Gotham reeked of the pungent scent of the criminal class. They had fouled up the city so bad it stunk, moreover it rotted. The cesspool style of living had terrorized the citizens, keeping them in their homes, scared to go out at night. Gotham had become a corpse, life-less and wholly rotten.
Until He came…The Batman.
Nobody knew where he came from. He had appeared in Gotham City a few years ago. Nobody took him into accountance; he was just another vigilante in a cape. But then this enigmatic Bat put Carmine Falconi, the most powerful man in Gotham's underworld, behind bars. He foiled expert ninja and villain Ra's al Ghul by stopping him from destroying Gotham with his toxins.
Then along came the clown.
The Joker was the most difficult adversary Batman had ever fought against. His maniacal ways, his eerie laugh, his horrifying face. The Joker was inexorable, but Batman was not to be bought. The Joker had tried to take everything away from Batman: Killing Rachel Dawes, making Harvey go insane with rage and turned him into the monster that was Two-Face, killing dozens of innocent civilians, and almost destroying Gotham. Yet none of this stopped Batman.
Joker was put into Arkham Asylum and the city was safe.
Batman's name was written all over the front page of the news for months, sometimes he was a good guy in the eyes of the public, and sometimes it was the other way around. No matter what he did for the people of Gotham, saving their city, putting criminals behind bars, it was never enough.
Though grim as the public treated him, there were still some admirers of The Batman.
Commissioner Jim Gordon stared up at the sky, smiling at the Bat-signal that floated loftily in the clouds. Gordon and Batman were friends in a distant way. They trusted each other and that was about it. The Batman never kept long term relationships. Gordon and the Batman had gone through a lot together; really they went through everything together. Gordon had helped Batman every since he had come to Gordon asking for help.
Felicia Dering and her husband Tom looked up at the signal and smiled. She held her baby to her chest and leaned up against her husband as she remembered how Batman had saved her. She was walking back to her apartment after her late night job as a store clerk, when she was attacked and almost raped. Batman had never been so punctual. "Thank God for him, Tom." Her husband nodded and kissed her forehead.
Ronald Ferguson rubbed his knee as he too looked up at the Bat-signal. He was an off-duty cop, who Batman had saved once. He was firing at some really drunk teens that were firing off rounds, injuring pedestrians. His knee was blown open by a roaming shotgun bullet. Batman subdued the kids and got Ronald to the hospital.
May Philips kissed her son's head as she remembered when Batman had brought him out of that burning building that was once their apartment. She had been late coming home and her son had been playing with matches. Batman saved him before the apartment crashed to the ground.
But one face looked up at the signal and smiled. That signal, that brilliant signal meant a hell of a lot of fun and a fresh start, a new challenge. The face's smile, blood-red, spine tingling, and smeared was set upon a face of chalk white, with large coal-black eyes. The Joker
The Joker grinned maliciously and messed with his whacked-up, green tinted hair and laughed softly to himself. He was back on the streets, ready to have some fun. He was so ready to play with his toys, to blow stuff up, to feel alive again. A year of sitting in Arkham made his
skin crawl with frustration. He was ready to get down and dirty. He was ready to kill something, to see terror in his victim's eyes. He had lain low long enough. He was ready to wreak some havoc, to bring about some chaos. All hell was about to break loose.
It was his turn to score a front page headline.
Gotham was his.
Carivano Tusconi, the successor of the late Salvatore Maroni, pulled his hat down over his eyes as he waited for his car. This mobster had had no luck in getting any work done, with The Joker gone and Batman back in town. The Joker…that sycophantic freak had burned all of the money that every single mobster in Gotham had acquired. And now he was broke, him and all his buddies.
Robald had taken over for his former boss, Gambol. The Joker had sliced Gambol to pieces on a pool table. Vladimir Krugenstein had taken over for his boss, The Chechen, as well. Again, The Joker had sliced him up and fed him to The Chechen's own Rottweiler's. Fu tang Zi had taken over for Lau. Joker had Lau burned alive on top of the mobster's cash.
Fortune did not smile on the family of crime.
Carivano's car pulled up in front of him. He looked to either side of the street before entering. Inside the car sat Robald, Vladimir, and Fu. Robald cracked his knuckles and looked out the window. Vladimir was holding a baby Rottweiler, and Lau told the driver something in Chinese. They car started and nobody spoke a word.
The car finally stopped in front of a ware house. All of the mobsters got out and filed into the warehouse, as discreetly as possible. Inside the warehouse were mountains of crates. Carivano led the mobsters to the left side of the building. He walked up to a certain part of the wall and knocked softly. A door appeared and was opened swiftly by a hefty looking guard. The guard nodded to Carivano and Carivano nodded back. The mobsters went into a very dimly lit room that smelled of cigarette smoke. In the middle of the room was a dying light bulb that hung over a small, circular table. There were four chairs which the mobsters all sat down in.
