Himiko Toga was hiding out in an apartment with a view of the city. The apartment was located on the outskirts of the city, slightly worn down with very few residents. The interior was nothing too fancy but was enough to say it was a nice home. She sat in her armchair, her head lowered, hands on the sides of her head and tears in her eyes. The pain of losing someone she dearly loved striking every piece of her body at once. Grief and sorrow was not something she was too familiar with but here she was, letting tears flow instead of blood. Toga continued her sobs but started easing herself when she heard the door open and then close. She quickly turned to look but then noticed nobody was there. That was until she turned back around and saw Batman standing in front of her. Instant fear took over so she drew a blade to her hand, albeit with her hands shaking, and aimed it at the creature of the night.

"Stay back! I didn't do anything! Please don't kill me!" Himiko was screaming frantically. The normally remorseless and psychotic killer was suddenly terrified to be anywhere near the Batman. He watched as she was panicking and then tried to calm her down. 

"It's ok, relax. I'm not here to harm you. I just want to know what happened with Twice." He said, his voice ever, monotonous. His hands were raised no higher than his shoulders and his body language indicated he wasn't trying to attack her. Toga was still crying and holding the knife towards him. He knew that if she tried to stab him the armour would protect him but she was still emotionally unstable. "Give me the knife, Himiko." His voice this time was one of concern and she could have swore it sounded like he was trying to help her. In the end, she reluctantly handed it over and sat back down.

"How did you find me?"

"You're step father talks to you every day and is worried about you. He always is."

"What does it matter? He may be a hero but he can't bring him back?"

"You mean Jin?" She then remained quiet. "What happened?" Toga shook her head as tears rolled down her face once more.

"In order to catch the person responsible I need to know what you know."

"Well, we were on a date together and we ended it off by going back to his home but when we got there he was waiting for us. Some guy in clown makeup and green hair was waiting and then he... he took him from me. I tried to stop him! I tried to stop Jin's bleeding but I couldn't! And all he did was smile and laugh! We were... we were going to start a family and quit the villain life. It seems like a hollow dream now." Batman looked down to her as she was pouring her eyes and heart out. Her heartbeat remained constant the whole time, meaning she told the truth. 

"Clown make up and green hair?" He asked, to confirm a thought in his head.

"Yeah. The evil bastard!"

"Joker. It all links. From the cipher to the horrific carved smile with a knife across his face."

"He did that while he was alive," she uttered, her voice full of hatred and teeth gritted, "and he forced me to watch!"

"Toga, what you have told me will help put him away. I will catch him and make sure he pays for his crimes. But listen to me when I say, I know how it feels to have family taken from me."

"You couldn't possibly know."

"I do. I lost my parents and then an unborn child not too long ago. Believe me, I know loss. You told me you want to quit the villain life. This is your chance to disappear and start fresh. Take it. For Jin, he would want you to." Himiko thought deeply on the decision and ultimately decided to accept the offer.

"Maybe you do understand. Sorry to hear about your loss. I'll disappear, never set foot in the city again and start a clean slate."

"Good. No more crime, or I'll find you. Good luck."

Batman drove through the streets in the Batmobile and was attempting to contact Gordon. After a minute of attempting to establish contact, he answered.

"This is Gordon."

"It's me, what did you manage to find on the Joker?"

"Batman, I couldn't find anything."

"Nothing?"

"No. No name, fingerprints, contacts, anything. Only thing noted about him is that he wears clown make up but that gives us nothing we don't already know."

"Damn. Well we need to try find him, he's responsible for the murder of Jin Bubaigawara A.K.A Twice. When I first encountered him, there was something... different from him and the psychopaths."

"We'll find him. Wait a minute! There's an emergency broadcast being played on the radio." The two then listened in on the broadcast and then the voice of the Clown Prince of Crime was heard.

