Disclaimer: I don't own DC
This is the chapter I was looking forward to, and somewhat dreading at the same time. Cause he's such a hated/loved character, I wanted to get him right, this chapter introduces the Joker.
Planet of the Bravest 5
Chapter 9: Worst of humanity
The memory gets vaguer every year. Time makes things easier to bear. A beautiful lie, the pain never fades, but your recollection of a past tragedy does. The details change, I see more fear in their eyes sometimes, sometimes, my father even tried to fight back. But one detail remains the same, the lesson I learnt from my parents, the reason they died. The pearls scattering across the sidewalk, rolling into the sewers. My parents, bleeding out, dying in the gutter, for no reason at all. Some say tragedy is necessary, that a death can create a butterfly effect, a hero. A beautiful lie, a beautiful lie!
"Master Bruce, Master Bruce!"
Batman raised his head, the lenses of his cowl scanning the building. His HUD displayed the profiles of the super villains who had taken the warehouse as their home base. Clad in a purple suit with yellow lenses and a yellow moth symbol on his chest was Killer Moth, a brilliant, but insane inventor who had turned to petty crime. Though his suit possessed deadly weapons, the man himself was known through enhanced villain circles to be incompetent, recent upgrades made to his suit and his back up made up for it. Before, Moth wore a simple harness with wings and a helmet, but he, or perhaps someone else had taken the technology further.
The man's back up included another petty criminal, with upgrades putting him on par with most high profile criminals. Lester Bushinsky went by the Electrocutioner, a moniker adopted by many men. The man had electrical burns on the side of his face, and the body armour he wore had at least three wires connecting to his gauntlets and boots. Before he used simple shock gloves, but in theory his upgrades would give him enough power to manipulate electrical sources. Fortunately, again Buchinsky wasn't a bright man, more a brawler than a planner.
Though the real brawn of the team was King Shark, previously the shark like man's teeth had been natural, but someone had given him a set of metallic teeth that added to his already considerable bite strength. The black, short sleeved suit he wore was also much different from the simple trunks he used to wear.
The group had taken several hostages, all of whom were kept in line by Firefly. Bridget Pike was formerly a vigilante whom executed Gotham pimps with a flamethrower. That was until the GCPD caught her, and in the ensuing chase, her gas tank exploded and fused parts of her suit to her skin. After that she was experimented on by a corrupt division of Wayne-Tech (much to Bruce's shame). Upon getting out, she became a pyromaniac for hire, much like the others who had gone by the name Firefly. Her horrid burns had been concealed by the new black and orange suit she wore, a mask with goggles and insect like antennas on it concealed her face. The new harness she wore had military grade armour across the chest, with a jet pack and wings. Her flamethrower operated on its own fuel source, no wires connected it to a gas tank.
"This is the third strike in four weeks Cave, the gangs never taken hostages before," Batman said over the radio.
"Firefly's on the fifth floor with the hostages, King Shark on the ground floor, the second floor has old Electrocutioner and Killer Moth on it, the fourth has a dozen armed thugs, I think you should bypass the front door Master Bruce, enter through the third floor," Alfred recommended.
Batman dived off of the tower he stood on, spreading out his cape. An electrical current ran through the cape, altering the density and shape, in a manner that would allow Batman to glide through the air. GCPD SWAT teams looked up as they saw the silhouette of Gotham's dark protector. In the moonlight, it was a terrifying thing to see. As Batman got closer to the building, he spread the cape out and kicked through the warehouse window. The armed men on the floor above, watched the door to the stairs intently. Most knew what they could expect coming to Gotham, the thought of facing the Batman was already filling them with fear.
For most hired help, encountering the Dark Knight was a chance they took, if it meant a big payout. They heard the stories, and though they were afraid, they believed that awareness of the knight and their numbers gave them an advantage. What they didn't expect was for Batman to enter through the floor. The wooden floorboard gave away, sending one of the men falling into the third floor. As Batman grappled to the rafters, he threw disc shaped devices onto the thugs guns. Pushing the detonator, the explosives blew the weapons apart, disorientating and even knocking some of the thugs to the ground. Having counted the men, analysed them, and planned ahead, Batman dropped down onto two knowing how to take them down.
