"I don't want you to kill Batman." Something happened--something Crane didn't so much as notice. Jonathan Crane was a man of science, true, but he was also a man from Gotham--where it wasn't uncommon to hear of Batman's exploits, to here of the crime that ran rife in the streets.

"No. If you kill him, then that leaves a number of people to both become Batman in his wake, and go after the both of us due to vengeance." Namely, he wasn't stupid enough to kill the Batman simply because Joker would dive in in one fell swoop.

He brought his hands down, adjusting his tie and raising an eyebrow at Tillman.

"You'll find I'm not quite the upper-class, high-end person you might perceive me to be. I simply make an alternate means of income, and I wish to protect that. You, of all people, should know what it means to protect something."