Knight of Wonder
Act II
Scene 5: Red and Black
David Thompson entered the gymnasium through the side entrance as prearranged. In all his years as a professional diplomat, having negotiated high stakes trade deals with Arabian princes and conflict resolutions with African warlords, David had never been quite as nervous for a meeting as he was for this one. The first issue was that he no longer had the protection of the U.S. State Department. He was acting as a hired mediator on behalf of Gotham City Hall. His office included one jaded police detective and one naïve young intern who thought that the whole world still played by the high minded ideals of her private school world.
David knew better. Having come out of one particular God forsaken Metropolis neighborhood in the mid 1970's, David had grown up in an atmosphere of gangs, drugs, and racially motivated violence. Unlike a lot of fatherless African American youth he had grown up with, David had actually never known his mother who had died from a drug overdose before he was old enough to remember her face, try as he might. Now, as he crossed the boards of the basketball court to the center of the room, David was reminded eerily of that youth. In a way, it was what made him uniquely qualified for this job. It was the perfect marriage of his past and his present. The only thing left was to successfully mediate the coming discussion. He didn't have to get the two parties to shake hands. He just had to get them to unclench their fists.
It wasn't long before the double doors on David's left clicked open as an enormous, well-muscled man held the door open for his much smaller boss. Black Mask lived up to his legend in almost every way. His imposing African features were obscured by Hispanic style face paint that gave him the appearance of a great, grinning skull. His pinstripe suit was nicer than David's bland gray, but Black Mask did have one drawback to his character that David did not expect. He was quite a bit shorter in person than he expected. In fact, David figured he was probably a good head length taller than the infamous gang leader as he entered the gym flanked by hired muscle. It left David wondering how someone so small had managed to command the loyalty of such a large criminal enterprise. It certainly defied convention, but given Black Mask's reputation for macabre acts of violence, the questions of his ability to command suddenly had answers that were likely the type that David didn't want to know.
Just as Black Mask crossed to the center of the room with his men, he fixed David with his thousand yard stare and said in his low, scratchy voice, "Good morning David."
"Good morning," David responded in a tone that, despite being rather neutral, seemed almost too cheerful given the nature of present company. It was then that David decided to keep pleasantries to a minimum.
A moment later and the double doors on the right clicked open and flung out forcefully to reveal Red Hood and his men, dressed in the black and red of their gang's color's. Red Hood walked with a great deal of poise and youthful energy as he quickly crossed to the center of the room. He stopped a few feet from David and, without looking at him, said, "Alright I'm here. Let's get this over with."
David let out a small sigh as he cast a brief glance up at the rafters of the gymnasium. They were brilliantly illuminated by the morning sunlight that was pouring in from outside and David, ever the God fearing man, whispered a short prayer before turning his attention to the task at hand. "Gentlemen," he opened. "I have invited the two of you here this morning to talk."
"Talk about what?" Black Mask cut in sharply. "And with who? With him?" he gestured at Red Hood. "What topic could we possibly have to talk about?"
Despite his many years in service abroad, David was surprised to find that he was having trouble placing Black Mask's accent. He wanted to think that it was Rhodesian, but with slight hints of Australian? Either way, it was too difficult to tell, so he just moved on. "You men are not here to talk to each other," he said firmly. "You are both here to talk to me."
"And what makes you so great eh? What do you have to say that could possibly be so important?" Black Mask inquired urgently. He definitely was starting to exude a sense that his time was being wasted.
"It is what you men might have to say to me. I am simply here as a means of arbitration so that the two of you can bring your conflict to a mutually beneficial resolution."
"I'm afraid you're going to have to put that in a language that my men can understand," Red Hood spoke up cuttingly.
"Okay, how about the language of peace," David countered wittily.
Black Mask shook his highly decorated head. "Man, I speak four languages, but I'm afraid peace isn't one of them."
Red Hood made a snorting noise. "Yeah, you only speak in guns, drugs, hookers and money."
