Will You Be My Daddy? ~Joker Fanfiction~

Twenty

"I know you can see me, Riddler," Batman said, sounding bored.

"You want me to tell you about the girl," Riddler stated bluntly, his voice sounding through the speaker below his camera.

"And you want to get back at Joker," Batman replied, not missing a beat as he stood below the camera.

"Yes, but I'm hardly the type to snitch. I'm intelligent enough to make my own revenge," Edward smirked in his lair.

"You find it easy enough to snitch on yourself with your riddles," Bruce quipped back.

"I find that someone asking for a favor shouldn't insult the person that they're asking," Riddler growled.

"I apologize," Batman said dryly. "What can you tell me about Joker and his plans?"

"If I have it, I don't share it. If I share it, I don't have it," Riddler asked quickly.

"A secret," Batman realized.

"And I intend to keep mine to myself," Riddler answered, turning off the camera.

"Dammit," Bruce cursed under his breath. So Riddler does know something. But he won't share it.

"I take it the venture was unsuccessful then?" Alfred asked through the comms.

"Unfortunately. Riddler wants to get revenge on Joker himself," Batman replied, mindful that Riddler's camera could still be watching.

He swiftly grappled away to a rooftop that he knew had none of Riddler's cameras.

"However, that does leave us with an opening, Alfred. If we can keep an eye on Riddler and his activities, he should lead us straight to Joker. We'll just have to hope that his idea of revenge doesn't harm the girl, and if it does, that we can stop him in time," Batman counseled.

"Excellent, Master Bruce. However, that does raise the question of how we are going to watch Riddler so closely without him realizing."

"Leave that to me, Alfred. I know just the cat for the job," Batman replied.

"Just how well did that work out the last time you asked Miss Kyle for a favor?"

"This is different, Alfred. The girl's involved now. Selina may be a crook, but she has a soft spot for children, and she's no murderer. That little girl would remind her too much of herself. A street orphan forced into a life of crime," Bruce countered. Surely Selina wouldn't turn down a child in need.

"It's up to you, Master Bruce. I certainly can't stop you. I'd watch out for Ivy, though. You haven't apprehended her after the Arkham breakout yet, either."

"Thank you, Alfred. I'll be careful. I always am," Bruce assured his butler.

"Right," Alfred barked out a laugh. "That's a bloody good one, Master Bruce. I haven't heard one that good in a while."

"Yeah, sure, laugh it up, Alfred. I've been as careful as one in this position can be," Batman sighed.

"It would be an easier task if you had someone there to watch your back that doesn't have a habit of scarring it," Alfred pointed out.

"Do you ever think that this job won't end?" Bruce asked suddenly.

"All the time, Bruce. There is no retiring from this. You need someone to take up the mantle. Even Joker gets that. Why do you think he took such a young child? He wants a better, crazier successor to be able to take over when he inevitably meets his end. He's a complete nut job, but even he sees that he can't be doing this forever. No one is going to take a seventy year old man in clown makeup seriously. That is, if he isn't dead before then," Alfred replied. "Maybe it's time you did the same. Find someone to hand the reins to when all is said and done."