Alright here i go. I've so many plans =D
Two bickering sisters catch the attention of two unlikely allies. The Joker being one- escaped from Arkham and ready for a new project. Dr. Crane- ready to unleash his Scarecrow on an unlikely victim. The results are unclear. Will this bring the sister's closer together or further apart? Joker/OC Scarecrow/OC
"Ah Gotham!" a mocking laugh followed the slightly crazy gesture of hugging the air. "Don't ya' love it Crane? How easily the minds of it's citizens are so easy to warp. So easy to man-ip-ulate. Pawns on a chess board."
The word 'minds' snapped Crane back into reality. He had somewhat glazed over when the clown went off on one of his rants. It was the best thing to do.
"Yes. Indeed," his voice was unlike the first. It was crisp, but cool. It seemed to have an unnatural smoothness. Looking at the 'doctor' would match the voice to an appropriate face immediately. His pale skin and blue misty eyes could have been the features of a ghost, but oddly enough this man was relatively handsome. The glasses gave him the sophisticated look in which he was well suited and his slightly floppy black hair did not hang too low nor was it too long. Just right.
"We should find ourselves a project-ah." The voice of the Joker was of a different manner. It was husky, but bouncy. The tone hinted danger of the highest order and the flow with which he allowed his words to roll out of his mouth could provoke a certain curiosity. One which would more than likely get yourself killed. Nobody messed with this man. His high-class, theatrical and clearly unique purple suit, right down to his stripy ankle socks, was well known. But it wasn't the outfit that made this man most distinguishable. It was his face.
The scars that etched his face into a constant grin made the Joker beyond terrifying. Lipstick or blood? One of the many questions people asked themselves when they saw him on their television screens, newspapers and…if they ever got close enough to inspect. The hollow eyes hidden behind his charcoal makeup would startle even the bravest of men. The pools of brown held neither hate nor love. In fact, one would question whether the Joker was capable of emotion at all. His face was a white canvas; completely powdered, but cracked in most places (the corners of his smile, the frown lines on his forehead and the lines shaping his nose.) On this bizarre canvas was a work of art; shaped by the unexplored and unknown background of the Joker himself.
The vibrant green hair clashed with his purple suit horribly, but it suited him. Without his greasy green mop, he wouldn't be the Joker.
Gotham had spat out some odd figures, but he was one of the oddest by far. Together Crane and the Joker were strange. People who knew them well enough would be shocked to see them together, but they had made a (sort-of) truce.
"If you say so Joker," Dr. Crane looked at his fingernails with disinterest. He kicked a rock in front of him pointedly, "What are we doing here anyway?"
The Joker used this as a chance to suck in the image of a dark street, completely empty because he dominated the pathetic lives of those who lived here. Their fear stopped them from leaving their homes at night. Their minds at his grasp, their everyday activities diminished because they feared their own death.
He opened his eyes and gave a giggle, "And hears thinking I imagined it."
Dr. Crane frowned at him. He never had the opportunity to probe at his mind and ravish how unique it was. He never got the chance to poke around for answers because the Joker liked being…well…spontaneous.
"So why are we here?"
The Joker flashed his yellow teeth in his direction, "to admire the view."
Dr. Crane didn't like sarcasm. It's something his patients often used to try to spite him, but Dr. Crane sorted them out. Yes he did indeed.
"Seriously Joker."
"Hmmm… you are too serious Crane. You need to lighten up a bit, have some fun. Another reason to invest in my idea…"
"Invest?"
The Joker smirked, "Meaning spend some time thinking it over. Investing some ser-i-ous thought into it."
Crane rolled his eyes dramatically and sighed, "I've got work to do."
The Joker's expression changed and he scowled, "Oh sure Doc-tor Crane. While Batman flies around in his ninja kilt you sit safe and sound out of Arkham in your little chair. Well I might as well have not bothered escaping."
Dr. Crane stared composed at the man in front of him. The clown regretfully was right. Batman roamed free destroying any hope for a 'better Gotham.' But how exactly would 'playing' with a few 'toys' bring him down? "Please continue."
The Joker grinned again and placed an arm around his shoulder much to the Doctor's discomfort. "Look we uh… find something real nice to steal. Something each. The Bat is sure to fall into a trap if we choose our toys carefully."
