Pick a Card Any Card

Things have been rather quiet over at Arkham as of late... Well as how quiet it normally is for such a place. With actual patients with unsound minds screaming out at random times or the usual commotion that goes on with some of Gotham's super villains inmates. So nothing much could be said entirely….

But whenever the Joker came back into Arkham, things tend to go off around the crazed clown.

Some doctors, security officers, and staff would try and be on their guard for whatever the man would possibly do something at a moment's notice. It is hard to tell at times with his unpredictable mind and behavior, but many of the employees there try to adjust to things around him.

As for inmates, it can be iffy at times with the clown that they are just too used to him or something else. Like trying to appease to the man so things could possibly work well in their favor with the clown on a later date. Either that or just keeping their distances with a ten foot pole for good measure.

It can be odd really on how things go over there, but what can do you.

That's practically what Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy thinks about the whole situation with her experience in the asylum. 'They' would either try to get used to the Joker or just stay away from the creepy clown since the man is too unsettling for 'them'. Not only that, but 'they' don't want the man to get close in her 'social circle' and fuck things over.

Ever since 'they' had been admitted into Arkham, there was so much 'they' could do on 'their' hobbies of gardening and reading to the point of getting bored with them for a time. So 'they' needed to at least have some people to interact with until 'they' properly got out of this place. 'They' do enjoy having Naruto and Selina coming over for their usual chats so that helps a little. But asides from them, the changed botanist had to force 'themselves' to mingle amongst other inmates and staff members.

Dr. Harleen Quinzel, or Harley as she prefers being called by friends, was the first person 'they' befriended and gotten close to since being admitted here. Their friendship was sealed that after the mistake on Harley and Naruto talking about 'their' mother's death, Harley had to tell the botanist a really dark secret and it's hard to not be swayed by such a story. So after that little incident, things have gone rather well between the two.

But with 'their' friendship with the blonde intern, had made things rather protective ever since hearing what occurred in the first Joker session. Even more so when hearing from Harley that the Joker somehow got out of his cell and placed a rose inside of her office with a little note. It was rather unsettling even after Harley confronted the man first before telling the doctors and staff about it. It seems that the Joker took a liking with the blonde intern and even called her Harleyquinn after the spirit of fun and frivolity. It was odd for the botanist to hear that, but after taking out certain letters and fixing things a little that it would make it sound that way.

Hearing all of this made 'them' want to kill the clown, but 'they' were better than that since 'they' wanted Naruto to see 'them' in a better light. So 'they' had to keep the urge buried away and just be fueled for 'their' imaginations of giant venus fly traps tearing apart and devouring the crazed clown. It actually helped her sleep well at night at times….

'Yeah…. Shouldn't be watching Little Shop of Horrors anymore.' Pam thought while thinking things over in the recreational room in the asylum.

'Oh come on sis, it's a classic and it gave 'us' some good ideas on how to punish those against nature.' Ivy thought with a little whiny tone.

'I know, but should be thinking of other things or at least do something.' Pam mentally replied back as she walked over to the TV and changed it to the gardening channel before sitting onto the nearby couch.

'Ugh…. I'm so bored.' The darker sister groaned out as the start of their show came on. 'I just want 'our' king to take 'us' home now and give us some good loving.'

'Same here, but 'we' did end up signing on for a five month stay and 'our' time here is almost up.'

'True.' Was all Ivy simply said before their focus was mostly towards the gardening show. Every few minutes or so, the 'two' would drift their eyes onto the other people in the room. With some of the activities that went on, 'they' could see some little humor or very little interest in what is going on with said activities. Like with Jonathan Crane and Jervis Tetch playing a game of chess or Harvey 'Two Face' playing cards with Victor Zsasz, Magpie and a few other unnamed inmates. 'They' had interacted with some of these people and thought of basic information from what she got from some of them.

Victor Zsasz is a bald serial killer with the majority of his skin covered up with cloth because of his odd mentality of cutting himself. He wasn't always just a serial killer, but before being a crazed killer he used to be the main hitman for Carmine Falcone. No one knows how the man went from hitman to serial killer, but they didn't want to know exactly. All that the staff knows was that every time he killed someone, he would leave a line on his skin. But if he gets cut on accident or by someone else, then he needs to kill someone in the process. Luckily the Batman stopped the man several weeks after the botanist got admitted into the place.

Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka the Scarecrow, was once a medical professor at Gotham University but was fired for his inhumane experiments dealing with fear. After getting fired, he swore revenge against the university by trying to get it closed down or mainly focused on the faculty board that ruined his career. He adopted the Scarecrow persona and used his fear gas to cause panic. The Batman stopped him and got him in Arkham, but he escaped sometime before the botanist came into the place. Of course he was stopped again by the same man when he was trying to do taint the city's water supply with his concoction.

Magpie was an odd woman that seemed to put the botanist on edge. She was practically borderline crazy and obsessed with anything shiny. Margaret Sorrow was originally a kleptomaniac but got experimented on with her mind fucked over several times over. The botanist did sympathise with the woman, but was creeped out on with her some weeks later. It's just that she is no longer just obsessed with shiny things, but is also obsessed with Vanitas. Even to the point of screaming his name out in the women's ward while fucking masterbating.

Yeah…. She was that kind of woman. Even bleeding down there due to her sharp as hell nails. Got even more annoying when Magpie tried to get into the botanist's personal space and asking about Vanitas due to her seeing the two leave and coming back on April Fools Day. Being all territorial and whatnot claiming that Vanitas was all hers and no one else's.

The only person she recognized more and felt rather good on seeing was Harvey, despite the circumstances. 'They' sought the former DA out to at least still be good friends due to them being friends with Naruto. It was rather good on their interactions, but it was hard at times when dealing with Harvey's darker half. But at least things were mutual between the two inmates.

Then there was Dr. Jervis Tetch, aka the Mad Hatter as the newest addition to the asylum. All that she knows about the man was that he tried to mind control several people so he could get his co-worker to love him. Other than that, the former Wayne scientist was brought in recently by both Vanitas and Batman. 'They' tried to interact with the man, but he kept preoccupying himself with arts and crafts along with trying to get revenge on the two heroes.

So after going over the brief thoughts on those inmates, the botanist placed all of 'their' attention on the gardening show.

"...So be sure the bulbs are placed far apart from each other for proper root growth." The woman on the gardening channel lectured with Pam watching to ease her boredom. "Also don't forget to give the seedling's plenty of sunlight. Both will help nourish these little darlings into good health. So just add enough water and-" *Click*

"Hey! I was watching that!" Ivy yelled out towards the person who did the act. Only to realize that it was the Joker who did the deed. With her slight anger at the moment, helped hide Pam's worry at the man's sudden appearance.

"Well now you're watching my program toots." Joker said with his widened smile as always.

"Next, we will show a dog drinking water out of his owner's mouth." The man on the TV said with the audience laughing.

"Change it back now Joker!"

"Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. I don't want to~"

"Guard!" Ivy yelled out towards one of the security guards placed in the rec room. The nearest one responded and walked over to the changed botanist.

"What's the problem ma'am?"

"Oh don't look now sunny Jim, but the plant lady has gone wackers again." The Joker said with an ever present smile that made Ivy glare at him more.

"But he started it." Ivy stated. "I was only sitting here and watching my show till he changed it."

"Oh that's right. You always blame me for everything."

"Well I got the right since you've been stealing all of my tatertots during breakfast for the past few weeks. Not only that but you keep harassing Dr. Quinzel whenever you're not in a session with her."

The man's only response was quickly clasping the botanist's hand and bringing it closer to him in a sickening sweet fashion. "And the children wonder why we fight."

"Don't you dare touch me you crazy clown!" She growled out as she ripped her hand out of his grasp.

"I know you are, but what am I?"

"Okay, okay you two. You guys watch this show quietly or else you both end up in your cells." The security guard said as he went over to the TV and switched to a random channel.

"Yahol." Was all the Joker said in a sailor like accent. Soon both men turned their eyes towards Ivy for her response.

"I don't care."

As the guard left the two, the clown scooted over awfully closely towards Ivy before speaking to her. "You hold my hand and I'll slug you one. Heh Heh."

"Guard!"

"Woah, just kidding. Just kidding." He said as he tried to quiet her down. "Sheesh, lighten up will you?"

"Not in your dreams clown."

"This is Summer Gleeson live from Gotham Palisades Boardwalk, where it's opening night for millionaire Cameron Kaiser's latest show flix resort. Total price for this mecha is nearly three hundred million dollars. So Mr. Kaiser, what do you have to say for yourself?" Summer said as the camera focused more towards said billionaire.

"It's true Summer. I've set out to create the most opulent gambling resort in the world. After all, what's a few million here and there as long as my guests are happy."

