Author's note: Hey everybody. I'm alive and back. After a forced sabattical to attend personal issues and work related businesses I have returned to finish my stories. Not only this one but alsoo the Joker's Playmate that was in an involuntary hiatus. New chapter is on its way. I promise you are all going to hear from me again, since I don't plan going anywhere and the muse has come to visit. My most sincere thanks to all my faithful fans without whom I would be anything. Hope you have enjoyed this story so far, it was a fun trip.
Remember that all your comments are always welcomed as long as they are well intended. Any try to belittle, insult or abuse either the fans or me will be rejected. For now, I would dedicate this chapter to those of you that I know read, but do not feed back. Hope you liked the story as well, since my only intention when creating this plot was entertain. If you have enjoyed the read, my mission is accomplish
Feel free to leave feedback thoug, it's always helpful. Enjoy this little chapter.
DISCLAIMER 1: Batman and all other related characters belong to DC COMICS
DISCLAIMER 2: Some mature language and situations might be seen, please be adviced
BETA: Once more thanks a million to the wonderful KICHI for such an awesome work. Best beta ever!!
CHAPTER49: RESOLUTIONS
Arkham.
This had always been an unhappy, grim place. Nobody liked to joke around and laughter was nonexistent unless it came from cell 0801 in the bowels of the Asylum. That was the Joker's home for most of his adult life. Normally the Jester would find something dark and gruesome he could twist in his head and turn into the funniest thing in the whole world, and fill the halls of this institution with his shrilling maniacal laughter. Not today. The entire hospital was silent. It was like being at the cemetery. Not even Joker was laughing, probably of the heavy sedation they had to use on him to ease the pain of his wounds, or maybe because deep inside him, Jack was still torturing him and taking his joy from him.
Harley sighed as she turned around on her bed and curled up into a fetal position on her bed, still holding onto the green and purple Teddy Bear she kept in her cell as her single companion. It was hard to move without having her shoulder burst in a sharp pain that made her cringe. That was the painful reminder of her last encounter with the Joker. The same Joker that had given her this green and purple Teddy Bear for her birthday with X's for eyes and a purple tongue to match. It looked as if someone had choked the bear to death, and her Clown would be the only one to find that funny.
She thought of the white skinned man in cell 0801 and two furtive tears fell down her cheeks only to wet the soft pillow under her head. All she wanted was to be with him, console his aching heart with her love and care. She had been sure that she could cure him, but instead, she had fallen into the same madness that had engulfed the Jester and that had been her undoing for it had almost cost her, her life at the penthouse.
"I just wanted to make you better, Puddin'," she whispered to her Teddy's ear. "I wanted you saner so you could see how much I cared for you…how much I loved you. I wanted to save you, but the only safe place for you is that little place in your head you call home and nobody understands. But your insanity in a one man's show, and there was never a part for me to play in it."
Harley bit her lower lip and held tightly to Teddy. She still remembered the Jester getting ready to slice her up a few days ago. In her memory was the image of his sinister smile as he shot her. It had been a miracle that she was not dead, and Joker had not been part of that miracle. "I wish I could have helped you understand, but maybe I was just a lousy psychiatrist that didn't realize her patient needed his insanity more than he needed air to breathe. Could the cure to your anger be your insanity? I don't know. What I know is that I can't have you suffering all that horror you went through, just to satisfy a love crush. I can't deprive you of your only chance for peace.
"I can't stop thinking about you either, but every memory I have of us, involves pain and blood and many times they were mine. Jack doesn't love anything or anyone, and Joker only care is in how many ways he can play with people. I became one of his many toys, when I dreamt of becoming so much more.
"You taught me to dare be different, Mistah J; to put the world upside down on his head and to mock their rules. You were right. I was one of them, the puppets you find so amusing, and you dared me to be me which I tried with all my heart just to please you. And instead of that granting me the freedom you promised, it enslaved me to your circle of violence and I ended up bleeding for you. I don't' have anything else I can give you…and you can't give me anything else."
