[RL - Waiting up late for Batman, backdated to the 4th]

[tntandgasoline]

It wasn't like the Joker to return to the scene of one of his videos - at least, not so soon after making it. Tonight, though, was a special occasion. The Batman, as far as the Joker was concerned, had gotten the message just as he was supposed to, and if he knew the fly-by-night vigilante (and he did), the man would be arriving at the scene of the crime very shortly to look for clues.

He'd almost stayed in the George Washington getup that he had worn for the video, but he'd had to go to the hideout to pick up some last minute supplies and that wig had been itchy, so he traded the costume back in for his normal clothing.

Now, he was just waiting on the rooftop, looking over the dying flames of the explosion he'd caused, smoke still floating in the air from the fireworks. He'd used too much gunpowder - all right, he'd have to fix that.

Waiting was always so boring.

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He'd gone to the roof to look for clues to the Joker's whereabouts. Any trace of material that he could trace back to its origins, any pricetag, even an empty bottle that he could track back to the Wal*Mart he bought it at. He'd gone under the impression that the Joker would have long cleared the scene, what with the police responding to the nearby Gotham Times building to rescue anyone trapped inside and clear the rubble. So, when he came creeping up the back side of the roof in full bat-gear and took his dear sweet time rolling his grapling hook back up and putting it away, he didn't expect to turn and see the Joker still sitting there, waiting, glasgow grin glowing against a background of dancing flames. Sickening.

It took him a half a second to gather his wits about him. Too long. He was running across the roof as soon as he did, though, which made up for the time. His mind blanked on whatever evidence could be ruined in the process of throwing the villain around. He was determined. Fixated. Obsessed. Focusing on only one thing: Joker. Get the Joker.

[tntandgasoline]

It looked like the Batman wasn't feeling the most good-natured today, coming at the Joker without so much as a hello - no matter. He just stood up, grinning wide at the fast approaching vigilante and waited for the ensuing blows.

"What, no hello?" C'mon, Batman, just one good punch to the right place and we'll be done here.

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No. He was better than going straight to punches. No matter how fucking desperately he wanted to or how badly Joker deserved it, he had more self control than that. He did. Instead, Batman seized Joker by the lapels as soon as he was close enough, holding him off the ground and continuing to walk until they were at the edge of the roof and Joker's heels were against the raised edge. Batman gave him one good shake.

"You don't deserve it. What have you done?" It wasn't a question, it was an accusation. News reports with the death toll from the building had been filtering into the Tumbler his entire way here. It was nothing compared to some of Joker's other tricks, but at the rate the body count was jumping, he was losing patience for the sadistic games. "You could put an end to this, why?"

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker just laughed and grabbed the Batman's wrists, pressing a little harsher than necessary - like he was trying to get Batman to let go. At this position, he could fall backwards into the sky and it would be the Batman who killed him, and the temptation was so great...

"I just sent a message. One that looks to have gotten through clear as day." He grinned into the Batman's face, "You knew it had to happen, everyone knows that I'm going to keep doing this and we were so overdue for another get-together, Batsy. I just, uh, wanted to give Gotham a little fireworks display."

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"No." Another shake. For a moment it appeared he was going to throw Joker over the edge, because he hoisted him up over the lip of the roof. A moment passed and instead, he threw him aside, onto the concrete and gravel of the rooftop. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. He didn't want to know - no, he didn't want confirmation that this had happened because of him. That everything Joker did was just another method of getting his attention. Then it hit him - "Why are you still here?"

[tntandgasoline]

"Just let go," the Joker grunted as the Batman moved like he really was going to do it, finally - and then he was thrown to the roof and groaning in pain. "Ugh, you're worse than Harvey."

Instead of pushing himself up and dusting himself off like some kind of respectable gentleman, he settled into the gravel and crossed his arms behind his head, tilting just enough to keep an eye on the vigilante. "Why am I still here?" he asked the Batman, grinning and running his tongue over his teeth, "Couldn't be because you haven't called, could it? You're an awful friend."

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Batman took a few steps toward him, not moving for any further physical violence - for the time being. He glared down at him instead, wary of exactly what the Joker could do while he was looking pitiful.

