World Without A Joker: A Batman Fan Fiction
By Jacob Martin
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Batman. If I did he wouldn't kick nearly as much ass, because I can't draw with perspective well enough to pull off his action poses.
Chapter 1: History Unmade
He didn't jump in that chemical pit that night. He got caught first. That caped guy you read about in the papers? Nailed him, put his sorry ass in a lockup. The boys who took that red hood off his face just laughed and laughed at the man underneath. Turns out it was the same guy they broke it to that his wife died from a damned bottle heater.
It was so simple. They'd just lock him up like any other criminal. But something about the guy wasn't as hardened or as mean as the cops described him to be. What a joke.
What a joke indeed. But I'm not laughing.
My name is Commissioner Gordon. I was young back then. A certain caped crusader once told me about truth and justice. But would he be the same man, had he just dropped that Red Hood into a chemical bath, leaving him to die?
I suppose not. Sometimes have nightmares, a wild harlequin with green hair and burning eyes haunts my dreams. He looks kind of like the Red Hood guy. Could it be guilt? I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Poor guy. Maybe I should visit him in the jail, to hear his story for once. But if I am, the Batman is coming with me. Just to be safe.
It even surprised me, when I learnt of it. The Red Hood guy? He's not even in prison anymore. Got parole on good behavior. The Batman tells me he's living in an apartment somewhere in the city. I follow him, and I see a broken man changed by a broken life.
The guy screams when he sees the Batman. He remembers him, of course. Every crook does, once they meet him for the first time. Usually they remember the broken bones and snapped fingers first, then the uppercut, then blackness. After that they wake up in a hospital somewhere, and they never forget the beating they took. The Red Hood guy was different. He looked harmless enough, skittish, and timid.
Hard to believe this guy was a crook once.
"Get that man away from me!" he said, cowering and whimpering. "You ruined me!"
"It's Ok, Red Hood" I explained to him. "I'm Commissioner Gordon. I'm not here to hurt you, I just want answers. Why did you try and rob the chemical plant?"
"For the money" said the poor sap, "I had a wife, and a baby on the way, but both of them died. I was desperate, how else was I going to make sure my kid didn't grow up in a slum? Not that I had a choice of opting out once I got the news my wife kicked the bucket. The guys who I was in a gang with, they made me do it even though I had no family to give a future. Now look at me. I'm a mess!"
"Look, I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance. Had I been older and wiser, I would have. But that's no excuse for being lazy. You have a right to hate me"
"There was something about that night that didn't go the way it was supposed to" said the Batman, coldly, "Ever get the feeling that you've screwed up the course of your entire life with a single stroke of folly?"
"Tell me about it" said the Red Hood guy, with self-depreciation. He was cheering up a little. It was like he was starting to see the humor of the situation. Maybe one bad day could change everything. But maybe something was supposed to change, yet it didn't…
"Well, on the bright side, I didn't fall into that chemical tank" he added. "Sometimes I go crazy wondering what would have happened if I did! Isn't that odd?"
Odd indeed. Very odd indeed.