"It's not your fault, is it?" Harley turned over on her belly and set Teddy on her pillow and stared at him intensely. She was waiting for him to speak, and take her out of this dilemma. "What else is left for you to give when everything else has been taken away from your life?"
It had always been a battle of extremes that Joker had no control over. Every time she tried to remain neutral it had cost her cuts, bruises, and broken bones and for what? She now knew he will never respond in the way she wanted him to because in his insane mind, there was no space for love; just fun at someone else's expense.
"Oh, Mr. J. It's not gonna be easy leaving you behind, but I'm a free spirit and I can't do it beside you, no matter how much I try to delude myself thinking I can. You were right, life is total chaos. It is what could have been and what never will be. And it will never be ours. I wish," her voice cracked as she felt a knot on her throat. "I wish you one day will find the peace you want maybe then we could be together..."
The lights on her block started to go off. It was time to go to sleep. Tomorrow will be another day. Harley kissed the Teddy bear tenderly on top of the head and set him aside on the small night table beside her bed. "Good night, Puddin'," she whispered softly as she put her hands under her pillow and closed her eyes drifting slowly into Morpheus world of dreams.
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Gordon was reading a police report on the hospital bed with half a dozen more still sitting beside him to be perused. Convincing the Police Department that he was well enough to still help with the Joker investigation, had been an impossible battle, until he pulled some favors to old friends that allowed him some limited, but continued access to the latest developments on the case. The file in his hand was Montoya's report on the events at the housing complex a few days ago. The Commissioner was distracted from his reading by a loud knock at his door.
"Come in," Gordon answered putting the file he was reading on top of the pile beside him. The door opened and he saw the black silhouette of the Dark Knight glide quickly into the room, enveloped in his black cape. Jim Gordon smiled. "I don't know what scares me more…either seeing you coming out of nowhere or hearing you knock at the door. It's not your style."
"Neither has yours been leaving work at the office either, Jim." Batman noted with a very subtle smile and pointing at the bundle of files beside the Commissioner.
"No, it hasn't...." Gordon answered with a smile as he looked at the small tower of files, shook his head. "Touché."
"How are you feeling?"
"I'll survive," Gordon said taking his eyeglasses off to clean them with the corner of his bed sheet. "They did surgery on my knee yesterday. They said it's going to be some time before I can go tango again. What about you?" The Commissioner took off his glasses and cleaned them with the bed sheet. "I heard you and Nightwing almost died."
"I was lucky to have the League help me develop an antidote in time to save us. That was a close call."
"You even saved the Joker's life. I'm sure he's going to be thrilled when he finds out about that."
"I did what I needed to do. Joker's blood held the clue to develop the antidote."
"I bet..." Gordon replaced his glasses over his nose. "Luckily the nightmare is over. Joker is back in Arkham and the nuclear missiles were just one of Blip's computer simulations. Harley told the CIA and the FBI all about it. Guess he didn't have the guts to make true of the Clown's threats."
"Michael is not a murderer…he's just a misguided genius."
"I hope he learned the lesson of not messing with the Clown. The Department emitted an order for his arrest and the Feds want him too for the missile problem." Gordon looked at the Detective who seemed to be abstracted in his own thought. "Is there something wrong?"
"I…I was just thinking…"
"There IS something wrong, isn't it?"
"All that hate inside Jack, fueling Joker. It all…leading to this…"
"So the Clown has issues. You already knew that."
"Never like this. I never met Jack before."
"Me neither, but I don't want to see that son of a bitch again. I think it's fair to say that Jack could be worse than Joker to a point."
"Anger. Isn't it what drives us all one way or the other, Jim? Yours is against those who threaten the citizens of your city. Mine is deeply anchored in my past and makes me hate everything that's evil. Jack just hates the world."
"What's your point?" Gordon asked eyeing the Detective with reserve.
"It could have been me instead of Joker. It could have been me losing control of this driving force inside me. Me the one who needed to be locked up in Arkham."
"But you're not. You'll never be Joker, Batman. The man was bad seed from the beginning. I met them both remember?"
"And what makes us different? Can I one day become like him?"
