As Charlie gradually began to regain the color of his skin, he too began to regain the memories of his real family as Harley struggled to strap him into his carseat.
"Come on!" Harley shouted as she continued to wrestle with Charlie. They were going to meet The Fanes at the local park for a picnic but Charlie was being difficult.
"No! You're not my real mother!" Charlie snapped as he yanked his adopted mother's pigtail and it was true; these people weren't his real parents. His real father died in a car crash before he was even born and his real mother and siblings were all brutally murdered by The Joker himself in front of him.
"This is a gosh darn clutter-bucket..." The Joker complained as he smoked his cigar.
"Don't ya wanna get in the car-seat like a good boy?" Harley begged in a baby-talking tone as The Joker crudely mocked her out of annoyance. After a long, brutal hour of trying to strap Charlie down to his carseat, The Joker finally became fed up with his adopted son's constant struggling and forcefully strapped the child down to his car seat so tightly, that he couldn't even move before the family headed out, on their way to the park.
"You two are the worst parents ever!" Charlie complained as his voice began to become more high-pitched and childlike, due to the antidote's affects. He was going to get out of their clutches somehow and The Joker; he would pay for what he did to him and his family.
"Oh yeah, I treat you so badly with all the food I give you and the roof I put over your head so nicely..." The Joker replied sarcastically with a roll of his eyes as they reached the park within a matter of minutes.
"Howdy-ho neighbors!" Isaac Fane greeted happily when he saw his new friends and neighbors approaching.
"Isaac, ol' buddy! How are ya?!" The Joker grinned as he embraced Isaac in a tight, bear-hug, lifting him off of the ground slightly. Isaac couldn't help but chuckle in response as Harley began helping Bliss with the picnic setup.
"Hello Charlie; how are you?" Joy beamed happily when she noticed her new friend waddling over to her.
"Horrible!" Charlie replied bitterly.
"Why?" Joy asked in confusion.
"Those two are not my real parents..." Charlie whispered to her as be pointed over to his adopted parents who were making small talk with Joy's parents.
"Well, that's okay; many children are adopted by people who aren't their real mommies and daddies. Cookie?" Joy explained before offering Charlie a bat-shaped cookie in hopes of cheering him. Charlie politely accepted the cookie before glancing over at a nearby floodlight and getting a rather brilliant idea. He rushed over to the floodlight and turned it on before holding up the bat-shaped cookie in front of the light, casting a Bat Signal into the sky.
He vaguely remembered seeing his deceased, older brother: Cameron doing this to gain Batman's attention when he thought he had been run over by a car. He needed to signal Batman quickly before he completely returned to a helpless, human baby, due to the antidote's affects.
"Hey Isaac, what gift do you give to someone who has everything?" The Joker began one of his jokes as he neglected to take notice to Charlie signaling Batman.
"Why, I don't know neighbor; what do you give to someone who has everything?" Isaac asked curiously.
"Penicillin!" The Joker replied before he and Isaac burst into an uproar of laughter.
"Oh, Jack, ol' buddy; you are a hoot!" Isaac chuckled but their conversation was soon cut off when Batman swooped in and dropkicked The Joker, causing him to fall over onto the picnic blanket, full of food. Harley angrily rushed over to Batman to defend her husband but she was elbowed by Batman into a nearby tree that knocked her unconscious.
"Stop that! Who are you and why are you hurting my friends?!" Isaac growled as he picked up a large stick, prepared to fight The Caped Crusader.
"They aren't your friends...They're psychopathic murders..." Batman explained darkly.
"Now, that's not very nice! I know Jack and Harley are a little rough around the edges but they are by no means psychopaths!" Isaac defended as The Joker weakly stood back up, rubbing his pained shoulder as a look of concern spread over his countenance.
"His name is not Jack and he is no normal human being...He's The Joker and this is his real hair!" Batman explained before snatching The Joker's black wig off without warning. The Joker let out a shrill gasp as his messy, green hair was now exposed to The Fane Family.
"I-Isaac..." The Joker began with a crack in his voice as he reached out a hand to him for reasurement but Isaac simply backed away in shock and horror as his wife and child hid behind him fearfully. The Joker looked down sadly as his messy bangs covered his eyes. No matter where he went, no matter what he did, Batman would always be there to ruin everything for him and he was sick and tired of it.
