Enjoy the pure villain chapter!

Chapter 3

"Joker??" Lex Luthor gasped. The appearance of his "partner" was definitely unexpected, especially since his body was supposedly lost at sea.

"Lexie, I'm hurt. It's only been four or five months. You couldn't have forgotten me that quickly. And to think we were such good friends!"

"We're not friends, you freak." Lex growled. "How'd you survive that blast, anyway?"

"Well, just before my exploding marbles exploded, the ship shifted, causing a hole in the nearby wall. I jumped out, barely enough time to employ my parachute before the whole thing went KABLUEY! The tide carried me to a small island where I've survived on yucky sea water, fish, and basically anything that moved. Tired of living like a sea bum, I felt it was time to go back to Gotham. Even Arkham seemed like a paradise." Joker sighed. "I grabbed a large piece of the ship's hull and rafted myself to Gotham….but the waves sent me back here. Now here I am!" Joker smiled at Luthor, then looked at his stomach as he heard a noise. Looking back at Luthor, he put on a begging expression. "Got any food?"

"Me help you?? You must've left your brain and memory on that rock! I'd rather see you die." Luthor laughed.

"And here I thought I was the clown around here." Joker giggled. He jumped onto Luthor's desk. "Listen, Luthor. I-"The clown prince of crime was interrupted as Mercy Graves walked into the office. As soon as she saw the Joker, she instantly scanned the room for his accomplice. "Hello there! Long time no see, ha-ha." Joker smiled.

"Can it, clown." Mercy snapped, walking up to her boss. "Lex, I have the robot camera film. The technicians altered it to cover the main camera and the two side cameras. "

"Finally." Lex smiled greedily. He snatched the disc from Mercy and put it in his computer.

"What's so special about some old film? Home movies? I can get popcorn…" Joker joked.

"Should we tell him?" Mercy asked her boss.

"I don't see why not. After all, it sort of concerns him."

"OOoo, I like secrets!" Joker smiled. "What's on that film, Lexie?"

"Do you remember when you took one of my robots and tried to kill Batman?"

"Yes."

"Well, according to my agents that work at the Daily Planet, the robot followed Batman into the press room."

"Yeah, so? We both know ol' Supie smushed the robot and saved the masked rodent."

"But not before the robot caught some interesting evidence."

"Stop talking in riddles! Who do you think you are, Edward Nygma?" Joker said. "Just say it!"

"Let's play the film. If my hunch is correct, you should be very surprised. Lex said. He pressed a button on his desk and a projection screen came down from the ceiling. Mercy Graves turned off the lights as the video began.

"Hey! That's me!" Joker smiled. "I always wanted to be a movie star. It's too bad my Poo isn't here to see this… poor Harley, rotting away in Arkham."

"Joker, shut up."

A target sighted sign blinked on the screen as the robot got sight of Batman. Batman launched small missiles towards the robot. The view went fuzzy until the smoke cleared. Joker, Mercy, and Lex watched as the robot followed the Dark Knight on top of busses, running countless cars off the road.

"That thing drives worse than Harley." Joker cringed. "No wonder Bats flew the coop. he he."

The video shifted to the wall of the Daily Planet as the robot climbed the side in pursuit of its target. When the interior of the newspaper building came into view, Batman was seen carrying Lois Lane to safety. The image then went white as the robot started breaking down the stairwell door.

"Does this thing have sound?" Joker asked. "Silent movies are the pits."

"It did, but his missiles hit the sound recorder." Mercy said.

Batman came into view as the image changed to the press room of the Daily Planet. Suddenly, a batarang spun in and out of view. A very blurry batman walked towards the camera in hopes of the robot being defeated. The image rose as Batman stepped backwards. After the robot advanced on Batman, his cape got caught in the spinning machinery. The image then whirled to Lois Lane throwing a fire extinguisher at the camera. The image then split into halves: Lois's non blurry image on the left and Batman on the right. After a few more moments of struggling, Batman's cowl was yanked off. Lex Luthor paused the video.

"H-his mask! It's off!" Mercy stammered.

"At last! My greatest enemy has his identity known…sort of! This is brilliant! Sheer brilliance!"

"So, Joker…who is it?"

"How should I know? It's too blurry. Keep playing it. Maybe it gets clearer."

Lois recoiled after throwing the extinguisher. Her eyes went wide, as she mouthed something. The unmasked batman then took one of the robot legs and ran it into the machine. The Batman camera fizzled out, showing only Lois's image. She crossed her arms and said something to Batman as he put his cowl back over his head. The other half of the image activated again, only for two red-booted feet to come crashing down on top, destroying the rest of the images.