Gordon massaged his overgrown beard and moustache. "I don't know, I'm not a psychiatrist. But I can tell you that both you and Joker are made up differently. You want to save lives. That is the goal of your crime fighting career. Joker and Jack…they both wanted to destroy everything around them. One because he hated the world, the other because he thought it was funny to see it burn. You are not Joker."
"I wish it could be that easy…just black and white. But real life now is a shade of gray, and after today I will have to keep my anger in check. I don't want to lose control. I can't risk straying from this path. A lot of people depend on me."
"Do whatever you want, but you will never become anything like Joker…or Jack. I'm so sure of that that I will bet my badge and my pension on it."
Batman reminded silent for a moment. Tension building slowly between. The Knight for once felt weak…vulnerable. Losing control had become a real, tangible fear, but he couldn't let that fear take control of him or his emotions. He had worked to do and that work demanded that he could remain focused and determined.
"When are they transferring him to the federal justice system?"
"Don't know. The President wants him as soon as a doctor certifies he can travel…Joker is still convalescent at Arkham after the incident on the penthouse."
"What do you think?"
"About what…him leaving my city? I can't wait until the day he leaves this city for good…"
"To be executed by the federal government. What about justice…will it be served then?"
"What is wrong with you? This is the Joker you are talking about…" Gordon said adjusting his glasses to take a closer look at the Detective.
"A very disturbed man…who needs psychiatric help. You saw him."
Gordon looked at the Detective resentfully. "I can't believe this…from you. Joker killed close to three hundred people and hacked into the defense system in an effort to kill millions more. He deserves to pay for what he did…"
"I'm not saying he shouldn't. But we also need to be fair in applying the punishment, not throw him to the lions just because of what we feel towards him. We are bound to justice…and he should be treated justly…"
"But he…"
"Harley saved your life." Batman said simply
"So? What does that have to do with all this?"
"She's doing a life sentence because of Joker, but would you say that Harley is the same crazy woman that you locked up in Arkham years ago, or is she now somehow different?"
"That' true," Gordon admitted. "She…she was not as crazy."
"If it wasn't for her…I would have not gotten a glimpse of who Jack was. She enlightened this investigation and helped us solve it. She delivered you from harm and she fought Joker on the penthouse to protect people she didn't know."
"Yes…I read the report on all that." The Commissioner said waving Montoya's report in his hand.
"Doesn't the system reward the good and punish the bad…?
"You seem to forget," Gordon said readjusting himself in the bed. "She's still in love with the Joker..."
"Is that a crime? She still saved you from him besides her feelings."
"What you want me to do…? I can't just forget what she has done in the past…because of him."
"Just do what is right…let justice prevail. The same applies to Joker…justice has to be served above all."
"This…this has affected you deeply, hasn't it?" Gordon asked still gazing at the Dark silhouette in front of him. "You're concept of justice is somewhat different…"
"You could say that it has made my sense of justice evolve." Batman responded solemnly. "Life is not longer that simple…or monochromatic. We all change given the right time…"
"…and I don't know if this is the right thing to say in your case, but you look less…grimm."
"I have reasons to celebrate. You and Robin will recover from Joker's attack. Nightwing survived the poison. I need to value the positive moments of my job… which are not many, because life is very short."
"What about…Selina?" Gordon inquired.
"She is in stable condition, but still in a coma. Only time will tell. But you know Selina…"
"Yes…she has more lives than a cat. She'll be back…"
The door to Commissioner's Gordon room opened and his daughter Barbara rolled in her wheelchair. In her hands she carried a bag of Burger King and a Starbuck's coffee cup.
"Batman…what a surprise." Barbara said setting the food and coffee in the table nearby his father. "Good to see you totally recovered from the Joker's poison."
Batman smiled. With her there was no need to pretend. Barbara Gordon was really Oracle and without her help, he wouldn't have found Joker through the tunnels. But that was a piece of information the Commissioner did not need to know so he continued the game.
"Thank you, Ms. Gordon." The detective responded with a polite nod. "I think I will be leaving now, Jim."
