Ace Of Spades

by leontina (Leontina)

Summary:

Batman crossover. Betrayed by his friends, Harry Potter finds himself thrown inside a muggle mental hospital, but is soon transferred to Arkham Asylum for the criminally insane. It is here where Harry learns what true insanity is. Gotham had better watch out. Joker/Harry slash. Insane!Harry

Notes:

This story is going to follow the basic story or The Dark Knight, with a splash of Batman Begins. The Joker look wise is going to be based on Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight, but personality wise it shall be a mixture of that version and also Jack Nicholson’s version in the 1989 Batman movie, just to make him a tad less serious.
In terms of the HP world, it follows mostly canon, but Ginny was never part of Harry’s love life.

Chapter 1: One

Harry Potter. How to describe him? The Boy-Who-Lived, the saviour of the Wizarding World, and soon to be inmate at a mental asylum.

Harry was sat in the same court room as his hearing back when he was fifteen; a whole two years ago.
The room itself hadn’t changed much, but things were going a lot differently than before. Last time, it had mostly just been a desperate attempt from Fudge and Umbridge to get him out of their lives, but luckily for him most of the Wizengamot had been able to see through what the pair had been doing. In his last hearing he also had Albus Dumbledore to defend him. Now however, Dumbledore was dead, and there was nobody left to fight for him. It appeared that even the people he thought were his friends had gone against him, claiming they just wanted to help Harry and this was the only way they knew how. It was one of these people Harry now had to listen to, unable to defend himself from the words in anyway.

“To be honest” Hermione Granger stated, “Harry has always had a few, um, issues, to put it nicely. Mostly with anger management and he’s always been very negative. I guess that was a sign that he was suffering with depression, but it never occurred to me. I wonder if I had would things be different now?” she sighed, drawing sympathetic looks from the jury. “I know he’s been having dangerous outbreaks of magic, but I don’t think they are deliberate. If he wanted to hurt anyone he could have just left it to You-Know-Who.”

At least she was defending Harry on that point. Harry had been having small outbreaks of magic. Nothing serious, but when it injured a pregnant Ginny and killed her unborn child, a lot of people had been very quick to haul him into court.

“I think he may be suffering ‘Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome’” Hermione continued, causing a few wizards to nod their heads in agreement. “This coupled with depression and anger, well of course his magic will be playing up, and Azkaban won’t help with any of this. What Harry needs is psychological help and he needs to be somewhere where this can be possible. I hope you can put these points into consideration” she finished, bowing her head slightly and jumping down from the box, allowing one Ronald Weasley to take his turn to testify; the one Harry was most worried about. Most of the trial depended on what Ron and Hermione said. Ginny claimed she was too upset to leave her home, let alone testify, and Ron and Hermione were the people who knew him the best.

“Well, after what happened to my sister” Ron began, glancing at Harry briefly, “I was furious. Well, I still am. He killed a member of my family. At first I thought he was jealous; jealous that Ginny was starting a family with Dean Thomas. I know they’re young but they’re in love, so we all accepted it. Harry always was the jealous type though so I thought that had maybe pushed him over the edge.”
That was rich coming from Ron; the boy who often argued with people due to jealousy.
“But what Hermione said, that could be true. He never was happy, even when there was nothing to be worried about and he always had nightmares. I think they’ve had some sort of effect on his brain or something, you know? Either way, I think he shouldn’t be part of our community. He’s either a criminal or messed up in the head, but I want him out of our lives. My little sister is now too heartbroken to go outside and face the world, all because of him. He needs locking up and if he can get help, then great, but I speak for everyone when I say he isn’t a safe member of society anymore. Thank you” Ron finished and the looks on the faces of the people in the Wizengamot told Harry this was not going to end well for him.

The jury all turned to each other, discussing things frantically, pointing to notes that had been made, and occasionally looking over at him. It wasn’t long before they stopped, and one witch stood up and cleared her throat, reminding Harry horribly of Umbridge.

“The Wizengamot council have discussed what we have heard here today, and looked over the evidence that we have. We have concluded that no boy of seventeen could be having outbreaks of wandless magic without there being other issues. We believe there is a high chance Mr. Potter is suffering from psychological problems, and moving him to Azkaban at such a young age would only exaggerate these and make him even more socially unstable. We have agreed that the best course of action would be to move him to a secure mental hospital, where he will be able to get help for these problems in a suitable environment.”
Harry buried his head in his hands, not being able to comprehend the words that were being said. He was an apparent lunatic, unsafe to society. He’d have rather taken Azkaban.
“St Mungos, however, we felt was not a suitable place for Mr. Potter. The psychiatric ward is very heavily magical based, and getting away from magic could do Mr. Potter some good. Likewise, staying in Great Britain we feel is also unsuitable because it could make it a lot more appealing for Mr. Potter to try and escape, and if he is suffering from trauma caused by the war, staying in the same area could prevent him from getting better. Thus we have decided the best course of action is to send Mr. Potter overseas. There is a hospital that caters to Post-Trauma sufferers in New York city, and we will be sending Mr. Potter there in order to better his health. Lastly, Mr. Potter is of course, no longer able permitted to use magic until he is deemed mentally sound. Case dismissed.”

Harry could feel tears prickling in his eyes. He didn’t dare look up, not until he heard a snap. He slowly uncovered one eye, to see his wand in two pieces. That was it; that had taken his last piece of hope. He had never been happy other than in the Wizarding World, and now that was gone. He wouldn’t cry though, that wouldn’t help the image he had been given. He pressed his palms against his shut eyes, trying to shut everything out. He felt himself being hauled to his feet and a hand grasp his arm, and the jolting of side-along apparition. He kept his palms against his eyes still, trying to ignore the sterile smell, the sounds of the Auror discussing Harry with anther person, and then the grip on his arm going. That was when he knew that that was it. He was officially a mental patient.

“Hello…Harry?” a soft voice asked. He uncovered one eye to see a woman standing before him. She had a gentle look to her, but at the same time didn’t look one to be messed around.

“I’m not crazy” Harry said finally, voice hoarse from not having spoken for days.

“No, I don’t think you’re crazy. But I don’t think you’re well. We want to help you get better.”

“I don’t need to get better” Harry said through gritted teeth. “There’s nothing wrong with me. They just wanted to get rid of me.”

“Who wanted to get rid of you Harry?” the nurse asked, not taking her gaze of the one eye she could see.

“My friends. My world” he replied simply, realising afterwards it didn’t exactly help the ‘not crazy’ persona he was trying to put across.

“Hmm…well Harry, we will have a few chats with you and see where you’re at. You never know, you could be out of here in no time” she smiled, trying to reassure the teen. Harry knew she was lying.

---

Harry had been in the hospital a little less than a week when the first outburst happened. When he had been in the shower, the pipes exploded and flooded the bathrooms. Luckily for him they put the blame on faulty plumbing, and he had managed to avoid awkward questioning.

The second outburst happened just a few days later. This time he managed to start a fire in his cell, and they found him sat staring at it for comfort. They were quick to call him a pyromaniac, and demanded to know where he got the materials to start the fire from. He couldn’t give them a straight answer and said he just did it himself. Now he was known as a traumatised pyromaniac who suffered delusions.

The third outburst was another fire, this time in the dining hall. Six people were killed. The person who had been sitting next to him insisted the fire had come from his hands. To the staff and the police this was nonsense, but they did claim it meant he had done it on purpose. There were discussions whether he was a pyromaniac who had let it get out of control, or if he was just an arsonist. There were even questions to whether he had wanted to hurt people believing them to be a danger. No matter what theory they ever decided on, he was now branded criminally insane.

This meant he soon found himself wrapped up in a straight jacket and bundled inside of a van. He willed himself to do some more wandless magic, but was unable to get anything more than a little spark. His journey ended too soon and he got dragged out by a police man and pulled up towards the building which would become his new home. It was tall, dark and miserable, and Harry thought at least it was more fitting than the previous place. Before he got pulled inside he looked at the sign on the building. They were long slanted letters and they spelt out ‘Arkham Asylum’.

Chapter 2: Two

Harry didn’t bother to fight back as he was dragged through the doors of Arkham Asylum. He wouldn’t have gotten far considering he was tied up in a straight jacket, and then the fact he felt slightly comforted by the morbid atmosphere of the asylum.

“This is the patient transferred from Welham Hospital. You know, the British kid?” the guard who had hold of him said to the woman on the front desk, who nodded in acknowledgement and pressed a button under her desk.

The guard let go of him and walked out of the building without even a single glance back at Harry after three more people walked into the reception area. There was a man wearing a long white coat who Harry guessed to be a doctor, and two guards wearing Arkham uniforms. The doctor sent him a false smile.

“Hello. My name is Doctor O’Neill. We’re going to be taking you for a couple of quick tests to know where to place you. Will you do this willingly?” he asked, the false smile still lingering on his face.
Harry nodded, and one of the guards moved behind him and pushed him lightly, signalling for him to start walking. The doctor walked beside him, with the other guard in front. He considered briefly making a run for it, but he had no idea where he would go. He couldn’t go back to Britain, that was for sure, and at least inside a hospital he had a roof over his head.

Doctor O’Neill stayed silent for most of the walk, and Harry was in no mood to strike up a conversation, so instead he took in his surroundings. The inside was much like the outside in terms of atmosphere; dark and gloomy, and seemed a lot more hospital like than the previous place. Welham was a place to heal. Arkham was a place to be restrained.

Harry was steered into a room and onto a seat, with the two guards stood on either side of him. The doctor sat across from him, and pulled out a file full of paper and a pen.

“So…” O’Neill started, flicking through the pages in the file. “You started off simply traumatised, but have since started suffering delusions. That…now that we can help with if you wish, but this fire starting business…is that something you enjoy doing? Two fires in a short space of time can’t be an accident”.

Harry glared at him. This was clearly a man who liked to get straight to the point.

“I wouldn’t say I enjoy it” Harry replied, looking down at the table. “I didn’t want to kill those people. I didn’t mean to kill those people. That was an accident.”

“So you’re saying you didn’t start the fires with the intention to kill? Is that correct?”

“Yes” he stated simply. He didn’t like this man. He reminded him horribly of Rita Skeeter.

“Yes…but you managed to start two fires despite being searched to check for materials needed. The checks came back clean but you still managed it. Thus you clearly started them with a reason in mind. If not to kill, then what for?”

“Well…it’s just…I don’t know. I didn’t want them to die. It just kind of happened. Everything happened too quickly. I couldn’t control it” Harry said quietly, more to himself than the doctor. “They just got in the way. People die around me if they’re in the way” he continued, thinking back to Cedric and Sirius. His parents. He caught sight of a note O’Neill had made;
‘Little to no concern for those in his immediate surrounding’

“I have concern for people around me!” he hissed at the doctor, who hastily covered his notes.

“I’m afraid you can say that all you want but it won’t make it true. If it was, six people would not have died at your hands” O’Neill hissed back, standing up, signalling the end of the conversation between them.
“I’m saying Category 5” he said to the guards rather than him. “He doesn’t seem the homicidal type but he’s still a danger to others. You can take him away now. I’ll have to leave you though I’m afraid. I’ve got a crocodile to feed.”

The guards pulled Harry out of the room a bit more roughly than before. He had no idea what the doctor meant by ‘having a crocodile to feed’. He had sounded completely serious when he said it. His theory was O’Neill was one of the patients sent to talk to him as a joke. As long as Harry didn’t have to talk to him again then he’d be happy.

He found himself being taken to another room, this one with a large machine in, like a larger version of metal detectors in airports. They used the machine to search for any dangerous materials he had on him, and he could have laughed at the irony if only he hadn’t been stuck in a muggle asylum.

Once they were satisfied he had nothing on him he could use to hurt somebody with, they pulled him back out of the room. They took him through the building and back outside, and headed to another building, just as dark and gloomy as the one before. Harry could see now there were about four buildings all cramped next to each other.

They took him to what looked like the largest one and headed in the direction of a sign that said ‘Category 5 and above’.

They headed down in a lift, and he was steered through even more corridors; the place really was just a huge maze, probably as a design to make escape harder. They hadn’t got far from the sign saying ‘Category 5’ when a large alarm sounded, and a red light started flashing, startling Harry’s eyes.

“Category 8 patient is in transit. All guards to be on alert” called a voice from a loud speaker, repeating its self every few moments. One of the guards he had been walking with stepped away from him, and pulled out a gun. He noticed a number of other guards had appeared with similar weapons.

Then the doors at the end of the corridors opened.

There was a man strapped into what was sort of like an upright gurney, and as they went past him he could see that the man on it looked positively creepy. He had dyed green hair which looked like it hadn’t been brushed for a number of days. He had white face paint on which had been part way rubbed off. What creeped Harry out the most however were the scars coming from the corners of his mouth, giving the man a twisted grin, made more prominent from the red paint covering it. He practically oozed insanity. The man looked over at Harry and grinned wickedly.

“What you in here for Kid? Push your babysitter down the stairs?” the man laughed at him. It wasn’t a joyful laugh though. It was dark and reminded him of Bellatrix Lestrange.

Harry didn’t really have time to take the words in however, because of the thing that was now walking down the corridor.
“Merlin” he whispered, more to himself than anything, but he still got a few odd looks from some of the nearby guards from his choice of cursing. He didn’t find it in him to care, because now he was very sure he was insane.

The thing could only be described as a giant bat. Logically, it was a man dressed in a bat costume, but what sort of man would want to do that? He noticed the guards were glaring at the bat, but he seemed not to care, and the man stood next to him was glaring back at the guards, warning them not to act. It really did seem like a messed up place.

“Oh you see what you do Bats? You go and get me locked up in here yet you’re the one who goes around scaring children. And I’m supposed to be the bad guy?” The man’s grin widened, twisting the scars even more. Harry was too distracted by them both to respond to being called a child.

“I may scare children, but I am no killer” the man in the bat costume replied, almost growling as he spoke.

He didn’t get to hear what the patient responded with; he had gone too far for him to hear, but he could see his crazy eyes staring at him, and he found himself unable to look away. The man was clearly insane, yet at the same time so intriguing, and Harry found himself drawn in.

“I can’t believe they let Batman in here of all places. I don’t know what Gordon is thinking” the voice of one of the guards drew him out of his staring.

“I’d rather have him here than the Joker escape again” another replied.

“Batman?” Harry asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

“You know? The big guy just then who was dressed as a bat?”

“Calls himself Batman and brings down crooks.”

“He’s just as bad as the rest of them if you ask me.”

Apparently everyone had different opinions on the Batman character. Harry personally found it hard to think highly of a man who dressed up as a bat.

---

They had taken him to his cell with no further interruptions, removed his straightjacket, and left him locked behind the rusty metal bars. The cell was small and square shaped, and he found he was to share the little space he had with another man. Harry found it slightly strange that he would have a cellmate considering he was supposedly a danger to others, but he then reminded himself that the workers he had met so far didn’t seem to be the standard mental asylum workers.

His cellmate was a short man, but he was heavily muscled, and the skin he could see was covered in tattoos. They eyed each other wearily but it was the stranger who spoke first.

“You ain’t a girly are you?” he asked Harry venomously.

Harry shook his head.

“Good” the man replied, and the tension seemed to leave his body. “I don’t like girlies” he said shaking his head repeatedly. “I’m Hunter.” He offered his hand.

Harry stared at it for a moment, before wearily reaching out to shake it.

“Harry” he offered, giving the man a small smile. Better to stay on his good side.

Hunter’s eyes flickered to his forehead, and lingered on his scar. Typical how even when he was around muggles he couldn’t avoid people staring at his forehead.

“How’d you get that?” Hunter asked, eyes focused entirely on his scar.

“A umm, crazy man, carved it into my forehead when I was a baby” he answered awkwardly. He could have told Hunter the truth considering he was in a mental asylum and could probably get away with it, but he’d rather play on the safe side.
Hunter simply nodded, still staring at his head.

“So, why are you in here?” Harry asked, wanting to change the subject.

“Because apparently I am a danger to women. One of them just had to go and die on me and so they decide to throw me in here. Stupid bitch” he growled, finally looking away from Harry and instead staring at the concrete wall. “What about you?”

“I accidently killed a few people in a fire” he muttered, twirling his hair as he spoke.

“Were any of the ones you killed women?” Hunter asked; face lighting up when Harry nodded. The man clearly had some women issues in his life, if issue was even a big enough word. He didn’t dare ask him why he hated them so much.

“That’s your bed by the way” Hunter said, pointing to the bed on the left. It looked very basic. A thin sheet and a lone pillow, complete with a strap that Harry would rather not be made to use. He moved over to it and sat on it; uncomfortable, just like he thought.
The whole place was miserable, dark and unnerving, and most importantly, it felt like home.

---

Not having access to a clock or a window meant Harry had no idea how long he had been lying on his bed; only that it felt like hours, until a guard came and motioned for him to stand up. He was marched back through a maze of corridors until they reached a door with a plaque Harry didn’t get chance to read.

“He’s here Doctor” the guard said, pushing Harry inside the room, and then shutting the door behind him.

Harry looked at the man behind the desk. He was fairly normal looking; brown hair, glasses and a smart suit, but he had a wicked glint in his eyes, and he screamed ‘danger’ to Harry.

“Hello Harry” the man said standing, revealing a tall form. “I am Doctor Crane.”

Chapter 3: Three

"Hello Harry…I am Doctor Crane."

They were the first words that the doctor ever said to Harry, and insane or not, he knew instantly the man was not to be trusted. He seemed innocent enough; on the surface he appeared as nothing more than a caring doctor, but he could hear the malice behind his words, and he could feel the man's dominating presence surrounding him.

Harry simply stared at him, unblinking. Crane didn't offer his hand but Harry wouldn't have taken it anyway. The doctor smirked slightly and gestured for Harry to have a seat. Harry stumbled his way over to sit down, not taking his eyes off the man. 'Constant vigilance' as Mad-Eye would have said.

"So…" Crane started, flicking through some papers on his desk. "You're a delusional pyromaniac. Seems like you'll fit in just fine at Arkham."

Harry glared at him.

"Now Harry" Crane said, moving around his desk and kneeling by Harry's chair. "I know that where you were before will have done things in a certain way that you may have gotten used to, but I do things very differently." He smirked again, eyes boring into Harry. "But you are now a criminal. You are here as punishment and that is what you are going to get" he finished, hissing in Harry's ear. He leaned even closer to Harry, who shut his eyes and dug his fingers into the arm rest.

'You're too close. You're too close' he thought to himself desperately. The man was not to be trusted and he didn't want him anyway near to him. He chanted the phrase over and over in his head until he felt a large burst of magic energy leave his body, resulting in a loud banging noise, which luckily caused Crane to jump away from him in shock.

The doctor's desk had been completely knocked over and had been smashed into the wall behind. Crane glanced at Harry for a moment; he was close enough to have felt the force coming from Harry, although he must have soon realised there was no plausible explanation and turned his gaze back onto his broken desk.

"Interesting" he murmured, drumming his fingers on his chin. "I don't recall you moving."

He glanced back at Harry, obviously trying to determine if Harry could have possibly done anything. He must have failed at coming up with a way and soon sighed.

"I'll call the guard to take you back now" he said, moving to press the red button to alert the guards to come. "We'll just have an extra long session tomorrow instead."

Harry could have killed the man when he smirked again.

The door soon opened, revealing the man that had dragged Harry to this creep earlier.

"Whoa, what happened here?" he exclaimed, taking in the mess and straight away glaring at Harry.

"Honestly, I really don't know" Crane answered idly, scratching the back of his head. "Bring him back to me early tomorrow. And send someone down to tidy up in here."

The guard nodded in acknowledgement and Harry was led back to his cell where Hunter was watching with mild interest.

"You're back early" he noted.

"The doctor's desk fell over" Harry explained, moving to lie on his bed. He stared up at the white ceiling. It seemed to be a vast expanse of white paint, unblemished and perfect. He then noticed the slight crack towards the bars of their cell. It was small, hardly noticeable and nothing major, but Harry couldn't help but wonder just what if that crack became bigger, spreading across the whole expanse of ceiling, marking it imperfect? Was that crack just the start of something bigger to come; something unfixable? Was that what all these magical outbursts were? Just the start of something worse to come?

He was drawn out of his musings by a hard slap across his face. He turned and glared at Hunter, ignoring the stinging on his cheek.

"Hello? I've called you like ten times and you've ignored me" Hunter said, eyes focusing somewhere in the background.

"Sorry" Harry replied, turning away from him and staring at the wall next to him. This wall was noticeably cracked and grubby too. He reached out his hand and ran his fingers over the sides, feeling the imperfections.

He gasped as a hand covered his, and he felt a body move behind him while another arm went around his stomach.

"Can I just hold you for a bit?" he heard Hunter whisper in his ear, and Harry nodded, afraid to say no. He couldn't rely on his wandless magic given how uncontrollable it was, but he hoped it would kick in should his cellmate try anything on. The man just seemed content with holding Harry for whatever reason, although the hardness he could feel behind him suggested it wasn't entirely innocent. It was only later that Harry realised they were both crying.

---

Harry had been awake for a while when a guard came for him the next morning. Hunter had at some point in the night rolled off Harry and onto the floor, although whether this was intentional or not he didn't know.

Being in a criminally insane institution was a lot different to the previous hospital he was in. Back there they had their own rooms and were free to leave to go to the dining or living areas whenever they wanted, although they needed permission to leave the building. At Arkham however, it was pretty much a prison, only with more insane inmates and weird doctors. They were given uniforms at Arkham as well, which could only be described as typical prison gear. They didn't seem to use straightjackets all too often though, although Harry hadn't really been there long enough to be sure of that.

Indeed now, rather than being tied, Harry simply had a strong arm pulling him along. He didn't doubt that if he tried anything that there wouldn't be any guards coming to stop him almost instantaneously; there seemed to be cameras everywhere.

The place Harry was being led to this time seemed different than before, and as he was shoved into the room he found it was fairly empty, only with two plastic chairs and a table so small the folder resting on it covered it. Obviously Crane still wasn't sure about him.

Crane was sat stiffly in one of the chairs, a leather bag resting against his legs. He soon noticed the evil glint in his eyes was gleaming even more strongly than usual.

"Good morning Harry. Please have a seat" the doctor offered, briefly flashing a small fake smile.

Harry shook his head.

"Now Harry, this is no way to be acting for your doctor. I am here to help you" Crane said, staring at Harry intently. "Let me ask you something Harry. When you set things on fire, is it because you're trying to get anything off your mind? Any fears?"

The way Crane put so much emphasis on the word fears made Harry gulp. That and the way he was staring at Harry made him back slowly towards the door, an action that did not go unnoticed by Crane.

"Oh, don't worry, it's locked" Crane smirked, reaching down and picking his bag up. "Hey, Harry. You're what, seventeen?"

Harry nodded.

"That's pretty young. Like a child. When I was a child, I had a thing for scarecrows" the doctor said, once again his emphasis making Harry shiver. "What do you think to scarecrows Harry? My patients here, well they can't get enough of them."

The doctor started to rummage through his bag, oblivious to Harry trying to break the door down. He soon found what he was looking for, and started to advance on Harry, his hands behind his back, hiding whatever he had been looking for.

"You know Harry. I don't think I've ever heard you say one word. But don't worry; your screams will be all I need."

Harry felt his eyes widen as Crane put on a scarecrow mask and sprayed a gas into Harry's face. Almost instantly the whole room changed and Crane had vanished. The walls were dripping blood, pooling on the floor. He could feel the air cold as if there were thousands of Dementors, and he could see the black swirls of their robes all around him. He looked to his side and saw the corpse of Sirius staring blankly at him, but the expression on his face said enough: 'this was your fault'. Bars seemed to come up around him from nowhere, Ron and Hermione on the other side of him, blood dripping from their eyes. And then Ginny; Ginny holding up the small bloodied form of her dead baby. He spun round again, horror filling his mind, when he came face to face with the scarecrow again; the scarecrow with blood dripping from his eyes, rotting skin, maggots crawling out of the holes and sharp teeth, sharp teeth coming to get him.

He fell back screaming, landing on the floor, only to be covered with the blood, and the corpses coming alive, crawling over him…

After what felt like an eternity the images stopped, and he could faintly feel the prick of a needle through his arm. His head felt dizzy and his throat felt raw. He could feel a familiar wetness on his cheeks. Everything seemed to be fading away, back into the plain views of the room he had been in. Crane was standing above him, a wicked grin on his face.

"Interesting" the doctor mused as if the whole situation was nothing big, his eyes flashing over as he carried on staring at Harry intently. "We'll do this again soon" he said pressing the button for the guard.

Harry had never been so happy to see a guard before in his life.

"He's a scarecrow. He's a scarecrow" Harry muttered as he was pulled through the corridors. "Doctor is a scarecrow."

The guard simply shook his head and ignored the teenager. So long as he was in a mental hospital nobody would believe a word he said.

Hunter looked him up and down when he was shoved back into his cell. He imagined he must look pretty dishevelled but he couldn't find it in him to care.

He went straight to his bed, pulling the covers up over his face. It was all Ron and Hermione's fault. They had said all those horrible things and got him sent here. Granted they had sent him somewhere nicer first but they knew having magical problems in a muggle institute was never going to work out. They must have planned it to get rid of him. Oh but he was going to get out and they were going to pay.

---

He didn't know how many days it had been, but the ones that followed his second appointment with Doctor Crane were like days from Hell.

Crane wasn't his only doctor; there was another one, a Doctor Taylor, who was incredibly quick to anger and had lashed out at him a few times, although never hard enough to leave behind marks. He'd have gladly taken the marks and bruises then spend anymore time with Crane.

Every time the scarecrow mask had come out and he had been forced to relive his worst fears. Crane would change his tactics each time; sometimes it wouldn't go on for as long, others times it went on for ages. The images seemed to vary in realism, which he guessed might have been to do with the dosage of the gas he was spraying at him.

He was quick to realise that Crane was clearly insane himself, and was performing some wacked out experiments on him.

If that wasn't bad enough, he couldn't even escape in his cell. Hunter had started to constantly be on him; not trying anything personal, but he kept a tight grip on him, and he had taken to touching his skin what felt like all the time.

He had only had one magical outburst since the table incident, this time knocking the man in the cell opposite him crashing into the wall and smashing his head open, although they didn't even consider blaming Harry for it.

He wished he could control his magic better but he couldn't seem to get ahold of himself. He was pretty exhausted, mainly because of what Crane was putting him through. Seeing his fears come alive at the time was draining enough but he had started to have the same images as nightmares now, causing him to wake up screaming every night. He imagined he couldn't perform a basic spell in his state even if he had a wand.

He had found that counting to seven in his head calmed him down at times. The number seven reminded him of Voldemort and the Horcruxes, but it also reminded him of the Wizarding World. Although he found it a great comfort, he also found it made him feel bitter. He had almost been exiled from their world, and sent to another where everyone was out to get him.

The entire world was against him, and he had to accept that. He would break out of Arkham no matter what, and then it would be time to watch the world burn.

Chapter 4: Four

Notes:

Warnings for this chapter include a non-consensual act and implications of child abuse and incest.

Harry sat on his bed in his cell, staring intently at the clump of hair in his hand. His hair had grown out to his shoulders so he figured he had enough to play with. He had ripped some out with his own fingers and was now willing it to burst into flames. No such thing was happening.

He noticed the majority of his magical outburst seemed to involve fire and he wondered if he had some connection to the element. No matter what the reason, there was obviously something in him that was enabling his magic to come through him, rather than a wand, and he was keen to try and harness that.

His mind and body were exhausted by the suffering he was being put through at Arkham. The doctors seemed to be just as crazy as the inmates, and Hunter had told him that Gotham, the city the asylum was located in, was incredibly corrupt. He had gone on to mention about an assistant district attorney named Rachel Dawes, who was apparently wrecking the city by not being swayed by money and being focused on arresting criminals and lowering crime rates instead. His knowledge about the woman and the deep hatred he seemed to have for her seemed to imply she had been one of the people behind his arrest.

He opened his fingers, allowing his hair to fall to the floor. Clearly nothing was happening. He had a feeling he needed a lot of emotion behind him in order to tune into his magic, but unfortunately he had nothing to provoke him.

His cellmate was currently out with his doctor. He had been lucky enough to avoid having Dr Crane. The scarecrow. Each time he shut his eyes he could see the face that had been causing most of his torment. He had tried to get anyone he could to believe him, but they all dismissed him as being insane, although they could have easily been paid to keep their mouths shut.

Tears were starting to form in Harry's eyes. He blinked them away desperately. He would not cry. He was a Gryffindor after all. He wouldn't even cry in the experiments that Crane performed on him. He would scream and shout but never cry. That would be admitting weakness. He couldn't be weak.

He wrapped his arms around himself and began to rock gently, the motion soothing him, and he was soon claimed by his nightmares.

---

When he awoke the entire corridor seemed to be filled with darkness and silence. He didn't know what time it was; they were not provided with clocks or calendars, but he guessed it to be in the very early morning, given how everyone seemed to be asleep.

He turned over and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Hunter's face practically nose to nose with his.

"Are you awake?" he hissed at Harry, a stupid question but Harry nodded nonetheless.

"Good" came the answer from his cellmate, and the look in his eyes made Harry's insides go cold. There was something different about him, almost like he had completely snapped. His worries were confirmed when the man moved forward and pressed his lips against Harry's.

Harry's eyes widened in shock as Hunter moved on top of him, pressing him into the bed. He shoved his hands up in an attempt to push the man away but he was too strong for him. Hunter seemed to be all muscle and he was using it to his advantage.

"Stop struggling" he hissed at Harry, grabbing his wrists in one hand and pinning them above his head.

Harry proceeded to struggle even further, trying to wriggle out from under Hunter's grasp but he soon received a hard punch in the face, causing him to stop. Hunter was clearly out of it, that much was clear by the look in his eyes, but he hoped something would get through to him.

Hunter moved back to force kiss Harry again, gripping his wrists tightly and moving his free hand down into the front of Harry's trousers.

"Get off me! Stop it" Harry called out, squirming as Hunter moved his hand around, touching him in ways only a lover should.

"I'm sorry" came the reply hissed in his ear. "My momma taught me this was the only way to show someone that you love 'em. I love you Harry."

For a moment those words sounded so sincere that Harry stopped fighting back, only to struggle even harder when the full meaning hit him. Of course Hunter didn't love him; he hadn't known him all that long. He almost felt sorry for the man but what he was doing now to him couldn't be forgiven.

It was when Harry felt a finger move inside of him that he realised he had to do something or else Hunter would completely destroy him. He was too strong to fight, but Hunter was human; weak and fleshy, nothing durable to him. He could easily burn.

Almost as soon as the thought breached his mind he felt magic pouring through his veins, flowing into his hands and Hunter jerked his hand away from Harry's wrist, gasping in pain. Not even caring what the outcome would be, Harry used the opportunity to grab Hunter's face in his hands, growling as fire flowed from him.

Hunter was screaming as his face burnt, and he moved off Harry, who followed him up. He had hurt Harry deeply. He had to be punished. A twisted yet fitting thought came to mind, and Harry moved one of his hands and aimed at Hunter's manhood. The high pitched scream that followed made him grin, and he waved his arms around, filling their whole cell with the flames. The fire seemed to do no harm to Harry, and he stood amongst it, watching what used to be his cellmate blacken and crumble to ash.

Harry was barely aware of a loud alarm ringing, and of the calls and shouts from the other inmates. He manoeuvred the fire to take up most of the cell, leaving a section near the cell bars for himself to avoid awkward questioning about why he wasn't injured. He fell to the floor, laughing when he noticed there were tears on his cheeks. All those times he had avoided crying, and now he been broken by a crazy muggle man. It was funny.

The guards found him resting against the bars of his cell, laughing hysterically.

---

He couldn't really remember much of what had happened in the aftermath. He vaguely recalled the familiar prick of an injection but that was all. He supposed he had been drugged. Now he was strapped into a straightjacket and tied to a chair, surrounded by his very favourite doctor, Doctor Crane, as well as the other doctors he had seen; O'Neill and Taylor. There were also about four of the asylum guards and three men who looked like cops. The one who seemed to be in charge of them introduced himself as Sergeant Gordon. He reminded Harry a lot of Sirius in his looks, and he was looking at Harry distrustfully but he seemed to have a sympathetic look in his eyes as well.

"So Harry, are you going to tell us why and how you killed Mr Smith?" Taylor asked him angrily.

Smith was such a common name Harry mused to himself. It didn't really fit a wackjob. If anything, Harry Potter was a common name as well. Plus it was too woven in with the wizarding world. That would have to change.

"My name isn't Harry anymore" he decided to tell them instead.

"Oh, and what is it now?" Crane asked, leering at him.

'Sicko' Harry thought to himself.

"I don't know yet" he answered honestly, tilting his head. It couldn't be any old name. It had to fit.

"Well let's call you Harry for now then, ey?" O'Neill said.

The doctors were all so different. Crane was a complete mental sadist, Taylor had serious anger management issues and O'Neill was just plain annoying to him.

"He was trying to hurt me you know?" Harry finally admitted to them after a period of silence. "He was hurting me and you all did nothing. I had to stop him. You all want me to hurt, but I don't want that to happen anymore."

"Why would Mr Smith have been trying to hurt you?" Taylor exclaimed. "He had never displayed any signs of hatred or violence towards anyone of the male gender. Why would he change all of a sudden?"

"Doctor Taylor, please calm yourself" Crane said, placing a hand on the other man's shoulder. "We have clearly underestimated the extent of the boy's issues. I think I am safe in saying however that he should be moved to the highest category. He may not have killed for the sake of it, but his hallucinations can put other people in danger, especially if they are hallucinations to this degree."

The others nodded in agreement.

"No, no, no" Harry muttered, shaking his head. "I wasn't hallucinating. He hurt me. I had to stop him. I didn't imagine it."HiuHu

"Shouldn't you investigate those claims before you dismiss them?" Gordon asked the doctors. "You have security footage don't you?"

Harry decided he liked Gordon. He sounded like he actually thought of Harry as a human being, just like Sirius had done.

"We'll get someone to take a look at them later" O'Neill said, offering the man a reassuring smile. Harry knew he was lying. They didn't care whether Hunter had hurt him or not.

"Now Harry" the sergeant said, turning towards him. "What I don't understand is that you were searched for any dangerous items. How did you manage to get your hands on them? And where did you dispose of them? We couldn't find any evidence."

"I don't know" he answered simply. What he really didn't know was a good excuse. At least being called insane had some benefits; he could get away with having odd answers and people just presumed it was part of his disorder. In fact he could see the people in the room shaking their heads at each other slightly.

"Well I suppose he's better off in your hands" Gordon stated, declaring the end of the questioning. "If you could get back to me after you've looked at the footage?"

The doctors nodded, and Gordon and the two cops left to leave. Harry decided he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Are you Sirius?" he called out, making the men turn to look at him in slight shock.

"Serious about what?" Gordon responded, looking confused.

"No. Sirius. Not serious" he explained, shaking his head again. "My godfather. You look like him" he tilted his head for a better look. His hair was a lot neater than his godfathers, but the features were very similar.

Gordon shook his head, smiling sadly at the teenager. "Nope. I'm not him. I've been Jim Gordon all my life."

"Oh. Okay. I just thought maybe he wasn't dead after all" he said, looking down at his bound body, unable to stop the sadness flowing through him. He knew Sirius was dead. He knew you couldn't raise the dead; it was just the hope that maybe the veil had transported him instead of killing him. It wasn't Gordon's fault though. He couldn't find it in him to hate a man who reminded him so much of one of the few people that never betrayed him.

With that the room was left in silence.

---

Harry found himself once again waking up without being too sure of how he had gotten to where he was. He reckoned they must have drugged him again to knock him out. He was now being wheeled somewhere, strapped into a gurney. He kept his eyes shut; the drugs making him feel slightly woozy.

"Are you sure about this doctor? You know his reputation with cellmates. I thought we had stopped him sharing a cell" he head a voice say from behind him, presumably the guy pushing him.

"Oh yes, very sure" came the short reply from Doctor O'Neill.

"He'll probably kill the boy. Or who knows? The boy could kill him."

"And how exactly is that a problem?" O'Neill answered, and Harry could sense the wicked grin on the man's face.

Harry blearily opened one eye to show he was awake. The corridor he was in now seemed even more secure than the last place. There were cameras and alarms wherever he looked.

"Ah, you're awake then Harry" O'Neill stated, smiling at Harry falsely. Harry glared at him. No different to usual. He was easier to look at than Crane at least. "We're just on your way to meet your new roommate."

Harry dreaded to think about who this new roommate could turn out to be. He was being moved to category eight, the highest category there was. It was for the most dangerous, most ruthless, insane criminals in the city, and he was being forced to share a room with one of them.

The place seemed to want to kill him. He wondered if it was all a test, or maybe Voldemort had poisoned him and the whole thing was one big hallucination. Maybe he was actually chained in the Dark Lord's dungeon or something.

They stopped once they reached a corridor which had lots of doors down it. In the last cell they had simple bars to stop them escaping. These calls had bars hidden behind large steel doors which had a small window on them.

They unstrapped him from the gurney, and two guards each grabbed one of his arms, making him flinch. Another stood behind him, gun to his back.

O'Neill unlocked the steel door and opened it. Another two guards came rushing forward to point their guns at his new cellmate, lest he try anything funny. He heard the familiar sound of bars being slid across, and he was chucked into his new room. The guards and O'Neill made a hasty retreat.

He picked himself up off the ground and looked at the man he would now probably be killed by. He couldn't help but gasp when he saw the man.

He had only seen the man once before but he would recognise the green hair, crazy eyes and scarred smile anywhere.

Chapter 5: Five

The scarred man seemed to be examining Harry with his eyes. He eventually grinned wickedly, twisting his scars upwards.

Harry didn't know whether to be frightened or not. The man was clearly dangerously insane, but then he had never been scared of Voldemort and that had worked out well enough.

"Boy did you piss off the wrong man" the man mused, tilting his head and walking closer to Harry.

"I set my last cellmate on fire" he answered simply, not stopping the eye contact between them. He might as well attempt to be intimidating; if the man tried anything he hoped his magic would just come and protect him again.

His cellmate didn't show any signs of intimidation however; in fact his eyes seemed to light up when Harry mentioned the killing. He took another step closer to Harry, who immediately reacted, moving back into the bars. He remembered how close Hunter had been to him and he clenched his hands into fists angrily, feeling warmth growing in them.

"You have the most, ah, interesting eyes" the man said, bringing his fingers up to Harry's face, but not touching. "There's no fear in them. I don't know if I like that" he finished, shaking his head dramatically.

"I've faced all of my fears already" he explained to his cellmate, who seemed to be in some sort of inner conflict. He decided not to mention that he was forced to relive all of his fears each time he saw the Scarecrow.

"No, no. I really don't like that. Not. One. Bit" the man said dramatically, shaking his head again. "But, I don't think I want to kill you."

The scarred man seemed shocked at his own revelation, and Harry felt his hands get cooler. He unclenched them and moved round his cellmate to sit on the floor by one of the beds.

"Do you have a name?" he asked the man, scratching absently at the floor, eyes flicking upwards rapidly as the man sat in front of him and tilting his head up to look at him.

"Joker" came the sharp answer, complete with a wicked smile, and Harry could see something shining in the Joker's eyes, something he couldn't quite understand. He was looking at Harry expectantly, and without asking Harry knew what he meant.

"I haven't decided yet. I'll let you know when I have" he smirked. The Joker was doing a good job at hiding it, but the man did seemed a bit shocked at Harry's reaction to him. He guessed that being a top level criminal meant he expected everybody to fear him.

He decided to ignore Joker for the moment, instead laying down on the floor and shutting his eyes. If he was killed in his sleep it would be a blessing, for his nightmares gave him his own personal Hell.

---

He was awoken by a sharp slap across the face, and he lashed out at the fact that appeared in front of him, for a moment seeing Hunter's face above him. As his hands were gripped in a tight grasp he remembered he was roomed with an even bigger psycho now.

"So tell me no name, what is something you desire?" Joker asked, and for a moment the question threw Harry.

"To watch the world burn, to see my friends suffer for what they did. Maybe burn every scarecrow in the world" he answered honestly, images flashing in his head of what he could do. He couldn't contain the laugh as imagined Dr Crane screaming in intense pain.

"Oh, no. I'm not that good" Joker muttered. "Not from in here. I can get you a teddy bear if you want?"

The Joker seemed to be suggesting that he could get objects from the outside world into the asylum. He wondered what he was like to have that sort of power, or rather what he had done.

"I want a deck of playing cards" he said, an idea forming in his mind.

"Well kiddo, today is your, ah, lucky day" Joker nodded dramatically, moving over and lifting up his mattress before chucking something at Harry. It was a rather grimy set of playing cards, although he counted all of them to be there. His experiment would have to wait until Joker was asleep.