He elbowed one in the face, and knocked another headfirst onto the ground. Grabbing the man he elbowed, Batman ran and jumped, slamming the man's back into a crate. Two men ahead of him took out their knives, and Batman took out his grappling hook. Running ahead, he fired the hook into the crate. Grabbing the line with both hands, Batman threw the crate into the two men, sending them flying into the wall. Three thugs attempted to fight him in close quarters. They had some semblance of skill, so that clicked an 'ex-military' alarm in Batman's mind. He punched and elbowed them, one grabbing his cape and dragging him to the floor. Kicking out with his feet, he knocked the teeth out of two men. Then he ran the electrical current over his cape, shocking the man behind him.
"Up yours freak," one of the men growled.
He fired his pistol, straight into the back of Batman's head. But much to his shock, the bullet bounced off, tearing enough of the fabric over it, to reveal some of the armour underneath. Batman broke the man's arm, taking the gun from his grip. Taking the pistol apart, faster than even military men could, Batman scattered the pieces to the floor and then knocked the last thug out with a punch. Taking a gun like device from his waist, Batman aimed up at the ceiling. He fired a small plastic explosive against it, taking out his detonator, he blew the gel up, blowing a hole in the ceiling. A hole that Firefly fell down, slamming back first against the floor.
"Good entrance Master-Bruce, although you're going to have company soon," Alfred said.
"That's the plan," Batman retorted.
King Shark burst out of the ground, trying to grab Batman. But the nimble vigilante flipped over King Shark, strapping a device to his back. The rocket on the device ignited, sending King Shark flying into the wall.
"You've made a stupid mistake coming here Batman," Killer Moth said, flying to the fourth floor.
"You'll be happy to know your plan is at least part way working Master Bruce, Master Jason is beginning to recover the hostages," Alfred said.
Robin hovered to the fifth floor on the Bat-plane. He smashed open the window with his Billy club, smirking at the shocked expressions on the faces of the hostages. They rushed to the plane, each one getting their bindings cut by Robin. Once they were all nestled on top of the air-craft, Robin climbed back into the piloting seat. He began to hover the craft over the GCPD unit.
"What the hell?" Firefly shook her head as she got up off of the floor.
"The hostages are getting away," she said, having heard the plane's engine.
King Shark got off of the floor, shaking his head as he listened out for the plane. When he heard it, he took a running start and jumped out of the window.
"SHIT!" Jason yelled, seeing the giant shark nearly fly towards the aircraft.
"Language," Alfred chided.
Robin tried to pull the air-craft back, but King Shark slammed onto the nose cone.
"NO!" Robin yelled as two of the people fell off of the plane.
Suddenly, an armoured figure swooped downwards, grabbing the two civilians and landing in front of GCPD. Alex's HUD identified the red haired commissioner of the GCPD, Jim Gordon. He put down the two people he saved and looked up at the bat-plane. Robin was clearly nervous, the air-craft was swerving, and the hostages were barely holding on. King Shark also had his hands imbedded on the nose of the plane, licking his lips as he stared at the hostages. Igniting his rockets, Alex flew up towards King Shark. He slammed his fist into the creature's face, throwing him away from the plane.
"Talk about back up coming in the nick of time," Robin said.
In the warehouse meanwhile, Batman back flipped, avoiding the flurry of lightning Electrocutioner threw at him, and the stingers of light Moth fired from his wrists.
"The operations gone to hell, time to withdraw," Firefly said, taking a pair of incendiaries from her belt.
She removed the pins and threw them at Batman. Bruce quickly fired his grappling hook through the window, and zipped out of the warehouse. Clouds of fire burst through the windows of the place, followed by the two insect based villains, one of whom was carrying Electrocutioner.
"Batman, I'm dropping off the hostages now, but you might want to follow Sentry, his punches seemed pretty vicious," Robin said.
"Coming from the expert on punching things angrily," Alfred quipped.
"I've got a good example to follow," Robin retorted, causing Alfred to smirk.
Batman grappled onto the top of a nearby building, looking down at the alleyways. Sentry had beaten King Shark into the ground, using the raw ferocity of the bulked up gauntlets he had created. Even Bruce was horrified by what Alex was doing, digging wires into Shark's skin. He could see how deep the wires were going, Shark's screams just confirmed how painful the process was.
"What are you doing?" Batman demanded, landing behind Sentry.
"Getting information, this is how things are done in Gotham right, except it's not breaking bones," Alex said.
