A/N: -looks at the dates for this thing- ...OH MY GOODNESS...This is pathetic how long it has taken me... I'm going to try to update more often but we all know how well I stick to my word... Sorry guys...

Disclaimer:I don't own Batman or any of it's characters.

-- -- --

A man in a white lab coat walked into Bruce's large penthouse room. He glanced over at Bruce, who was sitting up in his bed, with Alfred sitting in a wooden chair next to him. "Well?" Bruce asked.

The doctor walked up to the two and glanced down at his clipboard. "Well, we've been watching you for three days now and we've taken blood tests. I am not sure if three days will tell us enough but you insist that three days is enough." He stopped to look up at Bruce. Looking back down, he continued. "The drug does not seem to be growing weaker as the days have passed. The chemical is very hard to find in your bloodstream, but that might be why it does not affect you that badly most of the time."

"Well, what about the-?"

"The outbursts?" The doctor questioned. Bruce nodded softly. "We still have not found out too much about that." He said quietly. "I actually came in here to ask you about that. It's a complete mystery as to why the drug affects you like it does. All we know is that it only seems to come only once during every 24 hours. Plus, it seems to only appear at night, so you should be alright, as long as you don't go to any late night parties." He chuckled softly. Bruce and Alfred looked at each other nervously. "I know this might be a little uncomfortable, but I need you to tell me what happens, how you feel, when you have your outbursts, or attacks."

Bruce looked unsure. He really did not feel like doing something like this. He took a deep breath and right as he opened his mouth, he began laughing. Quickly, Bruce covered his mouth to muffle the laugh and looked down.

"Mr. Wayne, you do not need to hide it. It is just Mr. Pennyworth and I."

But Bruce did not reply. He did not care that no one else would know besides the other two. Hell, he barely showed his emotions to Alfred. He managed to take a deep breath and calm down. "When it happens, I see visions of my parents. Besides those, I see people I do not like laughing at me. I am normally in a cold, dark area for a period of time. I am alone but I don't care. I just sit though the hallucinations until they pass and I am able to calm down."

It was quiet. Bruce kept his face hidden for a few more minute and while he did it, he kept laughing. When he finally stopped, he raised his head. Alfred was acting like everything was normal, even though Bruce could see he was nervous. The doctor was scratching down notes while Alfred gave Bruce a reassuring smirk. The doctor then stood up. "Well, Mr. Wayne, we just advise that you let Mr. Fox attend to your work and you not go out often. Also, it appears as though the outbursts come often at night, so no late night parties." He joked softly, chuckling to himself. "We will check your progress in a week." He nodded goodbye and walked off.

Bruce and Alfred stared at each other for a few seconds. Then,

"I have to."

"No, you don't."

"I'll be fine."

"What do you do if one of your attacks comes when you are fighting someone? You cannot just "wait it out", Master Bruce."

Bruce ran his fingers through his hair. "I have already missed three nights. If I miss any more, they will start to get ideas."

He swung his feet around and placed them on the floor. As he stood up, Alfred grabbed him by his arm. "You are being careless."

"How is this different than normal, Alfred?" Bruce took notice that Alfred's hand was shaking.

"This time, there is the possibility that you might not be able to escape in time."

He pulled his arm away from Alfred. He could not stand it when others acted like this towards him. It just seemed too sappy... "I can tell when it is coming. When I feel it, I'll run away or something." He told the butler, facing the other way. He couldn't lie right in Alfred's face, so he acted like he was heading over to get his car keys.

Alfred said no more. He just sighed and held the door open for Bruce as he walked through the door.

--

The Joker grabbed Johnathan Crane by the collar of his shirt and slammed his back against the wall. His eyes were the darkest shade of green as he stared the doctor in the eyes. "Were you trying to sabotage that drug?"

Laughing softly, Johnathan looked up and sighed. "Sabotage it? Joker, you know my line of work. There is no way I can create a drug and not add a little bit of this and that in it." He chuckled darkly. "Do tell me, how did it work? How did he react?" The Joker slammed his against the wall harshly again, his eyes lowered.

Crane turned his head slightly. His glasses dropped down to the cold, stone floor, making a small noise. The two did not say a thing to each other. That is, until Crane questioned him, "So?"

The Joker pulled a knife out of his sleeve and held it up to Johnathan's neck. "He started laughing hysterically," His voice was deep and cold.

"Just as planned."

"And when he looked at me, he was crying. He couldn't stand the sight of me."

