

"We don't know yet, but there was a cut hole in one of the windows that would allow someone to stick their hand in to unlock the window."

Dickers spat out in disbelief, "You're telling me that she climbed thirty stories up?"

Gary embarrassingly remarked, "We're not sure, but… it's looking that way.

As the officers were conversing, Mason had knelt down to his safe and finished spinning the combination in then opened it. He took a cursory look at the contents and his face immediately fell along with the sinking feeling in his stomach.

Dickers asked over the business man's right shoulder, eyeing the jewelry and the gold bar, "What's missing?"

Mason clenched his jaw tightly as he turned slightly to look up at the commissioner. "I'm missing some personal files, very personal files that are not for public consumption."

"That's it?" He motioned into the safe. "None of the valuables?"

"No, everything's here but the files. I need those files back."

"So she knew what she was looking for?"

Mason deeply frowned as his answer, letting Dickers know that the files being missing was a very bad thing not just for him, but the commissioner.

A uniformed officer whispered into Gary's ear, causing the detective to turn his head to look at the younger policeman to direct his full attention to the young man. He listened for probably half a minute then turned to the commissioner, "Sir?"

Dickers forced some patience into his voice as he answered, "Yes, Gary?"

Gary answered with some astonishment in his voice, "The Police Benefit was just robbed with one of the robbers killed in the process, but no other reported injuries. Two of them were apprehended at the scene, but it looks like the rest made off with a substantial amount of money."

The other officers looked to one another, clearly seeing the anger each was displaying that the skumbags were directly stealing from the families of their fallen brothers and sisters.

Gary passed a quick glance to Mason as he finished, "And sir, they were specifically looking for Mister Thornesmith, presumably to kidnap him or worst."

Mason felt the anger rise in his chest, first from being robbed of some very damning documents if they were made public and now hearing that someone was planning to kill him.

Dickers quickly asked, "What have you found out from the ones caught?"

"Vega's interrogating them now—"

Dickers sourly remarked, "Vega."

"Yes sir, but a Mister Beck Oliver was able to identify them as working for Steven Carson. Vega already put out an APB for Carson."

Mason hissed out, "Carson…"

Dickers understood the underlining tone of Mason's words: it was a race between him and the cops of finding a live Carson or find him in various pieces in the Gotham River.

West Manor

About an hour later after the robbery of her charity event and making sure Cat (after she and Robbie had come down from the second floor) and Tori were alright and safely on their way home and the rest of her guests had safely left the premises, Jade had changed into an oversized t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, shedding the expensive dress as she sat at a small dining room table in the expansive kitchen usually used for the help.

Freddie sat across from her on the same side of the table as their respective chairs were turned towards one another, his jacket over the backrest of the seat, his white dress shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his tie loosened and the first button undo with the collar of what looked like a blue undershirt.

He delicately held her right hand in his left palm and looked at her knuckles already starting to discolor in a bruise. He caught the rim of his glasses delicately between his fingers and pulled them slightly down his nose as if to examine her hand closer with his naked eyes while he delicately rubbed over her knuckles one by one. He smiled in relief and whispered, "Nothing torn and nothing broken."

She snorted out a soft laugh, "And how do you know that? X-Ray vision?"

He raised one corner of his mouth and snorted out a soft laugh, "Maybe, but my mother is a nurse, so I did learn a thing or two from her." He reached over to the plate that rested a filled Ziploc bag filled with ice.

She sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth, the coldness prickling through her skin before the following numbness.

He whispered apologetically, "Sorry."

"It's okay. I've hurt myself worst a few times over exerting myself in working out."

They silently sat as she let the ice do its work of numbing her soreness and prevent some swelling. The silence wasn't uncomfortable to Jade nor was him holding her name, but she didn't like the silence so she asked, "So your mother is a nurse, what does your father do?"

Freddie looked back at her hand as he sat it on her knee. He quietly answered, "He was a farmer… he passed on a few years ago, actually just as I was graduating high school… heart attack. I think it was all the stress he never let go after the Great War finally got to him."

Jade nodded and sympathetically answered, "My father… my late father was a doctor in the war. Erwin… has told me that the experiences my father haunted him, but I never saw anything when I was younger…" She trailed off and now the silence was awkward for her in dragging up memories and feelings that she wanted long buried.

She cleared her throat and casually remarked, "You should be out there being a reporter and interviewing for the story."

"There are plenty of Gotham reporters to write what happened."