"I would like to know" Joker started, moving back over and plopping himself on the ground next to Harry, "why a little boy wants to watch the world burn. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea. I just want to know why."

"I saved my world and they betrayed me. Then this world, this world just wants to hurt me. I'm not going to get hurt anymore. I'm going to kill them before they get the chance" he growled, slamming his hands onto the ground.

"You and I, we share very similar goals. You want to see the world burn; I want to see the world in chaos. It's all very fun" Joker smiled, yellow teeth leering at him. "It's a shame though, that we have these people who think they can stop us, people who have been given a title that they think means they have the control, people like the Batman. They come in and think just because their little rule book says not to kill, then we all have to follow the rules. As for me, I don't believe in rules. It's about time the city learnt that too." He looked at Harry, watching for his reaction.

The man did make sense. If nobody had been appointed to put Hunter behind bars, he wouldn't have hurt Harry. He growled thinking of Hunter, and Joker laughed wickedly, wrapping one of his arms around Harry and ignoring the flinch that Harry couldn't hold in.

"I do believe the world needs a little bit of fire to spice things up" he hissed into Harry's ear, before he let go of the boy and moved back to his own bed, leaving Harry alone to think.

---

He woke up earlier than Joker; the floor was not a comfortable place to sleep but the bed housed too many memories. Even if it wasn't the same bed it looked and felt like it.

He picked up the pack of cards from beside him and emptied them out into his hands. He shuffled the deck and laid them on the floor in a pile in front of him. He picked up the first one, a five of Clubs, and stared at it, willing it to burst into flames. He gave up on that card and picked up another. Once again, nothing was happening.

He appeared to need emotion behind him for his magic to work, but he didn't want to think of Ron, Hermione and Crane to get his power. They would all be dead soon anyway.

He had gone through nearly half the pack when he picked up the Ace of Spades card. He had vaguely heard of it being called 'the Death Card'. He didn't know how true that was, but the spade on the front looked rather intimidating, and he liked the thought that a card could mean death. He held it up in front of him, eyes narrowing as he concentrated hard.

He felt joy grow inside him as the corner of the card starting to blacken, slowly moving across the card. He could feel the flame playing at his fingers, burning the card into ash. He picked up another, and the same thing happened. By the third card he was grinning, and by the fifth he was laughing hysterically as he moved to burn the entire deck.

In his fun, he hadn't noticed his cellmate was watching the entire thing thoroughly entranced.

It was only when he burnt the last card into nothingness that he heard the voice.

"Well aren't you full of surprises, no name?"

He turned around slowly, seeing Joker sat on the edge of his bed, looking extremely happy. Happiness made the man look even crazier, but Harry thought it looked good on him.

"Do you have some kind of trick? A lighter shoved up your sleeve? No, no. That looked almost like magic. I have some good magic tricks but nothing, no, nothing like that."

Joker moved towards Harry again, picking up his hands softly and turning them over, examining them, rubbing the finger tips which were still slightly warm. He was reacting rather calmly for a madman, but that made him seem somehow even more so.

Joker started to laugh as he ran his fingers through the ash on the floor, and he threw it up into the air, eyes landing back on Harry. His laugh was entirely maniacal and Harry relished the sound of it.

"I am glad I didn't kill you" Joker grinned, before suddenly becoming calm again. "How much bigger can you go?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. There's only one way to find out though" he grinned at Joker.

Joker was looking at Harry like Christmas had come early. He jumped back up and rummaged around near his bed, and held up five different sets of playing cards.

The guards who had been patrolling their corridor made an excuse to leave when they heard the joint maniacal laughter.

---

Burning up more than one card at a time was harder than he thought it would have been. In the end he had managed it, although the more he did, the more exhausted he felt. Joker carried on pushing him, holding up cards for him to try.

"I have a game for you now" Joker said, wide eyed, and fanning out the cards backwards. "I want you to burn this entire deck of cards in one go. All except for this one." He had pulled one of the cards slightly higher than the others.

He found he was getting used to conjuring flames in his hand now, although the control was harder and more exhausting. They were on their last deck of cards for the moment, and if he could manage this feat he would feel he could move on to something bigger. Perhaps something more human, he thought, thinking of Crane. Maybe even O'Neill.

He waved his hand, setting the cards alight. The fanning pattern allowed the flame to pass onto the next card slightly easier, but he moved it forward, slowing his movements as he reached the raised card. He managed to stop at it, jumping his hand and lighting the next card. Joker had the insane happy look in his eyes again and Harry felt in more control than ever as Joker was left with only one card in his hand. The control felt better than anything Harry had ever felt before; he had been controlled all his life. Things were going to change.

Joker smirked and flipped over the card that was left, a Joker card with a bat symbol drawn on it. Joker winked at him and Harry knew instantly what he meant. Rather than going for a symbol on a card, why not burn the actual Bat itself?

Chapter 6: Six

Notes:

I have changed a couple of things in this from the canon. First of all, I know Batman only learns about the Joker at the end of BB, but in this, they've had some games with each other before (although not in as great detail). Also, I made the fear toxin scene slightly different purely to fit in with the story. So nothing big there, just little bits to make things more interesting.

It wasn't until the morning after the card incident that the guards came for Harry. He noticed idly that they seemed to be wearing a lot more armour than before. They also seemed more interested in pointing guns at Joker rather than him.

Joker simply smiled at them, and one of the guards visibly shuddered and took a step backwards. Admittedly it hadn't been a friendly smile; Harry wouldn't have liked to have been on the other end of it.

They ushered Harry out, handcuffing him and dragging him towards his doom.

The doom that Harry soon found out was to be scarecrow based. Not that he expected any different.

He didn't pay attention to anything until he was pushed inside a room with the person Harry currently hated more than anyone; well anyone live at least. There were a few people not far behind him in terms of hatred though, and his list of people he hated was fairly long. That list would turn to ash soon enough.

The room he was in now was different to the one he had seen Crane in last. It was a lot more basic and more like a prison cell than a 'therapy' room. He had been handcuffed to his chair, but Crane forced the guards to leave, and undid the locks, leaving Harry's hands free.

"Hello Harry. I'm pleased to see you looking so well considering your new cellmate" Crane said, smirking, earning a filthy look thrown his way. "Oh, I have some good news for you as well. I have perfected the fear toxin, and I thank you for your help with that."

Harry felt his whole body tense up as he tried to control himself. Now was not the time. He wanted Crane to be scared when he killed him. He deserved a bit of torture first. Or a lot. No, definitely a lot.

"Also, I thought you might like to know I had a look at that security footage of you and Mr Smith, but I've decided to keep it as our little secret. Gordon doesn't need to know; the man is dead so there's nothing he can do anyway. I however, can see what effects it has had on you" Crane went on, opening his briefcase and before Harry could react the toxin had been sprayed in his face and the Scarecrow was there above him, eyes and mouth dripping with blood and teeth sharpened.

He jumped up in horror as he felt invisible fingers touching his skin, and invisible lips covering his own. He stumbled backwards, falling onto a bed, thorned vines coming and wrapping their way around his wrists and the invisible hands returning. He screamed as he tried to yank his hands free. He eventually loosened one and his hand flew up, suddenly smashing into the face of Sirius, shattering it into pieces. He screamed again as he freed his other hand and sat up, trying to pick the pieces up and put them back together. The shards melted into blood in his hands.

He looked up, straight into the red eyes of the Scarecrow. He willed his magic to come to him but all he could focus on was the blood dripping down his body and the invisible fingers. The Scarecrow moved over to him, and pressed a stitched mouth against his, and he yelped, pushing the creature backwards before he fell to the floor.

Then the flashes came behind his eyes; Hunter on top of him, Hunter moving against him. He could feel the dampness on his cheeks and he touched it, shocked when he saw that it was clear. He swore he would never cry for Scarecrow.

The flashes came stronger, and he dug his nails into his face, desperate to claw out his eyes; anything to stop the scenes in his head. He scratched desperately, ignoring the pain. Deeper and stronger he tried until a needle went into his arm, and he suddenly felt heavy. He dropped his arms, blinking rapidly as the images cleared, leaving him back in the bare room and only the stinging pain on his face remaining.

Crane had removed his mask, looking incredibly pleased with himself.

Harry could feel the warmth spreading in his hands. It would be so easy; within seconds that smug look would be off his face…no! He couldn't surprise attack him. First all of he needed to understand what he had put Harry through; a quick death would be too kind for him. The world could burn, but the people in it needed to suffer first.

"How very interesting indeed" he could hear Crane saying. "I'll accompany you back to your cell."

Crane called the guards back inside, and they handcuffed him again, although Crane insisted on walking with him.

Every action the man did made Harry so desperate to kill him.

"Scarecrows are straw. Straw burns quick. Scarecrows can burn easy" he muttered to himself, not missing the way Crane seemed to clench tighter on his arm as he said it; it was a sign that he recognised Harry as a threat. That was good.

"I'll burn all the scarecrows. I'll burn the Scarecrow. I'll fucking burn it to the ground" he said to himself again, voice raised at the last part. The guards made a movement towards him but Crane stopped them.

They eventually reached the cell, and the guards unlocked his cuffs. Crane pushed Harry into the cell rather forcefully.

"You just wait. Your time to burn is coming soon Scarecrow" he told the man viciously. Joker laughed in the background.

Crane simply raised his eyebrow at him, although his expression was very unsure, and he asked the guards to leave them alone, with only the bars between the doctor and the inmates.

Joker got up from his bed and moved over to the bars, standing directly in front of the man.

"He dreams of you, you know?" Joker said nonchalantly to Crane, who seemed to nod his head in Harry's direction, who was sat watching the interaction in mild interest.

Joker turned to him, an odd expression on his face.

"You have to go to bed now sweetie. Mommy and Daddy need to have a grown up talk" Joker smiled, suddenly against Harry and pressing something into his arm. He had never noticed Crane give Joker the needle. "Sweet dreams" Harry heard, Joker's voice fading as the drug overtook him, and he collapsed to the floor.

---

Harry groaned as he awoke on the cold floor, wincing as his eyes opened and stretched the claw marks over his eyes. He could feel dried blood but he didn't bother to wipe it off.

Joker was sat opposite him, eyes trained on him.

"We're leaving tonight" the madman stated, nodding and eyes wide. "Your darling Mommy is having a party and she's invited all of the inmates and the cops. Even Batman himself is going to be showing up. Isn't that exciting?" Joker grinned, clapping.

"I want to kill Crane" he answered simply. Party or not; not that Harry believed it was a party, but still, no matter what Crane was up to, he wanted him incinerated.

"I know honey. I know" Joker pouted. "I killed my Mommy when I was little too. There's nothing quite like seeing the woman who brought you into the world panic as the life leaves her eyes." Joker's voice had gone very serious again, but the joyful look in his eyes was even more pronounced. "Now, we just need to wait for the ding ding noise, and then we can go."

"Why should I go with you?" Harry asked his cell mate seriously. "You've hurt me too. You drugged me."

"What? No, no, no, no. No. I never hurt you. I saved you" Joker nodded. "I've not touched you. Not like Hunter. Did you know that you have the most fascinating dreams? Besides, I thought we were gonna have lots and lots of fun together" he finished, pouting again. The pouting brought even more attention to his scars, and he decided he wanted to know more about the man. He was scarred as well; surely they must have some connection.

"What sort of fun?" he asked, clicking his fingers, smiling on his third attempt when a small flame came to life on his fingertips. He noticed Joker staring at the fire, licking his lips hungrily.

"Oh all sorts. I'm going to get back out there and cause some more chaos. You can help me out and burn everything in the process. It's win-win. Plus, here in Gotham, you get to play with Batsy. He's such a good playmate; you'll absolutely adore him. We go way back"

"And I still get to kill Crane?"

Joker nodded, grinning again, jumping up happily as a dinging noise went off and the cell doors opened. "He'll be dead in no more than ten minutes."

---

A loud ringing alarm sound went off for a few moments before a strangled cry was heard, and the alarm stopped.

The sound was that of the doors of every prisoner in category six and above being released. Now Gotham's most insane and dangerous criminals were out in halls and rooms of the asylum. The guards found themselves quickly ambushed.

Joker had grabbed something from underneath his mattress, before skipping out of his cell, Harry close behind.

The corridors were swamped with inmates, some even attacking each other.

He felt a hand grab his wrist, and he turned round, ready to blast a fireball in the person's face, when he heard Joker growl from beside him and the prisoner ran off in terror. In fact, half the prisoners ran off as soon as they noticed that they were in the same area as the Joker. Harry longed for that kind of reputation.

Joker had decided to pull Harry by the wrist after that, a few criminals following behind them that Joker had talked into helping. They managed to get outside and into the grounds, just before the police arrived.

Joker sent off the followers to do something, and then went over to a bush, searching for something. He chuckled as he pulled out two green gas masks. He chucked one at Harry as he fastened his own on.

"We'll be needing this" he cackled, voice slightly muffled from the mask but not so much that Harry couldn't hear the malice in his words.

Harry then noticed the grounds nearby seemed to be filled with a heavy fog like substance. He knew instantly what it was. The screams he could now hear confirmed it. He couldn't help but giggle to himself at the thought of all the hospitals guards and doctors forced to live out their fears.

He ran forward, this time with Joker on his tail, aiming to find Crane as soon as he could. He ducked through the crowds of screaming people, smirking when he saw O'Neill stood on top of a bench, yelling at nothing in particular. He gulped when he saw Harry, and the teen skipped forward, laying his hand down on the bench. He thought of how much he hated O'Neill, and how uncomfortable he had made his stay at Arkham. The bench lit up, and O'Neill, too unfocused by the toxin, let the flames consume him.

Joker burst into applause.

They soon found Crane, once again in the Scarecrow persona. Scarecrow stopped tormenting a young nurse as he saw Harry, immediately stepping towards him.

Harry thought back to the cards he had last destroyed. He had been able to pick out the Joker card from all the rest. He focused on the mouth area of Scarecrow's mask. The man was moving nearer and nearer to him, arms outstretched. Before he could reach him, he threw his own arms out, setting alight the bottom half of the man's mask.

Crane screeched as he pulled desperately at the mask. The small hole allowed his own fear toxin to be breathed in, and the doctor fell to the ground, shuddering in fear. He had clearly never thought to bother with an antidote for himself, being overconfident in his abilities.

He looked up at Harry fearfully. Harry didn't know what he could see but he didn't care. He clicked his fingers, this time causing a large flame to be born from both of his hands. Crane tried to move backwards, getting tangled in something invisible.

Harry moved down to the ground, crawling forward and over Crane. He waved his hands in front of his tormentors face, smiling as the fear flashed through his eyes.

'Enough playing now' Harry thought smirking; he had other fish to fry.

He laid his hand on top of Crane's head, smiling wider as the smell of burning material and hair hit him. The flames moved down, encasing his body. He moved off Crane, allowing the fire to take over the body, and he couldn't help but laugh at hearing the pained screams. Joker was laughing too, and he took hold of Harry's wrist once more, skipping away and encouraging Harry to do the same.

He thought afterwards he should have maybe tormented Crane a bit more first, but the urge to kill him had been so strong. He ought to practice to control that.

Joker pulled him away from the carnage and into the city. As he had never been to Gotham before he took in all the sights on the way, or rather the shortcuts and private pathways that Joker was taking him down. He took him down by a river where they discarded their gas masks.

He eventually took them to an abandoned looking building. For most people, being taken to an abandoned building in a secluded area by a psychotic murderer would have screamed danger, but Harry took one look at the place and fell in love.

The crumbling walls, overgrown weeds and broken glass all felt so…chaotic. The building was out of place in the world, much like Harry.

Harry felt Joker let go of his wrist and then push something small and flat into his hands; he recognised it as playing cards.

Joker pushed opened the door of the building and Harry opened his fists as he followed him inside.

"Honey, I'm home" Joker called happily, loud footsteps following the words.

"Mr J! It's so good ta see ya again!" he heard a girl say, but he was more focused on the cards in his hands to pay much attention to her.

One of them was the Joker card he had saved before; the Bat symbol scribbled across it and the edges slightly singed. The other card was the most interesting however. It was brand new, sharp in his hand. The Ace of Spades card.

Chapter 7: Seven

"Who's this little cutie pie?" Harry heard the female voice ask, obviously about him, and he looked up to see a blonde girl staring at him with the same look that some of the girls in Hogwarts used to give him. He shuddered at the thought.

"He…he is a magician" Joker explained, waving his hands mysteriously.

"Oh, sweet!" the girl exclaimed, clapping her hands. She skipped over to him and gave him a look over. "I'm Harley. Harley Quinn. What's your name? Can ya show me a trick? If ya do I'll show you something special of mine" she said winking.

Harry stared down at the card in his hand. The Ace of Spades; the death card. To be dealt the card meant death, and death is what he wanted to cause to the citizens of the world. On another plus it was worth more than the Joker card.

"First name 'Ace'. Last name 'Of Spades'. Here's my calling card" he said, flinging Harley the card.

"I like him Mr J. I really do" Harley grinned at Joker, who was eyeing Harry with satisfaction. A satisfied looking Joker was apparently a creepy looking one. "You have the prettiest eyes. I bet Ivy'll love 'em!"

"So you're still with the plant then Harley?" Joker asked, eyebrow raised, and smirk on his face.

"Oh ha ha. You're just jealous Puddin'. Me and Mr J used to go out ya see?" Harley added to Harry. "He doesn't like my new partner very much. So how about that magic trick?"

Harry decided to indulge the girl, and allowed a flame to grow in his hand. Harley squealed happily and applauded. Harry decided he liked Harley. She was nice to him. For the moment at least she wouldn't have to worry about the fire. He concentrated hard, and the flame started to shake, soon forming the shape of a flower.

Harley clapped some more, and threw Harry back his card.

"I can see why he kept you now" she said grinning some more.

"What is with all the noise Harley? You're disturbing my plants" a new female voice came from the room, and Harry turned to see one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. She was slightly taller than Harley, with flowing red hair. She was deathly pale, which made her glowing green eyes and green tinted lips even more prominent. Her outfit seemed to be made entirely from leaves and plants.

"Sorry Red. Guess who's come to visit? And he's got a fr…person with him" Harley explained to the newcomer, flashing her a bright smile.

"Ah Ivy; so good to see you again" Joker said, words dripping with sarcasm.

"It's a shame I can't say the same about you" Ivy muttered, looking at Joker disdainfully.

Harley obviously expected the two not to get on, as she moved herself in between the pair, looking from one to the other.

"Now, now. Play nice" she reprimanded, wagging her finger. "Hey Ivy, look what this kid can do." She pointed at Harry, and Ivy's eyes landed directly on his.

He could feel Ivy studying him, and she walked over slowly, swaying her hips as she did so.

"You have the most amazing eyes" she whispered. "Are they naturally that colour?"

Harry nodded. "I got them from my mother."

"I have my mother's eyes too" Joker stated matter-of-factly. "I keep them in a box at home." His words were said in an almost sing song tone but at the same time he seemed completely serious.

Ivy ignored him, eyes staying locked on Harry.

"They call me Ivy" she said, offering her hand. "Poison Ivy."

Harry chose to ignore her hand offer, causing the red head to smirk. He held the Ace of Spades card up between two fingers.

"That's me" he told her. "It means death. I like death."

Ivy raised an eyebrow and smirked again. "So what is this thing that you can do that Harley seems so impressed with?"

Harry brought the flame to life in his hands again. It was getting easier each time he did it. He liked that.

"Interesting" Ivy muttered. "What are you planning to do with this power?"

"I am going to burn down the world" he answered, flashing her a wicked smile.

"Burn what, exactly?" she asked, a smidgen of fear flashing over her face momentarily.

"Don't worry, just people. Plants have done nothing to hurt me." Ivy seemed a lot more relaxed at his answer, and her expressions softened.

"That's right. Plants do nothing wrong yet the people of the world go out and destroy them, while they are the ones who need to be destroyed" Ivy hissed, hands rolling into fists.

"Red, calm down will ya?" Harley sighed from behind them. "I'm guessing you and Ace here are wanting to stay here for a bit?" she asked Joker.

"Mmhmm" Joker answered nonchalantly. "I just need to prepare before I hit the banks."

Harry doubted Joker wanted to make a simple transaction.

"Well I don't mind. You two stay as long as ya need. Ivy will have to put up with ya." The blonde smiled at her friend, who nodded and wandered out of the room silently.

"She agrees" Harley explained. "Ace, do you want some new clothes? You look about my size."

---

Harley had promised to make Harry some new clothes as soon as she could, but for now Harry was stuck wearing hers.

He had been thrilled to ditch the Arkham uniform, even if it did mean a stint of cross dressing. It seemed everything she owned was black and red, most often a combination of the two colours. He tried to choose the most masculine items he could; a hard feat considering Harley apparently tried to dress as sexily as she could.

Eventually he ended up in a tight fitting black t-shirt which had long red sleeves, and a pair of leather trousers, one leg black and the other red. The only flat, non-heeled shoes she had were a pair of thigh high boots, once again one black and one red, designed so that they went on the opposite colour leg.

"Boy am I glad that I'm not flat-chested" Harley mused, looking Harry up and down. "You look good though cutie!"

"Well let's just say the first person who dares laugh at me will be meeting a fist full of fire" Harry smiled, causing Harley to break into laughter.

"I don't think they're gonna laugh at ya Ace. I bet they'll wanna eat ya."

Harry rolled his eyes and tugged at the trouser leg slightly. They weren't overly comfortable, although still wearable. Still, it was better than wearing a skirt. He didn't even bother to ask Joker for access to his wardrobe. For one Joker was considerably taller than him. Secondly, the man's favourite hobby seemed to be murder; he doubted sharing was second on his list.

When Harry and Harley went back out to see Joker, he was dressed in a purple and green suit combination, and his hair had been dyed back to a brighter green.

"Well don't you make a pretty girl?" Joker smirked as he examined the teenager.

Harry responded by flashing Joker his middle finger, complete with flame at the top. Joker grinned and shooed Harley out of the room.

"Now Acey; I was thinking…you need to learn the rules of Gotham-Ball." Joker nodded, looking at Harry seriously, who gestured for him to continue.

Joker brought three items out of his pocket; a knife, a small toy bat and a police badge. He laid them all out on a table that was in the room and beckoned Harry over to him, both standing on opposite sides of the table.

"This badge here, this, this represents the people of Gotham, all riled up with their lack of safety and lousy cops. This bat, this is the one and only Batman, of course, and the knife, that is our kind." He paused and nodded again. "The residents of Gotham, they are the ball, and what we try to do is get them into our net." Joker demonstrated that point by stabbing the badge viciously with the knife. "But Batsy tries to get them into his net of security." At this point the bat had swooped down and knocked the knife away from the badge. "But the real fun is trying to stop the other team." By now Joker was swapping between stabbing the toy bat and the toy bat jumping on the knife. He seemed pretty fixated in his mock fight and he left it going for a minute before he suddenly shoved all of the items, bar the knife, off the table, and jumped across it, landing next to Harry.

In an instance he had grabbed Harry's arm and twisted it behind his back, shoving him into the nearby wall.

"No, no, no. No hot stuff today" he hissed in Harry's ear, spinning Harry around and putting the knife into the corner of his mouth. "You don't want me to slip, do you?" He grinned, leering at Harry. "I'm not trying to hurt you, believe it or not. Even I don't believe it. In fact, maybe I'm just lying to both of us…no, no, no. I'm trying to teach you. Do you know why? Why?"

Harry shook his head gently, taking care not to hit his mouth on the knife. He didn't want to hurt Joker just yet. If he had wanted to kill or hurt Harry he could have done it at anytime, or even just left him in Arkham. Then again, even if Joker tried anything now he could soon turn him to ash. Harry was going to give him a chance though.

"Because I am pretty sure that bats are impervious to fire. At least the big, man sized ones are. And unless you want to be reacquainted with Arkham, you need my expertise. Maybe you do want to go back though. I hear Zsasz is after a new roommate. Maybe he'll cut you a break. Ha ha ha." Joker laughed maniacally at his own joke, although it went completely over Harry.

He dug the knife slightly deeper into Harry's mouth, causing a slight sting, before removing it completely and releasing Harry.

"Come on now Ace. I'm giving you a free shot here" Joker said, wriggling his fingers by the sides of his face. "Just one punch. Let's see how you do."

Harry inwardly shrugged and slammed his fist forward, only to feel a leg kick his, causing him to topple forward into Joker, who pinned his hands behind his back again, shoving him into the wall again.

"I should have mentioned; a lot of cheating happens in this game."

Harry pushed back hard, shoving Joker off him and turned, raising his fist, but Joker was quicker and caught his hand again, bending it backwards.

Harry hissed and sent a small flame over to Joker's hand. Joker growled and let go, but grinned nonetheless.

"I'll make this interesting then" Joker declared. "Next person to go on the floor is the loser. We'll have rounds. Every round you lose I get to hurt you. Game ends when you win." Harry didn't even have time to agree before Joker had jumped at him again, pushing him roughly down to the floor.

"Too easy" Joker grinned, taking his knife out and quickly drawing it in a 'J' shape along Harry's bottom lip. "Next time I get to give you another scar."

Harry glared at him and pushed him back. The urge to send a fireball to the maniac was so strong, but this was his control practice. He would love to be able to sink his fists into Ron's face, imagining the clash that his hair would have with the blood, before finally losing the Weasley amongst red flames. Lost in thought, he barely noticed as Joker swung his arm towards him. Harry barely brought his arm up in time, protecting his face from the punch. Joker smirked evilly, kicking out, pushing Harry's legs away from the floor, causing him to end up there instead.

Joker quickly pounced on him, ignoring Harry's visible panic as he had flashes of Hunter, and Joker quickly dodged a fireball thrown his way. He was drawn back to reality as a jangle of metal caught his attention. Joker was dangling around a pair of handcuffs. As his hands were cuffed together above his head, he wondered why it was that Joker carried handcuffs around with him.

He looked deep at Joker's scarred smile. That smile reminded him that he wasn't Hunter; he was Joker. There was only one Joker, but there was lot more scum like Hunter and Crane out in the world. They weren't scarred in unique ways. Each special scar was a statement that they were different from the rest. Sure he had his lightning bolt, but that symbolised a boy who had saved the world. This boy was out to destroy it.

"You aren't struggling much" Joker mused, tapping his finger on his chin. "Ah, I see. You're a masochist aren't you? Masochists aren't nearly as fun as people who aren't but hey, we can have our own kind of fun." Joker winked at him, and then stared down at him thoughtfully.

He trailed his fingers over the scratches on Harry's eyes and his own lit up. "Perfect. May as well make sure you look crazy" Joker said grinning, pressing the knife down on top of the first scratch, dragging it down deep until he reached the actual eye. He then stopped and carried on again underneath. Harry tried not to scream as he did this three times over each eye. He reminded himself it was important to his new identity. The pain reminded him that this was real; this was his new life and he was not going to turn back. His new marks would forever remind him who he was, and would let the world know he was danger.

Joker seemed fairly disappointed in the silence, and as he wiped the blood away from Harry's eyes with one hand, he used the other to slam the knife down into one of Harry's hands. It didn't go deep enough to cause damage that needed tending to, but the shock of it made him cry out, causing a satisfied smile to cross Joker's face.

"That's better" he said, soothingly stoking Harry's cheek. "I didn't want you to enjoy that too much."

He unlocked the cuffs around Harry's wrists and wiped his face again. Blood was now swarming his vision, and he couldn't move his left hand painlessly. If he didn't knock Joker down soon it would get even harder, and where would the control in that be?

Determinedly he shoved Joker off him with both hands and jumped at him, trying to push him down onto the ground. Joker grabbed his injured hand and flipped him over, Harry managing to stop himself from going completely down by using the grip on his boots. He swung his leg back, catching Joker off guard and causing him to stumble back. Harry took the opportunity to leap back onto Joker, struggling with him to the ground.

He grinned triumphantly, only to find himself on his back with a blade back in his mouth, and Joker glaring at him.

"We'll play again tomorrow. If you'd like, I'll visit Catwoman and borrow her whips." He winked at Harry once more, his eyes not as harsh as they had been, though still dark enough to strike fear into the hearts of most people. Harry simply raised an eyebrow at the mention of 'Catwoman'. The criminals of Gotham really put their all into it.

"Do you two boys want a bit more time alone?" a voice came from the doorway suddenly. Harry glanced over to see Harley sniggering.

"Harley" Joker snarled, not looking up from Harry. "Can't you see I'm busy here?"

"I'll let ya get on in a minute. Just thought you might like ta know…Gordon has been on the radio. You're back on Gotham's most wanted list."

"Perfect. Back where I belong. I think it may be a good idea to remind these people just what they need to be afraid of" Joker grinned, a plan obviously forming in his mind.

"Did you say Gordon? Like Sergeant Gordon? My Gordon?" Harry asked, ignoring the sharp pain as the blade collided with his gums. The pain on his face was still worse.

"Yeah, that'd be the one" Harley answered, twirling a blonde lock in her hair."Wait, what? Did you say 'your Gordon'?"

"No. I said my Gordon. He's forgotten who I am though" he said, pouting. He had put Joker on the wanted list, but not him. He must have known they were together and yet he didn't want people after him. He must know that there was a connection between them. But no, the man wasn't Sirius, he was just a lookalike. A lookalike who cared about him…

He was drawn out of his thoughts by a cackling laugh.

"Oh Harley, you have to see this! Look how crazy his eyes are. It's lovely" Joker was laughing hysterically now and he got off Harry and walked over to the girl. "Do you have your bazooka around?"

Harley nodded and ran out of the room, returning moments later with a large gun. She handed it to Joker, a gleeful expression on her face.

"So Ace, what do you think? The old people's home or the fire station?" Joker turned and asked Harry, tilting his head.

Harry wiped his eyes, smearing the blood sideways across his face.

"Both" he answered, flashing Joker his brightest smile.

Chapter 8: Eight

Joker had left their hideout armed with a bazooka and a grin. This left Harry behind with Harley, with Ivy spending her time in the gardens.

"Your eyes look pretty like that" Harley commented, staring at the cuts over Harry's eyes. "Mr J is talented with a knife. You ought to be careful."

Harry burst out laughing as Harley gave him a look that looked like she was warning him of something.

"Oh I can take perfectly good care of myself" he told the blonde, who sniggered at him.

"You keep on thinking that cutie. Anyway, can you show me some more of your magic tricks now?"

"Nope" Harry answered simply, shaking his head. "I wanna do something big. How come Joker gets to blow stuff up? I wanna kill and maim" he said, pouting as Harley giggled.

"He just wants to maintain his reputation. As for you, I ain't ever heard of you before, so you have no rush" Harley said winking.

"But I wanna burn something now!" Harry complained, stomping his foot. Harley laughed at him some more.

"I'm gonna go make some s'mores. Do you want some?" Harley said, completely changing the subject. Harry turned away from her and left the room he was in, walking down the corridors and through various rooms until he reached a garden area overflowing with plants. An eerie green glow seemed to surround the area, and he headed towards the flash of red that he could see.

"Don't touch anything" Ivy hissed as he neared her. "I would rather you didn't harm any of my babies."

"I won't" Harry assured the woman. "It's very beautiful here. I wish the whole world could be like this; no people, just plants. Me and plants would never get into fights; it would just be peace."

Ivy moved to face him, a smile almost crossing her face.

"The world does need to be more like this" she agreed, stroking the leaves next to her tenderly.

Harry felt like Ivy, despite her cold exterior, was another person who he wished not to burn. She seemed like she would do him no harm, unless of course he attacked her plants, but otherwise she gave him some internal comfort for a reason he couldn't place why.

"I want to get you some Devil's Snare" he told Ivy, who looked at him curiously. "It's a special plant. It constricts people so they can't get away. The more they struggle, the quicker they die" he giggled, and Ivy's eyes lit up, a smile finally breaking onto her face.

"A plant stronger than a human…that's good. I've never heard of it before. Where will you get it from?" Ivy questioned, glowing green eyes staring at him.

"I'm going to pay my friends a visit at some point, after I've had some fun here. I have a present for them. But when I'm there I'll be able to get some for you. I may even have a play with it myself. One girl I know has red hair like you, but not as beautiful. I'm sure it will look better when the rest of her is wrapped with green though" he smiled, envisioning Ginny's face while being choked to death. It would be a picture, one that he would be sure to post to Dean Thomas.

"You should stay away from the Joker" Ivy said casually, stepping away from him and through the plants. "Me and Harley would be happy to keep you here. I can teach you in botany. You seem to appreciate the true beauty in this world."

She was suddenly behind him, whispering her last words in his ear.

"I like plants, but I like burning things more. Joker likes destroying things too. We can play together" he explained to the redhead, turning around to face her.

"Watch him closely" she said softly. "And watch out for the Batman too. He will try and break you. You are like the Venus Fly Trap; oh so powerful but delicate too. I do not like to see my plants broken."

With that said, Ivy walked off, leaving Harry alone. He decided to push Ivy's warnings aside, and made a start to find Harley again. He wanted to learn more about the city before he ventured out into it, and he wanted to know which people were key. He didn't want to start from the top and watch the rest fall like dominoes. He wanted to take his time, watching the place slowly burn, and see the panic and the fear spread throughout the people. He had been forced to live his fears, so it was only fair that everyone else should have to do so too.

---

Harley had given Harry a brief background to Gotham. The mafia apparently had a big influence in the city, and a billionaire named Bruce Wayne had a company named Wayne Enterprises which had it's main office at the centre of the city. It had been responsible for setting up a monorail system, but reports were apparently just coming in that they had been destroyed in a fight rumoured to involve Batman.

Harry rushed her onto explaining a bit about the police department, and steered the conversation the direction he wanted when she mentioned Jim Gordon.

"What do you know about Gordon?" he asked the girl, who threw him a weird look.

"What's this thing you have with the old geezer? Was he the one who arrested you or something?" she questioned, shutting one eye as she tried to think.

"No, no. I'm just curious" he said, smiling at Harley, widening his eyes. Harley's expression softened, and she looked adoringly at him.

"Alright. Well, I don't know much. He's one of the good guys; he seems in cahoots with the big Bat. I think he lives with his family-"

"Family?" Harry interrupted, stopping the blonde girl's ramble.

"Yeah, not a pretty smart thing to get involved in if you're gonna try and stop criminals here, but that's the thing with these do-gooders; they think everything will have a happy ending but it doesn't. It's-"

Harry interrupted her again.

"Do you know where he lives?" he asked.

"Nope. I suppose Mr J might. He likes to know these things, even if he doesn't do anything with it. Why do you want it?" Harley answered, glancing around the room.

Harry simply smiled at her. His eyes stung every time he moved his mouth and face, but the bleeding had slowed down enough to stop blurring his vision.

The reason for his pain was now walking into the room. Joker's suit was slightly dishevelled looking, but he looked very pleased with himself, and he was humming casually as he hung up his jacket and tossed the bazooka to the floor.

"Can I go and have some fun now?" Harry said to Joker, eyeing up the bazooka. The explosion would certainly be pretty to look at, although he wondered if it would be anywhere near as satisfying as it would be causing the damage himself.

"Escaping a mental asylum and killing two men not enough for you?" Joker said almost sarcastically, although he grinned widely when Harry shook his head. "Oh I know. There's nothing fun about that at all. It's all very clean. Don't you want to wait another night? Spread out the damage? Make people fear for their lives every night?"

Harry held up his finger and his thumb, placing them very slightly apart from each other. "Just something small?" he pouted, although it clearly had no effect on Joker. "Just common arson on a cop's house?"

"Gordon?" Harley butted in, looking between the two men.

"Nah-ah" Harry said, shaking his head violently. "I don't wanna burn down his house. I need something else from there."

Joker had started rummaging through his pockets for something. He soon found what he was looking for, and he pounced at Harry, jabbing the familiar needle prick into his arm.

---

Harry awoke, once again handcuffed, although this time to some table legs, while he was lying on the rough floor.

"You are getting a little bit carried away" he hear Joker mutter from beside him. "You burn things when I say you can."

Harry growled, trying to tug his wrists from the metal. The flames had no effect on the handcuffs.

"I'm no slave. I'll burn you with the rest of the world if I have to" he hissed at Joker, who simply laughed at him.

"I think you'll find that you…need me" Joker said, nodding. He was suddenly right next to Harry, kneeling by the side of his head. "I know you are much more than those who are my slaves, but you will never be more than me. I play with chaos, much like you play too, but I, I understand chaos. I am chaos."

He unlocked the cuffs around Harry's wrists, and Harry made no move against him. Joker smirked.

"Remember Ace, you are with me. We are the baddies, and in Gotham, the goodies don't win, even if the baddies try to bond with the goodies" Joker continued, pulling out a blade and trailing it lightly down Harry's arm, not hard enough to draw blood. "So you will stay away from Gordon. He is nothing but an order-loving cop. Cops die all the time in this city. He could be next."

Harry saw something flash in Joker's eyes momentarily, but Harry stared unblinkingly into them, even after the brief show of emotion had passed.

Even with Joker's mood swings and outbursts, Harry still didn't feel the urge to kill Joker. He enjoyed blowing old people's homes up with bazookas; a person with that sort of humour didn't deserve to die.

Harry didn't respond to the scarred man, instead getting up, and wandering back out to the gardens.

"People are so…difficult" he said into the air, hearing a low laughter coming from beyond.

"Yes. Humans are so unnecessary" Ivy muttered, her voice only just carrying over to Harry's ears. He moved towards the sound of her voice, sitting down on the ground beside her, where she was lying with her head amongst the greenery. "Harley said she was worried she had made the Joker kill you. You're still breathing I notice."

"I was killed long ago. Joker knows that, otherwise I would be dead by his hands now" he answered, causing Ivy to whip her head and look at him oddly. She soon masked her expression.

"Why do you want to know so much about one man?" the red head asked. Harry knew exactly who she was talking about.

"I just do" he replied simply. Ivy smirked, and sat up, leaning over to him. She took a piece of paper from the ground beside her and threw it at Harry.

He opened it to see an address written in small, wild handwriting.

"Follow the lilies" she hissed in his ear, standing up and once again leaving him on his own.

---

Harry left the building on his own, not bothering to tell anyone he was going.

Gotham was a dark, dreary city. The sky was as grey as the land, and the only colour seemed to be from graffiti that was scrawled across walls. He had found a long woollen coat on the burnt corpse of a hobo, or rather he had aimed to save the coat and was pleased to find it undamaged. The coat was very worn and holey in places, but the long length allowed him to cover himself decently. Another hobo was kind enough to leave his hat undamaged when he died, giving Harry a sense of security as he pulled the fabric over his head, covering up his lightning bolt scar as well as the top half of his new marks. He had stolen some black spray paint off a hooded teenager, spraying the red boot and red trouser leg black. He needed to blend in a bit better. Luckily the paint dried quickly enough; especially after he warmed it up a bit.

The lilies were not the easiest things to find; the harsh city was no place for flowers, but the white petals were easy to spot when they were about. They were dotted mostly near the river side of the city. He wandered the streets aimlessly until he spotted the flowers, allowing them to lead him up the right streets.

He reasoned that the drugs he had been given by Joker had knocked him out for over a day. It was still dark, but it was the kind of dark that suggested early evening. It had been a similar time when they left the asylum and he doubted he had gone back in time.

He hummed to himself as he walked the streets; eyes open for the plant that reminded him so much of his mother, purely by name. It was ironic considering who he was looking for.

He was so focused on looking for the flowers that he paid little attention to anything else. It was only when he heard the loud screeching of tyres that he looked up just in time to see a car break just in front of him.

A door opened and a tall man came rushing out, expression a mixture of fury and concern.

"What do you think you were doing in the middle of the road?" the man demanded, and a bright idea hit him. He tried to stop the smile crossing his face as he looked up at the man, forcing his eyes to fill with tears. Immediately the man seemed to lose his anger.

"I'm, I'm sorry" he said, pretending to choke on tears. "I lost my Mum and Dad and these guys were running after me. I think one of them had a gun." At this point he actually managed to make himself release a few tears. He wasn't overly sure on his acting skills but the man seemed to buy into it. It was so hard to stop from laughing.

"Where are they now?" the guy asked, looking around sharply.

"I, I think I escaped them" he stuttered, and he decided to throw himself to the ground for dramatic effect.

The man bent down to his level and moved them over towards the pavement.

"Would you like me to give you a lift home?" the guy asked, and at this point Harry couldn't help but laugh, disguising it as a cough when the man looked at him weirdly.

"Oh. Oh no, I couldn't" he said, the complete opposite of what he was thinking.

"No, it's my way of apologising for nearly running you over" the man said sheepishly, and he smiled at Harry gently. "Where do you live?"

"Hubert Street" he answered.