'I would hardly say that.' The botanist thought as she and her 'sister' glared at the billionaire with distaste of doing such a thing on a nice piece of land outside of Gotham.

"Well Gotham's elite has shown up in style this evening." Summer said before the camera followed her towards one of the attendees of the event. "Bruce Wayne, mind telling us the top secret theme for Mr. Kaiser's casino."

"Well my guess is as good as your Summer." The billionaire 'playboy' said with his date wrapped around his arm.

'Wait… Isn't that…' Pam thought as she and Ivy saw Naruto in the background with Selina in the shot. It would be hard to tell, but 'they' would recognize Naruto's hairstyle anywhere.

'Seems 'our' beloved brought Selina along to the event.'

'I think it's not just her.' Pam said to her 'sister' as her eyes focused on the other person with Naruto.

' Wait… Is that...?'

'Yup. It's Harley.' She thought in confirmation of seeing the blonde intern near the couple. 'Naruto must've brought her along.'

''We' should ask them on the reason when 'we' see them next.'

'Definitely.' Pam finally thought before the sounds of clapping filled the sounds coming from the TV set.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the wait is over." Kaiser said as he held a giant pair of scissors to cut the ceremonial ribbon for the big reveal. Once cutting the ribbon, he grabbed ahold of it and started pulling it down to reveal the theme of the establishment. "I officially welcome you all to… Joker's Wild."

"Say what?/Say what?" Pamela and Joker said at the same time on what they were seeing. It was quite a sight to behold with not knowing how to fully respond to that. With what both individuals, and people at the sight, were seeing was a large pillar with a laughing effigy of Joker's head on top. In the background for the building, various neon lights were blinking on and off in display for various card and Joker themes.

"Oh dear god, that's disgusting." Summer muttered loud enough for the camera to pick up on that.

"Psst, Summer… We're still on the air." The cameraman said to his co-worker making the reporter look back from the sight before her.

"Oh, right. Well there you have it folks. Kaiser's new casino theme. Let's hear what some guest have to say about this." Summer said as she went back to Bruce Wayne. "What do you think about this?"

"...No comment." Bruce said as he walked away with his date for the evening.

"Well that was odd." Summer muttered lowly before turning her attention to the owner of the establishment. "Mr. Kaiser. Why build a casino in honor of one of history's notorious outlaws."

"Summer please. My Joker is a classic symbol associated with cards and games. So I can't help that it holds a passing resemblance to a nutty fruitcake."

Nothing else was said from the TV set due to a small potted plant being thrown towards the screen, resulting with the equipment getting destroyed in the process. The sudden impact on the device sounded off throughout the room causing everyone to look towards the source. Though it wasn't that much of a surprise on who it was exactly.

"How dare that smug, pleading fool try to catch on my image!" The clown growled out with red hot anger running through his eyes.

"I suggest you lighten up Joker." Ivy stated with a smug look on her face as she and Pam thought the sight was quite entertaining, along with everyone else in the room.

The response she got through got the man closer to her face with a snarl. "Don't get cute with me Red." Joker said to her as he pulled away before pacing around the rec room. "He's ripping me off. I'll sue, protest and then I'll carve out his chest to rip out his lungs."

"Okay I think that's enough Joker." The one security guard said as he tried to calm the inmate down. The pale clown calmed down somewhat, only to fakely groan out in pain while holding onto his side.

*Groaning* "Oh god, I feel dizzy… and my side is killing me." The inmate said before grabbing the security guard's shirt. "Everything seems to be spinning. *Groan* I need a doctor."

*Sigh* "Alright… let's get you to see the doctor." The guard said as he hauled the pale inmate towards the exit of the rec room.

"Oh Joker." Ivy said getting the man to turn around towards her. "Thanks for the smile."

The Joker's eye started to twitch at that, but he had to keep up his act for what he has in mind.

It didn't take long for the guard to get the 'sick' Joker into the medical area of the asylum. Once inside, he laid the inmate down on the medical bed before speaking to the man. "You just wait right here while I go get one of the doctors to do a check up on you."

As the man left, the Joker had let out a quiet chuckle before it got a little louder. It seemed that his little plan worked, but he'll need to tread carefully to escape the place. Once peaking out of the doorway, he looked around for any sign of guards coming his way but there seems to be done.

*Chuckles* "Sucker." The clown said with a bedpan on hand as he carefully walked through the corridors for his escape. Unbeknownst to him, he was seen by the same guard as before with a smile on his face.

"I know you are, but what am I?" The guard muttered before pulling out his phone and dialed the number in mind. After waiting for a few rings, he spoke into it. "The guy's gonna head your way Kaiser. I hope you already transferred the money to my account…."

Things were going well on navigating through the corridors and nothing was going to be in his way for his escape. There was a few guards that were coming in close, but the Joker went around and quickly knocked them out with his trusty bedpan. Once he made it towards the exit, he opened the door before breathing in the fresh air.

*BWEEE* *BWEEE* *BWEEE* *BWEEE*

"Oh… Right." Joker said as he facepalmed. "Forgot about the alarms….. Eh~."

As the alarms went off throughout the facility, the now escaped inmate ran across the grounds towards the chain linked, barb wired fence before pulling out a long trail of handkerchiefs from his pocket and tied it around a large rock on the ground. Just as he secured his escape plan, the Joker saw an oncoming truck coming by the asylum.

"Very convenient. Heh Heh Heh." The pale clown stated before throwing the tied up rock over the fence and towards the truck. It was successful in getting it hooked before the escaped inmate was sent flying. Sure his pants got caught on the barb wire, leaving a tear into the article of clothing, but it didn't matter as the Joker was now out of the asylum.

"WEEEEEE! This is so fun!" He said as he pulled onto his makeshift rope and planted his feet onto the roof of the vehicle. Didn't take long to reach the front of the truck before pulling out the driver out of the vehicle. Once securely inside, he drove off not seeing if the one driver was dead or alive.

"Now to treat Cameron Kaiser to a real blowout opening! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

-Joker's Wild, Naruto's Hotel Room-

"You know," Naruto said towards the two women present in the room, "I would be lying if I said that this room seemed comfy."

"I agree with you on that." Selina muttered as she looked around to see the various Joker themed decorations around the room. It was rather unsettling with those eyes seemingly staring right through your soul.

"I think I've seen worse." Harley said as she placed her suitcase on one of the beds to claim as hers for the night. Her simple statement got odd looks from her two friends causing the blonde intern to roll her eyes a little. "I have an estranged relative who has her entire interior walls painted pink with cat decorations everywhere. Even met someone back in college that had his apartment decorated in Christmas all year round."

"Your relative seems alright with her style." The ravenette said as she walked into the restroom.

"You would obviously say that Selina with your cat fetish, but you'll change your mind on how strict and mean she is." The intern said as she shuddered at the last time she visited her aunt.

Nothing much was said after that with Selina taking her friend's words for granted on the subject. The environmentalist looked around and envisioned what Harley described her aunt's place and could guess that it would seem too much on the decorations. She is a cat person, but even she has limits on what she would keep that is feline themed. Reason why she only has Isis as her pet.

With shaking off that thought, Selina thought back on why the three of them were here in the first place.

It was earlier that week when Naruto had gotten an invitation from Cameron Kaiser in the mail for the unveiling of the new casino. He was going to decline on going, but he had nothing else going on that day so he decided to attend. It also came with the option that he could bring up to two additional people in his party. There was no second thought that Naruto had invited his second girlfriend, but he ended up inviting Harley as well.

In his reasoning, Harley had been working very hard ever since the Joker became her patient. So the publisher got the idea of wanting to get her out of the asylum for the weekend. The intern wanted to refuse, but after one very good compelling argument Harley reluctantly complied and joined the couple for the weekend.

So here they are all dressed up and going to have some fun in the process. Naruto was wearing a charcoal grey suit to help compliment his semi long hair and pop out his hazel eyes. With Selina, she was wearing one of her long black dresses that reached her ankles with some jewelry to complement her attire. As for Harley, she wore a red strapped dress that reached past her knees with no jewelry present on her.

It was quite interesting to see Harley in the dress, especially with her hair out of the bun to see some of the natural curls come out from it to frame her face. As a result, Naruto couldn't help but blush when seeing her looking like that. Of course he had to shake the thoughts out of his head, but he did compliment her when he and Selina picked her up. It was rather cute for Selina to see her blonde friend blush as well on the complement.

"I'm sorry that you had to end up seeing the Joker's face during this weekend Harley." Naruto said in an apologetic tone as he was raiding the mini-fridge for some snacks. "Or at least any reference to his ugly mug. I was hoping that you would be out of that mess for the time being."

"It's alright Naruto and there's no harm done at all since from what everyone's reactions were, they weren't expecting Kaiser to have his casino in this kind of theme."

