Batshit crazy (Batjokes)

Game changer...

Gotham city, usually a buzzing place full of nightlife and crime and noise and violence, now stood still. The only sound was the light pitter-patter of rain pouring from the foggy grey sky.

There weren't any distant screams or the sounds of bullets flying like there usually was. Instead it was like the city itself was asleep, along with all of its inhabitants.

These nights had become more frequent since the weeks following the Joker's mysterious absence. At first their were riots and mass hysteria, like there always was when the clown escaped.

But, gradually, the fear had began to evade, and his presence began to loom less and less on the minds of the citizens.

Usually the clown struck within days of his escapes, always making a statement to remind the citizens of Gotham that he was out there, and that they should be afraid. But no one had seen or heard anything from him. There'd been no deaths, no chaos. Just an uneasy sense of peace; like the calm before the storm.

But there hadn't been a storm... Yet.

Atop one of the tallest buildings in Gotham's skyline, resided the city's protector. Crouched on the building's railing, Batman looked on into the night. The rain never bothered him, he found it oddly calming, like every time it rained the city was being cleansed. As if all the grime and the dirt, the corruption that was embedded deep into the very core of the city, was being washed away.

Nights like these were the only times he could think clearly.  The icy droplets were obscuring his vision and presenting the city as an array of lights and buildings. It looked oddly beautiful like this.

If you asked anyone in Gotham what they thought of the city, they'd tell you it was a cesspit for crime and all things evil.  But if you asked Bruce, he'd tell you it was a beautiful place full of good people and potential.

He was the only one who saw the city this way, who saw the light through the darkness that shrouded it. His parents were the same. He often wondered what life would've been like if they were still here. He wouldn't be Batman, that's for sure. He wouldn't of needed to be. His parents knew this city better than anyone, and they knew how to help it.

But they're not here... Not anymore, and it was up to Bruce to do his damned best to try and save it.

That's what he used to think, until his plans became tainted by green hair and red lips and white skin.

He used to think that after his parents died, nothing would ever be able to hurt him again. That he'd never be vulnerable and feel as lost as he did back on that fateful day. He believed that he had no weaknesses, and that he could take on anything the city had to throw at him. He used to think that, before Joker proved him wrong.

A long time ago, he used to wonder if the Joker really was human. He didn't think it was capable for any human to be so evil. Everyone had a weakness, but it seemed that Joker didn't. It took Bruce a long while to figure out that the Joker's one true weakness... Was him.

He often wondered why he hadn't just killed the madman. He'd had plenty of opportunities and reasons to do it. But, that was his one rule. He wouldn't let Joker take that away from him as well.
But...Was that really the reason? Was it really that he didn't want Joker to make him break his one rule? To fall down into the abyss? Or, was it because he simply didn't want to kill him?

No, he couldn't let himself think like that. After all that the man had done to him, he wanted to kill him more than anything.

But what had recently happened suggested otherwise.

That's why he was out here, in the cold night, crouched atop a building, staring off into the rain. He wasn't sure what he wanted and what his actions suggested he wanted.