Son of the Joker: The Ties That Bind
Chapter 1: Sixty Days of Night
It was a cold November morning in Point Hope, Alaska. The city was about to head into its yearly sixty days of total darkness. The townspeople wouldn't expect to see the sun again until early February. Point Hope was a small northern Alaskan community with just a little over seven hundred people living in it. The city had no road or rail connections to the outside world, and must be accessed by sea or by air at Point Hope Airport. The townspeople appreciated the isolation from the rest of the world. Fifteen years ago, only two-thirds of the population was employed due to the fact that they only had a handful of businesses in the area. That was until Bruce Wayne offered up a remote tech company to help assist the residents. The tech company allowed nearly one hundred more residents to find employment. Point Hope was a perfect location for the company because of its geographical isolation. But, that wasn't the only reason for why Bruce had chosen Point Hope to start a remote tech business.
Fifteen years ago Jack Napier had started getting involved with Charmine Falcone, the leader of a criminal organization in Gotham City. Jack's wife, Jeannie, desperately wanted to live a different life. Jeannie was eight months pregnant with Jack's son, whom they were going to name Jack Jr., but she didn't want to bring a child into such a world of chaos in which Jack was offering. Jack was a failed comedian and didn't seem to have any interest in taking up a normal nine to five type of job. Instead, he wanted to make the easy money that Falcone had to offer. After Jack received a new task, which involved becoming the Red Hood and the robbing of Ace Chemical, Jeannie tried going to the authorities to let them know about Jack's plan, but the authorities were working for Falcone. They were going to kill Jeannie, but Batman intervened just in time. She told Batman about Jack's plan to rob Ace Chemicals. He told her to go to Bruce Wayne and that Bruce would give her the resources she needed to get away from Jack. Then, she faked her own death and moved to Point Hope, Alaska. A couple days later, Jack was told that his pregnant wife had died in a tragic accident. They had just been in a huge argument the night before. With nothing else to lose, he chose to dawn the Red Hood, then sought out to rob Ace Chemicals, but Batman showed up to foil the plans. When confronted by Batman, Jack tried to escape. The Red Hood helmet was difficult to see through. Plus, Ace Chemicals was set on fire during the robbery and was going up in flames. The smoke and toxic fumes made it that much more difficult to see. As Jack tried making his escape, he dove into what he thought was water, but it actually was a vat of toxic chemicals. After Ace Chemical exploded, The mixture of the fire and toxic chemicals caused Jack's entire nervous system to turn his skin pure white, his hair toxic green, and his lips a deep ruby red. His clownish physical appearance and his mental trauma would lead him into a new world of madness.
After faking her death, Jeannie had changed her name to Julia Fender. A few weeks later she gave birth to her son. Instead of naming him Jack Jr., she named him James, although she still called him Junior. She started working for Wayne Tech and managed to buy a nice house. To Jeannie's knowledge, Jack died that night while trying to rob Ace Chemical, but Bruce knew better. At first, Bruce also thought Jack had died that night until weeks later when he saw the face of the Joker. He instantly knew it was Jack Napier, or at least what used to be Jack. Seeing how insane Jack had become, Bruce knew that he would have to keep Jeannie and her child hidden from him. Over the next fifteen years Bruce would travel to Alaska to check up on Jeannie and her son to make sure they were still doing okay.
Bruce had always thought they would be safe, but never wanted to let his guard down. It wasn't until fifteen years later when he battled the three Jokers that he learned that the Joker had known Batman's true identity for quite some time. What else did the Joker know? He obviously never found out about Jeannie and Junior. Or did he? What if the Joker had tried tracking Bruce Wayne to Alaska? Surely, the Joker would have acted by now if he knew. Knowing the Joker was locked away at Arkham Asylum, Bruce decided to take a trip to Alaska to make sure everything was still fine. Before leaving, Bruce checked the security cameras at Arkham Asylum to make sure the Joker was locked away and secure. Then, he took off in his private jet and headed for Point Hope airport. After landing, to keep up the appearance that he was there for business, Bruce made a stop at his tech company. As he walked around with the supervisor he noticed Jeannie wasn't there. Upon investigating a little further, Bruce found out that Jeannie/Julia had taken a leave of absence. After leaving Wayne Tech, he drove his rental car to Jeannie's house. He stayed a few yards away, but he could still see the house fine. Despite the fact that it was almost noon, the skies were completely dark. Bruce could see a light on in one of the bedrooms and one of the lights was on in the kitchen. In the bedroom, it looked like Junior was typing away on his laptop. Bruce took out his night vision goggles. It looked like Junior was chatting it up with a female friend. Suddenly, Junior was startled when his mom knocked on the door. Junior quickly shut his laptop and answered the door. From Junior's body language, Bruce could tell that Junior didn't like what his mom had to say to him. After his mom walked away, Junior slammed the door. Then, Bruce could see Jeannie heading to the kitchen. She began looking out the window. Bruce could swear she was looking directly at him. Instead, moments later, a car pulled up and a man got out. Jeannie opened up the front door, then ran out to the man and gave him a kiss and a hug. Bruce could barely get a glimpse of the man at first, until he turned around. Bruce was in shock when he saw the man's face. The man looked a lot like Jack Napier. Bruce had to shake his head a couple times. He thought maybe he was experiencing some sort of jet-lag. Bruce was even more in shock when the man put his hand on Jeannie's belly and started rubbing it. Bruce then realized that Jeannie was pregnant. She must have been about seven months along. They both got into the man's car and drove away. Bruce decided to follow them. As he was leaving he noticed Junior was looking out the window with disdain. Bruce followed the couple to a restaurant. They looked so happy together. He took pictures of the man's face. He still couldn't believe how much he resembled Jack. Could this just be a crazy coincidence? There is usually no such thing as coincidence if the Joker is somehow involved. He followed them for the rest of the night and everything seemed to be just fine. They seemed like they were truly in love.
The next morning, Bruce sent Alfred pictures of the man Jeannie was with. He asked Alfred to search the database to see if he could find a match of the man's description. After moments of searching, Alfred was able to report what he had found. Alfred told Bruce that the man's name was Arthur Fleck. Plus, coincidently, he was working at Wayne Tech in Point Hope. Apparently Arthur was hired about a year ago. Bruce hadn't been to his tech company in Point Hope for nearly two years. That is why he never noticed him before. Bruce asked Alfred to do a little more digging into Arthur's past. After doing so, Alfred informed Bruce that Arthur was adopted a couple weeks after his birth. That was as far back as he could go. The files to whom were Arthur's real parents had been sealed. This only intrigued Bruce further. Bruce was compelled to find out who this man was and how he might be related to Jack Napier.