Chapter 20: Fear Itself
Darkness. Darkness was everywhere. All around her, engulfing her. All that she could see or hear or feel or think. Everything was darkness. Everything was shadow. There was no more light left in her world.
She could not even move. She knew she wasn't standing, trapped somehow, prepped and ready for yet more darkness. She felt like she was seated, but she was bound. There was no rope. There wasn't even a chair, not that she could see anyway. Or really feel. It was just some form of mass below her, keeping her from falling flat on her back. But then, there was something binding her hands. Otherwise she'd be able to move them, to put them somewhere other than locked at the small of her back.
All that she could do was turn her head, but there was no point. There was nothing out there to see. Only the darkness. And the darkness did not appeal to her.
Yet there had been a time before the darkness. There had been a time when she had known light...hadn't there? Yes, she was sure there had been. But it seemed like so long ago, so distant, ancient, like a drawing in the sand long washed away by the lapping tides. Her memories, her life away from the black, all of it, gone to the bottom of those oceans. Her name…
Her name. Lane. From somewhere, some distant vestige, that word suddenly shone in the darkness. That word shone when she tried to remember her name. That… That must be her name. Lane. Lois Lane. Yes, that was her name. It was coming back to her now. The memories lost to the sea had found a way to float on back. She was Lois Lane.
And she was so much more than a name. It all came flooding back now. She was a woman, brave and true. And brilliant. She was a reporter, the best damn one around. And she didn't ever go down without a fight. She remembered it all, remembered exactly who she was now.
She was a woman who didn't simply accept suddenly waking up in a world of pure darkness. She was a woman who wanted answers. She was a woman who didn't accept the prison of this void.
"Hello?!" Lois called out into that void. There was no instant response, not even the sound of an echo to indicate special area. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Whoever you are… Hello?! I don't know what your game is here, but I don't really fancy playing this one!"
Nothing. Still nothing. No response, none at all. Only more darkness, more emptiness. More nothingness. Nothingness that included how she had gotten here in the first place. Perhaps her memories hadn't all flooded back to her as she had initially thought.
But there was something. She hadn't heard it at first. It wasn't exactly loud. In fact, it was so quiet that a dropping pin would probably have drowned it out, if there was actually a floor here for it to land on. But in the nothingness, there was nothing to block the sound, a sound that was starting to grow louder, albeit slowly. She listened closely, intently. There was nothing better to do, so she may as well. But she didn't know how to feel. She tried to move, to stand, to draw closer to the sound, or to run. But she couldn't. She still couldn't move. Whatever invisible force was restraining her wouldn't let her. Maybe that was why the anxiety was starting to build in her. She didn't like not being able to move. In fact, she hated it.
And it only made that noise more mysterious, only made her wonder what it was all the more. Whatever it was, it seemed to be getting closer, which didn't help that anxiety. Neither did the growing feeling in her gut that something really wasn't right about all of this. In fact, that feeling was telling her that something was terribly wrong. She didn't realise it until it got more pronounced. Her hands had literally started shaking behind her back. Behind her back where they were still bound, trapping her in the darkness, trapping her there as that noise approached her…
The squeaking noise. The animalistic noise. The harmonic noise. It was more than one. It was more than one thing making that noise. It was a whole lot of things. She could hear that now. She could hear the faint gaps between them, the points where they weren't quite in tandem. And then she heard the other sound, the sound like the rapid movement of air.
The sound like a thousand flapping wings.
The light was sudden, a burst in the darkness, so extreme it was blinding. Lois had to close her eyes, head turning away from the light, the light that had come from nowhere. The light that shouldn't exist. The light that was as troubling as the dark.
The noise was loud. Too loud now. It was close. Too close. Far too close. She had to see. She had to know. She had to understand what was happening to her. It wasn't easy through the light in the dark, but she forced herself to open her eyes. As much as it stung, she had to see. Her eyes opened, just in time.