"We're not friends, Joker. Don't think I've stopped looking for you for a second," he snarled. "Harvey's not going to kill you, I'm not going to kill you. Fulfill your own death wish."

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker smiled and shrugged against the gravel, searching out the Batman's eyes in the gloom. "Oh, I know Harvey won't kill me. He's a good boy and he understands the chain of command here."

Finally, he pushed his elbows against the ground and sat halfway up, expression going serious for one brief moment. "And since he won't and I'm no coward, it falls on you, pal. Either you do it, or we just keep spinning around this carousel for as long as it takes."

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He reached down, pulling Joker to his feet again - presumably for another round, sparing no roughness in doing so. "Harvey doesn't listen to you. And, I'm not going to kill you. But since you decided to turn yourself in, I'm sure you can convince one of the nurses at Arkham to do it for you." Straight to the point. Don't let him get you distracted with the rambling about Gotham, don't lose control. It would bother him later that he had to convince himself to keep these things in mind. It bothered him and would continue to madden him how difficult it was to keep from killing the Joker.

It would be easy. It was what he was trained to do, even. And, nothing would prevent him from hearing Ra's telling him to just do it, fighting to be louder than Rachel's voice, fighting to be more influential than Rachel slapping him outside the courthouse.

[tntandgasoline]

"You know that if you put me back in Arkham, I'll just get out again." I have more connections that you will ever know, Batman. "You can keep putting me in time out but in the end I always get back on the playground."

He was all but limp in the Batman's grip, giggling at the vigilante's attempts to stay so good, when he didn't even know what good really was. Overcome by the sheer hilarity of it, his giggles escalated into a hoarse barking laugh and he threw a punch at the Batman's face.

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The only reason it landed was because he hadn't been expecting it. So caught up in his own inner torment, he'd barely seen it coming. He turned his face to help the blow glance off, but it was still going to leave a mark. He was suddenly glad Bruce had taken an interest in rugby. Dropping Joker, Batman took a step back, wound up, and delivered a punch of his own - first to Joker's face, then he followed it up with a second to his gut.

"And when they send you to an out-of-state asylum where none of your friends can help you? Where Dr. Crane can't pull his weight with the nurses that still think he's a good doctor?"

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker giggled and laughed even through the crack of bone and the splurt of blood that gushed from his nose, flowing with the follow up punch to his stomach and doubling over in glee and pain.

He let himself stagger back and looked up at the Batman, cracking a grin and smearing the blood from his nose away with a hand. "The problem is, uh, even if they can send me away before I get out - Batman, just think about the riots. I did all that with one little letter - imagine what I could do in a nuthouse full of people who don't even know what I'm capable of."

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"They have solitary confinement for people like you." It was ignorant and naive and idealistic and everything that was still wrong with a young Batman. It was everything he hadn't learned yet. It was everything that separated him from what Batman had to become. "You're going somewhere where you won't be able to influence anyone into helping you. No one will be there for you to corrupt." It was almost laughable.

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker smiled pleasantly. "Oh? No nurses, or doctors or orderlies who'll give me sedatives, right? Not one person I can't talk to, when that's all they want me to do. I'm one of the most unique goddamned specimens of insanity out there and you think they won't try to talk to me? You don't know what I can do in five minutes with one stupid nurse, Batman."

He threw out his arms. "Unless you're going to put me in some kind of, uh, space ship or something." He pointed at the Batman with a grin. "I've seen that little car of yours. Very high tech - I wouldn't doubt you'd have some kind of... Batship out there."

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"You're not worth the fuel it would take to get you into space, Joker, and there's no need to waste resources when one good doctor who's a little too pro-electroshock therapy is all you need." He moved forward, throwing another punch while he knew Joker wasn't going to defend himself. He needed the outlet for his frustrations, and Joker was always a welcome punching bag. It was almost commensalism, really, if it weren't for Joker's incessant need to bomb the hell out of Bruce Wayne's friends.

"I'll make sure you get a doctor who realizes there's no fixing you. There's only containing."