The publisher nodded at this as he handed Harley a water bottle on her bed before sitting next to her. "So speaking of the Joker, how's sessions with him coming along?"

*Sigh* "It's been quite shaky ever since I supposedly got his interests and my mini scare of finding the rose in my office." She said before taking a swig out of the water bottle.

"Yeah you told me about that and I'm surprised that he somehow got out of his cell to do that."

"Well given the history of his various breakouts, I eventually realized that he would've done that often to other doctors working there."

"But still though, how were your sessions?"

It took a few moments on a thinking process before the intern spoke. "With how the sessions have gone, I can pretty much tell you how one of my earlier ones went…."

-Flashback-

"...Is the patient ready?"

"Inside, handcuffed and all yours Dr. Quinzel." One of the guards said as he pulled out his keys to unlock the door.

"Thank you." Harley said as the door opened to show the Joker with his ever present grin on his face.

"Ahh…. Dr. Quinzel~. Good morning and what a beautiful day it is." The pale clown said to the intern. "Not that they've let me see daylight all that often, of course."

"Well I've got some questions to ask you Mr. Joker and then we'll be on our way." The blonde said as she walked towards her chair with Joker's file on hand with some pen and paper. "Now first question: When things go wrong in your life, for example, experiencing rejection… do you do things to hurt yourself?"

The clown tilted his head a little at the question and adopted a thinking pose as he answered. "Are you talking about a suicidal behavior doctor? If you are, then you really haven't been doing your homework. My destructive tendencies are to lash outward. I like myself way too much to do myself any physical harm."

"I see…. So when you're under stress, do you feel like you lose touch with your environment or with yourself?"

When hearing this, the inmate let out a mocking gasp at her. "Are you asking if I touch myself?"

"You know I'm not Mr. Joker so please answer the question."

"Dissociative symptoms? Or are you searching to see if paranoia is my schitch? So what's next, asking me about abandonment?" He said with a little chuckle. "Does anyone really like rejection of any kind?"

"I would think not?"

"Well I would never reject you."

Ignoring his last statement with the idea that he wants to control her at some point, she moved onto the next question. "So what do you do when you get angry? Do you tend to hold it inside, or let it out, so others know what you're feeling?"

"Hah. Another obvious question given my history, but okay then…. I'll play ball." The Joker said as he leaned forward with his chin resting on his hands. "I have textbook borderline personality disorder, which tends to make me express rage in a very dramatic way. Some would even say theatrical. So I like to think of it as an expression of my…. Creative nature."

"I see."

"So doctor," the inmate said as he readjusted himself in his seat, "can we skip ahead your screening questions to relationship stability?"

"If you would please answer only the questions asked."

"Oh I can save you time and tell you yes, my relationships tend to be stormy with lots of ups and downs, but the best part of that is unbridled passion and commitment that comes with it."

Knowing that things were either going nowhere or getting into very personal territory with how she was feeling inside, she spoke out. "Guard. This session is over now. So please open the door."

"But doc," he said in a whiny tone, "I'm a Maserati stuck on a 35 mile per hour highway. The worst part of being me is noticing it in someone else and not helping them see it clearly."

Once the door opened up with the guard ushering out, the Joker still called out to her. "You know I'm right doctor. So think about on what I've said. I'm a very patient man and I can wait 'til you come around."

-Flashback End-

"...So from what I could tell after that session was that the man was trying to flirt with me or something in that nature while trying to redirect the attention towards me." Harley said as she finished up the rest of her water bottle to quench her dry mouth. "Trying to possibly make it seem intimate or something from what I figure."

"Then again you have also told me that he messes around with other doctors that try to deconstruct him."

"All so very true Naruto..."

More was going to be said as the door to the restroom opened up with Selina present and seemed ready to go. She was going to speak out, but saw Naruto and Harley sitting rather close with each other. So with a cheshire like grin, she spoke. "Seems that you two are getting rather chummy together."

Wondering what she meant, the publisher and intern looked back at each other and saw their sides were rather close to each other. Not only that but their closest hand seemed to be grasping each other gently without showing any real sign they were prior. When realizing all of that, the two blushed slightly and separated before trying to calm themselves down.

Selina got a laugh out of that before she told the two to come along now since it's probably time to have some fun at the casino. She didn't wait for their response as she headed out of the door with the other two following after her. Both wanted to say something on what went on earlier, but nothing came out. Only the thoughts of the two being close at that moment and a feeling both are wondering about.

-Kaiser's Office-

Inside of the darkened office, a shadowy figure seemed to be present inside of the empty room. As the person walked around the office, light was shined on through to briefly reveal the costumed figure of the Batman. It was pretty easy for the costumed 'playboy' to get inside of Kaiser's office with him scaling the outside of the building.

Now one might wonder why Batman was inside of the billionaire's office in the first place. Well after the big reveal of Cameron's casino, Bruce knew that something was completely off about the place…. Asides from the creepy faces of Joker plastered everywhere. He originally wanted to investigate right away, but he didn't have his Batsuit on him for the evening. So after one quick phone call, Alfred came on over with his other suit before making an excuse on why he had to end his date with an attractive redhead.

He would've brought over Bethanie Ravencroft, who he had started to date for some time now, but the psychologist had a conference to attend to out of town. From what Bruce had known so far about the blonde was that she was quite fascinating to the billionaire. But something about her seems off somehow, but he doesn't know what exactly. Of course one little factor could be about her insisting him to join the Argus Club, an old Gotham club that's been around for years apparently.

It would help explain on what the key he found inside of her desk was about since it must've been a membership item of sorts.

So every time Bethanie invites him to a meeting, Bruce would turn her down with him already being apart of other Gotham clubs along with him being busy with work. She relents on this, but tends to come back on the subject every so often. Hell she even tried to offer Naruto to come along one time, but he outright refused due to him having a full plate of things he has to completely focus on.

Sometimes Bruce wonders on what Naruto has to deal with on his friend's end, but he tries to not dig deep into his friend's personal life.

So getting back to the matter at hand, Batman was searching the room for any clues that he could gather with his 'detective vision'. Nothing was showing up so far until he went closer towards Cameron's desk, where a scale model of the casino was nearby. Batman didn't get much of a good look from the outside of the building at first, but now he was able to with the sight before him of the medieval themed building.

Once inspecting the model more, he saw that the Joker tower in the front seemed a little loose. So he slightly grabbed it and pulled to reveal the a designed tower with it labeled 'Camelot'. With the name brought up, it would at least explain some of the decorations in his hotel room especially once he looked beneath some of the wall paper.

After putting back the Joker tower covering to not show that he messed up anything, Batman went towards the owner's desk to investigate further. It took a bit to pick the locks for one of the drawers, but he was successful to show the various files present. So with some patience, he was able to see what he was possibly looking for.

"Hmm… Looks like Kaiser broke the bank on this place." Batman softly said as he looked through the various documents. From the construction bills, the insurance statements and even one consisting with the Joker. "Seems you've got quite the hobby Cameron."

With seeing everything he needs, he closed back up the drawer and made sure it was securely locked so that the casino owner won't know he picked the lock. Once looking around the room one more time to see if he missed anything, he left through the skylight above before closing it back up. He does need to head back to the casino to sell off his alibi so no one would suspect a thing.

-Casino Floor-

"...Damn Naruto," Selina said as she stared at her boyfriend with slightly widened eyes, "you weren't kidding when you said that you have a 'fox's luck' in terms with gambling."

"And you said that my luck streak would run out." Naruto said with a chuckle as he got another win from the craps table.

Once on the gambling floor, the three decided to stick together and see on how things would go well on their wins and losses. Harley didn't play at first since she couldn't afford to play any at the time, so she was fine with just watching Selina and Naruto go at it. Selena had won a small amount on the few times on the roulette and craps tables, but lost a good amount of money. She was rather stubborn on that and wanted to try and win it back. Though with Naruto, he seemed to be a different story….

"I find that really improbable on how you're able to win so many times in a row." Harley muttered as she looked at the two and a half buckets worth of chips. "You should not be winning that many times without losing at least once."

"Well it never has failed me before and it was how I was able to get the money needed to start up my company."

"But still though, how the hell does that work?" Asked the ravenette as they made it to the roulette table.

"Don't know for sure Selina, practically had that type of luck when I first gambled at a casino when I was barely a teenager."

Hearing that tidbit got the two women to look at him with odd looks and couldn't help but voice their thoughts on the fact.

"You were allowed into a casino?"

"At that age?"

"Well not intentionally mind you." Naruto said as he tossed the dice again and got another win out of it. "I was helping out this old perverted toad I knew track down an old friend of his for some stuff with family and whatnot. We ended up at a small time casino where she was supposedly last at and the old toad took too long on a meeting. So with a coin I found on the floor, I went to the slots and on the first run I won the jackpot. *Chuckles* That was really fun and I had to hid the money from the old toad so he wouldn't take it."

