A scream was the first sound of the day in the morning and Alfred, who was about to open Bats bedroom door, quickly opened it.

The brunette was frantic as he pulled everything apart in search for something. Knowing the answer already, the butler asked, "What's wrong?"

"M-My collar, it's gone! I know I was wearing it last night, I never take it off!" The younger man replied, tearing the room apart in his search.

"I burned it." The elder man lied.

"What?" Bats said disbelievingly.

Alfred remained silent which was enough of an answer to the brunette. He began to cry and hugged himself in an attempt of comfort.

Later that day, Rachel showed up for another visit. She seemed happy despite how terribly everything had gone the last time she was there.

The two brunettes were in a living room area at the moment and Alfred had left to do some food shopping. "Are you OK?" Rachel suddenly asked out of the blue.

Bats, who was sitting on a window seat, didn't answer. He was too deep in thought, placing a hand on where his collar would be if he was still wearing it. The young woman noticed this.

"What happened to that thing you were wearing?"

The young man looked in her direction, his expression blank. Rachel looked concerned and walked over to him. "What's wrong?" She said.

"You wouldn't understand. No one does." Bats finally said, looking out the window. The female brunette put her hands on her hips, a determined look on her features.

"Try me." She said firmly.

The young man looked at her again and sighed. "OK…Alfred took it away and burned it." Rachel's eyes widened in surprise at this news. "Why would he do that?!"

"Because…Joker was the one that gave it to me, I guess."

The young woman face changed, like she was thinking something through. Finally, she said, "Tell me about him."

Bats was utterly shocked and looked directly at the brunette female. "You're not serious, are you? No one else has been listening to me!"

"Well, there's someone now. I have to hear your side, Bruce, especially since no one else will."

The young man felt like crying in relief but managed to keep the tears from falling. "Joker is amazing," he began, "he's always been there for me. He saved me."

"Saved you from what?"

Bats looked nervous at this question. "I think it was after my parents died." He had a hard time acknowledging that he even had a family before meeting his lover but he continued. "The mugger that killed them sold me into sex slavery."

Rachel looked absolutely shocked. Finally she cried out, "No wonder no one could find you!"

The young man looked at her feeling confused. "People were looking for me?"

"Of course," the young woman cried out as she reached towards her bag, "I never gave up on finding you."

She pulled out a paper and handed it to Bats. He looked at it and felt slightly nauseous; the paper was a missing person flyer and it had a picture of him when he was young.

"How long did you look?" He asked softly.

"Since we were kids until the police found you." Rachel answered.

Bats looked at her in awe. He hadn't even known she existed and yet she never forgot about him. The young woman just smiled back at him and said, "Tell me more."

Smiling himself, the young man continued. He told her everything that happened to him and his lover, until they finally came to…

"So, why did he give you the collar?"

Bats grabbed at the tag that was no longer there and frowned, he had forgotten that it was gone. "He gave it to me because he loves me and wanted to protect me."

"That's…a strange way to show your love to someone." Rachel said however there wasn't any judgment in her words.

The young man actually grinned at these words and laughed, "Joker is a strange man." The young woman smiled at the brunette male's joy. "I'm going to help you." She said confidently.

"What?" Bats asked feeling confused.

"I'm going to help you get him back."Rachel repeated.

The young man's eyes widened and he leapt forward and grabbed her hands. "Really?!"

"Yes. You deserve to be happy, Bruce."

"Please, call me Bats!"He exclaimed, feeling hopeful that someone would finally call him by that name.

Rachel looked surprised. However, after a while she smiled and said, "You deserve happiness, Bats."

He laughed in relief and actually hugged the young woman, when he pulled back he thanked her. "No problem, we're friends after all. So, do you have any kind of a plan?" Rachel replied.

"I need to find some maps of the city, figure out where this Arkham Asylum is." Bats answered.

"That's easy; your father's study is full of maps." The young woman said, grabbing a hold of one of the brunette male's arms and dragging him after her. The two finally arrived at a door and Rachel began to dig into her bag once more.

"Here it is!" She cried out, holding a key. The young woman unlocked the door and opened it, stepping inside. Bats followed her, looking around him and then suddenly back at her. "Wait, how do you have a key to this room?"

"It's just a skeleton key; Alfred let me have it so I could access this room only though." Rachel answered, looking through a specific bookshelf out of the many that were in the room. "A skeleton key?" Bats said in confusion.

"It's a key that opens any of the locks in the mansion." The female brunette she answered, pulling a large book from its place. She then moved over to the fancy desk next to the fire place.

"Why did you need to have access to this room?" The young man asked as he followed her. Slamming the book down, Rachel looked over at him. "Same reason you need to be able to use it; to find someone."

She then opened the book and began to leaf through it, Bats watching her intently. "Here we are!" The young woman exclaimed, pointing at a building on a large map.

"Is that…?"The brunette male asked.

"Arkham Asylum." Rachel said firmly.

It was then they heard a big banging noise and they quickly looked at each other. The front door to the mansion had just been shut, echoing throughout the mostly empty building.

"Alfred's back!" They both shouted.

The young woman quickly shut the book shut and put it in one of the drawers of the desk. "You'll need to be able to find it later." She muttered.

"Why, we're working together right?" Bats asked, feeling panicked.

"I'm not going to be able to come back every single day, it would look too suspicious." Rachel answered, firmly. "Here, "she reached into her pocket and pulled out the key, "you need this more than I do." The young man took it and the two of them quickly left the room.

It had been a while since Crane had last visited Joker in his cell. But despite not having been injected recently, the clown couldn't help but scream.

In his mind the dead body of his lover covered in blood lay before him, the brunette's blank eyes looking back at him as if he was accusing the scarred man for his death.

Dr. Crane stood outside of the cell's door, a satisfied smirk on his face.

"So it's finally in his system."