[tntandgasoline]

"Electroshock?" The Joker blinked for a moment before letting loose another laugh that wasn't silenced or even hindered by the blows. "Do you think I've never had that? Fuck, there isn't a treatment out there I haven't had, other than a lobotomy. But unless you want to do that yourself..."

He skipped backwards across the rooftop, like it was a game of tag, "And even if doctors know, there's always pysch students and lawyers and all that. Quid pro quo, you know."

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At first, Batman didn't chase him. He let the Joker keep his distance, let him keep talking his shit and thinking that he could dance around and play games. It was what he did, after all, and to a certain point, he had to be humored.

"You've lost this game for yourself, Joker. There isn't a soul in Gotham whose family hasn't been hurt by your antics. Even if they did allow you to meet with a lawyer, you think they'd want to help you? Not after all the people you've killed." He began to advance - slowly. Somewhere between lurching and stalking. "You're out of options."

[tntandgasoline]

He watched the Batman come forward like a dog watched kibble being poured, licking his lips and laughing loudly. "I thought I made this clear, Batman - everything I've done has been for you. The fireworks, the deaths - it's all been about you and my message. This isn't just for shits and giggles, pal."

He took a step forward and smiled. "I don't want options or lawyers or judges, and I couldn't get a jury of my piers set up without too much blackmail to deal with. I want freedom and you, of all people in this city should understand that." He pointed a looping finger at the vigilante, "After all, you don't dress up like a bat for fun, do you?"

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"Don't compare me to you." He was roaring now, and when he was close enough, he grabbed Joker's jacket with one hand and punched him in the face with the other. Perhaps this wasn't the best way to go about showing that they were different, but it was sure doing a good job of making him feel better, at least.

"We're different because you're trying to act outside of the law to hurt people. You're killing Gotham. I'm helping it." He was trying to. Was he? Was there any way of knowing, yet?

[tntandgasoline]

He adored the violence - this need the Batman had to beat him up was wonderful. He could tell just from the force behind the blows that the bastard really wanted to get it over with; it was just some little nervous tic holding him back.

All in good time.

"I'm not trying," he laughed, sounding a little muffled with blood in his nose, "I'm doing. And I'm not trying to kill Gotham! I'm trying to help it open up. But, you know how it is." He reached out and slapped his hand on the Batman's shoulder, "You have to, uh, break a few eggs to make an omelet."

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And it was true - Batman knew he was close to snapping but he had to keep control. Had to keep himself from crossing that line. Had to prove Joker wrong. Another punch - this time for the omelet analogy. It never hesitated to irritate him, no matter whose mouth it came from.

"What you're doing is making Gotham eat itself from the inside out. You're killing it. You're not making anything, all you do is create ruin everywhere you go, destroy everything you touch."

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker groaned in exasperation and rolled his head, cracking his neck and giving the Batman a deadpan stare. "You're almost as bad as Harvey was, before he started to come around. You don't get it."

He lashed out with a hand suddenly, aiming for the Batman's throat; his expression twisted into one of an annoyed teacher trying to get through to a troubled student. "The only thing that ruins people is the cage you and your goddamned rules put them in. I'm not destroying the city and its people, you are. You're keeping them from reaching the potential of human life, from - you know what you are, Batman? You're the Athenian trial to my Socrates."

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"Don't flatter yourself," Batman ducked the hand, grabbing Joker's wrist and throwing him over his shoulder into the gravel of the roof, growling as he did so. "You're no Socrates. Rules keep a society together. Rules keep a society from falling into chaos. From turning into you."

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker laughed and writhed against the rooftop, clutching his chest. "What's so bad about chaos? Why would you need rules if chaos wasn't the natural order - the way things always develop? Why are you so intent on keeping things unnatural?"

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Frustration was building - it was never easy to deal with Joker, but it was getting harder still each time he opened his mouth, that Batman was sure of. "You're not challenging the social order, you're just another criminal." He walked over to where Joker was rolling around, pulling him up by his collar. "And now, you're going back with all the others like you where you belong."

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker made no effort to stop wriggling even as the other lifted him up, grinning coyly at the vigilante. "You know, it's funny how often you're wrong, considering which one of us is supposed to be the right one here," he drawled, moments before letting loose with both arms and legs, flailing against the Batman like he had electricity running through him. A stamp to the ground certainly helped with giving him a weapon, too, what with the spring-loaded knife in his shoe.