The look on Black Mask's face went from zero to one hundred in less than a second; a look amplified by his face paint to an unsettling degree. "You are unfair," he said in deadly earnest.
David held out his hands and said, "Gentlemen, what is unfair is what you're doing to the innocent people of this city; the poor bystanders who have nothing to do with your war or anything it entails."
"Everyone in this city is connected to our war in some way," Red Hood differed. "This is going to be a short negotiation if you think otherwise."
"At last, I agree with my rival here," Black Mask said with a wide, sparkling smile. "There's no incentive you could offer us that will make us consider setting aside our guns."
"I'm not asking you to set aside your guns. I'm only asking that you stop pointing them at each other," David revealed.
This latest comment seemed to peak Black Mask's interest and, David guessed, the interest of Red Hood too, although his reaction was impossible to discern through his signature cranial covering. Still, he didn't have any witty response which was a good sign. At least, David hoped it was.
"So who would you have me point my guns at instead of my red robed friend?" Black Mask asked with another gesture at Red Hood.
"Ideally nobody," David said with a hopeless smile. "But I'm not that naïve. We all know that's not going to happen. So instead I'm asking you to point them at whoever threatens your enterprises."
Black Mask let out a short laugh. He pointed at Red Hood and declared "Right now that's him!"
"Yeah, and the entire purpose of my enterprise is to destroy his so right now, the biggest threat to that is you," Red Hood said to the negotiator.
"Fair enough," David admitted, "But why decide to take down Black Mask's organization in the first place? What was so wrong with it that you decided to launch this war?"
"Black Mask is a cancer on this city," Red Hood spat. "He always has been. His drugs infect the youth, his guns kill my men, and his money buys off the police. No one else is going to stand up to him, so as a capable individual, it is my duty to oppose him."
"Yes, his guns do kill your men," David acknowledged. "But what if they killed no men? Have you ever stopped to consider that perhaps without your men to stand in their way, his guns might kill no men?"
"Guns kill, and Black Mask's kill more than usual. That's enough for me," Red Hood declared.
David turned his attention to Black Mask. "What if Black Mask stopped his gun trade entirely? Would that make a difference?"
"Hey, hey, don't put words in my mouth man!" Black Mask backed off. "I won't make any such promise just to get some ghetto punk off my back."
David knew he was making progress now. Black Mask wanted Red Hood gone by a lot more than he was letting on. All he had to do was press this line to its logical conclusion. He turned to Red Hood and asked, "Would you be willing to stop the killing if Black Mask gave up his gun trade?"
Red Hood and David both knew that Black Mask's illicit arms deals were a large chunk of his revenue and without it his organization would be significantly diminished. After a moment's hesitation, Red Hood nodded.
Black Mask let out a sharp hiss. "And how am I supposed to make up the loss of funds from my arms deals? After all, call it what you want but I consider what I do to be a business, and you're asking me to cancel one of my biggest product lines and for what? So some Red Hooded punk will back off my men? I'd rather just destroy him and go on doing what I do without interruption."
David was about to explain the benefit of Red Hood's men backing off when Red Hood himself cut in and, seemingly having read David's mind, explained the benefit for him. "With fewer guns on the streets and a truce between my men and yours, you would have free reign to expand your drug sales; a trade with bigger profit margins."
"Hmm, it wouldn't be enough to make up the loss of revenue from the guns," Black Mask said grudgingly, although the very fact he was considering this hypothetical this far was a fantastic sign.
"And the expansion of the drug trade on Gotham's streets runs counter to what my organization stands for," Red Hood said before both he and Black Mask turned their attention back to David.
"But drugs aren't necessarily lethal," David pointed out. "Guns are far more efficient killers. Might Red Hood be willing to accept the lesser of two evils in order to end the even greater evil brought about by your conflict?"
Red Hood shifted his weight and at length responded tersely, "Perhaps."
David turned to Black Mask and asked, "And would Black Mask be willing to accept a small loss in profit in order to have an unopposed business?"
