Hiya! This is my first fanfic, but it's not complete yet! I put the first chapter on here so I'd know what you guys think and give me some feedback and tell me if there's anything I could improve on in later chapters.
I hope you love it so much you are willing to give me your souls! Muwahahaha!
Scratch that. I am a massive Joker fan… and this fan fiction involves the man himself along with Batman and a new character; Yoru. She's a new villian who possesses lightning speed and attacks. You would miss her if you blinked, so tape your eyes open and continue with the story…

Disclaimer: Sapphirepearlz doesn't own Gotham, (although she'd like to) Joker, (although she'd like to) or Batman. (Although she'd… nah.)
The Batman related characters are property of DC comics, but Yoru/Freowen and Murdoch are mine.

Glossary

Getsurin - A backflip which requires a lot of energy to perform. On contact, it hits the opponent with the user's feet and can temporarily daze the victim. If it misses, the user is at a disadvantage because they need time to recover from controlling their landing.

Moonlight washed over the streets of Gotham city, highlighting the nightlife; drunken teenagers gripped each other, giggling like hyenas; couples stole a kiss… The figure sitting on a rooftop, hidden by the shadow of the small building on the roof behind her, turned her head towards a nearby alleyway.

"Typical," she murmured, watching a lowlife mugger attempt to grab a bag from a young lady. The woman looked terrified; Yoru's black lips curled into a smile. Law-abiding citizens were so pathetic. Never training themselves for protection; making themselves vulnerable to the world in which they live in. Not her, though.

"I thought I saw you up here!" A voice exclaimed, from behind her. Yoru didn't move, her gaze was still upon the pair of people in the alleyway. The mugger had just knocked the woman to the floor and was looking for her dropped bag in the darkness. The trespasser sat beside her, on the ledge of the rooftop.

"Not talking?" Yoru didn't answer. "Fine, I'm sorry for doing graffiti on that picture. If I knew you were after it, I would've let you have a go"

She looked at the man beside her, eyebrow raised. The moonlight made Joker look ghostly pale, but his vivid green hair brought life to his character. Though his smile would have frightened any normal girl, Yoru found him interesting. Besides; she wasn't a normal girl, anyway.

"No." She said, returning her gaze to the people below. Joker cocked his head to one side.

"Would you quit speaking in riddles? I get enough of that from Nigma."

"I'm not upset, Joker."

"Oh. That makes more sense." His sarcastic tone made Yoru look at him. Joker was drawing circles on his temple with one finger.

"You can talk, you maniac."

"Flatterer." There was a short pause, where Yoru focused her attention on a gang of youths taking drugs near the closed train station. The Joker spoke again. "So why are you up here?"

"Don't see any reason why I shouldn't be."

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard." He cracked his knuckles casually.

"Don't you have some big plan to unmask The Bat or something?" She asked. Joker cackled.

"That would be telling; It's supposed to be a surprise." A horn sounded below. A drunken woman had stumbled into the middle of the road and a car had almost hit her. Joker peered down at her. "Moron. Some people in this town are so stupid; and they call me insane!" Yoru gave Joker a curious look. He frowned at her. "What?"

"Nevermind."

Joker's frown intensified. "What is it? I hate curiosity!"

"What's your story? How did you end up here… doing what you do?" Yoru tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear, now bored with the teenagers. She turned to Joker and gave him a look of polite interest through her black eye mask. "Of course, you don't have to answer. I'm just interested, is all."

"Hmm…" Joker murmured. "Well, let's just put it this way; don't go swimming in a vat of chemicals." Yoru gave him a disbelieving look.

"O…kay…"

"Your turn."

"You really want to know?" She frowned at him for looking so cheerful.

"Sure. This won't be much of a slumber party if we don't tell each other our secrets."

"It's not really a secret; it's just… I don't choose to talk about it." She looked up at the stars, holding back a tear. Her visage didn't break, though. It never would. "Well… I was orphaned when I was five. My parents didn't want me; that's what I told myself. I haven't a clue who they are, or why they left me; but that's my explanation. I was bullied in my teens because I was… different to other girls."

"How different?"

"I just didn't like the things they did. I preferred the dark side of everything to their pink and fluffy world." Joker sniggered. Yoru smiled, but continued. "I ran away when I was 16 and became a stowaway on a flight to Japan. Once I got there, I fell for the glamour of crime. It seemed far for exciting than an honest living. I trained with the ninja and after many years of perfecting my technique, I came here; ready to begin my real training. And… that's about it."

Joker raised his eyebrows at her, surprised. "So you're just some ordinary gal who jumped on the bandwagon?"

"I didn't jump on the bandwagon. I chose my own path, thank you very much." She sniffed, rather annoyed by his reaction to her past.

"Yeah, well…"Joker stood up and applied a pair of springs to his feet. "Congratulations on nearly making Batsy kiss tarmac the other day; but the flying rodent's mine."

"Wouldn't dream of - did you just hear that?" She got to her feet and listened intently toward the door behind them.

"Of course I heard you! I may be mad, but I'm not de-" Yoru covered his mouth with her hand.

"Shh!" She lowered her hand and moved toward the door cautiously.

"Hey, what gives?" He asked her. Yoru motioned for him to lower his voice. "Is it your time of the month or something?" He whispered. Yoru pressed her ear against the door then frowned. She backed away from it.