"You're interfacing with his nervous system," Batman said.
"I'm scanning his body to find out exactly why he's so strong now...ah I see, the upgrades aren't genetic," Sentry pulled the wires away, tearing pieces of metal out of King Shark's skin. "They're cybernetic!"
"All right, you've got your answer, now let him go," Batman commanded.
Alex looked at the dark knight in confusion.
"What did you think I was going to do? Execute him? I'm not like that Batman, I just need to confirm one more thing," Alex then redirected the wires to King Shark's neck.
"He still has the explosive in there Sentry, tamper with it and it'll go off and his death will be on your conscience," Batman said.
"So you know about the squad too?"
"More people know about the Squad than you know, Waller's digging a grave, you don't need to rip Shark open to get evidence. Now back off and let me take him in," Batman explained.
Alex lowered his hand, the wires returning to his gloves, which shrunk back to their normal size.
"Good luck carrying him," he retorted, before he flew upwards and out of sight.
Bruce narrowed his eyes at the trail Alex had left. He couldn't see where the boy was going, but he could see exactly where Oliver was coming from.
A day after Oliver's little session with Alex, he'd called a meeting. Only Superman, Diana and Batman attended, meeting Oli on the metro tower. Keeping his mask off and leaning against his bow, Oliver gauged the reactions of the Trinity as he recounted his encounter with Alex. Superman and Diana seemed horrified, though Batman's face was as usual a grim unreadable mask.
"He got angry, understandably Oliver," Diana said.
"Yes, but the things he said, you didn't deserve all of that," Superman said.
"Liars," Batman muttered.
"What?" Superman looked to Batman, his eyes narrowed.
"You've always been judgemental of Oliver, his time on the island and his early days, in fact you were against him joining the league initially," Batman explained.
"What?" Oli looked at Superman in shock.
"It's nothing personal Oliver, back then I didn't really know you, I knew you were the Arrow, or the Hood, or whatever they called you before you declared yourself Green Arrow, I know you have a lot of demons and your own way of doing things. I understand that, even though I may not agree with every choice you've made," the Kryptonian explained.
"Great," Oliver muttered, swinging to the door and huffing in frustration. "Turns out Alex just said what everyone's been thinking!"
"Of course he did," Batman said. "You've got a body count Queen, that and your time working under Amanda Waller, a known opponent to how we do things."
"Oh and you don't have your own demons?" Oli retorted. "You don't know what happened Batman, what I had to do to survive, what Waller..."
"She threatened the family of an agent you befriended, as well as blackmailed you and threatened your family and friends, I know exactly how things turned out," Batman said.
"And I suppose you would have handled it better?" Oliver asked, smirking smugly, but there was no change in Batman's face as he gave his response:
"Yes!"
Oliver grit his teeth together in frustration, leading Diana to pat his shoulder.
"Thank you for telling us about this Oli, give my regards to Thea and Felicity," she said.
Oliver put on his mask and cap and shot a line towards one of the buildings. As Green Arrow swung into the night, the three senior heroes turned to one another. Diana noticed a slight shift in Batman's eyes, indicating a concern for Alex.
"I'll take him back to Themyscera," she offered.
"I don't think your mother will allow it," Superman said.
"Once I explain Alex's problem I'm sure she'll allow him a lesson on paradise island, we teach diplomacy and meditation techniques," Diana explained.
"No offence Diana but I don't think this is a problem of discipline, he genuinely feels like we've failed in how we deal with Waller."
"Then how do we deal with Waller?" Diana asked.
"There's no easy answer to it, she has government backing, and it's not just Oli's life on the line if he goes public with what he knows about Waller," Superman explained.
"Which is everything," Batman said. "Alex's anger is justified, GA's continued to make the wrong call."
"Are you saying that if it was you, you would reveal your identity to the world, and put the people you love in danger?" Superman asked.
"I wouldn't have gotten myself into that mess in the first place," Batman retorted.
He fired his grappling hook and swung off of the metro tower, leaving Superman frustrated.
That was then, and as Bruce sat in the bat cave, his cowl resting behind his neck, he looked at the bat computer. The bat cave was his base, a place where he could rest and build more engines to fight crime. Alfred stood on a platform, a blow torch in his hand and shield over his face, making adjustments to one such machine. After welding something together, he looked at the speaker that Bruce would put in his cowl.
