"What madness is this?!" the scorpion faunus yelled in disbelief once he'd seen the pale man with green hair.

"Joker," the man introduced himself, "the Clown Prince of Crime, at your service." The man bowed, looked up, and smiled at the confused faunus. "Of course, I'll never obey any command you give me."

"What about a command made by my goddess?" The faunus asked.

"Who, Salem? Nah, she's good as dead once she meets me."

"What? How did you know-"

"I read the script. By the way, Scorpio, why do you do what you do? I'm just curious."

"I live only for my lady! Without her, I am but nothing. A worm!"

"Right. And what's your name?"

"Tyrian Callows. I am in the service of Lady Salem."

"And what will she do when she gets here?"

"She will rule this world as she rules Remnant!"

"Could you bring me to this… Remnant? I want to have a conversation with her."

"To bargain for your life?"

"Eh, sure."

Alright! I'll bring you to her! But I warn you: if you ever make an attempt on my mistress' life, I will kill you until your body is no different than a Grimm's."

"Eh, fair enough."

"My lady," the clown said, bowing to Salem, "I wish to make a bargain."

"What is your name?" Salem asked him.

"I don't know anymore," the odd man replied. He reminded her of Tyrian in a way. "Nowadays, though, I call myself Joker."

"Joker?" Salem smiled. "Do you provide entertainment?"

"Well," the man responded, "I crack jokes all the time, and I would perform a magic trick, but the only two I seem to know end up getting one or all of my audience killed."

"I doubt that would happen to me."

"Alright, but there's still the matter of why I'm here."

"I assumed you were here to beg for your life when I enter your plane."

"Oh, no," the perpetually-smiling Joker replied. "I'm here to offer you a large portion of Gotham City. We'll work out all the details as we talk it out." He held out his hand in a business-like manner. "Agreed?"

Salem took his hand. "Agreed." His smile seemed to widen from his cheeks to his ears. Then she realized she had the sudden urge to laugh. She held it in as long as she could before bursting into a guffaw.

"Mistress!" Tyrian cried, mortified by what he was witnessing. "What is happening to you?!" As her laughter died down, her lips turned a deep red and the corners of her mouth became sharp. When she finally stopped laughing, she fell over, the smile still transfixed upon her face. Salem was finally dead. "Mistress Salem!" He turned to Joker with burning rage in his eyes. "You-You will pay for that insolence!"

As he attacked Joker, it seemed that Joker was simply waltzing around while dodging Tyrian's attacks. Finally, Joker drew a foreign pistol, pointed it at Tyrian's head, and taunted him with a simple truth: "Well, now, it seems you've lost your purpose in life."

Tyrian stopped and lingered, contemplating the meaning of Joker's words. He finally collapsed his arm blades and collapsed to his knees. "You are right." His eyes welled up with tears. "I-I will follow you now, Master Joker."

Joker stood there, confused. He wondered what he should do with the poor looney.