He laughed. He grinned. He smiled. He giggled. Sadistically.
He traced his hands over the game controller, whistling in wonder.
Was it a game controller?
Of course!
How else would he control the game?
The Game.
Laughter.
XXX
M'gann buried her face into Connor's shirt. Artemis had gotten... sick, as well. Why? How? Of course, Batman was looking into the subject, but he still hadn't found anything. It was all so frustrating.
Suddenly, all their heads snapped up and scaled the room as a strange, choking sound enamenated off the walls. What was it?
"Wolf!" Connor released M'gann and ran to his white furred friend, who was on the ground, scratching at his canine throat. He wore a...
A smile on his face. A wolf smile. A grin.
A sadistic grin.
XXX
The man frowned, running a pale hand through his silver hair and setting the controller down. No! No, no, no, no, no, no!
Not the doggie! Not him! No! He wanted the bat! This was all for the bat! No!
The man growled, shoving the contents of the scrap box off the table and gently set the controller on the lightly waxed wood.
"Daddy better keep his promise!" The man said, sitting down and crossing his short legs over the coffee table. "Ohhhh, he'd better!"
XXX
Robin's body was officially on lockdown. His nervous system was apparently ofline, his muscles completely relaxed, and his functions weren't even working. It was as if he was frozen in time.
In the dark.
Robin was afraid of the dark.
No one, and that meant no one, knew this bit of information. It was his official secret, that not even his parents knew of. Or Batman, for that matter.
Erie laughter echoed off the walls of his mind. He was used to it, after a couple of days, but at first it had terrified him. Imagine sitting in a dark room, tied tightly to a steel chair with electric eels for ropes, made of kryptonite, so not even Superman could save you. It gave you a feeling of hopelessness.
Then, picture this; Creepy laughter and giggles would make you jump, then scream as the eel ropes shocked you. The laughter would continue, scaring the intestines out of you. Then you would freeze, as if dipped in ice cold water, as you realize that it's your laughter.
In your mind.
Your mind, which you had thought was one of the few safe havens left in the universe for you, then becomes your prison. The very version of hell you always see in your nightmares.
The nightmares.
Okay, then imagine looking up and crying out as you are blinded by sudden light. As you blink the hazy dots out of your eyes, you realize that a movie screen, the kind you usually see in the theaters, is hanging there, in the front of your mind, right behind the eye sockets. You watch in horror as your most vivid and feared nightmares are projected, then witness new, more ghastly and horrible ones. And those damn eels are shocking you the whole time. But you don't notice. You're too busy staring at the screen. It's like you're paralyzed. Paralyzed from fear.
Then, the screen go scratchy, and you're suddenly siting there, like Superboy, watching static, until the image clears, and a white haired man, no -a teenager-, is backing away from the screen on the other side, hands held up cautiously, as it to steady a wobbling video recorder.
The he smiles, and you scream. A clown! A freaking clown. A freaking clown with a smile. A way-too-wide, sadistic smile.
A very wide, sadistic smile.
The scars, edged in red makeup.
JOKER?
No, you think. The Joker is a middle aged, psychopathic clown with green hair and a homicidal twist in his mental illness. This wasn't him.
Then who?
"Hi!" The man—teenager says to you, making you jump, getting shocked by eels. Again. You glare up at him. Him and his freaking white hair...
Awww! Hating me already?" He pouts. "Isn't that a little rash? Why so serious?-as Daddy would ask. Let's turn the frown upside down!"
He could see you? Okay, not a video recording. Skype, maybe?
He laughs, and you're starting to feel hopeless again, just like when you realized that the electric eel ropes were made of kryptonite.
Helpless.
That's it, Robin felt absolutely helpless.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sadistic may be becoming my favorite word. I use it a lot, lately, possibly even in my other stories. Weird.
Anyway, I gave you all a HUGE hint in this one. The evil dudes not Joker? Wow, then who? You wouldn't know, you've never heard of him! BWA AH HA HA HA!
I eeble!
HA! TAKE THAT, PSYCHOTPATHIC CARROT ALIENS!
Okay, sorry about that last part, it was a little nightmare I had last night and...
*shudder*
With love, waffles, and peace for all platypus fans-
~ Scylar Rae D'lacon.