This story takes place on an alternate earth that would have existed as the original DC Mulitverse had not been destroyed on Crisis on Infinite Earths. Earth 8 is a world that is populated mostly with characters created after the COIE or have had a post-Crisis revamp. On this world, Superman stayed dead after his battle with Doomsday and Batman did not live through Knightfall.

This was originally posted at the Multiverse as E8: Batman #5 on 7/26/07. For more Earth 8 stories, visit the Multiverse by clicking the link in my profile. Feel free to review my work.

Earth 8 Batman

Jason and Uncle Joker

Part 1

Written by: Gabriel Vargas

This has to be a bad dream. Arturo Rodriguez Jr., known as A.J. to his friends and most of his classmates in Mrs. Gallagher's second grade class at Gotham Catholic Elementary thought to himself. His arms and legs were duct-taped together as he sat on the plush sofa in the living room of the suburban-Gotham home he lived in with his parents. A.J. was a spitting image of his father and namesake, who was a well-known television personality who liked to push the envelope and people's buttons. He looked across the room directly at his father, who also had his arms and legs bound together and was sitting in a beige chair taken from their medieval dining room set.

A.J. surveyed the room and everything was a complete disaster compared to how he remembered it before he had gone to bed that night. The couch perpendicular and to his right, which was similar to the one he was sitting on but smaller, was overturned and it's cushions were scattered around the living room. The screen of the television was completely smashed in and the bat that did it was still laying in the whole it created. All of the picture frames, documenting their various activities and outings as a family were smashed on the ground, as were all of the vases, leaving water stains on the rug. The family portrait, which hung above the television, was off-center and had eyeglasses, googley-eyes, mustaches, tongues sticking out and soul patches drawn on each member of the family with a black magic marker. A.J. heard loud crashing noises coming from the kitchen, which he assumed were the plates and glasses hitting the floor and breaking. He also heard similar noises coming from his parent's room.

A.J. continued to look to his father for some reassurance, for some strength, and hope that this nightmare would soon be over, but Arturo Rodriguez, who had a beanie-baby stuffed in his mouth, was crying hysterically, with the gag muffling most of his sobbing. His face was caked in a mixture of blood, sweat and tears and his black hair was matted down with blood from a gash on his scalp. His face was swollen, as if he had been in a heavyweight prizefight. The collared shirt and tie he wore were covered in blood and vomit. A.J. was shocked to see his father in this manner. He always envisioned him as a superhero, like Superman, invulnerable, capable of accomplishing astonishing feats of strength, but as the world found out when Superman died, and as Arturo Rodriguez Jr. was finding out now about his father, there are some things that out there that can break and kill even a man of steel.

Arturo Rodriguez was constantly looking down at the floor, which is where his wife was currently lying face down. She was not bound or gagged in anyway, but remained silent and still. She had been that way since A.J. was brought into the room and wondered how she could do it while his father was losing control. An awful smell od decay began to creep into A.J.'s nostrils as he couldn't tell if his mother was breathing or not. "Mom…" A.J. said quivering, as it was barely audible coming out of his lips. Tears began to escape from his eyes as he closed them, trying to wish these images out of his head, before dismissing them as a bad dream. He hoped that it will soon be almost seven in the morning and his mother will wake him up with a gentle shake and a kiss. It's only a dream. He kept repeating to himself in his mind and would eventually say it out loud.

"I'm gonna tell you one thing sweetie," a female voice said as he felt her fall next to him on the couch and her arm snake around his shoulders making the young boy wince and quiver. "This is as real as it gets." A.J. opened his eyes and looked to the left and saw a slender woman sitting next to him. She wore an outfit that was like the one's he had seen pictures that a court jester's wear. The outfit was divided up into four sections with each section alternating between the colors of black and red and each section had three diamonds stitched into it in the opposite color. She wore jester-type shoes and a hat along with gloves in accordance to the alternating black and red pattern of the rest of her outfit. Her face was white like a piece of chalk and A.J. couldn't tell if it was paint or if that was really her skin, just like he couldn't tell if she was wearing a mask or if the areas around her eyes were just black and she never stopped smiling. It wasn't a subtle smile; it was a big toothy grin, showing a set of perfect white teeth.