"You sure?" Barbara quipped. "I just brought some food for my dad…he hates the hospital food."
"It tastes like cardboard…" Gordon added with a chuckle.
"I understand, but I will go and visit Robin upstairs and see how he's doing. Wish you a speedy recovery Commissioner…" Batman said as he exited the room and headed towards the elevators. Life had indeed changed. Nothing seemed so easy or so clear now. Could he ever be the same man he was before this entire nightmare started?
No, impossible.
A lot of things had happened during all these past months, things that had left a profound mark on him, and that he will have to thank Joker for even if he didn't want to admit it. But the Clown also taught him how far anger could lead someone without control… Batman will never let himself get to that point. He couldn't, because he was more powerful than the anger…and he was in control of his actions.
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
When Batman entered Robin's hospital room, a tall blonde nurse was checking tie vitals on the Boy Wonder. Robin waved effusively at the Detective.
"You need to stay still, sweetheart." The nurse warned.
Robin froze and just looked at her attentively. "Yes, ma'am."
Once the nurse had finished running her examination and the bandaging on the boy's head, she picked up her equipment and walked out the room without even looking at the Batman as she left.
"Boy you never stop scaring people around here…" Robin said with a wide smile. It was good to see that smile in the young man's face after all he went through. "Good to see you. How's Wing…?"
"Back home, doing much better. How're you feeling…?" The detective asked standing beside the bed with the cape wrapping him from the shoulders down.
"Ready to get back home. And how's Gordon…?"
"Doing well too. He just had surgery on his knee yesterday. Looks like he will do a complete recovery too."
"Yeah, that's good, but I'm still feeling stupid after I let my guard down with that Clown."
"You were not expecting him…"
"No…you don't know. I saw his face just before he shot my bike. I will never forget that evil smile. I just froze…couldn't move a muscle until it was too late." Robin put a hand over the bandage on his head. "And then everything went black…"
"But you are OK now, that is what is important…"
"But what if other people depended on me…? They could have died…"
"But they didn't. Don't think about that, just get well and going back to your training will help you focus and build the confidence you need. Joker surprised us all. I'm not happy that he was able to play with me like he did."
"Nobody wants to tell me anything. What did you do to him…? Somebody said you almost killed him."
"No. He almost killed me. The league interfered and now Joker's back at the Asylum where he belongs." Batman responded simply. It was hard to admit that this time the Clown Prince of Crime almost defeated him.
"And what is going to happen to him now? This is the worst Joker murder spree in the history of the city."
"The government wants to trial him through the federal courts for Terrorism."
"That's not good news for the Clown, eh? He deserves it and I hope he gets the injection this time…He deserves to die." Robin said with a resentful expression on his face. Batman just looked silently at the boy. So young and already wishing the death of a fellow human being. It doesn't matter if it was Joker or not, it was just a primal wish for revenge and a dangerous wish. A crime fighter had to be above revenge, above hatred. "Hello…?"
"What…?" Batman replied realizing he had being caught with his mind wandering.
"What about Blip?" Robin replied crossing his arms over his chest. "Everything OK?"
"Everything's OK. I'm just tired." The Detective said trying to sound convincing enough. "He's still at large, but the police are closing in his trail. It will be a matter of time before he falls too."
"That little nerd got himself in some deep shit when he decided to work for the Joker."
"The Joker can influence young minds without focus…it is as much Michael's fault as it is Joker's."
"Well, I hope they catch him soon and lock him up, making sure they lose the key in the process."
There was that anger again…emanating from Tim's pores. Why did it bother him so much now? What had the Joker done to him? There was a soft knock on the door of the room and Nightwing, in full costume, made a flashy entrance with a bow. Both Batman and Robin stared in awe at the young man.
"Hey, Wing…" Robin spurted out joyfully making a peace sign on his chest. "We were talking about you a moment ago, but I wasn't expecting a visit…"
Batman remained silent. Dick smiled. "Got bored at home and decided to pay a visit to my li'l bro. Wasn't expecting you here during the day, Boss…"
"Needed to visit Gordon and opted to do it early. How are you feeling today?" Batman replied.
