Author's Note: Here we go again. I don't have much to say here; it'll be much easier to explain after this chapter, so be sure to check the second Author's Note. Just one note; this takes place about three months after the event of Connections. This is a sequel; make sure that you read the original first. Now... Let's get this thing moving!
The Joker sat in his permanent cell at Arkham asylum, his arms held crossed over his chest by a straightjacket. He whistled and hummed to himself; after spending so many years in an asylum, he'd become very good at entertaining himself; not that that had ever been much of an issue for him. He rocked back and forth rhythmically, trying hard to combat the boredom. Still he had an interesting feeling. He'd always been very good about knowing when something fun was going to happen, and he could feel something great brewing.
He stopped rocking for a moment, thinking that he'd heard something. It sounded like laughter- not the hearty laughter that was constantly echoing around his head, but a different, more growling, guttural laugh. He listened closely for a moment, but heard nothing.
He then remembered that he was in an insane asylum, and laughed out loud at his own foolishness. He resumed rocking back and forth, waiting for the minutes to pass. He stopped to cough briefly- he was still recovering from the beating that he'd received at the hands of Batman. He fondly remembered the encounter; the fun was worth all the pain and incarceration. He knew that he wasn't like the Penguin or any of Batman's other enemies, because he didn't think of Batman as an enemy. The the Joker, he was more of a friendly rival. So it didn't really matter to him if his plans succeeded as long as he had a good time, which he always did. He resumed his rocking and loud humming, ignoring complaints from the neighboring cells.
He didn't stop again for the rest of the day. However, as night fell, he noticed a pair of glowing yellow eyes outside of his window. He stood up quickly, having years' worth of practicing moving around in a straightjacket. He hopped over to the window; he was perfectly capable of walking, but decided that hopping would be more interesting. He reached the window and intently stared back at the eyes. He flashed a grin.
"Hi. What's your name?"
He received no response. Not wanting to be a bad host, he continued to talk. "I would shake your hand, but I'm a little tied up right now." He laughed heartily, but the eyes didn't speak. The Joker began to wonder if they were simply a figment of his twisted imagination, but quickly realized that if they were, they would definitely be laughing with him. He continued to stare for a moment, before hearing a menacing growl fro the window.
"Get back."
"Why should I? You didn't even say please... Rude."
"Get back."
"Sheesh. Some people are all business. Huh."
The Joker grumbled for a moment, before retreating towards the glass door of his cell. He heard a faint beeping noise, and then a clicking. In a flash of green, a large portion of his cell wall had vanished into thin air, apparently having been vaporized somehow.
The mysterious figure was bathed in the light of the cell. The Joker saw a tall man in what seemed to be a green suit of armor. He wore a hideous mask, with an elongated head and a face that was fixed into a toothy grin. He was standing some kind of silver hovercraft, floating lightly outside of the Joker's cell. The alarms began to wail, and lights flashed.
The Joker looked at the intruder with a look of intense concentration.
"Say... I know you. You're that... Gnome guy. Right? "
"Goblin."
"Right, that's it... You know, most of the time I don't approve of people stealing my image... But you seem to pull it off quite well." He looked the Green Goblin up and down, taking in his appearance. "Anyway... You, Mr. Goblin, owe me a new wall."
"Don't worry about it. You're not staying here anyway."
The Joker focused on him. "Interesting. Where are we going?"
"I need a favor. You see, I think that I can make good use of your... Unique talents, shall we say."
"Hm... But what's in it for me?"
The Goblin cackled. "You require nothing. I know very well that you do what you do simply for the pleasure of it. You need no reward."
The Joker nodded approvingly. "Hard to argue when you put it that way... Alright, count me in. I never miss a good party, you know."
Two hospital guards who had been fumbling with the door finally barged in; the Goblin fired lasers from the front of his glider, killing both guards instantly. He swooped into the cell and grabbed the Joker by the back of his straightjacket.
More guards poured into the cell, only to see the Joker flying away over the ocean, laughing and kicking his legs as he went.
Author's note: First off, the kickass JLU theme would go here. So if you want to go listen to that, go ahead. I'll wait. Ready? Alright. So... Like I said above, This takes place about three months after the first story. Don't worry about the protagonists just yet, I'll fill you in on them in the next chapter, so just sit tight for a little bit. It may seem like I'm just lifting ideas from my last story, but don't worry. I'm going to shape things up soon.
Now for a few notes on continuity. Please note that any character not featured normally in JL/ the DCAU is based out of their movie history; for example, the Green Goblin here is taken out of the recent Spiderman trilogy. Now you may be saying "But wait a minute... The Green Goblin Died in the first Spiderman movie!" Don't worry, I've got that shit covered. He died in the comics once too, and yet here we are. Nobody stays dead in the comics. Nobody. So unless otherwise noted, keep the movies in mind. I'll try to keep the references light for those who haven't seen/ don't want to see them.
Now... About my schedule. I'll be writing like a beast today and tomorrow. This story won't pick up as fast as the last one; I had to wait for 's two day waiting period before I could publish, so I had about seven chapters done by the time I could post. That won't happen this time, so you guys will just have to wait a bit and take the chapters as they come. I'll be writing like a beast today and tomorrow, but on Thursday-Sunday, I'll be doing long shifts at work. So my posting could be somewhat limited. Like before, I'll try to keep up.
Sorry about the wait from the last chapter, but I figured that I was entitled to just a little break after the last story. There are a few factors in that; first off, I've been busy, and haven't had much time to write. Second, I had to get my shit straight for this story. I still only have a very vague outline of what's going to happen. But it's going to be big. That much I can tell you. What I have down is going to be good. Unless I decide to scrap that and move it to another story, but I think that it can work here. I'll be going for more of an adventure/quest type thing here, so this one could take a while to finish. Anyway, I'm sorry about the wait, but I think that I deserved a little break. I did finish a 34 chapter story in just about two or three weeks, after all. Anyway, I'll get back to writing later tonight, and I hope to have the next chapter up very soon. I'm excited to write it, so I hope that you'll like it. Tell me where you think this plot is going; I bet that you can't guess what I have in mind here, but I'd love to hear some predictions. And once again, I have to apologize for writing an A/N that's longer than the actual chapter. It'll get better as the story goes on and I have less that I have to explain.
