Clark was startled when he was first pulled into the truck. But once he realized that it was a kidnapping attempt, he had been amused. Of all the people in Gotham, these poor villains had to pick on him to kidnap. But Clark was curious about who these people were and what they wanted. So he pretended to be scared, putting the right amount of fear into his voice as he asked,

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"All in good time," said a man in the corner, cackling like a maniac.

Perhaps he was, thought Clark. Gotham seemed to have more than its share of insane criminals. Like the man who had killed Bruce Wayne's son.

The man in the corner leaned forward and Clark was treated to a sight he would not forget in a hurry. Bright green hair capped a white face with the mouth painted a garish red and was turned upward in a perpetual grin.

"Won't the Batman come running when he hears his reporter friend is captured?" he asked in a sing-song voice.

Clark had to dip his head down to avoid the man noticing that it was a snort of laughter and not of fear that escaped Clark. He now knew who this madman was. It was the Joker. The one who had killed Batman's son.

At which thought, Clark lost all inclination to laugh. Of course, Batman would come, thought he grimly. Even if he knew Clark Kent was Superman, he still would come. Because this was personal for him. And no amount of animosity towards Superman was going to stop him.

The truck stopped and the men dragged him out and into an abandoned building. The whole street seemed full of abandoned buildings. All the buildings were old which had the disadvantage that the paint was mostly lead based which rendered Clark's X-ray vision useless. Of course, the paint was peeling away in most buildings, but still there was too much lead.

He did not need his x-ray vision, he reminded himself. Not to take out one madman and a few thugs. But Clark was in no hurry to reveal his true identity to them. He would wait for his chance and make it seem as if he escaped out of his own steam and perhaps get picked up by Batman. Clark's lips again twitched as he pictured that scenario.

Having decided on his course of action, he relaxed. He would just need to make it convincing. Normally, he would not have bothered. But he was in Gotham and if there was even a slim chance that the Batman had not figured out his identity, he was in no hurry to reveal it.

It was highly unlikely, mused Clark, that Batman did not know who he was. Bruce Wayne's heart beat had spiked for an instant when he had seen him. But it was back to normal so fast Clark could have imagined the spike. Grudgingly, Clark had to admit that the Batman had almost superhuman control over himself. Even on the day when he had stopped him on the street, neither his breathing nor his heart had sped up. The man was not afraid.

Clark remembered Batman's words to him as he flew away, "Do you bleed? You will."

The joker grabbed Clark by the hair and jerked his head back. "Bat, bat, bat," he sang. "We'll wait for the bat."

His hand tightened on Clark's hair and Clark pretended to wince. "I don't know Batman," he said. "You have got the wrong man."

"You came out of his office," said Joker, still with that grotesque grin.

At which Clark forgot to pretend and stared at the Joker in astonishment. It was incredible that this man, this madman, this criminal knew Batman's real identity.

"I did not," Clark gasped.

"I saw you," whispered the Joker, leaning down, his mouth near Clark's ear. "He'll come to save you. And I'll be ready for him."

He straightened. "I know Bats. He will come."

"Why do you do this?" asked Clark. He knew it was not a logical question. The Joker was insane. He knew it.

"Because I can!" said the Joker, grinning madly. "I killed his son, and yet, he won't kill me! So I can kill anyone, and he won't do a thing to me!"

And that was what made Clark angry.

4

Bruce stopped at the doorway. Clark Kent stood in the middle of the room, still in his civilian clothes. Joker lay still in one corner, the other thugs were also out cold. And Kent hadn't even ruffled his hair.

Kent turned towards the doorway, his face was pale and he looked angry. But his features relaxed as he saw him.

"Friends of yours?" he asked, indicating the unconscious men.

Bruce shook his head. "Hardly." He paused. "I would have thought you would wait for help, considering you are still in your civilian clothes,"

A rueful smile appeared on Kent's face. "I... lost my temper, it wasn't intentional."

Well, thought Bruce, if this was all Superman did when he lost his temper, it wasn't too bad.

"Did you?" he asked. "And the building is still intact? Astonishing."

Kent crossed his arms across his chest. "What are you implying?"

"I've seen how you fight," Bruce grated out. "You are never bothered by the collateral damage caused by your fights."

"If you are referring to my fight with Zod, I had no choice."

"Yeah, right," scoffed Bruce. "No choice but to kill thousands? To demolish inhabited buildings? To destroy half of Metropolis?"

"I did not seek that fight," said Kent, white-lipped. "I had no choice. He was turning Earth into Krypton. I had to stop him! If I did not, you would not be standing here today to lecture me on my methods!"

Bruce glared at Kent. "He came to earth because of you!" he snarled.

"So, in effect you are blaming me for existing." Kent walked towards him. Bruce stood his ground.

"That is not what I am saying." He said, slightly discomfited.

"That is exactly what you are saying! That I had no right to live, to exist. Because my existence on earth brought Zod here, so it was my fault because I live!"

They were nose to nose now. Bruce struggled to stay in control, to control his fear, his breathing, his heart-rate, because there was no way he was going to allow this alien to sense it. He could not show any weakness to this creature, for all he looked like a man.

Kent stared at him for a moment, blinked and then took a step back. "I take it you have informed the police about them?" he made a gesture towards the unconscious forms.

"Alfred?" Bruce spoke to his comm link.

"On it, sir," came the reply.

A faint smile appeared on Kent's face. No doubt he was listening in.

Damn!

"What made you lose your temper?" asked Bruce now, striving for some kind of normalcy.

Kent's face darkened. And then he said, "I hope you are aware that this madman knows who you are."

Bruce struggled not to let his chagrin show. Obviously Superman had deduced his identity too. "I know," he said, adding. "I take it you do too."

Kent frowned. "I am not your enemy, Batman. I am not the one who has made it his life's mission to get under your skin. I am not the one who's trying to kill everyone around you just to thumb their nose at you."

Bruce said nothing. The alien's words made sense. And he was wondering what it said about him that he was more bothered that Superman knew who he was than about Joker knowing it.

And then he realized that Superman had neatly side stepped his question. Might be his journalist training, but it was a move worthy of Bruce Wayne. For a moment, Bruce felt a twinge of admiration.

"Master Bruce," Alfred's voice came through the comm links. "The police will be there soon."

"Time for you to leave?" Superman queried.

"Time for Batman to make his exit," Bruce nodded. "And for Clark Kent to deal with GCPD."

Kent looked at Bruce and said quietly, "I am going to tell them you rescued me and knocked out these men. You know that, don't you?"

"Be my guest," said Bruce indifferently. "It is how things would have panned out if you had not," he paused, "lost your temper."

Kent looked uncomfortable and vaguely guilty. As if he felt bad about his loss of control. Bruce filed away the information for examining later, as he swung out of the building.

But he was not finished with Kent. Not by a long shot. When Batman asked questions, he was used to getting answers. And he was going to get them, even if he had to abduct Superman later. After all, it was important to know what could have caused the man to lose his temper so much he risked the revelation of his identity.