At the top of an unfinished office building, two incarnations of order and chaos stood locked in their eternal battle for power. The Clown Prince of Crime stood at the edge of the floor looking out at Gotham. In his hand dangled a remote with a key sticking out of the slot. A few feet behind him stood the Batman, shrouded in the darkness of the building.
"So Bats, here we are. You've chased me up here. Is this it then? Our final battle?" The Joker began without turning around."I mean, we both knew it was coming to this. It's either you or me who can run this city. It's you or me Bats. It's you or me."
Thunder clapped, ringing loudly in their ears. The silver moon slipped behind her bridal veil of clouds. "Nothing matters Bats! Life is chaos. Even Buddha thought so! Hahaha!" His smile grew ever bigger. "He once said, and I quote, 'Chaos is inherent in all compound things.' Smart man, that Buddha. Hehe."
Thunder boomed again. "You forgot the rest of the quote." The Batman's voice rasped. "You forgot 'Strive on with diligence.'"
At this The Joker threw his head back and laughed to the sky. "Haha…yes. I suppose I did. Hahaha… But really Bats. The only way to live is without rules."He glanced over his shoulder before returning to his view of Gotham. "I've told you before and I'll tell you again. That is, if we both come out of here alive." A malicious grin replaced the usual one on The Joker's make-up caked face. "Though I doubt the people in the building across the street will." He said over his shoulder to Batman.
He turned all the way around to face Batman, his clown make-up smeared with the sweat of recent exertion. He dangled the remote out in front of him. "If I, lets say, blow up a building with maybe, 150 people in it, what would you do? Hmmmm? Would you kill me? Would you end your useless little battle for order?"
The Joker paused, watching Batman's stone face. "No, I don't think you would. You have that… that little rule! That little rule of yours! Why do you insist on staying sane? It's such an unsatisfactory way to live. I try so hard to show you, to give you the way out!"
For the first time the grinning face showed signs of frustration. " The only sane way to live is to be mad! Is….is to go completely bonkers! To…. To lose your very MIND!" The Joker exclaimed, waving his arms around. Still the Bat stood impassive.
Staring at him, the Joker lifted the remote and placed his right hand on the key. "No!" The Batman stepped forward. "At last, a response from the statue. Who knows? Maybe tonight you'll finally do what any sane person in the positions I've out you in would have done ages ago. You'll go mad." The Joker looked pleased.
" Maybe you'll take that handy little emergency exit from your brain and go completely batty!" The eternally smiling master criminal giggled his manic giggle at his little joke. He still did not lower the remote.
The sky became darker and thunder rumbled once more. " Come on Joker, put the remote down. We can work this out; create some kind of balance between chaos and order. Once you turn that key, there's no going back." The Batman warned. "I won't kill you, but I can make sure that you are declared sane and sentenced to execution at your next trial."
The Joker's smile stretched across his face wider than ever before. He raised his eyes to meet Batman's. Regret and pain were reflected in them. "Stop me if you've heard this one. There was this sad man at a bar. The Bartender said to him, ' You look sad. I heard that there's a clown in town, a very funny one. His name is Pagliacci. He would cheer you up.' The sad man looked up at the bartender and sadly said,
" But Mister, I am Pagliacci.'"
He dropped his hand away from the key and laughed. The laugh was not a happy laugh, nor was it crazed. Instead, it was almost a sob. As The Joker continued to laugh the remote slipped from his fingers and bounced of the edge of the building.
"I kah…killed so many people you lah…loved!" the clown gasped. "I killed Robin, I… I paralyzed bah… Barbara Gordon, and I destroyed Gotham's wah…white knight, Harvey Dent! I… hahaha! I actually blew up your little lover! Hahaha! I blew up little Rachel Dawes! So many people. And you still won't break. Hahahahaha! Maybe…. Hee… maybe you're insane! Maybe you're the crazy one!"
Thunder cracked. "You sane people are so…so stupid! Always wrapped up in the little details. Oh! And, you always are visiting the past! I try not to ever visit there, I find memories pop up. Painful memories. The past causes too much pain." He paused, shaking his grinning head. "I don't understand Bats?! Why don't you all see?!" The Joker yelled. Thunder exploded above and the rain broke loose.
Still, The Joker stood at the edge, away from the finished portion of the roof. Rain poured down on him, coursing down his face and streaking his black eye paint.
"I don't understand?! Why don't you see the funny side? Why don't you see that this life is a joke! One big, cruel, wisecrack! Why don't you see how funny it is?! Why don't you laugh, Bats?! WHY DON'T YOU LAUGH?!" Dropping to his knees, the Joker laughed. And laughed. And laughed. As he laughed, his tears blended in with the rain that ran down his face. The Batman watched this impassively.
And so they stood, chaos and order, neither of them moving. And so they remained.