Issue 32
Any Other Name
Babies choking on asbestos dust through used cigarette butts. Priests and rabbis torturing insects on the holiest altars. Hedonistic blonde bimbos with breasts three times the size of their heads and abandonment issues. Freshly steamed three piece forest green suits that hadn't been stored in a pile of garbage. Buckets of blood filled from anyone who demanded the false pretense of order in this world. And maybe those chalky after dinner mints that seemed to evaporate in your mouth. That's what Joker wished for as he approached the scene of splendid chaos.
From every direction bullets and energy bolts flew. So many holes were punched through the roof it appeared to be raining indoors. Across the expanse he saw Harley naked without her face paint wielding a machine gun against the unending current of SECURE's featureless army. Joker watched her righteous barrage and wondered where they went so wrong. Even now he imagined her change of heart a temporary setback. As he felt his unrecognizable face he realized the greatest threat to a man who loved his life was change.
Joker remembered his original sidekick before Harley came into his life, a short stocky acrobat named Gaggy. When the Flying Graysons took center stage in Haley's circus Gaggy was religated into the freak show as another clown. There Joker found him and recruited him into a life of colorful super crime. As time passed and stakes rose Joker grew angrier, more psychotic and discarded Gaggy for the beautifully damaged Dr. Harleen Quinzel. One particular night after Batman save a group of boy scouts from Joker's deathtrap the dark knight stood with Jim Gordon and Robin watching social services collect the kids.
Disguised in the curious crowd Joker watched his nemesis feeling rather depressed at the love and goodwill on display. Suddenly he felt a hand interlace with his own and looked down to see Gaggy standing next to him. The small, ugly man sported a perfect bowl cut but exchanged his clown costume for regular clothes. Without a word they slipped away from police tape and flashing lights. Back at the hideout Gaggy explained his absence to Joker and a disinterested Harley.
"I tried to leave," Gaggy stated adamantly, "but nothing felt enjoyable. We used to have fun…real fun, boss. Life wasn't so serious then but you changed. I see now running away was a mistake. The truth is I belong to you and whatever happens to me should be your choice. I came to help make you perfect. For the last time I'm at your service."
Joker sat calmly listening but when he turned to Harley she merely shrugged picking her nails. He thought about the disgusting, heartwarming scene earlier and realized things need to escalate. The only way to do that was to become everything Batman wasn't, an unholy reflection of indomitable hope. He would become an avatar of infinite ruin but to do that required a sacrifice.
Gaggy understood as the last refuge of his original self he must pay the price and he was thankful to do so. They built a cross from soiled wood and nailed Gaggy to it then flipped it upside down before planting it in the ground. For days Joker did nothing but sit outside and watch Gaggy waste away. His first friend never begged or cursed his master as he was crucified. Near the end he grew delusional from thirst and the pain from the nails.
"I'll travel," Gaggy coughed staring at the ground, "into the depths of Hell and spread your gospel. I'll tell the demons of your work and invite them to join your paradise here above."
"No!" Joker shouted alarmed at the idea, "You go to Hell and you find the devil. You tell him I said he's a hack and boring. Tell him the world doesn't need him anymore. It's got me now."
"It-it's been fun, boss. I'll never forget the chaos, the letting go. You're right…it's the only thing you can count on."
"You've been a good friend, Gaggy. Loyal and true beyond anyone in this sea of pontificating liars and fakes," Joker proclaimed as he ran a rusty dagger across his sidekick's neck, "Now fuck off."
But Harley wasn't Gaggy by any stretch of the imagination Joker knew while watching her cut through the enemy. She was another beast entirely with plenty of potential of her own. The very spark that drew him to her also forced her beyond his devious distractions however he found a way to keep them all together. Despite this struggle with SECURE he devised a method of maintaining the madness and assuring they could continue the game indefinitely.
That brought him to Robin his wayward friend and confidant. The boy stood bound by the wrists captive of Penguin and victim of the most obvious double cross in history. There was bad in him no one could deny but not nearly enough for Joker's tastes only enough for the boy's inevitable betrayal.
"Whatever you're doing you can't trust him!" Damian turned to Oswald ignoring the disfigured clown, "You have to know he'll ruin everything!"
"Have you seen the state of this city?" Otis retorted, "Crime plummeting, people living in safety, they already ruined everything." Joker grabbed Damian by the throat and pulled his face in close.
