Crazy?
No, he wasn't crazy.
No, no, no he wasn't.
Crazy, see, to them, was just the thing that stood out, the thing that disrupted their order and had a different viewpoint. He wasn't crazy, he was just different. Maybe he was strange, and maybe he was the chaos to Gotham's order, but he wasn't crazy. He was far from it.
Just because he wanted change? Just because he had a vision of a different world? A vision of life, of a city, of world without Batman, a world where he, no, chaoswould rule. Gotham needed to see how bad the world really was, and who was he to deny them that? Who was Batman to deny them that? The world, see, is a cruel, cruel place. And maybe the people of this city needed to be reminded of that. He'd show them.
Well, he had shown them a little bit. But, of course, like the people before him and surely the people after him, he had been stopped dead in his tracks. They, they….wanted things. Money. Power. He, well, he just wanted corruption. He wanted them to all burn, to see them fall apart, and to see them fall into chaos, into complete destruction. Dent? Oh, Dent was one of many who would fall into his hands. Haarrrveeey Deent wasn't the first man who he would cut nicks into, the first one who he would pull down with him.
Crazy, was he? A nut, bonkers, a freak, was he?
Well, Batman had said it. Not everyone was as ugly as he was. And he had said it himself. You could never rely on people these days; you always had to do… everything… yourself…
And he would.
They'd see.
Gotham would see. They all would. Batman, and the Commissioner, the whole city…he'd show 'em.
He stared up at the dark ceiling of his cell. Here, ah…it was so boring. So dull. Well, he wouldn't be here forever, no matter what he had to do. He wasn't done out there, in that city. He wasn't done with Batman, and he was sure Batman wasn't done with him.
Gotham had a lot to learn, a lot to see. They were safe and happy now, snug and tight in their beds, sure that the danger from murdering psychopaths, who did outrageous things like kill judges and cops and blow up hospitals, had passed.
Ohhhohohoho, they thought that, most definitely. He might be locked up now, in a high-security insane asylum, but he would find a way out. Whether through manipulation, violence, bribes…ohhh, he'd get out. He'd always get out. Always had before. See, because, people couldn't find the heart to kill him. It was "unethical", "immoral", and "wrong". Only "crazy" people killed. Or those fighting in self defense, of course.
But who had he ever hurt that didn't deserve it? Lawyers, judges….no, no, no. They weren't the good people they seemed like. They shined for the public and everyone bowed to them, the people who were scared, they fell to their knees for those who "cleaned up the streets". HA! They weren't good. Their sense of justice was just as twisted as the minds of those they locked away.
He, he was the one who saw through them, the one who saw them for who they truly were. They, the public's knights, they were sick. They did their "duty" and it was all the same to them. Drug dealers, cop killers, robbers, it didn't matter. They took them out in the way they always had, uncivilized, violent…and they called him a freak…
He chortled and closed his eyes. Civilized, uncivilized. Good, bad. Cop, civilian. Did it really matter? No matter what the Batman had said, people were ugly. Everyone was ugly on the inside. Only some let it out. Only some could see the truth in the world. The world is ugly. It turns people ugly. Them, the people who were convinced that people were naturally good? No, no. They were wrong! People are naturally evil…disgusting, filthy. Ugly. Everyone was ugly. Not listening to those impulses, the impulses, that, voice, was, was their own choice, yes. The voice, in the back of your head that says, "Hey. Maybe she deserves to be smacked around a bit." Only the select few listened to it. Or, hey, maybe, only a select few didn't listen to it.
The Batman…he was no different. He did his "duty" and it was all the same to him, too. He was no public official, and he was no knight, but, the Batman? Batman was just as cruel and ugly as he was. He just couldn't find the guts to admit it.
Yeah, yeah. So he was maybe cruel, and maybe he was ugly. And maybe he was strange and maybe he was different. But, he definitely wasn't crazy. No. They were the crazy ones, the ones who didn't see the world, and its inhabitants, as what they were. Maybe they didn't see it yet, and maybe they weren't as ugly as some of the others, those normal people. The people who hadn't seen his vision.
But he'd broadcast that vision one of these days. He wooouullld, oh! He would.
And as he looked up at the dusty and dark ceiling inside his holding cell in Arkham Asylum, The Joker began to laugh. They'll see. He'd show them. He was, not, not, not…crazy…
