A/N: Okay, this one's a day late, but I haven't been able to get on the computer until now, since we had people over yesterday and people over today. Sorry for the lateness, but I'm posting both chapters at once. Enjoy the double update.
On the seventh day of Christmas, the Joker gave to me...
Seven scary switchblades,
Six burning hideouts,
Five hand grenades!
Four bank robberies,
Three bazooka rockets,
Two purple gloves,
And a clown mask under a tree!
By all rights, Bruce Wayne should have been at that party, enjoying himself with a couple of glasses of champagne while they counted down to the new year.
Instead, he was running for his 'panic room', which contained a backup Bat-suit for emergencies like these; namely, Joker break-ins.
The Joker, in a completely uncharacteristic move, had repeated a trick and broke into Bruce's penthouse for a little chaos. Batman wasn't sure whether the Joker chose Bruce's penthouse because of all the rich people to scare, or because he had discovered the Batman's secret, but Batman wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to know. For now, all he had to do was get the Joker out of there and back into Arkham. At least then the Christmas gifts would stop.
When Batman crept back into the party room, however, he discovered that there were several people huddled up in one corner of the room where they were surrounded by clowns. Batman noticed that the clowns were holding knives. Long, sharp, serrated switchblade knives. He counted seven and knew that this was the 'gift' for today.
He heard the Joker going on about something to one of his guests - probably a false scar story, as usual - and interrupted him. "What do you want, Joker?"
The clown turned to Batman, an expression of annoyance on his face. "Didn't your mother ever teach you it's rude to interrupt when people are talking? I mean, you being you doesn't excuse your behaviour."
Batman snarled and grabbed the Joker by his collar. "Why are you here?"
"Well, I knew you'd show up to the fanciest party in Gotham, since nothing else would cater to your tastes-" The glint in the clown's eye, suggesting that he knew something, nearly gave Batman a mini-heart attack- "-so I thought it might just be a good attention-grabber if I crashed it." He gestured to the group in the corner, where two of the hostages had burst into tears and three others looked on the verge. "And look! I brought your present!"
"Let them go, Joker."
"Ah-ta-ta-tah," the Joker admonished. "Don't you remember what happened last time you told me to 'let someone go'?"
Batman growled and punched the Joker in the face. "Don't you dare!"
The Joker giggled breathlessly as blood began dripping from his nose. "They're not the present, the knives are the present!"
Batman was momentarily stunned. "What?"
The Joker nodded, which was apparently some kind of signal for his men because the clowns almost immediately jabbed their knives into the hostages' ribcages, killing them. Batman instinctively dropped the Joker and ran over to the hostages, throwing the clowns bodily away from the corpses and attempting to save them, but it was already too late. Batman turned with a growl, intent on attacking the Joker and his henchclowns, but the men had disappeared through the door. Batman stalked out of the room angrily, ready and willing to follow the criminals, but they were long gone by the time Batman got out of the penthouse building.
A/N: So, the first deaths of this crime spree! Sorry for the bad ending, but it was all I could think of. Hope you enjoyed it anyway. Please review at least this or the next chapter, and I could still use suggestions for the number eleven. Thanks.