There were thousands of them, masses, hordes. Coming every which way and back again. Practically striking her, practically shrouding the light. They were taking over, the darkness and the light gone. There was only them, the horde, and the masses, all around her. There was only the creatures, squeaking, squawking, as if fighting the environment itself. There was only them, as if they had come to literally fight the darkness.
There was only the bats. The endless bats. The Bats… Bats…
It hit her like a wave, but not a pleasant one. Heat. A wall of heat, heat that made her feel as if her skin was on fire, heat that made her feel like her whole essence was burning. She couldn't help it. She screamed. Her lungs emptied, the very air within them itself red hot.
Yet even through that, she did not fail to notice. She didn't miss the change in tone. She didn't miss those bats squeals. All of a sudden, they weren't like before. Now they were pained. Now those bats were feeling the heat too. They were squealing. They were dying. They were falling.
One by one, they were all crashing down around her. Dead. But that wasn't the only thing that Lois saw. She also saw the red. What had once been a mix of darkness and light, there was now red. A wall of red light, and red heat. Red heat lining her vision.
And then it became too much. Then the pain got too much. The heat got too much. Then there was too much red. Now she really screamed. Her eyes winced tight, but still the red got through. The red, as if the environment itself was burning her, as if something had just set the very air itself on fire. As if this was the fiery damnation that was the end.
But it wasn't. It was over. Suddenly, it was all over. It was all over as if it had never even begun in the first place. It took her a moment to register that, to stop screaming. Where moments ago there had been only heat and death, everything suddenly felt normal again. Everything suddenly felt just as it had when she had first awoken bound in the blackness. But how could that be…?
Slowly she opened her eyes, only to see that she wasn't in the blackness anymore. But she wasn't in the light either, or amongst the bats, or in the red heat.
She was back where she belonged. She was in Metropolis once again. She was back at the reconstructed Daily Planet once again. She was back at her same old desk in her same old chair, once again. It was like coming home. It was beauty to her eyes. It was bliss. It even made her smile.
She must have just been working herself too hard. She must have just pulled another all-nighter in pursuit of another ground-breaking story, gotten too tired and fallen asleep at her desk. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened. She even smiled. It had all just been a bad dream.
So then why were her hands still bound behind her back? Why was that she still couldn't move from her damn chair?
And then she noticed it. Then she noticed them.
They were everywhere. Or, more accurately, all over the floor. They were all there, all fallen, all motionless. All covered in yet more red. Only this time it wasn't heat. This time, they were all covered in blood.
And they were all people that she knew. People that she worked with. People that she considered damn good friends. Perry. Jimmy. Ron. Even the man who sold her her morning coffee. All of them dead. All of them having seemingly had a hole burned right through their chests. Burned. By heat. By searing, red heat.
Even Ma and Pa Kent. They were there too. Why were they there? What the hell had happened? And how the hell was Lois managing to avoid being violently sick at the personal carnage before her? She felt like it. She felt like she should be spewing her guts out. She felt like her own heart was being ripped out of her chest at what lay before her eyes.
Dead. All of them, all the people she loved… Dead.
All except Clark…
It was only then that she noticed. It was only then, as she tried to turn away to avoid the sight, that she saw him. Up there, floating up above them, his red cape flowing behind them. He was heroically posed as ever. It was another moment where she thought there might actually be some relief. It was a moment where, even amongst all the dead, she felt there might be some hope. There might be some hope that now the nightmare would really be over.
But Superman… It wasn't her Superman up there floating above her. He wasn't even looking at her. He wasn't looking at any of them, any of his friends, not even at his dead parents. That wasn't him. That wasn't Clark. Clark would not be able to just float there and ignore all that. He'd either be fighting or crying, bringing justice or succumbing to his emotions.
This Superman… He was more like a robot. A fake. A mindless copy…
"Superman!" She couldn't help it. She still had to call out his name. She had to hope he could snap himself out of it.
