I do not own in any way, shape, or form Batman with that in mind, enjoy!
Upon hearing their last destination—the lair of the devil—the traveler had been expecting something a bit…more than the purple and green striped circus tent on a separate island.
Yet the traveler obediently followed Batman through the slightly parted flaps, curious as to what waited beyond the brightly coloured fabric.
However, the traveler was not expecting a reception—and from a harlequin at that.
The woman stood at 5'7" and while almost every inch of her was covered, the skin tight bodysuit that alternated between red and black with accenting shades in diamond patterns, left little to the imagination.
"Well hi there! 'Bout time you showed up…Mista J was getting cranky—and you don't want him to do that!" her Brooklyn accent was thick but not thick enough to cover her carefree tone.
"This is Harley, Joker's sidekick and former psychiatrist—Harleen Quinzel. In her own perverse way, she loves him," Batman's finished his introduction with slight disgust—or was that regret?
"Hey! Enough of the talkin', Mista J's waitin'," Harley snapped at the two then began a sauntering walk through the next open flap of the giant tent which led to a hall of mirrors.
Yet unlike other carnivals, these mirrors only reflected different variations of a strange man with bleached skin, a Glasgow smile, and wild green hair wearing a purple suit.
Some 'reflections' revealed different eras—from a makeup-less man in a fedora and wide shoulder padded suit to another incarnation wearing a pinstripe suit and spats with neat makeup entailing a powdered face and immaculate lipstick curving from his lips onto his cheeks in a wide smile then to another version wearing a modern suit which was contrasted with sloppily dyed hair and messy makeup consisting of a white face, panda eyes, and sloppy lipstick sloping up on either cheek.
No matter where the traveler looked, a reflection of the strange man—all sinister smiles—stared back.
Glancing at Batman from under his fedora's protective brim, the traveler noticed he had grown shockingly tense as if he was bracing himself for a harsh impact—or explosion.
Finally they were at the end of the hall of mirrors yet instead of a normal tent flap a wide face, represented by those within the mirrors, made up the tent wall. In order to pass through, they would have to walk into his smile—and no matter which way the traveler thought about the situation, he couldn't shake his thoughts that they were being devoured by that sickly smiling man.
Yet the moment they passed underneath the passageway a spotlight fell upon them, blinding the traveler with its harsh glare in the otherwise darkened room.
"Welcome Bats! It's been soo long since you've decided to, ah, drop in."
A maniacal laughter filled the room's occupants with an uneasy feeling—except for Harley who didn't run or even skip to the villain of all villains but began a sequence of elaborate flips until she finished with a giant bounding leap toward his arms.
Yet she was harshly pushed away as the green haired man, wearing the purple pinstriped suit from the hall of mirrors (spats as well), walked toward Batman with a spotlight on him as well.
The room grew tense.
In fact, every breath in the room seemed intensified by the stillness—well partial stillness due to Harley's disgruntled huff and the low wine of two, previously unnoticed, collared hyenas.
"Joker…"
The traveler half-expected an introduction to the villain but knew the intensity between the two was different than the others—darker, almost obsessive.
"What's a matter, Batsy? Have a bad day?" he chuckled darkly, "You know that's how it starts…"
Joker began to leisurely walk back to his seat, an elaborate throne at the head of a circus floor; once he was seated—or rather sprawled out—he continued, "All it takes isone bad dayto reduce thesanest man aliveto lunacy. That'show far theworldis from whereIam. Justone bad day. You had a bad day once. Am I right? I knowI am. I can tell. You had abad dayand everythingchanged. Why else would you dress up like a flying rat?"
He burst into laughter again yet this time he was echoed by the two pet hyenas on either side of Harley who couldn't resist cracking a smile and adding a few peals of laughter herself.
Yet almost instantly, Joker's mood sobered as he lurched forward into a proper sitting position despite his hunched shoulders and hands splayed over his knees as if he was leaning forward to tell them a secret, "But, there are some people," he licked his lips, "in this world who think they're not like us. They think that they're so much…more. But they're really not…" his face split into a horrific grin, "are they, Bats?"
Without warning the entire room was flooded with lights giving clarity to an audience full of maniacally smiling men and women whose faces had been grotesquely twisted into masks of morbid joy even further defined by red smears of paint(?) across their mouths and cheeks.
"Don't you see—Now they're looking on the bright side of life!"
The hyenas once more howled with laughter as Joker sprang up and began his circus act.
"Now, now don't think of leaving just yet—We've yet to see the main event! But first let's begin the show," his smile chilled the very blood in the traveler's veins, "Behold—the human target!"
In the right hand section of the circle, a man was strapped to a giant wheel and rolled into the center by grotesquely smiling assistants.
Joker winked toward Batman, "Watch closely—" then produced two handfuls of knives with a flourish reserved for magicians and madmen.
Without any regard for the man struggling to free himself despite the frozen smile across his face, Joker threw numerous knives, some missing and others hitting the target as intended. Yet somehow the hollers of the man were drowned out by the crowd who cheered and cheered, wishing the gushing blood would last just a bit longer.
When the man was wheeled away, Joker simply raised his hands, accepting the applause with grace as he bowed, his tail coats flapping with his rapid movements.
"Now for our next side-show! Come out Harls and so the world what you can do!"
Sometime during the exit of the Human Target, a wooden board painted Joker's signature colours of purple and green had been placed in the center with three holes and three smiling heads within each hole.
"Of course, Mista J! It'd be my pleasure…" now the harlequin sauntered toward the twisted game board, although this time she carried a massive hammer—red and black—that must have been as heavy as herself, over her shoulder.
Prompted by her love and the cheering crowd, Harley began to play a ghastly yet comical game of 'Whack-A-Mole', finding her dodgy targets with speed and strength that did not seem proportionate with her stature.
Only when each 'mole' had been smashed beyond its use, did the game conclude; Harley gave a bow to the audience then made an equally showy exit, blowing kisses and waving enthusiastically.
Various acts followed including the dunk-tank—filled with viscous Joker Fish, of course—, trapeze preformed blindfolded by members of the audience, live ventriloquism via fresh corpses, and for those brave of heart a chance to stick their head in the hyenas mouth (although getting it out was a bit of a challenge…), yet soon the circus had to come to a lull before the main event.
"Thank you! Thank you, all! You've been a wonderful crowd so far!" Joker engaged in his usual theatrics yet when an audience member journeyed near to hand him a bouquet and shake his hand, he met a shocking end with the ever electrifying Joker—and his deadly hand buzzer.
Amid the chaos of the closing performance and the transition of the no doubt disastrous main event, Batman and his ward were able to slip away under the tent walls. It wasn't until they were almost twenty feet away that they heard Joker's tantrum upon finding the circus to be lacking a certain Bat—the star of the night—yet they were quick to leave the mad clown to his own devices.
Once the Guide and the traveler were within the outskirts of Gotham, Batman made his closing statement, "We have completed the tour of Gotham; I trust you have acquired what you sought?"
The traveler, ever silent, nodded.
A moment passed between the two before the Dark Knight receded into the shadows leaving the traveler underneath a pool of light from a street lamp near the bus stop. Yet just as the traveler had settled himself onto the bench, the street lamp cut out. Curious, the traveler gazed toward the heavens—through the parting clouds of dawn—and saw the stars.