"But wouldn't you not be able to take the winnings with you when you cashed it at that age?" Selina asked since she had tried that when at that age on her own and she wasn't able to at all with rules and whatnot.

All that she got as a shrug before speaking again. "I had to lie a little on getting the money at the time, that and the person on the cashing area was a bit of a convincing idiot. So after getting that settled I tried it again at a later time with some of those scratch and win games. Same result happened once I left Japan since I needed travel money at the time."

Feeling satisfied with the answer, the two women soon watched Naruto collect the last of his winnings from the craps table before he ushered the two to follow him. Once they were at a good opened enough area on the casino floor, he handed each of them a bucket full of chips. "Hope you enjoy this you two."

The two adopted dumbfounded looks at this action and they didn't know what to say.

"Not that I'm complaining of you giving me this Naruto, but why?" Selina asked while also voicing Harley's thoughts on the matter.

"Well for one, I wanted to give you two a gift of being my friends along with things going well between us so far. The second was that I have a feeling you two need some help in the financially department with your work Selina and to help you a little on bills Harley." Naruto said before he saw Harley give him an odd look. "Oh don't give me that Harley. I could tell that with your internship that you would have a hard time paying things on your end. So please accept the winnings and let it help you out for who knows how long."

Harley wanted to relent on this, but he did bring up a little good point. With her internship, she is barely making ends meat and sometimes tries to get more hours at the asylum to take care of things. Once swallowing her pride, she accepted the winnings with a small smile.

"Alright Naruto, I'll take them. But this doesn't mean the end for me for the evening."

"How so?"

"Since I have money to play around with now, I'll cash most of this in and either hit the slots or do something else to keep me entertained." The blonde said before she went off to her own devices with an odd look to her eyes.

"I'll probably tag along with her and make sure she doesn't do something too crazy." The ravenette muttered as she noticed that look in Harley's gaze. Before following after her friend, Selina placed a kiss on Naruto's lips."Don't wait up on us Naruto."

"I won't honey." He said with a smile before kissing her again. "You two have fun."

"So what are you going to do until then?"

"Going to win more money and deposit it into Pam's account. She's been out of work for months and I want to help her out on that bit."

*Chuckles* "Sweet as ever." His second girlfriend said before she went to find Harley and have some more fun on their own.

When Selina was out of his view, Naruto went on to search for good tables for him to win more money for the evening. He scanned the various tables to see if either of them were hot or cold at the moment. The publisher knew that he shouldn't play on a certain table for too long or else things might get messy. Naruto planned on playing a good handful of hands of blackjack on each table before moving onto something else.

As he was doing all of this, part of his mind drifted back of what happened several days ago when things had seemed to die down. With nothing else to do at the time, the former shinobi decided that it was time to chat with Yggdrasil and get things cleared up. At the time, he needed to know what was fully going on and what were those things he was fighting against in that botanical garden tree's heart.

-Flashback-

"So…. Will you finally tell me what is going on Yggdrasil?" Naruto asked as he was back on Pam's heart platform. "I've waited long enough and I want answers."

"I understand young sapling." The ancient tree spoke with his glowing silhouette in front. "What would you like to discuss first?"

"One that has on my mind the longest has been why Pam became barren and no longer able to give birth to infants for starters."

*Sigh* "Figured you would have that brought up first."

"So what's the deal with that Yggdrasil?"

"To simply put it Naruto Uzumaki, she's no longer a human being." Yggdrasil said before holding out his spectral hand to pause the former shinobi. "Now before you go 'off the rails' as they say, you need to realize that the process of making her a champion of the Green ends up making her more plant than human. Sure there's the whole thing of labeling her as a meta-human, but of her losing a lot of her connection to the Red would make the 'baby process' not go all that well."

"That's the other thing that I'm wondering about as well." Naruto said as these color groups seem to be coming up and making him confused. "I know from brief information that the Parliament of Trees work with the Green for plant life, but what's up with the Parliament of Limbs, the Red, the Grey and whatnot? You only said little about them and I would like to know more on them before coming back to Pam's situation."

"Well that would make things better on explaining if we had the topic on your mate brought in later." The ancient tree said in a tone that made Naruto think the spectral form was rolling it's eyes. "Now to start things off, there are nine groups in total that deal with nature as a whole: the Green, the Red, the Clear, the Heat, the White, the Melt, the Divided, the Grey, and the Black.

With the Green, we the Parliament of Trees help govern how plant life should go throughout the world and do what we can to save all flora. With our champions, who die from fire and merge with the earth, are reborn again as a plant elemental being no longer associated with the Red. Though with how on the cases of Alec Holland and Pamela Isley the formula they made-made up the earth portion of the requirement.

With the Red, the Parliament of Limbs govern all animal life and have been the Green's greatest ally to help maintain balance on the planet. With their champions, or totems as that Parliament prefers them being called, fight for all animal life on a global scale. With humans, they are categorized as animals in the eyes of all of the Parliaments. With their Totems, being one sometimes requires a deeper connection to the Red than from normal beings like having a trinket gifted from the Parliament or a magical/genetically changed beast for example.

With the Clear or sometimes called the Blue, the Parliament of Waves helps connect and pervades all aquatic/marine life and oceanic themed elements throughout the universe. Their champions can communicate with aquatic/marine life as a whole and can be able to have hydrokinetic abilities. Though with their champions have mostly come from a certain bloodline on this planet, others have been made by turning them into water like forms.

With the White, the Parliament of Air deals with the various atmospheres of a planet and the very air that many lives need to have in order to survive. Their champions usually involve beings that have become apart of the very wind and air itself. A usual trait on how this is shown is with the being having aerokinetic abilities to help manipulate the air around them.

With the Melt, their Parliament of Stones deals with the very stones which make up this planet. Their champions are known of having geo or terrakinesis while others are rarely one with the very earth they protect.

With the Heat, their Parliament of Flames governs over the powers of fire, lightning, plasma and -in recent years- nuclear. Their champions and elementals heavily rely on either one of these powers while it's unknown if a champion takes more than one element.

With the Divided, there is no discernable Parliament as they are the very elemental force of all bacteria on the planet. They've existed in nature -prior to mankind's arrival- as they are an essential part of life and death.

With the Grey, we have discovered that they have no Parliament at all, it's just a collective fungal consciousness. It has the drive and ambition to spread, consume and break down all life. You have encountered some of its forces back in that tree's heart with their fungal like appearances.

With the Black or sometimes called the Rot, the Parliament of Decay strongly associates with Death in order to rot and decay all living things. Many of it's forces deals with the dead itself that is sometimes hard to handle when unprepared. Though you have done well against one of their dark beasts, a monstrous form of decay, while protecting the one tree's heart. As for their champions, they are similar to the Clear in terms of a bloodline but others have been made by reanimating and bringing back life to the dead.

In terms of how the alliances go; the Green, Red and Clear are in an alliance. The White, Heat, Melt and Divided are neutral while both the Grey and Black work together due to how well they operate with each other. This is pretty much the infrastructure of the 'Cold War' we have within the forces of Nature" Explained the ancient tree getting the former shinobi to nod in response.

As all that was said and done, Naruto had to take a few minutes to collect and process all of this information. It at least gave him a label on each of the groups that dealt with nature as a whole. So asides from that, there was still more for Naruto to learn but that would involve a deeper discussion and the publisher only wanted a generalization one on the groups so far.

"Well thanks for letting me know on all of that Yggdrasil, but there's still leaves things on Pam's birth conditions and on why the Grey and the Black seemed in wanting to target that one tree at Gotham's Botanical Garden."

The vocal answer wasn't immediate as the glowing form held out it's hand and a green outline of the planet was formed before it expanded. Soon various lines started to spread all around with several overlapping each other. Once this was done, the ancient tree then spoke. "As you remember, that particular tree has been on the planet since before the birth of man. The reason for why it has been around for so long is because several of it's roots have tapped into a nexus of ley lines."

"Ley lines? Like part of the lifelines of the planet that holds a lot of power if one could tap into it?" Naruto questioned as he spoke again. "I remember interacting with one years ago where I originally came from called Roran. Can't remember much details about it, but I know the place was built on top of a very large amount of them."

"Indeed Naruto Uzumaki." Yggdrasil said in confirmation. "Most places around the world have their own nexus made underneath a city or a natural landmark. Sometimes people that are good in finding one would build a city or a landmark on top of the location. Depending on how things go on top of the nexus, things above could be heightened greatly in a positive or negative fashion. For example, the one in your current city..."