But he didn't. He didn't even react. Not at first. Then, the next second, those eyes of his started to turn red. And they finally began to turn Lois' way. And then she understood. She understood how all of those around her had died.
And now she was afraid. She was afraid, but not for herself. She was not afraid of what this Superman would do to her. She was afraid of what Superman had become. She was afraid for everyone else in the world. But mostly, she was afraid for Clark. She was afraid of what doing this would ultimately do to him, the man that she knew so well.
And it was because of that that Lois Lane, who would normally firmly stare death in the face, found herself forced to look away. She closed her eyes, turning her head sharply to the side and away from the monster, waiting for the end.
But that end didn't come. After moments, several long moments of trembling fear, tears in her eyes, she could take it no more. Slowly she opened her eyes. Slowly she turned back to look up to Superman, to find out what he was waiting for.
Only to see that, once again, the winds had changed. What the hell was going on?!
Just as suddenly as she had gotten back there, she wasn't in Metropolis any more. She was still in her chair, still stuck down to it, still with her hands tied behind her back, still unable to move anything but her head. Yet her head was moving, looking all around her, trying to figure out where exactly she was now. But there was nothing there, nothing unique and identifying, nothing to single out where this place was, to distinguish it from any other like it.
There was only the corn. Corn rows, everywhere. A field of it. Looking ahead, looking side to side, growth after growth of the crop, stretching up above her head and as far as the eye could see.
"Hello?!" she bellowed out into the field, into the corn. She was having enough of this. It was starting to get to her. It was starting to get her heart really beating. It was starting to leave her in need of some answers.
Answers that were not forthcoming. Once again, there was no answer to her call. Or, once again, there was no immediate one.
Then came the squawk, the noise she knew so well. The noise had long been viewed as a symbol of death. The call of the crow.
Barely a second after the call, the bird flew past. Large, black wings soared by her. The bird, long, fierce beak and all, came to a land not far in front of her. Slowly its head twisted in its jerking motion, the eye seemingly staring her way. Then, with a click of its beak and another squawk, the crow took flight once again, flying off down between the corn rows.
It was while following that bird with her eyes that she saw him once again. He had come from nowhere. Where a second ago there had only been the gap between the corn, now he was suddenly there. And suddenly close. If she could move, Lois would have jumped out of her skin. She still managed to let out a short, startled scream.
Superman was back. No. The thing that looked like Superman, the thing she had just seen in the place that looked like the Daily Planet building was back. And once again, he was hardly moving. He was just standing there, only a few metres in front of her in her bound state, staring back, motionless. He was like a mannequin, only one with a pulse. It was like the man was gone, and only the shell remained.
And if something could do that to Superman…
Squawk. The crow was back, its black wings a symbol of the anarchic madness before her eyes. It looped around, fluttering between the corn, almost taunting her with its presence. She wanted to shout, to scare the thing away, but suddenly her voice seemed lost to her. Superman made no move to shoe the bird away either. Not even when it landed right on top of his head.
Not even as it started violently pecking at his scalp. Not even as it started using that deep, hooked beak to begin digging through his skin. Not even as the red trail of blood began to pour down through his hairline and over his face.
Superman didn't even blink as the crow began to tear his flesh apart.
And nor did he move as another crow joined the first. And then another. And then another. And then another. And then another…
It was a veritable swarm. Everywhere on his body that a crow could land, one had appeared. Every blot of the sky, every perch on the corn where another one could wait or circle in flight, a crow had just appeared. All of them squawking, all of them clicking their beaks, all of them making a horrible ruckus of death.
All of them that could, literally eating Superman alive. And he was just standing there and taking it…
Now she could not hold back the scream. Once again, the sight before her was one of pure horrors. Once again she felt desperate to look away, to get away from this, to end it. She was desperate to be spared what she was seeing, to be spared the gore of seeing the man she loved so robotically getting torn to shreds by verminous birds.