A.J. felt more and more uneasy as the he looked at her, and with each passing minute, her arm around his shoulders would get heavier and heavier like dead weight. She moved her fingers up the back of his head, mimicking a spider and making A.J. wince as she began to scratch his head as if he were a dog and she were scratching it's ears. "Ya know… you're a cutie. I bet all of the little girls in your class would throw themselves off the top of City Hall for you." She said, keeping her smile the entire time, which made A.J. want to crawl out of his skin to get away from her. "Hey puddin', do ya think we can keep him?"

"Now, now Harley, you know what a big responsibility a pet is." A voice coming from his parent's room said then chuckled. During the first weeks of every school year, since he was in Kindergarten, the Gotham Police Department would come to A.J.'s class and give the typical talk about safety and talking to strangers and every year, the person giving the class a talk would spend time talking about well-known bad people to stay away from. The person walking out of his parents room towards him was the one everyone said if you see him, or see anyone with green hair, wearing a purple suit with an a green bow tie, flower on the lapel and the face of a clown, run away as fast as you can. He walked up to Harley and placed his gloved index finger under her chin. He bent over and rubbed his long pointed nose with hers, which made her squeal with delight. "You would have to clean him, feed him, take him for a walk and pick up after him. God forbid if he ever were to defecate on or chew up my spats, then there would be two more bodies for the overworked people at the county morgue to work on."

He slowly turned his head and faced the young boy, whose heart began to race and was visibly trembling. The man, just like the woman had white skin and never stopped smiling, but unlike the woman who had a perfect set of white teeth, this man's teeth were stained yellow and misshapen. He was breathing slowly and heavily through his teeth and his breath had the odor of rotting meat. His eyes were different than the woman's. Her eyes were blue and had a doeish appearance to go along with a glazed look in them like no one was home upstairs. His eyes were beady, red and bloodshot. There was an intensity behind them that made them look like they could turn coals into diamonds to go along with the glazed, nobody's home look. He stared into young A.J.'s eyes and seemed like he was gazing into the darkness of his soul, discovering his fears while simultaneously figuring out a way to skin him alive that would cause the most enjoyment for him. A.J. began to lose control of his bowels.

"You see Harl," the Joker said as both he and Harley Quinn had to recoil their noses and pinch them. "This is the kind of thing we can't be bothered with. Our schedule is much to busy." The Joker stood up and adjusted his jacket and turned his attention to Arturo, who was struggling against his bonds, wanting to help his son.

"You know Artie," The Joker began as he walked to Arturo's side. "I think it's safe to say that the little joke you're trying to play on us isn't very funny. I mean, how many other reporters would still protect their sources after I went to the trouble of sending their significant other on an all expenses paid trip to the big funhouse in the sky. I have to admit, it's quite admirable, that you would protect your journalistic integrity and some overstuffed pig from the sausage factory over the missus." He paused to chuckle for a bit, finding the situation funny. Arturo began to sob and cry more and more.

"Come on man," The Joker screamed into his ear. "Do you know what you're doing to your son? I'm sure junior has the same image of you that all us plebes have, the tall strong crusader for the people of Gotham, not afraid to take a side and tell it like it is. What do you think is going to happen to your boy when he goes back to school after this? All of the schoolyard bullies are going to have a field day with him after finding out his father is nothing more than a sniveling crybaby." Joker grabbed the beanie baby out of Arturo's mouth.

"You… you killed my wife… my love…" Arturo cried out.

"You say killed, I say it was a punch line delivered perfectly." The Joker kicked over the corpse of Angela Rodriguez and began to laugh hysterically and Harley did likewise, doubling over. Angela's body was now on her back and her head rolled over, looking straight at her son, sporting the same smile that have come across the face of hundreds of others that had become the victims of the Clown Prince of Crime.

"Mom…" A.J. said as he began to cry.

"Okay Arturo, enough is enough," Joker said as he continued to giggle. "We've got places to go, people to kill and things to do. I want the name of that nice policeman that gave you all of that confidential information on the Bats and their wonderful sidekicks, especially the ones that have come around during my little vacation." Arturo continued to cry and not divulge the source of his information and the Joker began to get annoyed with his reluctance.

"You know Harley, maybe we killed the wrong person on our way in here… what do you think pumpkin?" Harley nodded in agreement and grabbed A.J.'s neck while pulling out a switchblade.

"You psycho bitch," Arturo yelled. "You touch him, I'll fing kill you."