"I would rather just destroy any costumed jackass that tries to stand in my way," Black Mask said with audible frustration. Then he let out a long, frustrated sigh and conceded, "But I can't deny that life would be easier without this war. Still, even if we do this deal, which I haven't agreed to mind, no one can know about it. The second people find out that Black Mask made a concession to some random self-righteous nobody it becomes a slippery slope. They learn that defiance is rewarded and if this deal is to be beneficial to me at all, they must still fear Black Mask as much as ever."
"We can keep the details of this agreement confidential," David agreed, "But I think we at last have a framework for peace here gentlemen."
Then without warning, there was a loud bang followed by a crashing noise and the sound of breaking glass. David was forced to cover his mouth with his shirt sleeve as smoke poured into the room. Then came the most ominous sound of all; a slow, low pitched laughing noise that echoed around the walls of the gymnasium.
Out of the smoke stepped a girl in fishnet stockings, a short skirt, and a tight fitting t-shirt with green cursive letters reading "Daddy's Little Monster." The wild hair, white makeup and deadly stare all combined to silence any doubt that this was Harley Quinn, and her equally maniacal, purple suited boyfriend The Joker soon followed her out of the fog.
"Now isn't this lovely," The Joker mused as his head swiveled around to look at the men assembled at center court. "I'm gone for a few weeks and suddenly all the kids are getting along, making up and playing nice. I'm so…. Offended." Joker advanced a few steps towards David, Black Mask and Red Hood. "Seriously you guys! Was I the only one holding this town together? You all disappoint me."
A trembling David lowered his sleeve for a few seconds. "You… you're supposed to be…"
"Oh I know," The Joker cut in with a wave. He took a few more menacingly slow steps toward David as he continued, "They were supposed to lock me away in Arkham and throw away the key but you know what, I'm here now so how about we never mind all that other stuff and just focus on the present."
"You're too late Joker," David spoke up defiantly. "This town has already moved on without you."
"Well then I guess I'm going to have to pull on the leash a little," The Joker said through gritted teeth as he reached for the flower on his lapel. He gave it a gentle squeeze and a green liquid shot into David's face sending him screaming to the floor.
Harley Quinn popped a bubble of her chewing gum as she watched this display with little sign of enthusiasm. "Doncha think we should have waited until the fella heard what we had to say before we gassed him?" she asked her boss.
The Joker put a finger to his lip in a playful gesture and responded, "Oops! Was that premature? Oh well, it's not like it would have benefited him anyway. Now listen up!" Joker's voice suddenly grew stern and Red Hood and Black Mask both stiffened in response. "I'm the clown who's running this town and nothing has changed about that. So I have a new deal for you gentlemen. Forget all this mushy compromise and join forces to go after your real enemy… The Batman!"
"My gang has no quarrel with The Bat," Red Hood declared. "Going to war with him benefits us not at all."
"Yeah," Black Mask agreed, "He's never been as much of a problem for us as my Red Hooded colleague here. There's no point in going after some armored vigilante with a death wish. And seeing what he did to you after that stunt you pulled, I can't say history is on your side if you want to take him on either."
"Oh ye of little faith," Joker lamented before pulling out a grenade. Everyone in the room tensed at the sight of it and the men of both gang leaders surged forward for protection but they both held their men back. "Now," Joker continued. "I didn't say anything about you gentlemen having a choice in this deal…"
"You're wrong Joker," defied Red Hood. "There's always another option."
The Joker's white painted face scrunched in thought. "Now where have I heard that before…"
But he didn't have enough time to finish his recollection since Red Hood whipped out a small, silver revolver and fired off a few rounds at The Joker. His vision obscured by smoke, however, Red Hood was unable to hit his mark as The Joker dodged out of the way and pulled the pin on the grenade.
"Everybody duck!" Black Mask shouted as his men went to the ground.
The Joker let out one of his signature maniacal laughs as he tossed the grenade in the air and plugged his ears just before it went off.