"So…Lois Lane knows who Batman is…and apparently his identity surprises her….she knows him from somewhere…hehe." Joker grinned deviously. "This could be fun." Joker hopped off Luthor's desk and paced the room. "Wanna make another deal?"

"Are you insane?" Lex retorted. "Why should I trust you again?? You tried to kill me!"

"C'mon! I was having revengeish issues!" Joker pleaded. "Please??"

"What makes you think I will? You promised last time that the press would stay off my back; instead, they've been hounding me ever since you blew up my lab. And because of my deal with you, I lost my partnership with Bruce Wayne, which I am STILL trying to get back."

"Please, Lex." Joker begged. "This is a rare opportunity…I'll help you defeat Superman…somehow."

"No need. A friend of mine has taken care of the Man of Steel. He's in a serious coma at Metropolis Medical Center."

"Oh." Joker frowned.

"Actually….there may be a way for us to "partnership" after all." Luthor said, thinking.

"Lex, you can't be serious." Mercy said.

"Relax, Mercy."

"Oh Lexie, I knew our little partnership would last. You can't get rid of me that easily!" Joker cheered.

"First things first." Mercy said, turning up her nose at the villain. "You need some new clothes."

Joker looked down at himself. His purple jacket was practically in pieces, the cuffs of his pants were in deep shreds, his bowtie was falling off, his cummerbund was missing and his green shirt was covered with dirt and sand. "What's wrong with these??"


"So Lexie…" Joker said as he, Mercy Graves and Joker walked down the halls of LexCorp. Joker now wore a spare security uniform and hat (minus the gun of course) to disguise himself. "What's this plan of yours?"

"Joker, you asked for another partnership, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, in order to eliminate the big mess you created for me, I'm going to hopefully partner you up with someone more you're type."

"A Mime?" Joker laughed.

"Come. I'll show you." Lex said. He led Joker into one of the basement levels. Opening one if the doors, he led the Clown Prince of Crime into a science lab where there was a robot on the table being worked on. The robot's silver shell was being completely covered with human colored fibers. The chest cavity of the robot lay open with a large chunk of kryptonite on a side work table.

"Lexie, you've been a busy boy!" Joker said. "First robots that look like bugs, now robots that look like people!"

"I didn't exactly build him." Lex Luthor explained. "He used to be one of my most loyal friends. When he got deathly ill, I placed his brain into this metallic body. Right now, we're repairing his damaged skin and giving him some…extra features."

"Right…..so you're telling me that thing has a human brain?" Joker asked. He stared at the body on the table. "Lexie, you never cease to amaze me."

"Quit the friendly talk, clown. I still don't trust you. That's why I'm allowing you to work with him."

One of the scientists approached Luthor. "He's all finished, sir."

"Good." Luthor said. He walked over to the table as the 'patient' opened his eyes.

"Welcome back, John."

"Luthor…was the operation a success?"

"Yes, indeed. You got your wish, John, and I kept my promise. You defeated Superman and now you're getting what you wanted most since the first operation. "

"Yes, and it feels good. I know I've betrayed you, Luthor, but now I am beginning to see your intentions are for my favor." Corbin said.

"John, I'd like you to meet someone you'll be working with." Luthor said. He walked John Corbin to where Joker and Mercy were standing.

"John, meet The Joker-Gotham's deadliest criminal. Joker, meet Metallo: the man who defeated Superman."


Near the cold shores of Hobbs Bay, A bus pulled over to one of the select bus stops. The only passenger getting off was a woman with blonde hair pulled back into a bun. Her blue eyes were behind circular rimmed glasses. She wore a long open coat over her psychoanalyst uniform. She proceeded down the boardwalk and walked right up to the water. She watched the icy waters wave back and forth, and pulled her coat tight around her, covering the "Arkham Asylum" name tag. She started breathing heavily and dropped to the ground in tears. She picked up a fist full of cold sand and let it slowly seep through her fingers.

"Mista J…where are you?? I know you're out there…I can feel it. You always come back…you just can't be..." Harley sobbed. Suddenly, something caught her eye. There was a deep imprint in the sand. She looked closer. The imprint was a shoe print leading away from the ocean. Harley looked around the bay and saw a large piece of metal washed up on shore. She turned and looked down at the ground, trying to find more foot prints. Can this be?? Is he really... She followed the set of prints right towards the boardwalk, and then stopped. There was no way of telling where the figure had gone at this point. She looked up and down the boardwalk. The only person around was a fat fisherman. Maybe he knows something. The doctor ran to him.

"Excuse me, sir."

"Good afternoon, Miss. Name's Bibbo. What can I do for ya?" asked Bibbo.

"Have you seen anyone on the beach lately?"

"Ehh? In dis weather, who's gonna be out sun tanning?"

"NO no, I mean…um…someone coming from the water…or…it's hard to explain."