"I'm fine. I probably slept for thirty hours straight…enough to cure any exhaustion I had left from the venom. That was some powerful concoction, man…"
"You needed to rest…" Batman said sternly.
"I am. No crime fighting for me for a while. I just came to see Tim, today. I really miss the little runt…"
"Hey!" Robin protested pointing angrily at Dick. Nightwing stuck his tongue out and made a raspberry as he approached Tim at bed.
Batman smiled. Life was slowly going back to normal. "Then I will leave you guys catch up." The Detective started to walk out of the room
"You don't have to leave." Tim said somewhat resentfully. "You just got here."
"Have to run over some evidence. I still need to track down Garibaldi." Batman responded reaching the door.
"A detective's work is never done, eh old man?" Dick said waiving gently. The Detective disappeared silently through the door. "See you in headquarters."
"You think he's OK, Wing? I mean, he's been awfully quiet and not all there, if you know what I mean. And he doesn't seem to want to let go of the case either."
"He's just tired and with the Big Bad Clown behind bars, Batman will soon be back to his old self. Besides… when has Batman liked to chat?"
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
It was early morning when he woke up. He could hear voices outside of his cell, very close to his cell, voices he didn't recognized, but that incessantly repeated his name over and over again. Joker this…don't let Joker do that….don't listen to Joker…and all that conversation about rules was really boring. Life had no rules on his book. This place looked so familiar. Same smell of bleached walls and polished floors, same desk and chair bolted to the floor along with the same plain white bare wall. Yes…this was home. But at the same time there was something different here and he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.
He took a look around the cell, maybe he could find out what it was that felt so odd and out of place. It was then that he noticed the little camera attached to the ceiling behind the acrylic door. An audience, he thought as he blew off some curls from this face
Joker sat on the bed and suddenly felt as the world started to spin around him. He closed his eyes and swallow several times fighting the nausea. When he finally opened his eyes again the world was just swirling slowly in front of him. He remembered the feelings of sedatives when they started to wear of, and they could at times be worse than LSD.
He felt like home…away from home. It was an odd sensation. He tried to turn around when he noticed his arms tightly wrapped in a cream colored straitjacket with tightly bound straps securing his arms and torso. 'This one is gonna take a little time to figure out', he thought to himself as he looked at the camera again with a wide toothy smile. He shook in his restraints and the effort left him with his arm on fire. He looked down to his bound arms and noted a small amount of blood seeping through the yellowish fabric of the straitjacket.
"And now for my next act I'm gonna show you a bleeding Clown." Joker started to say when all of a sudden he felt at a loss of words. A bleeding Clown…where was that funny punch line? The Jester frowned. What happened to his sense of humor…?
"No sense of humor today Clown…just pain." He told himself in a dark, deep voice. He started to giggle again, quickly escalating into spastic chortles. "I need to do something funny. Who can tickle my funny bone while dying in horribly in pain? I know…GUARDS!"
Nobody answered and nobody came by. He was still alone in his cell. He finally turned over and sat on the bed, but when he put his left leg on the floor, a shot of deep pain ran up to his brain making him cringe… Pain. That was something he couldn't seem to forget and his body was now a constant remainder of that pain. Why…why him…?
"Because I'm special…" Joker said followed by explosive chortles.
"You like pain…so have some pain…." The Jester told himself in that deep tone.
"No, not my pain, but yours Jackie old chum. I have your aspirin right here…were you like it. Laughter's the best medicine. You had your time, and what a waste of time it was. Now…IT'S JOKER TIME!!!!" The Clown Prince said as he started to dance at the rhythm of Hammer Time as he hummed the tune. The pain to his leg and his arm returned. "OUCH…!"
"You should take it easy with your injuries. They need time to heal." He heard a familiar voice in front of him. He looked and noticed a black silhouette standing right there in front of him behind the acrylic door of his cell. Where had he come from?
