Batman had not trusted Brad completely. He performed a thorough examination of the motionless Joker and ultimately confirmed that Brad had not lied about this.
Joker was still alive, but time had almost completely stopped for him.
Although Batman could not measure it with absolute precision, one thing was certain: Gotham City would be free of Joker's threat for the next several decades.
Still, he remained unhappy with Brad's methods.
This did not solve the problem. It merely left it for the people of the future to deal with.
But Brad silenced Batman with a single, effortless retort.
"Then give me a better solution, Batman. You keep putting this lunatic in prison, then waiting for him to escape. How many more times do you want to see a tragedy like what happened to Barbara?"
There was almost no arguing with that. As long as Joker lived, he would hurt more people. Batman had seen far too many such tragedies over the years.
"But when Joker wakes up in the future, the people of that time will have to face a sudden threat."
"Seriously? You're worrying about the future? About how to keep the world peaceful after you're dead?"
Brad gave a disdainful scoff.
"That isn't your problem to consider. You aren't that great. That's for the people who drive human society forward to worry about. You're just an obsessive man who refuses to leave Gotham City. You'd be better off thinking about how to make Gotham better within your limited lifetime."
"Or you could consider executing Joker before you die. You won't have many days left yourself by then, anyway. For Gotham's future, take that lunatic down to hell with you."
Finally, Batman looked at Brad, remained silent for a long time, and left him with one sentence.
"There's no