Batman hurried upstairs through the hospital, pondering the new pattern he had just discovered about Schiller.
He remembered that Schiller would target anyone facing away from him and would not switch targets until he had killed that person. But that rule had just been overturned: Joker was still alive, yet Schiller had abandoned his pursuit and gone straight after The Batman Who Laughs.
Batman had also noticed that the current Schiller was somewhat different from the one he had encountered before. He seemed more normal in temperament. Though he still followed some of his previous patterns at times, those patterns had now changed. It was giving Batman a terrible headache.
The "targeting backs" mechanic had already been hard enough to deal with, and now it had changed too. At least the "the more severely injured he is, the stronger he becomes" rule had not changed... Wait, wouldn't it be better if that one had changed?
Following the trail of blood, Batman arrived at the operating room where Joker and Jason were. Jason had passed out from excessive blood loss. Dressed in surgical scrubs, Joker rubbed his hands together as though he were preparing to reattach Jason's arm.
"Go wait outside," Batman said. "Don't touch him. I'll operate on him."
"Have you got it wrong? That lunatic outside is chasing me! And you're throwing me out so you can operate on an adopted son from another universe who doesn't even know you?"
Joker wore an expression that said, You've changed. You're not the softhearted Batman I knew.
As Batman's opponent who understood him best, Joker knew very well that Batman would never abandon anyone. If he was going to save people, he would save all of them. Even if the person to be saved was Joker, Batman would throw himself into