"Where all of the crazy seems to come from." The Uzumaki finished off in his own way before rubbing part of his head. *Sigh* "Would explain on how bad this city seems to be I guess."

"Indeed."

"So I'm guessing the Grey and Black was targeting the tree for it's connection to the nexus then."

"Normally the two groups wouldn't bother seeking out nexus locations with them being apart of nature as a whole. But due to how special the tree was with it's connection, they decided to try and seize it during that clown's attack to possibly gain more power. And with your interference, it'll take a long time for them to try and take the tree again."

*Chuckles* "Good to know."

"Now with that out of the way, I'll explain a bit more on your mate's situation…."

-Flashback End-

"Hehehe! Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" A loud laugh rang out throughout the casino floor causing Naruto to snap out of his thoughts and focus towards the source of the laugh. After a short search, the publisher saw a card dealer laugh a bit more as he brought several chips closer to him in a maddening glee.

"Well that guy clearly is taking his job position really well." He said to himself as he remembered some of the dealers and employees at this place had to act like the Joker to some degree. But this guy possibly takes the cake. "Should check that guy out."

As the publisher was getting closer to the source, he saw the dealer blow a raspberry at the several patrons leaving in disgust. It seemed really rude for the man to do such a thing and maybe he could teach the dealer a lesson. So when he got closer to the table, he saw a familiar sight in front of him.

"Mind trying your luck friend?" The dealer asked in a giddy tone with his cheshire like grin towards the man in front of him.

"Sure, why not." The man said as he went to sit down in one of the vacant chairs for the blackjack table.

"Don't mind if I join Bruce?" Naruto said as the man turned around to see his friend coming to the table.

"I don't see why not." The billionaire said with an outward smile while having an internal frown. He was planning on the fly to deal with the 'dealer' to get his suspicions in check alone. But with his friend here could cause some problems to some degree. Didn't know for sure, but who knows at the moment.

"Great."

"Say…. Don't I know you two?" The 'dealer' said as he was shuffling the cards in various ways. With a snap of his fingers, he gained a look of recognition. "Oh that's right, you two are Bruce Wayne and Naruto Uzumaki."

"Yup. How do you do Mr…" "Napier, Jack Napier at your service." The 'dealer' said with his ever present grin towards the publisher before turning his attention towards the dark haired billionaire. "So this is how you're family has made all it's billions. Hehehe."

*Chuckles* "Secret's out."

"Huh… And here I thought I was the only one."

"Oh~!" 'Jack' said as he seemed pretty interested on this little bit.

"I mean, how was I going to start up my business in the first place." The publisher said with a shrug. "Hitting various casinos with my luck helped start it up."

"Well you got to earn one way or another. For me it's just shuffling my life away." The 'dealer' said as he kept doing varying shuffling tricks.

"Too bad it has to be done in such gruesome surroundings."

This statement from the Wayne caused 'Jack' to stop his tricks and gave the man an odd look. "Don't care for the decor?"

"Not hardly."

"Barely on my end." Naruto said in similar agreement with his friend as the 'dealer' was handing out the cards.

"All of those horrible faces grinning at me. It would do things to my mind after a while."

"I know right. *Chuckles* I mean with those soulless eyes with hints of madness seemingly going right through you to try and stare into your soul."

With the two doing the slight conversation, 'Jack's' eye was starting to twitch a little before mumbling a little. "Who says you have one?"

The two friends then picked up their cards and saw of what their chances were going to be like respectively before putting them back down for the usual treatment.

"Well who knows since I might have to go to a laughing academy if I have to stare at that ugly mug all day." Bruce said with a little smirk since this was a fun little opportunity outside of his usual attire to make fun of the crazed clown. But of course he had to try and not make it too much or else it might be unleashed towards his friend.

After hearing this from the Wayne billionaire, the 'dealer' was starting to grind his teeth while narrowing his eyes with some hate. He needed to keep his cool down or else his cover might be blown. Though 'Jack' was going to say something, but the dark haired man said a brief 'hit me' while pushing several stacks of chips towards the center of the table. Once taking some brief silent moments, he met Bruce Wayne's bet before drawing out a card and placed it in front of said man to reveal it to be a 'King'.

"I gotta say Bruce, I could agree on that suggestion but I think that would be a waste honestly."

"Oh~… And why would you say that?"

"From what I guess, anyone that goes to the laughing academy might actually come out a whole lot better joke wise than from that deranged clown." Naruto said as he missed the twitching look coming from the 'dealer'. "Oh and hit me." He said as he met the other's bet.

'Jack' complied as he drew a card from the deck and placed it in front of the publisher to show that it was an 'Ace'.

"I mean the guy can't tell any jokes that are good enough to make the Batman laugh or chuckle at all. Oh and hit me again."

The next card was a '3'.

"Honestly though, the guy might be one of the most brooding men to walk the face of the planet and only a real comedian might make him laugh, but the Joker isn't one at all." Naruto said with a chuckle. "Hit me."

Next one was a 'Queen'.

"Might be the reason behind that attack on April Fools Day, compensating the fact that he personally can't make anyone at all smile on his jokes. Oh and hit me."

There was no response from the 'dealer' as his eyes seemed to be dangerously fixated on the publisher from what was said about him.

"Oh come one Jack. I said hit me." The former shinobi said with a slight whine to his tone.

'Oh how I would enjoy hitting you so much right now.' 'Jack' thought as he wanted to harm the man in front of him, but the person he wanted to focus his anger towards was not him. He could come back to the silver haired man at a later date. But for now, he had to keep his cool. So he drew a card from the deck and placed it down to show that it was another 'Ace'.

"Thanks and I'm good now."

As nothing else was going on, 'Jack' flipped the cards he had in front of him and smiled as he had a 'Queen' and a '10' in front of him for a total of '20'. Of course that smile turned upside down as Bruce and Naruto flipped their cards over to show that in grand total, both had '21' respectively. From Bruce having a '8', a '3' and a 'King' while Naruto had a '5', three 'Aces', a '3' and a '10'.

*Chuckles* "Well ain't that lucky, Bruce and I got '21s'." The publisher said as he gathered his share of the chips on the table and placed them into his bucket, but left one for the 'dealer' as a customary tip. "Well I'm heading off to another table. Have fun."

"Probably doing the same." Bruce said as he gathered his chips and winnings before leaving a tip for 'Jack'. "Have a good night."

Once leaving the table, the two friends had missed the 'dealer' grab onto the tips he was given and crushed them in his hands in a fit of rage.

"Seems that the Joker's really here." Bruce muttered to himself as he headed off to cash in his chips. "Need to come back and apprehend him as quickly as possibly as Batman."

Back with the resident publisher, he was at the cashing area to get his winnings taken care of before finding Harley and Selina. With how much he had gambled for the evening, he figured it was probably time for him to stop as he would just watch his two female companions go at it with whatever they were doing. From what the cashier told him, he made quite a good amount and he'll be depositing the money into Pam's bank account.

Once turning around, he jumped back a little to see a dark figure standing some feet away from him. It was rather odd due to the attire he was wearing being a full length black coat with a hood covering up the person's head entirely with a waist-high slit riding up the back to be similar to a duster. There was a large silver zipper that fastened at the top and zips down to seal the coat. It has silver drawstrings for the hood decorated with a large silver bead hanging from the end and a silver chain ornament adorned with four large cylindrical silver beads that fastens to a loop on either side of the collarbone region. Everything else that could've been visible was covered up by leather gloves and black boots and pants.

Nothing was said from the man and Naruto was going to question him, but several people were walking 'through' the man like he was a ghost. No one was even phased with the man being there like he wasn't there at all. This greatly alarmed the former shinobi as his senses started screaming from him to be weary at the man in front of him.

"W-Who are you?" Asked the Uzumaki.

Nothing was said for a few moments before the man in question uttered something that seemed inaudible, yet it was.

"I am but a mere shell, wanting to be whole."

As the man said this, he turned his back towards the publisher and ran away.

"Hey wait!" Naruto called out as he gave chase.

-Moments Ago with Harley and Selina-

"Well this is fun." The blonde intern said in a giddy tone.

"You call this fun Harley?"

"Yeah… Why?"

"Well fun would be winning some hands at a poker table, getting '21' at blackjack, getting your number on roulette or doing well on craps." Selina said as she was sitting next to her friend at the slot machines. "This is not what I call fun."

"That's just because you don't do well on them."

"And you can?"

"It's better than the other gambling games you mentioned." Harley said as she pulled the lever on the machine and ended up getting another set of '7' as a result winning more coins in the end. *Chuckles* "I'm not that great with those games for several reasons."

"Which are what exactly?" Selina asked as she pulled the lever on her machine and only got a set of cherries.

