Disclaimer: If I owned the rights to the Batman franchise, I would make money off of it. And I don't. So I obviously don't own it.

To Keep Gotham on its Toes

It was only a few weeks before everyone in Gotham knew his name. Joker.

The Joker, actually. It sounded more official.

People knew about him now. People feared him. Obsessed over him. And there were even people who idolized him. The Joker wondered about those caraaa-zy people who didn't have enough sense to fear him. They needed some psychological help, if you asked him.

The funny thing about Gotham was that the citizens may talk and whine about how bad the crime is and that people should do something about it, but they don't. They seem to thrive on it.

It was what was on TV – because besides Bruce Wayne's social life what else was news? It could be any time of day and there could be reports of a little old lady getting mugged, a respectable businessman getting carjacked and shot, a young woman getting raped in an alley, left for dead.

And they were all so somber about it. The Joker had only wanted to help them lighten up a little. And look where they put him: Arkham Asylum. For the insane. Oh, that was a good one. The majority of citizens in Gotham contributed to the rising crime rate anyways. How could they be so sad and angry about something they've caused?

And why should they try to make a difference? Every city has crime. Gotham's crime rate just happens to be a little higher than other city's. They really didn't care anyways. They had learned to live with the fact.

Then the day came when people began to hope. Hope for a better city. A cleaner city with less nasty people in it. You know who have people hope? Yeah, that's right, ladies and gentlemen...the Batman. And the Joker deserved to be strapped to a chair more than this grown man who put on a cape and cowl and glided around Gotham, pretending to be a glorified bat? Ridiculous!

And the Batman thought he could put all the nasty people behind bars? Impossible not only for the amount of them crawling around Gotham, but the Joker knew that nasty people are everywhere – you just can't get rid of them. That's why the Joker wanted to crush that hope. It was fun to watch things blow up, anyways. And people's reactions! Well, that was a show. The Joker loved to see people do what they never expected they would do. He loved to expose 'innocent citizen's' true nature.

So as soon as he got out of Arkham (which would be easier than expected, considering how many people wanted to work there) he was going to play with the Batman more. He was such an entertaining playmate.

The Joker was going to put the fear back in Gotham.

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A/N: So I just wanted to introduce myself to this fandom before I posted something big, and I had this short character study of the Joker which is mainly based on TDK version, but also has some other influences. Tell me what you like and hate about it, and most of all, if you'd like to see more of my work posted. Thanks in advance.

-ghost