"Who can?" Crane smugly said. Right as it looked like the Joker was really about to kill him, Crane held up one of his hands. "The drug causes hallucinations. He was not crying because of you, if that is what you are so worried about." The Joker's grip grew slightly looser. "You asked for a "gas with a kick" so I added a small amount of my fear toxin in it. Not enough to harshly affect someone. Also, the side effects will be different my combining the two different mixtures. I need observations and results."

Quickly, he threw Crane on the floor and turned his back to the Scarecrow. "Watch him yourself, then."

"You would allow someone else to watch your Batsy?" Crane pushed himself off the ground. He dusted off his sleeves. "It'd help if you told me more about his reactions but I can find my own test subject for observation if you are unwilling to help." He turned on his heel to see that the Joker was looking through his lab table. Sure, they were in his lab but did the Joker really have to get into his things?

"What are these?"

Crane chuckled as he walked over by the Joker. "Anything you can think up. I may specialize in fear toxins but that does not limit the chemicals and drugs I create." He told the man in the purple suit. "Pain killers, anesthetics, aphrodisiacs," The Joker twitched slightly. "Anything." The small light in the dark lab reflected off of Crane's glasses, hiding the expression in his eyes. "You can take anything but you are going to need to pay for it."

The Joker snickered quietly. "I don't think I will be needing anything." Without another word, he stepped out of the room.

---

"Come on! Hurry up!" A deep voice shouted to the other men. There were about twenty men all crammed into the bank vault. Standing at the entrance was Maroni. He would wave his cane around, ordering where people should put the money or which way they were supposed to go. "This is our final round so get everything you can!" He shouted. A few seconds later, a few men ran past him with black bags filled with money.

He sighed and crossed his arms across his chest, leaning against the wall. He felt so ridiculous for doing this. Either way, desperate times called for desperate measures. Men emptied out of the room, one by one. Maroni counted each of them and eyed what they were taking out. He was sure they had taken at least a few hundred thousand. It wasn't much, but it would do for the time being.

Finally, there were about five men left, loading everything into their bags. Maroni turned around quickly. He figured that he'd head to the vans. The other men would follow soon enough. As his eyes lifted to look straight, there standing in front of him was a figure dressed in all black. Maroni's eyes lowered. "So, you really were just taking a break?" He said with an annoyed tone.

"What does it matter?" Batman growled to him.

Maroni pushed his fingers through his hair and placed a smile on his face. "Heh, just when we thought that maybe we could get a break too." His hand fell back to his sides. The other brought his cane up and began twirling it around.

"Sorry to disappoint you." Bruce said without any sign of sympathy in voice.

Taking a step to the side, Maroni peeked up the stairs that led up to the lobby of the bank. Even though he already figured, he couldn't see anything up there. Great. This meant he would have to talk to the stupid Bat until he found a chance to run away. His free hand slid behind his back. "I take it that-"

"That your men are soon going to be in the custody of the police?" Batman chuckled softly. At first, Maroni raised an eyebrow at this. Soon, confusion was taken over by anger. He was not going to deal with his smart ass.

Maroni chuckled himself. "That's a shame," His eyes lowered. "Because I won't be." Swiftly, he pulled out a gun and fired three shots. One to the chest, one to the shoulder and the final at his neck. The first two bounced off of Batman's armor while the final one was stuck in his cowl. Batman began to laugh more as he picked the bullet out of his cowl. It grew stronger but Maroni could tell Batman was trying to hold it back. Watching Batman with his hands covering his mouth as giggles escaped it enraged Maroni. How dare he mock him.

He charged at him, holding his cane with two hands. Maroni knew he could not do much but maybe he'd be able to do something... As Maroni closed in on Batman, the other man quickly caught the criminal. He immediatly pushed him away from him. Maroni landed with a grunt on the ground as his head hit the wall. He ignored the pain and pushed himself up. Maroni was surprised. Everytime he blinked, the image of what he had just seen, a laughing Batman with wide eyes, stayed in his head.

For the time being, he ignored it. Just as he went to attack Batman again, the Caped Crusader suddenly dropped to his knees. Hysterical laughter escaped from his lips and all Maroni could do was stare in awe. What was happening? He quickly shook his head. This was his chance. Maroni tacked Batman to the floor, leaving his cane behind him.

Maroni sat on top of a laughing Batman with his own grin on his face. "What's so funny, Bat?" He pulled out his gun again and held it to the bottom of Batman's jaw. "I didn't think you had a sense of humor." His voice grew lower as he realized what was happening. He could kill Batman this very moment. And he was going to... But Maroni wanted to savor the moment. His eyes drifted to the cowl. "You know what? Before I finish exterminating the pest, I think I'd first like to figure out who it actually is." With his gun still placed on his jaw, Maroni's other hand grabbed on of the ears. He gave it a slight yank, when suddenly, there was a large explosion and the wall besides him was blown to pieces.

