Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Batman except a couple t-shirts.
Freaks Like Me
"Wanna know which of your friends were cowards?"
The Joker had Detective Stephens in the palm of his makeup-smeared hand.
Stephens had put on a tough-guy act, but in the end he had been as easy to break as any of the other fools the Joker had come across. It had just taken a few select words to make him snap – they had been effortless to pick out. He was, of course, a 'cop-killer,' and Stephens was a cop.
Within not even a minute of Stephens rolling up his sleeves the Joker had him in a chokehold, completely powerless. As the Joker pulled out the gun from the cop's holster, Stephen's eyes went wide. The Joker bet he hadn't expected anything like this from him. The hand-tailored suit must really hide his surprisingly sinewy body well. The Joker never really had to use physical strength – he preferred mind games. And with the way he had let the Batman toss him about in the interview room, he wasn't shocked that Stephens underestimated his enemy's power; of the mind and body.
Really, to the Joker, reading people was almost a joke. They revealed so much unconsciously – with the way they moved or stood, where their eyes looked in a difficult or awkward situation, their tone of voice, little compulsive habits like running a hand through their hair or...licking their lips.
Or what they did when they died. That, for the Joker, was the most fascinating. And that's the card he had played with Stephens. And considering what position he was in right now, he had played it well.
"People, like yourself, keep telling themselves that they're not afraid of harmless... freaks, like me." The Joker spit the word out, dragging the man towards the door.
"But you see, Detective, I'm not harmless." He shoved the barrel of the gun closer to Stephens' face, laughing.
"And I most definitely am not a freak." The Joker snarled, his tone changing completely.
Following that, it was easy to make the detective open the door and lead the Joker out to his other little cop friends.
After all, he had only wanted one measly phone call.
--
A/N: Another study of the Joker, not only because he is a fascinating character, but also because I couldn't get the fact that the actor who played Detective Stephens had been in the TV serires Angel. I just had to write something that had him in it. As before, tell me what you think!