"Pretty flowers, pretty flowers," Alfred spoke into it, but an electronic voice was heard coming out of the speaker. "Nothing wrong with the speaker, it must be this new layer of armour in the costume."
"Criminals are getting more dangerous Alfred, I need to be more durable," Bruce said.
Alfred walked over to his master and looked at the screens on the bat computer. As well as looking over case files of a recent murder, the detective looked at pictures of known 'Squad members' used by Waller. They included a photo taken by Interpol of Deadshot, the know assassin. The dark skinned man wore a red and silver suit, with a balaclava that had a targeting scope on the right eye. Other files included the video footage of King Shark, swimming in his aquatic prison cell, Owen Mercer, AKA Captain Boomerang's prison photo, another prison photo of the pyrokinetic Diablo. Then there was the patient file and photograph of Harley Quinn.
The short, blonde haired woman kept her hair tied into two pigtails. If one looked at her photo, you wouldn't think you were looking at one of the most dangerous women on the planet. She was dangerous however, her bright smile, despite being in a prison uniform, was a sign of her mental instability. Before that however, Quinn had been a psychologist, someone who had apparently treated Alex during his depression. After that however, everything went downhill when she interviewed a single man at Arkham.
"As pleased as I am to know that you're not going back to the days of putting on a funny voice Master Wayne, have you considered bringing in outside engineering assistance?" Alfred asked.
"Oh you are not serious?"
Alfred looked over to the training platform, right next to the giant T-Rex model. Jason was beating on a squad of training robots, squashing their heads with his steel clubs. He struck one after another, dodging strikes and hitting back with a ferocity that matched Bruce's fighting style. The boy had his mask off and wasn't wearing his yellow cape.
"Sure let's bring Winters into the fold, I guarantee you he'll get judgemental on us too," Jason said.
"Master Jason, have you finally seen the error in your thinking?" Alfred asked.
"In how Green Arrow, or should I say the Arrow dealt with criminals? No, he was cool then, put down some real scumbags, I agree with Alex about Queen being Wallers's 'yes man'," Jason explained.
He ducked, avoiding a haymaker, then he struck out with his club, smacking the robots head off and sending it flying towards Alfred. The butler tilted his head to the side, easily dodging the robot's head.
"Alex is going down a dangerous road," Bruce said.
"How, by giving monsters like Shark a little torture?" Jason asked.
"No, in thinking he knows just how bad things can get, he doesn't know yet," Bruce said.
Jason and Alfred lowered their heads, to two of them, alongside every other member of the 'batman family' had their scars. They also knew that the robbers in Central City, the corporate con men in Star city, even the aliens Superman and the Green lantern corps fought, paled in comparison to the monsters Gotham City had produced. Bruce looked at the image of Arkham Asylum, focusing on its gates and the building. Alfred and Jason both smirked, the man had just had an idea.
Hotel Belle Monico, Alex's temporary place of residence. Alex paid for one of the cheapest rooms for an undetermined stay. He kept to the middle floors, as the upper floors and penthouse suites were known to be taken by the criminal element. Untouchables like Roman Sionis and Oswald Cobblepot, men whom hid their criminal empire through their donations to the city orphanages and hospitals. Alex groaned as his phone vibrated on the bedside table. He took the device, putting it on speaker and rubbed his eyes.
"Alex here," he said.
"Enjoying the Gotham night life Alex?" Lex asked.
"You're kidding right? You know how many tourists get mugged here?"
"Sadly yes, Gotham city's been voted one of the worst cities to live in," Lex said.
"Yep people stay here," Alex muttered.
"Its pride my boy, people are born there, they have courage enough not to let the monsters drive them out. Speaking of monsters, have you ever heard of Arkham Asylum?" Lex asked.
Alex climbed out of bed, putting on his pants and looking out at his window view of the city. In the day Gotham was calm, and just as spectacular a sight as Metropolis.
"Originally called the Elizabeth Arkham Hospital, named after Doctor Amadeus Arkham's mother who had a long history of mental illness before her suicide. Amadeus remodelled his family home into the 'hospital' which quickly became known as an asylum in the early 1900's, and considered cursed when the architect who oversaw its refurbishments became one of its first patients. After one of his Metropolis patients 'Mad Dog' Hawkins butchered his family, Amadeus threw himself into work, eventually going mad himself and becoming a patient. Current director of the Asylum is Jeremiah Arkham, graduate of Stanford in psychology, patient care is overseen by Dr Hugo Strange, whose taken over the post previously held by Jonathan Crane, also a patient," Alex explained.