The man smiled at him again. Harry would love to burn the stupid expression off the guy's face; there was nothing to be smiley about.

They walked over to the car, a very flashy, expensive looking vehicle, Harry noted.

The drive was silent, although not awkwardly so. Harry took the time to take note of the roads that were being taken so he could remember for next time.

The car soon stopped in a narrow street.

"Which house?" he was asked.

"Oh here's fine" he replied, getting out of the car, the man doing the same.

"Listen, I feel bad. I don't think giving you a lift is a good enough apology. I'd be happy to buy you dinner one night" the man said, offering Harry another smile.

Harry stayed silent. He hadn't expected that. Surely he must have something sinister behind his reasoning, but then why was so he doing it so sneakily and in a friendly manner? Perhaps he should meet the man, and find out what secrets he was hiding. Behind the pretence of a smiley, friendly facade could be anything; after all, he was pretending to be a scared kid, when in reality he was a mental asylum escapee who had purposefully murdered seven people, five of whom had been killed in the last two days.

"Okay. You have a deal" Harry said, nodding.

"Great. Meet me at Liberty Restaurant, tomorrow at seven? What's your name?"

Harry froze for a moment. He had forgotten a name. "Regulus" he said, thinking of the first name that popped into his head. "Regulus Evans."

The man raised an eyebrow at the name, but relaxed again quickly. Wizarding names were unusual in the muggle world, but Regulus was the brother of Sirius, and even if they hadn't gotten on, he was still linked to his Godfather. It was suitable to use.

The man got back in his car, leaning through the far window to look at Harry.

"My name's Bruce. Bruce Wayne."

Chapter 9: Nine

The man Harry now knew as Bruce Wayne sped off in his car, and Harry stared idly after him for a moment before turning to look back up the street.

The darkness was coming in heavier than before. He yanked his hat further down his head and hummed to himself as he wandered up the street, looking for the right house number. He eventually found it up a flight of stairs, and he glanced around the area before he ducked and peered slightly through a window.

He smiled when he saw the familiar figure of Gordon, who was facing the opposite direction from him. His arm was wrapped around a woman's shoulders, and they were following two small children.

He waited until they had gone down a hallway before going to their front door. He didn't even have to try it to know that it would be locked.

"Unlock, unlock, unlock" he sang to the door handle, growling when it didn't work. "Unlock, unlock. Alohomora!" he called as he laid his hand on the door. He grinned as he felt a surge in his hand and heard an unlocking sound. He quickly ducked into the front room, quietly shutting the door behind him and waiting to see if any footsteps would come running. When no footsteps came, he crept forward. Obviously Gordon felt safe enough with the lock on his door, and hadn't expected it to be opened so easily. A smashing window would be a lot easier to hear.

He stopped momentarily, looking at a board on the wall which was filled with photos and newspaper clippings. He kept an ear open for the sound of people returning; he didn't want to scare Gordon and get himself sent back to Arkham. He wanted to burn people other than doctors and psychiatrists.

The photographs were all of Gordon and his family. He thought it was funny that such a handsome man could have such an ugly wife. He hissed as he took in the woman's features; she looked like a homewrecker.

Most of the pictures were of a young boy and a young girl. It was easy to see that they were siblings, both sharing the same light hair and facial features. Some drawings were pinned up as well, signed with the names 'Jimmy' and 'Barbie'. He scoffed at the last name; plastic was so easy to burn, it almost wouldn't be fun.

With a bit more studying, he found through a newspaper clipping praising Gordon's work, that his wife was named Barbara, and both of their children were named after their mother and father. He felt a chill run through him however as he spotted an article naming Gordon not by Jim, but by James. Jim was a nickname for James, as was Jimmy. James had been the name of his father, who had been the best friend of Sirius. Sirius, who was his Godfather, who had never really stopped grieving for his father…

He stared at the photo of the young boy, reaching his hand out to it gently. Somewhere deep within Gordon, he must have felt the connection to the name. He wondered if maybe the veil had thrown Sirius back slightly in time, giving him amnesia but a fresh place to start a new life. He nodded, happy with his own conclusion. His own plans had changed slightly now; he had to talk to the boy and see what he was like. He had no interest in the girl; she looked too much like her mother, her nickname suggesting a vain obsession with beauty.

He looked up as he heard a child's laughter coming from the hallway; he had to move fast. He silently moved down the hall, spotting the doors with the kid's names on. Fortunately they were shut enough that he couldn't be seen.

He took a quick note of the distance between the room and the front of the house, and quietly skipped back to the front door, opening it and shutting it slowly behind him.

"Colloportus" he whispered, frowning when nothing happened. "Stupid door. Colloportus" he hissed again, this time trying to put full meaning behind his words, and he smiled when the door locked itself. They were simple first year spells, but the fact he didn't need a wand to do them made him grin.

He ducked down to below window level, this time crawling round the side of the house. He carried on to the first window that he expected to be Jimmy's. He sat against the wall, waiting for the quiet talking to stop. It was hard to hear, suggesting that the walls seemed to be thick; that was a good thing.

He pressed his ear to the wall for a few minutes, feeling the excitement grow as he heard the words 'goodnight' being exchanged, and a door being shut.

He waited for a minute, before heading back to the window at the front of the house. He lifted himself enough to just see through, spotting Gordon and his beast of a wife sat in front of the television, which was turned onto the news channel. It was currently showing parts of the Arkham Asylum breakout which some reporters had managed to catch bits of on camera.

The couple seemed very interested in what was on the screen, which suited him just fine.

He crept back round to the bedroom window, this time standing up and tapping on the glass.

The boy in the bed jumped up with a start and stared at Harry, who put a finger up to his lip, hinting at the boy to stay quiet. Jimmy didn't make a sound, but he shook his head, eyes looking fearfully at him.

Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes. The kid's mother had clearly taught him bad manners; she would have to pay for that. He offered the boy a kind smile, and gestured for the window to be opened. He gave Jimmy a thumbs up, smile widening to a grin.

The boy smiled back slightly, getting out of bed. He glanced at his door before he went to the window, pressing his face against the glass, and he started looking down towards the part of Harry that he couldn't see.

Harry sighed and held both hands up; trust the son of a cop to be so suspicious.

Jimmy looked satisfied and opened the window just enough that they could talk to each other without Harry being able to get through.

"Who are you?" the kid whispered, his fearful expression now changing to curiosity.

"My name is Ace" he replied, smiling. "Can I come in please? I promise to do you no harm." He hoped the boy didn't get the emphasis on the word 'you', not that he planned to kill his mother and sister tonight; he didn't think that would go down too well with the males in the house.

Jimmy looked as if he was unsure as to what to do. He just needed a bit more convincing.

"I'm a magician. I'll show you some neat tricks" Harry grinned, setting his palm ablaze and forcing it to turn into the shape of an aeroplane. It didn't last long; he found the bigger the shape, the more it took from him, but the kid was impressed enough to open the window wide and allow Harry through.

"Neat!" the boy exclaimed, and Harry hushed him. Jimmy nodded in understanding and they both glanced at the door. The hallway stayed silent, and Jimmy turned to him again. "Can you make a bat?"

Harry inwardly groaned, knowing what the bat must mean to the child, but he complied anyway, feeling his magic draining away as he did so.

"Now, now, Jimmy-" he started, before the boy interrupted.

"How do you know my name?" the kid asked, suddenly suspicious again.

"That's why I'm here" Harry explained, putting emphasis on each word. "Jimmy, James, Jimmy; I'm your brother."

The boy had clearly not expected that, and his eyes widened.

"But I don't have a brother" the boy said, so quiet that Harry could barely hear him.

"Well I guess not technically" Harry drawled, playing with the frayed strands hanging off his coat sleeves, "but you see, your daddy is my Godfather, so we're almost brothers, but I think we can be proper brothers." He smiled as the boy's face lit up, before it dropped again.

"My dad's never mentioned you" Jimmy said, looking unsure.

Harry decided now was the time for a bit more playing. He put on a sad expression, hiding his glee as Jimmy looked at him concerned.

"Well a while ago, your daddy had an accident, so now he doesn't remember me." Here Harry sniffed. "He won't even listen to me about it, and it's so sad, because he was best friends with my dad, and we were all so close, but then my dad died and I didn't get to see your dad anymore. Then when we finally found each other again he got hurt and forgot all about me and my dad."

"I'm sorry about your dad" Jimmy muttered awkwardly; he was old enough to feel sympathy, but too young to understand it.

"The most interesting thing is though" Harry continued "that my dad, his name was James."

Realisation began to dawn on the boy's face.

"Like me? I thought I was named after Dad."

"Na-ah" Harry said, shaking his head. "James isn't your dad's real name. He lost his memory remember? But he knows deep down how important the name James is. That's why you have it; because you're important."

"We really are brothers" Jimmy whispered in awe, looking up at Harry, a big smile on his face. The child was so innocent; he didn't have to burn, he could be taught. Not like the other children in the world with their ignorant and horrible attitudes. He thought of his own Godson, Teddy. Teddy was still a baby, a baby who would be shunned by the world because of what he was. Teddy could be saved too, taken away from the world who would betray anybody if it suited them.

"Your hands are glowing" he heard a small voice say, and he looked down to see where Jimmy was staring. His hands were indeed clenched into fists, with a faint red glow surrounding them.

Harry shrugged and forced himself to think of fire, feeling the comforting thought flood his mind and calm him.

"Jimmy, you have to listen to me okay?" he said to the boy, crouching down to his level. "You can't tell anybody about us okay? I need to sort this out with your dad myself, otherwise he'll never understand and I'll never get to see him again. And if you keep quiet, I can keep on coming back to see you. I can show you some more tricks, but only if you stay quiet. Do you promise you won't say anything?"

Jimmy nodded, looking utterly enthralled with Harry. He held both hands out in front of him.

"Pinky promise?" the boy asked, reaching out his little finger. Harry grinned and complied, making Jimmy's face light up. "I always wanted a big brother" he smiled.

"And I'm going to be the best big brother ever" Harry assured the child. "I'll make sure no harm comes to you, or your daddy."

"Are you going to see Barbie as well?" Jimmy questioned, looking in the direction of his sister's room.

"No" Harry stated simply. She was nothing like her father in looks, and named after her mother's side.

"Good, she always gets everything" Jimmy complained. Harry thought it was typical how their mother would spoil the daughter.

"Well you're gonna get me as a brother all to yourself" Harry said grinning. He flinched as he heard footsteps heading down the hall. "Okay Jimmy, I have to go now, but remember, you have to stay quiet, otherwise I can't come back. But if I do come back, I'll have some brand new magic tricks to show you."

"Okay" the kid said, almost bouncing in excitement. Harry ushered him back into bed, and he jumped out of the window, just as the door to the room opened.

"Are you still awake Jimmy?" he heard a woman say. "Why is your window open?"

"I couldn't sleep; I'm too warm" Jimmy lied.

"Honey, what have I told you? You have to keep your window shut at night" Barbara said. Harry wanted to punch her. Punch her or burn her, maybe both.

"Sorry Mom" her son replied, and Harry growled thinking about the control she had over him. His relatives had controlled him and he hated them for it.

"What was that?" the woman asked, and Harry cursed himself. Killing the woman now would damage his bond with Jimmy.

"It sounded like a cat or something. Don't worry Mom."

Harry beamed as Jimmy lied for him. He figured that if he did tell it would be because of his mother forcing him, but he needn't worry; she wouldn't be alive for long.

He decided it would be best to leave, and so he crawled past the house, down the stairs and skipped down the street.

---

Harry was finding his way back slightly awkwardly. He had followed the roads that Bruce had taken him down, and used the charred corpses that he had left behind as landmarks.

He was almost back to the shelter when an arm came from nowhere and pulled him into a darkened alleyway, a hand clamping over his mouth.

"He don't look like he got a lot o' cash on 'im" a man's voice said.

"I don't care" another hissed back. "We can still have some fun; he looks pretty enough."

'Like Hell' Harry thought, twisting in the man's grip. He was strong but as Harry pressed his hands against him and allowed the flames to take over his captor's clothing, he was soon free.

There were two other men left with him, both staring in horror at the man rolling in agony on the floor.

"You little brat! I'm gonna show you why kids shouldn't play with fire!" one yelled.

The man pulled a lighter from his pocket and dove onto Harry, pressing the fire into his cheek. The guy looked triumphant as the flame settled on Harry's cheek, his expression then turning to horror as he noticed Harry was grinning, clearly not being hurt.

He easily pushed the shocked man off him, leaving the older man lying on the ground, and he stole the lighter. He smiled at the guy's friend, before setting the lighter against his palm. He giggled as it tickled his hand, growing into a large ball of fire. Both men were frozen in their spots; that would make it less fun for him.

He ignored that sad notion for the moment, crouching down to the man on the floor.

"Tell me you're sorry" he directed the man, who trembled, a tear falling down his cheek.

"I'm...I'm sorry" he muttered, looking at Harry, eyes begging for forgiveness.

He simply laughed. "Too bad" he sang, pushing the fireball directly onto the crying man's face.

The last man's horrified gasp caught his attention.

"Go on" Harry said, smiling. "Run."

The other man didn't need to be told twice, and he set off running at a high speed in the opposite direction. That made the whole thing a lot more exciting.

Harry raised his arm above his head, throwing it forward, laughing as the ball smashed the man in the back of the head.

Chapter 10: Ten

Harry hummed merrily as he skipped back into Harley and Ivy's home. The two women were nowhere to be found, but Joker was sat watching television, the screen flashing images of a show his Aunt Petunia watched called Antiques Roadshow, a programme where people sold old items at auctions; apparently it made for good TV viewing. The maniac's eyes didn't actually seem to be focused on the screen, and his lip curled up as Harry sat down on the floor in the middle of the room.

"What did we tell you about your curfew young man?" Joker said, not turning around to look at him directly.

"I wanted a new coat. A nice hobo was kind enough to give me his. I guess that you don't really have any need for a coat when you're dead" Harry responded, giggling as he thought of the memory.

Joker finally turned to look at him, and his eyes ran up and down the length of Harry. "Oh Acey, hobo clothes are really not a good look." Joker tutted and turned back to the television. "Shoot that man in the forehead; it's worth more than that!" he yelled at the screen.

Harry rolled his eyes and jumped up, moving to stand in front of the television. "Don't I look good?" he said pouting. Joker simply shoved him out of the way, making Harry fall to the floor in a very over the top manner. Harry huffed but said no more, instead choosing to draw on the carpet with his fingers, watching the material move with the force. Eventually the screen switched off and Joker was on the floor beside him. He grabbed Harry's hands in his and squeezed them harshly.

"Your clothes don't have red in anymore" Joker noted, eyes raking over Harry. "That's dull."

"I needed to blend in" Harry said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You said I couldn't burn anything even though this place is boring, but I can't have people always afraid of me. It's not as fun without the surprise. I'll take them by surprise; I'll go all hobo on them and then bam, they're dead. "He turned to grin at Joker, and the older man smirked. Harry liked how every time he smirked or smiled the scars would widen.

Joker let go of Harry's hands and yanked the hat off his head. He trailed his fingers over the lightning bolt scar, tracing it.

Harry swiped his hand away and flattened his hair over his forehead. Joker simply raised an eyebrow and stood up. He left the room and returned moments later with a threatening looking whip in his hands.

"I ran into Catwoman" Joker explained, winking at Harry. He cracked the whip, the leather straps stopping right before Harry's face. The teenager didn't even blink.

The whip cracked again and Harry held his arm up towards the weapon. He licked his lips as he felt the stinging sensation, and Joker shut one eye and sighed.

"You know, I really can't decide if I like you being a masochist or not" he mused.

Harry grinned back at Joker, who moved nearer to him, this time making the whip strike his shoulder. Harry held in his hiss of pain, and reached his hand out, setting the end of the whip on fire. Joker cracked the whip into the air, laughing at the flames. His laughter became even heavier as he hit Harry again, seeing the lack of effect the flames had on him.

"Catwoman will not be happy; I said I'd return this to her only slightly bloodied. Never mind" Joker said, throwing the whip to Harry. He caught it easily, running his fingers along the burning ends. When he turned his attention back to the room, Joker was gone.

---

Harry awoke the next morning to a kick to the shoulder.

"What have you done to my clothes?" Harley exclaimed. "They're so dull" she said, repeating Joker's description of them from the day before.

"I went incognito" he answered, wriggling his fingers. Ivy was sat on the floor on the other side of the room. Joker was in the furthest corner reading a magazine, upside down Harry noticed. The trash that was in it probably looked better that way. "What do you know about Bruce Wayne?" he asked the room, twirling a lock of hair in his fingers.

"He's rich and a hunk" Harley giggled. "Bit of a playboy reputation too, ya know? Girls girl girls and parties."

"Nothing evil?" he enquired, looking sideways to try and read the front of the magazine.

"Nope. He's a goody two shoes. Shame really; he'd have looked good in our bed, don't you think Ivy?" Harley grinned at the redhead. Ivy shook her head in disgust.

"He's hiding something, something big. I wanna find out what" Harry told the room, smiling as everyone turned their full attention to him.

"I don't think so cutie. Besides, he's too rich to even be blackmailed; I've tried" said Harley, sitting next to Harry.

"The good ones are always the most evil" said Joker, speaking for the first time that morning.

"I'm going to go and see him" Harry muttered, doodling on the floor again.

"Wha-?" Harley started, Harry silencing her with a flame by her face.

"He nearly hit me with his car yesterday and he wants to make up for it, but I know he isn't good deep down. I'm gonna find out his secret and then I'm gonna burn him up for it" he hissed.

"Poor Brucey" Harley whined, but her eyes were lit up with a wicked gleam.

"Hmm" Joker began, looking thoughtful. "Imagine knowing all of little Bruce's secrets, how much chaos it would bring to the city knowing that their most perfect citizen is rotten to the core."

"Well I am on it" Harry cried, jumping up. He flashed the room the peace sign and practically leapt out of the room.

---

Harry was almost giddy as Harley helped him get ready to go out. He stayed in the same clothes as the day before, his hat pulled down to his eyes.

Harry had stared long and hard into the mirror, attempting a glamour charm. It had been dark last time he had seen Bruce, so he could do whatever he liked, and if Bruce noticed a difference the darkness could get the blame.

In the end he managed to change his eye colour to blue and hide the scratches under his eyes. On top of that, he managed to lighten his hair slightly, enough so that it looked different from usual. He also had the genius idea of getting Joker to give him a deep cut across his cheek, which he would use only when hiding under the name Regulus Evans.

He scowled as he looked in the mirror. "I look too normal" he complained. "Now this, this is dull" he said, gesturing to himself.

"Oh you look great; well not really, but you look like the sort of person who would be found under a bridge, and that's what we were aiming for" Harley said, grinning at him.

Ivy apparently had no interest in Bruce Wayne and had decided her gardens were the best place for her. Joker seemed to be in a mixed mood; he seemed positively excited at the thought of their plan, but at the same time he seemed almost angry at something.

Harry paid no attention to the man's mood and wondered what exactly Bruce Wayne could be hiding; he could be a master jewel thief or perhaps even a serial murderer. He knew that there was no way that Bruce could just be a good man; his own friends had supposedly been good to him but in the end they were all backstabbing liars. The entire world was prepared to betray anyone to suit themselves, and that would just not do.

When he deemed himself worthy enough to leave, he did a twirl in front of the mirror. He grinned, imagining himself revealing his true form to the billionaire before setting him alight.

Joker grabbed hold of him and shoved a balaclava into his hands; Joker already had one on.

"Let's go for a ride" Joker said grinning, pulling Harry by the wrist. He dragged him to the roadside before he stopped suddenly. For a moment nothing seemed to be happening; the road was quiet and nobody else was around. As a lone car came into view Joker winked at him, before jumping into the road in front of the car. Harry didn't even blink as the car swerved, slamming it's brakes on. The driver hurried out of the car, running over to Joker's form on the road.

"Oh God!" the person, a middle aged man, screamed.

In response Joker jumped up, knife in hand. The blade plunged into the man's chest over and over until he was a lifeless heap on the ground.

"Clean this up" Joker said to Harry. "We need to keep our streets clean from litter."

Joker broke into laughter as Harry waved his hands over the man's body and it went up in flames and soon it was nothing but ash. Harry kicked the ash into the air, running over to the car that had been left for them. Joker was already rooting around in the back seat, balaclava pulled down, freeing his face.

"Oh somebody has been reading naughty magazines" the older man said giggling. He ripped the magazines into pieces tutting. "What filth."

Harry grabbed the pieces off Joker, setting them alight and tossing them out the window. He removed the balaclava and handed it back to Joker.

"Liberty is such a funny name. These people aren't free; they're trapped in their own sucky worlds. Doesn't that suck?" Harry said, referencing to the name of the restaurant. Joker had started driving rather calmly down the road.

"They don't understand, most of them probably never will" Joker drawled, eyes glinting. "It is people like you and I, we, we are the true heroes of this world. We can free them."

"From life" Harry muttered, watching the people on the streets as they drove by. Joker cackled and sped up, driving slightly onto the curb, causing the children playing to scream and jump backwards.

The car eventually started to slow down in a much posher end of town. By posher, it meant that there were no homeless people on the outer streets, and any shady dealings were done behind closed doors. Joker pulled his balaclava back up to hide his mouth and he ducked down slightly. He stopped a few steps away from the restaurant, where Harry could see Bruce Wayne waiting.

"Just look at him, stood there all perfect. It's so wrong" Harry whispered, narrowing his eyes at the rich man. "He can't burn yet though. I need to know what he's hiding, and then he can suffer appropriately."

Joker leant over him to open the door and shoved him out. "Be good" he warned. "I don't want to have to kill Harley." With that he sped off, shouting "Don't even think about it Wayne. He's underage" at Bruce, making the man look slightly taken aback but surprisingly composed for someone having abuse shouted at them.

Harry strolled over to Bruce, who smiled when he saw him. That was when Harry noticed his smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and most importantly, there was something in his eyes, something dark and he should know; he saw the same thing every time he looked in the mirror.

"Regulus! I'm glad you could make it. But tell your...?" Bruce greeted, glancing in the direction Joker had left.

"Brother. He's overprotective; incredibly so" he said, nodding heavily, eyes wide.

"Right" Bruce said, shaking his head. "Anyway, shall we go in?"

Harry nodded, and Bruce led them into the pristine clean restaurant. The sight of it made Harry feel sick to his stomach. All the people in their fancy clothes, laughing with each other felt so false. He'd have to make sure it went down during opening hours.

"Ah, Mr Wayne, we have your table right this way" a waiter beamed. "Would the young sir be so kind as to remove his hat?" the man said, looking at Harry disapprovingly.

"No" Harry said, tugging it down. He found he liked the feeling of it. Bruce looked at him and shoved a note into the waiter's pocket.

"Very well. Follow me please."

They were led down to an area which was away from everyone else. It was perfect for privacy. Harry eyed the reserved signs on the tables surrounding them and wondered idly if Bruce had booked them all.

They got seated, and the waiter gave them their menus. He gave Harry one more disgusted look before giving them time alone.

"Don't worry about the hat; they won't argue with me" Bruce said, smiling once more. "You seem different from yesterday; I could have sworn your eyes were green."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm actually in disguise and I've used magical powers to do so" Harry said seriously, giving Bruce a pointed look.

"Forgive me. The darkness must have been stronger than I thought" Bruce apologised, pouring Harry a glass of water which he ignored. "I'll be paying for everything tonight so please, order what you'd like."

Harry hadn't expected it any other way.

"Do they do a children's menu?" Harry asked, looking at Bruce directly.

"I'm sure they do" Bruce said, beckoning over a waiter to ask for one. "How old are you exactly?"

"Oh I'm not a child, I just like the puzzles" he grinned. In all honesty, he didn't know how old he was. Either seventeen or eighteen, depending on what the month was.

Bruce gave him a weird look before he disguised it quickly, the waiter coming back with the menu. He winked at the server and the man backed away warily, turning to Bruce instead.

Bruce ordered for the both of them, Harry insisting he only wanted ice cream. Bruce seemed to laugh at the thought and ordered it without a fuss, much to the dismay of the waiter.

Harry squeezed a large amount of strawberry sauce over the top and tucked in.

"So Regulus...that's an interesting name" Bruce said, attempting to make conversation. Harry on the other hand had no interest in himself, or his false personality; he was much more intrigued with Bruce.

"All my family are named after stars" he said casually.

"Interesting" Bruce replied, swirling around the wine in his glass. "I have to tell you, it has been lovely to actually talk to somebody, err, normal. But you know, with what happened to my home it's nice to get away from everything."

"What happened to your house?" Harry asked; it was the perfect time to sway the conversation.

"You didn't hear?" Bruce questioned looking shocked, for once a fully genuine expression.

"I don't care for news" Harry answered, taking a spoonful of straight up strawberry sauce.

"Oh, well it got burnt down in an arson attack" came the reply, and Harry nearly choked; someone else burnt his precious flammables.

"Who, er, who did the er, arson?" he asked, trying his hardest not to look too much like he had planned to do it first.

"We haven't found out yet" Bruce replied, but the way he avoided eye contact told Harry that he was lying.

"Don't you have any other friends you can talk to?" Harry asked, tilting his head.

"I'm not really the type for friends like that" Bruce told him.

"There must be one?" Harry tried again; to get to Bruce's friends could work just as well.

"Well, a girl named Rachel, but we kind of have an on and off relationship. She's busy with work at the moment as well so I'm giving her some space."

"Oh, what does she do?"

"She's an assistant DA. She..." At this point Bruce broke into a ramble about the job description, but Harry only had one thought on his mind; a Rachel was who an assistant DA couldn't be all that common in Gotham.

"Dawes?" he interrupted. "Rachel Dawes?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Suddenly Bruce looked fairly defensive.

"I've just heard it mentioned" he replied. He decided not to mention that he heard it from his psychotic ex cell mate who had been imprisoned due to her. If she had never done that, Hunter could have never hurt him. "Hey, you should introduce us. Then you two can reconnect without it being awkward."

The offer seemed to appeal to Bruce; it appeared that he was rather smitten with the girl. Shame she'd be long dead before he could get anywhere with her.

"Oh go on" he urged, fluttering his eyelashes.

"I guess" Bruce said, giving in. "Can I have your cell number so I can arrange something?"

"I can't give you my number; you have ten years on me" he answered, mocking shock. There was also the fact he didn't have a phone, but that wasn't important.

Bruce pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and scribbled his number down on it. Harry felt glee surge through him as he got handed one of the keys to his prize.

"We should go rollerblading" he told Bruce with a grin. "I'd like that."

"Okay" Bruce replied slowly. He still looked very unsure what to make of Harry.

A loud honking noise from outside caught their attention.

"That'll be my brother" he said, jumping up. "Thank you for the ice cream Bruce; the best I've had. I'll ring you to get on with that rollerblading date for me, you and Rachel." He flashed the man a thumbs up sign and literally bounded out of the restaurant. "See you around waiter dude" he called to the waiter who looked at him in contempt. In fact, all the diners were looking at him disapprovingly, only Bruce was in the background laughing.

Harry left the building into darkness but he easily found Joker sitting in a car.

"You're early" he told the man. "And I preferred the old car." The car Joker had stolen this time was a lot smaller on the inside.

"The last one had a little accident involving a young couple and a river" Joker responded, wicked grin on his face. "How'd your dinner go with Brucey boy?"

"Oh it was amazing. They do the best ice cream there."

"Did it come with sauce?" Joker asked seriously.

"Aha. Strawberry. Lots of it" he grinned.

"No, no, no, no. Raspberry sauce is the best."

"Na-ah" Harry said, shaking his head. "Strawberry wins. Guess what, I got his phone number!"

Joker had been about to say something fruit related when the last sentence caught his attention. "Bruce Wayne gave you his phone number?" he asked incredulously.

Harry nodded enthusiastically. "We're going roller blading together."

"I underestimated you Ace. You will really come in handy. It's just a shame how you feel about strawberries, but those sorts of things can be beaten out of you. Oh, by the way, if you reach in the back, I've got you a little present."

Harry shuffled round in the back of the car, hands resting on something large. He lifted the heavy object up, grinning as he felt the power the bazooka gave him. He looked out the window, waiting for something perfect to come along.

Eventually they neared a fire station and it made Harry bounce in excitement. What better way to protect his fires than by destroying the fire stations. He aimed the weapon through the window and fired, the force knocking Harry slightly into Joker, but he quickly looked forward to see the building in flames and ruins.

He sighed happily. Gotham had got themselves a new super villain.

Chapter 11: Eleven

The two Arkham escapees had soon returned home, Harry still on a high from blowing up the fire station. Joker had allowed him to destroy the car they had been using as well, and despite his earlier reservations about the weapon, he now was definitely a bazooka fan.

The next morning found him once again being kicked awake by Harley, a curious smile lighting her face. Harry stood up and stretched before plonking himself in a chair.

"So how'd ya date go?" the blonde asked, grinning.

They both looked around startled as a banging sound reached their ears. Joker was sat at a table, a furious expression on his face for just a second before it returned to its usual emotionless look. The banging noise was the result of a chair being kicked over. Joker was acting as if nothing had happened and Harry and Harley shrugged it off.

"Well I got his number" he grinned back, Harley's smile widening. "He seems sweet on a girl called Rachel Dawes. She's a bitch and I'm gonna kill her but he doesn't need to know that."

"I think I've heard of her. Something to do with the law right?" Harley enquired, seating herself on the arm of the chair he was sat in. He nodded and Harley threw him an understanding look. "Why do you especially wanna kill her?"

"She's the reason for something bad" Harry explained vaguely, but Harley seemed satisfied with his answer.

"Right, well me and Ivy are off to some biology lab or something. We'll see you guys later. Try not to kill each other while we're gone; I wanna watch if you do" Harley grinned before exiting the room, leaving Harry and the Joker alone.

"I want to practice fighting some more" Harry told Joker, who looked at him lazily.

"Asking to be hurt? Batboy is going to love you, you know?" Joker muttered, shaking his head. He licked his lips, darting the muscle across his scars. The man got up, heading towards Harry with a dangerous glint in his eyes. He crouched down in front of Harry, who didn't break eye contact with him.

"Na-ah" Harry denied, shaking his head but not tearing his eyes away from Joker's. "There are some people I want to get hands on with before I turn them into ash."

"Hands on huh?" Joker asked, grabbing hold of both of Harry's wrists, his nails digging into the skin. "I do find it a lot more satisfying using the direct approach to murder and mayhem. It's why I use a knife. It's so much more personal; you can really get inside the very soul of the person, look through their eyes and see their fears. Death can be beautiful; it is art."

"I make art too. Nobody really appreciates fire anymore, but it's so strong and powerful; pretty as well" Harry mused, not flinching as the grip on his wrists tightened. He followed the path of the Joker's scars with his eyes; they brought him comfort, yet as he really thought about it, they were beautiful to look at as well. "You're a work of art too" he told Joker, who raised an eyebrow at him mockingly.

"I'm not art; I make it" Joker answered, throwing him a warning look.

"You concentrate on your own work so much that you can't see what is in front of you" Harry whispered. "You are like a blank canvas with nothing painted other than a twisted smile, but it makes the whole piece. I'm scarred in many places, inside and out, but you, you stand out." He broke one of his hands free, moving it to run along one of Joker's scars.

Joker's hand instantly flew up to catch it, but he didn't pull it away; instead he simply held it there, all the while both of them staring into the other's eyes.

"I've said it before, but you really do pull off the craziest looks in your eyes" Joker said.

Harry inched forward, sliding off the chair and kneeling on the ground, raising himself up a bit so that he was directly eye to eye with Joker. They were so close to each other that Harry could hear Joker breathing, and could see the faint marks on his skin. He unconsciously moved himself nearer, both of them unwilling to move for a moment.

The moment ended quickly for Joker, and Harry was suddenly grabbed, span around and held against Joker's chest, a knife against his throat.

"Kids today get so easily distracted. I blame video games personally" Joker mused, gesturing for Harry to stand with him. He obeyed not out of respect or fear, but because he was curious. He knew that Joker was, at the very least, intrigued with him enough to not slit his throat and kill him now; like he would even be able to get that far.

Joker walked them to a room Harry had not been in before. It was bare aside from a table which had a variety of knives gleaming on it.

"Here is just some of my collection" Joker explained, throwing Harry to the floor. Joker scooped some knives up in his arms and knelt on the ground beside Harry. "Arm please."

Harry offered the limb to Joker, who rolled his sleeve up, tilting his head to get a better look at the skin. Joker immediately set to work, switching between the knives as he did so. "Can you feel the differences in the blades? Some go deeper, some are sharper and some just really...hurt" Joker drawled, one of the strokes making Harry flinch instinctively, much to Joker's pleasure.

Joker sat back after a while, happily admiring his work. Harry glanced down at his pained arm. The word 'Joker' was now carved into his skin, the letters wonky from the different blades. He grinned as he wiped the blood away, making the letters clearer.

Harry enjoyed the thought of being marked and cut; it reflected his inner flaws as well as giving him something on himself that he liked the look of.

He was drawn out of his thoughts by a hard slap around the face.

"You're distracted again" Joker reprimanded.

Harry jumped up, smiling at Joker and using his arm to block his face from another attack. It caused extra sting in the fresh cuts and Joker must have known that for he laughed.

"You don't think anyone is gonna go easy on you, do you Ace?" Joker questioned casually as he attempted to hit Harry again.

Harry ducked under Joker's arm, attempting to attack him from behind, when he was stopped by a blow to the chest which knocked him back slightly. He leapt forward, trying to tackle Joker to the ground. The criminal easily pushed him off, throwing Harry back to the floor. He hadn't expected it to work given the size difference between them, but it was fun to try, although from what he remembered, the Batsuit looked heavy in itself, never mind the man underneath, so it would be just plain stupid for him to try the move on Batman, no matter how crazy he was.

He had a sudden image of the mystery man wearing no clothes underneath his vigilante outfit and he broke into a fit of giggles which threw Joker off balance long enough for Harry to punch him between his laughter.

"You're learning" Joker said winking, reaching a hand up to touch his face. "You really need to work on your swing though; I barely felt that. Come on, I'll give you a free go." Joker gestured at his face, his arms at either side of him.

Harry put all his effort into it as he flung his fist forward, being caught by Joker as expected. He swung his other fist underneath, only to be gripped again by the other man.

"Maybe you should play with Harley; she makes a good punching bag. I would recommend Ivy but I don't know where she's been so if you do decide to fight with her, please wash your hands afterwards. Water, soap, lather and rinse."

"Be nice; I like Ivy" Harry whined, making Joker grab hold of his arm where the cuts were. He squeezed tightly until Harry sent a flame to the hand holding him.

"Would you like to help me with something?" Joker asked, sounding so normal that Harry was taken aback; he didn't like it. The look in Joker's eyes however was enough to reassure him that something wicked was about.

Harry nodded. "Sure, but only if..." to make his point he threw a fire ball at a wall, burning it through and leaving a charred hole behind.

Joker grinned, licking his lips hungrily. "Of course." Joker took Harry's hand in his, humming as he rubbed it, making a 'hmm' noise every so often. He let go, grin even wider. "I am going to rob a bank, you don't need to know who owns it, but trust me, it is going to shake the right people, shake them like a snow globe." Joker mimicked shaking the trinket.

"I like snow globes" Harry murmured casually. Joker's mouth twitched upwards slightly.

"As for you," Joker continued, waving a pointing finger at Harry, "you get to have some fun with hostages. You can't kill them mind you, unless of course they want to play, but I believe that traumatisation is good for the soul."

Joker didn't expand on his comment, rather he used his widened eyes to explain to Harry what he meant; scare, maybe torture, but not murder. Harry nodded again to show that he was definitely in. Joker leered at him, although there was a gleeful look in his eyes.

"Hey, do you want to know how I got my scars?" Joker asked, tone suddenly deep and serious. Harry gestured for him to explain. "My parents, well they were loving, caring people to begin with, showering the world with love. Then, then I was born and they tried to love me but they just couldn't. I was too much of a freak to them. My father left and I was raised by my mother who had started to go just a little. Bit. Crazy. One night she came into my room and asked me why I didn'tsmile and why I couldn't be the happy, perfect son she always wanted. She wanted me to be that boy so she took it upon herself to make me look the part." He ran his fingers along his scars, darting his tongue out like a snake.

"Interesting" Harry muttered, shutting one eye. "Do you wanna know how I got struck by lightning?" he grinned, pointing to his forehead. Joker nodded, looking almost admirable. Almost.

"This one man in my world tried to make it better; the way he thought it should be, but some other people thought that he was wrong so they took it upon themselves to try and stop him. Now this man was unstoppable, and if he tried to kill you then you were dead. It turned out I was the only one who could stop him so when I was a baby he killed my parents and tried to kill me, but he ended up losing his body and I got this pretty little scar on my head. In the end he got his body back but I killed him for good and saved my world. Do you want to know the irony though? The world I saved don't care and the man I killed, well now I realise he was right. All the ones who betrayed me, he hated them. He knew what they were but I couldn't see it. He was cleansing our world of filth, much like I am doing here. I had the chance there and I wasted it."

"No, no Ace. Your little world you had was his canvas. Gotham is yours. I mean, sure, it's fun to mess up other people's artwork, but making your own is so much more satisfying. Talking of which, how are you with accents?"

The question threw Harry off slightly, but now that he thought about it, he had never really tried talking with another accent.

"It's not that I don't like yours, because I do" Joker carried on, as if he hadn't noticed Harry's mind ticking away, "but we don't have many British criminals around here, and seeing as you like blending in with the public, I bet you your hat that you didn't think about disguising your voice when you were out before."

Harry shrugged and Joker smirked. "Hand it over then" he grinned smugly.

"No, it's mine" he hissed back, realising what Joker meant.

"You have to honour a bet" the madman sniggered, ignoring Harry's scowl.

"How about we make a new bet on top of the old one?" he enquired, smiling as Joker accepted. "If I can pull off an accent then I get to keep it."

"Oh you do have a beautiful mind." Joker sighed contentedly. "Go on then" he urged.

Harry paused for a moment, thinking of how to change his voice. He thought back to the American accents he had heard, all of which seemed very different. Joker's voice was rather evil sounding, even when it was gleeful, and Harry didn't think Joker would like people copying his voice. Jimmy still had a kid's voice, and his dad sounded wrong to him; his voice was supposed to be raspy and British with a barking laugh. All of the doctors were obviously a no no. Ivy spoke in a sexy tone he had no hope of pulling off, while Bruce Wayne's sickened him slightly. That left one person...

"I'll show ya sweetie, I can do an accent just fine" he said, mimicking Harley perfectly. Joker mock applauded. Harry grinned as sensed Joker's bitterness.

"What's the matter Mr. J? You don't look very happy" he jested, still in Harley's accent, silenced by Joker's fingers on his lips.

"Save it for the outside Acey" Joker warned, his face a mixture of anger and happiness. "I'm taking your hat; I'll get you a new one" Joker grinned, running out of the room ahead of Harry. Harry could still feel the tingling on his lips from the touch.

Harry didn't bother to go after him, although if Joker didn't bring him a nicer hat then he'd pay.

---

Later that day, Harry was approached by Harley and Ivy as he was lying on the ground outside.

"Hello Ace, it's been a while since we've spoken" Ivy greeted, standing above the boy.

"Hi Ivy...Harley" he smiled, jumping to his feet. He noticed a large bag being held in Harley's arms.

"I've got you some things" Harley said, seeing where Harry was looking. She gestured for him to follow them inside.

They led him back to a bedroom decorated in red and black wallpaper, which was barely visible through a number of flowers growing up the walls and pictures of Ivy hanging everywhere.

"I got you a blanket because you're ruining the carpet" Harley grinned, throwing a red blanket at him. It was soft and he nuzzled his head into it. "And, most importantly, I've made you some new clothes!"

She threw the bag at him and he looked inside, seeing an assortment of clothes.

"The black jeans and black top are you when you go undercover, the red jeans and other tops are for casual wear here" Harley explained as Harry rooted through the items. "I've hung up your going out outfits up. They're all the same because I like consistency unlike some people, I mean, you want people to recognise ya don't ya?" She seemed to be rambling now, and Ivy just smiled at Harry to let him know to ignore her.

Harry complied, instead going to check out the outfit hanging in Harley's wardrobe. It included leather trousers, both legs red, with a small looking black t-shirt. What impressed Harry the most was the long black leather trench coat. Underneath the clothes stood a pair of thick heeled boots, straps going all around the upside of the legs.

"You are going to look so hot in that" Harley giggled. "We'll let ya get changed now."

The two women left the room and Harry happily pulled off the female clothes that he was wearing, pulling on a pair of the red jeans that Harley and Ivy had given him. They were tight and Harry mused that Harley just enjoyed the look of him in close fitting clothing. He put on a black hooded top, wearing the hood up to replace the feeling of the hat; it wasn't the same. He kept Harley's old boots on.

