Everyone has scars.
Sometimes they're on the outside for all to see; sometimes they're on the inside where you can hide them. They make you who you are. They show you who you're going to be.
The scars on the outside make you a freak. Those on the inside make you… Something else.
He sits in the dark, on his own, but it doesn't bother him. It's better that way. No one whining, or arse-licking. No one asking questions or wanting money. No one trying so hard to please him, to be accepted by him. No one seeking the protection that being an accessory gives, or supposedly gives. If he could get away with it, he'd do without them all hanging around, all of the time. But he couldn't be everywhere at once, and the illusion that he was helped with what he was trying to achieve.
Because those people have it all wrong. Money makes so many men greedy, but means nothing. You can get what you want without money if you go about it right, but people don't know how to do that these days. And the things you need to achieve something are dirt cheap anyway. Everything is so petty these days. Everyone wants something. No one just does things for the sake of it. No one exists just to see things burn…
He doesn't want the money. He'd quite happily see it go up in smoke. But, showing those so-called mafia bosses how it's done. Well, that's worth something beyond a number.
He laughs. At everything.
He laughs because he could. He laughs because that's all he has left. He laughs because, well, things were just funny.
A district attorney so good that he could clear the streets of Gotham of crime? That was funny. A police force that wasn't corrupt and could never become corrupt? That was even funnier. A man, dressed as a bat, swooping around the city and beating up 'criminals' by night? That was more than funny. That was hilarious.
So he packs up his gunpowder, and sharpens his knives. He gathers his calling cards, and leaves them at the scenes of his crimes. Because it was about time that the city gave him some attention. It was about time that someone knocked the bat, off his perch. It was about time that people started laughing…
Because if they weren't gonna laugh, they were definitely gonna scream.
