Tim Drake attacked my inmate in Zero, and accordingly as my inmate was unarmed and in confinement, and the attack was forthcoming upon my arrival I have decided that he should spend a week in Zero immediately following the Joker's incarceration. His warden item will be turned over to a substitute of his choosing, which he will select and prepare for in the meantime.

No matter what the Joker's crimes, there is something that must be understood here. He is the equivalent to a gateway drug in terms of rage. Oh, you may certainly feel that he deserves whatever he has coming to him, but he's rewarded when you show him violence. You do exactly what it is that he wants most. Then the next one becomes a little easier. And the next. And the next. And then you don't stop to think about what you're doing before you destroy a man's life.

I know this because I've been there. I will be there. Planets crumbled and civilizations have died because I did the right thing. Someone was bad enough, and that made it fine for the next person that was almost as terrible, and the one not quite as horrible as him. So on. So forth. I will not advocate this.

[And now he begins to sound tired.] I'll make no excuses for the Joker's actions. He's a terrible man, and I can see how his redeemability might be a matter of speculation, but I ask for you people to have the good sense not to feed him. If he attacks you, yes! Defend yourself. That's how it's expected to work. If he's sitting there having a meal and spontaneously you're overcome with the desire to bowl him over a table and embed your fists in his face, all you create is a more satisfied monster. You're feeding the parasite. And you give him an excuse to create more carnage.

Of course I could leave him dead. But who is to say the Admiral won't bestow upon us an even more unstable version. I could hold his memories behind a mental grip, force him to live a life as someone fresh. But wouldn't that be easy? And again, easier still to do to the next inmate. And the next. And the next. We really would be tools of the Barge then, wouldn't we?

The Joker's punishments, outside of delivery to Zero, are to be left to me. I am his warden. I understand his intentions best. And I am forced to reprimand a good friend for the sake of tainted soul. I'll see this infection spread no further from either side. Anyone else who acts in retribution rather than defence against the Joker without consulting me will have to answer to me in kind.