Jonathan dropped out of the vent leading to his hideout and onto the top of the elevator, landing softly. He had made swift changes to his formula, to make it a little stronger. He refilled his syringes, and filled a small cloth bag with a powdered form of the drug. If the toxin in the needles wasn't enough to drive Batman insane, then Jonathan had a backup plan that was sure to work. He pulled canisters filled with concentrated doses of his gas out of the vent behind him, and lowered them into the elevator below.

After slipping back into the elevator, Jonathan pressed the button to go up. The elevator began its ascent, moving slowly. Jonathan tapped his foot impatiently.

He tied the bag to the rope around his waist and started to open the gate, but stopped. Voices could be heard through the large doors, coming from the lobby. Most likely more of Joker's men. It seemed as if all of them were in the lobby, which meant that they wouldn't bother him or Lilith.

When the elevator stopped, Jonathan opened the gate and stepped off, looking for Lilith. He then spots her sitting on the floor. He walked over to her and crouched down to her.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Jonathan asked, straightening and holding out his hand to help her up. She accepted it and stood up, not answering his question.

He grabbed one of the canisters from the elevator and walked into the long hallway, going to the door on the far end and slipping the canister above it. After securing it to the wall, he walked around to the other side and did the same. Just in case Batman went through one door instead of the other.

Lilith watched him and got tired of just sitting here waiting. What was her part in this? It's not like she can watch him go against Batman. She didn't want to experience the toxin again. "What about me? What should I do?"

"Nothing." He said, turning back to her. "Everything is set."

Lilith sighed and leaned against the bars. And stared at the ceiling in boredom. The light lit up her face, making Jonathan stare at her. He can clearly see how exhausted this night made her. Dark circles formed under her eyes and her skin looked pale.

He gazed at her thoughtfully for a moment, thinking how her exhaustion brought beauty in his eyes. He then shook his head, the thoughts dissolving. Jonathan made a noise like he had just remembered something. Lilith looked at him with hope.

"There is something you can do for me." He lied. "I need you to go find my left-over canisters. I'll need some kind of backup plan in case this one doesn't work out. They should be down in the basement level." She nodded and walked to the elevators, and Jonathan trailed after her, opening the gate to the working elevator for her.

"How will I know when I've found them?" Lilith asked, stepping into the elevator.

"Trust me," Jonathan said, shutting the gate. "You'll know. Just find them, and bring them back up. They're empty, so you won't have to worry about the gas."

Jonathan watched as Lilith pushed the button to go down, giving him a smile. He gave her a forced one, waiting for the elevator to start moving.

Once the top of the elevator had disappeared, Jonathan's smile faded, and went to go back into the hallway. Pushing away the thought that he lied to her.

Lilith looked around her as she stepped out the elevator. The basement wasn't at all what she had expected. Across from the elevators was a small room with large chunks of meat hanging from the ceiling. More chunks of meat were scattered around the room. There was a door down a short hallway by the meat room. Lilith walked up to it, noticing the huge locks and warning stickers that had been stuck to it. The entrance to the sewer.

"There's nothing here." Lilith finalized. Jonathan lied to her.

The elevator dinged and started going back up without her. Lilith ran back to the elevator shaft and pressed the button to call it back down, but it continued to move. She cursed under her breath. There were no canisters in sight, she was a sheet of metal away from an Arkham inmate that she seriously didn't want to meet. Lilith was trapped down there.

To have complete control over the elevators was to push some buttons in the control room, which was on the floor above her. Jonathan must have made one of the men go down to the control room and send the elevator back up to the top floor and freeze it. But why?

Different theories ran through Lilith's mind. She finally came to the conclusion that Jonathan had sent her down there to get her out of his way. It sort of made sense.

Lilith sat down by the elevator with a sigh. How long was Jonathan going to keep her down there?

•~★~•

It was almost time. One of the men in the lobby had yelled a warning, saying that Batman was there. Jonathan was excited. In just a few minutes, he would finally have the upper hand on Batman. He was not going to lose this fight.

He tugged his mask down over his face and pulled his hood up and waited. The canisters were set to pop open whenever either of the doors opens, as soon as Batman walks in, the room would be flooded with gas.

The voices from the lobby soon grew silent, until only one man was left. Jonathan could hear his panic, and smiled. With a startled cry, the man finally fell silent. Jonathan prepared himself as Batman walked into the hallway. A small stream of gas began to leak out of the canister above the door, slowly filling the room. Jonathan started to worry when Batman didn't hallucinate immediately.

Then Batman cried out and grabbed his head. Jonathan watched with interest as Batman proceeded down the hall. "Let me go!" Batman yelled, and Jonathan raised an eyebrow. 'What was he seeing?' A minute passed, and Batman yelled again.

"Let me out of this thing!"

Jonathan's interest grew. Oh, how he wished he could see through the Bat's eyes. Batman slowed down, and his walking became more systematic. He began acting strange, occasionally stopping to hide behind things. His behavior was strange. Jonathan wished that Lilith was here, so that she could try and figure it out with him. He frowned at the thought. He needed to focus.

Batman was now a foot away from Jonathan. It was working. Batman will lose this time.

Suddenly, Batman's hand shot out and wrapped around Jonathan's throat. He let out a choked sound in surprise, then chuckled darkly. So he had broken through it. No big deal. It was the time to use the toxin in his syringes that he had altered.

"Looks like you need a little more." He said, plunging the needles into the Dark Knight's arm. He released Jonathan, to clutch his head again. While he was distracted, Jonathan went around to the other side of the hallway, putting the bars between himself and Batman.

"Are you enjoying the extra dose, little Bat?" He taunted. "Oh, I won't rush things this time. I'll go slowly, so I can destroy you."

Jonathan watched as Batman continue to do strange things. There was no way he would be able to stay sane after this dose. Minutes passed, and still his toxin held. Jonathan smiled. He had finally won.

Batman stopped by the bars, breathing hard. He had been staring at the ground, or up at the ceiling, but soon broke free and focused on Jonathan. Reaching through the bars and Batman grabbed the robe around Jonathan's neck.

Jonathan's eyes widened. "How are you doing this?!" He exclaimed. "I've injected enough toxin into you to drive ten men insane! What are you?!"

Jonathan jerked away from Batman and bolted for the elevator. He was glad that he'd brought it back up and left the gate open, to save time. The other door opened as he turned back to face them, and Batman ran through. Jonathan smiled. Good. Even though his first plan had failed, he still had a backup one.

"Why do you continue to fight it, Batman?" Jonathan called out. "You're as crazy as the rest of us. You need us as much as we need you. To prove it, I'll flood the sewers with enough fear gas to break the minds of everyone in Gotham for a hundred years." As he finished speaking, he pressed the button to go down, still smiling as Batman disappeared from view.

The sound of gears moving in the elevator shaft caught Lilith's attention, and she looked up with hope. Was it Jonathan to get her? When the elevator came into sight, however, Lilith could tell that something was wrong. The gate was up, and Jonathan was out of it before it had even stopped.

Jonathan ran over to Lilith and grabbed her hand, pulling her to the door to the sewer. "Jonathan? What's wrong?" Lilith asked, staring at him with worry. If Jonathan had a look of worry on his face then there's a reason to be worried.

"Run."