"I suck at bluffing, roulette and craps seem to hate me, and blackjack makes me want to count the cards but that'll get me in trouble." The intern listed off with an eye roll. "But with slots, I sometimes think of it as apart of gymnastics in some sort of way."

"How so?"

"Deals with timing for the most part. Little fun fact I learned from my con-man of a father when he had to look after me one time and he took me to a casino in the process."

"That mustn't have been fun at all. And how old were you when that went on?"

"Like in my preteen years. Can't remember when, but it was in that general area and there was one time a few years back when he wanted to do some father/daughter time." The blonde said with a shrug. "Anyways there's a little trick with most of these machines that the coins need to be inserted in odd timed orders. Even with the new computerized ones we are playing right now need different timings."

"Huh…. Well that's interesting to know." The ravenette muttered as she watched her friend carefully to possibly recognize the timing combination on the one she's doing now. "Must've been an interesting skill to pick up from him."

"Basically the only one that I could think of really, but it tends to put too much risk on things." The Quinzel girl said getting a look from her friend. *Sigh* "With what my dad did as a con-man, practically ruined his marriage. It was not great and it's something that I hope that I didn't pick up from him. Sure I did take risks on my own terms when dealing with school, my gymnastics scholarship and my past relationship. But the later made things really hard to bare, especially now."

"And why would you bring that up now Harley?" The environmentalist asked as she seemed rather worried right now. "Why talk about risk with a relationship?"

The answer wasn't immediate as Harley won yet another set of '7' on the slot machine winning more coins in the process. That was before Harley swung a bit on her seat to put her attention to her friend. "Because lately I don't know if I want to risk ruining my friendship with Naruto. Because I don't know if I want to…to…"

Seeing her reaction, Selina's green eyes widened slightly in realization as her lips gained a small smile in the process. She then brought her friend into a hug to comfort her slightly despite the awkward seating arrangement the two are currently in. It lasted for a little bit, but it seemed well enough to get Harley to know that Selina got the message clearly.

"It's okay to love him Harley and I very much understand on what you're going through right now." The ravenette said as she had her hands grasped around the other's. "When I started having feelings for him, I was confused as well since I didn't know at the time that Pam wanted an open relationship with him. I was very conflicted if I wanted to try and steal him from her, but after knowing a lot about those two made things harder than I thought. So I tried to hold myself off."

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming along." The blonde stated as the dark haired woman nodded in response.

"But there were all these things that seemed to click well between us and on how Naruto was able to literally sweep me off my feet. It felt magical on how we danced and when it ended I didn't know what to do exactly. I wanted to confess to him on how I felt later, but he had beaten me to the punch and things went on from there."

All Harley could do was see Selina's eyes slightly glaze over in possible remembrance on how all that happened. It made Harley feel uneasy when hearing all of this as she possibly felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. She knew that she shouldn't feel that way with such a personal experience, but the intern wished she could've been in Selina's position at that time. She was going to say something about it, but the ravenette got out of her little nostalgia to beat her to the punch.

"What I'm trying to say Harley is that if you want to try and risk what you have with Naruto, then go for it. You like him very much and want to see if anything can come well out of it. Hell... I'll help you out as much as I can if you want and Pam practically is backing this up regardless for our happiness with Naruto."

Harley took a bit of time processing this before a small smile graced her face. "...Thanks Selina. I appreciate it."

"No problem Harley." Her friend briefly said as she stood up from her seat and stretched a little. "I don't know about you, but I think I'm done for the evening. We should probably find Naruto and head back to the hotel room."

"Same here."

Once gathering their winnings, they went to cash in their winnings when they heard a familiar voice.

"Sorry! Excuse me! Pardon me!"

"Wait? Is that...?" Selina asked as the two of them turned their heads towards the source to see Naruto weaving through the crowds of people in a quickened pace. They didn't know what was going on, but the environmentalist's trained eye caught a glimpse of his troubled look.

Not wanting to lose sight of him, Selina moved towards her beloved boyfriend's direction to try and keep up in her heeled shoes with her winnings on hand.

"Hey! Wait up Selina!" Harley called out as she followed her friend to see what was going on with her other friend and possible love interest.

-Joker's Wild Basement, Amusement Area-

It took a bit of navigating and quickly moving out of people's way, but the silver haired publisher was able to keep up with the hooded man. Part of his mind was trying to figure out what was going on while another was keeping track on what pathway was being taken so that once this was over, he'll get back to the casino floor better. In the end, Naruto passed through an overhead sign labeled 'Joker's Wild Amusement Area'.

Once he looked around for the man's presence, Naruto noticed that it seemed to be an odd mixture of a child's playground and a traditional theme park rolled into a sub-basement level of the building. The Uzumaki guessed that this area was going to be used to keep a lot of children preoccupied while the parents would have their own fun on the casino floor. He was going to start his searching a bit more when sounds of heels clicking and a voice called out to gain his attention.

"Naruto!" His female companions called out made him pale a little on the current predicament.

"Selina?! Harley?!" He said as he looked towards their direction to see them panting a little with each of them respectively holding their bucket of winnings. "What are you two doing here?!"

"We would like to ask the same thing buster." Harley said as she and Selina walked closer towards him….

Well they would've if a dark plumb of smoke that formed out of the ground didn't get in the way. With how the three people saw it, it was forming a dark portal of some sort with varying blues and purples in the middle of it. Once it dissipated, it revealed the dark hooded man that Naruto was chasing.

"You!" Naruto called out as he stood between the publisher and the girls.

*SNAP*

As the loud snap of his fingers rang out throughout the room, giant versions of Naruto's throwing cards formed out of the ground and encircled his female companions in a rapid succession. Not only that, but a barrier seemed to form around the area to block any form of escape.

-Insert Kingdom Hearts 2.5: The 13th Struggle Extended-

"NARUTO!" They yelled out causing the former shinobi to try and reach for them for safety.

*SNAP*

With another snap of the man's fingers, the cards stopped their previous movement and disappeared in a plumb of black and white smoke.

"What have you done to them?!" The Uzumaki yelled as he didn't want his friends involved in this.

"I'd rather we skip the formalities." The hooded man said to the publisher as he summoned his Vanitas attire for this fight. "So I hope you can get your friends back before time runs out."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Growled out the publisher.

"You'll soon find out." Was all the man said as a plumb of black and white smoke surrounded Naruto. He tried to wave it off, but it seemed impossible for some reason.

"What the hell?!" He cried out as he tried to move but only seemed to fall over. "Why can't I move?!" Part of the answer came out when his eyes caught glimpse of the nearby puddle that seemed to form on the ground. With it bright enough in the room, he saw his reflection in the water to see…

"WHY THE FUCK AM I A THING OF DICE?!" Naruto yelled out but his instincts yelled at him to move as several cards seemed to come at his way at high speeds.

The giant cube with Naruto's masked face was barely able to dodge out of the way as more and more cards went through the air to try and skewer the changed Uzumaki. It was rather exhausting on this task all the while trying to break out of his current bindings. But with all his might and strength, he built up his void power and sent it outward to destroy his temporary imprisonment.

"Damn that was troublesome." He panted out before his eyes caught of something coming his way. "OH SHIT!" Naruto dodged as the hooded man slammed a pair of body sized cards onto the ground to leave deep gashes in it's place.

Naruto summoned several daggers and cards in each of his hands and threw them at the hooded man. Some missed while others penetrated through the giant cards he was holding to keep them in place. The hooded man didn't let up however as he swung the weapons on hand at the masked Uzumaki. Quickly evading the attack, Naruto had summoned Kazekage into his hands before he swung his lance at the weapons with wind added to the mix to slice the weapons in half to dissipate them into smoke.

The man summoned more cards as they rotated through the air before shooting his arm out to send them flying towards the hero. Naruto had to use his lance to slice through some of them while dodging the rest. Using his weapon, he channeled wind throughout his body before running towards the hooded man to slice the man in two. It was successful until his body seemed to dissipate into a variety of cards making the former shinobi narrow his eyes behind his helmet.

"So he can make card clones." Naruto muttered at the display before several exploding cards had hit him from behind. He tried to get back up, but he head a loud snap in the air before several cards were formed above his prone body and encircled around him in quick succession before exploding again to leave him deeper into the floor.

Not wanting to be pelted like that again, Naruto threw his lance high into the air until it lodged itself into the ceiling. Just as the cards were going to explode again above him, Naruto teleported towards his lance just in time to see the ground below him explode while hanging onto his weapon.

"Well I'm getting pissed off." Naruto muttered as he summoned several other Kazekage lances around him before dropping down and slamming his lances at the hooded man. It was unsuccessful on the attack, as the lances were met with several playing cards encircling around the man like planets orbiting the sun in rapid successions before they outwardly expanded to shove Naruto away. The Uzumaki didn't let up however as his lances came together to become a large, connecting pole to make the hero swing it around to penetrate the multi-card barrier and hit the man in the process.

