Chapter two: Facing Madness.
He sat alone in the small office; his hands were cuffed to the chair, which in his defense wouldn't matter for he had no plans of escaping just yet. The little room was depressing, covered windows, a bright lamp and every wall was painted in the greyest shade of white you could find. He sighed and leaned back into the grey leather chair. Suddenly he could hear the faint sound of a key being twitched and the door opened; a woman stepped in, he noticed that it was the same woman he had seen earlier in the lobby. She stumbled into the room and put down a black bag on the chair beside him and then went to the covered window and pulled down the curtain. He followed her movements and watched as she turned her head and smiled towards him.
"Hello, I'm Elle"
He reached out his hand and she grabbed it; her slender fingers were soft and as a pure reflex he brought them to his mouth and kissed them. He watched as she blushed and then sat down.
"I have many names, but you can call me The Joker"
She hummed and he watched as she took up a folder from her bag. He examined her; red hair, probably not her original color, she was kind of short around 5ft5 if he had to guess.
"So, if I'm right you're a… special man?"
He smiled.
"I'm not special, just stranger than most"
He leaned forward and locked his gaze on her eyes; her long eyelashes flickered as she blinked and her teal colored eyes avoided his gaze, revealing a sense of discomfort. Am I making her nervous?
"People tell me that you are quite the psycho case, are they right?"
He laughed.
"I think normal people are overrated, or they are boring, take batman for example"
The woman put her right leg over the other and leaned her arm on the armrest.
"Batman has other rules then people, he fights, he saves people but he doesn't kill…"
He leaned backwards again.
"Even though all these great things, he is considered a villain, why? Cause he has another code!"
He licked his lips and gestured with his hands.
"So what codes to these "normal" people go after?"
He raised his gaze and put his elbow to his knee.
"You mean you?"
He smirked.
"How do you know that I'm a normal person?"
She tilted her head.
"I don't, but everything about you seems... Boringly normal"
She raised one eyebrow in a wondering expression.
"I do?"
He nodded.
"Yes, you might think that I would take your hair as different, but the truth is that it's every human wants attention, and we have different ways of showing this, you have your hair and I have my… Psycho actions"
Her face returned to normal, but he knew that she wanted him to continue.
"Take earlier in the hall, you noticed my purple suit first? I can call that my scream for attention, for that is what brought your attention to me, am I right?"
She slowly nodded.
"See? Even I do it, but for what cause I am not sure yet"
He licked his lips again; he had been here for a while and didn't have access to his makeup, which made him as boringly normal as any other pathetic human in this building.
"Anyway, how did you get those scars?"
He was rushed out of the thoughts about makeup and brought into a more interesting subject, his famous scars.
"Ever heard about Glasgow smiles?"
She nodded.
"I was a simple human once upon a time, living my convenient life, my safe life, so I thought anyway"
He cleared his throat.
"One day when me and my wife was on our way home from a small musical in our hometown, we had chosen not to go there by car since it was such a nice weather"
His facial expression was unchangeable.
"The hour had passed eleven and the sun had started to set when she got the brilliant idea of walking into an alley to save up some time"
This time his eyes twitched.
"When we had walked a couple of meters we started to hear whistling, we turned around and my wife was pulled away from me. The thugs held me and slit her throat"
The woman before him noted everything he said.
"The man came at me with the same knife and was about to slit mine when I screamed; he tried to launch for my neck but missed and instead made this one"
He pointed at his right cheek and smiled.
"But you have two?"
His eyes turned angry.
"Let me finish!"
She nodded.
"A man yelled from outside the ally and the thugs dropped their hold of me and ran away, I knelt by my wife only to discover she had already died"
Elle nodded, not showing any emotions.
"You still have two"
The joker laughed.
"Yes, it looked ridiculous with just one scar, so I carved the other one myself"
The woman stared with pure disgust at him.
"Why? And what happened to your wife?"
"She died off course!"
"Did you leave her in the ally?"
"No, I made sure she was picked up, and then I left her"
He watched as she took a deep breath, he was probably giving her more then she could handle.
"Okay…"
She gazed at her wristwatch and then clasped the table.
"I think we're done for today"
He smirked.
"I still haven't told you the difference between Batman and normal people.
"Then tell me"
He adjusted his body and smiled.
"As I said, Batman does not kill anyone, because that's against his "code", normal people though, they kill, whether there's a choice or not, take war for example, soldiers kill people, even if they're not sure if the people they kill will strike back"
He licked his lips.
"You see, Batman makes sure his opponents are unable to strike back, and since he does that he will not need to kill them, just send them to Arkham, and see what ever foul play they can, or rather will plan while in there… Batman has not killed me, and look at me now, I have escaped Arkham over a hundred times, but you people never learn do you? Why put me in a cell, which I can escape by simply crush a couple of skulls?"
She tilted her head again.
"That is what makes me human; I kill people, even if I know they won't strike back"
He watched her as she jumped out of her chair and left the room, she hadn't fought him to bad, she might be able to help him escape, and besides that she was beautiful.