Someone swung in, kicking Maroni off of Batman and then sliding and landing on the slippery floor. Maroni held his side, where he had been kicked, and looked up at the figure, waiting for the smoke to clear.

There was a quiet moment, where the only thing that could be heard were the quiet giggles of Bruce in the background. Then, "Did I hit you, Italian? My bad." The Joker placed his hands in his suit pockets and smirked at the older man.

"What-what are you doing here?" Maroni hissed through his teeth.

The Joker leaned back and forth. "Well, I heard the sound of a cat catching a bat. Survival of the fittest always interested me so I wanted to see who would win." He noticed Maroni's annoyed expression and snickered. "What? Don't believe me?"

"Not in the least." He reached for his cane and pushed himself up. Limping towards the superhero who was still laying on the floor, laughing, Maroni glanced back up at the Joker. For some reason, the other criminal's eyes were darker. They were lower too. What was this guy's problem?

Of course, the Joker had a problem with Maroni. It wasn't a single thing, but many. Not only did this man try to hurt Batman, but he spoke to him with such a disgusting tone. He would have to teach a lesson to the stupid Itailian mobster. With a swift motion of his hand, the Joker had pulled out a knife from out of the sleeve of his purple jacket. At once, Maroni's eyes widened. "What do you think you're doing?" He spat.

Just as the Joker's hand twitched to throw it, he heard Bruce scream out, "Stop!". The Joker turned his head downwards, noticing that Batman was pushing himself up.

"I can take care of myself, Bat." Maroni growled. Without a warning, Maroni suddenly let out a loud scream. The Joker had thrown the knife at the other's foot.

"Joker, that was-" Bruce stopped to let out a laugh. "Unnecessary."

"I don't see how." The Joker smirked at the Italian in front of him, growling in pain.

"Why are you here?" Bruce worked his way up to his feet.

The Joker cocked an eyebrow at the hero. "Didn't you hear me? I already told him." He nodded his head towards Maroni. Maroni pulled out the knife finally and scowled as he threw it to the floor. Right away, he pulled out a gun and pointed it at the Joker. The Joker's expression did not change much. If any, it just became more annoyed.

"You think you can just come in here and make a fool of me?" Maroni let out a dark chuckle. As his hand twitched to pull the trigger, something clanked next to his feet. All three glanced down. "Tear gas?" The Joker was not amused by this pathetic thing. It began spraying out of the can, effecting Maroni first. He pulled up his gun and went to shoot. Just as Maroni pulled the trigger, Bruce jumped forward in front of the Joker.

The bullet bounced off his suit. Quickly, he grabbed the Joker around his abdomen and took a few steps towards the demolished wall. He shot his grappling hook at one of the roofs next to the bank. With a sudden pull, Bruce carried the Joker up to the roof with him while Maroni remained below.

The Joker stared down. He was sure he heard multiple cops run in and start shouting. But then again, at the current moment, the Joker was not sure what was happening. ...Why had Batman, no, Bruce, saved him? The arm around him was painfully tight, yet it felt warm to the Joker.

He swung up on the rooftop, dropping the Joker immediately. Bruce laughed softly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Tell me." He paused to place a more serious look on his face, holding in the laughter. "What's the antidote?"

"Antidote?" The Joker asked, still in awe from seconds before.

"How do I cure myself? I know you know! Stop playing games and tell me!" Bruce growled at him.

The Joker shook his head. "Like I said before, I didn't make it. I wouldn't know."

At once, Bruce picked up him up by his shirt and held him dangling in the air. "Go and find one."

Staring into his dark eyes, the Joker shook his head. "It's completely experimental. It's made of things that normally can only taken care of by letting it pass. What? You haven't taken blood tests yourself? Gone to a doctor? We both know you have enough money for both." Bruce threw him down.

"Useless." He spat as he walked towards the edge of the building.

"Wait!" Bruce turned his head to see that the Joker had jumped forward, crawling on his knees with an arm reached out. As soon the Joker figured out how ridiculous that looked, he went to a sitting position on his knees. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why'd help me?" His voice was lower, almost as if he was insulted that he was rescued.

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid. I needed information and you provided none." He let out a short giggle before jumping off the building. The Joker stood up. He watched the other expand his cape and glide down. He wished that there was another reason but he knew that Bruce was telling the truth. And truthfully, the Joker couldn't stand it.

TBC