Disclaimer: I do not own the character of the Joker or some of the ideas in this story.

Hey guys! This is my first story, so any reviews would be very helpful!

Chapter 1:

Katy Ellis sat in a corner of the small cafe with her fingers flying over the keyboard of her laptop. She was so concentrated on the speech she was writing that she didn't even hear Trevor at first when he spoke to her. Katy looked up and saw him waiting for an answer to a question she didn't hear.

"Sorry, what was that?" she asked.

Trevor chuckled. "I just asked if you needed anything else. What are you working on this time?"

"I'm proposing a study on the affects that the new gardening pesticides have on the birds of Gotham. I'm presenting my initial findings tomorrow to the Mayor and council."

Katy was a regular customer at Precious Brews Cafe as well as a regular appearance at the weekly council meetings for the city of Gotham. She had gotten to know Trevor, a waiter at the cafe after spending so much time there pondering over ways to make Gotham a happier, safer, and more environmentally friendly city. At the council meetings, Katy was constantly proposing new ideas. Her passion and drive could be a bit of a nuisance to the council members but they all loved her regardless. It was impossible not to love Katy; she didn't have a mean bone in her body.

Recently, she had noticed more dead birds on the streets than seemed natural. Upon further inspection, Katy realized that the birds were always seen near or under nonnative plants. This sent her mind on a whirlwind of possibilities and she began to wonder about the connections. The proposal she was writing today was to ask for an official, government supported study to be set up to discover the connection between the nonnative plants and the bird deaths. She suspected that it had to do with the new pesticides that were being used to support these plants she found out about when she interviewed the gardeners.

Trevor smiled at Katy warmly. "So it's the birds this time, eh? That's my Katy! Always out to protect the animals or less fortunate."

Katy blushed, she didn't handle compliments very well. "Thank you Trevor. I do what I can to help," she said smiling at the table.

Trevor patted her on the shoulder and started to head back to the kitchen. Katy just put her head back into her laptop when three loud bangs ricocheted throughout the cafe. Katy jumped and Trevor dropped the mug he was holding; it fell to the floor and shattered. Katy quickly looked up from her work and gasped as she saw a group of seven or eight men storm into the cafe. Except she wasn't sure that they were men; they were all wearing clown masks. Katy started to shake because she had an intense fear of clowns. The fact that these clowns were all holding guns, and one of them seemed to have just shot one of these guns into the air didn't help her. Katy fought to stay breathing, as she was diagnosed with panic disorder and could feel a panic attack coming on.

No one spoke for a bit, but then one of the clowns cleared his throat. "Ahem. I thought the sign on the door read 'friendly service.' I do not see anyone coming to serve me. I'm hungry!"

Trevor bravely stepped up. "What do you want?"

The clown who had spoken turned to look at him, or at least it appeared that way. It was hard to see his eyes, even through the holes in his mask. However, at that moment the clown reached up and pulled off the mask. Katy tried harder to keep breathing as she saw what was under the mask. Even getting rid of the clown mask didn't get rid of the clown, because underneath was a man with clown's makeup on his face. It was plastered white, black was smudged around his eyes, his hair was scraggly and green, and red makeup extended past his lips so that he was always smiling. Katy realized who this man was. This was the Joker, the most infamous criminal in Gotham, a psychopath who loved stealing, hurting people, and killing.

The Joker said to Trevor "I would-ah-like your special of the day. Actually I would like seven specials. With fries. And sodas."

When Trevor hesitated, Joker suddenly charged him and put his gun to Trevor's head. He screamed "NOW!" As Trevor quickly bolted to the kitchen to get the requested food, the anger from the Joker's face immediately went away and he let out an insane sounding laugh. He looked around and the terrified customers and pouted.

"Well, it seems we are not having fun. Why so serious? Come on. Let's play a little game to cheer up the mood!" He suddenly reached out and grabbed a man sitting in a nearby table. He put the gun in his pocket and instead pulled out a knife. The man started shaking as Katy continued to struggle for air; her chest was getting tighter and tighter. Joker put the knife to the man's face across his lips and spoke to the cafe. "Now, here is my game. Either I kill him right now or someone volunteers to take his place. I call it a social experiment. I am really a psychologist at heart." He laughed as if he just told the funniest joke. He paused and looked around the cafe.

Katy looked at the man and realized he was probably a husband or a dad. He may have a family to get home to or an important job. She had no one, no parents, no sibling... no family of any sort. Who was she to let this man die? Take as deep of a breath as she could while about to have a panic attack she stood up. "I'll volunteer" she tried to say bravely but it came out as more of a squeak.