"Perhaps, but none of them were eyewitnesses to it and I would bet your boss wouldn't be too happy if you didn't write something to the story."

"You're probably right, but you're my boss too and I think you need to be taken care of first before I interview any body or write a story."

She deeply frowned and looked to him with a cold stare. Her voice was sharp and meant to cut deep. "I can doctor myself and take care of myself. I don't need you and by the way, that was stupid, jumping in front of him like that. It's just dumb luck that you weren't hit."

He patiently answered with a reassuring smile, the same kind that Tori would give her when she was trying to be supportive despite Jade insisting that was the last thing she wanted when she was in high school, "Maybe it was and I don't doubt that you can handle yourself as you showed that guy, but I made my choice to try to protect you and we can all use a little help sometimes. You certainly cleaned his clock to protect me, the least I can do is doctor your hand in thanks."

She stated in a dry voice, "You're going to infuriate me for the next few days aren't you Mister Benson?"

He cracked a boyish grin and replied, "I just might, but I'd prefer to be honest with you instead of 'kissing your arse' as Mister Mason pointed out."

Her cold expression slightly thawed then looked down at her hand to fall into silence again.

Freddie patiently waited, feeling as though she did have something more to say. His patience was rewarded when she quietly continued while looking at the bag of ice on her knuckles, "My father… jumped in front of the robber that was trying to take her necklace the same way you did and it cost him his life… then my mother died of a heart attack next to him…" She looked up at him and whispered, "I don't want that to be on my conscious."

He nodded in understanding, but then whispered, "And I didn't want your death being on mine if I had stood there and didn't attempt to do anything. It looks like we're at a stalemate."

She looked up at him to meet his crisp, but very much soft blue eyes. They were understanding and didn't dismiss her point, yet there was a strength there that she hadn't seen before under his 'mild manner' and almost bumbling ways to hold firm his point. He had hidden it, he had… he had put up an act to hide his true self, but unlike others, he hadn't done it to hid negative traits, but positive ones. It struck her as quite odd and enticed her curiosity in wanting to see more of what he had hidden. She understood about hiding a dark side, but why hide a light side?

Each held a gaze on each other, studying one another to try to guess what the other was thinking and unaware of passing time then at some point she took off the ice bag from her knuckles and sat it on the table. She lifted her hands and hesitantly reached to grab each side of his glasses frames as to pull them off to really look at him, but just as she caught the end-piece at the end of the eye-rims, a loud clearing of someone's voice broke their gaze and her movements. Jade looked to her left just as Sikowitz stated, "I'm sorry to interrupt Madam Jade, but the driver has returned from dropping off Miss Valentine and is ready to take Mister Benson to his hotel room."

She dropped her hands away from his glasses and mumbled, "Oh, ah… tell him that Mister Benson will be with him in a few minutes."

He obediently bowed his head and answered, "Yes madam." He turned towards one of the exits of the kitchen, presumably one that would lead to the front door and walked out.

"You didn't have to go through that trouble."

She cleared her throat then casually remarked, "I'm just being courteous."

"Well, thank you for the courtesy." He got up from his seat and started rolling down his sleeves. As he was putting his jacket on, she looked up at him. "I'll see you tomorrow Mister Benson."

"Yes ma'am. Is a late lunch a good time, after my church service?"

She nodded her head and politely answered, "That's fine."

He cracked a bigger smile then turned to head out of the kitchen into the direction Sikowitz exited.

She hastily called out to him just as he reached the swinging door, "Thanks for protecting me."

He stopped with his hand on the door and turned to give him a bashful smile, "Thank you for the right hook."

A hint of a smile teased on her face before he turned and exited the kitchen.

After making sure that Freddie was in the car and the driver had exited the property, Sikowitz walked back to the kitchen and saw that Jade was gone. He eagerly called out, "Madam West? Madam West?"

He quickly made his way to the study and saw that the grandfather clock shifting back into place to hide a secret opening. He quickly walked to it and reset the clock hands for the clock to move back to his left and reveal the passage. He quickly jogged down the stairs until he reached a vast open cave with various forms of equipment and a large video monitor with several smaller ones.

He desperately looked around until he spotted her opening a large opening door. He called out, "Where are you going?"

She turned away from the armored door and gave him an impatient look. "I have to find Steven before Mason or any of his goons. If I can get him to Robbie then he can use Steven to bring Mason and his whole operation down in exchange for protection. I could end this all tonight."