He opened the door to leave, bashing it into Harley who had been crouched by the door handle. Harry tutted and pushed past her, peeking through the hole. The view wasn't clear but you could just make out the room and what was in it.

Harley blushed and sprinted from the hall, leaving Harry alone with Ivy.

"So Ace, did you find what you were looking for the other day?" the redhead asked, smiling knowingly at him.

"Yeah I did. I found a bit more actually; it was fun. I killed some perverts on the way home too" he answered and Ivy yanked the hood down from his head.

"Good" she murmured, "I'm glad to see the death of scum."

With that she wandered off, never one for saying goodbye, so Harry took it upon himself to find Joker.

Harry found him eventually after the man jumped in front of him and knocked him to the ground.

"You need to stay on alert Ace" Joker scolded playfully.

Harry shook it off. "Look, I'm not a cross dresser anymore" he grinned, jumping up and twirling. As he spun back to face Joker he noticed the man's eyes darting quickly upwards. Harry smirked as he gave Joker a questioning look but it wasn't answered. Instead Joker pulled something from his back pocket and plunked it down over Harry's head.

Harry felt the familiar warmth of a hat and he skipped to the nearest mirror. It was a woollen red hat, a black spade symbol stitched onto the front of it.

He ran back to Joker, grabbing the man in a hug. He was promptly pushed away. As he fell he grabbed hold of Joker's wrist, dragging the man to the floor with him. They landed in a heap; legs twisted together, their faces only inches apart.

Joker attempted to untangle himself but Harry raised his hand and caught him, preventing him from moving. He wasn't sure why; he just liked the feeling of it and as long as kept his eye on the scarred smile then he could be happy with the position.

Joker looked down at him curiously, wriggling out of Harry's grip but holding the younger boy's hand in his.

"Go on" Joker whispered, "show me who you truly are."

Harry concentrated hard, forcing the flame in his hand to turn into the shape of a lightning bolt. Not breaking his focus, he exploded the bolt, the shards of flame falling. He formed them into an Ace of Spades card. Joker smiled, waving his hand just above the fire.

"Perfect" the other man hissed, so quietly that Harry barely heard him.

Harry opened his mouth to say something when a cough alerted them both of another presence.

"You two really need to get a room" Harley giggled, not fazed by the glares she was being given.

"You'd just watch through the door handle again" Harry replied. Joker jumped to his feet, pulling Harry with him. He grasped Harry's arm, twisting it so Harley could see the words freshly carved into the skin.

"Keep that in mind Harley" Joker hissed, and for once Harley looked fearful. Joker quickly changed his expression back to looking emotionless. "Is Ivy not doing anything for you anymore?" he jested as if he hadn't been trying to kill her with his eyes just seconds before.

"Me and Ivy have a lot of fun together I will have you know" Harley huffed, placing a hand on her hip.

"So what's your problem then? Do the plants make you itch?" Joker retorted, and Harley flipped him the finger before storming out of the room. "She always was a drama queen" Joker explained to Harry.

Harry scoffed at the irony of Joker calling Harley a drama queen but he didn't say anything about it.

"I'm not your property" Harry muttered. "I'm my own person."

"I never said you were my property" Joker replied, shaking his head. "But look at us both, you and me, we're both freaks. We don't fit into this world so we want to make our own. We share the same ideals". He slowly reached into Harry's back pocket, pulling out the two cards that Harry had carried with him ever since Joker had given them to him. Joker's hand lingered for a second more than it should have before it came back to the front, flashing the cards in front of him. "You kept them both; both me and you. Just admit it; you need me as much as you don't. Together we can destroy this city, destroy the world, destroy your world. Together."

Harry took the Joker card and the Ace of Spades card off Joker, placing them down on the floor. He waved his hand around them, lighting up the floor beside them. The flames shot up, forming a small tornado. Joker's face was full of joy as he watched. Harry crouched down, reaching his hand through the flames and pulling the cards out.

Both were entirely unharmed the fire. He spun them in his hands until they were laying criss-crossed over each other. The twister dropped until it died out, leaving a large charred circle behind.

Harry placed his lips to where the edges of the card crossed over to show his agreement.

"Together."

Chapter 12: Twelve

Notes:

Warning for scenes of self harm and sexual content in this chapter.

Joker was using his time to organise his bank robbery. He was keeping to himself mostly, so Harry had been spending his time in the gardens with Ivy. Their time together was usually silent, but Harry found the older woman comforting to be around. There was a chance that the reason for that was because of how in tune Ivy was with nature; she had no time for the human world and so she lost many of their flaws.

Rain had now overtaken the city however, and Harry found he had a slight aversion to water; it was the enemy to his precious fires. This meant that the gardens were not a suitable place to be.

For something to do, Harry decided to dress up as Regulus Evans again, casting the glamour on himself and getting his old hat back from where Joker had hidden it. He borrowed some of Harley's coins and went to find a telephone box from which he could phone Bruce Wayne. He was getting bored of waiting for Joker so he wanted to make his own fun.

He eventually found one in an area that most people would have been afraid of going to. He opened the door, ignoring the feeling of broken glass against his hand, and he slammed the door shut, causing more shards to fall to the floor.

He dialled in Bruce's number and it wasn't long before his call was answered.

"Wayne residence" an old sounding man answered.

"May I speak to Mr. Wayne please?" Harry requested, mocking the voice of the man on the phone. He could almost feel the man rolling his eyes at him down the line.

"One moment please Sir. Who, may I ask, is calling?" the man replied.

"R Evans" he answered, dragging out the last syllable.

The sound of movement could be heard over the other end, and moments later a more familiar voice was talking to him.

"Regulus! I was wondering when I would hear from you" Bruce greeted.

"It's raining and I'm bored. Can we go roller skating now?" He figured he may as well cut to the chase.

There was silence for a minute before Bruce laughed.

"I guess we can" Bruce told him. "I don't know if Rachel will be able to meet us at such short notice though."

Harry was secretly glad; he had never skated before and he would rather do so minus the presence of a bitch.

"Meet me at Gotham Skating Arena in half an hour? An hour?" Bruce continued. Harry had to remind himself that Bruce couldn't see him nod.

"Half hour" he decided. "See you then" he said before hanging up.

He turned out of the booth, walking directly into the man who had been waiting for the phone.

"Finally" the man complained, brushing heavily against Harry as he passed him. "I didn't realise that it took so long to arrange a whore meeting."

Harry growled and followed the man into the booth.

"What makes you think I'm a whore?" he asked the man, staring unblinkingly at him.

The guy looked taken aback, and he moved his mouth silently, pressing up against the phone as Harry leant into him, reaching his hands around the back of the stranger's neck.

"Is it because I'm pretty?" he asked, his lips almost touching the other man's. "Or is it because you think I'm hot?"

The man shook his head violently and Harry grinned.

"Well I happen to think that you are very hot. Literally" he hissed, pressing flames into the back of the man.

The guy tried to pull away, screaming, but Harry held on tight, allowing the fire to overcome the man. His screams were short lived as Harry finished the job quickly, waiting until there was nothing but ash left.

He smirked as the wind blew the remains away and he began his wander down the street.

---

Harry wandered pretty aimlessly until an old woman asked him if he needed any help. She happily pointed him in the right direction. She turned her back to go on her way, and when the time was right Harry sent a small flame her way, not enough to kill her directly, but it was enough to make her panic and fall onto the road in the path of an oncoming car that ended up ploughing right into her.

Harry grinned; he didn't need anyone knowing where he was going before he got there, and besides, he saw the way she had been looking at him. He grimaced before heading the way she had told him to go.

He somehow made it within the half hour limit, but Bruce was already waiting outside the building.

"I want to be like you when I'm your age" Harry said as a form of greeting. Bruce looked at him questionably. "Just be able to drop everything to go somewhere fun."

Harry wondered why that was.

"I have people to take care of everything important. I like to do my share of course, but I have a pretty busy social life too."

"So do you not have a proper job then?" Harry asked, and Bruce's eyes flashed over for a second, a reaction that would have been missed had Harry not been studying his every move intently.

"A little bit here and there" Bruce answered, looking down as Harry stared directly into his eyes. Harry had been around enough liars to know when someone wasn't telling the truth. "Shall we go in then? I'm afraid I won't be skating, it isn't exactly my forte."

"How dull" Harry muttered, but he didn't care; it meant that he had more time to think about what Bruce's lie could be covering.

He went in ahead of the billionaire and ordered his skates.

"Don't you have a nicer colour?" he complained as he was handed a blue and red pair.

"If you don't like 'em, bring your own" the woman at the desk dismissed him.

Harry growled but calmed himself. He would skate first, kill later.

Bruce had settled himself somewhere reading.

Harry first attempt at skating found him on the floor. The same thing happened on his second and third try too. He figured the skates the woman had given him must have been sabotaged; another reason the woman would pay.

Once he got the hang of it, he found that he quite liked the feeling of being on wheels.

He thought to himself about what Bruce could be hiding which was work related. His first idea was that of pimping or drug dealing, but that was so common in Gotham that even Bruce Wayne wouldn't have to worry too much about hiding it.

The man was very rich, but even if he didn't need money didn't mean he might not get a thrill from stealing. Many of the criminals in Gotham were apparently masked, so he could be any one of them. He made a mental note to ask Harley about that.

He was drawn from his musings by the sight of most amazing roller skates he had ever seen. They were black with a flame motif decorating the ends of them.

The guy wearing them had noticed Harry staring and was now glaring at him.

"Got a problem freak?" the boy growled, his friends turning and laughing.

"I want your skates" he answered simply, looking away from the shoes and up at the person wearing them. He and his friends looked to be around Harry's age, although a lot taller and bulkier than him. That was no problem to Harry.

"What are you? Some sort of queer? Quit staring at me" the guy growled back, hands balling into fists.

"If it will offend you, then yes, I am a queer" Harry shot back, fluttering his eyelashes. Harry couldn't be bothered to explain that he didn't really find anyone attractive, although there was one man he maybe did like, but thinking about that would distract him from the gang.

"Billy, leave it" one of boys hissed to the one at the front, and Harry grinned wickedly.

"Yes Billy, we don't want to set a bad example to the children" he giggled. "Hey, about you and me go outside in a bit and have a little fight to see who gets to keep those skates?"

"Please, like a little fairy like you can beat me?" Billy scoffed. Harry simply smirked. "All right then, meet round the back in twenty minutes so I can put you in your place."

Harry waved at the boys at they skated off; they had no idea what was coming their way.

"Is everything alright?" Bruce asked, coming up to the railings.

"Oh yes, me and Billy over there are great friends. He and his gang are moving soon so we were just saying goodbye" Harry answered.

"It looked like you were arguing."

"That's the fun of Billy. We get into all sorts of pretend fights and things. It's fun. Fun, fun fun. Are you going somewhere?" Bruce had his jacket on and seemed to have a far off, determined look in his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sorry, something has come up and I have to rush off. Please feel free to call me again and I'll be able to spend a bit longer with you; I'll bring Rachel too. I'll see you soon." With that Bruce walked off, a slight run in his step.

Harry wondered for a moment whether to follow him or not but the prospect of flame designed skates was too much of a temptation for him.

He sighed unhappily as he carried on skating. Part of him felt like he had wasted an opportunity, while the other part only cared for the cool shoes.

He had missed the chance to follow Bruce now though, and he couldn't control the twists in his stomach and the gnawing he could feel on the inside. He scowled; how dare a stupid man make him feel that way?

He sped off the rink, throwing his skates into the shoe area. He snatched his boots angrily off the glaring woman and he ran out to the back of the building. It wasn't long before Billy turned up, accompanied by the four boys he had been with earlier. Harry had expected that.

"Look, I'm pretty pissed off now so just hand over the skates or I'll kill you" Harry explained simply, making the gang laugh. Harry decided to show them he meant what he said by waving his hand around him, causing a large flame circle to burst up, surrounding them all. The boys looked around terrified, until Billy ran to Harry, grabbing him by the shirt.

"Look freak, my brother is in one of Gotham's toughest gangs, and if you do anything to me he'll-." What his brother would do to him Harry never would find out because he had pressed his hand to the boy's face and set it alight.

The rest of the group stared in horror before they screamed, attempting to find a way out of the flames.

In the meantime Harry had yanked the skates off Billy's feet, putting them on him instead. They were a bit big but they looked good. Harry couldn't be bothered with terrifying the others, he was too angry, so instead he collapsed the flaming wall on them, filling in the circle. The boys screamed as the fire overtook them, and Harry looked on with mild interest as their bodies charred and crumbled. He could feel the flames licking at his skin painlessly, leaving him completely unmarked.

He could feel the word that Billy had called him, a freak, resounding in his ears. He could feel the looks and the stares he had been given by the workers in the roller rink, and he screamed, waving his hand towards the building, allowing the fire to infiltrate the arena. He pushed it forward, the following screams giving him slight comfort, but then he decided to flee, putting good use to his now wheeled shoes.

He kicked off his skates before he entered his home and broke into a run. Harley, Ivy and the Joker were sat around the table in the main room. Ivy stood as he walked in, not even bothering to disguise the look of concern on her face. He felt unable to say anything though and he ignored them all, escaping to the room that Joker had taken him just a few days before.

He slammed the door shut and sent up a flame wall to stop anyone from entering.

He growled as he felt his magic flowing inside of him and he screamed, causing the magic to release and shatter nearly everything that was breakable in the room.

Warning starts here

He removed his hat, coat and glamour before he stared into the shard of glass that remained on the mirror, staring deep into it until he couldn't take his reflection anymore. He swung his fist and slammed it onto the glass, making it cut open his knuckles. He continued punching it, even as his hand collided with the hard wall behind it.

As his hand went numb he collapsed to his knees on the floor, the tears that had been threatening to fall finally flowing. He pulled at his hair hard, scraping his nails over his face.

He had messed up; he had ruined his own plan; he had lost control. Even now he was being controlled by the world and he was too useless to stop it. If he wanted to burn the world he'd have to up his game.

He had never hated Bruce Wayne more for making him feel so conflicted, and he had never felt so hurt by name calling before. Sure, he had to admit to himself that he was indeed a freak, but the looks people gave him and the way they spoke to him were just rude. He was sure that the people of the world were the problem, with their horrid attitudes and beliefs, and he couldn't let them get to him; they couldn't let him feel this way. He decided that he had to embrace who he was. He needed to know who he was.

He scrambled over to the table which still had a couple of knives laying on it. He reached up and pulled the biggest blade down, turning it over in his fingers.

He grinned through his tears as he brought the knife down over the skin of his arm. The cut immediately brought pain and it dug in deep, but the pain felt so real to Harry; it made him feel so much more alive.

He dug the knife in again, missing the word 'Joker' that was already carved into his skin; that too was now a part of his identity.

When he ran out of space on that arm, he switched to the other, this time making sure to cut deeper in order to get more pain. He was vaguely aware of someone knocking on the door but he paid no attention to it, this time focusing on what he was about to do.

First of all he carved an 'f', followed by an 'r', 'e', 'a' and a 'k'. He smiled as he saw the word 'freak' standing proudly on his skin. It was who he was.

He trailed off on the last letter, feeling his limbs start to feel tired and his head felt heavy. His vision started to swarm as he fell forward and he knew no more.

---

Harry awoke some point later to find himself in a proper bed with one of his arms partly bandaged.

"You need to work on your knife skills" a voice said from beside him, and he wearily turned to see Joker sat by the side of his bed, spinning the knife Harry had used in his hands. "If you're trying to kill yourself a knife isn't the best way to go; I'd recommend jumping off a bridge into traffic, and for self-mutilation purposes you'd have been better off with a slighter but sharper blade."

"I messed up" Harry responded, and Joker stopped spinning the knife to look at him.

"Exactly, that's why you should leave knife handling to me. I don't play with matches now do I? Actually that's a lie but hey, it's like my mama always said-"

"With my Bruce plan" Harry cut in, drawing a glare from Joker. "I lost control and decided to play with some boys instead of stalking him. How am I supposed to burn the world if I get distracted so easy? All I want to do now is go to his house and kill him, but I can't because I know he's working somewhere bad and I want to know what he's doing, but I want to hurt him so badly for getting to me and-"

This time Joker stopped Harry by putting his fingers over his lips.

"Mindless killing is fun, but sometimes, sometimes you just need a little goal. You don't really need to plan how to get there, that's boring, but having something to reach for makes the murder and mayhem just that little bit more satisfactory. You don't want to be going too crazy now, do you?" Joker winked, pressing his hand down on his cuts, and Harry shook his head, grabbing at the wrapping on his arm.

"Can't you teach me everything?" Harry asked desperately. "I want to stay on track and destroy the world; burn it down. That is my goal. I want those people who are so so bad to me to suffer, but I gave the chance up for roller skates."

Joker raised an eyebrow. "Roller skates? I'm more of an ice skating man myself; the blades make a great weapon, although I suppose that isn't much use in Gotham until Mr Freeze gets a move on. "

"Yeah, the skates are really cool. They have flames on, and they're so pretty. Plus the guy wearing them was mean to me."

"Oh Acey, it was worth it then" Joker smirked, getting up to leave the room.

Harry jumped up out of the bed he was in and leapt after him. He couldn't let the man leave; Harry felt so numb at the moment, and Joker could stop that; he could bring him a sense of reality; their own messed up reality.

He grabbed Joker before he reached the door and the Joker turned around, looking at him with a wicked, knowing gleam in his eyes.

Not even wanting to think about what he was doing, Harry jumped up and pressed his lips firmly against Joker's. The man pushed him away but he had a predatory gleam on his face and he allowed Harry to press closely against him.

"Please make me feel" Harry whispered against the man's skin. "Help me be real."

Joker pressed his hands against Harry’s chest, and then pushed hard, causing Harry to end up on the floor. Joker clambered down on top of him, kneeling over his legs.

“I can help you feel Ace” Joker hissed in his ear, “but I will be rough.”

“I want you to be. I need to feel the pain” Harry answered, whimpering as Joker dug his nails into his chest. It felt good.

“You are over sixteen aren’t you?” Joker asked and the question took Harry by surprise. “Yeah, it’s my one and only moral” Joker grinned.

Harry nodded before dragging Joker down closer to him.

“Just-“Harry began, only to have his shirt pulled open by Joker. The older man immediately set to work, dragging his nails down his chest and tugging hard at his nipples.

Harry bit his lip, making sure to keep his eyes on the scarred smile. He had to remember it was Joker, Joker who would hurt him, but this time at his own request. He was nobody else other than Joker.

The killer meanwhile was making quick work of Harry’s jeans and boxers, yanking them down while he was biting at Harry’s neck and chest, his fingers still digging into him, hard enough to leave bruises.

Joker appeared to be making no sign of slowing as he shoved his hand against Harry’s mouth, indicating for the teen to suck on his fingers. Harry took the digits into his mouth, coating them with his spit.

When they were deemed wet enough, Joker took them and shoved one inside of Harry, making the boy squirm slightly. He then added a second, scissoring them and making Harry cry out.

“Harder” Harry demanded, and Joker squeezed in a third, forcing him open. Harry stifled a scream and he shut one eye, keeping the other firmly locked on Joker’s mouth. “Let me see your smile.

Joker complied, moving his head up as he continued fucking Harry with his fingers. It hurt and wasn’t the most pleasant thing Harry had felt but he couldn’t get enough of the feeling.
He heard an unzipping noise as the fingers were removed, and just seconds later they were replaced with something much larger.

Harry couldn’t help but cry out this time as Joker pushed himself fully inside. The man wasted no time in letting Harry adjust and went straight into a deep and fast pace. Compared to the fingers it felt so much more painful but Harry didn’t want it any other way. He begged for it harder and faster and that was what he got.

Joker had shoved one on his hands almost all the way inside Harry’s mouth, while the other was scratching down his chest and gripping hold of his hips.

Joker then hit a spot inside of Harry that made him bite down hard on Joker’s fingers, and the man started to abuse him there, getting in deeper as Harry fully wrapped his legs around Joker.

The pain and the pleasure were all too much for Harry, making him feel alive, something that he had not felt for a long time. He came hard, just as Joker did the same, the maniac biting down on Harry’s lower lip as he did so.

Blood flooded his mouth as Joker pulled out of him, leaving an odd feeling behind.

Joker grabbed hold of Harry’s cheeks and dug his fingers in hard as they both panted.

“I think I may just like you” Joker grinned as he let go of Harry to do himself up.

Harry did the same as he sat up. He sent Joker a smile as he touched his bleeding lip. He decided he would tell Joker his new revelation.

“Just for you now, I’m going to burn the world with a smile.”

Chapter 13: Thirteen

"So we give you a bed and you still sleep on the floor" Harley stated, breaking Harry out of the fitful sleep he had been having.

He was indeed curled up on the floor alone. He was aching in several places, certain areas more so than others; not that he minded. There was something else though; a weird feeling that was running through his body.

"Does anything seem strange to you?" he asked Harley, who shook her head before looking at him in an examining way.

"Nah-ah. Maybe you got rusty metal poisoning?" the blonde suggested.

Harry shook his head before he jumped up and made a move out of the room, Harley hot on his heels.

He ran to the room where Joker and Ivy were sat glaring at one another. They both turned as Harry and Harley walked in.

"Ace!" Ivy greeted, putting her eyes back on Joker. "How are you feeling today? Less suicidal I hope."

Harry nodded, not that Ivy could really see him. He stared at Joker for a moment before determining that he was not the reason for the weird feeling within him.

"No, I feel less inclined to be in pain today" he answered Ivy finally. "I have a weird feeling that something isn't right though. I'm trying to figure out what."

"Well I'm glad you can't possibly be pregnant" Joker spoke up, smirking as Ivy's glare intensified and Harley half coughed, half giggled. Joker grinned wider as he stood and walked to Harry, grabbing hold of his wrist and dragging him out of the room.

It was only once he had blanked Harley's knowing wink from his memory that he realised Joker was wearing his make up.

"Today is the day you get to have some meaningful fun in Gotham" Joker told him as he led him through the building. "Nothing destructive really but the reactions of certain people are going to be very interesting indeed. Oh yes, I got you a present."

Joker revealed a knife from one of his pockets and he handed it to Harry, who stroked the blade softly.

"It's more of a slicey kind of blade. It'll work well on yourself or your victims. It's up to you who" Joker drawled as Harry attempted to spin the knife in his fingers, only succeeding in slashing his finger tips. He pocketed the knife and grinned at Joker in thanks.

The next thing Joker handed him made him frown.

"This is ugly" he complained, looking down at the clown mask in his hands.

Joker rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Come on, all the cool kids are wearing them" Joker tried, bringing out his own mask.

"I don't like circus clowns" Harry insisted further and Joker looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Since you need a mask I suppose I could get you one other. Doctor Crane had quite a few spare scarecrow masks in his office."

"I love this mask" Harry hissed back. Like Hell he would have anything more to do with the dead doctor.

"I do hope you're a team player. I have a few guys helping out and they'll be dying to meet you. Literally."

With that said Joker shoved Harry into a room where some plain clothes were laying out for him to change into.

"Your fashion has gone off key today" he called to the madman, whose response was to jab a knife through the door.

Harry hurriedly changed, and just seconds after he had finished the door was pushed open and Joker stormed in, pushing Harry down onto a nearby chair. He was holding something in his hand.

"Shut your eyes" Joker demanded. Harry simply stared at him. "Oh come on, don't you trust me?"

"Not entirely" Harry answered truthfully, offering the man a smile.

"Well come to think of it, I don't trust me either" Joker responded, slapping a white covered pad onto Harry's face. "I need to make you look pretty now don't I?"

Joker's movements forced Harry to close his eyes as the older man applied the make up to him erratically, humming as he did so.

After he finished he offered Harry a mirror and the teenager grinned as he saw himself.

The skin of his face was painted white, the scars around his eyes covered faintly with red, while a smudge of black went around his eyes, although nowhere near as much as the Joker wore. Red lips completed the picture.

"Maybe I ought to retire from the crime industry, become a beautician" Joker mused to himself.

"Maybe you can paint Batman's nails for him?" Harry suggested. "Why do this though if I have to wear the non-scarecrowy mask?"

"I'm sure you can figure that out for yourself" Joker told him before he grabbed a large bag and made his leave from the room, heading outside. Harry ran to catch up with him.

"What happens if I kill someone by mistake?" he asked the criminal, who turned to him and smirked.

"Accidents happen" came the reply. "Are you opposed to red cars?"

Harry shook his head. He had no real interest in any type of cars; he preferred motorbikes because they reminded him of Sirius. He'd have to get one to Gordon; it might remind him of whom he was.

Joker raised a gun and shot two bullets at the nearby road. The sound of breaking glass and screeching tyres could be heard in the distance.

Joker skipped over to the car which amazingly hadn't crashed. It didn't take long to realise that the screaming woman in the passenger seat had grabbed hold of the wheel. Joker shot her in the chest and she slumped forward silently. Harry burnt the bodies into ash. He was sure the woman was still moving slightly but it didn't bother him.

"What did you do for body disposal before me?" Harry asked and Joker laughed but didn't answer. Instead he gestured for Harry to take his seat. They threw the masks and the bag that Joker had been carrying into the back seats and they set off.

Joker hadn't explained much to him, only that he was to keep the hostages occupied. He didn't mind though; he had learnt from his many years at Hogwarts that things never went to plan anyway.

They drove into an upscale part of the city, high rise buildings with lots of windows surrounding them on every side.

Joker stopped abruptly and grabbed their things from the back before jumping out. Harry followed suit and as they moved a man in a mask jumped in and drove off. Joker's expression suggested that it had been planned.

The red car had only just rounded the corner when another pulled up. It was a long, grey vehicle which looked like it hadn't been well looked after.

Joker put his mask on so Harry copied, frowning as it restricted his skin. The two men already in the car had masks on too. They didn't greet each other much, only nodding in acknowledgement.

Harry got the same weird feeling running through him again and he bit down on his lip. It felt almost like his magic was trying to warn him of something and he wondered if maybe Joker was planning to betray him, or that he'd end up back in Arkham.

The guys in the front were talking about the money they would be receiving from the job. Harry wasn't paying too much attention until they mentioned something about the guy who had planned the robbery staying out of the action. Harry hadn't thought Joker had someone above him, but when they mentioned him by name Harry realised that the other men had no idea that Joker was sitting right behind them.

Harry wasn't an idiot and he knew Joker was obviously going to get rid of the men once they outlived their usefulness. He wasn't going to warn them though.

Harry looked over at Joker, who was staring out of the window, apparently uninterested in the conversation about him.

The car pulled up outside of the bank and the group casually left the car, albeit quickly, to get into the building without being noticed.

Harry stayed at the back, watching the others do the work. The building was big and open with shiny floors and walls. It was a lot nicer than Gringotts, and the workers were not goblins, although looking at some of them they were a lot uglier than the little creatures, in human terms of course.

Harry looked on as a man fired bullets into the air, causing the people inside the bank to scream and duck down. The staff were being pulled over their counters and put with the civilians. Grenades were being placed in their hands with the tops pulled off, meaning the people had to hold onto the weapon to prevent it from going off.

Harry sighed; that made things a bit more boring for him but he could work with it.

As Joker and his two workers moved forward, Harry lingered back, wriggling his fingers at the scared civilians, indicating for them to come to him.

When none moved Harry sighed again. "Get over here" he hissed, and the people finally moved over slowly, keeping ducked down. There were only a few of them, which would make it a lot easier to keep count if any tried to escape.

"Are you a cop?" one of them whispered to him.

"Oh no, I'm with them" Harry answered, pointing at Joker. He made a mental note to keep up his fake accent. "I'm not all into money and stealing though. So guess what? I am going t' be your entertainment for this situation."

The group looked at him fearfully and he giggled. He caught sight of someone from the corner of his eye, on the other side of the building. He was in a glass office, examining the situation wearily. Harry decided to keep his eye on him slightly. The others hadn't seemed to have noticed him, and Harry didn't know why considering the office had see through walls.

"Have any of you been in a hostage situation before?" he asked the civilians. One of them eventually nodded while the others shook their heads. "Have you had entertainment before?" he asked the man who had nodded. The man shook his head and Harry grinned, not that they could see. "Well see how good we are to you."

The group were making little reaction other than fear and it was making Harry slightly bored; he wanted chaos.

"So here's the thing folks – I've been told I can't kill any of ya unless you play up. This is my first hostage situation too, so I want to make it fun for all of us" Harry smiled, clapping his hands together. "Shall we play a game? How about I Spy? Come on, if you don't play along that counts as being bad hostages and well…" He indicated slicing his throat with his finger and the hostages nodded wearily.

Harry threw a quick look to the man behind the glass who seemed to be making a bit of movement. He'd have to make the game fast.

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'f'" Harry sang.

The group stayed silent and Harry tutted.

"Anyone? Do you need a clue already?"

"Fiends?" one man spoke up and Harry laughed.

"Clever but no. Thanks for trying" Harry told him.

"Floor?" a woman suggested.

"What am I? Boring? How stupid!" Harry spat at the blonde female, who looked down frightened. "I admit that I'm cheating slightly. You can't see the 'f' yet. Think hot, orange and pretty." The man Harry had been watching was definitely on the move now. "Opposite of water?" he tried again.

"Fire?" one of the women Harry recognised as a bank worker offered and Harry applauded.

"Bingo" he grinned, moving over to almost sit on her. He grasped hold of the grenade with one hand, holding the other hand over her face.

She screamed as fire bit into her skin, and as Harry had expected her hands started flailing, making him glad of his choice to hold the grenade down, as she had clearly forgotten about the weapon.

He stopped after a few seconds, leaving her horribly burnt but still breathing.

"They said nothing about disfiguration" he told the hostages happily.

The screaming had caught the attention of the lone worker and Harry could see him stand, gun in hands and eyes directly on one of the men from the car.

Harry incinerated the grenade in one go before he stood slightly.

"Hey dude" he called to the thug. "You might wanna turn around."

The man looked at him for a moment before he turned, causing the bullets from the shotgun to hit him directly in the chest.

Harry ducked down as the man sent a shot his way.

"Isn't he mean? I wouldn't bank here anymore if I were you" Harry muttered to the group.

He slinked backwards as the man walked forwards. He could see Joker crawling away from the shots. Harry pressed a finger to his lips to tell the hostages to be quiet.

A couple nodded slowly while the others looked on in silent fright. He remembered what the Joker had said to him earlier about figuring the reason for the make up out for himself, and he took the mask from his face, throwing it the side and burning it.

"Remember my face" he whispered, throwing the Ace of Spades cards towards them.

He crawled around the back of the small podiums in the middle of the bank, peeking his head out the other side and watching.

The driver from the car popped up, ducking just in time as the man fired at him. The worker attempted to reload quickly but Joker had counted his bullets, (something Harry would have no clue about; he was not a gun fan) and shot the man in the side, causing him to collapse to the floor.

The driver ran off to a back room while Joker began to wander, examining the damage to the bank. Harry walked forward, stopping next to the banker who was lying on his side, his gun having been dropped when he was shot.

Harry kicked him onto his back, making the man gasp in pain, but he controlled it quickly as he eyed Harry.

"Such a waste of a young life" he said to Harry, who just gestured for him to expand. "He'll kill you as soon as you're done. You could have been somebody."

"Oh I am somebody, and I have died already, three times in fact. Not physically obviously, but in there." Harry tapped the side of his head with his finger and the man frowned.

Joker was meanwhile looking at the burnt woman's face, smirking as he grasped hold of it.

"You really must be gone up there. Why else would you have thought you could have gotten away with stealing from here?" the man spat back, coughing up blood as he spoke.

"I think we already have gotten away with it. Now I must get back to my hostages over there; you ruined our game." With that Harry strolled back over to the group of cowering people, stopping in front of one that caught his eye.

Joker had returned back to where he had been before, along with the driver had come back who had returned with a number of full bags.

The woman he had stopped in front of was an older lady with red hair and slightly on the plump side. She reminded him a lot of Molly Weasley. Mrs Weasley had, until recently, been like the mother he had never had. That was before he found out that she raised her children to betray their friends and saviours.

He pulled out the knife that Joker had given him and grinned as the woman stared up at him. He grabbed a clump of her hair and sliced the knife through it, making it fall to the ground. He continued until the woman was left sobbing with only a bit of hair remaining on the top of her head.

"Do you have any children?" he asked her. The woman sobbed louder, ignoring him. "Do you have any children?" he repeated, raising his voice. The woman nodded, her body starting to shake.

"Let's make sure you won't have any more then" Harry spat, plunging the blade into the woman's stomach. She dropped the grenade as she cried in shock, causing smoke to come pouring from the device.

Harry jumped up and headed back towards Joker, who he now noticed had a gun being pointed at him from the other man.

Harry caught the words 'bus driver' before the back end of a yellow bus crashed through the wall and into the man, leaving him in a crumpled heap on the floor.

Joker still had his mask on but Harry could sense the man's glee. Joker looked over at the gas clouding the civilians and he shook his head, muttering something under his breath about children being too eager.

The bus driver was throwing the money bags into the vehicle, only spotting the bodies once he had finished loading.

His question about the deaths was cut short when Joker sent some bullets flying into the man without even looking at him.

Harry stepped over the body and hopped into the bus while Joker went to have a 'word' with the banker. Harry turned to move the bags from the aisles and when he looked back he heard Joker say something that struck something deep within him.

"I believe, whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stranger."

The words made Harry think of all he had survived and how he was now. Most of the time he was happier now than he had been before; all the deaths in his life these days were caused by him, rather than hurting him. He had to admit to himself that strange was good, unless it came in a doctor form.

Joker jumped onto the bus, now mask-less and with a length of string trailing from his pocket, leading to a grenade which had been placed in the man's mouth.

Joker turned the bus key and started the engine, pulling the end from the grenade as it moved.

Harry waved to the man as smoke starting to escape from the weapon, adding to that which had covered the hostages' end of the bank.

As they pulled out into a stream of school buses, Harry realised the significance of the yellow colour, especially when moments later a stream of police cars went by.

"That was fun" Harry announced. It wasn't something he would have done before, but seeing Joker's world first hand made him appreciate it more.

They drove to the outskirts of a city, eventually parking up at an old junk yard.

Harley and Ivy were waiting for them by a small van.

The men left the bus, grabbing a couple of bags and throwing them into the back of the van, Ivy and Harley helping out. When they had moved all of the money, Harley grinned widely at Joker.

"Please Mr. J, can I-?" Harley began. Joker cut her off by nodding and throwing her the bus keys. Harley almost jumped with joy and ran to the bus, starting it and driving it underneath a large machine. The blonde hopped out and skipped over to a control panel where she pressed a button, causing the machine to come to life. It took the bus in, slamming down on top of it and crushing it into nothing.

"Hey, can we go and get pizza?" Harley called as she walked back to meet the other three.

Harry felt the twinge of warning in him again, stronger this time, and he must have looked affected by it because Harley looked at him concerned.

"You alright cutie? You look like you've seen a ghost" the girl asked him.

He nodded and Harley shrugged, pulling him over to the van. The van only had two seats in the front, so Harry and Harley were sat in the back of the vehicle. Ivy and Joker had some choice words with each other about who was driving. In the end Ivy won and she didn't seem bothered by the looks Joker was giving her.

As Ivy drove downtown to get Harley her pizza, Harry felt the feeling inside him grow even more powerful. He felt anxious for a reason he couldn't place and he sat perfectly still, darting his eyes out of the window as they moved.

Harley seemed to be doing the same thing, although her reason was to talk about the people walking past.

"Hasn't Oswald put on weight?" she exclaimed, looking out at a short but fat man wearing a top hat as they passed a building with the words 'Iceberg Lounge' written across it.

They ended up getting nearer to the main tourist district, the only area in the city where the few visitors to Gotham dared to venture.

It was there that Harry saw them. His heart started to pound heavily in his chest and he ducked down as quick as he could, burying his head into Harley's stomach.

"Wha-?" she questioned, craning her neck to look at what Harry had seen, but he gave her a small burn to stop her; they couldn't spot him.

Now he knew the weird feeling he had been having all day was a warning about them.

"It was the lanky ginger and the ugly brunette" Joker explained to Harley. Harry didn't know how Joker knew who he had been looking at but that didn't matter.

"The flat chested, frumpy girl with bushy hair?" Harley asked, and Joker nodded.

Harry didn't care how they were described. He just knew that the next time he saw Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger would be the time that they would die.

Chapter 14: Fourteen

Notes:

Warning for sexual content and scenes of torture.

Ivy sped the car up and rounded a corner, giving Harry chance to sit up straight again.

He scowled, balling his hands into fists.

"What's ya problem with them?" Harley enquired, looking at Harry thoughtfully.

"They got me sent to Arkham" Harry hissed, biting down on his lip so hard that it drew blood. "They lied about me; betrayed me. I wasn't good enough for them anymore so they got me sent away; they allowed me to be hurt, and then I had to live it every day."

Harley had been nodding until the last part of what Harry said. "Huh?" she questioned, tilting her head.

"You remember Doctor Crane, don't you Harley?" Joker answered, turning around. Harley nodded and Joker continued. "Well he had a special love of Ace's mind; saw some very interesting stuff in there."

"There is no Crane, only Scarecrow" Harry whispered, wrapping his arms around his knees.

Harley reached her hand out as part of an attempt to comfort Harry, but Joker beat her to it by jumping over the seat and into the back of the van with them.

"Oh Acey, there is no need for a frowny face" Joker drawled. He grabbed hold of one of Harry's hands, gripping onto the fingertips. "Remember, you, you have something to show them."

Harry knew what the Joker was getting at, and he was right; Ron and Hermione did deserve to see his new powers. He grinned and Joker's eyes lit up and a smirk crossed his face.

"Can we help?" Harley cut in, making Harry look at her questionably. "All of us? They sound mean; I wanna punish them too."

"I admit that we three have our own specialities" Ivy murmured icily as she drove.

"I get to kill them though" Harry asserted, and the others nodded, Harley rather reluctantly. "Oh Ivy, could you drop me off at Hubert Street?"

Ivy agreed, while Joker looked at him harshly, asking why without opening his mouth.

"I have stuff to do" Harry explained loosely, much to Joker's obvious displeasure.

Before Joker could say anything, Harley jumped up in excitement as she spotted the restaurant she wanted to go to. She grabbed a gun and hopped out of the van with Ivy.

A wicked grin crossed Joker's face before he jumped back over the seats and grabbed the steering wheel, speeding off before Harley and Ivy could notice.

Harry clambered rather ungracefully onto the passenger side.

"What are you doing?" he asked the madman, who glanced at him before turning his attention back to the road.

"Watching" Joker answered simply. Harry scowled but he couldn't be bothered to attempt to dissuade the man not to follow him; it would never work.

Instead he sat silently sulking until they arrived at their destination.

Joker threw him a bright smile, which made his scars contort. Only in the Joker could smiling be considered scary. It did suit the man though, so Harry simply rolled his eyes and stepped out of the van, waiting for what he needed.

Joker tutted from behind him, and he turned to see Joker looking down at an invisible watch. Harry rolled his eyes again and slid down the side of the vehicle to sit on the ground. He hummed to himself quietly as he waited, using his sleeve to wipe the make up off his face.

Joker scooted over to sit above Harry.

"I would hate to think that you were, er, stalling in an attempt to get rid of me" Joker muttered, and Harry was going to respond when he heard the familiar roaring of a motorbike.

He sprang up and ran towards where the noise was coming from, flagging down the driver.

The biker stopped and stood off the bike. He removed his helmet, revealing a shaggy head of hair and a matted beard.

"What?" the man growled, looking at Harry angrily.

"I really like your bike" Harry answered, flashing the man a smile.

"What?" the biker repeated, eyes starting to bulge.

"Can I touch it? It's just so, er, manly. Have you done work to it yourself? It looks better than all the other bikes I've seen out there" Harry smiled, and the biker's anger seemed to lessen as he puffed his chest out. Harry almost felt embarrassed to be seen with him.

"Go on then. Yep, I worked on this baby for two years. My hard work paid off in the end though" the man boasted.

"Oh yeah" Harry murmured, running his hands along the body of the motorbike. "You know what it's missing though?"

"Yeah?"

"A flame motif. Don't you like flame motifs?" Harry asked, causing the biker to look thoughtful. Before he could respond, Harry grabbed the keys from the bike and ran off to a nearby alley, causing the biker to go chasing after him.

"What do you think you're doing brat?" the man called after him. Harry stopped and span around, the man almost colliding with him.

"I wanted somewhere secluded" Harry answered honestly. "I'm going to properly acquaint you with flames."

