Location: ?, Time: ?
The alarms in the casino were going off like crazy. The patrons were looking and moving around nervously looking for the source of the alarm out of interest more than concern, they blindly believed that security would take care of it. Sure enough, three men dressed in black came down some stairs looking around. What everybody failed to notice was the lone figure jumping around on the lights high above the ground, in the darkness. The figure was moving from light to light with near superhuman athleticism until he stopped on one light and stood to look out over the Casino. The lone figure stood with a briefcase looking out with a smirk, that is until someone noticed him.
"Look up there!" he yelled.
"He's here, move in on the target." said one of the agents into a microphone as the three of them started moving towards the lone figure. The figure smiled and then leaped off back into the darkness, out of sight for a few moments, then jumped down onto a light, the briefcase missing.
A boyish voice came over through his coms, "Good. Now get running!" Another voice, a more mature male one, came through immediately afterward,
"This is our only chance!" Then a young girl's voice came through.
"Stay Calm! You can get away now!" All the while, the figure remained silent.
An older girl's voice came over the link, "We'll retrieve the briefcase on our end."
All of sudden, a mysterious transmission came over the link, "...suspects...not….confirmed…...hold...your...positions…"
Another girl's voice answered, "Hm…? What was that…?"
The boyish voice returned, "Don't worry about us. Just concentrate on getting away!" The figure then started jumping across the lights, heading for his destination.
As he went, the boyish voice continued, "But I have to say, showing yourself above that crowd earlier was an excellent move. Nice work as always, Joker." Joker didn't verbally acknowledge the voice but he agreed, it was a nice touch and continued to make his escape.
Then one of the girl's voice came over, "I bet Skull wouldn't pull it off that smoothly."
All of sudden, a different voice yelled out, "There he is!" Joker whipped around and saw that it was one of the agents in the Casino security. Just as he finished, two more came running out the door behind him.
The young girl's voice yelled out in concern, like she knew what was happening, "Just run! Get out of there!" Joker turned and started running across a series of overpasses, jumping from one to the other with ease.
As he was doing that, the boyish voice came over again, "Ok, the enemy's focus is on him. Looks like the rest of us can slip away." Joker didn't answer but kept jumping, eventually coming to a spot under a balcony, which he vaulted up and onto.
Another girl's voice came over just as he was doing that, "Everyone remembers where we're meeting up?" Joker kept running, heading for the door till it burst open and more guards came piling out, weapons drawn.
Joker smiled and then turned and leaped back onto the lights, much to the surprise of the agents and began to once again run on them, making his way to the exit. He stopped just in front of the enormous window at the front of the casino to look back at the guards and patrons down below him. "See ya!" he said, giving a mock salute before jumping out the window. The window broke and Joker flew out into the night sky.
"What a showoff." the young girl's voice as Joker twisted his body in the air, as he started to fall towards the ground several stories below one of the other girls came on over the link.
"You're so reckless. You know that?" Joker smiled with satisfaction as he twisted his body expertly to land on his feet and roll backward to relieve some of the G-forces his body was experiencing when it hit the ground.
When he finished his landing, Joker stood still to allow the glass to fall around him and minimize the chances that he would be cut by the glass before standing up. All of a sudden, bright lights turned on that blinded Joker for a second. He blocked the rays of light with his arm but it didn't do much. When his sight regained its focus, he noticed probably about a hundred armored police officers. All of sudden, several voices started yelling into the link at the same time as he scanned his enemies looking for an escape route.
"Enemies, here!? These readings… It can't be!"
"Joker!"
"What's wrong!?"
"What happened!?"
"An ambush!?"
"Hey Joker, can you handle this!?"
"Joker!"
"Capture him!" yelled the officer in command and the whole force started running towards Joker, and he started running. Joker ran along the side of the building as fast as he can. Joker looked up and saw a ladder not too high off the ground. Joker leaped into the air and grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder and began to climb up in an attempt to escape. Joker looked down to see the cops running and failing to get to him and he began laughing as he continued to climb. As he reached the top, he looked up and saw...guns, a lot of guns pointed at his face. Joker wasn't expecting this but it was too late to act as one officer raised his rifle and hit Joker, knocking him off the ladder and onto the pile of cops below.
Joker hit the ground with a thud and almost immediately, cops were all over him, pinning every part of his body to the ground. Joker struggled to get out of the locks, but there were too many of them to fight off, and he couldn't just use his Persona, it wasn't possible.
All of sudden, the officer made a passageway letting a guy in a suit walk up to him, he was obviously the guy in charge.
"Didn't expect to find some kid," he said. He continued, "You have your teammate to thank for this." he reached down, grabbed Joker by the hair and lifted his head up before continuing, "You were sold out." Joker's eyes widened before the officer let his head fall back down. The chief officer stood back up and walked away before Joker felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.