"I don't want to lose my job." The calm tone in which he announced this caused the Joker to snort with uncontrollable laughter. He slapped his leg and stamped his foot, all the while Crane unhooked his arm from around his neck and clicked his tongue impatiently. He watched the clown waiting for him to finish with his laughing.
"Oh Crane you tickle me!" The Joker wiped a tear away from his eye and licked his lips gleefully, "You really do! Look…listen, if you are so concerned about you're job then we'll work around it. How about…?" his charcoal-rimmed eyes glinted with danger, "We allow the Scarecrow to come out to play?"
Crane paused and stared at the twisted man facing him. It had been a while since he was able to flaunt his character properly. The only thing Scarecrow got to test on were his patients, scaring them into insanity and pushing them into Arkham asylum. It'd be really satisfying to allow him off the leash.
The Joker saw Crane's thoughtfulness and edged him on, "That way you can keep your job. Nobody'd know it was you."
The blue eyes of the Doctor rarely sparkled, rarely showed any sign of excitement or enticement, but at this time they did. "I suppose so," he smirked acknowledgment.
*****
The following morning was a beautiful. The sun shone through the bedroom window of 46 Shallowdrive and woke the sleeping figure of Rebecca Mc Mahon. She yawned, and opened her green eyes, spots appearing everywhere. "Mmm…" she smacked her lips together. Getting out of bed recently had proved to be rather difficult.
If she didn't get up soon, she'd be late for work. Harvey'd be pissed, being his assistant DA and all. Rebecca swung her thin legs out of bed and stretched her arms above her head. Then, after yawning once more, she pulled her chestnut brown hair out of its elastic. It fell just below her shoulders.
"Coffee!" she stood up and clumsily made her way to the kitchen and boiled the kettle. She sat herself down by the breakfast bar and stretched out the newspaper; 'He's done it again! For the 2nd time in a year the Joker has managed to escape from Arkham's highly guarded walls. What's left is to ask…what is being done about the recent Joker escape? How are the police force preventing him from killing hundreds like before? And howexactly was it done…
The telephone rang causing Rebecca to lose her concentration. She already knew who it would be before she picked up the phone, "Hello."
"Becca!" a bubbly voice shrieked down the phone. Rebecca stuck her finger in her ear wearily. She was almost deafened.
She took a deep sigh and said, "What do you want Alex?"
"Wait until you hear what happened last night!" Rebecca rolled her eyes dramatically; she could almost picture her sister jumping up and down on the spot with excitement, her green eyes (similar to her own) welled with passion. It was enough to make her sick.
"I think I know already…"
"No!" her sister cut across her, "Let me tell you…me and James…we…we…" she burst into fits of giggles.
Rebecca sighed and looked at the clock on her wall. 8:40. She really didn't have time for this. "Look Alex…I really have to go I'm going to be late."
"Yeah yeah. Hey before you go! Have you talked to Dr. Crane about an interview with me?"
Rebecca mentally slapped herself. She'd forgotten all about it. "Yeah…um…"
"And…?"
"He said maybe." Lies. Lies. Lies.
"It's better than no anyways."
"Yeah well…I really have to go. I'll talk to you later…" Rebecca hung up before she gave her sister the chance to say goodbye. To outside viewers she must have seemed like an ignorant bitch, but honestly…her sister slept with a different man every week and Rebecca was just sick of hearing about it.
She stood by the phone for a few moments thinking. Taxi or walk? Taxi or walk? Taxi or walk? Was it seriously safe to walk? Do you have time to walk? She bit her lip and glanced at the clock again. "Better get moving…"
*****
Alex was going to interview commissioner Gordon today. "It'd be really great…" she thought aloud, "to hear some juicy police bizz…"
She applied her lip liner to enhance her rouged lips and added a layer of protection coating on her perfectly manicured nails. Looking in her mirror she pouted and pushed her hair up sexily.
"Good evening Commissioner," she purred, "about last night…" She couldn't help but giggle at this; it seemed so suggestive.
"Oh!" she searched in her bathroom cupboard panicky and sighed with relief when she found what she was looking for. "What would I do without you guys…?" she opened her tic-tacs and shook two into her hand. "Cheers."
****
2.30pm.
Dozens of people spilled out of the conference room. Dr. Crane had emitted yet another criminal into Arkham Asylum. There had been a bit of an uproar.
Rebecca approached the man cautiously. He had had a rough day. People were questioning his authority and his actions. She almost felt bad for the guy.
"Dr. Crane?" she was eventually face to face with him.