Harry reached out and grabbed hold of the man's face, fingers tangling in the beard. He sent such a strong fireball out that the man didn't even have chance to scream. Normally Harry would have savoured the moment but he wasn't here for murder.

He destroyed the corpse and skipped back to the roadside, swinging the keys around as he went. He crouched down by the bike and waved his hand gently over it, managing to cast a glamour charm on the licence plate and change the colours slightly, just so it couldn't be traced back to its original owner.

He wheeled the bike to the side and eyed up Joker.

"Are you going to go now?" he asked.

Joker grinned and shook his head. "Nope. Do hurry up though; I feel in the mood for some fun tonight."

"Fine" Harry muttered, running away and up to the home that belonged to the Gordon family.

Harry couldn't be bothered with creeping around much so he just ducked low and went to the side of the house.

It was only early evening, but he hoped Jimmy would be in his room.

Fortunately the boy was, and he jumped as Harry tapped gently on the window. His face lit up as he opened it to let Harry through.

"I thought you weren't going to come back" the kid grinned.

"Like I could forget about you? Now Jimmy, I can't stay long but I need you to help me."

"Anything" Jimmy ushered, and Harry beckoned him towards him.

"Do you get in trouble a lot Jimmy? Are you parents strict?" the teen asked him, and Jimmy looked unsure for a moment.

"Sometimes. Mom's a bit strict, and Dad doesn't let me do much. He lets me go to the arcade at the mall with my friend Ben and his dad though. We go every week and Mom hates it."

Harry smirked; the situation was perfect.

"I have a present for your dad, but he can't know it's from me. I'm going to get someone to drop it off, and we'll say that he won it in a contest. I need you to say you put his name in a box when you were at the mall. Say it's a present for being such a good dad or something. Can you do that for me Jimmy?" he asked the boy.

"Yep! What present is it?" Jimmy asked.

"A motorbike" Harry told him, and Jimmy's mouth dropped open. "He used to drive one a long time ago, but he's forgotten, so it might remind him of his past. Remember though, he can't know it's from me. Oh, and when is your dad going to be home alone next?"

"Umm, on Sunday morning. Mom takes me and Barbie to church but Dad won't go" Jimmy answered, looking pleased when Harry smiled.

"Cool. Let's put this plan into action then" Harry grinned, giving Jimmy a thumb's up before he jumped out the window.

He cast a glamour over himself, turning himself into a short haired blond, slightly on the bigger side. His scars were obviously disguised and he turned his eyes blue. He felt like it wouldn't last long though, as he found that it took a lot to do any form of wandless magic unless it was fire based.

He ran round to the front door and knocked loudly. He could see movement behind the door as someone looked through a peep hole, and numerous locks were undone. Eventually an older woman answered, door chained so it wasn't open fully. Harry contained his scowl as he looked at Mrs. Gordon.

"Hello madam. Is a Mr. Jim Gordon home?" he acted, and the woman stayed still before nodding wearily.

"Who's asking?" she asked bitterly.

"My name is Jack Napier, from Gotham Autos. Mr. Gordon has won a prize draw and I've come to present him with his prize." Harry made the names up completely from the top of his head, but she didn't seem like she had never heard of Gotham Autos before.

"What prize draw?" came a new voice, and Barbara made room for her husband to peek through the gap. He looked Harry up and down, looking thoughtful before he shook his head.

"To win a motorbike sir. We had a box down at the Mall, and your name was entered into it" Harry explained, and Jim shook his head further.

"I'm sorry, there must be a mistake. I've not entered anything like that. I can barely drive a motorcycle" the cop said, a rather suspicious look on his face. Harry was too busy inwardly grinning at the fact Jim knew the basics of riding; clearly an action he knew from his past.

"Daddy, I entered your name" he heard Jimmy say from inside. "I was at the mall with Ben, and I wanted to say thank you for being such a great dad."

The kid was a good liar, and both his parents turned to look at him.

"Jimmy-" his mother started to scold, but Jim held his hand up to stop her.

"Thank you Jimmy; that's a very nice thing you did" Jim said, unchaining his door. He stepped out, hand over the gun hidden on his side.

"It's just over there" Harry said, pointing to the bike on the side of the road.

The two of them wandered down, and for a moment Harry felt like he was truly back with Sirius.

"It's very nice" the older man complimented.

"And it's all yours" Harry grinned, tossing the keys to him. He could feel the magic fading off him, so he had to make a hasty exit.

He skipped over to the van, hopping in, noting that Joker was not sat in the front seat anymore.

He frowned as he looked down at the controls.

"Turn the key" Joker hissed from the back, making Harry jump, but he complied, following Joker's instructions.

Jim was watching him, making Harry panic slightly, especially when the van jerked slightly as he pressed down on the pedals.

The van moved slowly, and Harry could almost feel himself shaking as he tried to control it. It seemed so much bigger now he was driving.

As they eventually passed Jim, Joker jumped back into the front.

"Can you take this now?" he pleaded, and Joker looked like he was considering whether to do it or not, but he sighed and grabbed hold of it in the end, encouraging Harry to climb across him awkwardly. How they managed the move without crashing, Harry didn't know.

"You don't look good blond" Joker muttered, taking one hand to grab Harry's hair and yank some out. It immediately turned back to black. Harry gazed into the mirror to see that his scars and eyes had changed back to normal, his hair slowly turning too.

"Who was he?" Joker asked, tone sharper than Harry had heard used on him before.

"Who?" he enquired, although he knew exactly who Joker meant.

"The old man; James Gordon. The-" Joker began, but Harry cut him off.

"You obviously know who he is then." Harry felt an urge to defend the man. He expected a bad joke or an insult in return, but what he didn't expect was the slap he received across the face.

"What are you-?" Harry started angrily, cut off by another slap. Joker wasn't too bad driving one handed it seemed.

"He isn't yours" Joker hissed, and his voice, coupled with the look that he was throwing Harry's way when he could, were enough to make Harry fearful. He hadn't trusted Joker entirely, but he had never really been afraid of him before, despite the way he was, but now he was on the receiving end of the venom. "You are not his. He left you in Arkham, left you in your own nightmare."

"He isn't James Gordon" Harry half sobbed. "He's Sirius Black. He just doesn't remember. I need him to remember me. I need it. When he died it broke me, I just want him back."

He missed Joker's quick smirk. "People who die on you have a habit of doing that. He'll just keep on letting you down, dying over and over, and then you'll have to find him again."

"No. I won't let him go this time. And you, you can't kill him, or his son, or else I'll…I don't know, but you'll suffer for it. Kill his wife and daughter by all means, but not the boys" Harry pleaded, and Joker slammed the breaks on.

"Get out" he told the boy coldly. They had stopped in a secluded area outside of the city. Harry hadn't even noticed where they were going.

He shivered, although not out of coldness, and wandered into the mass of greenery.

They walked into the trees, Joker right behind him with a blade pressed against his back. Harry had balls of fire waiting in his palms, but he'd rather they didn't kill each other.

After a while Joker span him round, pressing him into a tree with the knife by his throat.

"I won't kill your precious reincarnated friend" Joker uttered, oddly calm, "but show Mr. Joker here that he's more important, hmm?"

With that said, Joker pushed Harry onto the ground.

The madman climbed on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

“I am part of you now” Joker hissed in his ear, as he started to undo their trousers. “Remember that I am part of you. I keep you alive, you’d be too dead otherwise, too dead to enjoy the chaos.”

Joker shoved two fingers into Harry, making the teen cry out. Joker responded by shoving Harry’s shirt up and pinching tightly onto one of the nipples.

He bent Harry’s legs awkwardly and pushed himself in, before pulling out and thrusting in deeper, not giving Harry time to adjust.

Harry called out again, grabbing hold of the criminal’s back, trying to push him in further.

“You bring so much chaos; you can see it, see it in your eyes. Your dead friend caused it, but I, I brought it to life. I brought you to life. You’re better dead because then I can make you better” Joker panted by his ear, pushing himself in harder.

Joker took Harry hard and fast, caring more for his own pleasure than Harry, not touching the boy. Harry could feel the dirt pressing against his back, scratching against his skin.

The pressure, combined with the feeling of Joker inside him, finally got to him, and he released just in Joker did the same inside him.

The man got off him straight away, tidying himself off and wandering back to the car, leaving Harry alone.

---

Harry and Joker made their way back to the hideout, where Harley and Ivy were waiting angrily, Ivy more so than Harley.

"You stole our ride" Harley complained as they neared the girls.

"I'm sorry. Would you like a hug? Maybe we can dance under the rainbow with unicorns and puppies?" Joker offered as an apology, making Ivy's glare intensify.

Joker pulled a disgusted look and strolled through, leaving the three alone.

"Are you alright Ace?" Harley asked, moving to Harry and wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"Suppose so" Harry muttered, and the blonde looked at him with an understanding look. Ivy came over to them, rubbing her fingers over the slight red mark on his cheek.

"Why do you let him?" Ivy asked simply, and Harry shrugged, twirling a lock of red hair that was by his face.

"Trust me, Ace. I was in love with Mr. J for a long time and he never loved me back, not even after all I did for him. Getting away from him was the best thing I ever did" Harley told him.

"He's a vicious, cruel man" Ivy expanded. "His clown persona may be genuine but it's twisted. I'm bad simply to defend my babies from the world, but he has no basis, other than pleasure."

"I guess, but I'm not in love with him or anything, I don't think." Harry sighed, looking downwards. "But he's part of me now, so I need him. Can I tell you something Ivy?"

The redhead nodded, and Harry made himself smile up at her.

"You remind me so much of my mother. She was pretty, and had red hair and green eyes too. She died when I was a baby, but she died so that I could live. Everyone else wanted me to live so they that they could too; they wouldn't die for me like she did. But that's the thing with Joker; he won't die for me, but he doesn't want to me live for him either. The deader I am, the better it is for him, and it's about time that I gave my mother's sacrifice back."

---

Harry spent the next couple of days trying to find Ron and Hermione. He and the others had worked out a plan for how it would happen; Harry would lure them to a set location and then the fun would begin.

The only problem now was finding them. Harley and Ivy were trailing him in case his old friends attempted to kidnap him. Joker had been quiet, but with him that was never a good thing.

Harry just hoped that they would find them by Sunday, seeing as he had plans. He supposed he ought to call Bruce Wayne again, but he wanted to take care of some other people first.

He wandered continuously round the main part of the city. His magic warning seemed to have gone off, although he hoped that maybe if they were nearby then it would start up again to give him a chance.

Just as he had almost given up hope for the day, he spotted a flash of red among the people in the streets. A familiar twinge told him it was them.

He could feel his heart pounding slightly as he put the first part of the plan into motion; get them to notice him.

He slowly made his way over. The closer he got, he could tell that it was definitely them. He felt slightly giddy as he imagined how the evening should end, but he made sure to keep in character by putting his hood up. He had used make up to hide his scars over his eyes, just in case he needed his magic in an emergency.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and moved forward, edging nearer to them as they came towards him.

As they passed he bashed into Hermione's shoulder and pretended that it made him fall to the floor.

She bent down to help him up, and he hid a smirk when he heard her gasp.

"Harry! Is that you?" the girl cried, throwing her arms around him.

Harry shoved her off him. He didn't appreciate being called Harry, but he'd have to put up with it for the moment.

"You two can't be here. You can't send me back" Harry said, mocking fear, shaking his entire body.

"Oh no, Harry, we're not going to send you back anywhere. Don't worry mate; we're here for you now" Ron tried to reassure him, and Harry found it hard to control his anger, the hypocrites.

"Let's go somewhere to talk, shall we?" Hermione said. The way she was talking to him suggested she thought he was incredibly stupid or crazy, and he scowled.

"I don't trust you, so hand me your wands" he hissed. The pair exchanged a nervous look before they reluctantly handed over the wooden sticks. "Hands up and walk ahead of me."

They raised their hands slightly and moved in the direction Harry pointed them.

"I suppose we understand your reaction" Hermione whispered, but Harry ignored her. Harley and Ivy were right behind him, and he felt safe enough.

He walked them to a secluded, abandoned warehouse. Even if they escaped they were likely to be killed by someone else on these streets; Harley and Ivy were enough to stop anyone attacking them now. Harry hoped one day he would have that kind of fearful reputation.

"Welcome to my home" Harry lied, ushering them inside, leaving Harley and Ivy by the door.

"You, you live here?" Ron stuttered, looking around the place in horror.

"I have to" he sighed dramatically. "Sit down and keep your hands up" he demanded. The couple complied, and Harry twirled their wands in his fingers.

"Look Harry, we tried to help, we really did. We realised our mistake after they sent you off, but when we got in touch with the clinic they said you had been moved somewhere else, but they wouldn't tell us where. The Ministry doesn't care, they said, as long as you don't go back to Britain, or at the very least Wizarding Britain, so we had to track you down ourselves, but then we were told there had been a mass breakout and attack on the hospital, and you were among the missing. We've spent the last week trying to find you. We want to take you back to The Burrow or Grimmauld Place; we'll help you there" Hermione rambled, face going red. She looked pleadingly up at Harry, hoping that he would understand.

"Why would the Ministry allow that?" he spat, and his two ex-friends looked sheepish.

"Well, er, they wouldn't know" Ron explained. "Even Mum and Dad don't know we're here; they think you're better off with professionals, but 'Mione's made me do some reading so we can both help you ourselves. Trust me mate, we aren't going to turn you in again."

"That's nice. Very nice" Harry said, smile breaking onto his face. Ron seemed to miss the sarcasm but Hermione's face paled. Harry snapped his fingers and Harley and Ivy burst in, punching the teenagers into unconsciousness. They then set about tying them to the chairs, making sure they were not going to be able to get away. Harry would wait until they were awake before he snapped their wands, but while they were out cold he checked them for any extras; Hermione had one hidden in her boot, but Ron was clean.

Harley and Ivy hid again, and Harry waited for the teenagers to awaken.

As they came to, they blinked blearily, trying to get sense of what had happened. When they realised they struggled tightly against their bonds.

"What are you doing Harry?" Hermione demanded.

"Don't call me Harry" his hissed back. "You lost the right to call me anything the day you betrayed me. I am nothing to you now."

"Yes we are; we're your friends" Ron pleaded, but Harry shook his head, wandering over to him. He smiled gently before lashing out, his fist colliding with the redhead's nose, causing it to break.

"You. Betrayed. Me" Harry emphasised, and the pair shook their heads in denial. "Now I suppose it isn't all bad" Harry continued. "Gotham is nice; I've made some lovely new friends. Would you like to meet them?"

He wandered over to the door, opening it and allowing Harley, Ivy and now Joker as well, inside. Ron and Hermione's faces dropped as they saw the group waiting for them.

"Oh, before I forget" Harry sang, taking hold of the three wands. He broke all three in one go, turning around and turning them into ash; he didn't want them seeing his new trick just yet. "But yeah, they are going to introduce themselves, and then I'm going to end this."

"But-"Ron began, but Harry hushed him.

"Harley, you first?" Harry offered, and the blonde skipped forward, humming happily.

The girl grinned and cartwheeled herself over to the cowering teenagers.

"Hi, I'm Harley Quinn" she introduced herself happily.

"Harlequin?" Ron repeated dumbly.

"Two words" the blonde told him, holding up two fingers.

Harley then set to work, beating the pair, but adding in extra fun by doing backflips and similar tricks around them. She was very fast, not giving the couple much time to take note of her. She stopped at Harry's request before they got too dazed.

Ivy was up next, and her eyes were firmly on Ron.

"Are you two dating?" she asked, and Ron nodded fearfully.

Ivy smirked and moved to sit on Ron's lap.

"Don't you think I'm so much prettier than her?" she whispered into his ear. "Don't I look so much more sexy?" She trailed her lips just above Ron's, and the boy nodded, lust clouding in his eyes. She pressed her lips down onto the redhead's, making Hermione gasp in protest. Ivy laughed darkly as she pulled away. Ron's face went white before he started convulsing, coughing up blood.

"It won't kill him, it will just hurt" Ivy muttered, taking a plant out from where she had hidden it in the room. She moved it against Hermione's throat, and somehow the plant knew to wrap itself around, choking the girl. As Hermione started to lose focus she released the plant, making the brunette gasp for breath.

Ron had stopped convulsing but he was looking desperately ill. Ivy smirked one last time as she turned. Hermione was now sobbing heavily, and Joker looked positively gleeful as he moved for his turn.

He crouched down in front of the pair, grinning as they gulped.

"So you must be the legendary Ron and Hermione. He never told me your names, but I, I've listened to his dreams, his, his memories. He doesn't dream about you anymore though; you're dead to him" Joker drawled. Hermione lazily opened her mouth to say something but Joker stopped her.

"Hey, do you want to know how I got my scars?" he asked, pointing at his smile. "Well I went to school with an, an interesting person. We would go out into the country and explore, and one day, one day we come across a load of weapons that belonged to smugglers. As we looked at the goods there was a bang, and poor little boy was hit. In his last breath, he said that he wanted me to smile for him, so, true to his wish, I carved this into my face. You know what the funny thing is though? I was the one who pulled the trigger on him."

Ron and Hermione looked terrified, and before they could register anything he had slashed them both across the face, leaving a deep red gash from above their eye, across their nose and onto their cheek.

They both screamed loudly, Ron especially on his already injured nose. Joker didn't give them chance to recover before he took out some more knifes and jabbed them down into their legs. They screamed again. Harry was enjoying seeing them suffer but he didn't want the Joker to get carried away and kill them so he stepped in.

"They're good people aren't they?" Harry simpered.

"They've, they-they've fucking turned you mad" Ron stuttered, before he started coughing up blood again.

"I was mad anyway according to you" Harry smiled, and he took Joker's previous position, crouched between the two chairs. "I have a new trick though. Can I show you?"

Harry didn't wait for an answer however, and he grabbed hold of both of their arms and set them alight.

The couple yelled in agony, attempting to get away, but Harry held them still, stopping as he felt the skin die beneath him.

"It's clever isn't it?" he grinned at them.

"What are you doing? We're your friends. Everything we've gone through together…" Ron begged, tears making their way down his face.

"You're going to die here today, might as well face that fact" Harry giggled, and Hermione sobbed loudly.

"Harry, please-"she started, but Harry had rushed to her, blade by her throat.

"I told you not to call me that" he hissed. "Considering you're the cleverest witch of your age, you're pretty dumb. Now tell me genius, why do you deserve to die?"

"But we don't! We don't! We-"she tried again.

"The man I shared a cell with before, in the place you got me sent to, he was crazy, thought all woman were scum. He liked to hurt women, but Arkham, it messes with you more than it helps, and one day, he decided to view me as a woman, and he hurt me in ways you shouldn't be hurt, and he was going to fuck me whether I liked it or not. I couldn't let him do it, so I had to kill him. Do you think I was wrong to do that? Or did I deserve it? He hurt me, and was going to hurt me even more. Was I wrong?"

Ron shook his head, and Hermione cried harder.

"You hurt me too. You're going to hurt me again. It's just the same, can't you see?"

The pair shook their heads and Harry sighed.

"Too bad" he grinned.

Then he burnt them to a crisp, limb by limb.

Chapter 15: Fifteen

Harry found himself restless while waiting for Sunday. The thrill of killing two of the people who had betrayed him had soon worn off, and he was itching to go out and cause some more chaos. Stories and rumours had started appearing about him in newspapers regarding the bank heist, although the media seemed to be debating his existence. Some claimed he was the Joker's new sidekick. Others saw him as nothing more than hired help, while most seemed to think the two surviving hostages had just imagined him. Harry was eager to prove that he really did exist and that he was to be feared.

Sunday was only a day away now, but there was still the evening and the rest of the night to go. A small local crime gang had planned an event which Joker, Harley and Ivy had decided to go to. They also decided to bring Harry along with them, all of them properly in disguise of course. The plan was to take the gang by surprise, take everything that they had, and then frame it on another gang, just to cause some inner city chaos.

Harry didn't particularly want to go, but it used up his time so he was now sat half willingly in the back seat of a car, shutting out Harley's chatter in his ear.

Just as he was wondering when his life had become so boring, a familiar face caused him to scream 'stop'. Ivy slammed the breaks on and Harry immediately opened the door and jumped out.

"You can go" he told them, before running off in an attempt to catch up with Bruce Wayne.

The man had just turned into a restaurant with a pretty blonde attached to his arm.

Harry double checked he was in his Regulus form before he straightened himself out and tried to walk calmly past the man at the door. He was aware that the others hadn't left yet, but he tried not to let that put him off.

As expected, the doorman held up his arm to stop Harry going through. He looked Harry up and down in disgust, making the teenager scowl. No matter how often he got given dirty looks, he still didn't appreciate them.

"I'm sorry Sir, do you have a reservation?" the man asked him, voice sounding painfully forced into a polite manner.

"No, I just need to see my, er, friend. You know? Bruce Wayne, the guy who just came in?" Harry tried, scowling further as the man shook his head.

"I am sorry" he repeated. "I cannot allow you in without a reservation."

With that he pushed Harry aside and turned to the couple waiting behind him. Harry opened his mouth to argue back when a hand grasped hold of his wrist and pulled him back and away from the front of the building.

Harry yanked his wrist out of the tight grasp and span around, ready to fight whoever it was who had grabbed him, but the sight of the man before him made him hesitate.

He was rather average looking, with dark hair and shabby clothes, aside from a long white lab coat that he wore. Behind thick rimmed glasses he had a wicked glint in his eyes that Harry could tell wasn't aimed at him, and so the man intrigued him.

"Who are you?" he asked, and the man smiled.

"My name is Edward Nigma, but more importantly, I am your solution" came the reply, and Harry tilted his head in confusion. "You know? The thing you get when you add two things together."

"You mean an answer?" Harry replied, quite unsure about what Edward was talking about.

"An answer? I've told you the answer already. Are you just trying to be stupid?" Nigma muttered angrily, banging his hands against the sides of his head.

"So a solution then?" Harry tried again, and Edward nodded smugly, only adding to Harry's bewilderment. The man seemed to sense this and he sighed.

"I have something I want. You have something you want. We both can't get those things unless we help each other. Hey, do you know what two words contain the most letters?"

Harry shook his head, temper growing slightly. He noticed Harley was leaning against their car, watching the interaction with amusement.

"I can't believe you didn't get that. It's a post office" Edward said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What does that have-?" Harry started before Edward cut him off.

"I can't use a post office. I need a direct delivery, but I also have a restraining order against me. And you, you need a way to get to Bruce Wayne. It should be simple."

"You want me to take a letter to Bruce Wayne? Why? You better not be trying to kill him; I'm not ready for that yet" Harry told him, and Edward laughed.

"What can you keep only after giving it away?" the man asked, and Harry screamed slightly in frustration. If he didn't have something Harry needed he would have dragged him off and killed him by now.

"Seriously, just stop with the-"

"Your word" Edward interrupted. "I give you my word that I'm not trying to kill Bruce Wayne. I just need to persuade him a bit more to fund my research. Do you-?"

"Don't you dare ask anything else stupid" Harry warned. "You're irritating. They shouldn't call you Edward anymore. They should call you, I don't know, 'The Questioner', or 'The Riddler' or something."

Nigma's eyes glazed over in excitement quickly, and he looked positively giddy as he gave Harry a white envelope before he sprinted off, leaving Harry shaking his head in puzzlement. He still had to find a way past the doorman.

Harley skipped over and winked at him.

"Boy, he was a nutter" she grinned. "Ya know what you should do to get in? Pretend the waiter made an inappropriate comment. That works a treat. Mr. J says you gotta find your own way home if ya leave now, but I'll come pick ya up later if you want."

"No, no. I'll walk" Harry replied, a mixture of emotions stirring inside him. He was thrilled he had a plan to get inside, but it also meant he would be abandoned in Gotham. Not that he couldn't defend himself, but still.

Harley waved goodbye to him, and Harry didn't spare the group a second glance as he made his way back to the entrance, which was now clear of people. The same man was waiting by the door, and he frowned when he saw Harry.

"Look, I just need to speak to Bruce Wayne for a second. I need to hand deliver him this letter" he tried, and was greeted with the expected shake of the head.

"I will deliver the message for you, if you would like" the man offered in an attempt to be polite.

At that moment a younger man strolled past in the background of the restaurant, a gleaming 'manager' badge placed firmly on his chest. It was the perfect time to try Harley's plan.

"What? No! What are you? Some sort of paedophile?" Harry cried, making the doorman look at him startled. The manager came over to them, and Harry had to hide his grin, replacing it with a fake disgusted frown.

"Is there a problem here?" the manager asked, looking between the pair.

"No, I-" the doorman started, but Harry cut in.

"I just wanted to deliver this letter to my friend, Bruce Wayne, and he-," at this point Harry pointed at the doorman and forced a stifled sob to come out, "he said I could only come in if I sucked him off after his shift."

"I said no such thing! I have a wife for crying out loud. You're a dirty little liar-"

Harry forced a few tears to spill out. "Don't try and pretend you don't have sick fantasies about young boys."

The man was about to retort, but the manager stepped in, all of them aware that they were causing a scene in front of the diners nearest to them.

"I'm sorry for this situation Sir" he said, turning to Harry. "Richard, please go and wait for me in the office."

The doorman, Richard, opened his mouth before shutting it again, and turned and stormed angrily towards the back of the restaurant.

"If it is okay Sir," Harry said to the manager, "I'd just like to go and see Bruce. We can just leave it at that. I don't want to cause any unnecessary trouble."

"Of course Sir; spend as much time as you need, and anything you order will be free of charge."

Harry almost laughed out loud; the manager obviously didn't care about Harry or Richard; only the restaurant's reputation. He managed to contain himself and strolled over to the table he spotted Bruce at, where he was surrounded by three other people.

The other diners looked at him oddly, and he probably looked a state in his tatty clothes compared to their posh suits and fancy dresses, but he couldn't care less.

Bruce had his back to him, sat next to a brunette girl. His blonde date and a man Harry recognised from somewhere, though he wasn't sure where, looked at him curiously as he approached their table.

Bruce turned, eyes widening as he saw Harry.

"Hey Bruce" he greeted, kneeling on the floor between him and the blonde.

"Regulus? What, uh, what are you doing here?" the older man questioned, taken rather aback by Harry's appearance in the restaurant.

"I got told I had to deliver a letter to you. It's from a guy called Edward Nigma. He seemed a bit annoying, but I promised him I'd give it to you" he explained, and Bruce laughed lightly.

"Ah, Mr. Nigma is a rather obsessive ex-client of mine. Full of nonsense" Bruce said, laying the letter down without opening it. "Thank you Regulus, but I'll warn you to stay away from him in the future."

"I was planning on it. He tells too many riddles. Do you mind if I order something? The doorman was mean to me and the manager said I could have anything for free" Harry mumbled, grabbing hold of the menu and flipping straight to the dessert section. The adults had clearly been in a deep conversation and his presence would probably ruin the rest of their dinner, but he had no problem with that. "He was really, really mean" he added, just to make sure they got his point.

"While you're here Regulus" Bruce started, "this is my date Natascha, the Prima Ballerina of the Moscow Ballet. I'm sure you recognise Harvey Dent, and this is my friend Rachel who you've been asking about. This is Regulus Evans everyone."

Harry nodded as he remembered where he recognised Harvey from; Harley had tried teaching him all the names and faces of the important figures in Gotham, but it was Rachel who really caught his attention.

He smiled sweetly at them all, turning his focus on the ballerina. "You look really pretty" he complimented. He didn't really think so, of course, but he wanted to get at Rachel. "And you Rachel, you not so much, but I'm sure I've seen you before. Um, yes, it was the other night. It was only from the side, but it looked like it was you and a dark haired guy who was built like a wrestler. Is he your boyfriend? You looked very cosy together."

Rachel looked dumbfounded, and Harvey and Bruce both looked at her.

"No, that won't have been me. I've not been out with any other men; I'm already in a relationship" she said, grabbing hold of Harvey's hand and offering him a reassuring smile.

"It just really looked like you, but I guess you must have a twin in Gotham" he responded, smiling brightly.

Rachel sent him a glare and Harry grinned at her, gaining a waiter's attention and asking for a bowl of plain ice cream, topped with raspberry sauce. He hoped Joker had a valid point saying it was the better flavour. The waiter looked unsure but Bruce nodded at him, and he scurried off to get Harry's order, while another brought him a chair. He squeezed in between Bruce and Natascha, edging nearer to Bruce than the dancer.

"So, Regulus, Rachel tells me you've been dying to meet her" Harvey smiled.

"Yeah, and I hope she'll be dying to know me better" Harry responded, a wicked smile finding its way onto his face. He noticed Bruce looking at him intently and he quickly covered it. "I'm just really interested in criminal things. Like who gets arrested, what for, and what happens afterwards, like in the prisons."

"Well it's good to see a young person interested in fighting crime rather than committing it" Rachel laughed. Harry stabbed a fork into the table.

"Nervous habit" he grinned.

"Regulus, may I ask you something?" Natascha questioned, her accent thick but more appealing to listen to than Rachel's voice. "Have you lived in Gotham long? I can't tell with your accent…"

"Oh, about six years. I never picked up on an accent here though."

"So you have lived here while you've grown into an adult. How do you find it, living in this city?" the ballerina asked, and Harry was slightly thrown off by the question. He was only here to find out more about Bruce and Rachel, not talk about himself.

"There's a lot of crime" he answered dumbly. He decided it was for the best if he left out that he was part of the crime scene.

"Gotham isn't a bad place to live. I spent my life here and I've turned out fine" Bruce added, smiling at his date.

"I know that all cities have their problems with crime" Natascha continued, "I meant, this city where a vigilante in a mask can be an idol."

So the talk had turned to Batman; that certainly caught Harry's interest.

"I think Gotham should be proud that a lone man is willing to stand up and fight for the good of the city" Harvey stated, daring anyone to argue with him. Natascha, it seemed, did not share his view point.

"Men trying to be heroes is not what this city needs. What this city needs is men like you Harvey, men who have been elected to fight the crime" the ballerina argued, but Harry was not listening. He was more focused on Rachel, whose eyes flickered nervously towards Bruce and back again, not lifting them to look at anybody else. Was it possible she knew who Batman really was?

A waiter then plonked ice cream down in front of Harry, who tucked in readily, frowning at the raspberry taste. It was definitely not as good as strawberry. He idly listened to Harvey making comparisons of Batman with an Ancient Roman tradition. He mainly watched as Bruce listened to Harvey with great interest, almost a bit too much interest to be normal, while Rachel had a similar reaction. Both seemed to be listening for something, and Harry sucked on his spoon while he considered if the pair shared a secret between them.

They seemed so enthralled that they didn't even notice Harry blatantly staring at them. He wondered if Batman had employees, and that Rachel and Bruce were two of them, sworn to secrecy about their work. His suspicions were further confirmed as Harvey mentioned Batman passing on his mask, and Rachel and Bruce shared a look between them. It was then that Bruce noticed Harry looking and he gave him a quick smile before quickly looking back to Harvey, his attention now a lot less focused.

"You seem to regard him highly" Natascha laughed at Harvey. She held the menu up to cover the top of his face. "Could it be that you are truly the Batman?"

Harvey laughed and denied it, claiming someone would have noticed if he disappeared every night, but Natascha gave Harry an idea; he just had to get a good look at Batman's mouth.

Bruce had now trailed off into a conversation about throwing Harvey a fundraiser. Harry decided he would keep in touch with Bruce about that; Joker may be interested in going.

---

The group finished their meals and went their separate ways. Bruce offered to take Harry home, much to Natascha's obvious displeasure, but he assured them that he had a lift coming for him. He could tell Bruce wasn't interested in the dancer enough to sleep with her, but he didn't want to completely crush her hopes. She wasn't a fan of Batman, so she had some positive points to her.

After he was sure the scene was clear, he began his walk through the city. Gotham seemed truly alive at night; the darkness giving people a feeling of security from the cops. Batman was the one you had to watch out for at night, but there was only one of him, and there were so many drug dealings and muggings that people were sure they wouldn't be singled out.

On his way Harry had been asked numerous times if he was interested by the street prostitutes, while others seemed to be pressuring him into buying their drugs.

Harry ignored them though, until he decided he was lost. He knew his way a lot better in the daylight, so he figured he may as well stay out all night, find the Gordon household in the morning, before heading home and sleeping for the rest of the day. Besides, the locals might be more willing to talk when they were drunk, and could possibly give him some information that could come in handy.

He wandered into a seedy looking bar and asked the bartender for a beer.

"How old are ya kid?" he asked gruffly.

"Eighteen" he replied, looking up when the man laughed.

"Age to drink here is twenty one. Remember that next time" he replied, passing Harry a can. He cursed himself for forgetting America had different rules to the UK, but he should have known by now that in Gotham the laws didn't matter anyway. Harry told him to put the beer on a tab; one which he had no intention of paying. The people around him were loud and obnoxious, and Harry looked around to find a way he could burn the place down without it looking too obvious. The citizens really did seem like filth to him; they had no good reasons for being alive.

He downed the first can, immediately wishing he hadn't. It had gotten to him rather quickly; he hadn't realised his body would have reacted so soon. He didn't want to lose control so he instead sat watching the crowds, paying particular attention to a man who seemed to be staring at him. Harry scowled at him and the stranger just laughed, turning his attention away from Harry and onto a friend.

Harry could feel his body yearning to set the building alight, but before he could stand to do so, the man who had been looking at Harry came and sat beside him. He scooted his stool so he was right next to the teenager, who immediately inched away, making the man grin. He looked down at Harry's lone can and chuckled.

"You not a beer fan?" he asked, and Harry looked at him for a moment.

"Guess not" he muttered, placing a hand on his head. He really wanted the creep to go away. There was a glint in his eye that reminded him of Hunter, and if the guy wasn't careful he would soon end up the same way as his ex-cellmate.

"Maybe something else will make you feel better" the guy continued, and after a moment he plonked a glass down in front of him. "Vodka and coke. You won't taste it as much. I'm Justin by the way."

"Regulus" Harry uttered back, sipping the drink before him. The coke flavour did distract from the alcohol and he soon drank the whole thing, although after he kind of wished he hadn't. The room had started to spin slightly.

"So, you come here often?" Justin grinned, and Harry simply raised an eyebrow at him and shook his head before placing it down on the bar. He dug his fingers into the top, attempting to burn it away slightly. He stilled for a moment as he realised nothing was happening. He looked at his reflection in the glass, and from what he could see he still looked like his Regulus form. It was almost as if he had become stuck.

He heard another glass being placed in front of him, and he shook his head, still in a panic about his lack of fire.

"Come on, I bought it for you. You gotta drink it" Justin begged, and Harry shrugged, forcing himself to sip the drink. As soon as he could control fire again, he would turn the man into ash. As he finished the drink, his head started spinning heavier, and he felt even less connected to his body.

The more time that went on, the worse he felt. His limbs had started to feel heavy, and he couldn't focus on much at all. He distantly heard Justin mutter something about taking him somewhere to get help before he got dragged outside.

As he got pulled, he found he could barely move his limbs himself, relying on Justin to take him. He couldn't even focus on where he was being taken. He could note that the sounds of the street seemed to be getting quieter, and the world itself seemed to be getting darker.

He found himself thrown onto the ground, and then another body was on his, tearing desperately at his clothes. He desperately willed the fire to come to him, but he felt frozen and too weak to move.

He struggled as much as he could, although it didn't seem to help in any way, and he felt a chord of fear strike though him. He couldn't believe how lost he was without his fire, or even Joker there, and he couldn't believe he had allowed himself to get into this state.

It took him a minute to realise that Justin was no longer on top of him, and there was a scuffle going on around him.

He simply lay on the ground, willing something in him to work, when a dark figure appeared above him.

Harry had only seen Batman once before, and in the dark he looked even more terrifying. He didn't seem to be directing any anger at Harry however, and he came across as almost concerned. If he had been in a better state, Harry would have laughed and proceeded to attack the costumed figure, but he just couldn't bring himself to do anything. The vigilante pressed a gloved hand over Harry's forehead before he picked him up and carried him over to a vehicle. Once there, a needle was pushed into his arm, and he knew no more.

---

Harry awoke in a soft bed, far comfier than anything else he had slept in for a long time. He groaned as memories of the previous night flashed before him. He remembered everything clearly up until entering a bar, and then things started to become fuzzy. He got flashes of a darkened alley and cold hands, and then a looming figure above him, carrying him to safety.

He shot up in an instant; he had interacted with Batman and didn't appear to be in any form of jail. He leapt out of bed and ran to the mirror hanging on the wall. His glamour was still on, and how it was Harry didn't know. It had worn off slightly in places, his dark hair showing through a bit more, and specks of emerald dotted about his eyes, but otherwise he had managed to hide his identity despite the situation.

He gasped when he remembered how he had been unable to produce any fire yesterday, and he laughed out loud as a speck grew on his fingers. He waved the flames about his head, grinning as it surrounded him, making him feel at ease.

He dropped it as the sound of the door handle turning reached his ears, and he suddenly felt a wave of nausea pass through him. An old man entered, looking slightly shocked when he saw Harry out of bed.

"Good morning Sir. How are you feeling today?" the man smiled, and Harry recalled the voice from somewhere.

"Okay I guess" he answered. "Who are you and where am I?"

"My name is Alfred, and you are at The Wayne Emergency Hostel. It's basically a room service for people who can't find their way home. The receptionist said you were dropped off with nothing more than a note telling you to watch your drinks in the future. We believe you may have had your drink spiked but it appears a Good Samaritan came to your rescue."

Harry took a moment to digest the information. His head was now spinning slightly, but he managed to pick up on the word 'Wayne', as well as realising he had spoken to Alfred on the phone before when calling Bruce. He was feeling furious about what happened, but taking it out on Bruce's butler and organisation would not help him with his new Batman investigation. Batman…

"The man-bat" Harry muttered. "The man-bat-Batman. He helped me."

Alfred raised an eyebrow quickly but offered the boy a smile.

"Well please Sir, stay as long as you need to. I can-"

"What time is it?" Harry interrupted. It was Sunday now. He had to get to Sirius, no Gordon, or whoever soon. He couldn't wait another week.

"It's half nine, but-"Alfred started again, but once again Harry cut him off.

"Thanks for the bed and all but I gotta go" Harry cried, pretending that his world wasn't spinning. "Church and all."

With that he ran as fast as he could, not stopping for anything. He ran to the road and stuck out his thumb as he went. He wasn't as adept at hijacking cars as Joker was, and once again he realised how inadequate he felt compared to the madman.

Eventually a car stopped for him and let him in; a family which included a tall and overly skinny mother, and an overweight father and son. They all gave him peculiar looks but when he mentioned going to church they seemed happy to give him a ride.

He ignored them as they took him to his destination, only grinning at them when he sent a spark to their engine. He hopped out of the vehicle just as the front end lit up, and he added a bit more to the fire, spreading it through the car. The family reminded him far too much of the Dursley's anyway.

It didn't take him long to walk to the Gordon residence, and as he arrived Barbara Gordon had just gotten into a car, her two children strapped into the back seats.

He grinned and waited a moment before skipping happily up the stairs towards the front door. All he wanted was the man to remember something- anything.

He knocked and awaited a response. He would change to his real form once he was inside.

The door opened partway, stopped by a metal chain. Jim Gordon looked at him curiously, his face showing he was still on guard.

"Excuse me; can I use your phone?" Harry asked as sweet as he could manage, which wasn't that hard; he just remembered all the good times he had shared with Sirius before. "I've had a bit of an emergency."

"What's the problem?" the other man enquired, not giving in as easily as Harry hoped he might.

"It's kind of embarrassing" Harry lied. "I'll be two minutes."

Gordon sighed for a moment before unlocking the chain and opening the door and gesturing for Harry to come inside. His gun was in his hands and he held it threateningly as he led Harry to the phone.

Harry went to pick the device up, only to swing around and knock the gun from the cop's hands with a fireball.

He immediately dropped his glamour and held his hands up.

"Your hands up too" he muttered to Gordon, who complied. "Look, I don't want to have to hurt you, and I don't want you to try and hurt me either" he explained. "Just sit down and keep still. Neither of us has to get hurt."

Gordon shuffled over to a seat, keeping his hands above his head, a look of shock still crossing his face.

"How did you-? You're-? You just-?" the cop stuttered, and Harry smiled.

"I'm clever" the teen grinned, pulling up a chair and facing the older man, who he noticed was edging his hands near the side of his seat.

"Na-ah" Harry warned. "I just want to talk, so play nice."

"You're that kid from Arkham, the one who set his cellmate on fire" Gordon stated, realisation crossing his face. "Harry, wasn't it?"

Harry smiled further; they had met in Gotham only once but the name Sirius had known him by still stuck in his memory.

"Not anymore, but I was, yes" he answered, and Jim studied him even closer.