"I understand your former therapist is also a patient there now, it seems the Asylum really doesn't want its employees to leave," Lex quipped.
"Yeah, so why are we talking about the most broken out of place in the country?" Alex asked.
"Bruce Wayne recently proposed a joint venture, it wasn't quite what I wanted but I suppose the opportunity to work with him and Lucius Fox is irresistible," Lex explained.
"When are you coming over?"
"Oh I'm not going to be the one working with them, that's going to be your job," Lex said.
Alex nearly dropped his phone in shock, sitting at his kitchen.
"Are you serious? I can only assume this is about building better security systems, so far I've built a phone, a car engine and a few other gadgets," Alex explained.
"It was Bruce Wayne's request, in fact he wants to personally give you a tour of the facility before you decide, also, I vouched for your engineering skills," Lex said.
"But Lex, this is beyond anything I've done before!"
"I have faith in you my boy, besides I wouldn't touch that place with a ten foot barge pole, it's all yours son!"
"Wait Lex what do you..." but the man had already hung up the phone. "Damn it," Alex cursed.
"Perhaps this is exactly what you need to hone your skills in augmenting the anti Korwraith weapon, and a project that will take your mind off of this undercover work," Rikai said.
The AI avatar was standing on the other side of the kitchen, his arms crossed and leaning beside the fridge. He remained there as Alex got the oats and milk for his porridge.
"It may also serve to benefit this city in the long run, quite frankly I am surprised it hasn't fallen apart," Rikai added.
"It's because of Batman, he's a better protector than you think, that's why he's on the league," Alex said.
Just as Alex was about to start prepping his breakfast, his phone vibrated again. Alex curiously put it to his ear.
"Alex speaking," he said.
"Alex, I hope you're ready cause I'm on my way up to your room now!"
"Wayne, Mr Wayne," Alex widened his eyes in shock.
When Bruce hung up, Alex blinked in confusion, then groaned. He moved through his room, gathering his clothes and getting dressed, going through a routine he usually didn't have to rush through. Once Alex was dressed, there was a knock at the door. Picking up his bag, he looked to the fridge, making sure Rikai had disappeared. Then he answered the door, and there waiting, in a fine black business suit was Bruce Wayne, billionaire prince of Gotham city. He had a bright smile on his face as he took a hold of Alex's shoulder, pulling him out of the room.
"Great to see you again Alex, it's a shame how our first meeting ended, but the warden assures me that no super villains are planning to break out this week," Bruce explained, leading Alex down the corridor.
Rikai could often appear invisible to others. His avatar form was like a body, connected to some of the most advanced scanners in the galaxy. So as he floated behind Bruce and Alex, he scanned both. Alex was as he expected, a young man slowly building up his muscle and with generally good health. Bruce Wayne however, seemed to have lost weight, the AI recalled that the Billionaire was in incredible shape, and had a lot of scarred tissue. Bruce's scars seemed to have changed, and he was actually thinner underneath the suit. He scanned Bruce's lower regions and widened his digital eyes.
"Alex, unless Bruce Wayne has a secret, the person you are with now isn't him," he relayed to Alex.
They entered the elevator, and Alex looked suspiciously at Bruce as the man pushed the button for the basement level.
'What makes you say he's not Bruce Wayne?' Alex asked.
"The fact that he, is actually a she," Rikai said.
Alex waited, and waited, remaining silent as the elevator went down each floor. At the last moment, he pushed the button for the ground floor, as soon as the door began to open, Alex slammed his elbow into 'Bruce's' face. He then walked into the crowd of everyday staff and hotel residents. Inside the elevator, the fake Bruce Wayne kept her hands on her face, adjusting its angle. With the mask back on straight she raised her wrist up to her mouth.
"The game's been given away, switch to plan B," she said.
"Actually Miss Doe its Plan 2, plan B implies that there are 26 plans," a voice spoke over the radio.
"You have multiple plans for a kidnapping?" she asked.
A cackle echoed in her ear, causing her to briefly touch the microphone placed inside it.