"Take your time." Bibbo said.

"OK…um I was on a…plane with a man when something went….wrong." Harley began. Man, lying about Puddin' is harder than it sounds. "I was able to get my parachute out but my…boyfriend didn't make it out with me. I came by to…say my goodbyes when I saw that metal on the shore…I was just wondering if you saw him…incase he made it after all."

"What'd he look like?" The Bibbo asked.

"He wore a suit…had really….umm pale skin, dark black hair dyed with…green highlights…black shoes… have you seen him at all?" Harley asked, looking down at the ground.

"ehh…lemme think for a sec."Bibbo said, scratching his head under his hat. "There was some weird raggy dude on da beach earlier this week."

Harley looked up instantly with hope in her eyes. "What did he look like? Do you remember?"

"Lemme see…he had some torn purple jacket and pants, some green-"

"That's him!"

"It is? 'Cuz he fits the description of that Joker fellow, but it's not him 'Cuz he died at sea months ago."

"Oh." Harley said, faking a sad tone. "Did you see which way he went?"

"No, but when he walked past me, he was mutterin' something that sounded like "Luthor" as in rich business guy." Bibbo said.

"Thanks …uh...Bibbo. " Harley said as she ran back to the bus stop. Unfortunately, when she got there, the parked buss had just pulled away from the curb. She looked up at the Metropolis skyline, looking for the tall LexCorp building. Then she started running down the sidewalk.

"Don't worry, Puddin'! I'm coming!!"


Metallo looked back and forth between Joker and Lex Luthor. He had just been briefed about what has happened in Luthor's office.

"Let me get this straight, Joker." Metallo said. "You know who this…Batman is?"

"Yes and no." Luthor said. "The image was too blurry to get a definite identification."

"So how do I fall into this?"

"Well…we know-"Joker was cut off by a beep coming from Luthor's pocket. Reaching in, he pulled out a small phone.

"Mercy, I told you I don't want to be disturbed." Luthor hissed.

"But Lex, some female doctor just stormed into your office. She demands to speak to you. Something about her doesn't seem right, though. Should I call security? "

"No." Luthor said. "We'll be right up." He closed his phone. "Joker, John? I need to make a trip up to my office. Care to join me?"

"Sure. I'm tired of staring at white laboratory walls." Metallo shrugged.

When the group stepped off the elevator, they heard screams all the way down the hall from Luthor's office.

"Sounds like your lady's having issues." Joker laughed. Luthor shot the clown prince a cold look as he opened the door. The room became silent when Luthor stepped inside. Mercy Graves was wrestling the woman in question on the ground.

"Mercy." Luthor said, rolling his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"She barged in here, and when I demanded she leave, she lunged at me."

"Mercy, Mercy…" Luthor shook his head in disbelief. Here in front of him was his right hand girl getting "creamed" by some doctor.

"Oh no, Lexie…looks like your office is gonna need some tiding up a bit." Joker chuckled as he walked into the room. When he saw the girl on the floor, he nearly fell over. "CAN IT BE??"

That voice…The woman on the floor looked up to see an odd looking security guard looking down at her wide eyed. "P-p-Puddin'?"

"P-Poo??"

"She's that clown girl??" Mercy asked, shocked. I thought she sounded familiar…

The two 'clowns' looked at each other wide eyed.

"PUDDIN!!" Harley cried as she jolted off the floor right into Joker's arms. Tears started to stream from her eyes. "I missed you so much."

"Oh Harl'…and I you!" Joker smiled. "All I could think about while marooned on some island was how my poor Harley is rotting away in the depths of Arkham…with no one to keep her company!"

"Oh Mista J, nothing' will separate us ever again!" Harley cried as they embraced.

"Oh give me a barf bag, I'm gonna hurl." Mercy cringed. Luthor just stared at the two with a cock-eyed expression.

"This reminds me, Poo." Joker said as he put her down. "My pal Lexie and I saw something about ol' Bats that I've personally never seen before."

"What??"
"I saw the bat without his mask!"

"What? How? When??" Harley asked.

"Lexie showed me some videos of the giant robot VS ol Batsy and it turns out that during the fight, Batman's cowl comes right off!"

"Wow!" Harley said, astonished. "So who is Batman?"

"That's the problem. See, one of Batman's stupid boomerangs exploded on the focus, so the picture is extremely blurry." Joker said.

"That's where we fit in Steel Man!"

"It's Metallo." Corbin corrected.

"Whatever." Joker shrugged.

"Can I assume you have a plan, Puddin?"

"Not quite yet, Poo, but we have an eye witness to the whole event…and she could very well be the key to Batman's ultimate destruction!


PLEASE REVIEW! More of Metallo to come as the story progresses!!