Sikowitz easily saw her point and the potential benefits to reap, but his parental worry asserted itself. "Everyone will be hunting him and I don't want you to be caught in the middle. You may were body armor, but you're not bullet proof like that circus act from Metropolis… and how are you going to find him in the first place?"

She pulled her shirt over her head and held it to her chest as she answered, "I've been beaten the locations of every boss and caporegime hangout for the last few weeks from every associate I get my hands on—plus the places they don't want people to know about with slipping a little cash to their prostitutes. I know where to start."

"Then why don't you just call Detective Vega or Robbie and leave it as an anonymous tip?"

"He might think I'm just trying to throw him off the track and there's no way I can explain how I found out if I tell him it's me."

Sikowitz frowned at once again not being able to find a hole in her logic.

She gave him a genuinely thankful smile and whispered once she saw his defeated expression, "Thanks for your concern, but 'The Bat' will be just fine tonight."

The butler shook his head at hearing the overconfidence in her voice.

She called out just as she entered the vault, "Oh and while I'm gone, I want you to find out everything you can about Freddie Benson and not just the information the Daily Planet has on him."

Gotham City Police Headquarters

The two caught criminals sat behind a sturdy table in one of the interrogation rooms with bright lights shining on both their faces. One had a large blue, yellow and purple knot on the left side of his forehead where Detective Vega had hit him in the head (Alan) while the other the other one had a metal brace over his nose from his clearly broken nose and his cheeks were just as discolored as his fellow crook from Jade bashing her forearm and fist (Chad).

Detective Vega and D.A. Shapiro were standing on the other side of the table, Vega looking particularly angry after the realization that his daughter had been in the middle of the robbery. He growled out, "Where's Carson?"

The one that Vega had hit spat out, "I don't know a Carson."

"You work for Carson. We know that for a fact, so there's no point in denying it. You want to go down for armed robbery while he walks away scot-free?"

Chad smiled and mockingly stated, "I want my lawyer copper."

Vega coldly replied, "He's tied up in traffic."

Robbie placed his hands on the table and leaned forward to add, "It doesn't matter when he gets here. I'm going to tell him the same thing I'm telling you: I'm having every paralegal and A.D.A. in my office right now going through every witness statement and every statue on the books to find every little thing I can charge you with on top of the second degree murder charge I'm filing against both of you. You're going to die in prison as very old men serving consecutive."

The one with the broken nose shouted out in a nasal sounding noise, "Murder? We didn't murder anyone?"

Robbie smugly pointed out, "Your co-perpetrator? The one with the hole between his eyes?"

Chad shouted in a panic, "We didn't kill him! Beck killed him!"

Robbie stood up straight and calmly retorted, "Beck killed your co-perpetrator in a clear cut case of defense of Sam and himself. However, he still died in the course of a felony, so you're responsible for his death. I'm going to make sure that you're sentenced consecutively, unless… you can give me something that would be worth my wild to pay the least amount of attention to you, say not only where you were going to drop off the money to Carson—because we know he was the one behind this—but his other dealings in the city involving his boss that you would have first hand knowledge about."

Chad put on a defiant expression and coldly whispered, "I'm no stoolpigeon!"

Vega crossed his arms over his chest and stated in a detached voice, "Then you'll be someone's bitch when you're sent up the river because they are not going to care about that 'made man' chizz."

The partners in crime looked to one another, debating whether or not they should perhaps break their oath of silence.

Ritz-Carlton Hotel
Gotham, NJ

Steven Carson sat comfortably in the well furnished penthouse suite, but was not in the best of moods after finding out that Mason had put a hit out on him for a million dollars from his own sources and the irate voice of Quincy on the other end of the phone, "Are you insane! I told you to wait. That I was going to take care of this 'Joker', but you decide to just try to ice Mason!"

"How was I supposed to know he was going to leave early?! I could have taken care of both our problems. I know you don't like that he's de facto capo di tutti capi and I would much whether work for you than him."

Quincy paused for a moment at Steven openly stated his preference for a change in leadership, but quickly pressed on, "But you didn't and now every two bit thug is out for your head. How many of your own crew is ready to put one in your head for that kind of money?"

"My crew's loyal to me, but on the safe side, I'm just laying low for tonight then I'm out of here for a while until the heat cools down without them even knowing where I'm going. I'll be fine."

As he was trying to reassure the one of the family bosses, there was a knock on the hotel door and a sweet womanly voice called out from the other side, "Room Service." One of his soldiers got up from the table he and a few of his fellow mob soldiers were idly playing cards while they had the television playing in the background.