"See me," Joker stated ominously staring into the boy's eyes.
"I see you. You look like shit," Damian insulted but Joker shook his head.
"See me!" Joker shouted and then Damian really did see him for the first time. He saw a frail man withered beyond the point of starvation who couldn't see or speak. Deathly white he staggered around a small area surround by a black ocean and the impenetrable waters spoke in a million voices. Incessantly they jabbered detailing every vast and minute atrocity ever committed. Every negative thought and word of all time constantly sang in a cacophony of pitiful verses.
"What the hell are you?" Damian mumbled horrified at the sight as Joker turned away and the vision passed, "What happened to you?"
"Life happened," Joker exclaimed gleefully, "Hehehe, would giving it a name be easier? Then you could fight it, develop a weapon against it. You could learn how it works and how to stop it, oh no. I don't think so."
"But what caused it? The chemicals, the insanity, something supernatural?"
"Utter corruption is its own reward, the only state of being that can ever be considered truly incorruptible. I cannot be bought or bullied or reasoned with. It's the mountain of sin you sprinkle your gravel over whose peak scrapes the very foundation of heaven," Joker attested, "Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Consider me any other name." He signaled the evacuation team to complete their true objective as he bade Damian farewell.
"I'm going to fix it all now," Joker promised, "Put it back to when everything was simple without these self-serving questions of right and wrong. Moral ambiguity holds no place in this city and I'll see it out before we're through here."
Across the hangar a world away Bruce fought pointlessly against the reinforced shackles. Helplessly he watched the battle as countless lives were extinguished in his name, the name of his family. To his right stood the Tripping Darlings casually observing and on his left his onetime friend Tommy Elliot waited with the keys to his chains. SECURE's forces appeared endless but couldn't seem to push the Militia back. By all accounts with their numbers and confiscated technology SECURE should have laid waste to the opposition but they didn't. That too was part of their plan.
"It doesn't have to end like this," Bruce begged to the women who loved him, "There's still a chance to stop this. Let me make it right!"
"We're fed up with what you think is right," the essence of rage responded through Jezebel's lips, "that's the entire point of this. We gave you an option to stop it but you refused. There aren't any more chances left."
"It doesn't matter. I'll never kill them. Nothing you can do will make me commit murder and that's what this is. Please, they have my son. Let me save him. He never deserved this!"
"Neither do they!" Jezebel answered pointing towards the men and women of SECURE, "and yet every time you let one of these monsters live you damn even more of them. Your actions led to this as much as your enemies did. Just relax and enjoy the show." Bruce turned to Tommy whose eyes were the only thing visible through the bandages.
"Tom, it's not too late," Bruce pleaded, "If you let this happen you'll be as accountable as they are."
"You've got this so wrong," Tommy replied, "You still think this is some master plan against you. No one here is trying to hurt you. They're trying to save the soul of Bruce Wayne. We want you to be free."
"A long time ago my family helped yours," he bargained, "I know you didn't see it like that way but it's the truth. Let me help mine. Damian is all I have left."
"Lucky for you that's not true. There's another one left and he's the only thing standing between you and oblivion. Problem is you failed him again like you always do. That's the entire reason we're here now. And by the way Bruce…this is me returning the favor," Tommy insisted.
To his horror Bruce watched the Militia splitting and driving SECURE back to create an open space in the middle of the room. Into that area they rolled a strange looking device with a horribly injured Joker sitting on top. Bruce recognized the Miracle Machine instantly and realized it must have been stolen from JLA headquarters.
"No! No!" he screamed tearing at the shackles like a trapped animal, "You can't let him! He's insane! He'll kill us all and destroy the world!"
"Is that what you think he wants?" Cassandra asked with amusement but before he could answer a bolt of electricity sparked across the machine as the creation engine sparked to life.
Joker placed both hands on the receivers and felt the fabric of reality withdraw from his presence. Absolute control proved a tricky commodity he found. The immediate present proved easier to remedy. First he wished for his wounds to be healed which occurred instantly. Next he wished SECURE's troops would vanish and every last one of them promptly did. Now the remaining Militia stood unchallenged before Bruce, Tommy, and the Darlings. Some villains cheered while others waited nervously to see how much farther he would go. Then Joker paused unsure of what his next step should be.