"Hija Bats, missed me?" He said as his smile spread across his pasty face like a wound. What seemed so funny? Batman just stared at the Jester in the straitjacket as he walked to stand just a few inches from the acrylic. There was a long and tense silence between both enemies that seemed to extend forever. "Clock's ticking…Tic, Toc, Tic, toc… HA! You blinked!"
"Are you still angry, Jack?" Batman said.
"The person you're trying to reach…has been permanently disconnected. Been evicted for life from the Corpus Callosum of my psychotic brain." The Jester said at last as he started to laugh out of control.
"Has he really? I don't believe you." Batman retorted. "I know you're in there somewhere, Jack."
"If I see 'im I'll send 'im your regards…" Joker said between giggles as he tried to get up and walk towards the door only to fall back on his bed. It was too painful to just stand a few seconds. "I can't believe you want to see that loser again… He was as funny as a doorknob and you saw what he was capable of doing…no style at all. I, on the other hand, am handsomer and have a wonderfully twisted sense of humor that makes everybody die laughing. That is what I call innate talent." Joker tried unsuccessfully to stand.
"Just sit down and listen." Batman reiterated. "I need to tell you something."
"What…that you're obsessed with me?" Joker replied. "I know that, but sorry Bats…I don't do animal sex."
"Will you put down your Clown façade for a moment and just listen to me?" The detective retorted angrily.
"Well, you're talking and I don't think you plan on shutting up anytime soon. That must be a record…whole five minutes, Bats, and using full sentences. Congrats…you will go down in the Guiness." Joker piped calmly as he stared at the caped figure in front of him with a tense look on his face. He was holding down his anger. "Will you go now? You're ruining my nap time and I get cranky without my nap."
Batman clenched his fists beside him. He was starting to lose it with the Clown. His anger…that horrible thing that he had in common with Joker… Batman let out a sigh and unclenched his hands. "I just wanted to let you know that I really never wanted to harm you…intentionally. You probably think I'm your worst enemy, but I'm not. I didn't kill your wife or your son. Doyle did. You are your worst enemy, Jack. You cause yourself all this unnecessary pain, when it is just so easy to accept help…to sift through your anger."
"Deluded rodent. I'm a Clown. Clown's don't get angry…we laugh and make others laugh…until they die. And you are the funniest thing to happen to me since I got to this city. You're funnier than terminal cancer… and that's a riot."
"You are not a Clown…you are a man in pain that hides behind a Clown mask….Joker is not you, Jack."
"Blah, blah, blah…and Batman is not you." Joker said at the same time he made a large noisy yawn. "I know who I am, but do you know who you are? You have that same fire that tortured li'l old Jack all his life and you know it. How long can you keep it under control? Will you ever snap and let the fire go wild?"
"This is not about me…"
"Oh yes it is…" Joker interrupted licking his parched lips. He pulled his mouth into a wide perverse smile. "That's why you're here. You're trying to convince yourself that you have everything under control, including me; that your anger is in check and the Clown is on the cage. That life is pink and smells like candy corn. Life is a nightmare, Bats. You live yours and I lived mine. Only when you open your mind to total chaos you can laugh at your nightmares. Otherwise you just hide your life under a cowl and call it a purpose. Coward…"
Batman took a deep breath. "It was chaos what almost took you and Jack down for good."
"It was your so called inner peace what almost made you meet with your maker. You should have done what needed to be done and kill Jack. That would've saved me so much precious time…"
"And what about you? You will not be here if Jack had died."
"I'll never die, because I'm a part of you as you are of me. And you know me, I'm always around. I'm the joy of your sorrow, the Hate to your Love, the Ying to your Yang. I'm always here…and I'll always be. Where will this city be without some old fashioned Joker comedy?"
"I'm never going to go down to your level, Joker."
"No, because you are afraid that you might like what you see…" The Jester responded with a cackle. "…and REALLY want to stay there."
"You're not the only one who has ever been in pain, Jack. You know that, don't you?"
"No but I'm probably the only man in the world who has bat nailed to his ass…ohh , my sore and tender ass. Can someone have mercy and pull this bat off my ass?" Joker made a fake expression of pain and laughed again. "Is this a new type of therapy,using boredom to turn my head around? It's not gonna work. You just gonna get me to go to sleep."