"What now?"

She took a deep breath and started running towards the door at top speed. She kicked the door down to reveal an empty room. Joker stood behind her, looking over her shoulder at the room, which looked like an small, old warehouse.

"Jeez; talk about paranoia. There's no one there. Happy now?"

"No…" She rushed to the open window and looked outside. "Dammit." Yoru jumped out, leaving Joker in the empty room.

"What?" He whined, following her steps to the window. He took one look outside, to see her sprinting across the rooftops, perusing… nothing, it seemed. Joker sighed exasperatedly. "I hate babysitting." He, too, jumped out of the window and bounced after Yoru while yelling, "Yoru! What the hell are you doing!" Then he lost sight of her when she turned a corner. "Oh that's just great... I've had enough of this wild goose chase. I'm going home. "

Yoru ran after the tall cloaked figure, who was fleeing the area. They clearly had something to hide. What were they spying on her for?

She followed them across Gotham's rooftops, ignoring the stitch in her side. It seemed like she'd been running for hours; would she be able to take any more?

Then… they stopped. Yoru slowed to a halt too, gasping for air, but keeping her eyes upon her prey. They turned to look at her - she couldn't see the face beneath the hood - then they walked away. Yoru straightened herself up and made to run for them, but stopped. Was this a trap? The figure continued to walk away- wait… it looked more like they were gliding, on closer inspection. Yoru watched them, warily; not knowing what to do next.

Then, without warning, they vanished.

"What!" She exclaimed, eyes searching frantically for a sign of the figure. Then she noticed that the temperature around her was decreasing. She spun round to find the cloaked man (they didn't have the right build for a woman) was behind her. She performed a Getsurin on him, but it had no effect. The time it took for her to recover from the attack was enough for him to push her in the stomach. Yoru landed 20 feet away, dazed by this sudden move. This person… they seemed too strong.

"W-who are you?" She asked, struggling to get up. The figure laughed. The laugh sounded similar to the Joker's but the clown's laugh sounded playful whereas this was an evil, mirthless laugh that sounded as rough as sandpaper.

"Who I am is not important." He walked towards her, taking deliberate, slow steps as she fought against invisible bounds. "I've been watching you for a long time, Freowen."

Yoru drew a sharp breath, her heart pounding furiously. "Freowen died a long time ago. All that's left of her is me. Yoru." He laughed again; she grit her teeth. "What is it you want?"

He stopped, mid-laugh and stared at her with unseen eyes. "I want to make a proposition to you."

Yoru glared up at him. "Whatever it is, my answer is no."

"Hah. Why ask what I want if you will not even hear it?" He crouched down in front of her. "It's not as bad as you think."

"I wanted to know your purpose here in Gotham. I didn't say I would do anything for you." She stared, hatefully into the dark space where his eyes would be.

"I'm afraid you have no choice." He clicked his fingers and Freowen felt the invisible bounds fall loose. She looked at him, surprised.

"What…"

"I'll give you a chance to win your freedom." He straightened up and walked a distance away from her.

"How?" Yoru dusted her emerald green costume off and kept a careful watch on him. "But what if I lose? What will you make me do?"

"I want you to defeat me. You needn't worry if you think you're strong enough. And you do, Freowen."

"Don't call me Freowen!" She screamed, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm not Freowen, anymore!"

"Enough of this. Begin!" He stood there, watching her decide her move, wiping her eyes with a gloved finger. Then she started towards him, moving as fast as lightning, disappearing into shadows; it was all an optical illusion. One which would fool mortals. But not this man. He pushed his hand forward and Yoru tumbled out of the darkness, as if something had hit her. She clutched her face and glared at him before taking off again. This time, she jumped high into the air and grabbed his head with her feet, twisting them as she went. That would've definitely finished him off.

She landed, crouching on her feet, gasping for air, with her back to the man's body. After a few seconds of listening to the surrounding sounds, she stood up. 'Feh.' She thought. 'I knew it; just another petty wannabe.' She turned to look at him, expecting a bloody mess: she had snapped his spinal cord; but instead she was greeted with an empty space where his body should have been.

She didn't need to think. She just ran, as fast as she could. Away from that place, away from the man who wouldn't die…

"Going somewhere?" A voice was brought to her on the wind before she received a sudden blow to her stomach. She fell to the ground, eyes watering from the pain. No… she mustn't give up…

Yoru stood, knees shaking, and braced herself for another fight.

"Show yourself; I'm not finished yet!"

Then… silence. Even the nightlife on the ground seemed to have stopped. The air felt dense all around her, even as she panted for oxygen.

What seemed like an eternity passed, and Yoru finally lowered her arms, her heart slowing down to its regular beat.

She smirked in grim satisfaction at nothing in particular. "You can't defeat me." Yoru muttered as she turned to leave when a sudden wind picked up around her and whipped her black hair about her face. Then the voice returned, the voice as coarse as gravel; as cold as graves.

"Is that a fact?"

Lightning flashed before her, landing on the rooftop she stood upon, creating a ring of fire which surrounded her. There was no escape. She searched frantically for an way out, but the fire was closing in on her. Then she felt a sudden faint and all feeling left Yoru as she fell into eternal darkness.

To be continued