"Those scars…they're the ones the bank hostages were talking about…you're-"

"Ace of Spades? Yes, and I'd appreciate it if you actually confirmed my existence to Gotham. I don't like rumours."

"I knew Arkham was messed up" Gordon muttered to himself. "Put a troubled kid in with a psychopath and these are the results."

"You make it sound like a bad thing. Stop grabbing for a weapon, geez" Harry hissed, burning Gordon's hand slightly as he tried to reach for something again. "I came here to see if you remember."

"Well I remember our meeting before, as I've already said. That's the only time we've been together" the cop replied, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"No, no, no" Harry growled. "We met before, a long time ago. You used to be someone else, and we were so close, and then you died. But you're back, only you're not you anymore. I guess now that I think about it, I died a bit too, and now I'm someone else, but we need to take our pasts and bring it to our presents. You were the only thing that made the old me happy. Why did you have to die?" Harry hadn't realised that he was crying, and he let out a sob. Jim looked genuinely concerned, and he gently laid a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Harry…Ace…I'm sorry, but I'm not who you think I am. I'm sorry that you lost somebody close to you, I really am, but you need help with your grief and-"

"I do not need help" Harry hissed, shrugging the man's hand off his shoulder. "I just need you to remember. Don't you remember your old best friend? He was my father, and he was called James, just like you; just like your son. You always said if you had a son you would name him for my father."

"I-"Jim began, stopping before he could say anymore. He looked unsure; Harry hoped that was a sign that his mind was ticking over.

"You could do tricks like me too" Harry continued. "Try sometime, then you'll see. You'll see who you truly are."

"I'm sorry, this is crazy. You're crazy; I can't do tricks and I named my son after me, who was named for my father. I can't pretend to play along with your delusions."

"I'm not delusional" Harry said, standing up, fixing the cop with a look that made him shudder. "And listen to me Sirius Black; that is who you are, and I will make you remember at whatever cost. We'll be a family. I'm going to save you while I destroy the world."

Chapter 16: Sixteen

Notes:

Warning for sexual content.

Harry didn't stay with Gordon too long; he thought it would be best to give the man time to think things over without being too overwhelmed. In Harry's mind there was no doubt as to the truth, so he could wait a bit longer; Jim would figure it out eventually.

He scowled at the public as he walked by them. His head was still hurting slightly and their general attitudes did nothing to help him.

He decided to cut through the poorer neighbourhoods where the streets were mostly deserted. He walked past a church which had lively singing coming from within. He wondered briefly why the people bothered attending given the fact they were probably involved in some sort of criminal activities.

He toyed with the idea of setting the church alight, but then he decided that killing them wouldn't teach them a proper lesson for being hypocrites. He smirked as he spotted the rundown apartment buildings across the road. At least that would give him the chance to burn something.

He ran past them and waved his hand out, engulfing the floors of the buildings as he passed. He laughed as he hurried down towards the other end of the street, grinning widely as he heard screams behind him.

He was feeling perfectly content with himself when a gloved hand grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him into a dark alley. A knife was pressed against his throat. Harry rolled his eyes; he knew the feeling of the hands very well by now.

"You really need to learn to pay attention to your surroundings princess" Joker hissed into his ear, moving the knife up to his cheek.

"I let you catch me to make you feel good about yourself" Harry retorted. Joker laughed sarcastically and dug the blade gently into Harry's skin.

"You're becoming very naughty lately" Joker mused, running his free hand up and down Harry's side, although not in a comforting way. "First of all you break your curfew and now you're lying…I think I'll have to punish you later."

"Why not now?" Harry asked, wincing as Joker's fingers dug into his hip.

"Because you'd enjoy it" Joker answered simply. His fingers trailed up to Harry's mouth, and one of the gloved digits was pushed inside. "Suck it" Joker demanded.

Harry complied, hallowing his cheeks as he tasted the leather, a taste Harry found he enjoyed. He darted his tongue around to lick the finger, trying not to gag as Joker pushed his finger in further.

"We have a very busy day today" the madman drawled as if what he was doing to Harry was perfectly normal. "We're going to go see our friends who were kind enough to give us their money. And of course I will have to fit torturing you in somewhere. Oh darling, do suck harder."

He pushed another finger into Harry's mouth, thrusting them in and out slowly. He sharply dragged the blade down his cheek, pulling his fingers out before Harry could bite down on them in shock. The psychopath leant forward and wiped the blood away, licking the blood from his finger tip while wiping the saliva off his glove on Harry's jacket.

He smirked as he pulled Harry towards the car he had stolen, looking almost impressed as he eyed the flames from the other end of the street. A couple of fire engines had turned up and a large crowd of people were watching the scene in horror.

Harry released himself from Joker's grasp and aimed for the back seat of the car, grinning when he saw Joker had brought many weapons with him.

He grabbed hold of the bazooka, the familiar heaviness filling him with a sense of joy. Joker said nothing, and only watched with a smile on his face and an insane glint in his eyes as Harry aimed in between the crowd and the fire engines and fired.

The group screamed as the whole street seemed to rock, and the two criminals jumped into the car laughing. Joker pushed down hard on the pedal and the car sped off, leading them away from the carnage.

"I learnt some interesting things last night" Harry told Joker casually, looking out of the window. "Like Bruce Wayne is throwing a party for Harvey Dent. You won't need an invite."

Joker made a 'hmm'ing noise and Harry spoke again after deducing that the murderer wasn't going to respond further. "And talking of Bruce Wayne, he and his bitch of a friend Rachel seem to know something about Batman. You should have seen their faces when they were talking about him. They have a Batman related secret" he said, turning dramatically to face Joker as if the revelation was the best thing anyone could have heard, but the older man was half focused on the road, although he seemed to have a pleased look on his face which would have made most people shudder.

"And as for Batman" Harry continued, turning to look back out of the window, "I met him last night."

Joker slammed the breaks on sharply, the movement causing Harry to bash his head into the window.

He turned, scowling, to Joker, but the expression on the man's face stopped him from saying anything. Harry waited for the man to say something but no words were spoken and an awkward silence filled the air.

"I got into a kind of sticky situation" Harry muttered, unable to take the quiet. "And I was in disguise so Batman decided to help me out. Then he left."

Joker's expression had calmed now, although he was still studying Harry intently.

"I was looking away for just a second and somebody put something in my drink and I couldn't do anything…" Harry mumbled as a form of explanation.

Joker's hand struck his cheek as he laughed darkly, wriggling his finger at Harry. "You see? You don't pay attention. I'm beginning to think you enjoyed Arkham. You're certainly trying hard to get sent back."

"I do not want to go back there" Harry hissed as Joker restarted the car. "I just get lost in my own thoughts sometimes."

"Acey, you're just trying to avoid reality."

"I don't like reality. Or the people in it" Harry asserted, glaring at the people on the streets.

"But pretending it doesn't exist won't help. You have to understand reality to make your own. You need to know the rules to break them. You need to know the norms to fight them. We make our own reality while crushing everyone else's. Open that compartment and grab anything, anything at all." Joker pointed to the small drawer in front of Harry's seat.

The teenager inwardly shrugged and leant forward, stopped by another swipe to the face.

"See, you're not paying attention again, but carry on" Joker smiled.

Harry scowled but opened the drawer nonetheless. Inside were a number of papers that looked like documents to do with the car and important details. He shifted through the stuff, bypassing an old torch and a box of tissues. His hands reached a small spiral notebook, a pencil tucked into the metal. The book itself was rather battered and upon opening he discovered a number of drawings, seemingly done by a child. The dates on the pictures went back over twenty-five years; obviously it was meaningful to the person who owned the car. He pulled the pencil out from the wiring, rolling it in his fingers. The pencil had been responsible for putting the child's imagination onto paper. It seemed fitting so he grasped the pencil tightly in his hands and slammed the compartment door shut.

Joker grinned wickedly as he took the pencil from Harry's grip and pocketed it.

"How do you think the majority of people kill?" Joker asked, swerving the conversation.

"I didn't think the majority of people did kill" Harry uttered, earning him a glare.

"I think everyone has feelings of wanting to kill somebody, but only those of the right mind carry it out" Joker argued, reminding Harry heavily of something Voldemort had said to him once, about how in the world there was only power, and those too weak to seek it.

He tilted his head to look at Joker. With the white make up he matched Voldemort's pallor appearance, but Joker definitely had a nose, a feature which Voldemort had lost long ago. In Harry's opinion the Joker was handsome, much like Tom Riddle had been, and they shared the same psychopathic personality, but the Dark Lord certainly never cracked a smile; Bellatrix Lestrange was much more similar to Joker on that account.

"You remind me of some people I used to know" Harry said quietly. "They used magic to kill people, that's what I was used to. One woman though, she killed my friend with a knife; I think she shared your love of that weapon, except she wouldn't admit it because not using magic was beneath her. But not many people can use magic, so I guess guns and knives, and bare hands as well."

"Good, good, remember that" Joker said, nodding with wide eyes. "Now tell me of this magic world you come from Ace."

Harry eyed Joker wakefully; half expecting to be mocked, but Joker looked almost intrigued and seemingly open to anything Harry had to say.

"I was born into it, you have to be" Harry started, gaining a brief nod from Joker to show he was listening, "and there was a bad guy who killed my parents when I was little. He killed them with a curse that matched the colour of my eyes. Nobody could survive that curse but I did somehow; I destroyed his body without meaning to. Then years later he got it back, when I was at a school where I learnt about magic, where I learnt I was the only one who could stop this man again. He wanted the wizards to rule the world and for the non-magic people to suffer and die, and the people in charge didn't like that, so they toyed with me, pretended that I was important to them, and then when I killed him they locked me up. Magic used to be my only source of happiness. It gave me friends, near enough to a family, and gave me something which made me feel special, but then they took that all away. That had been my reality and they forced me into another. As soon as I'm done with Gotham they'll be the next to go. I'll save my Godson from their corruption and be done with them for good when I destroy them. You'll like Teddy; he can change his appearance at will."

"A bit like you can?" Joker murmured, tugging gently on Harry's hair.

"That's different. I have to work to do that; Teddy doesn't need to put any effort in. He could do it from the day he was born. I mean, he's still a baby now so he probably can't control it that much, but in time it will be natural to him."

"Just whatever you do, don't mention the kid to Harley. She adores you enough as it is" Joker muttered, shaking his head woefully. Harry smirked; he could imagine Harley would love his Godson. Teddy would probably help Gordon remember his past as well.

"You need to change" Joker declared suddenly, pointing to the back seat where a bag was amongst some of Joker's weapons. "Now. Go on, go."

"We're in a tiny moving car" Harry pointed out. Joker looked at him as if he was stupid.

"You're only little. Hurry up" Joker hissed. Harry frowned at being called little.

"I'm not that small" he argued, obeying Joker's orders anyway. True, he would never be as tall as Ron had been, or anything along the lines of Batman's height, but he was a far cry from the midget he had been in his younger years.

He changed awkwardly in the back seat, attempting to get as low as he could so the public couldn't see him. Joker was driving fast enough that they wouldn't have much chance anyway but he wasn't going to take the risk. It was bad enough that he could feel Joker's eyes flicking to his reflection in the mirror what felt like all the time.

He managed the feat only bashing his arms and legs a few times, and he clambered back to the front seat just as Joker brought the car to a halt.

They had stopped in a relatively quiet area and just by the outside of a restaurant. Before Harry could ask Joker set about painting Harry's face the way he had worn it before.

"What exactly are we doing here?" Harry asked when Joker had finished.

"I am going to try and make a deal with the mob. You can watch how it's done."

"Do you think they'll go for it?" Harry enquired, and Joker cackled gleefully in response.

"Ah, how cute; you think the mob get along with the likes of us" the madman grinned, before his expression turned a lot more serious. "Of course they won't go for it, but I need to offer. We gotta get their minds cracking from within."

With that said Joker strolled forward, kicking the door of the restaurant open. Harry ran behind him, watching as he slit the throats of the two guards before they could even shout for backup.

They wandered through the restaurant and out to the kitchen where a male voice could be heard.

"Rest assured, your money is safe" Harry heard the voice say. Joker took this as his cue to enter and laughed sarcastically as he waltzed in, turning the natural laughter into words, as if it was meaningless.

"And I thought my jokes were bad" he greeted as he walked into the group's view. Harry trailed behind him, smirking as the men's eyes flickered between the two new entrants, expressions a mixture of anger and curiosity. A couple of men even showed a glimmer of respect.

The room itself was a kitchen turned into a meeting room, a few tables pushed together with men sat at them and a few others stood around. A screen with a man's face on was on the head table.

Harry was too busy examining the room to hear the threat Joker had received, but the psychopath's excited body language alerted his attention.

"How about a magic trick?" Joker said, slamming the pencil Harry had given him earlier down onto the table, forcing it to point upwards. He threw Harry a look that said 'keep watching'. That certainly caught Harry's eye. "I am going to make this pencil disappear."

A man had stood up by this point. As he neared Joker, the madman grabbed him and threw his body down, making his head land on the table. The pencil disappeared into the thug's eye socket, killing him instantly. Joker excitedly declared the end of the trick to the room, most of whom looked horrified, bar one man who actually looked impressed. Harry realised this was a point about breaking away from the norms of society; Joker could have just stabbed the man like many people would have done, but instead he used a pencil to kill with.

Harry laughed slightly at the trick and the reactions, gaining the attention of the angriest man.

He sneered at Harry and turned back to Joker.

"So you bring kids to work with you now?"

"What month is it?" Harry cut in before Joker could say anything.

After a moment of silence somebody answered with 'end of August'.

"Well then, I missed my birthday, but legally I'm an adult now" Harry smiled. The angry man clenched his hands into fists and stood up furiously.

"Let them speak" a heavily accented man argued, and the man sat back down unwillingly, sending another glare to Harry.

Joker smirked, and leaned forward, confidence flowing from him in waves.

"Look, this time last year, you all had it made" Joker started. "You were feared, even by the cops and the law players. When'd you stop being men? Now a guy like me-"

"A freak" the angry guy interrupted, causing a nervous laughter to break out amongst the men.

"A guy like me…hmm, well I'm not afraid to go out at night. I don't have to have my bonding sessions in the middle of the day. I'm not afraid…of the Batman. You see, Batman has painted a very bad picture of you and now, now the end for you is coming. Dent is just the start, and your television friend over there, Batman will be able to find him, and he will definitely make him talk."

"So what is your plan then?" the man who seemed to somewhat like Joker asked, and a wicked smirk crossed Joker's face.

"It's simple isn't it? We kill Batman" Joker said, making the room to break out into chatter and laughter.

"Why can't you do it yourself?" a new voice said. "Or get your little lapdog there to do it for you?"

"Why do something you're good at for free?" Joker responded. From the looks on the group's faces it had been the point that they had been expecting.

"How much do you want?" one asked bitterly.

"Half" Joker replied. Harry could tell Joker didn't mean that in the way that they thought; the man was not one to be bothered with something as trivial as money, but for this mob group, money for everything, and Joker seemed to want to get them where it hurt.

"You're crazy" one muttered, and Joker shook his head.

"No, I really am not" he said glaring. Harry made a small gap with two of his fingers behind Joker's head and mouthed 'a little bit' to the angry man, which didn't seem to lighten his mood at all. "What's the matter, er, Gambol, is it? Scared you can't buy your grandma a Christmas present anymore?"

The angry man, Gambol, stood again, hand reaching to the inside of his pocket, but he stopped when Joker flung his coat open, revealing a lining of grenades, attached to a piece of string on his finger. Gambol looked at Joker fearfully, and Joker grinned menacingly, while the others in the group stood and hurried as far away from Joker as they could. Harry smiled sweetly at them.

"You think you can steal from us and get away with it?" Gambol asked, getting his confidence back, hatred running through his eyes when Joker nodded. "You're on my list. 500 grand for you dead, a million alive so I can beat some manners into you first. Half for your little friend."

"Oh, am I not worth as much? My shrink told me I wasn't worth any less than anyone else" Harry said, feigning sadness. Harry kind of wished he had been told that at Arkham, rather than being abused and forced into twisted experiments.

"Apparently you men aren't ready to take this seriously, but I'll leave you my card for when you want to talk" Joker said, flinging a Joker card down onto the table. He wriggled the string menacingly as he walked out backwards. Harry followed and gave the group a wave before he left through the doors, leaving behind a thoughtful mob.

It was when they got back to their hideout that Joker decided Harry was due for his punishment.

Joker led Harry down to a room which he hadn’t been in before. It was right at the back of the building, and it had no windows. There were a number of cages scattered about and a large table was placed in the middle of the room.

As Harry looked around, Joker grabbed hold of his wrists, pinning them behind his back and snapped metal around them.

“I don’t want you burning you way out of this” Joker hissed, dragging him by the shirt and pushing him so that he was sat on the table. “You deserve this” he said, grabbing hold of Harry’s face with one hand and digging his nails into the skin under Harry’s eye.

He dragged his nails down Harry’s face, forcing Harry’s chin upwards. Emerald eyes connected with dark ones, and Joker allowed a smirk to cross his face.

“No matter what I do I think you’re going to enjoy this” he sighed. “Your eyes just have this crazy little light in them. I like that, I really do, but how am I supposed to teach you a lesson, hmm?”

Harry didn’t answer. In all honesty, he didn’t mind Joker hurting him; he enjoyed the pain as a way of feeling real, and of feeling like he could truly focus on something, but he also didn’t want Joker doing anything that could potentially kill him, especially when his hands were tied. He wondered if he would eventually be able to break free from metal.

Joker too was lost in thought, and he pushed Harry back so that he was lying uncomfortably on the table. Instantly his arms felt the ache from his weight pushing against his bound hands. He felt it even more when Joker climbed on top of him. He seemed to be doing it on purpose as he pushed down in places which put more pressure on his arms.

Joker shut one eye and tilted his head as he tried to come up with some ideas. He slid his knife slowly down the length of Harry’s shirt, pulling the strands away to reveal Harry’s chest. The psychopath slid the knife over Harry’s collar bone before getting off him and moving to get something.

He returned moments later, placing some objects down behind him, holding up a single match and a red candle. He lit the candle and held it by Harry’s face.
“That won’t hurt” Harry told Joker, who pressed the flame by Harry’s mouth to silence him.

“I know. I’m waiting.”

Joker didn’t say what he was waiting for, but what Harry didn’t expect was for Joker to turn the candle upside down and pour the hot wax over his chest. He hissed as the pain struck, although it disappeared almost instantly.
Each time Joker dripped more on him, the pain would strike and then leave, giving Harry a perfect mixture of pain and pleasure. He didn’t mention that to Joker of course, but the hisses and winces Harry produced were enough for the maniac.

Joker changed to a blue candle, pouring the wax in a swirling pattern over Harry’s flat stomach.

A yellow candle came next, the colours mixing beautifully on his skin.
“I like to make art” Joker muttered, switching to a green candle
.
When Joker had finished with the candles, leaving Harry’s upper torso a swirl of colours, he reached down onto the floor, producing a whip which Joker had used on Harry before. The ends were frayed from where Harry had burnt it, which gave it a more threatening look.

Joker said nothing and simply cracked it at Harry’s chest. The stinging on his already sensitive skin made him bite down hard on his lip. Another hit followed, and then another, each strike getting lower.

Joker moved forward and unbuttoned Harry’s trousers, yanking them off him along with his underwear.

“Tell me why you’re sorry; why you’re being punished” Joker whispered into his ear.

“For lying” Harry muttered. Joker smiled and cracked the whip, striking Harry’s thigh.

“And for staying away all night” he continued, gaining himself another strike.

“And what’s the biggy?” Joker hissed with such venom that Harry shut his eyes so he didn’t have to see the man’s face.

“Fraternising with the enemy?” he answered meekly and Joker laughed evilly.

“Yes. Yes you did” Joker growled, striking the whip hard against Harry’s manhood.

The pain struck harder than anywhere before, and he cried out, shuddering at the aftermath of the pain.

“Do you want another?” Joker asked and Harry nodded; if he hadn’t Joker would have won and then done it anyway. He could sense Joker knew that Harry knew this, and the next strike came harder. This time a tear instinctively made it’s way down his cheek, and Joker’s tongue darted out to lick it away.
Harry heard the sound of the whip being thrown to the floor, and Joker moved to in between Harry’s legs.

He shoved a finger inside of Harry roughly, no wetness on it at all.

“Does this remind you of anything?” Joker asked, and Harry snapped his eyes open. “I hear your dreams you know? I know more about you then you realise, but this particular dream is a recurring one.” Joker jabbed the finger in harder, another one fighting it’s way through to join. Harry shuddered but kept his eyes firmly locked on the scarred smile. Hunter wasn’t here; it was Joker-the very psychopathic and insane Joker, but not the abused, hateful Hunter.

“I know you murdered a baby” Joker drawled. Harry hadn’t even realised he had dreamt about Ginny and the unborn he had made her lose. “And that you blame yourself for the deaths of your friends, Sirius and Remus was it? From what I’ve heard, it really was your fault.”

At that comment Harry tried to fight violently against his bounds, but Joker hushed him, scissoring the fingers within him.

“There’s the reason you died before. You deserved to die. You had to die to make it better. Remember what I said about reality? You ruined theirs, but I can accept that. I can accept you in this reality right here, the one between me and you. I don’t care what you’ve done. I’ve murdered five babies. I’ve purposefully killed my family. I don’t care; I enjoyed it. I understand you; I can bring you to life” Joker stated, and Harry cried out as he shoved a third, dry finger inside of him.

“The pain makes me feel alive” Harry hissed as the fingers forced their way through him. “It would hurt more if you were gentle.”

“Oh but Harry, my little murderer, my twisted little Ace of Spades, that isn’t me.”

With that said, Joker removed his fingers and pushed himself in instead, the lack of lubrication causing Harry to scream. He bit down on his lip hard as he felt the psychopath moving inside him.

The pain was unlike anything before, but at the same time he wanted more of it. Joker could sense that and he thrust harder, making Harry bite down so hard that he drew blood.

Joker pulled a knife from somewhere and began slashing shallow marks on Harry’s chest with each thrust. Harry was sure Joker was purposefully avoiding that sweet spot within him, but he still craved more of the psychopath inside him.

He could feel pressure welling inside him, the pain of Joker’s thrusts not as bad as it had been, blood helping ease the way, but the pain was still strong and still getting to him.

Joker had shoved four fingers into Harry’s mouth, and he sucked hard on them just as he had earlier in the day.

The other hand was still carving, and the thrusts were going harder and deeper. The pressure on his arms and hands was building, and when Joker finally aimed in the right place Harry lost control, biting down on Joker’s fingers as he spilled over his stomach.

Joker finished seconds later, and he pulled his fingers from Harry’s mouth, withdrawing from the panting teenager and pulling his pants back up.
Harry gasped heavily as Joker pulled him up and released the handcuffs.
His chest was stinging deeply and he looked down at the damage Joker had done.

Glimmering in deep red blood, carved into his skin was the word ‘mine’.

---

Joker had become slightly reclusive again after Harry's 'punishment', which normally wasn't a good sign, at least not for the general public.

Harry had spent the next couple of days with Ivy in the gardens. They didn't speak much, but Harry found her company and the plants calming.

It was on one of these days when he was laying on the ground, staring up at the sky, when a dark shadow appeared above him.

"Gambol insulted you" Joker said darkly. "I think it is only fit that you help me now."

Joker refused to elaborate, only made Harry dress up, before he led him to meet with three guys who didn't look too much older than Harry. They had a sane look in their eyes, but seemed to want to be part of the criminal community of Gotham; they had likely been raised in it and now wanted to make their own mark. Harry pitied them slightly for getting involved with Joker; they probably would not be alive much longer.

The group gathered by an apartment building, the boys pulling out some black bags and a number of weapons. While they were busy, Joker pulled Harry to one side.

"For the purposes of now, I'm dead, but you just need to hide round the corner upstairs. Once I'm alive again I'll call you to come in and make Gambol pay for his mean words. Seeing as you've been bored these last two days I'll let you kill him. I know I'd need that after spending my time with plant girl."

Harry frowned on behalf of Ivy but couldn't contain his joy otherwise. Joker smirked before hopping into the bags. The guys lifted him up and Harry followed behind them. He found Joker's choice of words strange; being dead and then alive again-to Harry that sounded very much like Joker believed in some form of reincarnation, and surely that added more credibility to his beliefs concerning what happened to Sirius.

Harry sat by the door as the young men chatted to Gambol in the room, smirking as he heard Joker speak. He could almost imagine the looks on the faces of Gambol and his associates. Joker was telling the man a story about his father carving the scars onto his face. Harry doubted if Joker had been truthful when telling him how he had got them, although he definitely had some parental issues in his life, seeing as he used them in many of his stories.

He looked up sharply when he heard Joker call his name. He jumped up and tried not to look too gleeful as he walked through the doors.

The three associates were at gun point by the boys, while Gambol was in Joker's grip with a knife pressed to his face.

"Now Gambol, as much as I would love to kill you, I promised Ace here that he could do the honour" Joker said, leering at Gambol. "He's had a hard life and your comments, well, they weren't very pleasant. It's those sorts of things that can really mess a kid up, you know? No? Well anyway you'll be pleased to know Ace is a magician, so at least your death will be entertaining."

Joker dropped the blade away from Gambol's face, scooting round and holding the man from the back so Harry had room to stand in front of him.

Gambol eyed him wearily as he approached, and he sent the man a smile as if to comfort him, not that Harry wanted to do any sort of thing.

"You don't need to look so frightened; I've not done anything yet" Harry smirked, holding his palm up in front of Gambol's face, just inches from his eyes. A flame spread over his hand, and the mob member's eyes widened further, and he tried desperately to get out of Joker's grasp. His associates were in a state of panic as well, while the boys looked on in wonder.

"I don't like your mouth Gambol. You say some mean things" Harry sighed, bringing his hand down and clamping it over Gambol's mouth. The man screeched for a moment before the pain and the damage stopped him from doing so any longer. Joker kept his hold tightly, which Harry was thankful for.

The hair went next, and then he moved onto the eyes, making Gambol unable to see where the next attack was coming from. Harry didn't expect Gambol to live much longer, and he had one last thing he wanted to do if he couldn't manage anything else.

He burnt off the man's nose, grinning when Gambol's facial features started to resemble that of Voldemort's.

"You know what? You really look like a man from my past now, and there's always one thing I wanted to do to him" Harry explained before slamming his fist into the damaged face. He eliminated the man's ears, then gestured for Joker to let go of him, before he engulfed the man's entire body.

One of his friends was now sobbing hysterically, while the other two looked entirely disturbed. Joker laughed deeply, but then turned his attention on the remaining men.

"I'm feeling friendly today so I'm going to offer you gentlemen an opportunity" Joker said, grabbing a cue stick from a pool table. "Our gang is small but it is growing in it's power. Of course we only have room for one, so prove your worth." He snapped the cue in two, throwing one half down to the men.

Joker grabbed hold of Harry's wrist, pulling him from the room while the others oversaw the fight, much to Harry's dismay; he wanted to watch, but Joker assured him he needed rest for tomorrow, for that was when Harvey Dent's fundraiser was.

---

Joker had hurried out the next morning, claiming he had something to do and that Harry and Harley should keep their eyes on the television screen.

Not much had happened until about mid-afternoon when a breaking news stories reached the channels. A man dressed as Batman had been murdered and strung up in town, a joker card attached to the body. It explained what Joker had been doing.

The reporter on screen mentioned a video was about to be shown that was considered disturbing, which was when Ivy came along to watch too.

In the video, a rather chubby Batman imposter was sat tied up, looking thoroughly beaten. Joker's voice came from behind the camera, mocking the man for dressing up like the vigilante. He sounded almost playful, which Harry thought made Joker sound even more insane than usual, and he wondered how a general citizen would consider Joker.

The video picked up in disturbing images as Joker began to hit the man before turning the camera on himself, revealing his scarred face and war paint. Joker was ranting slightly about Batman turning himself in, so Harry switched off; he was used to Joker complaining about Batman, but one line caught his attention.

"Every day he doesn't turn himself in" Joker said, "people will die-starting tonight."

Harry had thought Joker would have taken advantage of the fundraiser Bruce Wayne was throwing, even if he hadn't expressed much interest when Harry told him about it at first. The fundraiser would have many of Gotham's elite all in one place, so really Joker had his pick of almost anyone that he wanted.

Harley and Ivy seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"I told you he wouldn't miss the chance to cause a scene" Ivy said disdainfully, and Harley sniggered.

"Are you going as well Ace?" the blonde asked him, and he nodded before he changed his mind and shrugged.

"I hope so. Bruce is a dear friend of mine after all" he said sarcastically.

It wasn't much later than Joker strolled in, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Nice video" Harry commented as the madman sat himself down. "You might need a better cameraman though; it was rather jerky."

"Do you want to go out tonight? Joker threatened. Harry rolled his eyes but shut his mouth; he knew Joker wasn't one to make empty threats.

The hours seemed to tick by slowly; Harry was desperate to get out there. He partly wanted to see what Bruce's home was like in case he ever needed it, but he was also rather looking forward to the fact that there was a high chance that he would be able to meet Batman properly. As long as the Caped Crusader didn't beat him too badly or send him back to Gotham then he was perfectly happy to see the man.

Joker hadn't opened up too much about what his plans were. He had told Harry he wanted to go to the party with the intention to find Harvey Dent, but he wouldn't say what for. Harry presumed it was to kill him, but you never knew with the Joker. Harry didn't think much to Dent anyway, so he hoped it was for murder.

When the time to leave finally came, Harry could have almost kissed Joker in happiness, which he didn't because Joker would likely beat him to a pulp for it and then leave him behind. Instead he just gave the man a genuine smile, which still appeared to make Joker want to beat him, but fortunately the psychopath decided against it.

They met outside of Bruce's building with a group of men in clown disguises. Harry was thankful that he didn't have to worry about that anymore; he had grown rather accustomed to the make-up cover that he wore already and he hoped he would be able to wear it more often.

Harry also noted that Joker had a gun in his hands; that meant he truly meant business. He knew if Joker had plans to take his sweet time then he would just have brought a knife, although he didn't doubt Joker had a blade or two hidden in his clothing.

The group filed into the lift, taking them up to the party.

Joker stepped out first, firing his gun into the air, gaining the room's attention.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen" Joker said, walking and eyeing the crowd. "We are tonight's entertainment."

Chapter 17: Seventeen

The crowd of partygoers looked panicked as Joker entered the room, all of them moving to the side, threatened with thugs holding guns to their faces.

Harry smirked at the sight as he walked in. The fear that Joker was able to instil in people just from entering a room was rather amazing. The crowd even looked scared as the psychopath snacked on some of the buffet food that was on offer. Harry giggled slightly, making an old couple nearby to him shudder visibly. He winked at them and moved to stand more centrally, taking in the entire room.

It was large and open, with full length windows covering an entire side. There was a very clean feel to the place, and dangling lights had been placed around for decoration. A table was set out, covered in wine glasses, and as he wanted something to do, Harry ran to it while Joker was busy asking the people if they knew where Harvey Dent was and used as much force as he could to tip it over, causing the glass to smash amongst the reveller's feet.

Joker turned and rolled his eyes almost sarcastically before turning his attention back to the crowd. Harry had no interest in Harvey Dent though; he just wanted to have a bit of fun and have a little chat with Batman. He was surprised the vigilante hadn't already turned up; an event which meant the richest people in Gotham would all be in the same place at the same time was surely an obvious target; Batman should have been keeping an eye on the place. Harry hoped he wasn't going to be disappointed.

When Harry turned his focus back on Joker, the criminal had an old man at knife point; Harry had been right about Joker hiding blades. Before Joker could do too much damage to the man other than traumatising him, a female voice told him to stop.

Harry instantly recognised the nagging tone. Sure enough, Rachel Dawes had taken it upon herself to intervene. Harry wondered if she had been given orders by Batman to stall.

"Well hello beautiful" Joker commented, looking at Rachel and smoothing his hair back. Harry attempted to suppress his laughter; Rachel, in his eyes, was pretty ugly. Her face looked too squished together and the dress she had on clung in all the wrong places. On top of that, she was generally a horrible person who had no concern about any people locked away in prisons and asylums, so she really had nothing going for her.

It was when Joker called her beautiful again that he couldn't contain his laughter anymore, and he cackled loudly, gaining the attention of the room.

"Oh please" he cried, "ya think she's beautiful? She's about as attractive as a Blast-Ended Skrewt."

"What's one of them?" one of Joker's henchmen asked Harry gruffly, though he looked genuinely curious.

"One of the ugliest things in the world, well, besides her" Harry answered, still giggling, half sunk onto the floor.

"Excuse him" Joker said to Rachel, who was looking at the teen with a hurt expression. "He's just excited because he got to stay up past his bedtime tonight."

The Joker then went into telling Rachel a story about how he got his scars, so Harry shut off and tapped his foot impatiently. He strolled over to some of the scared group and smiled at them. They recoiled slightly and he grinned wider.

"Now you're just being rude" he warned them. "Don't you think if you were a little more polite then maybe we wouldn't crash your social gatherings?"

The crowd remained silent and he sighed. Just as he was contemplating heating things up, in a literal manner of course, a motion across the room caught his interest.

Rachel had kneed Joker enough to make him step away from her, although pathetically enough that he could laugh at her effort.

It was then, almost out of nowhere that Batman appeared. Harry felt a surge of adrenaline rush through him, even as he watched the man knock out about six of Joker's helpers in one go, not taking any damage from them whatsoever. Joker really hadn't been over exaggerating Batman's strength.

As Joker and another henchman launched an attack on the vigilante, Harry scoured the room for somebody that he could use. His eyes landed on Alfred, Bruce Wayne's butler. If Bruce was linked to Batman somehow, then using somebody close to Bruce as a hostage would be better than a stranger.

He grabbed a knife from one of the tables and ran over to the older man, grasping his arms behind his back with one hand and using the other to hold the knife against his throat. He believed that each time Joker did that to him he held the blade at a vital point, but just in case there was the incredibly rare chance that Joker had just been pretending, he held the knife just that little bit harder.

"Play nice" he hissed in Alfred's ear. "I won't hurt you unless you try and mess about. One slice and you're done. I just need you so the big bat pays attention."

The man sighed but made no attempt to struggle, and allowed Harry to walk them over to where the Joker and Batman were still fighting. The last of the henchmen was struggling now, and with no effort Batman threw the man off him.

"Can you stop a moment?" Harry said loudly, announcing his presence. Joker stood back smirking, much to Harry's surprise, while Batman looked him up and down, a frown forming on his face. Harry noticed his eyes lingered a moment longer than normal when they reached the knife at Alfred's throat.

"You've got kids working for you now?" Batman asked Joker incredulously.

"Why do people seem to think I'm twelve? I'm not, just so ya know, and anyway, I don't work for him; I just destroy things while he does his thing" Harry answered, and Batman gave him a weird look. Harry just smiled back, resting his head on Alfred's shoulder. The older man seemed to be more bored than he was frightened.

Batman seemed to be getting over the shock and appeared to have figured out a plan to knock Harry out and save Alfred; either that or he was just going to try and punch Harry for the fun of it.

"Don't do anything" Harry warned, pressing the knife slightly into the man's skin to draw blood. "I just wanna have a little chat, ya know? Introduce myself. We've never spoken before, and we could become, like, really good friends, only if you beat me up we'll never know."

The vigilante's posture seemed to relax slightly as he sussed that Harry wasn't planning to hurt anybody just yet, but he was still watching Harry and the Joker carefully, and his body language still suggested that he'd probably be quicker than them if they tried to attack him in surprise. Harry certainly had no plans of doing that, and he hoped Joker wouldn't ruin things for him, although glancing around slightly, Harry found Joker had headed away from them and was leaning by the window.

"Are you related to Harley Quinn by any chance?" Batman questioned, and Harry smirked and shook his head. His impression was obviously good enough to fool the Dark Knight.

"We're just friends. Do you know why we're friends? It's because we talk. We don't beat each other up and call the cops. Oh, by the way, I'm Ace. Ace of Spades. Here's my card" Harry said, throwing the vigilante the Ace of Spades card. The man caught it in such a manner that even Harry had to admit he was impressed. "It means death, but that don't necessarily mean I wanna kill you Bats, not just yet at least."

"Stop fooling around now-"Batman started, taking steps nearer to him. Harry instantly took two back, pulling Alfred with him.

"Nah-ah, you don't wanna let this old man die now, do ya? You're meant to be stopping the evil in this city, so surely you're a role model, which means if you let this geezer die, I can push another into traffic because you think it's acceptable."

"You really picked a crazy one here" Batman spat at Joker. The psychopath laughed maniacally in response, and Harry felt a shudder go round the room.

"Listen Ace" Batman growled, turning his focus back on Harry, "I eat punks like you for breakfast."

"Hmm" Harry responded, taking a good look at the costumed man's mouth. It did seem familiar to him slightly, but he wasn't sure why, so he focused on the shape of the jaw instead. It wasn't as nice as Joker's, but he wouldn't say no.

"With a mouth like that, feel free to do so any time of the day" he replied, winking. "Maybe I'll return the favour."

Batman recoiled and Joker looked on darkly. He was edging slowly towards Rachel, so Harry guessed he was running out of time. Similarly, Batman seemed to be losing patience, and he pulled some contraption out of his outfit. Harry didn't even have time to see what it was because he dropped the knife to protect himself with flames.

The entire room seemed to go eerily silent, the man in his grasp too shocked to even realise he could move away safely now. Likewise, it appeared that he had managed to shock Batman into a silence.

Using Harry as a distraction, Joker had managed to get behind Rachel without her noticing. Harry knew Joker would have grabbed her already if he wasn't waiting to see Batman's reaction.

Harry threw Alfred to the side and stepped forward smirking. He anticipated the punch before the vigilante did it, and he didn't even flinch as the fist collided with his face. He just laughed as he stumbled backwards and looked up at the Dark Knight with a dark expression.

"You're suggesting we play violent Bats? Well fine, your choice" Harry spat, waving his hand to the side and engulfing the nearest person to him in flames. The man fell to the floor screaming in agony while the other guests moved away in horror, not bothering to help the dying man.

Harry jumped to the side as Batman lunged for him. Harry's smaller frame and past experience as a Seeker meant that he was a lot more agile than the vigilante. As such, he avoided being punched again, although Batman wasn't willing to give up. His energy was relentless as he attempted to lash out at Harry again and again.

"Don't ya think trying to attack teenagers sets a bad example Man-bat?" Harry taunted, still taking care to dodge the man. He jumped up onto a table and span around, producing a ringed wall of fire to protect himself.

Joker had got bored of the show and grabbed hold of Rachel finally, placing a gun against the side of her head and dragging her to the floor length windows.

"Look Bats" Harry drawled, smirking at Rachel's terrified expression. "You're stronger than me but I'm quicker and have control over fire, and as for Joker, well he's doing his bit for the community, in fact right now he's taking out the trash."

Batman whipped around to face Joker and Rachel. "Drop the gun" he ordered. Joker of course did no such thing. Harry moved so he could watch the vigilante's face. His eyes were narrowed and focused on nothing but Rachel it seemed.

"Sure, but how about you take off your mask first and show everyone here who you really are" Joker retorted. Rachel shook her head as the psychopath said that. Joker himself was too focused on Batman to notice, or perhaps from his angle it looked like she was simply struggling against his grip, but from Harry's view, she definitely didn't want Batman to reveal his identity.

When Batman made no move, Joker aimed his gun backwards and shot at the window, shattering the glass, and he pushed Rachel back, gripping hold of her arm and leaving her dangling precariously by the edge.

"Let her go" Batman demanded. Joker grinned widely.

"Very poor choice of words" the madman responded, laughing hysterically and releasing the woman, making her disappear from the edge.

Almost instantly Batman went after her, leaping out of the window. Harry followed him, stopping by the side and watching as the pair tried to reach for one another on the sloping roof before vanishing off the edge.

As he tried to peer over further Joker tugged his arm to let him know they were leaving. Harry followed him happily, laughing as the crowd stepped back in fear as they passed.

Joker left through the doors first and before Harry followed he turned back to the crowd one last time.

"Remember, tell your friends about me" he grinned before skipping to catch up with Joker.

They exited the building and Joker led Harry over to a black van which had a masked man sat at the steering wheel.

Joker got in beside the man and slit his throat before he could say anything and pushed his body to the back, moving over to take the wheel and allowing Harry to take the passenger side.

"Are you sure Batman is a good guy?" Harry asked Joker casually as their vehicle sped away from the scene. "He seems mean."

Joker cackled and didn't answer him; instead he seemed to be pondering something else.

"Now why do you think the big Bat threw himself out of the window to catch your little friend?" he asked, causing Harry to grimace.

"She is not my friend" he growled, falling into Joker's side as the madman took a corner very sharply.

