Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned
God this burns.
My face
Is it still there?
I can't even tell because of the stupid red dome on my head.
Oh god my eyes.
I can't see.
They burn.
I felt burning needles over every surface of my being.
It's not stopping.
I can't breath.
I'm gonna drown.
A sharp pain hit the front of my body. It took me a while to realize the pipe from the chemical factory dumped me outside the building a ways away. I try moving, but I fail and end up just laying still moaning for a few minutes. After that, i gather up every inch of strength and kneel. It hurt to touch or put weight on anything. I finally tried opening my burning eyelids. It stung like hell. I was shocked. All I could see was red. I reach to red my eyes when I realize that I still have the red dome on my head. I reluctantly reached for my head and pulled off the dome and its attached cape.
"Oh Fuck!"
I took off my gloves so that I could hold my face without the leather touching my burning skin when I realized, my skin... was different.
Very different.
Its gotta be the lighting or something.
I stretch my neck and look up. The moon's in full view, which gives me decent lighting. So why do my hands look so... white?
I slowly and painfully crawled over to a puddle of water midst the alley.
I stared down at my reflection. I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. My... my hair was green and my skin was ghost white. My lips were blood red. I had new cuts in my cheeks. What were those from? They were definently recent since they were still dripping blood. What happened? Wait... something about... a bat?
I could see flashes and pieces of myself in the building. I saw myself walking across the railing. I saw some giant bat walking towards me. He was gonna kill me. He tried to. Didn't he? How else would i have fallen into the chemicals? I must've been pushed.
That BatMonsterMan must've done it! He's no hero! He left me to die!
Why was I in the building in the first place?
Something about a girl... I think?
Yeah, I was trying to get...money? But that doesn't make sense. Why am I in this costume?
I looked down at myself. Did I look like this before the chemicals? Who... Who the hell am I?
I couldn't remember anything. Nothing. I only remember sorrow, pain, and death the past few days, but I'm not really sure what it was. I wasn't sure who was involved. Do I even have friends? Probably not with my face. Hehe. God I was never funny. Or was I? No. No, people didn't like my jokes. I don't think. Oh God this is pathetic. I have no friends. No family. No home. I'm just a freak, and all alone.
I felt the silent tears starting to roll down my new face. Each tear burned my now delicate skin. I looked down at my reflection once more. I noticed something new. The cuts on my cheeks... They... look exactly like the ends of a smile. Huh. Now, I guess whether I like it or not. Whether I'm lonely or sad. I guess I'll be keeping a smile on my face.
The tears turned into chaotic, screeching laughter. Each laugh hurt more on my lungs than the last, but I didn't care. The joke's on the Batman. Because he tried to kill me, and he only made me better. Now... Now I'm always smiling. Nothing he can do can change that. The laughing doesn't subside or calm down. I felt so free. A fresh start. A new face. And never having to be sad again.
My rebirth ceremony was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder.
"Excuse me... sir? I'm a psychiatrist. Do you need any assistance?"
Still laughing I looked up at the doc. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a horrified face to match. I stopped my laughing.
"Why certainly not my dear. If anything I need to celebrate!"
"Um... Why is that sir?"
"Well because I was reborn tonight darling! Hehe. Come on now! Laugh a little! I'm obviously going to be doing that a lot more often now. Hehehehheh."
"Sir... I think I should bring you to Arkham Asylum... Not to stay of course. You just seem like... you could use some help right now. My name's Harleen Quinzel."
"Nice to meet ya Harley. Harleen's too superficial for me thanks, but I don't wanna go to Arkham. I don't have any clothes or my toothbrush for the sleepover! Hahahahha!"
"Sir-"
"Please stop calling me that. It's very annoying."
"I'm calling a cab for us."
She did, but I didn't protest. Its not like a had a place to crash at anyway.
The cab rolled up a few minutes later as it started to rain. The raindrops were burning every skin cell it touched. I wonder how long the burning will last. I skipped ahead of her and opened the door for her.
"After you my dear."
She gave me a reluctant look, but got in and I followed. Once, I shut the door the situation kicked in. I could have a family. A wife. a child. A girlfriend. But I would have no way of knowing it.I'll never know. And now, I'm on my way to the madhouse. I started laughing again. Aren't life's punchlines just the greatest?
"Sir, please stop laughing."
"Stop calling me sir you fuddy duddy, and I may consider it."
"Well then, what should I call you?"
I looked at my reflection in the cabbie's mirror. I took my time to admire my new permanent smile. It was quite the sight.
"Harley ma dear, you can call me... Joker."
I threw my head back and laughed and laughed. At one point I thought that the windows were going to shatter from the noise. When we parked in front of the asylum about ten guards were waiting for me outside. She must have paged them. They roughly pulled me out of the car. I felt a needle pierce my thigh, and everything started to fade.
Next thing I knew it was morning, and I was in solitary confinement. After about an hour of that nonsense and a lot of thinking about some plans for the future, some guards escorted me to some other room. The guards left me alone with someone else in the room. When she turned around to face me I realized it was Harley from yesterday.
"Hello, Mr. J, I feel that saying Mr. is important in a professional relationship. I hope you don't mind."
"Fine with my Harls. But look, I can't stay here hon. I've got places to go, and people to see. And a city to fix!"
"I don't understand Mr. J. Please explain."
"I need to go find the Batman, but first I need to bring this city to its knees. I wanna see it suffer and beg. I'll use the trees as torches, and flood the streets with the fallen. And no one, can stop me. I've been thinking about heists and weapons and gases all night. And honey, this is going to be...fun."