"It's not easy, is it?" a voice asked from behind. Turning towards it he saw the translucent image of Riddler sporting his classic costume.
"What-what's happening, Ed?" Joker asked suddenly feeling a strange sense of dread. Riddler stepped forward placing a hand on his shoulder.
"All those choices can get confusing. All that knowledge, what will you do with it? What does the man who has everything ask for? You play a game without end entirely of your own design," Riddler explained, "That leaves only one desire."
"Are you really here?" Joker asked dumbfounded, "I thought you lost your mind and were stuck in Arkham."
"I am or I will be," Riddler stated, "For a moment I stepped out of time, out of the box they keep us trapped in so I put myself at certain moments like mile markers to guide this to the end. That's not important now. You need to decide what you want."
"I don't want anything except to go back to the way it was before SECURE, the way it used to be."
"Then there's your answer," Riddler confirmed and Joker nodded. When he grabbed the handles again he looked across the room at his friend and nemesis wistfully. Joker heard the words echo through his head as he rewrote reality.
"I wish…we could live together forever. I wish the fight would continue unending. I wish we were all immortal to wage our wars without the burden of consequences." But when Joker opened his eyes nothing looked or felt different. Curiously he glanced around the room to assess his surroundings and much of the Militia did the same though they weren't sure what to look for. In the end saddened by the anticlimax he powered down the Miracle Machine satisfied with the knowledge that it must have worked.
They must have been immortal, timeless, unburdened by threatening progress. Joker picked up his trusty crowbar and smashed the machine beyond repair. At that moment a side wall exploded inward on the settled display. Jason Todd the Red Hood strode through the breach fully kitted and ready for a singular war but Joker didn't so much as flinch from the blast or shrapnel. Advancing on the villain with murderous resignation he drew his pistol purposefully. Joker smiled like he was meeting an old friend for coffee. He held out his arms like he expected a hug.
"Jason! Don't!" Bruce screamed from his place in the madness as he immediately understood what was happening. Still a captive as well Damian held his breath though they plotted this trap more or less from the start.
"Oh little bird, you never learn," Joker began, "I think-" Gunshots interrupted his thought as Jason unloaded the clip into his chest. Ten shots tore through his body before Joker hit the ground.
"I thought we were immortal," Joker thought as he stared down at his wounds but the only thing that came from his mouth was an unintelligible groan. Then the blood flooded his throat and seeped into his lungs. Helplessly he reached out to Bruce as Tommy unlocked his chains. Harley screamed and rushed towards the dying monster. As she cradled his head Joker's body suddenly began to shudder. A thin noxious looking green smoke leaked out from the bullet holes and slipped across the air currents toward Jason who didn't see it like Bruce clearly could.
Driven against the wind the green smoke slipped through the porous fabric covering Jason's mouth and nose and he began to cough. Finally free Bruce sprinted across the room and prompted Harley to compress any wounds she could find. He stopped before performing CPR as he knew it was futile. Instead Bruce turned to Jason his worst fear confirmed in front of him. Batman refused to kill Joker for many reasons but one he only spoke about to Superman. In his darkest nightmares Bruce feared the possibility that the evil consuming Joker wasn't confined to a single body, that Joker's death wouldn't end the monster inside him only perpetuate it.
Still coughing and growing lightheaded Jason tore his mask off and saw Bruce attending Joker's lifeless body. Once again Jason misunderstood their relationship and his place in it. His surrogate father always seemed to care for everyone else before him even their greatest enemies and here it was laid out unarguably definitive. No one in the hangar so much as moved and from the back Damian finally realized the tragic, logical mistake they made. The pair worked so hard to eliminate a horrendous evil in the world but in doing so created something infinitely worse.
"You have to help!" Bruce yelled at the Tripping Darlings as they slowly approached.
"We helped," Cassandra insisted watching Jason curiously.
"This is the house of cards a broken boy built," Jezebel stated flatly.
"We only pushed the correct one and everything crashes," Selina explained, "This is your only out now. You should take it." All three women fainted at once as the spirits invisibly vacated their bodies. Bruce looked at Jason and regretted the sacrifice he could no longer make. It was Jason's burden now or possibly it always had been since his initial failure.
Rage would have been welcome and manageable, confusion, pain, anything but Jason did the one thing that turned Bruce's blood ice cold. A massive grin stretched across his usually stern features and Jason began to laugh like a maniac.