"I wonder…" Joker continued, ignoring what Harry had said.

"You think Batman loves her?" the teen enquired and Joker nodded in response.

"I don't get why so many people love her; she's nothing special" Harry started, but then an idea struck him, "unless one of the two people that do love her enjoys dressing up in tights." From what he could tell, Harvey Dent seemed more likely to be Batman than Bruce, giving his admiration of the vigilant, plus the fact he was in the law industry anyway. Neither of them had been at the party though, so there was a chance it could be either. He would definitely have to meet Bruce again to find out.

"I believe it's time me and Bats play a little game" Joker muttered. Harry could tell from the look on the psychopath's face that he was already imaging the results. "Oh and Ace, I got you a late birthday present."

That had been the last thing Harry had expected Joker to say, but the wicked glint in the madman's eyes suggested it would likely benefit him more than it would Harry.

Joker pulled up by a house that looked nice by Gotham's standards. He gestured for Harry to leave the van and he complied readily, waiting while Joker rummaged around in the back. He urged Harry forward, and the pair crept up to the house. They peered in through the window slightly, revealing a man who was sat dozing in a chair, his arm in a cast and face bruised slightly.

"Should I know him?" Harry whispered. The man seemed familiar to him slightly, but any memories he tried to access seemed fuzzy.

"I suppose he at least did his job right" Joker muttered, turning to Harry with a wide grin. "He's your buddy from the bar."

Harry opened his mouth to ask how Joker knew that, but he then decided he should just be grateful Joker did it for him.

An idea struck Harry and he shut his eyes firmly and placed his hands on the window. His favourite bit of accidental magic he had performed as a child was when he made the glass disappear at the zoo, causing his cousin to fall in with a snake.

He laughed at the memory slightly, but tried to concentrate on the magic. He had done it before without a wand, so he hoped he could now. He remembered the anger he felt at his cousin growing up, and the hatred he felt for this man now. He shut his eyes tighter, almost yelling in surprise when he fell forward as the glass vanished.

He opened his eyes and smiled brightly at Joker, whose own eyes were glowing. Harry moved to climb through but Joker stopped him.

"It'll be more effective from here" the psychopath explained, placing a rocket firework into Harry's hands. "You can see all the colours better from a distance you see."

Harry grinned as he aimed the rocket into the house and sent a spark to the fuse while Joker stepped back a bit. A surge of adrenaline rushed through him as the firework exploded, flying into the room and erupting in a mass of blue, green and red lights. The sparks fell onto the man, who was now wide awake and clearly terrified. Despite the fact he was nowhere near injured enough for Harry's liking, the pretty colour display kept him entertained.

The man locked eyes with him, clearly not recognising Harry out of his glamour charm, and the fear Harry could see racing through made him giddy. He sent a large wave of fire into the room, not giving the man chance to escape.

He was still beaming as he and Joker went back to the car, ignoring the man's screams.

"Can we get some more fireworks sometime?" he asked, using the puppy-dog eye look he knew would never affect Joker.

The man nodded and Harry smiled further. He had never thought the day he got to speak with Batman would have turned out so well.

---

The next day found Harry sat with Harley, both of them watching a news report about the fundraiser Harry and Joker had crashed.

"Last night most of those in attendance of a fundraiser for District Attorney Harvey Dent were lucky to be left alive after the criminal 'The Joker' appeared, only saved by the interference of Batman" the newsreader drawled. "As well as being accompanied by henchmen, it appeared that The Joker has a new accomplice in the form of a young male. Eyewitnesses say he introduced himself as 'Ace of Spades'. Further reports say that he produced flames as if from his own fingers, and was responsible for the death of a thirty year old man. It is suspected that this man could be perpetrator behind the arson attacks which have happened frequently this month. It is unknown whether he had any part in the deaths of Judge Surillo and Commissioner Loeb, who were last night murdered by The Joker…"

Harry turned the screen off now they had finished talking about him, and he turned to Harley happily.

"I'm finally getting noticed. People are scared of me, and they know it's because if I kill them it's because they deserve it, which most of them here do" he grinned, and Harley nodded, matching his smile.

"I'm happy for ya Ace, and I'm glad B-man didn't beat you up too much" the blonde replied winking.

"I'm glad too. I don't want to kill him though, not yet. I'm onto a theory."

Harley opened her mouth to ask about his theory, but Ivy walked through the door, stopping whatever it was that she was going to say.

"Hello" she greeted, sitting down next to Harley. "Harley, we're being visited by the moon this evening."

Harley almost squealed in joy, while Harry looked on blankly. Fortunately for him, Ivy seemed to realise that he had no idea what she was talking about.

"It's a nickname for our friend" the redhead explained. "I've been working with her for just over a year now, but she travels a lot so we don't often get to see her. She cares very deeply for plant life." Ivy's last sentence summed up to Harry why she appeared to like the girl. Harry was surprised Ivy and Harley got on considering Harley had no enthusiasm concerning plants.

"Has Joker met her?" Harry asked, smirking when the girls both winced.

"Twice" Harley told him. "I mean, he doesn't like her, because he doesn't really like anyone, but he doesn't want to kill her, and that's scarier than if he had just killed her the first time he saw her."

"In all honesty, I'm surprised he took you from Arkham" Ivy murmured. "I can see why now, but at first it was a shock."

"That reminds me, next time you and Mr. J are enjoying yourselves can I watch? Listening isn't the same" Harley grinned and Harry pulled a mocked shocked expression.

The door opening once again stopped their conversation, and they all stared as Joker strolled in and sat down next to Harry, making the sofa they were sat on rather cramped.

"It was very sad to hear about the Commissioner" he stated. "I think we should all go and pay our respects tomorrow at the memorial."

Harry felt that only Joker could say that in such a way that it made it sound so cruel. Considering Joker was the reason for the man's death, Harry wondered how he proposed to pay his 'respects'. He would just have to wait to find out.

---

Later on that evening, Harley and Ivy had gone off to talk with their friend, leaving Harry and Joker alone for the time being.

They didn't speak much; Harry was attempting to burn patterns onto a deck of cards, while Joker watched on, occasionally ordering him a picture he wanted Harry to make.

The sound of Harley laughing alerted their attention, and they looked up as Ivy and Harley came through the door. A blonde girl was walking behind them, and Harry quickly found himself looking into the slightly surprised but overjoyed eyes of Luna Lovegood.

Chapter 18: Eighteen

Harry eyed Luna wearily for a moment. The last people he had ran into from the Wizarding World had tried to cause trouble for him, but then again, Luna had always stood by him in the past, and she seemed as shocked to see Harry as he was to see her. He decided to give her a chance for now.

"Luna…hi," he greeted, dragging out the sentence and turning Joker's, Harley's and Ivy's attention almost entirely on him.

"Hello Harry. It's nice to see you again," she replied, and she sounded so sincere that Harry couldn't help but relax slightly.

"My name isn't Harry anymore," he told her, "it's Ace now. Like the card."

"Oh good," Luna replied nodding. "I think Ace suits you a lot better; much more you."

Harry couldn't stop the smile gracing his face.

"You two know each other?" Harley asked curiously, and the pair nodded.

"We were friends at school" Harry answered. Luna came and sat on the floor next to him.

"I'm glad you're not locked away in a hospital anymore. I was surprised when I got a letter from Dad telling me what they had done with you; I always thought that they were going to make you Minister," the blonde said while drawing patterns in the dust and ash on the floor.

"Did you not believe I could be mentally unsound?" Harry asked, looking at Luna seriously and trying not to break into a fit of giggles. He wondered if she would change her answer if she knew that.

"Perhaps not unsound," Luna answered thoughtfully, her eyes staring dreamily into the distance. "Though I never thought were especially normal; I always liked that about you."

Despite the fact that Harry hated the Wizarding World now, having a friend from that world still be there for him filled him with a sense of joy, and he flung himself at Luna, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

It was only a matter of seconds before he was pulled back harshly and then Joker moved around Harry and forced himself in-between the pair, gripping tightly onto Harry's arm where the word 'Joker' was carved into it.

"So Luna," Joker said cheerfully, though fixing the girl with a dark look; a combination even Harry found a bit frightening. "Are you magical too?"

Luna glanced over at Harry briefly, who nodded. Harley and Ivy both leant forward in interest as well.

The Ravenclaw nodded and pulled her wand out. She produced a shower of blue sparks to demonstrate.

"I don't use magic much nowadays," Luna told the group casually. "I find it's a lot more satisfying to do things by hand, although I do need it for my research at times. Did they allow you to keep your wand Ace?"

The way Luna said the name Ace as though she had known him by it forever made Harry smile.

"No, they snapped it two. You want to know what I can do though?" he asked excitedly, knowing he would demonstrate whether she wanted him to or not, but luckily the girl nodded.

He waved his hand and sent a fireball crashing into the opposite wall.

"That's interesting. How do you do that?" Luna asked with interest, but Harry simply shrugged. "Perhaps you've been infested with an Ignisby. They're little creatures that crawl inside you and make fire spontaneously erupt from your hands. Have your ears been ringing?"

Harry closed one eye as he racked his brain to make sure they hadn't, and when he was sure he shook his head.

"Perhaps not then," Luna continued. "While I'm in Gotham I think I'll do some reading on it."

"Hey Luna," Harley piped up, bouncing in her seat. "Fancy coming with us tomorrow? We're gonna go watch Joker have some fun at a memorial service."

The look on Luna's face told Harry that she knew what Harley really meant when she said 'fun', but when the girl nodded, Harry felt another surge of joy run through him. He didn't know what had changed in Luna to make her accustom to the criminal culture, but he wasn't going to complain.

---

The next morning, Harry rushed out before anyone else was up; scribbling a note telling the others that he would meet them at the funeral service.

He wanted to see Bruce Wayne again to see if he was anywhere near close with his Batman theory. It was easier for him to get to Bruce than it was Harvey Dent, and if he could rule out Bruce that could still be beneficial.

He hadn't decided what he wanted to do with the information just yet, but his mind was going all over the place with theories and he wanted it to stop, which was why he now found himself barging his way up to Bruce Wayne's penthouse in the early morning.

His butler, Alfred, answered the door, his expression unreadable.

"Can I help you?" the older man said professionally, though Harry was sure the old man recognised him from the night Batman left him at that emergency hotel place. He eyed a red mark on the butler's throat from where he had held a knife against it a couple of nights ago. He did his best not to smirk.

"Is Bruce around?" he snapped, decided to cut to the chase. He wanted to see what Joker had planned; he didn't have time to be waiting around a penthouse.

"I'm sorry Sir; I believe Mr Wayne is still in bed. Perhaps if you come back later?" Alfred replied, and Harry felt the urge to grab a knife and finish what he had started, but another voice interrupted his homicidal thoughts.

"It's okay Alfred; I'm awake. Is everything okay, Regulus?" Bruce said, appearing from around the door.

He ushered Harry in, and the boy wondered why the billionaire was so lax when it came to security; though if he had some connection to Batman he probably didn't need to worry much.

Alfred left them and Harry followed Bruce through to a seating area.

"Sorry to be so early," Harry muttered, running his hands across the cool leather cushions. "Me and my friends are going to the memorial funeral thing later."

"That's alright, though next time if you want to visit you may be better calling first. I lead a very busy life and I wouldn't want you to go out of your way," said Bruce.

"Oh no, I don't mind," Harry murmured, remembering why he was here. As Bruce glanced around the room awkwardly, the teen tried to focus on Bruce's jaw and mouth, though without a picture of Batman it was hard to determine anything. Bruce's jaw was a lot more defined, but in a mask it could easily become slightly distorted. He shut one eye and held his fingers up sideways in front of Bruce's face, trying to get a better representation of him in a mask; there were definite similarities, but Harry couldn't say anything for sure.

"What are you doing?" Bruce asked sharply, interrupting Harry's thinking.

"I, er, the sun was in my eyes," Harry told the man, who twisted in his seat and looked at the dull sky outside.

"It's gone now," Harry muttered, toying with the idea of setting the top half of Bruce's face on fire. "I wanted to see how you were doing; I heard what happened with the Joker at your fundraiser for Harvey."

Bruce's expression softened slightly, though he was still looking at Harry intently. Harry wondered if he should take a leaf out of Joker's book and gouge his eyes out.

"Well I'm fine," Bruce answered thoughtfully. "Not much was vandalised, but I'm sure you heard about the man that was murdered? The other guests were rather traumatised by it."

"Where were you when he died?" Harry asked in an attempt to catch Bruce off guard.

"A panic room" Bruce answered quickly. The speed of his answer was almost unnatural in Harry's opinion; the man was definitely hiding something. He was going to say something to try and catch Bruce out again, but Bruce spoke first, and his plans flew out of his mind.

"The Joker will be locked away for good soon," Bruce said determinedly, finally taking his focus off Harry. "He's nothing more than a lowlife thug, albeit a very dangerous one, but all of them slip up at some point."

Harry couldn't explain the sudden anger and hatred he felt directed at Bruce. The man had no right to talk about Joker like that; sure Joker was dangerous, but otherwise everything Bruce said was wrong. The Joker had a much better mentality than other criminal's, in that his goal wasn't on money and becoming infamous; he just wanted to play with the world and create chaos. He wanted to make art, and Harry thought that even if Joker did slip up, he'd just create something new and better from it, like a true artist.

Harry felt a cold chill run through him; he was so defensive of Joker, even when faced with a likely vigilante who would hate Joker no matter what he said, but still. Then there was the fact that he could accept Joker's crimes, no matter what they were, and how every time he looked at men he would compare them to Joker and think how the madman was better in every way, and how each time Joker looked at him with those crazed eyes and each time he touched him with his painful grip, his heart would flutter and he'd feel more real than he had done with anyone else; how he didn't really want anyone else in that way…

"Oh fuck," Harry muttered, clapping his hand over his mouth and shutting his eyes.

"What? Are you alright?" Bruce asked concerned, and Harry snapped his eyes open.

"I think I'm in love," Harry whispered, just loud enough for Bruce to hear.

The room was silent for a moment, allowing Harry's mind to start spinning, but Bruce's voice brought him out of it.

"Look, I'm flattered, but I'm much older than you. Plus I'm straight and I've gone past experimenting but-"Bruce started, and the mere thought of Harry loving Bruce caused the Gryffindor to burst into laughter.

"Oh no Brucey, not with you" he giggled, ignoring the strange expression Bruce was fixing him with; he had probably realised that Harry had just unconsciously imitated Joker. The laughter managed to distract Harry enough from his realisation of love for a madman and for the moment get his mind back on track to the Bruce-Harvey-Batman theory. "You know what the word on the street is? Apparently Batman was at your party and threw himself out of the window after your friend Rachel. I bet you're glad she's alive; you love her, don't you?"

Bruce's face darkened, but a cough from the doorway got their attention.

"Master Wayne, some important documents have arrived for you," Alfred stated, giving Bruce a very plain look.

"I'm sorry Regulus; I'm going to have to ask you to leave now" Bruce said, standing up from his seat.

"But I can't yet," Harry protested, standing too. He was suddenly aware of how tall Bruce really was.

"I'm sorry," Bruce repeated. "This is important; I wouldn't ask so rudely otherwise."

Bruce placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, pushing him sideways slightly as a hint to move. Not expecting the touch, Harry span round with his arm raised, not quite sure what he was doing, but before he could figure it out, Bruce reacted first, grabbing hold of Harry's wrist and bending it backwards until it cracked.

Harry gasped as Bruce dropped his wrist in shock, panic setting over his face.

"I am so sorry Regulus. I didn't mean to do that; it's just instinct-"Bruce said hurriedly, trying to take a look at his hand again.

Harry shrugged him off. "You do that on instinct? Breaking people's wrists when they turn around?"

He wasn't particularly angry; he had had much worse injuries before, and a broken wrist was nothing, but Bruce's calloused hands and incredible strength basically confirmed what Harry had been thinking about Bruce for most of their conversation.

Bruce apologised again, shaking his head continuously. Alfred looked just as horrified.

Harry backed away slowly from the room, trying to give Bruce the impression he really was mad at him. Though before he left, he decided he had one last thing to say.

"Oh Bruce, just some advice regarding your love life; if you want the girl, instead of saving her, you'd be better off throwing Harvey out the window instead."

He took one last look at Bruce's shocked expression before he fled.

---

Harry wasn't quite sure how he managed to get to the funeral of Commissioner Loeb on time. He had killed both the drivers who offered to drive him there; they were being too talkative in the car and Harry wondered if they might be onto him so he disposed of them. The third car he decided to take and drive for himself, only to crash seconds after starting the engine, though in his defence he was one handed. In the end he ran through the streets of Gotham, taking numerous wrong turns until he finally found himself in the right area.

The street was pretty wide, and the entire road was closed off for the procession to march down. The pavements had railings to stop the civilians stepping into the road, and numerous people were stood watching with little expression on their faces.

He darted through the crowd, spotting Luna's blonde hair before he saw the others. They were standing as close as they could be to the stage, backed into a doorway; away from the crowds. Ivy and Harley were both in disguise and they looked very ordinary, so much so that Harry wouldn't have looked twice had Luna not been with them.

"Hey sweetie!" Harley exclaimed when she saw him, smiling brightly. Harry was focused more on Ivy than the blonde though.

"What happened Ivy?" he asked, smirking, looking at Ivy with her now brown, matted hair, big glasses and clothes that Harry thought would be better suited for an old lady.

"I look terrible, don't I? I'm looking forward to just ripping these clothes off," the normally red-haired woman replied.

Harley giggled. "I reckon I might give you a hand there, Red."

"What did you do to your wrist Ace?" Luna asked, pointing at his arm where a bruise was already starting to form.

"Bruce Wayne broke it" he answered.

He heard Harley and Ivy both make shocked noises, but Luna had indicated for him to stand nearer the doorway, facing away from the crowds.

She pulled her wand out discretely and muttered "Episkey."

An odd cold and hot combination surrounded his wrist, and he winced as the bones fixed themselves, but he smiled gratefully at Luna afterwards.

"What'd you do to Wayne?" Harley asked, looking more than slightly impressed with Luna.

"Just insulted his little girlfriend" Harry lied.

The procession had almost reached the end now, and Harry caught a glimpse of a scarred face amongst the uniformed men; it was apparently the last place the police had thought to look.

"I'm not going to have to arrest you, am I?" a voice said from behind, and Harry span to find himself face to face with Jim Gordon.

The man was smiling, his comment apparently being a joke. Harry thought that was very Sirius-like of him.

"No, I'm not planning to do anything wrong," Harry answered honestly. Gordon's expression turned thoughtful.

"I'm guessing that you're here to watch him," Jim stated. Harry presumed that by 'him', he meant Joker. "You can save a man's life if you tell me his general direction."

"I don't know. To be honest, there are a lot of windows," Harry responded, glancing up at the high rise buildings. It wasn't a complete lie.

Gordon sighed and clapped Harry on the shoulder. He turned, heading towards the stage when Luna spoke up.

"You know, Ace, he looks a lot like your Godfather."

The cop froze and turned back with eyes widened in surprise.

"You think so too?" Gordon asked Luna in an awed tone.

"Yes, most definitely. You could almost be his twin," Luna replied, and Harry decided Luna was one of the most amazing people on the planet.

Gordon made a noise half way between a choke and a sob, and he moved quickly to the stage, taking a seat at the side by the Mayor where he managed to compose himself.

"Do you believe in reincarnation, Luna?" Harry asked, not bothering to listen to the speech.

"I believe so, yes. The same butterfly comes to our garden at home every summer, and I know it's my mother," Luna answered, her eyes dreamier than usual. "Is that what you think happened with Sirius and that man?"

"I know it happened" Harry assured.

"I think the chance is rather high. They do look too alike for it to be a simple coincidence," Luna agreed, and Harry pulled her into a hug.

They watched, bored, as the Mayor continued talking, the cops on the stage glancing around nervously.

After the Mayor finished, the group of men Joker was hidden amongst raised their guns, preparing to fire them into the sky. They fired once, before then pausing for a moment. As they fired the second time, cops started to fire at a window above them. It was on the third round that Joker took a shot at the Mayor.

Everything seemed to slow down then. Harry could see the bullet travelling towards the Mayor, Gordon leaping in front of the man, and then the bullet crashing into Jim's back.

He took one look at Gordon and knew he was dead. A line of fire went flowing down the pavement, and then he leapt over the fences, pushing past everyone else in the chaos, determined to get to the Joker.

The girls were right behind him, but he didn't care about them anymore.

He ran as fast as he could, keeping on track at all times. He could feel grief tearing at him from the inside, and all he really wanted to do was go and see Jimmy and break down and cry with him, but he couldn't do that. Joker had said he wouldn't kill Gordon but he had done.

He managed to catch Joker up eventually, finding himself in a secluded fielded area. He screamed and sent a fireball narrowly missing Joker's head in order to gain his attention.

The madman turned and strolled up to Harry like nothing was wrong.

"Did I do something to upset you?" Joker asked in a very non-sincere way; he knew exactly what he had done, and he knew Harry knew that too.

"You said you wouldn't kill him" Harry hissed, watching as Joker moved sideways just as another stream of fire escape Harry's hands, this time uncontrolled.

He collapsed to the floor, unable to catch his breath as the tears started to stream from his eyes. The first time losing Sirius had been hard, but this time it felt even worse.

The girls had caught up now, but were stood back, watching the scene almost worriedly. Almost.

Harry screamed again as he threw another fireball feebly at Joker, who this time dodged it with ease.

"I don't know why you're mad at me," Joker muttered, crouching down in front of Harry. "I was just trying to kill the horrible little Mayor."

"But you didn't hit the Mayor; you hit Sirius" Harry shouted, slamming his fists into the ground and singeing the grass.

"Do you think I should have known your friend was going to jump in front of the bullet? I was aiming, for the Mayor," Joker reaffirmed.

"He's right you know," Luna uttered from the back. "He fired before Sirius jumped. You know how Sirius is as well, don't you Ace? He's brave; willing to risk his life to save someone else."

Harry sobbed louder, knowing that was true. Gordon had mentioned that if Harry told him where Joker was, a life could have been saved; if he had known it wasn't the Mayor's life on the line then he would have told him.

"Do you know who you should be mad at?" Joker asked, tipping Harry's chin up and forcing him to look into the insane, glowing eyes. "Society. You see, society has made it so one person appears more important than the others, and in this case, that person is the Mayor. What makes him so special that he gets to live? Why do you think I was trying to kill him? The twisted morale of Gotham is what killed your friend Ace; not me."

Harry nodded, trying to control himself. Joker and Luna were both right, and despite how angry Harry felt, directing it at Joker was not going to help anything. The only way he could get vengeance was to make Gotham pay; he had to do it now, not just for fun, but for revenge. He had a goal, and he wasn't going to let anything stop that. He had also realised at some point in the last few minutes that no matter how badly he wanted to burn Joker into nothing more than ash and scatter him into the wind, he would miss the man desperately.

As Harry gazed into Joker's mad eyes, he wondered if he would ever regret falling in love with a crazed psychopath. In the end, he thought chances not.

Chapter 19: Nineteen

An unusual silence fell for a few moments over the group of rogues, until Harley sang something about going to makeovers. The blonde grabbed Ivy by the hand and dragged her away from the flowers she had been caressing, Luna skipping along behind them, leaving Harry and the Joker alone.

Harry swiped at his eyes to brush away the tears, and he looked up at Joker, not quite sure what to say.

He watched as Joker's face contorted into a twisted grin, one which held no humour and seemed to be both patronising and mocking.

"I think Gotham misses us," Joker stated, cupping his hand around his ear as if straining to hear something. "It's far too silent; almost peaceful. We can't have that; it's not good, not good at all. I need to be alone for a bit but I'm sure you can break the silence yourself."

"Is that it then?" Harry asked, voice coming out strangled. "My Godfather dies for the second time and you just forget it in a flash?"

"Yeah," Joker replied, nodding as if it was obvious.

"How can you completely shut off like that? All I want to do now is go back to that crowd and burn every single one of those cowards who stood by and did nothing to a crisp," Harry growled, making Joker quirk his eyebrow.

"If you're quick I'm sure you can catch them," Joker suggested, smiling darkly. "People die all the time yet nobody cares about the strangers, but we're all strangers really; who knows what people are hiding from you. Besides, that fake daddy of yours has already been reincarnated once; maybe this time be won't come back as a stuffy cop. "

Joker turned to leave, but Harry grabbed hold of his arm, stopping the madman from going any further.

"Whatever is wrong with you today?" Joker asked, looking Harry up and down appraisingly. "Even I think you're being weird, and that's saying something." The psychopath broke out into manic laughter, the sound only intensifying upon Harry's next words.

"I think I'm in love with you." Harry didn't know why he told Joker that, but he couldn't take it back now.

"Oh, silly Ace, what've you done that for?" Joker grinned, spinning round to face Harry fully. "Love makes people do crazy things, and not the good kind of crazy either."

'If he wants bad crazy I'll show him how good bad can be,' Harry thought to himself, before swinging his arms around the back of Joker's head, pulling it forwards so that their lips met in an angry clash.

He pushed his lips hard against Joker's, tasting the other's lips with his tongue. He whimpered as Joker bit down hard on Harry's lower lip, causing the younger boy to open his mouth enough for Joker to thrust his tongue in, taking back the control he had lost. The Joker then pressed his hands against Harry's chest and pushed him backwards, causing the dark-haired boy to stumble slightly.

"Are you finished now? These people aren't going to just kill themselves; though who knows in this city?" Joker started, but he must have noticed the look of dejection on Harry's face, for he added; "don't be too harsh on yourself, Acey. Most of the time I don't feel like I want to murder you. I mean, sure, there are time when I want to plunge a blade into your body, over and over until I feel you go cold and lifeless beneath me, but usually you bring me the special kind of chaos I crave."

Joker then ran, clearly not wanting to be held up any longer. Harry presumed he was heading back to the city so he followed the general direction he was going, and eventually he was back amongst the high-rise buildings and murky streets of Gotham City.

He made his way through the streets, ignoring the glares and leers he was getting from the public. He stopped upon reaching a familiar house; the one Jim Gordon called home. He wondered if his family had heard the news yet, and how they would react. He suspected his wife would soon move on and have a new man in her life; Sirius had never been the sort to settle down, so somebody who wanted to force him to start a family against his wishes must have had an ulterior motive.

He crept around the back of the house, tapping on Jimmy's window when he reached it.

The boy quickly opened the window for him. He had a large smile on his face upon seeing Harry, but it didn't disguise the worry he could see in the boy's eyes.

"Ace! I was worried you'd forgotten about me," the kid greeted, looking unsure.

"Oh, not at all, Jimmy. I've just been very busy. Are you okay? You look worried,"

"I heard Mom crying earlier, and a cop is talking to her now, but she won't let me listen," Jimmy told him, glancing at his shut door.

"Well I'm afraid I have some bad news," Harry started, but from the scared look on the boy's face, he wasn't sure he could tell him his father was dead. "Your dad has been shot," he settled on instead. "I'm sorry, but I don't know if he made it or not. But you have to listen to me, Jimmy; whatever they tell you is a lie. The bullet was meant to hit the Mayor, but they made your dad jump in front of it."

"Why?" Jimmy asked, his voice shaking as he tried to stop the tears from falling. He was very brave for a child; definitely a trait Sirius would have passed on.

"Because the Mayor thinks he's better than everyone else, but he's wrong. They won't tell anybody that though because they don't want people to know, but I saw it happen. The Mayor is just as bad as the rest of them; worse than the shooter in fact. I can't stay much longer with you though, Jimmy. They'll tell me off for telling you the truth if they catch me here, but I'm going to go get help from somebody who will understand."

He pulled the younger boy into a tight hug, and Harry could feel wetness against his shirt as Jimmy finally started to cry.

"W-who's going to help us?" he mumbled quietly.

"Batman."

---

Harry allowed Jimmy to cry for a while, his own tears soaking into the boy's hair, but as soon as he heard footsteps he fled, making his way to Bruce Wayne's penthouse. He hoped Joker would never find out he planned on asking for Batman's help in revenge, no matter how unlikely it was that the vigilante would actually agree to help him.

He travelled up to the top floor of the building, not even bothering to knock on the apartment door. He burnt the hinges away smoothly, allowing him to kick down the door with ease; 'nothing like being dramatic', he thought with a grin.

The butler, Alfred, came running at the sound, and was trapped in a cage of fire before he could even notice Harry.

"Stay quiet or I'll let it cave in," he threatened the old man, who looked at him fearfully through the flames, his expression suggesting complete shock.

Harry smirked as he passed by Alfred and through the penthouse, looking in each room as he went. He stopped by a door that had the muffled sound of a television behind it.

He knocked, offering Bruce Wayne a polite smile when he opened the door.

"Regulus? How did you get in? I asked Alfred not to allow any visitors today, sorry," the man greeted, and Harry shook his head, his polite smile becoming vicious.

"Let's not bother playing this game, Bruce. I know who you are," Harry retorted. Bruce managed to keep his composure calm, which could have thrown off somebody who wasn't as determined as Harry.

"And who am I?" he asked with an amused tone.

"You really want to do this? Then fine," Harry said, dropping his glamour. Bruce's hands were instantly around his throat, pressing him into the far wall. "So billionaires who aren't costumed vigilantes have reactions like this, do they?"

Harry pushed against Bruce, flames burning the other man just enough for him to back away, before putting both his hands about his head.

"You do the same, Bruce; I'm not here to fight, unless of course you want to, but then it's bye-bye Alfred."

Bruce reluctantly copied Harry's pose after eyeing him for a moment to see if he was serious about Alfred.

"So have you been in disguise this whole time? I'm presuming you're some sort of master illusionist," Bruce said casually, as if they weren't two enemies alone, and Harry thought muggles had strange ways to explain and deal with magic.

"I'm not the only one who's been lying about my identity," Harry replied, wagging a finger gently. "It's kind of funny though; friends in one identity, enemies in the other."

"What do you want then? To blackmail me? To try and kill me?"

"Neither of those. No, when I first met you I thought you were hiding something, and I wanted to figure it out. Now I have done," Harry told the man with a pleased grin. "Only now I need your help."

"Why would I help a murderer like you?" Bruce growled.

"I've only killed people who deserved it; criminals and the like. Nobody innocent has purposely died by my hand. They've all done wrong."

"The old man at the fundraiser?" Bruce argued.

"Well, that was your fault; you goaded me," Harry reprimanded.

"Are you connected to the League of Shadows? Ra's al Ghul?" Bruce asked sharply, and he looked almost relieved when Harry shook his head without even bothering to disguise his confusion at the strange names. "Who are you then? You seem different to the usual psychotic killers of Gotham."

"I used to be just like you, Bruce. I fought the bad guys to save my world; never killing anybody because I didn't want to become like them. I took out the biggest evil and do you know how they repaid me? By locking me in a lunatic asylum and throwing away the key. They don't want me now they don't need me. Gotham doesn't care for Batman, and before long they'll do the same to you. You'll be driven away and broken down into one of us."

"I'll never become like you," Bruce said defiantly, and Harry was sure Bruce truly believed that.

"I used to think like that too," he stated, looking at Bruce sadly. "But then bad things happen to you which changes all that. When I was in Arkham they beat me, used me in weird experiments which messed with my mind, and locked me in with a man who tried to rape me. He would have done too if I hadn't killed him; he was the first man I meant to kill."

"I'm sorry," Bruce cut in, but Harry ignored him.

"After that I was broken, but Joker showed me how to make my own reality, and I see now that all these bad people don't deserve to live. I never had a family, but I'm getting one now; I just want to make it a better place for them. You know Jim Gordon? He used to be my Godfather, but he died and came back without his memories, and now he's dead again. The leaders of this city made him think they were worth sacrificing his life for. I thought you would understand that's wrong, and that the men who made him think that need to pay."

"Is that what you want me to do? Get revenge on the Mayor and his men?" Bruce asked, and Harry nodded enthusiastically. "I can't do that; they may be corrupt, but they're the best criminals this city has, and the Mayor; the Mayor is a good man."

"No, he's not," Harry interrupted, shaking his head. "He's the reason Sirius is dead!"

"Sirius?" Bruce questioned, taking a step nearer to Harry, still keeping his hands above him.

"Jim Gordon," Harry explained quietly, dropping to the floor and bringing his knees up to his chest.

"Listen, er-"

"Ace," Harry supplied.

"Ace…if Gordon really was your Godfather, do you think he'd want you getting revenge and killing people?" Harry didn't answer him, so Bruce continued. "Look, I lost my parents when I was a boy; I can't imagine losing Alfred now, but if I did, I know killing those responsible wouldn't bring him back."

"So what are you going to do? Throw me back in Arkham before I can do it?" Harry questioned, grimacing at the thought of being back in the Asylum.

"No, putting you in Arkham would be far more damaging to you. You need a stable, caring environment. You're lost and you've fallen in with a dangerous psychopath who's tricked you and moulded you into his puppet. If you want my help I can offer it, but my help is aimed at saving you, not hurting innocent men." Bruce crouched down so he was sat beside Harry, and he gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't need saving; I'm not lost. Joker's already found me and saved me," Harry spat back, though he allowed Bruce to keep his hand in place. "If anything, you need saving. Gotham will turn on you soon; they're already half way there, and then you'll be alone."

"Gotham may not want me; they may not like me, but they deserve me. The people of Gotham should be able to live without fear, and no matter how much they hate me, I will not stand down while things are like this."

Harry laughed gently. "You'll see one day, Bruce." He stood up quickly; the vigilante copying his action almost instantly afterwards.

"Are you going to tell the Joker who I am?" Bruce asked.

"No, I won't tell anybody. You'll need Bruce to hide behind when Batman has a death sentence on his shoulders, and Joker likes to figure these things out on his own, and only when he wants to know. If you're sure about staying against me, I won't go easy on you. I need to fill this city with chaos to make it my own."

"Then I hope you'll realise if Batman catches you, he'll turn you into the authorities, but Bruce Wayne will make sure you are cured."

"Nobody can cure me, Bats. Not with Joker still alive; he is part of me, after all."

---

Harry supposed he and Bruce Wayne had a very strange relationship now. He had allowed Harry to leave without a fight, although if they ever met when he was in his Batman persona then he wouldn't give him free reign.

He guessed he'd have to be more careful taking out the Mayor now, as Batman would likely have his eyes on him, though whatever the Joker was up to may give him enough distraction.

The psychopath still hadn't returned to their hideout and it had been hours since Harry and the girls had returned there, Harley sporting a new hair-do. The blonde seemed to be trying to entice Ivy to go with her to their bedroom, but the red-head wasn't giving in to her requests, resulting in a slightly sulky Harley.

"I wonder where Joker has gotten to," Luna thought aloud, the fingers she was running through Harry's hair stopping.

"I hope it involves mass murders of the filth in this city. When we were out in the country you should have seen the state my poor babies are in because of them. I think perhaps it's time the city gets reacquainted with Poison Ivy," Ivy drawled, eyes glazing over as she was doubtlessly imaging a city overrun by plant-life.

"Maybe we can come up with some ideas together," Harley suggested with a wink, dropping onto Ivy's lap. The red-head shoved her off as she stood up, stalking towards the gardens, with Harley hot on her heels.

Joker entered the sitting room just moments later. He glanced at Luna's fingers in Harry's hair, and the Ravenclaw stopped her actions, excusing herself to the gardens.

"Batman is revealing his identity tomorrow," Joker muttered, sitting on the sofa where Luna had been, and he brushed the top of Harry's head as if to remove all traces of Luna. "Harvey Dent's holding a press conference where Bats will come forward because he can't live with himself anymore."

"You seem happy about that," Harry observed, pressing his head back against Joker's legs. He glanced up at him with one eye shut. "I thought you liked playing with Batman; you won't be able to do that if he's in jail."

Joker laughed crazily and he looked down at Harry with almost child-like excitement. "This won't be the end of the Big Bat, no; this is just a new twist in the game. Did you ever play Monopoly?"

"No, why?" Harry asked, looking at the Joker with curiosity.

"Well in the game they had different figurines to represent the players; there was a thimble, a boot, a dog-"

"I'd have picked the dog," Harry cut in. Joker's grin widened.

"Oh, everyone wanted to be the dog, and I've got you your own dog to play with. That Rachel girl you've been wanting to brutally murder? She'll be yours tomorrow night."

Harry span around in a flash, kneeling on the floor in front of Joker. "I can kill her tomorrow?" he repeated excitedly, grinning as widely as Joker when the madman nodded.

"I'm counting on it. You'll be able to take down a whole building in the process. Just a little spark, a big explosion and she'll be in pieces."

---

The next morning, the five of them were waiting for the Batman press conference to start. Harley seemed more content than yesterday, and was curled up by Ivy's side. Harry wondered why Joker didn't seem that relaxed considering he had decided to make good use of Harry while he had been on his knees. He rubbed them instinctively at the thought, and Joker smirked with a wicked look in his eyes.

Harvey Dent's voice drew all of their attention to the screen. Dent was talking about Batman in a positive way, much to the displeasure of the crowd. As the camera panned over the audience members, Harry could see Bruce Wayne standing amongst them. He wondered if hearing the hatred aimed at Batman would influence his thoughts on the Gotham public.

Dent, it seemed, had had enough of fighting with the audience who were paying no attention to anything he had to say, and instead gave an order to take Batman into custody,

Harry waited for Bruce to step forward, but Dent declared himself as Batman before the billionaire had the chance.

"What? You liar!" Harry hissed at the television screen, realising he had just revealed the fact he knew at least some part of who Batman really was.

"Well, how interesting," Joker grinned, scars contorting as he glanced between the television screen and Harry. "The game twist has a twist within itself. How lovely; I think play time just got even better. Be here in two hours; the first beep when you're there means leave, the second means boom," Joker added, handing Harry a piece of paper with an address on. Joker had gone before they could blink.

"Why do you think Dent's a liar, Ace?" Harley asked, holding her hand up to cover the top half of Dent's face as the camera followed him being escorted away in handcuffs.

"His face is all wrong," Harry answered, and Harley let out a whoop of exclamation.

"Hey! You're right. Harvey Dent is a two-faced liar," the blonde sand. Luna and Ivy both gave Harry a look which told him they didn't believe that was the only reason, but they didn't particularly care either.

"What address is that?" Luna asked, shuffling over to read the piece of paper Harry had been given.

"Rachel Dawes will be there. I'm going to kill her," Harry explained, smiling as he traced his fingers over the address which housed the woman he had been waiting for.

---

Two hours later, Ivy and Harley had guided him to where he needed to be. It was an abandoned factory, it's windows smashed in places and wood boarding up patches of the worn down walls. He made his way inside, which was just as run down.

Oil drums filled the place, and amongst them all was Rachel Dawes tied to a chair, an intercom phone placed just in front of her. Harry switched the phone off; he wanted some alone time to chat with Rachel first.

The woman was unconscious but was starting to stir. Harry decided to speed the process up by slapping her across the face; he didn't want to start a fire too early after all.

He put his glamour back up as Rachel started to open her eyes. She looked around rapidly, eyes widening in fear, before they landed on Harry.

"What-? Y-you're Bruce's friend, aren't you? Reginald was it? What's going on? Are you here to help me?" she stuttered, more fear growing in her expression with each second.

"Nope," he answered simply, standing in front of her and dropping the glamour.

"How did you-? Wait, you're that Ace of Spades kid, aren't you?" the woman asked fearfully. Harry smirked.

"You ask a lot of questions, but yes, I am him. The last person you will see before I kill you."

"You're wrong; Batman will save me before-" she started, but Harry cut her off with a laugh.

"I don't think he'll be saving you anytime soon. Why should he? He clearly loves you but then you go toying with his emotions; acting like you're his best friend and then dangling your lover in front of him, even though you know how he feels about you. You're a nasty girl, Rachel; you don't deserve to be saved."

"I've don't nothing wrong. You can't kill me over that," Rachel cried, starting to become slightly hysterical. It was funny what fear did to people; if Harry hadn't despised Scarecrow and what he had done to him so much then he might have been played on it more.

"But you have done wrong; locking away people without considering the effects they might have on other inmates. Do you remember a man named Hunter Smith?"

"Hunter Smith…yes, he was a serial rapist and murderer; he needed to be locked away-"

"Yes, but then they threw me in a cell with him, and eventually I started to look like a woman to him. I had to kill him or he'd have broken my innocence. Instead I had to break my own and kill him. My innocence was all I had left to cling onto of who I used to be, but because of you it got ripped apart and tarnished and made me this. You locked Hunter up and let him do that to me, and now he's dead you're all that's left before I can forget what he did; what he tried to do."

"I'm sorry, I really am; you didn't deserve that, but killing me won't make you forget what happened. Please, just think this through. I promise I won't tell anyone you were here. We can forget this happened and-"Rachel stopped talking as a beeping noise cut through the room.