"Suspect confirmed. Cuff him!" and then the cold steel of handcuff wrapped around Joker's arm. What followed next were mug shots after they stripped him of his gear and put on his school uniform, and then the interrogation began.
Cold water splashed all over Joker, waking him up. His head was all floaty and everything hurt a lot, he didn't remember exactly what was going on, all he remembered was getting the shit beat out of him and then several needles, then nothing; hell, he didn't even know how long he has been there. His hair was dripping wet, his vision seriously blurry, and his senses completely out of whack and everything hurt. What he could see is that there were several angry cops standing in front of him.
"No dozing off." said one of the cops. Joker started to move again and found that he was still handcuffed to the chair. "You still don't get it, do you?" said the lead interrogator, "Give it up!" As he said, the officer brought his leg up and kicked Joker square in the gut, knocking him and the chair over. Joker lay on the ground coughing, trying to get air back in his lungs but the officer wasn't done yet, "Come on, cooperate. Or what, you want another shot?"
Joker looked up at the officer as he planted his foot on Joker's head and began to push down, his eyes filled with rage. Joker's eyes then moved to look at the camera which was at the back of the room. The officer noticed Joker's change in focus and turned to look back at the camera, "Huh? What about the camera? Are you thinking it can be used as video evidence?" and as he said that, he knelt down and picked Joker up by the hair.
"Of course not," said Joker weakly, "I know that you guys aren't that stupid."
"So you're not dumb. Which is good, 'cause we get to take as much time as we NEED!" the officer responded slamming Joker's head back into the floor and kicking him in the gut again. Joker began coughing harder as this kick was harder than the last.
The officer walked over to another one and grabbed a clipboard that was being held out to him and began reading the crimes that Joker supposedly committed.
"Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons… Manslaughter too, yeah? Talk about the works. To think that all those crimes were led by a punk like this… And you seemed to be enjoying every second of it… Huh?"
'I was.. Enjoying it…? No, there's something else going on here, but I can't remember...Everything's hazy…' thought Joker. The lead officer shook his head before continuing.
"...You should know your place." The lead officer then gave a move of his head and one of the other cops in the room walked over and uncuffed Joker before two of them forced Joker off his side into a sitting position.
Joker sat up and began rubbing his wrists, which were purple, almost black from swelling due to the handcuffs being on him for hours.
"Sign here." said the lead officer, holding out a clipboard towards him, "It's a confession under your name." Joker looked at it for a second before swatting it away in an act of defiance.
"I see…" said the officer, "I need your hand to sign this, but…" He brought his leg down on a Joker's leg just above the knee cap and a sharp pain shot through Joker.
"I don't care if you end up losing a leg." The officer lifted his leg off of Joker's before offering him the clipboard again. Joker took it and then the officer took out a pen to offer it to Joker. As Joker went for it, the officer got in his face for one more threat.
"Don't expect to walk out of here in one piece. We're going to make you understand that one must take full responsibility for their actions. Your damn Miranda Rights aren't going to help you here."
Joker grabbed the pen and the officer got up to watch Joker sign. Joker looked at the confession but didn't bother to read it, he was too screwed up at the moment. At the bottom of the paper was an x and a line, space for Joker to sign. Not wasting any time, he quickly signed his name, 'Raoul Collins...that's my name...' and handed it back to the officer.
An untold amount of time had passed before Raoul heard an argument between two men and one woman outside. Raoul couldn't tell what they were arguing about, the drugs were still fresh in his system. Then, a woman walked into the room and sat across the table from Raoul.
"...I didn't expect it'd be you. You'll be answering my questions this time." The woman looked over and saw several syringes lying on the ground.
"Those bastards… Can you hear me? It seems you've been through a lot. Almost anything can happen here….and I can't stop them. That's why I need you to answer me honestly. I don't have much time either." Raoul sat there, not saying a word.
The woman continued, "What was your objective? Why did you cause such a major incident? I didn't think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn't assemble a case for the prosecution. It's because I couldn't figure out the method behind it."
Raoul looked up at her and said weakly, "Of course you couldn't...there was no way you could."
"This isn't an issue of whether or not it can be used in court. I need to know. This is my case, after all." The woman replied, "It seems you're still coherent. When and where did you find out about that world? How is it even possible to steal another's heart? Now, tell me your account of everything….. Start from the very beginning."
Raoul's head began to hurt as he tried to recall everything that had lead up to this point. Then, out of nowhere, a transparent blue butterfly came into existence and started flying in front of him. It kept flying and he watched it go, then a female voice came from it
"...You are held captive. A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advance. This is truly an unjust game...Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you… I beg you. Please overcome this game… and save the world… The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds-the truth that you and your friends grasped. It all began that day….when the game was started half a year ago… For the sake of your world's future… as well as your own… you must remember..."