"Ahem, tonight the city is going to be part of a social experiment. See, everyone has plans and schemes. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even when the plan is horrifying." Batman took the chance to start a signal trace. "The police have plans, all those politicians you follow have plans and even the villains have plans. They exist only to serve themselves and their best interest. Now, there are three bombs planted around this city in different hospitals and each one will be detonated. I was thinking about all the enjoyment but I won't take all the fun for myself. If the Mayor of Musutafu is killed then I will spare the hospitals. But tick tock tick tock, you only have an hour. Oops, did I say an hour? Sorry, I meant an hour from when this started. I'm a man of my word. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Nearly an hour passed with multiple attempts made on the Mayor's life by civilians and all failing thanks to Batman and the police stopping anyone who tried. The heroes and other police officers were escorting people out of and evacuating hospitals and searching for explosive devices. School buses were being used to ferry people out of the hospitals with some also containing injured villains Batman had previously put in hospital after their last encounters. In one hospital however, one nurse was walking to the room of Bane who was hooked on to some machines and with all the venom drained from his body. A police officer entered the room notifying the nurse that he would need to be moved. Unfortunately for this officer, the response she was met with was a bullet straight to the heart, courtesy of The Joker. He then removed his face mask and wig then activated the machines to pump the venom back into Bane, sending him into an induced rage with only revenge on his mind. He ripped the machines apart and walked past a giggling Joker, knowing just how much chaos he was going to cause. 

Batman was driving the Batmobile and racing through the streets trying to find  Joker when Gordon called him.

"Bane has broken loose somehow."

"Where is he currently?"

"Downtown and causing a lot of damage. I don't have any free officers."

"I'm on it. Keep evacuating those hospitals and keep the Mayor safe."

Back at the hospital, Joker exited the room previously holding Bane and applied some hand sanitizer while walking out, then proceeding to detonate the bomb inside.

(0:03 - 1:05. I was gonna try and write this part but it would not do the scene or Heath justice.)

As he entered the bus, everyone inside was so afraid and shaking with fear. Their faces plastered with the shock and the horror. He looked around with a smile on his face as he noticed their fear. In less than a second he picked someone up and made them look him in the eyes.

"Oh you look nervous. Is it my face? You wanna know how I got these scars?" Their eyes went wide as he pulled out a switchblade. "My father... was a drinker. And a fiend. One night, he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself, he doesn't like that. Not. One. Bit." He occasionally licked his scars, a tick he developed, invoking more fear in his victim as the others watched in horror. "So, me watching, takes the knife to her. Laughing while he does it. He turns to me and he says, 'Why so serious?'." The fear began rising for the poor man. "He comes at me with the knife, 'Why so serious?', he sticks the blade in my mouth." He does the exact same to the man he has hold of. "Let's put a smile of that face! Aaaaaaand..." He then stops to see someone staring with tears in their eyes and a look of horror. Joker then replies with a deadpan look and says, "Why so serious?". He then rips the knife through the cheek of the man he was holding and halfway across the side of his face, killing him immediately before letting his body fall to the floor of the bus.

Hours passed and Batman and Bane laid down on the concrete of the road with police sirens approaching. Both were covered in blood and injured due to their brawl. Heroes were even making their way to the scene to try arrest the two. Bane was the first to make it back to his feet and notice the aftermath. He was in lots of pain and the buildings and street were crumbling around them. Deciding it was better to leave, he made his way through the back alleys and made sure to avoid the police and incoming heroes. Batman meanwhile began slowly making his way to his feet only to be met with a large amount of police vehicles and heroes arriving on the scene. As they exited their vehicles, they aimed their guns at the Bat who clenched at his side in pain. They were all ready to fight when an explosion went off, taking down half of a skyscraper and a nearby school. Everyone froze with shock and was taken aback by the shear chaos that was ensuing.  Nobody moved a muscle initially but moved towards the buildings when they came back to their senses, completely passing the vigilante by as they called paramedics and fire crews for assistance. All the while, Batman was stood there, wondering what kind of person he was dealing with. He had dealt with psychopaths before but the Joker... he was different. What did he want? Criminals aren't that complicated. But even so, some aren't looking for such trivial things like money or power. Some men, just want to watch the world burn.

AN - Hey guys, been a while hasn't it? Had a lot to do recently so apologies for the chapter being late. Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the ones to come in future. Any feedback be sure to let me know and I'll see you in the next one. But one last thing. Why so serious?