"That's my cue to leave," Harry explained with a grin. He switched the intercom phone back on, allowing Harvey Dent's voice to echo throughout the room. Harry waved at Rachel and winked, moving to stand by the doorway.

Rachel seemed to forget Harry's presence entirely as she spoke with her partner. She seemed so sure Batman was coming to save her; he couldn't see why two men could love somebody so cocky.

He heard Rachel gasp as Harvey started to protest to something; Batman had gone for Dent, and the shock and horror on Rachel's face was the most perfect sight of the night.

Another beep sounded, and Harry stepped fully outside. He saw three cop cars pull up on the drive way, and an even more perfect sight appeared; it turned out Sirius had returned from the dead twice.

He smirked as Jim Gordon watched in horror as he snapped his fingers, causing the smallest of sparks to fly into the room, allowing the building and Rachel to explode into nothingness.

Chapter 20: Twenty

Notes:

Okay, so I'm the worst updater in the world; forgive me. However, this story doesn't have long to go now so I'm going to crank the chapters out. I'm putting one of my other stories on hold and then writing my other story once this one has finished, so my updating will get better. But yeah, there's about one or two chapters left depending on how things play out. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Also, there is a lemon in this chapter. Be warned it does contain a bit of bloodplay. It's literally right at the end, so if you choose to skip it, just read the last few lines of the chapter and you won't have missed anything but shamless smut.

Harry took one last look at Gordon before he broke into a run through the burning debris and smoke, glamouring himself as he went. He dove behind a large piece of burnt stone, waiting for the footsteps to pass the other side of the smoke, before going back towards the street so it looked like he was a normal civilian rushing to the scene. Fortunately for him, Gordon was already heading back to the police cars, apparently having been the one who had rushed after him. He hoped it was because he hadn't wanted Harry to get burned.

"Hello officer, what's happened here?" Harry asked innocently, looking at Gordon directly. The older man's eyes widened.

"I'll talk to him privately; he may be a potential witness," Gordon muttered to the other cops who nodded.

Harry followed the man away from the burning building, smirking as he heard the sound of sirens getting nearer.

"Back from the dead twice, are we?" Harry sang as soon as the others were out of earshot.

"You just killed a woman!" Gordon snapped, a pained look on his face. Harry half expected him to start crying.

"I didn't kill her; I was standing outside when the building exploded. It's not like I can make sparks with my fingers or anything," Harry lied, and he knew Gordon knew that. "Besides, you know what that man did to me in Arkham, and she was the one who put him in there in the first place."

"Yes but-" Gordon started, but Harry cut him off.

"And you left me without saying goodbye, which of course meant I was upset, making me homicidal. Were you even really dead this time?" Gordon shook his head, his eyes glistening and Harry couldn't stay angry at him. "You could have told me," he whispered, looking just as sad as the cop.

"I couldn't. Whether you like him or not, we need to catch The Joker. You're too close to him; I couldn't trust you to keep the secret. But we're getting off the point. Rachel was a good person-"

Harry broke into laughter at those words. "Don't be silly; there was so much wrong with her. At least I could see it. Shame you can't arrest me for killing her while I look like this, though I'm sure if I told the courts all about her I'd be let off and maybe even given a medal for doing Gotham a favour. Oh, and I didn't see anyone else suspicious, just so you have something to tell your little friends when they wonder what we're talking about," he added, motioning to the cops and fire-fighters standing nearby.

"Can we talk, on our own soon? Tomorrow morning?" Gordon asked, looking surer of himself. "I'm going to have to let you go now; I have no good cause to arrest you, nothing which will be believed anyway, and even if I did have a reason, throwing you back in Arkham wouldn't help anything."

"I'll come to you tomorrow," Harry said with a smile, happy that Gordon wanted to take the first step in becoming his godfather again.

---

Harry had fled from the scene quite quickly; even in his disguise he felt uncomfortable being around so many fire fighters who were like his natural enemy. Besides, an idea had formed in his mind and he had been desperate to fulfil his fantasy, which was why he was now standing with Luna, looking down at a tatty old shoe.

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Ace?" Luna asked gently, a small smile lighting her features.

"Of course," Harry replied with his own grin.

The pair reached down and then there was a tugging feeling dragging down his body, and everything was spinning too fast. The sensation seemed to last longer than normal, and when it stopped Harry fell to the ground with a thud.

"International Portkeys are gentler on the landings but it feels much worse than the normal ones," Luna stated as she helped Harry stand.

They had returned to England so that Harry could retrieve his godson, Teddy. If Gordon was starting to become Sirius again, as he had proved by accepting that Harry had killed Rachel and wanting to talk to him alone, then he needed his own godson to make their family whole. Harry decided Joker would love being a second father to the boy, considering having two same-gender parents was still considered taboo and unnatural in society, while Harley, Ivy and Luna would make great aunts. He even thought that Bruce would be a good uncle, providing he kept Bruce and Regulus separated from Batman and Ace of Spades.

Harry missed the boy dearly, and he was sure Teddy missed him too. Andromeda was probably too depressed to care for him properly; he could put an old lady out of her misery and give Teddy a better life. Luna had Andromeda's address, as well as access into the house, so she led the way, taking Harry to a small cottage in the countryside.

"This is no good place to raise a child," Harry muttered, following Luna through the door.

"You'll need to be quick; the Ministry will know you're back in the country soon. They have Conspers spying for them, you know? They're tiny creatures that you can only see if you shine a red light on them," Luna told him seriously, and he nodded, moving quietly to the room where Andromeda was sleeping.

Sleep masked the pain she must have been feeling from losing her husband, daughter and son-in-law in such a short space of time. Even with who her sister was, Bellatrix's death must have affected her in some way too, so Harry felt no guilt as he placed his hand over her heart, the jolting heat and flame killing her instantly as it shot through her body. He had to pay respect for Teddy's grandmother, despite the bad job she had done with the boy, by killing her painlessly. Locking him away in the countryside was no good for a growing boy who had traces of werewolf blood flowing through his veins.

Once he was sure Andromeda was dead, he moved through the house and into Teddy's room, and his heart melted upon sight of the boy. He was much bigger than when Harry had last seen him, yet still so small. The tufts of hair on his head were a bright blue, and he clenched his fingers into tiny fists as Harry lifted him from his bed and into his arms. Everything seemed less painful as he held the baby in his arms, and he knew he had made the right decision. Joker would have to come joint first-place with his godson.

He re-joined Luna who had waited outside while Harry had disposed of Andromeda. The girl was singing a song in a language Harry didn't recognise, and was still humming the tune as she cooed at the baby in Harry's arms.

"He won't like Portkey travel you know. We'll get him some milk as soon as we're back in Gotham," Luna said, stroking Teddy's hair softly before gesturing for Harry to take hold of the shoe.

The world span again, only this time knowing he had a baby in his arms made him stick the landing better, although as Luna had predicted the journey had awoken Teddy. Harry rocked the child gently in his arms, aware of the amber eyes glistening with tears that were so much like Remus'.

The trio began their walk back to their hideout, Harry speaking comforting phrases to Teddy which he was sure the boy couldn't understand but would one day.

Teddy eventually stopped crying but stayed awake as they arrived back.

"This is your new home, Teddy-bear," Harry grinned, bouncing the baby in his arms. "It's not much at the minute, but Ace is going to make it good for you. You'll get to meet your daddy's friend soon; he'll tell you all about Daddy one day."

The child looked at him, his large eyes focused on Harry like he was trying to listen and understand.

They had barely stepped through the door when Harley was upon them, taking Teddy's small hands into her own. Ivy was watching with a mixture of fondness and repulsion.

"Ace, who is this angel? Can we keep him?" Harley asked, blowing raspberries and pulling faces at the infant.

"This is Teddy, my godson. He's living with us now," Harry told her, laughing as Harley continued her antics.

"Babies and children are such dirty, noisy creatures," Ivy muttered. "I hope you're ready for him."

"Of course I am," Harry responded, sticking his tongue out at the redhead. "Gotham is going down fast and then it will be the perfect place for Teddy. We can let your plants run through the city and he'll be able to get a mixture of city life and nature."

"Let's make sure nature comes first," Ivy warned teasingly.

"Do you know where Joker is?" Harry asked, not missing the glance Ivy and Harley shared.

"Well last I heard he got arrested, blew up a police station and escaped. He came back here, rummaged through my wardrobe and left again muttering something about a hospital," Harley said, counting each action on her fingers.

"I believe he had a white dress in his arms, though Harley doesn't believe me," Ivy added with a sly smirk, making Harley flustered.

"What would Mr. J want with a dress, Red?" she retorted.

Harry hushed them as he noticed Teddy closing his eyes again.

He made him up a small cot and fell asleep beside the baby. It was the best Harry had slept for weeks.

---

Harry awoke early the next morning to the sound of Teddy crying. He barely had time to jump up when Harley was in the room, a bottle of milk in her hands.

"I just adore babies," the blonde giggled as she handed the bottle to Harry so he could feed the crying infant as Harley watched on in adoration. "I got ya some clothes for him by the way; made 'em myself." Harley was beaming as she revealed a babygrow that was red down one side, and black on the other. A diamond shape was stitched onto the front. It had Harley written all over it, and Harry loved it.

After he got Teddy ready, he glamoured himself before venturing off into Gotham with Teddy in his arms. From the sounds of it, The Joker had something big planned, and he wanted to introduce Teddy to Gordon before he got drawn in to Joker's game.

He stuck his thumb out by the side of the road, and it wasn't long before a middle-aged man pulled over, leering at the pair as they climbed into the car. Harry covered Teddy's eyes with one hand as he disposed of the driver before climbing into the driver's seat. He drove at a slow speed, one hand on the wheel and the other on Teddy who was sat between his legs, as he deemed it the safest place for the boy considering the car had no baby seat. It was a good job really due to the fact Harry almost crashed a number of times. He eventually abandoned it a few streets down from where Gordon lived and walked the rest of the way.

He knocked on the front door of the Gordon residence, and it was opened almost immediately. Gordon had his gun drawn, but he lowered it when he realised who had knocked.

"Paranoid, are we? Where are your family?" Harry asked as he stepped through the door without invitation. He could instantly feel another presence in the house.

"They're, uh, in a safe house. Whose baby is that?" Gordon asked, shutting the door behind them.

"This is Teddy, my godson and your great-godson. Who else is here?" Harry muttered, turning towards the shadows of the living room. "I though bats were nocturnal."

"I made an exception for you," a familiar growl sounded, and Harry smirked.

"I'm honoured Bats," he laughed, turning towards the voice, only now Batman had moved out from the shadows, a scowl across his face.

"Did you kill her?" the vigilante questioned, and both knew who he was talking about.

"Who?" Harry asked, feigning innocence. "Oh, you mean your lover Rachel? No, I wanted to, but Joker got to her first. I tried to save her, but only so I could kill her later. Shame I wasn't fast enough," he lied, stroking Teddy's hair as he spoke.

"It's true," Gordon added, almost too quietly. "He was in the area but he wasn't near enough to have caused that explosion."

Harry's smile brightened as Gordon lied for him, and he dropped himself into a chair, crossing one leg over the other and resting Teddy on top.

"So why are you here Batman? Just to accuse me of murder or do you have something more interesting to talk about?" Harry asked, not taking his eyes off the vigilante, who was looking at him with equal intensity. "Oh, I forgot we all know who I am here," he added, dropping the glamour charm. "Better?"

Gordon pulled a chair over towards Harry, the legs scraping against the floor until both chairs were touching. "We're here for two reasons; one, we both want to help you without locking you up, and secondly we need to know what The Joker is planning," the cop told him, looking at Harry with true concern etched on his face. "We've read through your records. We know you were neglected-"

"Abused as well," Harry threw in. "Shame nobody else knew I was locked in the cupboard under the stairs for days at a time, called horrible names and smacked too many times without good reason."

Gordon actually reached a hand over to place it on Harry's shoulder comfortingly.

"The godfather you claim me to be was an escaped convict, put away for mass murder," Gordon continued.

"The first criminal who took you in," Batman interrupted, his eyes still not leaving Harry's face.

"He was innocent actually," Harry pointed out, bouncing Teddy slightly on his knee as he remembered when he had first found out about Sirius' innocence, when he thought he could finally be free of the Dursley's. "The man who framed him escaped and we couldn't prove it. There were too many rats in London to find him." He didn't miss the glance Bruce and Gordon shared before they both shifted their focus back onto Harry.

"Well, uh, okay, but listen, we know you've had a hard childhood," Gordon carried on. "Your records stopped after you turned eleven, with mentions of a private boarding school, then nothing else until you were institutionalised, but I can't imagine what happened to you those missing years for you to turn out like this, but you're only eighteen; we can still find people to look after you; who won't judge you-"

"You mean people like you?" Harry asked, and for a moment he feared the response.

"Yes, people like me, and Batman. You may have done bad things, very bad things, but in reality you're just another victim of The Joker, which is why we need you to help us now."

"What is he planning?" Batman growled, and Harry had to laugh.

"Surely you know his 'plans' aren't really planned? He just goes with the flow of things," Harry explained, a grin still gracing his face. "I've not seen him since yesterday. Have you tried turning on the television? He likes being on TV."

The two law enforcers shared another look, and seemed to agree that watching the news was a good idea.

Gordon turned the television set on, before settling back into his chair. He motioned for Batman to take a seat, but the Caped Crusader ignored him, instead walking to stand behind Harry so he could watch both the teenager and the screen.

"So is that really your godson?" Gordon asked as he flicked through the channels. "I don't take you as a kidnapper."

"Yes, he is. His parents died a couple of months ago and his grandmother has been looking after him since, but she died peacefully in her sleep last night," Harry told the man, glancing down at the now sleeping baby.

"I'm sure it was very peaceful," Bruce said sarcastically from above him, and Harry tipped his head back to wink at the vigilante.

"Quiet," Gordon ordered as he stopped on a channel showing a man being interviewed, the caption 'the true identity of Batman revealed' scrawled across the bottom of the screen.

"Oh that's not good, is it Bats?" Harry grinned. The vigilante's mouth didn't even twitch.

Before the interview could fully start, a phone call interrupted the presenter of the show, and then Joker's voice was on air.

"If Coleman Reece isn't dead in sixty minutes, then I blow up a hospital," Joker's voice said, causing the man who was being interviewed eyes to widen in horror. He heard Gordon gasp behind him, and before he could even blink Batman had grabbed one of his hands and handcuffed it to the arm of his chair.

"What are you doing?" Harry hissed, pulling violently at the metal while trying to balance Teddy with the other hand. The flames he produced only re-directed themselves around the metal, and if his body hadn't been linked with the fire he would have scorched his wrist.

"I'm not taking any chances. You can be freed once the Joker has been stopped," Batman spat, throwing Gordon the key for the handcuffs and speeding from the flat.

Harry pulled even harder, trying to jerk his wrist free, but it was proving useless.

"Please undo it," Harry begged Gordon, who was pulling his jacket on.

"I can't; I'm sorry," the man told him sadly. "I've never seen Batman in the day before; you're the reason he made an exception, so I have to trust his judgement about you for now."

"Please, I can't look after a baby with one hand, and I swear I won't go near any hospitals. Joker's not even invited me there; I only blow up things I want to or places he lets me."

"You shouldn't be blowing anywhere up," Gordon stated with a sigh, but he hadn't moved from his position, his hand still frozen on the zipper of his jacket.

"You lied for me earlier; you must at least like me a little bit," Harry tried, and he watched as the will to battle left Gordon's face.

"If I catch you anywhere near a hospital I will have no choice but to arrest you," Gordon warned him as he fumbled with the lock. "Please prove to me at least on this one occasion you can be trusted. If you do, I'll…I'll let you spend some time with the family, once everything is over and Gotham has regained some of it's normality."

Harry inwardly laughed at the idea of Gotham going back to normal after everything he and Joker had put it through, but with Gordon's promise of trying to rebuild their family he wanted to play nice.

He picked up Teddy's small hand to make it wave at Gordon, then he left as quick as Bruce had, desperate to get back to see how the hospital would turn out, or if a citizen would be able to kill Reece in time. He hoped more for the hospital; flames were much more interesting than an innocent man being driven to murder.

---

Teddy had been awake when the hospital had exploded, the footage having been filmed on a camera phone by a nurse on one of the buses. The infant had seemed enthralled with it, although due to his age his interest wasn't focused for very long at all, but Harry thought it was a start.

The girls were getting Teddy ready to have a walk around the garden; Ivy believed learning about plants and nature before being able to understand the words or even knowing what a garden was would make him appreciate them more when he was older.

Luna had just pulled a sun hat that matched hers over the boy's head when The Joker strolled through the doors, acting as normal despite the fact he was clothed in a nurse's dress.

"Which of you girls is having a, uh, maternal moment?" Joker asked, looking at Teddy with a wicked smile.

"He's mine," Harry told Joker. "Remember I told you about my godson. He has blue hair," he added in order to persuade the psychopath to act baby-friendly. Luna pulled off the sunhat so Joker could see.

"Well make sure you look after him; this can be a dangerous place for someone so small; I'm surprised you manage so well, Acey," Joker said with a grin, though Harry didn't miss the warning threat.

"We're gonna take Teddy for a walk now," Harley said excitedly, bending down to pinch the boy's cheeks. "Oh, and you do look good in a dress Mr. J. I didn't believe Ivy when she said you had a dress but for once I'm glad she's right."

Joker did a slow twirl for them before they left, leaving Harry alone with Joker. He felt like it had been too long without him; all that time with Gordon and Bruce was starting to feel too normal and boring.

"I saw the hospital on the television; it looked good, but not enough flames for me," Harry muttered, moving over to stand beside Joker who was sat sideways across a chair, his bare legs dangling over the edge.

"I was rather hoping someone would have killed Mr. Reece in cold blood, but it's no matter; I have a much more fun new game to play tonight. It's like a real-life game of Battleships, except this will be fun," Joker said, laughing as he envisioned the future Harry could only guess about. He yanked Harry down to land on his lap, keeping one hand on his waist, his nails digging through Harry's shirt and into his skin. "I don't think Reece will be telling anyone Bruce Wayne's secret anytime soon; we can keep it as, uh, our little secret." Joker's hand left Harry's waist to make it's way up Harry's thigh.

"Bruce Wayne's secret?" Harry asked, looking at Joker in what he hoped was an innocent way, though Joker's dark expression already told Harry the answer.

"You know, I really like that you didn't tell me. You made your own rules; but that just means I get to break them for you." The hand was now at the top of his thigh, slowly moving to their intended destination.

"How'd you find out?"

"Simple," Joker told him, apparently not going to give his findings away. "We can't go having everyone know though. I don't know what I'd do without Bats; he's far too much fun. Talking of fun, have you ever worn a dress? I have one thing to show you that'll make you love 'em."

Harry yelped in shock as Joker tipped the teenager off him and onto the floor, the older man hovering above him.

“See, I can just leave this on,” Joker muttered, gesturing to his dress, before tugging at Harry’s zip and pulling his trousers down, roughly pulling them off his body. His shirt was pulled off in a similarly vicious manner, and he shivered at the cold chill on his skin.

He wrapped his legs around Joker’s waist tightly, wincing as one of the psychopath’s fingers pushed inside him without warning, a second one soon joining it. He bit down on his lip, though when Joker noticed he pushed his own lips against Harry’s and used his teeth to bite down instead, pulling away only when Harry could taste his blood. Joker smeared it down Harry’s chin and then bit down on Harry’s shoulder, making the boy whimper loudly.

Joker pushed a third finger into Harry, taking a knife out of one of his pockets simultaneously. He began to make shallow cuts on Harry’s chest, making the incisions in time with the pushing of his fingers. When he had finished he once again smeared the blood, covering Harry’s chest with red.

He pulled his fingers out of Harry, pushing himself in soon after. The dress was hitched up around Jokers’ thighs, and Harry could feel the material moving against his skin, causing a burning friction the faster Joker fucked him. He thrust hard and deep, not giving Harry time to adjust, but Harry liked the burn. As he moved, Joker bit Harry’s other shoulder, then moved to Harry’s neck, sucking hard on the skin, and Harry knew a bruise would form.

“Everything changes tonight,” Joker hissed in his ear. “You need to be marked.”

Joker attacked the other side of his neck, his hand awkwardly pressing between their bodies to claw at the cuts on Harry’s torso, digging into the wounds. The dress was starting to rub hard on Harry’s skin now, the cuts burned and his neck was tender, and the feelings combined were getting him close. Joker moved so he could thrust his bloodied fingers into Harry’s mouth as he hit that sweet spot within him, and as he greedily licked his own blood off Joker’s fingers he came hard.

Joker pulled out moments later, moving up Harry’s body to sit on his chest, staining the dress with red. His fingers wrapped around his cock and started stroking until finally Joker came, spilling his release over Harry’s face.

Harry darted his tongue out to lick the seed from his lips, while Joker used his fingers to push the rest into Harry’s mouth, making Harry suck his fingers clean when he was finished, before rolling off the boy, allowing Harry to get dressed in case the girls came back in early, and when he was done they sat together, the only sound that of Joker humming.

As he and Joker sat, regaining their energy from their activities, Harry decided to ask Joker a question that had started to form in his mind.

"You said everything would change tonight; this won't change, will it, Joker?" the wizard asked, looking at the madman seriously.

"Of course not; we're two pieces of a puzzle. Not the same puzzle as course; where's the fun in that? But Gotham needs you now; I can't burn the world without my little fire-maker." Joker tugged Harry closer to him, until Harry was once again in Joker's lap, his mouth by Harry's ear. "And one more thing, Acey; call me Jack."

Chapter 21: Twenty-One

Notes:

I said I would be better at updating :D I'm sad to say though that we've reached the end now, but this is the first story I wrote and the first I've finished, so I'm proud of the milestone. The chapter was kind of short, so I decided to attach the epilogue to it, as it seemed to flow better that way anyway. Just for reference, the epilogue is written from Jim Gordon's point-of-view.

"Was Jack your name then?" Harry asked, looking at The Joker seriously.

"Oh yes; so dull, isn't it? Almost as bad as Harry, but then again, that's two syllables of boring. But they say we should keep our living close and our dead closer," Joker told him with a smile, and Harry laughed.

"That isn't the saying," he corrected, leaning slightly into the psychopath, "but I like yours more."

"Well of course you do; it makes much more sense. Gotham will understand it later, oh, but I just hope they like fishing. I'll suppose it might be easier to let Croc into the water to clean up the mess."

"What mess?" Harry asked, but Joker shook his head.

"It will be a chaotic surprise. I do love surprises; especially of the homicidal kind. And this, this will be an experiment that will blow Batman's mind, hopefully not literally of course, but hey, maybe he'll snap too. Harvey Dent has certainly seen a different side of things now," Joker said with a cackle, standing suddenly and darting from the room. He came back in not much later changed into his usual gear. "Would you like to come and watch the show? Let's leave baby here; don't want him to be having nightmares just yet."

Joker seemed very excited, and Harry was intrigued to see what the man had prepared.

"Luna, watch Teddy for me please," he requested of the blonde girl, stepping outside to meet her. He bent down so he was face to face with the baby. "I'll see you later Teddy-bear. You be a good, good boy and I'll bring you a present." Teddy smiled a toothless grin at him, his hair turning a bright red colour. "Aren't you a cutie, smiling? Who is the cutest boy?"

"I think he wants blood as a gift," Jack said darkly, pointing to the red hair. "I can certainly give him that."

The psychopath grabbed hold of Harry's arm to drag him the way he wanted to go. A car was waiting for them by the side of the road, a clown mask on the driver's face. He stood from the car and held the door open for The Joker, who stabbed him through the stomach as he passed, signalling for Harry to finish the man off in a stream of fire.

Harry got into the passenger side and watched the streets as Joker sped through the city. It was night and though the streets seemed less busy than usual, it was still crawling with scantily clad women and hooded figures hiding under doorways.

Joker finally pulled up next to a large building site by the water, where two large passenger ferries were sat in the middle of the water, unmoving.

"All the way to the top, we go," Joker sang as he pulled Harry into the unfinished building and up the stairs until they reached the top floor. "I've had some, uh, friends, take care of the folks who were in here. They're just gonna have to miss the show." Joker laughed maniacally, jumping in glee.

"Can't you tell me what's happening now?" Harry begged, trying to make his eyes as big and puppy-dog looking as possible.

"I suppose so, seeing as you've been so good," Joker grinned, leading Harry to the open side where the wall should be, where both ferries were in view.

"One of those boats has our kind of people on it; the other has the boring folk on. They both have detonators to blow up the other boat with by midnight, otherwise both of them go boom. I think so anyway; I may have got the detonators mixed up, but who knows? We'll be finding out very soon," Joker told him, a cruel but gleeful tone to his voice.

It wasn't long to go until midnight, and Harry wasn't sure which ferry would go up first, though he was hoping for them both to go. He grinned at Joker, who smiled back, his scars contorting before he whistled, causing three vicious looking dogs to come running towards them.

"I love dogs; loyal creatures," Joker muttered, petting one on the head with the slightest of touches. "These ones have a particular taste for human blood, but what can I say? I spoil my puppies."

Harry wasn't sure if Jack was joking, but he supposed feeding human remains to dogs was better than Joker being a cannibal and eating them himself, although his taste for Harry's blood meant he couldn't rule out that possibility.

"The Bat will be here soon," Harry pointed out, taking his eyes off the dogs and putting them back on the boats.

"He's meant to be here soon; I hope that rich upbringing of his doesn't mean he turns up, uh, fashionably late, as they say," Joker commented, twirling a lock of Harry's hair around his finger and tugging.

"Where would my manners be if I turned up late?" a voice growled, and Joker turned, the look on his face making even Harry slightly scared.

"Ah, Batman, you're here; how wonderful," the madman said, not sounding pleased at all. "Go play, boys," he ordered the dogs, who immediately responded to their master's request by pouncing at the vigilante.

Batman threw the first dog aside easily, though the other two managed to take him to the floor. Joker grabbed a metal beam from the side and ran to the billionaire, hitting Batman with it hard, despite the fact the suit was made from thick metal.

The psychopath soon threw the beam aside and used his fists to hit with instead. Anger was radiating off him in an uncontrolled rage. Harry had never seen Joker lose his composure before. Clearly, although Joker enjoyed the game he played with Batman, he wanted to cause him pain, both psychologically and physically.

"He is mine," he heard Joker hiss at Batman, and he turned his head to watch as he wondered if Joker meant him.

Joker was saying no more though, and Batman had managed to kick away another dog, so he was fighting Joker back much more effectively. Harry turned his focus back onto the ferries; he had done his fighting with Voldemort and he didn't particularly care for it anymore. That was why he liked using fire; it gave him the control and ability to sit back and watch the damage from afar without getting too personal.

He heard the sound of fabric ripping behind him, and as he looked back, Bruce had managed to stand, only to be pushed into netting by The Joker.

The clock was ticking nearer to midnight, and Joker had managed to push Batman to the edge of the building, where he would easily be able to see the ferries and any explosions in the area.

Harry frowned as the clock hit twelve and no explosion happened. Joker had frozen too, looking almost unsure of himself before a dark expression crossed over his face.

"You see?" Batman growled. "You've not twisted this city. No matter how demented you are, you can't turn everyone into you, no matter how hard you try."

"Never mind," Joker tutted, "always gotta have a back-up; gotta do everything yourself." He pulled a detonator from his coat pocket, but as he fumbled with it, metal spikes flew from the Batsuit, and then the vigilante's arm was coming up.

Then Joker was gone, the sound of crazed laughter getting further and further away. Harry screamed, running to the edge of the building as he saw Joker falling. He collapsed in pain as fire flared from his arms, reaching far out and engulfing the ferries in flames, but he couldn't even care about that, tears prickling at his eyes. He contemplated jumping after Jack.

But Batman was tugging at a wire, and then Joker was back up, a hook attached to his clothing, causing him to dangle upside down from one of the beams.

"Thanks for that Acey; knew I could count on you," Joker laughed, winking at Harry. "Oh, don't look so glum; it was only a near-death experience. I told you the first time we met him, Bats, that you scared him and now you've done it again."

"Shut up," Batman hissed, throwing his arm to the side and punching Harry as he tried to set Bruce alight. The force knocked him to the floor.

"Let Brucey have a turn now, Ace; it's only fair, what with all the cheating we've been doing," Joker reprimanded. Batman didn't even flinch at the sound of his real name. "I just knew you'd play along, Bats. It's in our nature. You're much more like me than anyone else in this city."

"I'm nothing like you," Batman growled. "I believe in good, and justice, like so many people in Gotham, and while we're here people like you will never win, only you'll never get to see it, because you're going to be locked in Arkham Asylum for the rest of your life; I'll make sure of it."

Joker laughed dramatically. "Oh, that did make me laugh," he cackled, licking his lips. "By the way, Harvey Dent is my secret weapon. Surprise! He was so easy to break. Gotham's White Knight turned to the dark side; now that is going to shake things up."

"What are you talking about?" Batman demanded, and Joker smiled cruelly.

"I'm afraid after your girlfriend blew up it sent him a little crazy. In fact, right now I think he's punishing Commissioner Gordon and his family."

Harry's ears perked up, as did Batman's. The vigilante took one last look at Joker before he stormed away. Harry could hear officers hurrying up the stairs. Harry made a move to create a barrier but Joker called for him to stop.

"This is just the next move of the game; I have so many ideas for Arkham, just you see," Joker said, staring intensely at the teenager.

"I'll wait for you," Harry said, trying to keep his composure cool in front of Joker.

"I know; I'm counting on it," Joker said slyly, and then Harry ran as the footsteps and lights got nearer.

Harry had always been speedy, and Batman was weighed down by his suit, allowing Harry to catch up with the Caped Crusader before he could leave the scene.

"Wait" he cried out, and Batman responded by turning and wrapping a gloved hand around Harry's throat.

"Why should I help you?" the man hissed, the force of his hand lifting Harry from the ground. "You just blew up two boats of innocent people. You're obviously following some order from that psycho friend of yours."

"It was an accident," Harry rasped, struggling against Batman's grasp. Batman had clearly made his suit fireproof as the flames he was creating around Batman's arms seemed to be doing the man no harm. "You, you threw him o-off a building; I was upset," he managed to say, and the vigilante's grip loosened, though the hand stayed around his neck. "You know I care about Gordon; I need to help him."

"If you come with me now," Bruce started, dropping his hand, "you only leave me on my orders. You're willingly turning yourself into me if you join me, and it's up to me to deal with you as I see fit."

"Fine," Harry agreed. "I knew we'd be proper friends one day," he added with a grin.

"This doesn't make us friends," Batman growled, but Harry only smiled further.

"You're right; we're more like best friends, considering all we've been through together, as well as all the secrets we share. Joker figured out who you were himself by the way," he added as he followed Batman to his strange looking vehicle.

Batman drove them silently but quickly through the empty streets. He didn't know how Batman knew where to go, but he guessed Bruce must have figured the place of Rachel's death would hold the most significance for Dent. Harry was quite excited to go back; any reminder that the bitch was no longer alive and had been blown to pieces was pleasing to him.

They arrived at the scene in quick time, and Harry hoped it wasn't too late for Gordon and Jimmy, but late enough for the female members of the family.

He followed Batman through the shadows of the building remains until they reached the family and Dent. Harvey had his arm wrapped around Jimmy, a gun placed against his head, while Gordon looked on helpless. The mother and daughter were cowering like pathetic cowards behind Harvey. Batman stopped Harry with an arm, keeping him pushed behind him.

"You don't want to hurt the boy," Batman commanded, making Dent turn towards them; his face was horribly burnt and disfigured on one side.

"No, I don't want to, but this is the only way to make things right," Dent argued back, shouting towards the end." There's no being good or bad anymore; it's just down to luck and chance. I tried to be good and look what happened; in a 50/50 situation Rachel lost her life and I kept mine, but in the process I lost everything. There's nothing left to lose now."

"That wasn't chance; that was choice. We chose which ways to go, but we didn't want it to turn out like this," Batman countered, but Dent shook his head. "Leave the boy out of this, and hurt the ones responsible."

"No. This is the only way." Dent aimed the gun at Bruce and held up a coin, burnt on one side, and held it ready to throw in the air. "Your turn first, Batman."

Dent flipped the coin and it landed burnt side up. Dent pulled the trigger and then Batman was on the ground, allowing Dent to see Harry for the first time, but the man was too busy spinning his coin with the gun to his own head. The coin came up clean.

As the gun came to rest on Jimmy's temple, Harry decided to speak up.

"I killed her," he stated, and Dent turned to look at him, not quite as angry as he wanted. "I killed her," he repeated louder, noting the way the gun had shifted from Jimmy slightly. "You were the last person she spoke to, but I was the last person she saw, right before I sent a spark into the room to blow her to smithereens. I gave her exactly what she deserved, and I'd do it again now if I could, just so you could see her life obliterated in a second."

That had done it, and now the gun was pointed at him. Jimmy was shoved to the side where he scrambled to his father, watching the scene fearfully.

As the coin spun in the air, Harry threw a wall of fire along the ground, causing Dent to jump backwards and drop his coin onto the ground. Harry walked through the flames, picking up the coin that was now burnt on both sides.

"Pity; what are you going to do now?" Harry taunted, smirking as the gun was placed against his forehead, ironically right over his scar.

"You're going to be seeing a lot of flames where you're going," Dent hissed, and Harry got prepared to knock Dent off his feet with more fire, when a black blur moved in front of him, and then it was gone, along with Dent.

Harry ran to where the men had disappeared. Dent's body was a long way down on the ground below, unmoving and bent at impossible angles. Batman was hanging from the edge with one hand shakily holding on to a piece of metal.

Harry offered one hand downwards. "Friends don't let friends fall," he said. "And friends don't let friends see friends fall."

Bruce smiled, or perhaps grimaced and after a moment he threw his dangling hand up towards Harry and allowed the teenager to pull him up, both of them resting on the ground after the effort.

Gordon came to kneel beside him, placing his hands firmly but comfortingly on Harry's shoulders. "Thank you," the man said, "both of you."

"Even the worst of us can do what's right," Batman stated, glancing at Harry, his eyes lingering on Gordon's hands.

"Joker won though," Gordon continued. "Dent was the man Gotham looked up to, and Joker turned even him into one of them. He was Gotham's hope and he crushed it."

"No, he hasn't," Batman said defiantly. "Dent didn't kill those people; I did. I'm the one Gotham should be hunting, while they mourn the loss of the best man this city has seen for a long time."

"I told you," Harry muttered softly, "I told you you'd be hunted, despite all the good you've done. Gotham made you a villain without you doing anything wrong. I tried to warn you but you didn't listen."

"Look after him, Gordon," Bruce said, standing up from the ground. Gordon copied, pulling Harry up with him. "He knows how to hide; keep him safe. The Joker will be locked away so Harry can be freed. Make sure of it. We've seen good become evil, so I trust bad can become good."

"I will. You wanted a godfather; I'll give you one," Gordon promised to Harry, with a nod to Batman.

The Caped Crusader turned to flee, but Harry pressed a hand to Bruce's back to stop him from leaving. The vigilante turned back towards him, and Harry threw his arms around his neck.

"I guess now you're a villain too, you can't arrest me for being bad," he whispered into the man's ear. "I'll see you around, Bruce."

This time the man actually did produce the smallest of smiles, but then he was gone with the shadows.

"Why is he running? He isn't bad," a small voice asked, and Jimmy was beside them, clutching on to Harry's hand.

"Sometimes the hero has to make hard choices to save everyone else," Gordon answered, and Jimmy clutched Harry's hand tighter. "Come on now, let's go home."

Epilogue

Five months had passed since that fateful night of Joker's arrest, Harvey Dent's death and Batman's exile.

Gordon had taken Harry into his home, though his wife, Barbara hadn't been too happy about it, saying she didn't want a murderous and emotionally disturbed teenager around their children, but Gordon insisted that Harry was good deep down, especially considering he had risked his own life to save Jimmy, and when the young boy begged her to let Harry stay she eventually gave in.

Barbara and Harry never really got on though, and after Harry described the aunt who neglected him, the woman who murdered his godfather in front of him and the female professor who tortured him by forcing him to carve words into his own hand, he understood why he didn't trust older women.

At first, Harry kept to himself, only talking with Gordon and Jimmy, and he had set small but controlled fires in the room they had set up for him, but as time went on, he appeared to get less depressed by the day, and even began helping Barbie with her homework and cooking for the family. Eventually the fires stopped too.

He opened up to Gordon more and more each day, telling him stories about his school life and his parent's lives. He wasn't sure how much of it was true, considering he still believed Gordon to be the re-incarnated form of his dead godfather, and told stories of broomsticks and monsters, but he listened and nodded and allowed Harry to talk without judgement.

He noticed Harry had made good friends with Bruce Wayne. Apparently he had known him before Joker's arrest, though the playboy didn't know who he really was; he simply knew him as Regulus, the public name and identity that had been given to Harry to protect him. Bruce seemed good for Harry though, and he was at the penthouse an awful lot of the time.

Overall, he was pleased with the way Harry was progressing. They still had some barriers to cross; no matter if they called him Harry or Regulus, he still really only responded to the name Ace, and his delusions were still there, though they seemed to be causing no harm to anyone. He had caught the teen cutting himself on occasions, which had caused a lot of screaming and crying incidents, but Gordon did understand that Harry had been though a lot; he had been in love with The Joker after all.

The psychopath had escaped Arkham after the first two weeks incarcerated, and went back two months later for a week before escaping again, but he had been suspiciously quiet lately. He had kept an eye as best he could on any contact Harry was having with the outside world, but nothing suggested that Joker had been in touch.

He was now driving Harry and Jimmy to the mall; Jimmy had wanted a new deck of cards after Harry promised to teach him loads of games he learnt at boarding school.

It was as they were leaving the mall that his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered, stopping to listen.

"Gordon? It's Johnson. There's been an accident at your house," the voice sounded over the line, and Gordon felt everything freeze.

"W-what happened?" he asked, trying to stay calm in front of Jimmy.

"There was a fire. We-we don't think Barbara and Barbie have made it; I'm so sorry, Jim, please try and get here as soon as you can."

Everything seemed to shatter around Gordon. His wife and his little girl…he glanced over at Harry in a moment of paranoia, but the boy had been with him the whole time, and the look on his face seemed to be showing true concern.

"We need to get back to the car. Now!" he ordered, running to his vehicle with the boys trailing behind him.

"What happened?" Harry asked as he jumped into the front seat beside Jim.

"There was a fire at home," he told him quietly, and both boys gasped.

"Are Mom and Barbie okay?" Jimmy asked.

"Oh Merlin, I hope they're okay. I swear I had nothing to do with it," Harry said almost pleadingly, like he was begging Gordon to believe him, and the man couldn't blame him.

"I know you didn't," he answered, but he didn't tell them about Johnson's suspicions about the other family members.

He didn't care how many driving laws he broke as he sped home where fire engines and ambulances were waiting. The flames had been doused, but all Gordon could focus on were the two black body bags on the ambulance stretchers.

"Oh my God," he breathed as he collapsed to the floor. Harry had wrapped his arms around his chest to comfort him.

"Excuse me, sir, can we talk to you all a minute?" he heard a female say, a twinge of an Irish accent in her voice.

"Of course," Harry answered for him, pulling Gordon up and into a waiting ambulance.

The doors were shut behind them, and Gordon blinked away his tears to see what was happening.

The ambulance was rather cramped; two women were sat in the front seat, while the one who had spoken to them was climbing over into the front to fit between the pair, somehow rather gracefully, taking a bundle off a hooded figure sat on the bench as she went.

"What's going on?" he asked, nervously looking at the shut door, when he felt a prick on his arm and almost immediately he felt himself start to grow weak.

He blinked as Harry took the needle from his arm, and then the ambulance was moving.

Gordon collapsed to the floor, eyes watching as Jimmy opened the card packet, flicking through the deck to eventually bring out the Ace of Spades card, twirling it between his fingers.

What horrified him the most however was when the mysterious figure pulled it's hood down, to reveal a horribly familiar scarred smile.

Harry clambered onto the lap of The Joker, pressing his lips hard against the psychopath's, whose hands automatically trailed down to grope his behind.

"Keep it PG-13, boys," a female laughed from the front, causing the two males to grin into the kiss. Harry finally pulled away to speak.

"We're home, Jack."

The End

Notes:

Oh my gosh. My baby is finished and I feel so happy but so sad at the same time. I hope you enjoyed the story, even with the long waits. I have no current plans for a sequel, but who knows? Inspiration may hit me one day, but I like where it's finished for now. But maybe after The Dark Knight Rises comes out I'll get an idea to fit in with that. No promises though.

Thank you to everyone who has read; I couldn't have finished this without you.