"You'd be surprised how many times idiots can mess up a simple kidnapping plot, especially when they have the face of the most trusted man in Gotham," the voice took on an angry and menacing tone, before he chuckled.
"Don't worry puddin, I won't let you down," another voice joined the mix.
It came from a woman sitting in the lobby. He hair was a shiny blonde colour, and she wore a black dress with stockings and a fur coat. She tilted her sunglasses as Alex came into her view. Leaving her seat, she walked over to him, coming up behind him.
"Try not to make any fast moves Alex," she whispered into his ear.
Alex stopped, feeling something pushing against his side. He recognised the woman's voice, it had a sweet tone, but the woman herself was dangerous.
"Dr Quinzel," Alex snarled.
"Shush, don't give the game away or you might get a bullet in your back," Harley Quinn said, leading Alex forward slightly.
The disguised Jane Doe walked up to both of them, putting on her best Bruce Wayne smile.
"Whose ready for the tour?" she asked.
"Oh I and my boyfriend are Mr Wayne," Harley said. "Move Alex, or I'll shoot you!"
"Do you recall our therapy sessions Quinn? Did you ever get the feeling that I cared whether I lived or died?" Alex asked.
"Good point, but I'm betting sweet you still cares about other people," Harley pinched Alex's cheek as she led him to the doorway.
"Move and people get shot Winters," Doe said.
Once they were outside, Alex looked over his shoulder. Harley grinned back at him, but over her shoulder Rikai floated with his arms crossed.
"I can activate the armour," Rikai said.
'No don't, it'll give away my identity and put my family in danger too, you need to enter a specific data route, it should lead you to the computer that Batman uses. With your help he'll be able to track me,' Alex explained in his mind.
Rikai nodded his head, fading from the physical world, and entering the digital. It was a real place for him, one he could enter at will. Beneath the city were computer lines, in the air was the waves of Wi-Fi and wireless computer signals. He weaved through bytes of data, skimming over emails and internet searches, tracking data routes through computers across Gotham. As the AI continued searching , he felt his digital connection with Alex weaken. Alex felt it too as soon as Doe and Quinn put him into the limo waiting for them. The windows were tinted, and underneath the leather material across the seats and above him, was lead.
"You know the one thing I regret Alex about our therapy sessions?" Harley asked.
"What's that?"
The woman wiped her lipstick off with a handkerchief, and tied her hair into twin pigtails. She then pulled a syringe from her coat, and stabbed it into Alex's neck. He gasped in pain, his vision slowly blurring. Drugs filled his body, weakening his consciousness. His head slumped downwards, darkness taking hold of him.
"Never being able to medicate you," Harley said.
"The timing was way off on that one Harley, you need to say the punch line whilst they're awake," the voice of her boss came from the driver's seat.
"Sorry Mistah J!"
Batcave
The cave had a great chasm a short distance from all of Bruce's equipment. It gave a view of the stalagmites, and was a good place for practicing batarang throwing. Bruce was doing that, dressed in grey slacks and a black turtleneck. His hair lacked the styling he used for parties, his expression more like what he used when in the bat suit. The man caught the projectile as it came back to his hand. It was a new batarang model, the edges of it glowed green with a substance that was the only weakness of one of the most powerful men on Earth. Alfred was by the bat plane, fixing the scratched paint work from last night. He looked over at Jason, who was using the bat computer for something productive.
"Are you CDP or Black Ops?" he asked.
"Black ops, and we have the advantage thanks to yours truly, H-Hall67 D-Hall45, if you two are going to be arguing get into a party...you go to the menu and you invite each other to your party...your welcome," Jason had routed his games console through the bat computer's main screen, giving him quality HD graphics. "I can see you Gizjeneus...GOD DAMN IT SHOCK-HAWKINS I'M ON YOUR TEAM!"
"Good to know you're being productive with your time Master Jason," Alfred said.
Bruce came over to the computer, his hands on his hips as he watched his ward play.
"Is this what kids do all day now?" he asked.
"The online forum is the new clubhouse...quit camping SmithNado7!" Jason snarled.
As Jason respawned and bought his HUD round, he passed over an Avatar that made Bruce blink in confusion.
"Jason, go back to your right," Bruce said.
"Just one more kill and I'll outrank VictoryStone-52 in the game," Jason said.
"Excuse me," a voice echoed out of the speakers.
