This one's for you RoyalFlushGang! X
"Boss where ya been?" Spoke one of the henchmen, watching J straighten his jacket and stride into the warehouse next door to ACE.
"Just finished killing two birds with one stone." He grabbed a gun from the pile of weapons stacked in the middle of the floor. "Now boys, let's play."
Without question they all picked up their firearms and lined up in ranks of 3 in front of the Joker, he inspected their weapons.
"Follow me, fuck up and I will kill you. Understand?"
"Yes boss." They all spoke in unison.
J nodded and began to walk away from them, they quickly followed keeping in their ranks. Whenever they went on a job the Joker always took the lead, Hutch following closely behind, then finally a row of henchmen, with weapons at the ready.
The warehouse they where in was connected the ACE chemicals, where the Joker had previously set a few back up traps just incase the plan went tits-up. Which was unlikely now that Sam was disposed of.
They all marched down the corridor. Joker withdrew his weapon and cocked it back, holding it by his side, as the approached another door, Joker swung his head back round to the men behind him. He flashed them a wink and pushed open the double doors.
All the men withdrew their revolvers and ran into a horseshoe formation around the Joker, pointing in the direction of the empty lab in front of them.
The whole lab was a dirty white colour, lit by bright blue lights, it looked like something out of an old fashioned black and white film, and Joker wanted to add some red.
Once the area was secure, two of the henchmen took standing positions by the doorway, while the others laced the lab with dynamite. While the men where busy rigging up the warehouse, Joker and Hutch collected samples of Crane's fear toxin.
"Get this to the hideout, don't spill a single drop." Joker turned to Hutch and pushed a vile of toxin to his chest. Hutch nodded and placed the toxin in a large metal container.
Joker's idea for Crane's toxin was to adapt it, and instead of the victims ripping their own flesh off out of agony and pure fear, he was going to mix in his famous formula in with it, with the hope that the victim would cut smiles into their own faces and eventually laugh themselves to death. Thus leaving the Joker trademark and creating chaos in the process.
Hutch passed the container to a pair of casually employed henchmen standing close by. "Put this in the Lambo, spill a drop and you'll find out what fear really tastes like."
"Yes Hutch." They both nodded, grabbing a handle each which was fastened to either side of the container.
Joker was standing behind Hutch overhearing the orders given, delegation as always Hutch's preferred method. He hated to get his hands dirty.
"Not the Lambo." J approached, giving Hutch a stern glance. "Put it in the Van and guard it with your lives."
"But boss the car is more secure-"
Joker didn't hesitate to pull his gun to Hutch's temple. "Question my authority again and this time.. I will shoot you." His eyes returned to the two petrified looking men. " DO. NOT. GO. NEAR. THE. FUCKING. CAR. Kay?"
Their confrontation was interrupted by the sidedoor of the lab swinging open. A handful of well dressed men wearing scarecrow masks charged through the door, pointing their weapons at Joker and his men. Crane followed shortly afterwards.
"If you keep shooting your own men, you'll have none left." Crane chuckled, walking round to face Joker.
J pulled his gun away from Hutch's temple and pointed it at Crane. The surrounding men took their aim at eachother. Another Mexican stand off.
"Crane, my dear friend, we must stop meeting like this.."
"Oh but I do enjoy our little meeting's J." He smiled. "So.. where's your bitch then? Got bored of her already?" Crane raised a brow, scanning the room for any nasty surprises, he caught a glance of a stray dynamite stick resting on the floor.
Joker laughed. "Where's yours? Or did you and Sam break up?" He laughed even harder when he pictured Sam's cold lifeless body.
Crane ignored this comment, trying to focus on the matter in hand. "Your wasting your time if you think you can incorporate your toxin with mine."
"Is that what Sam said when he broke it off with you? Oh Crane, don't worry..I'll put you out of your misery." Joker stepped foward, raising his weapon.
Crane's men snapped into action and pointed their firearms at the Joker, he now had 8 guns focused on him.. He liked these odds.
"Now why don't my boys and yours go and play outside, and we can have a proper adult conversation.. Or do you need them to hold your hand?"
"I don't think that's necessary.. See, my men outnumber yours, yet again. And this time your little slut isn't here to help you."
Joker bit his tongue trying to hold back his ever growing anger. "Why don't we stop all this unpleasantness and have a nice chat. Hm?"
Although Crane outnumbered him, the Joker still had the upper hand, the lab was riddled with explosives and J was notorious for his spontaneous combat.
"Since you've asked so nicely, i'll humor you." Crane turned round to his men. "Boys leave us."