It took her mind a second to function, so afraid was it of having to endure more of this, of this actually being in some way real. Once it did, she had a thought. In the 'Daily Planet', she had escaped the vision of the corpses by looking away. By looking away, it had changed the scenery. It had brought her here. Desperately she tried to close her eyes now. Desperately she tried to thrust her head to the side, to get a way out of here.
But now she suddenly could not even move her head. She could not even shut her eyes. Any slight movement she made, and her head was gyroscopically forced back to the view before her. It was as if the world itself was making her witness Clark get eaten alive. It was truly horrible.
And then there was another flapping of wings. Then there was another crow. Only this crow was not coming to feast on Superman. This crow had just landed in her lap. This crow was coming to feast on her.
Panic struck, panic even stronger than she had already been feeling. And that was saying something. If she could, she would have been desperately scrambling away, she would have been fighting the crow off, she would have been getting out of there. But she still couldn't move. She couldn't do anything to stop as the crow made to peck. Superman couldn't either. Or what was left of him anyway.
But before the crow could pierce her flesh, there was another noise. A noise she had heard just minutes ago but which felt far older.
The sound of the bats.
The flock had returned, the flock that had gone when the red heat had burned. The bats had returned, blotting out the very last gaps of light still falling on the field. More than that, the bats were swooping. The bats were attacking the crows.
It all started to happen so fast, and at the same time, all her panic began to fade. The bats were winning. The mass of noise was now one of the crows' fear, of the crows' demise. And as a result of that fear, the crow in Lois' lap flew away.
But she had no time to really think about that, to notice it too much. For it was then that she noticed the mass. As the crows and bats fought, they separated. A gap in the corn rows formed, but it was not a gap that lasted long. In its place, the black mass formed. The black mass that was getting ever nearer, approaching. The black mass that was coming right towards her.
The mass that was slowly but surely becoming more and more humanoid before her very eyes.
The mass that came to a stop right beside the still motionless Superman. The crows had flown away from him too, so engaged in the fight with the bats. It was hard looking at him, still floating there as if caught out of sync in time, with half his flesh removed down to the bone. It was harder still as that mass, that mass that was now very human, took two of its fingers and dug them right through into Superman's head, through the hole the crows had drilled.
"Get off of him!" Lois screamed from her chair, emotions raw, eyes wet. She couldn't not do. That was Superman's brain that mass was plucking around in, after all.
But then she saw what was happening. Then she saw the mass remove something from Superman's head, remove some form of computer chip. Then she saw Superman seemingly awaken. And then she saw the human that that mass was becoming.
Bruce. Bruce Wayne.
And then she suddenly understood. She suddenly understood everything. She suddenly remembered everything.
It was the Joker. It was the villains of Gotham City, the scum of the Earth. It was the villains who so often plagued Batman.
They had her. They had her captured. And they had Superman captured too, some form of mind control device implanted under his skull. In the real world, just as much as in this vision of one. But her, that wasn't what they had done to her. They had captured her, really bound her to the chair.
And now they were torturing her. They were torturing her mind. That was what all of this was. That was what this had all been. And all the times that had gone before it. It was an endless cycle of madness and fear, a cycle she forgot every time it began again, until the moment she managed to break back through. And she had even lost count of how many times she had gone through this loop, she had been their prisoner for so long.
But there was the defence mechanism, her mind's way of fighting back. The bats. And Bruce Wayne. The Batman. These were his villains, people he'd defeated, more than once. Foes that he saved the innocent from.
That was her defence, her hope. That Bruce Wayne would help her, would save her. The man she loved once, the superhero closest to her after the Man of Steel himself, would save her.
And that he would save Superman too.
Just as he had in the vision, when his bats had defeated the crows.
The crows that were a creature of fear.
It happened quickly. Just as the mass that was Bruce was leaning over to free her from the chair, the world around Lois suddenly changed all over again. Before her eyes, one world faded and another appeared. Gone were the corn fields. Gone were the crows. Gone were the bats and the Batman. Gone was Superman.