Joker grabbed a revolver out from his jacket and pistol whipped Arturo. He grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him to his face, staring straight into his eyes. "Watch your mouth you miserable piece of trash." The Joker began as he threw Arturo back into his seat. "We have a minor the room man; do you want him to be scarred for life by hearing such foul language? Didn't you do a special about how the FCC wasn't doing enough to punish broadcast indecency and called for the head of the chairman?" Joker crossed his arms in front of his chest and shook his head in disapproval while Harley put her fingers to her mouth and gasped in shock. "To think, I thought you were an advocate of Family Values, tsk tsk."

"It's so sad to see our values as a society crumble." Harley said with sorrow in her voice and wiping an imaginary tear from her eye.

"Aw, now you made my Harley cry." Joker pointed the revolver in-between Arturo's eyes. "Good think I know what will make Harley feel a lot better… Give me that name." Joker said as pulled the hammer back and placed the gun to Arturo's forehead.

"It was Flass, Arnold Flass." Arturo screamed as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"See, was that so hard." Joker said as he pushed the hammer back into its non-firing position and placed it in its holster. "Well Harley, we better get going, we've got a busy day a head of us. Sorry about the wife, no hard feelings." Joker cackled as he slapped Arturo in the back. He placed his arm around Harley and they began to exit the house.

"Wait," Harley said as she turned around, looking at a weeping A.J. "Puddin, we can't leave him like that. We should do something nice for him."

"You're right Harley. I can't stand to see a kid cry and as you know, Uncle Joker loves the kids." Joker reached into his pocket and pulled out a multicolored ball and threw it in the direction of the Rodriguez family. It hit Angela in the head and rolled right below A.J.'s feet. Joker and Harley both began to laugh as they left, while a green smoke began to emanate from the ball.

It begins with pain. A pain that is so intense that it causes a numbness of the mind, allowing the victim to resign themselves to their fate and their pain becomes so normal to them, that they begin to reminisce about a time when they didn't have the pain. It's a pain that if someone were lucky enough to survive, they would be feeling it in their bones forever.

THIS pain is accompanied by a loud and maniacal laughter and the sound of steel hitting flesh as well as the crunching sound the bones make as they give into the force dealt by the blunt object. With each sickening thud, the laughter grows louder and louder, reaching to a pitch painful to the ears. Each downward blow causes the chalked-faced killer to grow more and more amused at the sight of blood and flesh being torn and thrown off the body of this sixteen year-old boy. He continues his deadly assault on the head and body, expanding the ever-present smile that already adorned his face.

Between each strike, between the sound of the laughter, the bones breaking and flesh being ripped open, Jason Todd prayed for Batman… prayed for his father to come and rescue him, to put an end to this brutalization and take him home, but as time continued, Jason knew… he knew that Batman― that Bruce wasn't going to make it.

"Jason… SAVE ME… Jason… SAVE ME." a female voice screamed in the distance.

The beating had stopped sometime later, but the laughing continued in the background, taunting the youth known to the world as Robin, the Boy Wonder. Jason let out a moan as he struggled to pick up his head from the pool of blood it had been laying in. With the throbbing in his head and through the blood and tears in his eyes, he saw a woman bound to a pillar in the distance. She was blonde and he made out the green that comprised her outfit. Jason recognized the voice through the laughter as that of his mother, his biological mother who had betrayed him moments before and sacrificed him to keep her illegal activities secret.

"Jason… please SAVE ME." she screamed again.

Jason gritted his teeth as he struggled to get to his feet and pick himself up from the pool of his own blood. Blood ran down from his face, legs, and arms, pooling in his green boots and gloves, giving them a tint of crimson and a bloated appearance, while his red tunic and yellow cape were in tatters. Jason slowly dragged his broken body towards his mother, trying to keep his eyes from rolling into the back of his head.

Jason fell, despite his attempt to will himself through the broken bones, the throbbing migraine and the unresponsive body parts. He struggled to pick himself back up when a gloved hand reached out to help him up. Jason looked up and saw a yellow outline of a bat on a black suit. It was Cassandra Cain― Batgirl.

"How do you expect to save her or anyone?" she said as she picked him up. "How can you if you are unable to do what's necessary to save yourself?"

"SAVE ME Jason," his mother pleaded in the distance. Jason continued to move toward her, leaving Batgirl behind. With each step, the pain in his body increased exponentially, in synch with the laughter in the background. Jason doubled over and grabbed his hair, trying to shut them both out, but without any success.