"Jack, please. Listen to me. This rage will only bring your death. I don't want to be your enemy. I want you to be free before…before one of us dies."
"And when is that glorious day coming?" Joker finally said with some interest and a large smile."Need to know, so I can hire the band to play at your funeral."
"This is not funny, Jack." Batman replied. The Jester giggled maliciously. "The Federal government is taking custody of your case. This time is the end of the road, the end of the joke."
"Every Joker has a punchline and I haven't delivered mine yet." Joker said as he stretched painfully on his straitjacket. "I love punch lines. I'm a master at delivering punch lines…and that reminds me of a joke."
"You're not delivering any punch line this time Joker. This is the end of the show. What you did had no excuse. The Government is not going to be forgiving this time."
"Tomorrow's show will be better." The Jester piped joyfully.
"There is no show tomorrow, Jack. That is what I'm trying to tell you. Please try to understand." Batman said as the Jester stared at him in bewilderment. The blank look in those green eyes of the Clown Prince clued the Detective that the Joker didn't understand what he was saying. "This is it."
"What is? Is it you…or is it me? The Joker sniffed his straitjacket and shook his head in disgust. "No, it is not me. So it must be you. Though I think it was them, unless we can blame it on he, she and it. Then WE can all have a party. And WE love parties don't we boys."
"This is your last show." Batman said in the hope that the Jester will understand the show business jargon.
"I will just have to wait for the reviews. They will grant me another season once they see the ratings."
"JOKER!" Batman yelled losing his temper. The Joker smile widened maliciously as if this was part of a plan he had device to make the Batman lose it. The Detective backed off one step and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Jack, I really want to help you. I want to show you that there is more than hatred and pain, there is light at the end of the tunnel. You think your wife would like you to live in this darkness you enclose yourself in? Take the initiative. Let go of the past and learn to live free. Your wife would have wanted that for you, because she loved you as much as I'm sure you loved her. Please let me in, so I can help you."
Joker frowned and looked down to the floor. He started to feel butterflies on his stomach, but why?
"Where am I going? I…I…Is it Tuesday?" Joker started to say when he felt a lump in his throat. What was this rodent doing to him? He felt his stomach tighten, and he hated that feeling in his gut. He never dealt well with pain. "I know …I know this funny joke. There was a rabbi, a priest, and a…"
"I don't want to hear one of your jokes, Jack. I want you to stop hurting."
Joker frowned. "Then leave because you're boring me…and boredom like this really hurts. You're so stiff…so consumed in your own self-righteousness that you are blind to the reality of the world you live in. This city has been doomed since the day it was born. We are all children of chaos and to total chaos we shall return. Why don't you believe me? Just think, why is it that you can't win this war to save the city's soul? Is it really that much worth fighting a battle you know is doomed? If you really believe that, then you are crazier than me, but then, that is what makes you a lot of fun to play with too. Now, if you don't have anything more interesting to say you're wasting my happy hour. It's two for one psychosis night…so shoo." The Jester busted in a crazy laughter.
"Is this the way you want it?" Batman pressed on.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." The Jester replied between chortles. "Humor is a cup filled with the decomposing goo from the bodies of the boring people of this city, the screams of a thousand dying babies, and the fresh blood of those that do not understand the joke. And if you mix in a little coconut cream …it will taste like pina colada." The Jester exploded in another hysterical laughter. "And if you think that I'm done with you or you with me…think again, li'l bro…"
Batman nodded silently and started to walk back to the security post. There was nothing else for him to do here. The man he met at the warehouse had decided to end his existence and let himself wrap in the Joker's madness. Insanity. That was all that was left in the Jester's mind now. It was Joker's safe haven from the world he couldn't deal with. The detective's mission here had ended, but should he still give up? It could have been him in that cell…Instead he was fighting things like the Joker, to give this city a breather from all the violence. He had never faltered nor failed in his mission until now. He had saved many before; why was it so difficult to save one more soul?