Jason turned his character around, facing Rikai's avatar form.
"Don't shoot, it would be pointless anyway," Rikai said.
He lunged his hands forward, and as Rikai phase through the screen, Jason's console crashed.
"NO I WAS SO CLOSE!" Jason yelled.
Rikai floated above the floor, looking at his surroundings, the bat cave. He then looked at Bruce Wayne and huffed.
"It's so obvious really, it's a wonder why I didn't figure it out sooner," the AI muttered.
"What's happened to Alex?" Bruce asked, knowing Rikai would only be there if something was wrong.
"Two women kidnapped him, in order to keep his identity safe he sent me to tell you so that you would rescue him," Rikai said.
"Jason, unplug your box, Rikai, tell me everything you know about the kidnappers," Bruce commanded, using the same tone and even moving the way he did as Batman.
Rikai looked at Bruce and saw that in public he wore a mask as well. His true self was not Bruce Wayne, and probably not even Batman.
"One was a blonde woman Alex identified as Dr Quinzel, the other was disguised as you," Rikai said.
"The first goes by Harley Quinn, a former therapist of Alex's, if you could identify the second as a woman then it must be Jane Doe, she's an expert in disguise using homemade masks and suits to hide her frame. We'll start by tracking Quinn's movements the past few days, see if she scouted anywhere that could be used as potential hideouts, Rikai, the moment you can track Alex again, relay it through the computer in one of my cars, I'll go and investigate the scene," Bruce explained.
He took his jacket and walked with Rikai to the elevator.
"Won't you be taking the bat mobile sir?" Alfred asked.
"In the middle of the day Alfred? Not very subtle," Bruce said.
"The Lamborghini then, much more subtle," the butler muttered, before pulling off his painting overalls and walking to the chair at the bat computer.
Alex's vision was still blurry as he regained consciousness, he could make out voices around him. Like his eyes, everything his ears processed was incomplete. His mouth was dry, and his wrists hurt. Moving them, he could just make out the clatter of chains. Alex raised his head, shaking it and trying to focus with his eyes. Slowly, he was starting to get a clear picture, and it made him blush. Quinn had just finished putting on a red and black top, that left her belly exposed, a jester's collar was also attached to it and it only had a black left sleeve. The rest of Harley's outfit consisted of black and red tight trousers, a pair of black and red boots and finger less gloves. She turned around, grinning at Alex before she began applying make up to her face.
Looking to his left, Alex saw a mask on a holder, it matched the face of the person who helped kidnap him. Then Jane Doe came into view, a man who truly matched that word. Most would assume her face was burnt, the skin was odd, even the shape of her face was odd, one wouldn't be able to identify her as man or woman. She still wore the muscle suit and outfit she adopted in her Bruce Wayne guise. Again Alex looked towards Quinn, whom had finished applying black lipstick. She put on a domino mask, and then a red and black jester mask that left her face exposed. Her look as Harley Quinn, sidekick to Gotham's most notorious criminal, was complete.
"Good to see you awake Alex," Jane said, speaking in Alex's own voice.
"Don't do that Doe, you'll give him the wrong idea, this totes isn't about infiltrating your life Alex honest," Harley skipped to Alex's side, jumping bottom first onto his lap.
"I think it's time we told him exactly why he's here," a voice spoke from the shadows.
Alex felt his hands shake as the man walked out. He was dressed in a fine purple suit, a fake flower clipped to its edge. Purple driving gloves covered his hands, and underneath his coat he wore an orange shirt with a green tie. His choice of wardrobe wasn't the most disturbing thing about him though. His skin was chalk white, as if he was wearing clown makeup, his short hair was green and his smile, seemed permanent.
"Sorry, that corner was really dark, I think there's a bulb out," the clown prince of crime, the Joker chuckled as he walked closer towards Alex.
"Oh my Mistah J, I can switch it," Harley said.
"Not now Harley, I need to speak with our friend here, firstly, thank you so much," Joker slid up to Alex, slapping and kissing his cheeks.
"What the hell?" he glared at the Joker.
"That was for the wonderful engine you made, god it can make the getaway car really hoof it, not enough to outrun a bat mobile I'm sure but enough for the squad cars," Joker explained.
"Wait...you've got one of my engines?" Alex asked.