Carivano sighed and looked at the other men surrounding the table. "Here's the thing boys," he started in his heavy Brooklyn-Italian accent. "We are in deep shit. As you all know business ain't too hot right now. You," he said pointing to Vladimir. "You can't sell your coke. Robald and Fu can't make any bills on the machine. Bank heists are a waste of time. So, I'm done thinking. You're gonna think for me."
He pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled it. "This should help get the creative juices pumpin'."
The poker game went on for quite a while. In the end Carivano won, and Vladimir protested. Carivano shrugged. "You wanna win, then play again is what I always say."
Vladimir grunted and sat down. Carivano looked at the cards he was shuffling. "All right, put your bets in the middle, boys."
The mobsters threw their cash in the center, but suddenly a fist sprang out of the darkness and crashed into the table. It rose from off the table revealing a knife that had just lodged a Joker card into the table.
Every pair of eyes was fixed on the card, and they all showed the same emotion: Horror.
"Evenin' Gentle-men."
The Joker stuck his head out of the gloom and smiled sardonically at the mob bosses all sitting in mortified horror. The Joker pouted and looked around the table. "You know, I like parties and all, but this one…this one just blows."
"H-how did you…" Carivano started.
"Escape?" the Joker asked with relish. "Fly away? Break loose? Wrestle myself out of Arkham?"
"Y-yeah."
"Well, let's just say that even plastic knives aren't a good idea at a mental…uh…" he smacked his lips as he tried to find the right word. "Facility?"
Robald stared angrily at The Joker. "What do you want, Clown."
"Just got out tonight, my friend!" he continued to Carivano, ignoring Robald completely. "Free as a bird and ready to have a little fun. But," he looked at all the mobsters. "There's a catch. Ya see, I," his lizard tongue shot out from his mouth and licked his lips insidiously. "Don't have cash."
Vladimir laughed. The Joker looked at Vladimir, confused. "I-I don't see what so very funny, Vlad. Is it okay if I call ya Vlad?"
Vladimir looked at Joker angrily. "You burned our money, and yours. We have no cash to give. What else you want?"
Joker looked at the center of the table. "I see money right here."
Fu stared at Joker. "It's OUR cash clown. Not yours."
Joker smiled. "You want to try and keep it from me, Fu. Well be my guest. Big, tall, and hairy, over, uh, over by the door didn't even last five seconds."
Fu turned pale and slid back in his chair. The bosses were beat and Joker triumphed. "Now, this is what I want ya to do: Place all the money on you in the center of the, uh, table, and swear your men over to me."
"Don't do it."
Joker blinked rapidly as he looked at Robald who sat across from him. "I-I'm sorry. What?"
"Don't even think about it. I am not givin' you a cent clown. You have been bested once, The Batman got you good."
The Joker smiled at Robald. The red lipstick creeped slowly up the scars as he grinned.
Robald flinched.
"You look nervous?" the malicious clown said.
Robald tried to get up quickly, but he wasn't fast enough. Joker flew onto the table and grabbed Robald's head, shoving a knife in his mouth. Joker leaned in close and licked his lips, his filthy lizard tounge slipping in and out of his mouth.
"Ya wanna know how I got these scars? So…I had a daughter. Sick, pale, dying. I've got no money for her surgeries, ya see. So I live in a bad part of town. There are some druggies who live real near to me. Druggies that get high way too often. Druggies who sell stuff, like cocaine, or crack, or heroin, or-and you know where I'm going! And so-now don't-don't squirm like that hold still! STILL!! Now look here-So I decide that working for them could get me some cash for my little girl.
"So I sell, and use and buy more and sell and use and buy more and now I'm on a roll that I can't stop. What's funny is, is that I…I have NO money at-at all. So, I go inside my house desperate, yet helpless. I am preeeeeety high, though. Sooooo….I go into my daughter's room and see her sitting up in bed. She looks terrible!! She turns her brown little eyes at me smiles and says: 'Smile for me Daddy!'
"…And then she breathes her last…and f-falls over. A-and-and now I am SO miserable!! I-I tear up thinking about her." The Joker started to sob softly and wiped a tear away from his face with his shoulder, smearing his black eye paint, giving him a ghastly look; almost like a dead man.
"So then I walk into…the kitchen…and pull out a knife from one of the drawers. Then I…stick it in my mouth like this!" he nodded to the knife in Robald's mouth. "Then. I. Do. This!!"
Robald fell over dead as the Joker wiped the blood off of his knife on a purple handkerchief. "And then" Joker said, continuing the story to the fallen body that was lying, its face carved into a demonic grin, on the floor. "I looked up to the heavens, screaming while the blood soaked my face, 'Daddy's gonna smile for you darling!! And he's gonna brighten other peoples day too!!'" The other thugs shuddered violently as they heard the Joker's insane laugh ring through the building, wild and terrifying.
They placed their money on the table quickly and then left, leaving The Joker, The scum of Gotham's streets, The Clown Prince of Crime, The new class of criminal, in the warehouse, on the poker table, with their cash, laughing in a wild screeching tone, knowing that this was going to be his town.