"Look at yourself." A voice said to Jason's right. Jason looked and saw Robin― Tim Drake, his successor walk along side him as he attempted to get to his mother. "You would think someone with a second chance would have learned from the past and would be better prepared, but then again, you were never ready and now you are using the cowl as a way to mask that fact. While that works for most scum in town, you know it's not going to work when you really need it. It's why you're going to fail her, just like you failed Bruce and just like you failed yourself."

"Now, now, we don't have to be so harsh." Alfred Pennyworth said, walking up to Jason and adjusting the collar on his yellow cape. "We know you have the best intentions, just as Master Bruce did…"

"But you know what the way to hell is paved with." Tim interrupted.

"Jason, SAVE me." his mother screamed at the top of her lungs.

Jason willed himself forward and reached his mother. Jason fumbled and struggled with the rope and was only successful in getting more and more of his blood on it than untying it. The laughter began to reach an earsplitting level, causing Jason to close his eyes, fall to his knees and cup his ears. He opened his eyes and looked up and saw a yellow ellipse with a bat symbol in it. He took his bloody hands from his ears and the laughter died down to a background level. He picked himself up and looked up at his father, mentor, partner and predecessor.

"I warned you Jason. I begged you but you never listen. Why didn't I see you weren't ready for this? Why can't you see it now? There's only one way to fix this." Bruce began to laugh in time with the laughter in the background and it got louder and louder.

"Jason, Why can't you SAVE ME." a new voice said from the captive tied to the post. Jason looked and saw it wasn't his mother anymore, it was Stephanie. The laughter returned back to its earsplitting level and Jason looked back at Bruce but he wasn't there. He now stared at a chalk-white face, green hair, bloodshot beady eyes and ruby lips in an ever-present smile. He raised his arm, which held a crowbar in his gloved hand and brought it down swiftly…

… Jason's eyes shot awake as he woke up from his dream. He found his breathing to be short and painful and sat up. The room began to spin and he checked his pulse, and found his heartbeat racing.

Concentrate on your breathing… he thought to himself as he slowly breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. He thought he was going to faint for a moment but managed to compose himself and get his breathing and heart rate under control.

He wiped the sweat off of his brow and lay back down. He looked at the clock on the nightstand and it read six in the morning. Almost two hours of sleep… at least it's better than what I've been getting these last few weeks. Jason placed his hand on his forehead and then ran his fingers threw his black hair. What am I going to do?

Joker entered the living room in the apartment of Detective Arnold Flass from the bedroom. He was wearing a Hugh Hefner Style Smoking jacket over his purple suit and was puffing a Cuban cigar. Both were items that Detective Flass received bribes for his various off-the-clock activities. Joker was also carrying under his arm a huge manila folder that contained the 800 page file containing all the information that the GCPD had on Batman and Robin. He plopped down on a plush arm chair that was positioned in front of the TV and put his feet up on the new footstool, which began to smell like burning flesh, and began to flip through the pages.

"Dinner's ready puddin'." Harley yelled as she exited the kitchen with a roast that looked like a overgrown piece of charcoal. She was wearing a Kiss the Cook apron, but had used a sharpie to put an 'I' before the word Kiss and an 'ED' after. She also placed two 'L's' over the two S's. "Is that what I think it is?" Harley ran towards the Joker and jumped onto his lap, startling him. "What's it say?"

"Well," Joker began resisting the overpowering urge to put his cigar out on Harley's face. "Looks like we have a real genuine Bat-fake on our hands and I can't wait to get my hands on that new Robin. You know how much I love killing those Robin's and this new fake-Batman did such a good job in choosing the sweetest little Robin anyone could ever hope for."

"I love it when you get that twinkle in your eye, just like you had when we got Arnie with the joybuzzer." Harley said, playing with the Joker's green hair and kicking the smoldering and charred corpse of Arnold Flass, which the Joker had been using as a footstool.

"Well, you know what time it is then…" Joker said, licking his teeth. Harley reached over and puckered her lips and the Joker placed his hands on her ribs and threw her off of him. "It's time for one of my wacky schemes. Fake-Batman needs to be initiated into the game and we're going to get started by visiting an old friend." Joker chuckled.

"But boss," Harley said, standing up and rubbing her behind. "What about dinner? I've got a pie in the oven."