"I know a guy who knows a guy, it's easy to install, and it helps me do my part to reduce my carbon footprint, and keeps a certain redheaded nature lover off my back," Joker muttered.
"They're not on the market yet, who at LexCorp gave it to you?"
"I think we'll get to that later, right now, let's talk about old times. Harley has said a lot about you, the poor oldest son of the Winters family, oh parents, they set too high a bar at times. It's frustrating, I understand the need to go your own way, I even admire it. Take control of destiny's balls and tame it, I did it myself and I never looked back, even when I fell in a tank of acid," Joker explained.
Harley Quinn caressed Alex's cheeks, grinning at him, before stabbing another syringe into his neck. Alex let out a yell of pain, fighting through his chains. He concentrated, trying to summon his armour. But nothing was happening, and there was something else too, something that was giving him a great urge.
"What did you put in me?" Alex grit his teeth together, but couldn't stop himself from chuckling.
"My blood is quite unique you know, some people call it toxic, but only sixty percent of the people exposed to it die, the rest are much happier from the experience. That's what I live for actually, to see people smile, laugh even, it's a very powerful medicine. And you need that, don't try to deny it Alex, you were in a bad way and your still in a bad way," Joker turned to Alex, looking at him closely.
Beads of sweat were running down his face, he was gritting his teeth together, but the corners of his lips were curling up slightly.
"This guy I know told me your body was quite unique too, that I needed to add my venom to a specific cocktail of nanites he had created. I'm wondering why an ordinary kid like you would require nanites for my venom to work on you," Joker put a hand to his head in deep thought.
Alex however had figured it out. Someone gave him nanites that disrupted his connection to his armour. He looked up, meeting Harley's eyes.
"You stopped coming for your sessions, I really enjoyed them, we were making progress and you just declared yourself sane. I missed you, wondering if I'd helped, it kept me up at nights in fear, I tried to call you and every time you never answered I thought you'd actually finished the job, then you changed your number and your family moved out of Gotham, how could you let them do that to us Alex?" Harley angrily hit Alex with another dose.
"Now, now Harley, Alex is a handsome young lad, but don't forget who you're committed to," Joker pulled Harley off of Alex, but rolled his eyes as Harley nestled her face against his fake flower. "Suicide, it may end your pain, but it's so much worse on the people around you, your friends and family. Harley just wanted to help Alex, she hadn't finished treating you, you're still depressed every day. Let us help you Alex, let us show you how to smile," the clown prince raised his hands as is he was directing an orchestra.
Alex pulled his head back and let it all out, his laugh echoed through the warehouse. Joker and Harley joined in, with Jane rolling her eyes at the three of them.
"You want to know Harley?" Alex asked.
Harley and Joker stopped laughing, looking at Alex curiously.
"You want to know, why I stopped coming to sessions?" he asked, still laughing. "The sessions weren't helping, I still felt the urge to cut my wrists open, every second I was there it got worse. You talked about how things would get better, LYING TO ME THROUGH YOUR TEETH! AND WITH THAT DAMN SMILE!" Alex yelled, his eyes narrowed in rage, his laughing had faded slightly. "That smile, what on Earth did you have to smile about, you were like an idiot grinning every day, the world's not going to do anything if I smile for no damn reason. I wanted it to stop, all that sympathy, all that false understanding, that naiveté. I saw how you looked at me and I just ran, I chose to never come back, but you kept chasing, you were obsessed damn it. So I made myself better, I put on a mask everyday for my family's sake so that they would get off of my back. If I didn't get out of there quickly, I may have become your 'Mistah W!'"
He burst into laughter, laughter Joker shared, despite Harley's hurt expression. She put her hand to the holster on her thigh, gritting her teeth together as she gripped the pistol. Suddenly, the glass above them shattered, and a dark and cloaked figure dropped down on them. Alex's chair was knocked to the side in the fighting, he kept laughing as Batman punched and threw his opponents, binding them with wire. By the time he was finished, Batman stood over Alex with Rikai floating beside him.
"Alex, Alex what's wrong?" Rikai asked.
"He has Joker toxin in him, we need to get him to a treatment centre, NOW!" Batman yelled.
The last thing Alex saw, was something he never thought he would see, concern on the dark knight's face.
Next Chapter 10: Where monsters gather
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, and I hope I did Joker justice. Next time we actually see Arkham Asylum and more of Bat's rogues gallery.