And in its place, another world of darkness came, only this was not the pure blackness of before. This time, it was a darkened room, a room she had been in all this time, a room she had been held in for days on end. A room in which she wasn't alone. There was another face in there, a face staring right back at her, where she was sat tied to that real chair.
The face of the Scarecrow.
"Now, now, Miss Lane. You really should stop resisting. I am afraid that once again I'm going to have to increase your dose."
He heard the woman's scream from up ahead, and then the silence that followed it. His instinct, as ever was to charge on in there, towards the source of the scream, at maximum possible speed, to find out what was going on, what was causing the danger and to keep the good people safe. But he couldn't. Not this time. This time he could hardly move. All because one of his best friends had just attacked him and effectively taken him prisoner.
Flash was still groggy from being knocked unconscious, despite being able to heal quicker than most. It meant he wasn't thinking that clearly, meant that he was struggling to see a way out of this. It meant he could figure no way out of Superman's grasp as the ensnared Big Blue marched him on towards the centre of this maze.
He had awoken on the way over here. It had been one hell of a startling experience, until he was conscious enough to remember what had happened, what Supes had done. He had still been in Superman's grasp, held firmly by Supes over his shoulder as the Kryptonian stole Flash's thunder. Superman was running, running at maximum speed, darting about an urban area on an extended route clearly designed to stop anyone following them. Yet Supes still hadn't even looked at him. It was clear that Flash hadn't woken up from his nightmare. His friend had still turned into his enemy.
And unwillingly so. Because the Mad Hatter had still been there to, was still there. And the Mad Hatter was still in control of everything.
Ever the optimist, Flash had tried to talk to Superman first, to break through to the man underneath, to try and say something to his friend that would help him to snap out of all of this. Needless to say, it hadn't worked. Then he had tried something else, had tried to use his own powers, in full knowledge that he had to get out of there. To help Superman, as much as to help himself. That was why, despite the pain he was already in, Flash had tried to set his body vibrating, to literally shake himself free. That hadn't worked either. Instead, it had only left him with what must be many cracked ribs as Superman literally squeezed the fight out of him.
After that, Flash had felt himself helpless. But at first he hadn't felt himself beyond help. In fact, he had tried to call for some. He still had that comm in his ear after all and he had viewed it as time to tell the others where they'd run off to. The Hatter hadn't agreed. Via Superman's heat vision, he literally melted the communicator right out of Flash's ear. He could still feel the burn, even now.
Finally, at that point, Flash had felt hopeless as well as helpless.
And then they had arrived here, at this place. Wherever and whatever this place was. It was fairly big for starters. They had already passed through a vast storage area reminiscent of a warehouse, but they were through that now. Now they were in a real maze, a maze of corridors, of twists and of turns. But wherever they were heading, wherever Superman was carrying both Flash and the Mad Hatter towards, it would not be good. As they rounded the final bend and passed through the final doorway, that fact became even plainer than day.
Lois Lane caught Flash's eye as soon as they stepped into that room. Strapped down to a chair, she looked out of it, strained, tortured. She looked like she was fighting something, but also that she was completely unaware of what else was in the room. She looked in pain, in fear. She looked like she needed Superman to come charging to her side as he had so many times before.
Only not like this…
The gasp escaped Flash before he saw who else was in that room. If he had, he'd have tried to hold back how he was feeling. After all, it wasn't smart to let the Scarecrow know he was afraid.
Flash had never encountered the man before, but he knew of him, had seen the pictures and heard the stories. He may not be much of a physical adversary like a lot of those the League dealt with, but he was not to be taken lightly. Lois' current state was testament to that. Scarecrow's famous fear toxins were clearly behind her condition. The look that Scarecrow was now giving to the new arrivals, Flash knew that the same fate would soon be befalling him to if he couldn't help it.
