That's too bad, his body language says. No disappointment or regret someone hasn't taken him out - for all his flaws these days, he doesn't wish becoming a murderer on anyone. It's just a shame that he hasn't slipped on a banana peel and snapped his neck, or something. Not that it would save anyone any suffering, given the way Joker's managed to send his shadow over Gotham even after his death.

Still, that's too bad.

"What he does to everyone."

Ruins lives.

Bruce takes a sip of the tea, a little too hot still since he hasn't been disturbing it. Something about the slight burn is grounding. He'll need pinpricks of reality; he's been thinking about it since she asked him for his location. She'll be out of the loop otherwise, or she'll end up with sensationalized half-truths, from one Jason or the other or nosy third parties wanting to stir up a soap opera.

He starts at the beginning - the end of Joker's life, and the illness he'd accidentally created, Talia's death. (He misses her. He shouldn't, but god, he does.) Giving up his civilian persona as his mind started to play tricks on him, isolating himself as he realized what was happening. The mysterious adversary who turned out to be Jason, destroying the steps forward they'd made in Gotham without the Joker. Barbara being taken, Tim being taken.

So he's here. Because he fucked up spectacularly, and Gotham needs to be free of the Joker.