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The knife caught in the Batman's leg and he howled, jerking away and stumbling backwards, dropping the Joker in the process as the knife tore back out of his flesh, leaving an unpleasant tear in the material between plates of Kevlar armor. It wasn't a particularly damaging wound, but it had gone deep into the muscle tissue. He'd need stitches. Rugby, again, he could already hear Bruce saying. There was no chance of getting an injury like that in Rugby, but no one would ask twice.

"I'm sure you'll forgive me for not taking your opinion into deep consideration," he hissed, coming forward again to throw another punch.

[tntandgasoline]

This time, the Joker decided to spice things up and duck away from the fist, putting up his fists in a melodramatic display of a drunken boxer. "You know what they say about the seed of doubt? Once you plant it, it's a pain to get out." And it had most definitely been planted. If it hadn't, the Batman was just crazy about beating people up. "You're a sadist, aren't you?"

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He didn't want to answer that. No, he was not a sadist, was the indignant response that Bruce was begging to throw out but Batman wouldn't have that. That was pedantic and defensive and too much Bruce Wayne and too little Batman. The line was getting thinner and thinner.

"You bring out the worst in me." That, he was certain, was something the Joker wanted to hear, but it was beginning to look more and more like the truth. "But not even you can make me doubt what I'm doing. I'm going to save this city from the likes of you." He followed this up with another punch aimed at his head, this time followed up quickly with a knee toward his solarplexes, apparently hoping that he'd be too busy blocking his face to dodge the knee.

[tntandgasoline]

"I get that a lot," he drawled, "And I think you mean the likes of us." He managed to get away from the fist to the face but the knee to his gut - not so lucky. With a grunt, he dropped to one knee and made an undignified snorting noise, spitting out blood. "I think you chipped a tooth!" he exclaimed, looking more horrified by that than anything else that night.

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"Good." He rested one foot - the one from the injured leg - on Joker's shoulder and kicked, pushing him over backwards. Even Batman got to the point where he wasn't above kicking a man when he's down. "I'm not like you. We're talking in circles. It's time for you to go."

[tntandgasoline]

That was enough of that. If he wanted to get the shit beaten out of him - well, he had Harvey to do that. Still floating on air from the spectacular show earlier, the Joker came to realize that this whole fight was just filler. The Batman wasn't up for doing what he needed to and the Joker - well, he wasn't up for goading him any more.

He twisted and rolled onto his stomach after the blow, shoving himself up and taking a few hop-skips back, away from the Batman. "You know what, you're right." He held out his hands, "All we ever do is talk in circles. Our relationship really needs to broaden but you're not ready for that. Don't worry, though, I'm a patient guy!" He giggled, "I don't need you to put out on the first few dates."

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That wasn't right. Why did Joker sound like he was the one controlling the situation? "You'll need that patience where you're going." He advanced on Joker, trying to corner him without accidentally backing him off the building. That would definitely be considered breaking his rule. "But, not for the reasons you're talking about." He moved to try and grab him - the best thing he could do was to try and knock him unconscious while Batman took him to Arkham.

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker put his hands to his mouth, looking obviously insincere as he trembled in terror at the Batman's approach, stepping back to the edge of the roof. "Oh, no! I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, aren't I? Whatever will you do to me, Batman?" He held out his hands, pleadingly, "You aren't gonna beat me up, are you?"

Then he laughed and threw out his arms, "Oh, wait, too late for that. You know, it's been really fun, but I think I left the stove on and you know how Harvey is with fires. Better go check in on him."

With that, he spun on his foot and promptly took a great big step out into the open air. Oh, escape plans.

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Concern never crossed the Batman's face - even if Joker hit the ground from this height and cracked his skull, he'd feel no guilt. It would be ruled a suicide. He stepped to the edge and peered over after Joker had disappeared, just in time to see him going in the window of the building. He'd be gone by the time the Batman reached that floor, though. He swore under his breath, cloak swishing as he turned around dramatically, going to make a more productive use of his time and maybe vent some frustration over the Joker's escape before he called it a night.