The hooded man stumbled before regaining his composure to attack the publisher once more. He threw more and more cards at his opponent with several going past the lance like barrier to hit Naruto a few times while the rest was phased right through him. This process happened several times, but on the last few ended up knocking the lances circling around the masked Uzumaki out of the air to dissipate them to only leave the two in the hero's hands.

Using his current lances as impromptu elongated escrima sticks, Naruto swung his weapons at the man to keep on hitting the card barriers several times. He had to focus more and more power into his weapons to get more force out of them and slice through said barriers. Once all of the cards were gone, the masked publisher went further on the offensive to smack the hooded man several times before hitting him into the air and slamming him back down onto the earth.

Before landing onto the ground, several large cards appeared and encircled the man to make him seem he disappeared. The cards stayed present as they landed on the floor, but kept on moving throughout the flat surface. It wasn't long before they scattered through several corners of the room.

"Seems I need to play 'Find the Lady'." Naruto muttered as he ran towards each of the cards to possibly find the hooded man. The nearest card seemed to be a mistake as Naruto slashed right through it to end up detonating upon impact. It had hurt like hell making the hero become a bit more cautious when attacking the other cards in the process. So he threw his lances at the other two cards in the room to destroy them in the process with one detonating while the other didn't do a thing at all. He summoned back his two lances before going after the remaining card in the room.

Naruto didn't make it however as said card dissipated in a cloud of smoke before the hooded man shot out with two large cards on hand to meet the intended attack. Each blow was either dodged or parried by each person in the room as they tried to land a blow on their respective opponent, but neither would let up. So at this chance, Naruto focused more wind from his lances to cut through the large cards and was able to slash at the dark man.

After getting hit by the damaging blow, numerous cards came out of thin air and landed face down onto the ground before one of them landed on top of the hooded man. Naruto looked around for where the man might pop out, but it didn't take long for said man to take action. Several cards started moving around before popping out off of the ground with the man holding onto a large card on each hand to hopefully land a hit on the lance wielder.

Naruto already guessed on what was about to happen as he spun around and both lances met the cards to destroy the hooded man's weapons before he went into another face down card. This process happened several times with one instance the man spun around in fast rotations to try and knock the hero back. It worked a few times, but the publisher had hit back more times than he could count and before long all of the cards on the ground were gone.

Naruto had a feeling that things were just about over. So with the last of his strength, he leapt towards the hooded man with Kazekage in hand with a lot of wind channeled around it to make it extra sharp. In response, the hooded man threw out his arm and giant playing cards surrounded him to try and block the attack. But it seemed unsuccessful as Naruto swung his lance with all his might and sliced right through them before ending up a few feet away.

Nothing else happened for a few moments. That was before the large card barrier seemed to move to the side with the barrier seemingly sliced in half in an angle. Once the top half slid off from the bottom, the card barrier dissipated along with the barrier surrounding the exits. Not only that, but whatever damage that was made to the immediate area seemed to repair itself like time rewound the clock.

With the hooded man revealed, he fell onto the ground to finally be defeated. Soon black and white smoke seemed to surround the man making Naruto get back onto his guard if anything seemed fishy from this display. It didn't seem that way as the smoke encircled the man in a rapid pace before it shot towards the masked publisher. He held up his lance and called forth a wind barrier, but it wasn't responding at all.

"What the- GAH!"

He cried out as the black and white smoke slammed right into him with enough force to skid him back a little. Naruto didn't know what was going on; but when the force ceased its action, Kazekage dissipated from his grasps and was replaced by a deck of his throwing cards with a faint glow coming off of them. The publisher didn't know what was happening, but something seemed different from the cards in his hands before they dissipated on their own. He was going to think of something until the sounds of clapping filled the air. This made Naruto turn around to see the same hooded man from before doing the current action.

"Impressive." The hooded man said before he ceased his little applause.

"What? But how?" Naruto asked in bewilderment as he looked between the man's current placement with the last. "A clone?"

"This will be enjoyable."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" The masked Uzumaki yelled out as he ran towards the hooded man with a void rasengan on hand to slam it onto the darkened man….

Only for him to go right through the man like he made himself intangible for a brief moment, making Naruto end up behind the man in the process.

"It is beyond your comprehension, for now." The hooded man said as he turned around to face the masked publisher. "Until we meet again Naruto Uzumaki."

With that said a plumb of black smoke came from underneath the hooded man and the same dark portal from before surrounded him.

"Wait! What about my friends?!" Naruto cried out in order to snag the hooded man, but it was all for nought as the dark portal dissipated.

He didn't know what was going on at the moment, but he wanted his companions back from wherever the man took them. Naruto was going to search high and low for them until he heard something behind him. Once turning around, he saw a few giant cards move on their own before dissipating on their own to reveal the wobbling pair of Selina and Harley.

"Oh god." Harley groaned out as she held her head. "What happened?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Selina replied as she mirrored the same action.

'Selina and Harley are alright!' Naruto thought in joy as he dissipated his Vanitas attire before rushing towards them. 'I want to hug the life out of them, but I need to get rid of any memories leading up to getting here.'

Once getting to the two women, he placed his hands on their heads before a faint glow came about to get rid of the intended memories. With the combination of the two coming out of the cards, today's exhaustion and the little memory wipe, the two women passed out in the process. Though it wasn't his intent on doing such a thing, he figured it was the best and he'll figure something out on this scenario.

So with that in mind, Naruto formed a clone to help carry the two women to get back to their hotel room. It took some effort, along with being sure they weren't fully scene, but in time they made it back to the room. Once laying Harley and Selina on each of the beds, Naruto had sent the clone with each of the bucket of winnings to get them cashed out while the real Naruto waited for the two to wake up and think of a good excuse of what happened.

-Half Hour Later, Kaiser's Office-

Things have gone pretty well so far through Cameron's eyes as he viewed the security footage of the Joker planting bombs in the casino's basement where an amusement area was being made. Supposedly several things have happened after getting confirmation that the crazed clown had indeed showed up from hearing the paid guard at Arkham report in just the one time on letting the clown go along with seeing the clown through security footage on the casino floor. So all Cameron had done was let the man be and let him cause havoc.

Which he did by hijacking a Joker themed roadster and went on a joy ride through the casino floor with the Batman trying to stop him. It failed of course as the Joker crashed the vehicle into the pier to make the clown disappear for roughly half an hour before coming back here. Feeling satisfied by all of this, Cameron flipped the switch on his intercom speaker getting someone to answer.

"Helipad."

"I would like for my personal copter to be ready in twenty minutes." The casino owner said to his employee on the other end.

"Yes sir, Mr. Kaiser."

Once that was said, Cameron turned off his intercom speaker before opening up his briefcase and drawer to gather all important documents he had. Not only that, but also all of the money he had in the room for little emergencies. Just as he was prepared to leave, an object was flung across the room knocking the briefcase down to reveal a batarang wedged deep into the hard covering.

"Going somewhere Kaiser?" Batman said as he appeared from out of nowhere.

"None of your damn business after what you've done to my casino floor with that crazed clown." Cameron said with a growl to keep up the act, but it seemed the hero of Gotham ignored him.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you wanted this place destroyed." The Bat said in an accusing tone.

"After spending $300 million to build it? It's not good business to do such a thing you know."

"Well I've seen the unpaid bills Kaiser." The Dark Knight stated as he took the briefcase from Kaiser's desk and opened it up to reveal the insurance papers inside. "Opening up this place has practically bankrupted you. Reason why you turned your 'Camelot' casino into a target for the Joker. Once he destroyed it, then you'll reap and collect the insurance you placed here."

Seeing as the jig was up, Cameron chuckled a little to himself before addressing the man in front of him. "Well it seems you've hit the Jackpot Batman, but I have too much in stake to stop now."

Without any warning, the casino owner pressed a button on his desk. This caused the floor panel the hero was standing on to give out an intense electrical shock. After several more moments, the Bat fell down to the ground with sparks coming off from his form.

It wasn't long until Cameron called in several of his guards into his office and ordered them to put the Bat into the elevator and send him to the basement below to join the Joker.

-Joker's Wild Basement, Amusement Area-

Waking up from being knocked out was not a pleasant feeling at most cases. From being knocked out in various fashions would take up the majority of them. But waking up to a ghastly sight of the Joker's smiling face would possibly be added to that list.

"Wakey~ Wakey~ Batsy!" The crazed clown said as he waved his hand in front of the Batman's face.

Said hero tried to move, but realized that he has been tied up really good throughout the majority of his body. This made things difficult for him to possibly escape as he also realized he is strapped to a giant roulette wheel with a large metallic Joker hanging above him. Seeing all this happen made the Joker chuckle a little at the display.