"Ah. Miss Mc Mahon."
"Call me Rebecca," she gave a slight smile, "Miss Mc Mahon just emphasizes that I'm not married." She gave an awkward laugh.
He smiled at her. Rebecca never noticed how much of an amazing smile he had… She shook her head embarrassingly and continued, "it's not that I'm questioning your authority or anything, but…"
"You think it's ridiculous that another criminal has been emitted into Arkham. You'd prefer that he was behind bars and not receiving therapy?"
Rebecca blinked and smiled again, "Yes. You seemed to take the words out of my mouth."
His eyes seemed to twinkle, something Rebecca found interesting. They were rather dull a lot of the time. She didn't think they were the twinkling type. "That is because people have been saying that to me all morning."
Rebecca was careful not to blush, but she could not stop her body from heating up profusely.
"Don't worry about it. I know you would not question my authority."
She swallowed a lump in her throat, "You're right there. It's not my place."
"Indeed it is not."
There was an awkward silence. Rebecca didn't know how to introduce the question that her sister had been pushing her about for the past week.
"Dr. Crane…"
"Do you know anything about the mind Rebecca?" He cut across her taking her by surprise.
"Well…no. Not much."
He seemed distant now. In his own world, "I appreciate the mind's control over the body…" Examining her face closely he continued, "It's why I do what I do."
She nodded. It was a polite way of telling her to mind her own business if she didn't know what she was talking about.
As he was about to leave she quickly blurted out, "Would you mind doing an interview?"
He simply blinked at her.
"My sister…she's a journalist and she's been trying to get a hold of you for some time to ask you a few questions for her newspaper."
Crane glanced over Rebecca's form again, while he thought. "I don't think so."
"Oh…" she suspected this. Usually Dr. Crane kept to himself, but she had told her sister that he had said maybe.
"It's nothing personal," he interjected, "It's just that… I'm no celebrity and her questions would be unkind. As you already know…people do not agree with my decisions."
"I understand."
With this last note he took his leave. She stared at him until he was out of view. 'What an extraordinary man' she thought.
*****
"Commissioner Gordon…" Alex had adopted an official tone, "all of Gotham are wondering…what will you do about the current Joker 'situation?"
Jim Gordon was a very warm-hearted man, but while in Commissioner role, he had to remain stern and in control. "There isn't much we can do…you must understand. The Joker is a very difficult man to locate. He could be anywhere…and without knowing his location we can't take him into custody."
"So you'll turn to the masked vigilante perhaps?"
Gordon had to choose his next words carefully. Batman was also a wanted man. "We will turn to nobody…but if he manages to find the Joker and successfully bring him in, it will be appreciated."
Alex winked at him. He was a decent man with a wife and children. She was rooting for him really, even though she was pressing him for answers. It was just her job.
"And what of Arkham?"
He scratched his brown moustache and said, "well the security has been tightened even more so."
"I didn't think that were possible!"
Gordon gave a slight smile, "Well apparently it is."
Alex's eyes brightened, "And how exactly has the security been tightened?"
"That's strictly confidential I'm afraid."
"Aw…" she couldn't hide her disappointment. "I take it…you're still baffled at how the Joker did escape?"
"Baffled is a good way to put it," he smiled again.
"A master no doubt. Well… that's all the questions I have for you Commissioner. Thank you so much for your time."
She clicked the tape recorder off and placed it in her bag. "Fancy getting a coffee?"
Gordon glanced at his watch, "A quick one."
*****
Alex and Jim Gordon sat inside a local 'Starbucks' sipping their coffees and chatting comfortably.
Alex explained about having to put up a front when interviewing people and Gordon explained about having to put up a front when talking to anybody.
"You beat me," she smiled.
"I do."
If any outsiders seen this act they would think they were close friends, but in fact they only met that day.
"Oh wow! Look at the time. I have to go," he smiled at her, "Thanks for the coffee!"
Alex laughed, "You paid for it!"
"Did I?" he scrunched his nose up trying to remember, "Oh well… my memories gone. The company was nice."
"Likewise…" she watched him leave and sighed. She hadn't managed to get him to like her in that way. "Well he is married…"
She stood up and grabbed her coat. There was no point hanging around. She glanced around the shop wearily and then left. What she didn't know was that someone had been watching their performance from behind his newspaper.
A short introduction =D Hopefully I've sparked your interest. I have plans for this fic. Thanks for reading xo