"No time bumpkin," Joker said walking out the door, puffing on the Cuban cigar. "But turn it up the oven all the way and throw in that bottle of lighter fluid we found."

Jason sat in the Batcave, facing the various displays of the Batcomputer. He was wearing his costume, minus the mask, preparing to go out on patrol hoping to find where the Joker would be striking next. Joker was controlling himself, only killing the Rodriguez family and Detective Flass so far, and keeping himself off the grid, but it would only be a matter of time before he would make his next move to draw Batman out.

Jason decided to look over the files Bruce had compiled on the Joker, hoping that something would help him find out what he would be up to, but that was a dead end. You could never predict what the Joker would do next. Jason took a quick look at the various news outlets to see if anything had come up. Word got out to the public that the Joker was loose and responsible for the Rodriguez and Flass murders, causing the usual public panic and statements from the GCPD for people to stay inside and report any suspicious activities. There was a call by some citizens for the city council to contact Wonder Woman to assist the GCPD and the usual banter from politicians and various TV personalities that Batman and Robin were to blame for the mess that Gotham City was in and they should be held responsible for the Joker's actions and arrested.

You're stalling. Jason thought as he turned them off and stared a monitor that was displaying an image of the Joker's face. This would be his first confrontation with the Joker since he left Jason for dead nine years ago in Qurac, after beating him with a crowbar. Jason could feel the anxiety building and his heart beat becoming more rapid. He closed his eyes, and managed to get himself under control.

He opened his eyes and turned his attention to the Batcave gym, where Stephanie, who was dressed in her Robin costume, without the cape and mask, was doing a routine on the uneven bars. Jason knew he needed some kind of backup, considering how he was dealing with the anxiety this eventual confrontation. He thought about Tim and Cassandra, but they were both in Bludhaven, which was about 60 miles away and Tim was retired. He considered reaching out to Selina, but they were not exactly on speaking terms.

He watched Stephanie spin around a couple of times on the high bar to gain momentum for her dismount. She let go and somersaulted into the air on a 45 degree angle and came down sticking the landing. Jason allowed himself to smile a little. He knew bringing her with him was a big risk, but she had really rededicated herself after the Red X incident. Besides Alfred, there wasn't anyone else in this world he trusted more than Stephanie.

Stephanie caught Jason looking at her. She smiled and made her way to the computer he was sitting at. "So are we gonna to get going?"

"Yeah," Jason said, letting out a big sigh, looking at the image of the Joker staring back at him.

"Don't worry Jason," Stephanie said, grabbing his hand and placing her other one on his shoulder. "We'll get through this… together as partners."

"Come on, hurry up, I need to get out of here." Gotham Mayor Armand Krol said as he buttoned his shirt.

"Relax Armand." his half-naked brunette intern said, sitting on his desk in the Mayor's office and smoking a cigarette. "He has no reason to come after you."

"He's crazy, he doesn't need a reason." Krol said as he gathered his belongings.

"Armand, so far, everything he's done seems to point to wanting to throw down with Batman."

"You don't know what he's capable of." Krol said he began to reminisce about how he was terrorized by the Joker two years ago during the Arkham Breakout.

"You know what?" the intern said as she jumped off the desk. She grabbed Krol and threw him on it and strattled him. "You need to relax." After she kissed the mayor, her eyes widened as she felt the barrel of a gun on the back of her head.The sound of the hammer being pulled back echoed in the room as Krol looked passed her and saw the face he was trying to avoid.

"I couldn't agree more." The Joker said, cackling as he pulled the trigger, covering the Mayor in blood and pieces of his mistress.

Krol pushed the dead body off of him and tried to run away but was kicked in the face by Harley Quinn, who was hiding behind the Joker.

"Where are my manners?" Joker said as he put his arm around the Mayor, who grabbed his bloody nose. "Krolly, Harl, Harl, Krolly" The Joker said as he pointed the smoking gun at each one as he introduced them.

"You know Krolly," The Joker began. "I can still call you Krolly right. I mean, we're still cool like that?" he stopped to laugh. "I was telling Harley about all of the fun we had during that little breakout a couple of years ago and she was kinda upset that she missed out on all the fun, so we came up with a fabulous idea to take a trip down memory lane with an old friend, that's you, make that murder rate reach an all-time high and have a couple of laughs." Joker threw his head back and began to laugh hysterically. Harley followed suit and Krol just trembled in terror. "

To be continued…