Only as he gulped away that rather unpleasant thought did Flash also note the other man in the room. The man in the cage. The man with the marks scarring all across his body. The man with the murderous look in his eyes…
"Her mind is not yet fully conquered," the Scarecrow said as he looked up with his soulless eyes, catching sight of the new arrivals. He seemed more interested in his own actions, uncaring of them, certainly unsurprised to see them. "I have given her an advanced dosage of the toxin, a form to truly make her understand terror. She is strong, this one, but no one is stronger than fear."
"Perhaps conquering her mind in this way is not something we should be doing," the Hatter suggested. Looking over, Flash saw Superman had set the stumpy man back down. The Hatter had stepped forward, to be beside Scarecrow and Lois. "You are playing a dangerous game with this one. Working as one may not be appreciable to the likes of us, but tonight it is worthwhile. Breaking from the Joker's plan is unwise, and that plan still needs Lois Lane alive and well for the time being, as the lure for the others."
"As wrong as it feels for me to say it, have no fear, my friend," Scarecrow reassured him. "She will live, but she will know permanent dread. If she were not to survive, the final part of our triumvirate would not be kept in his cage."
"You will release me eventually, you know. You'll need to. That is why you have brought me here. And then… Then I will get to make the mark…"
That was the man in the cage speaking, speaking almost like what he was thinking of was erotic to him. Speaking in a way that definitely gave Flash the creeps. It was only then that Flash noticed that the man in the cage had a knife in there with him. He clearly was no prisoner. Instead, he seemed to be in there because the Scarecrow was afraid of him… Instantly Flash looked away. This was not the kind of guy he wanted to catch the eye of.
"Speaking of what the Joker wanted…" Hatter began to speak again, clearly uncomfortable himself and wanting to change the topic of conversation to anything but where it had been going. He looked to Superman then, speaking in a way of command, a command Superman clearly could not ignore after what that man had done to him. "Set our new captive down beside Miss Lane, Superman. And bind him there too."
"Hey, wait…!" Flash instinctively began to protest, unable to keep silent, even if that was all that he said. There was no stopping the action though, no stopping it as Superman stepped forward and unceremoniously threw Flash down into a seat beside Lois. From nowhere he drew a set of metallic chains, using them to trap Flash into that seat. That said, he made minimalistic efforts to get away. He needed a plan to do that, to do it right. Otherwise Superman would just catch him, and there would be no escaping if the big guy damaged him.
"Hoohoo, you boys sure seem to be having fun! I knew I picked you all for the party list for a reason! I have to say though, I'm surprised to see you brought the Flash. I could have sworn that of the two names I gave you, you'd have gone for the Lantern…"
Flash almost swore. That voice… He definitely knew that voice. And that voice meant that things had just gotten even more even worse. It didn't take long to pick out where it was coming from either. There was a video screen embedded in the wall, just beside the door through which Flash, Superman and the Mad Hatter had just entered, a video screen that was some form of facetime. It was a screen that, Flash quickly understood, was the means for the man behind all of this to keep in touch with his notable minions, and to keep an eye on all that was going on from way over in Gotham City.
It was a screen from which the Joker's presence was now emitting.
"Actions are in place for the full plan to be enacted, Joker," the Hatter responded to that screen. His discomfort sounded even stronger around the Joker than it had been for the scary knife guy in the cage. Even amongst Gotham's almost mythical supervillains, the Joker was fearsome. As for Flash, he straight up wasn't liking what he was hearing. He wasn't stupid. He knew that he had been targeted when Superman attacked. But what he had just heard… It wasn't good, nor were its implications. Little did he know just how soon those implications would come to pass.
"Oh, I'm sure they are. After all, what good is the set up without the punchline? But the time is right, fellas. We're at that part of the plan. The Super Friends will be on their way, so be ready! But while you're waiting, you may as well have your fun with our runny friend. Two maggots on the line are better than one. And you know the best thing about maggots? They can't escape. They can't run. And what good's a sprinter who can't even stand? Huhuhuha HAhahahaHAHA! Jervis, my natty hatter, I've a message for you to pass on to old Supey.
