"You ask me why I have a problem with SHIELD," he came toward her again, getting in her face. "It's exactly that kind of attitude, Agent Hill. You talk about upholding the values of America and protecting the people, and then you just as easily talk about taking them away and making this a fascist state like you have the right to make those decisions just because you decide the system doesn't work. I may not agree with a lot of the ways this country is run, and I agree - the system doesn't always work. But as much of a criminal as Joker is, he is also a very, very, sick man.
"You send the mentally ill to jail without giving them a chance to get well, you set a precedent for those who could truly benefit from it. Furthermore, putting Joker in a normal prison would be disastrous - he'd murder every person in the facility and still escape. We established Arkham especially for him, and he still gets out. I have designed that building and it's security twice, personally, and they still..."
Turning, he walked away, closing his eyes. The system was flawed, but he refused to put himself, or anyone above it. To take away the rights of anyone and be the person who decided that someone was less than worthy of a chance at redemption. Someone had taken something similar from his parents once, and he would not be like that.
Snorting his amusement, Batman turned his head sideways to address her sarcasm. "Take my advice or leave it," he said. "Arrow and Lantern will be nearly impossible to recruit on their own. Canary could convince them. If by some chance you do manage to get them, either one of them singly can be twice as bad as Stark. Together, they're disaster waiting to happen. You'll want to shoot them in the head just to make them shut up. The one - the only one - who can successfully reign them in is Canary."
He looked forward. "Good fighters. Just..." Batman thought of a few choice adjectives, but refrained from using them out of loyalty. "It's up to you."