He looked through the peephole and saw only the face of a lovely blonde young lady that he wouldn't mind having a little time in the bedroom. He took a step back and opened the door, not giving it much thought that none of them had ordered room service.

As soon as the door opened, the color in his face drained almost to the same tone as the white face painted man with red lipstick and green hair on the other side of the threshold.

The clown manically laughed, "Room service!" just before he raised his silenced .45 and shot the mob solider in the face. He fell back onto the floor with a considerable thump and his most of his brains littering the carpet.

The other soldiers attempted to draw their guns and jump from their seats, but the nightmarish harlequin, devoid of her white and black makeup, raised her of all things, a suppressed Tommy gun and fired from the hip, spraying down the other three soldiers in a hail of bullets. They were dead before they hit the floor, their bodies shredded along with putting more than a dozen holes in the wall behind them.

Steven dropped the phone and hurriedly stepped out of his seat, grabbing his gun on his way out after hearing the screams of his men before they were cut down. He stepped out of the bedroom and into the main dining and living area, shakily holding his .45.

His step slowed considerably when he saw his bodyguards' lifeless bodies lying in a pool of their own blood. He finally stopped in front of the floor to ceiling open blind windows that gave a magnificent view of the cityscape.

The white face clown lazily walked towards the terrified gangster, disregarding the fact that Steven held up his gun at him, while the red and black dressed blonde pulled out of her jeans pocket a black eye mask and pulled the elastic string behind her head and straightened it on her face, obviously not having the time to paint on a mask. A few other gentleman wearing clown masks entered the room with Tommy guns and shotguns to make sure there were no surprises or interruptions from their boss.

The green haired young man laughed, "Hello Steven."

Steven squint his eyes and intently looked upon the purple dressed young man who coldly stared back at him. He took a deep breath then spoke out in barely above a whisper, "Beck?" He slightly turned his head and looked to the blonde and whispered in just as much disbelief, "Sam." He did a nearly comical double take when looking back and forth between them and pointlessly uttered, "You're the Joker and the twisted clown sidekick."

Sam growled out while shouldering her weapon and training it at his face, "I'm no sidekick, I'm 'Harley Quinn' and that'll be the last name you'll know when I put one in your brainpan."

Steven looked back to Beck in the hopes that he would reign in Sam, but Beck looked at him coldly, appearing just as annoyed that he would refer to the blonde as a 'side-kick'. He lowered his Colt and raised his other hand up and quickly stated, "Look Beck, Sam. I've never had any problems with either of you before and there doesn't have to be any trouble now. We can just forget about you burning my place down. No hard feelings man."

"Besides two-timing Tori back in high school?"

"With my best friend I'd like to add," Sam added with a hiss, not besmirching Beck for remembering yet another girl from his past that he had more than platonic feelings.

"Then one of your guys was looking for me at the fundraiser to grease… I put a hole in his head then…" The white face clowned manically laughed, "Imitation is supposedly the sincerest form of flattery, but…" He raised the barrel of his .45 towards the caporegime. "…I don't like people threatening to kill in my name without my permission."

"Okay, there's a little bad blood between us and I just accidentally stole your racket, but… I know we can cut a deal."

Beck turned the corners of his red colored lips up and darkly whispered, "Deal? There's no deal. Your guys stole from dead cops' families, you shot up my friend's home, my friends—who aren't in our business, so they don't accept the risks we do—could have gotten hurt or killed and one of your punks pointed a gun in my friend's face because you didn't have the damn balls to pick up a gun and shoot Mason yourself when you've had plenty of chances. Because of that, you're going to die tonight, but… I'm not going to give you a quick and clean death…"

The clown face painted young man moved his arms a few degrees to the left then pulled the trigger several times to shoot out the window behind and to the right of Steven.

The gangster at first covered his head to protect himself from the flying bullets past his head then turned to the now open window when the wind whipped into the room and across him. He looked back to Beck to seeing a bit of madness in the fellow gangster's eyes.

"You're going to go out that window so you'll have a few seconds to think back on your life before you go splat on the pavement."

"I'm not going to jump!"

Beck softly chuckled, "I didn't say you were." He trained his .45 at Steven's right knee and pulled the trigger, the heavy round shattering the former two-timer's kneecap and tearing out the back of his knee.

Steven's screams filled the room as he collapsed and grabbed his shattered knee, dropping his gun in the process.

The purple dressed young man walked over and grabbed Steven by his upper right arm to pull him up to balance on his left leg. He slowly walked them to the edge of the shattered window and hung Steven to lean out of the opening.