"Break Flash's legs. Both of them. And make it snappy! Hahaha…Oooh. I admit, that one was a little too easy, but sometimes you can't beat the classics! Hahahaha!
"Do it!"
"Woah woah woah woah, no! Wait! Can't we talk about this?!" The words were purely reactionary, but the fear behind them was completely genuine. It was out of need now. Sitting quiet was no longer an option, but trying to vibrate his way out of the chains wasn't much better, not with how fast Superman could move to. And he was moving. He was already advancing. It was as if the Hatter had passed on the message with complete silence. Pain was now coming to Flash whatever he did, unless Supes could snap out of it. He had to snap out of it. "Superman, it's me! It's Flash! Your friend! Don't do this! Snap out of it! Wakey wakey! Come on, Supes! Wake up! Don't do this!"
But Superman didn't wake up. There was to be no breaking through to him. Slowly, softly, two large palms reached down and set themselves around Flash's legs, just above the knees. And then, with all the strength of a mighty Kryptonian super being, they tightened, fast and hard.
The horrific snapping noise was only drowned out by the volume of the pain in Flash's scream.
He had severed the connection long before he managed to stop laughing about what he had just seen, Flash's pained screams still ringing in his ears as Superman of all people had just broken the bones in his legs to bits. The plan itself had been funny enough. To actually be seeing members of the Justice League in such agony was something else. Oh, Bats was going to love this when he found out!
"Heh! That sure was a right hoot, puddin'!" Harley called from behind the wheel. They were still driving, still crossing from the Iceberg Lounge to where they needed to be next. But then, they had hardly been rushing over. No, Joker had wanted to see the next steps first. He wanted to really enjoy tonight. He wanted to really enjoy every last act that would make Batman hurt. Flash was just the latest of those. "But I don't really get it. I mean, why'd we want to draw the Leaguey Weagueys to Scarecrow and chums? And what's the knife freak doing getting involved? That guy gives me the creeps!"
"What, Mr. Zsasz?! I don't know what you mean! He's a puppy dog," Joker feigned ignorance. It was amusing, as was Harley's literal shiver just at hearing that name. It brought a smile to his face. Still, he wasn't about to give Harley her full answer. Not even she needed to know everything. This was his night. "But it's all a part of the plan, Harley, old girl. It's all in the set up to my greatest ever joke. I need Zsaszy there to make sure there's that little bit of extra crazy in the mix for when the supers get there. Things never go wrong, when they go crazy. Huhuh hehehahahahahaha!"
"Heh, very funny puddin'…" Harley reacted again, though she sounded unconvinced. She clearly still didn't get it, but then she was never meant to, and her confusion would do nothing to put a crimp on Joker's fun. In a moment his laughter stopped, but his smile remained. Those teeth were well on show another few moments later when the car finally came to a stop. Joker did not even need Harley's announcement that they had arrived but he was seeing it.
It was parked up there, ready and waiting for them, just as planned. It sure did look the part. Settled on the landing pad, the helicopter shone in the lights beaming down on it, showing off its glory. Showing off the big guns freshly built into it for what was to come. Showing off its lovely new purple and green colouring.
Showing off the big grin freshly painted on the front so that there were no doubts who was behind it.
"Harley, get ready," Joker told her as they both looked out at it from the car, its pilot already warming up the rotors at the sight of them there. "Things are about to get even more fun than ever!"
A/N:
Not going to lie, that first section, just about the most fun writing I've ever done. Even though it wasn't a fluffy one for you guys...
Anyway, for anyone who doesn't yet know, starting tomorrow (13th), it's been declared officially #WonderBatWeek. So plenty of goodies will be on the way for you lovely people! Look out for details on Tumblr and from LadyLiteration on the Twitters. I may even tweet about it myself a little...After all, I've just kicked it off with Day Zero! So be sure to check it all out!
One you've hit me up with plenty of those reviews of course!