"Well I thought I'd let you wake up to witness your own demise." The villain stated as he walked around the tied up Batman. "I'd put a lot of thought into this one just so you know." He then pointed towards the various explosives around the room, making the hero of Gotham not like where this was going at all. "Once I spin the wheel; you, this stupid mockery of a casino and that idiot Kaiser will be blown up sky high! Hehehehe."

"You won't get Kaiser Joker." Batman said as he tried to delay the inevitable. "He's been playing you for a patsy."

"...Say what now?"

"He's counting on you to blow this place up so he'll collect the insurance. And by the time you get clear, Kaiser will be miles away laughing at you."

This made the Joker snarl at the Batman thinking he was lying to save his own skin. He was going to just leave him be until...

"Going somewhere Kaiser?" Batman's voice rung out throughout the room causing the two individuals to look towards the source.

"The hell?" Joker voiced out while Batman was thinking the same thing. Wondering how a recording from the meeting earlier is being played now.

"None of your damn business after what you've done to my casino floor with that crazed clown." Cameron growled out.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you wanted this place destroyed."

"After spending $300 million to build it? It's not good business to do such a thing you know."

"Well I've seen the unpaid bills Kaiser. Opening up this place has practically bankrupted you. Reason why you turned your 'Camelot' casino into a target for the Joker. Once he destroyed it, then you'll reap and collect the insurance you placed here."

*Chuckle* "Well it seems you've hit the Jackpot Batman, but I have too much in stake to stop now."

As the recording ended, the Joker had several emotions running right through him. It was quite noticeable through the Batman's perspective as crazed clown looked like was about to explode in absolute rage. Though it wasn't long until the man yelled out and started cussing up a storm.

"That insignificant bastard thinks he could pull one on me! Why I'll show him!" The Joker growled out as he stomped towards the main explosive the others were connected to and deactivated the timer. "I'll settle my score with Kaiser one way or another; man to clown, but that doesn't mean you're off the hook Batman."

As he said this, he flipped a switch on the giant roulette tale to activate the contraption. It started out slow, but it started to pick up speed as the seconds went by. So feeling giddy in the process, he pulled out a hand grenade and pulled the pin on it before tossing it into the contraption.

"Well it seems that your number is up Batman. See you around. HeheheHAHAHAHA!" The Joker laughed out as he ran towards the elevator and left the room to exact his revenge against the casino owner.

Once the Joker was gone, the Batman tried to get himself free. But it was seemed rather hard to do so with all of the training he has done over the years. With the constant spinning, being tied up and the active grenade made things even more difficult.

"You spin me right round, baby right round like a record, baby right round round round." A voice sang out causing Batman to look towards the source to see Vanitas sitting down on part of the spinning roulette wheel. "You spin me right round, baby right round like a record, baby right round round round."

"Vanitas? What are you doing here?!"

"Saving your butt apparently!" The masked Uzumaki said in a giddy tone. "But first. Wheeeeee! This is so much fun."

"VANITAS!"

*Groan* "Okay fine." The black/white themed hero said as he pulled out a blank card and threw it at the grenade. It didn't really hit it per say, but it rather absorbed it. It wasn't long though as it exploded shortly after to end that bit of the problem. As that was done, Vanitas hopped off of the machine and turned it off to slowly get the giant roulette table to come to a stop.

"I hope your happy Batsy." Vanitas said as he pulled Batman off of the rotating table before phasing him out of his bindings.

"Very." Batman sarcastically said to the other man in the room. "I assume you were the one that got the recording from earlier."

"Yup. When I heard that the Joker was around here, I came to investigate. Lucky for me I stumbled to Kaiser's office and got my tape recorder to get the whole thing." The disguised Uzumaki stated as he pulled out said device from his utility belt. "Now I think it's time we stop the Joker from killing Kaiser."

-Joker's Wild Rooftop-

Cameron was running across the rooftop of his casino with his briefcase on hand with the small forms of wind picking up due to the helicopter in front of him. Once he got inside, he buckled up and closed the door for his safety.

"Get me out of here, now!" Cameron yelled out towards the pilot.

"Yes sir!" The man said as he flipped a few switches and pulled down the controls to get them up into the air.

As this happened, Batman and Vanitas busted through the door to the rooftop to see the helicopter getting away from them. They were going to go after it in their respective forms of transportations when they heard someone groan behind them. Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was a man with a registered pilot's uniform.

"Are you alright?" Vanitas asked as he helped the man up.

"What happened?" Batman asked in turn.

"I-I don't know. I was waiting for Mr. Kaiser to show up when some clown jumped me." The pilot said before he widened his eyes in realization. "Oh shit! Mr. Kaiser's up there!"

Back inside of said helicopter, Cameron was feeling rather peeved that the pilot was circling around the casino grounds and wasn't making the getaway that he had planned. Turning towards his employee, he growled out at him. "What the hell are you circling around for you fool?!"

*Chuckles* "You know, this was a scheme worthy of me Kaiser." The pilot said as he faced the casino owner to reveal his sickly widened grin. This caused Cameron to gasp in shock on how close he was with the insane criminal as said man pulled out a gun from his coat pocket. "The way you got me riled up and turned me loose on this place!"

"Y-You were supposed to destroy the casino!"

"Yeah well I realized that it'll be more fun getting rid of you and run the show myself!"

"B-But you can't!"

"Oh please… You of all people should know should've realized that there was a 'Joker' in the deck. HAHAHAHA- *BANG* HEY! What's the big idea?!" The Joker yelled out as he was nursing his hand from whatever was thrown from the outside that knocked his gun out. He turned towards the source to see the Batman and Vanitas on a floating playing card coming after him. "Why won't that bat brained man stay dead?!"

With that, the Joker took control of the chopper and started to try and get away from the heroes, but they seemed to be catching up.

"Can't this thing go any faster?!" Batman yelled out getting a negative from Vanitas.

"No can do Bats! This is as fast as I can make it apparently!" He said as this was the first time he's trying such a thing. "I'll try to get you in close and you can maybe handle the rest!"

It was rather interesting on how this being done with him having more access to his 'Fair Game' as his cards were apparently called. He didn't even know he could actually fly on this thing as he thought he could only do it with Kazekage and possibly with his 'creation' ability. He'll have to try this out on a later time on it's full uses, but for now they have a clown to catch.

The heroes soared through the sky on the levitating playing card as they tried to catch up. The Joker seemed to be pulling off some moves to hopefully get them off of his tail, but it wouldn't work for long. With some bit of effort, the disguised Uzumaki got as close as he could get before the Dark Knight leapt off of the levitating platform and latched onto the landing skids.

Feeling the sudden shake from the chopper, the Joker looked around to see what was going on before his attention went towards the new hero on the flying card…. Without the Batman. It was rather sudden as the chopper door was swung opened and the Batman jumped inside to punch the clown several times. Soon both rivals were at each other's throats to gain dominance in the cramped space.

"Dear god you'll kill us all!" Cameron yelled out as the two kept rough housing inside of the chopper before the Joker's back hit the controls to send the flying vehicle downwards.

"Oh shit!" Vanitas yelled out as he saw the helicopter plummet to the ground below. So he jumped off of his 'Fair Game' card and summoned a Kazekage lance before shooting his arms out to get his grappling scarfs to latch onto the chopper tail. He pulled and pulled with all his might to hopefully slow things down, but it wasn't enough as he and the vehicle crashed into the casino entrance.

Once things have stopped in the rough landing, Vanitas groaned out as he tried to shake off his little pain of slamming right into the hard end of the chopper. Once getting out of his little spell, he saw Batman give chance as the Joker tried to run away. But it was useless as the Batman used a grappling hook to snag the back of the Joker's coat and yanked him back to come to the end of a well-aimed kick. This sent the crazed clown into a nearby slot machine, which spunned into a Jackpot with said clown's face on it.

-Rec Room, Arkham Asylum-

"...And so it ended for both ex-billionaire Cameron Kaiser and the Joker." Summer Gleeson said over the newscast.

*Click* "Bah! Nothing but rubbish!" The Joker said in disgust as he changed the channel to see the Looney Tunes was playing one of it's episodes.

"HEY!" Various inmates consisting of Isley, Craine, Dent, Magpie, Zsasz and Tetch yelling out causing the Joker to jump in surprise and fall off of the couch. "WE WERE WATCHING THAT!"

"Heheh… Sorry." The clown nervously said as the others seemed to gain up on him before he switched back to the news.

"...And was returned to Arkham Asylum by the Batman and the new hero Vanitas."

"Ah, you bunch of no good, whacked-out losers, ya'll make me sick." The insane clown muttered in a pouty mood, much to the other inmates' enjoyment before they turned their attention towards the news.

-End Chapter-