As soon as Batman jumped out of his Batmobile in his lair's launching pad, he walked stiffly towards the large glowing rectangle on one of the walls where Alfred stood readily, a coat swung over his arm.
Whipping his cowl off, Bruce Wayne's stoic face emerged, grim and eyes determined.
Night Wing had taken off, with the body of the deceased girl, to bring her to the police station and morgue, promising to take care of all the technical things their job entailed.
"I need every surveillance system in Arkham and Gotham we've got, to keep a tabs on Joker and keep a clear DNA analysis scan out for anyone in the city, there's bound to be more tricks."
Lifting a brow, Alfred dared to ask, "Are you...alright, sir?"
Bruce Wayne's face tiredly looked out from under the hood of his lifted cowl, his expression was tense and thoroughly perturbed.
Speaking in an exhausted and gravely voice, Bruce said, "Alfred, I don't want you to ever ask that question again."
Walking away, his polished, hard-soled black leather shoes hitting the ground and echoing in the dark abyss, Alfred called out, "Perhaps some Earl Gray black tea sir...Seems like it will be another long night."
Mere silence came from the millionaire man hunched over his gigantic keyboards, tirelessly punching away at his work.
Later that morning, in the dark stillness of Gotham's twilight, Bruce Wayne had finally fallen asleep in his bed. Flashing numbers and images from his computer screen downstairs permeated his dreams. A small white and carved face appeared once in a while, causing the slumbering Batman to whimper and grunt. He had never known this little girl, as far as she'd been alive, she had no reason to die, no reason to be the face he unmasked. Just a random, small, innocent life the Joker had picked up and taken carelessly as a body for a hostage. Just to have one laugh over on the Batman.
Joker's chilling laugh echoed all around Bruce Wayne, and the limp rag doll of a girl flopped in his arms repeatedly.
He woke with a roaring scream, arms flexed and his eyes wide and blood shot.
Slowly getting up, Wayne put on a silk gray robe and made his way back downstairs to his lair.
His screen was on and blank, however, a package tied with a ribbon lay on his chair. Could it be a gift from Alfred?
With shaking fingers, Bruce unwrapped it, revealing a video tape. He quickly deposited it into a video player and waited as the screen flickered alive.
A shadowy white face carved with a red grin appeared, "Can't sleep, Batsy? Well, aren't we becoming more and more like a real bat aren't we? Feeling batty? Conquering our deepest fears in that extremist way of yours? We've got a Scarecrow for that. Give it up, you won't find me, I could be under your long curved nose for all you knows... And it's just going to drive you NUTS. "
Batman muttered, "I'm starting to think this is all getting a little repetitive.."
Joker merely cackled back, "Isn't that the point, Batsy?"
Bruce hit the rewind button and in a flash and warble of words, "Isn't that the point, Batsy?" played over and over again.
Thumbing his chin, the tired man leaned forward, blood shot eyes straining at the bright screen, at a blurry speck in the background behind Joker.
Swooping in from the roof top hole, Night Wing landed on his haunches above Batman on a part of the rock wall.
"Morning sunshine, you're up bright and early."
Bruce frowned, "Don't you have exams or something?"
Nightwing shrugged, "I'm studying with Babs later. Any luck on finding Joker? He could be letting loose on a rampage."
Bruce squared the blurry speck he had spotted in Joker's video and zoomed in.
He growled, "Get Harley Quinn, we need her pronto."
Nightwing cocked his head, "Harley? What's that nutcase got to do with this? How strongly allied is she to Joker right now."
Bruce stood up, walking over to a glass tube where his costume was, and began suiting up.
"She has answers we need."
Crashing through a small window of Gotham Golden Hall dorm room, Nightwing tumbled in, followed by Batman.
The small room was dark, and two people were sleeping in it.
A boy got up, startled, with red sunglasses still on and in just flannel pants.
Nightwing recognized his college roommate who charged at him.
Cringing, Dick deflected and pushed Scott back with all his might, knocking him to the ground.
Batman seized Harley and said, "Finally, got you."
Scott came reeling back, high kicking Batman in his chin uncovered by cowl.
Batman turned his attention towards the boy, grabbing his foot and twisting it.
Scott flipped over but rebounded with a spring of muscle and braced himself against Batman's back, locking both his arms up.
The kid knew how to brawl.
Nightwing cartwheeled behind Scott and kicked him off of Batman.
Harley screamed, and repeatedly struck Batman and Nightwing with her pillow.
Tossing a cable around Scott, Batman signaled to Nightwing who grabbed the other end and tightened it, then clicked a buzzer, shocking the wound up boy.
They managed to tie him down against a chair and handcuff Harley, sitting her down on Scott's lap.
Batman got in her face, "Alright you, what is this. What is Joker trying to do."
He held up a projection of the freeze frame of Joker's video, zoomed in to a small blur that turned out to be the tip of a detonator.
Shaking her pigtails wildly, Harley wailed, "I dunno! I haven' talked to him in so long. Listen, he ain't on my side anymore, in fact, he's out ta get me just as much as he's out ta get you! Now what is the meanin' of this? Troublin' me an' my puddin' at this hour!"
"You're lucky we didn't immediately turn you in."
Harley merely stuck her tongue out in reply.
Walking away from the tied up couple, Bruce beckoned to Dick.
He muttered to him, "I don't know about Harley...This could all be an act, her boyfriend and all this, a new leaf, could be decoys, she's just pretending."
Dick shrugged, "We could probe her more, she's got to know something."
When they turned around, Harley was charging at them, her handcuffed hands raised above her head, "Hiiiiiiiyah!"
Batman immediately knocked her over.
The boy had broken out of the chair and swung a fist at Nightwing who dodged, and smacked him on the back, causing Scott to fall forward.
When he went back down to detain Scott, the mutant agilely somersaulted out of the way, and landed a curved punch on Dick's ear.
Dick wondered where Scott had learned all these moves.
He was fast, and Dick knew fast.
Firing a series of rapid combo attacks at Scott, Dick found himself striking air, as his roommate fluidly dodged each flurry of fists and feet with surprising ease. He landed a couple hard hits on Scott, drawing blood from his face.
Nightwing broke out his staff, extending the stick and whacked away at Scott, who escaped each hit effectively.
Letting the stick smack down against his palms, Scott grabbed a hold of it and pulled upright, flinging Nightwing over his head, crashing against a wall.
He was instantly coming down on the fallen vigilante with his own weapon.
A batarang came out of nowhere, hitting Scott on the head.
Scott fell, giving Nightwing an opportunity to restrain him.
Batman yelled, "Quinn knows nothing, we're done here."
He leapt out the window, and Nightwing followed suit.
Harley rushed to Scott's side, wiping at his bloody nose and lips with a handkerchief, "Oh they did a number on you this time! This is what ya get for likin' a basketcase like me."
He embraced her, "They didn't want to hurt us, something must be going on with Joker."
Sweeping the broken glass and mess left behind to a corner, Scott suggested, "Let's spend the night in my dorm, it's not safe here."