Joker turned round to his henchmen and gestured them to follow Crane's men, and they did. The room was now empty.
"Now Crane, you've gotten cockier since the last time we crossed paths, you seem to of forgotten what I'm capable of." Joker moved away to take a seat on a lab stool.
"J, J, J. You've lost your touch since Arkham, how do you ever expect to reclaim your 'Empire' with traitorous henchmen and a blonde harlot on your side? You've had a good run Joker, but your times up and now it's time for some fresh blood."
"Oh I agree Johnny, some fresh blood is exactly what I was thinking." Without warning Joker slammed his right fist into Crane's face. He staggered backwards and found support on the nearby lab bench.
Holding his face, Crane tasted blood in his mouth. "You fucking prick." With equal force Johnny lunged at J, but he was too slow, Joker skipped out of the way and watched Crane trip over his own feet.
Laughter rose from the pit of his stomach when he watched Crane fall on his arse. "Whoops, too slow Johnny."
Johnny quickly got to his feet and dusted himself off. "Wanna fight dirty? Fine." He pounced on J and punched him square in the nose.
J wiped his bleeding nose with the sleeve of his jacket "If you insist." He pulled out a golden plated knuckle duster, with J.O.K.E engraved onto it. He slipped it on and threw another punch at Crane.
Now laying on the floor spitting blood, Joker loomed over him. "You've never been one for hand-to-hand combat Crane, no wonder your always banged up at Arkham." J straightened his jacket and ran is blood covered hand through his hair.
"Speak for yourself. You know what J? I may not have the muscle but I have the brains, if your gunna kill me then we can go out together.. With a bang." Crane reached for his gun and aimed it at the dynamite laying under one of the lab stools.
"Very touching, but there's only two people in this world, I'd wanna die with and they ain't you pal." Joker administered another blow to Crane's face, this was a mistake. When J's golden plated fist smashed against his jaw, Crane squeezed the trigger.
It all happened in slow motion from then on. Joker's head snapped round to the dynamite, watching the bullet burst out of the barrel and travel through the air and head straight for the C4.
"S-H-I-T" He threw his head down in his hands and braced himself for the explosion. A lot of things flashed through his mind at that moment, mainly Harley.
The bullet pierced through the surface of the explosives but nothing happened, J waited another 15 seconds for it to implode, but still nothing.
He rose from his crouched position and walked slowly towards it. When he looked closer he began to laugh. "Well this is awkward." He picked up the C4 and noticed it was just a shell, nothing explosive about it. Another dud.
"Sorry Craney, but muscle beats brains in this case.. The case being my men have none, and have made a dud stick of C4!" He laughed hard and turned back to Crane. He threw the C4 up in the air and caught it with his hand.
Johnny was still laying on the floor, with complete shock riddled all over his face. He was defiantly in for it now.
"If you wanted to blow me up Johnny, all you had to do was ask.." Joker stretched a smug grin across his face and produced a detonator from his jacket pocket.
Now quivering in a hunched position, Crane began to stagger to his feet. "Look J, it ain't personal, Its a dog-eat-dog world.." He drew his weapon for the second time, pointing it at Joker.
J wipped his head round and extended his arm out, also aiming his firearm at Crane.
"Ordinarily I'd shake you hand and we'd forget this nasty business, but you've pissed me off old chap.. Corrupted my ranks, tried to destroy my Empire, attempted murder on me and my gal. All of which you've failed at, and now you have the balls to stand there and give a speech about survival of the fittest?" He flexed his trigger finger "Fuck off."
Joker instantly fired two bullets to Crane's chest, he didn't fall straight away, not until he delivered his own bullet. It imbedded itself in Joker's bicep, he hissed in pain but it converted into cruel laughter when he saw Jonathan's body hit the floor and two bullet holes seep with blood through his chest.
"This isn't over Joker, my men will kill you for this.." He clutched his chest and cried out, he rolled over to the foetal position.
"Your men? Don't you mean my men?" J leaned over his body and kicked him sharply in the two bullet wounds. "It's a dog-eat-dog world Crane." Two, three, four more sharp kicks and Crane was now coughing up blood, painting the floor with it.
Joker crouched on his knees over Crane and dipped his finger in the pool of blood. "You need to smile more." He brought the blood dripped finger to Johnny's mouth and drew an over exaggerated smile.
"Perfect." He stood quickly and grabbed his phone from his pocket. "Say cheese!" He snapped a photo, the flash from the phone was the last thing Crane saw before everything went black.
"One for the album."