Disclaimer: This chapter was inspired by a comment Bruce Timm made during the commentary of the episode, "This Little Piggy" on the JLU box set. If he had chosen to leave this scene in, it would have been the funniest moment in television history. So instead, I have decided to forever persevere this moment in fic form.

Since this episode takes place before "Respect is Earned" consider this chapter a prologue to that story. All other chapters will take place after "Respect."

-From Respect to Friendship-

By: Mists

-A Piggy Prequel-

-Joker's POV-

"All right everyone!! Attention! Attention, please!" said Joker as he clapped his hands together in order to calm everyone down.

They were standing outside the Gotham City National Bank, a block and a half away from the Natural History Museum preparing for their biggest heist ever.

Harley stared lovingly at the Joker as he addressed his lackeys with complete authority.

"You tell 'um puddin'!" yelled Harley as she placed her head in her hands dreamily.

Joker cleared his throat and continued, "Tonight is the night that I make my grand entrance back onto the villain stage!"

Several people cheered and whooped for joy, while others didn't look so convinced.

"After we break into this bank you see behind me, I shall leave a trap the likes of which Batman has never seen before! And we, the villains of Gotham City, will once again be free to pilfer and pillage to out hearts contempt!" laughed the insane clown as others joined in his elation.

"Who's afraid of the Big Bad Bat? Not me! That unimaginative hack couldn't pull off a good prank if his…life ……depended…..on…." Joker trailed off as he watched Batman stroll by with a pig clasped tightly in his arms.

The others in the crowd spun around to see what the Joker was staring at. Several people cried out and ran away, while others just watched Batman walk along with their jaws wide open in shock.

The Dark Knight hadn't even noticed the gang of villains gathered there as he walked by in a daze.

He lovingly caressed the pig as he whispered sweet nothings into its ear,

"It's okay….. It's all right…I know someone who can help you…..Everything's going to be fine ….I promise you…Shhh…quiet now my darling….Everything will be fine soon, Love…."

Joker's face was frozen in a state of shock. His right eye began to twitch as he kept pointing at Batman's retreating form as he slowly walked out of sight.

"Uh…" said Harley as she was the first to recover from the initial shock.

She then turned to Joker and started waving her hand in front of his face, "Mr. J?...Puddin'? You all right?"

The Joker's eye just started twitching faster as all he could do was emit a high pitched squeak.

Harley growled, "Snap out of it!" and gave him a good slap across the face.

"Huh? What-Where?" asked the Joker as he snapped out of his trance.

"What should we do boss?" called one of his lackeys from the crowd, "Go after him or-"

"No!" said Joker curtly as he swung his arms wildly in the air, "No way!"

"But-"

"Nope! That's it! Pack up, we're leaving!"

Harley looked at him as if he lost what little marbles he had left.

"But-" she squeaked out, taken totally by surprise.

"Nuh-huh! There is NO WAY we can top that! Not now. I know when I'm beat. Come on! Pack up! Chop-Chop! We're leaving!!" said Joker as he began gathering up his supplies.

"How on earth am I going to top that stunt? I'll have to think up something REALLY wildly terrible to beat THAT! I will not have Batman beat me at my own game! …This is going to take a lot of planning……hmmm…Maybe I should put more time and effort into that Milo fellow…his work could prove to be very promising…" thought Joker as an evil smile stretched across his face.

Author's Notes: And there you have it! The other chapters will be longer I promise, but I really wanted to start the story off with this. The tone of this piece will be very light, but some depth will find its way in. This fic's mostly just for fun while I get together the details for the other major sequels coming along.

Hope you all liked it, I'll try to update once a month because I'm starting school now.

So until next time, write you later!