Beck smirked as he shouted over the howling wind out of the thirty story window, "You know, I was going to make sure you got back all your money from when I robbed your place—all if it—including Mason's usual cut once I got him out of the way and 'retired' the clown, but… what ifs you know?"

Steven spat out in anger and pain, "Go to Hell Beck."

Beck winked and whispered over the wind, "Save me a seat."

Before the criminal clown could let him go, the neighboring window shattered to Beck's right and in a blur, a dark figure rolled into the room then stood up.

The harlequin trained her Tommy gun at the dark figured while the others took a few steps back, not knowing what to make of the newcomer until they realized that all the ramblings of the other crews were true: there was a 'Bat'.

The purple wearing fellow looked on in mild surprise as well, but he had enough wits about him to realize that the 'Bat' was clearly a woman when briefly seeing her curve framed from the nearly skintight dark grey bodysuit with dark navy outer briefs hugging said curves very nicely and dark navy armored shine guards before the cape fell in front of her and the near black curly hair flowing out the back of her cowl several inches below her neck.

The 'Joker' let out a manic laugh as he commented, "Nice suit."

The black dressed figure looked like she paused at getting a good look at the clown, but quickly responded with a sweet voice, like a siren… that would drag him straight to Hell, "Let him go."

"Let him go?" He glanced around to his companion and his gang and laughed, "Let him go? She wants me to let him go…" He looked back to the dark figure while he let his smile fade. He whispered, "That's exactly what I was about to do, but it's a poor choice of words on your part." He gave Steven a hard shove out of the window.

Steven let out a cry of sheer terror as he started his fall to his death.

The 'Bat' immediately turned from the opening she just made and leapt out of the window.

Beck looked down to see the 'Bat' fall with Sam quickly walking up beside him to join him in looking at the fallen figures.

The blonde idly commented, "Think she can fly?"

He shrugged a shoulder.

The Bat threw out her fists in front of her to help cut through the air and catch up with the flaying gangster. She reached him less than a second later and grabbed him by wrapping her arm around him then grabbed an object from her belt. She threw her arm up to reveal holding a handle attached at the end of a cylinder. She pressed a stud at the top of the handle with her thumb and the next moment a loud pop emanated at the end of it and a dart with a line fired upward.

The diamond tipped dart hit the sliver of steel between windows of two stories and the 'SMART' tip drilled into the steel then held on as the line became taunt, stopping the pair's decent, but causing them to swing back towards the building. She lifted her feet up in time for the soles of her reinforced boots to hit one of the windows while bending her knees, causing it to spider web crack across almost the entire surface but remaining intact.

She growled in frustration and a little pain as she held on to the handle of her dart launcher to support her and Steven's weight. She whispered to him, "Hang on to me as tightly as you can and don't let go."

"That's the last thing on my mind!"

She let go of his waist and reached around to behind her to her very dark yellow, almost brown utility belt and pulled out another one of her dart/grapplers. She bent her knees further then pushed off with all her strength to fling them back then fired off the second dart/grappler at the window. The dart easily penetrated the cracked window, shattering the window completely to fall apart, and sent the dart into the opposite wall. She squeezed reel in trigger on the one in her left hand to help pull them inside once they swung in while at the same time pressed the safety release button on the other one to release the line.

Once the first line was released, they dropped hard to the floor and dragged several feet inside before she let go of the reel in button. Steven screamed in pain as he was dragged several feet across the broken glass beside the fact that his lower right leg was uselessly hanging from his shattered knee. Fortunately for the young woman, her cape and her suit were knife resistant, so the glass uselessly nicked at the material.

Sam whispered out in astonishment at seeing the costumed woman catch Steven and swing into the window, "She actually saved the son-of-a-bitch. Who is she?"

Beck replied in mild dread, "Yes she did and that's a good question…"

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. First meeting with the 'Joker' and 'The Bat'. It was short, but I hope it was memorable and I hope you saw the first hints of insight on my take of the iconic character of 'The Joker' as there have been many different interpretation of the character. Mark Hamill is so underappreciated in the role.
Useless note, in New Jersey, someone cannot be charged with the death of co-perpetrator for the felony murder rule, but I hope you've noticed by now that this story isn't exactly set in say modern times like 'Batman Begins', 'The Dark Knight' and the 'The Dark Knight Rises' since we have everyone carrying .38s, Colt. 45s and Thompson Submachine guns.