Chapter Ten
Most days of the week Dennis considered his duties as the pimp of the sewers a precarious adventure because all the people involved in the sex trade had their idiosyncrasies that he had to ensure were met. He didn't completely understand why some of the men in powerful positions in the city of Gotham needed to prey on the boys and girls of the sewer, but they did. He wasn't the only pimp of the sewers either, but he had about twelve kids that he managed, including Ronnie, Vivian, and Markus, the kid found dead in the dirty, Gotham lake. The money aspect of being the mediator between the high, influential class of Gotham citizens and the sewer people was his motivation, but he didn't buy frivolous things with his sleazy earnings. His frugality wasn't a secret in the ranks of the Jokers, but none of them ever questioned his austerity. He lived in an ascetic sized apartment of about four hundred square inches, and only had a small television that he hardly ever used. He had a bed, a small dresser, a plain refrigerator, and a stove in his apartment too. He didn't have anything that he didn't need because he felt too much luxury weakened the soul. The majority of people in Gotham had several computers in their house, but he had only one, a table PC.
Due to the unspoken class warfare in Gotham, nobody cared about the children of the sewer, and that allowed for people to prey on them.
At one point, Dennis was the Ronnie of Fifth Street, and lived about two tents down from Ronnie's momma, but Dennis didn't fritter away his time resting in the sewer. He spent hours in the local library at the end of the block, studying, learning, and trying to figure out life. He had an insatiable passion for reading, and that passion helped him stay positive in the sight of so much abuse. A man named Senator Rex Blair favored Dennis above all the other sewer urchins. Not only did he lavish Dennis with gifts, money, and books, he physically abused him too. When things went awry in a meeting in his office, he'd tie Dennis face-down on the bed, and beat him relentlessly. It happen so much that Dennis expected a beating every time he went to the man's house. After every incursion, Mister Blair lavished the kid with gifts and candies; and for a few years, it became the normal set of events. By the age of fifteen, Dennis had indelible marks on his bare back that looked tantamount to the scars of a run-a-way slave. The mothers of the sewer treated his wounds with a nice salve made with a combination of medicines, and it helped him heal physically. After the last beating in early January in twenty-twenty-five, he stood up to Mister Blair, and pushed the man to the ground, and beat him with the same whip he used to beat him. After the whipping, Dennis purchased a small, fixed blade knife that he kept strapped to his right ankle. He had hoped he'd never have to reach for the knife in fear for his life, but he wouldn't allow for another beating.
Mister Blair invited Dennis to the Libertine Party that took place on February first of that year, and tried to kill him in an isolated basement with a strong stench of death. He should have recognized the dried blood stuck to the wall, and the rotten smell of death that covered everything, but he didn't. The signs of danger were all over everything, but the opulence of the party skewed his vision. Dennis felt something was off about the way Mister Blair invited him to the party, but he wasn't certain. The man promised him a new car for all his troubles; and at the time, Dennis hadn't made up his mind to follow a simple life style. When Dennis walked into the basement, Mister Blair walked behind him. Unexpectedly, the man walked up behind Dennis, grabbed him violently, and cut his throat, but missed the main artery. Dennis pulled the knife out of the sheath strapped to his ankle, and stabbed Mister Blair in self defense. It was the first time that he did more than threaten another person, but he actually followed through with the murder. He stood over the body wearing his flamboyant clothing that Mister Blair purchased, and he realized that it was his burial suit. Angered, he stood over Mister Blair's lifeless body, and continued to stab him with two years of abusive emotions fueling his rage. He didn't take it lightly; and after the district attorney cleared him, he retreated to Metro City for nearly a year. The stitches in his neck minimized the hideousness of the scar, but it looked frightening up close. He called it his mark for living a sinfully, greedy life full of gluttony and lust. If not for his love of material things, he wouldn't have gone to that party, and he definitely wouldn't have gone into that basement.
He studied Buddhism with a young lady he met named Tara Jones, and learned a great deal about patiences. At first, he didn't want to return to Gotham, but he wanted back in the escort business in order to bring some civility to it. Somehow Tara had the ability to look past his facial distortions, and saw the goodness in his heart. Unfortunately, he didn't have the willingness to expose her to his past. Nobody could understand the life of a sewer urchin. A life of a tool, a godless heathen, a buffoon for the tatters of society turned a boy into a monster, a predator, a user of people. He felt the scars that marred his soul would ruin any chance of normalcy, so he didn't try.
He returned to the sewers of Gotham as if the contaminated waters called out to him. When he lurked in the tunnels pimping the kids, it seemed normal. Besides, he felt he could better guide the kids in a wise direction if he was involved in their lives. But after a while, he lost his way, and forgot his reason for returning to Gotham. He eventually only thought about the money of the game, and less about the kids.
The day had gone by smoothly when Dennis received word about the death of Mister Garrett, and he pulled up Vivian on his tablet computer. The picture of the girl was a few years old, but he recognized her. He realized that she was the sewer urchin that satisfied Mister Garrett most of the time. When he tapped into the reports discussing the city official's death, he realized that the man must have taken the drug pump. The police reports stated that he had unusual stretch marks on his skin, and that was indicative of the drug. Pump was a drug used a lot in Metro City, and several of the gangs used the drug when committing a big bank heist. It gave the user an insuperable amount of strength, but didn't make the person impervious to bullets. But at the same time, he knew somebody of insurmountable strength had to have killed him, because pump gave the user strength close to a god. When he read the report, he saw that the cops had retrieved lascivious pictures of young girls off Mister Garrett's cell phone, and it caused his heart to palpitate rapidly. He knew a city official taking nude photos of children would lead to a coalition of support against the ungodly activities that took place, and that put the children on the phone in undeniable danger.
He knew the Joker counsel killed Markus, because the boy complained to the cops about the predatory behaviors of some city officials. It killed him when the cops pulled Markus's body out of the lake, but he tried his best to continue with the will of the Jokers. He knew Vivian. He remembered when the Lo family first arrived in the shanty town, and how they worked for the good of the community. She was only thirteen, and had her whole life in front of her, and it burned his soul to think about killing her. He no longer had the knife strapped to his leg, but a gun. The last thing he wanted to do was put a gun to a child's head, and then pull the trigger. Even when he killed Mister Blair in self-defense, the idea of killing in self-defense didn't mitigate the horrible dreams of the incident. But he knew the Joker's council would put an Imperative Initiative (II) on her murder. Dennis knew there was a tenuous good in the police department, but not enough to help out a poor child like Vivian. More likely than not, a cop would carry out the murders of the children in those photos.
When he smacked Ronnie, he had explicit orders from the Joker's council to put him on the right path or he'll be the next floater. The last thing he wanted was to put a child in the lake like the Jokers did Markus. The young kid angered the council so badly that they handled his elimination personally. So, by smacking Ronnie in front of the sewer community, it gave him an opportunity to solidify his stance as a hard man, but the last thing he wanted to do was hurt anybody who didn't deserve it. The word of his abusive action against Ronnie would spread through the community, and eventually back to the Joker's council. That's all he needed to do was to ensure his bosses that Ronnie had been put in his place. He proved he had the will to kill when pushed, but he wouldn't kill Vivian if asked. He'd take his money, and disappear into the wilderness of North America. But at the same time, the Jokers would order a hit on Vivian, and the hit man wouldn't stop until her death.
He heard a buzzing sound emanating from his tablet PC, and a picture of Vivian appeared on his screen with a red "x" on it. The Joker's council gave him the II to rescind the life of Vivian, an idea that appalled him.