"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" The Joker growled as he pulled his yo-yo weapon from his pocket and lassoed Batman with it. Batman struggled against the string he was wrapped in before The Joker yanked back harshly on the yo-yo, flinging Batman against a nearby tree. He then swung the yo-yo back toward Batman again but Batman leapt out of the way, causing The Joker to accidentally slice through the tree with the yo-yo's string, cutting it down. Batman flung several Baterangs at The Joker but The Joker ran, dodging every one of them before showing off with a swift front flip.
Charlie knew he needed to do something as he struggled against the antidote's affects to think of a plan. He looked around the park when he noticed a box of fireworks that another family had brought with them. Those would be perfect. Meanwhile, The Joker let out a shrill, war-cry as he flung his yo-yo at Batman but Batman sliced the string of his yo-yo with his Baterang and spin kicked The Joker. The Joker flew back once kicked but he caught himself with a backflip before turning around and running away to doge the numerous Baterangs being thrown at him.
The Joker then ducked and rolled underneath a bench before leaping over the chain-link fence and graceful landing on the other side. Batman also leapt over the fence before pulling out another Baterang.
"I've got you now Joker..." Batman growled before The Joker pulled two more yo-yos from his pocket and lassoed the Baterang that Batman was currently holding onto with both of them as Batman struggled to pull it free.
"I am so sick and tired of you ruining everything for me! I am not going to sit here and listen to you remind me of everything I hate about myself!" The Joker shouted as he used his joy buzzers to electrify the yo-yos' strings before he whipped them both, causing the Baterang to explode and fling Batman against the chain-link fence. Batman fell to the ground with a grunt and a thud before looking back up at The Joker who was now approaching him and standing over him menacingly.
"I never asked for any of this...I-I never asked to be a freak..." The Joker sobbed as tears finally began to gush from his eyes. He just wanted to live a normal life again and to have his family back but it didn't seem like that was going to happen for him.
"Jack...I..." Batman began when the ground beneath The Joker suddenly exploded. The Joker shrieked as he was sent flying through the night sky before landing on a sharp rock that impaled him through the shoulder.
"No!" Batman cried out before turning to look at the culprit. It was none other than Charlie who still had the box of fireworks and was planning to use another one to finish The Joker off. Batman stood back up to his feet and began to slowly approach Charlie so he could take the explosives away from him when he was suddenly dropkicked by Harley Quinn. Batman hit his head on a rock and was knocked unconscious as Harley pulled her gun from her purse and pointed it toward Charlie.
"Go ahead...do it...shoot your little baby: Charlie..." Charlie smirked as his teeth began to shrink back to normal from the antidote's affects. Harley hesitated for a bit but then she glanced over at her hurt and bleeding husband before remembering that Charlie wasn't her blood-related son.
"You're no son of mine..." Harley growled darkly as the antidote took affect, returning Charlie to a normal, human baby. Harley narrowed her eyes before shooting the helpless infant in the head and killing him once and for all. She then carried The Joker into her arms before running back toward their car with him and quickly driving away as fast as she could. Once she was far enough away, she pulled over to the side of the road and opened up The Joker's shirt to have a look at his wound.
"Oh Mistah. J...I'm so sorry!" Harley sobbed as tears began to stream down her cheeks, smearing her mascara. The wound was deep and was bleeding badly everywhere. Harley couldn't help but feel like it was her fault since she was the one who wanted to have a child in the first place. She held The Joker close to her and began to cry hysterically when her sobs of anguish were suddenly interrupted by The Joker's shrill screams of pain and agony.
Harley cautiously pulled away out of fear that she may have worsened her husband's injuries but was surprised to see The Joker's veins, muscles and skin reconnecting and magically healing the wound on his chest until it looked as if his chest had never been pierced at all.
"B-But how?" Harley gasped in both relief and confusion.
"The chemicals I landed in...the chemicals that made me who I am today...They've done something to me...something that allows me to never die but instead just slowly heal...How do you think I survived all of those times that I've fallen, been shot or blown up? My face was missing for an entire year Harley!" The Joker explained with a sigh before looking out the window.
"Am I going to live forever?" The Joker asked himself rhetorically with a light crack of fear in his voice when he felt Harley hug him from behind.
"I sure hope so 'cause I can't live without ya..." She whispered as The Joker began to sob softly.
TO BE CONTINUED...