The Outcasts

Author's Note: I never wrote before in "Batman Beyond" section, nor do I know much about it, but I have seen "Return of the Joker" and it inspired me to write this. Please be gentle for I may haven't gotten the characters down right. None of the characters belong to me, but to DC Comics and Warner Bros.

Gotham at night wasn't a safe place. Hooligans, crime and different kinds of anarchy ran free. Gangs were created that terrorized the society, each in their own unique way. But none of the gangs had one of the greatest criminals of Gotham history as their leader, the Joker.

That is, all gangs besides one.

Of course, there were the Jokerz, a pale impersonation that represented the once most feared rogue. If the Joker had led them, they would have ruined his name (which they already somehow had). However, the Joker (miraculously and mysteriously returned) had formed his own small group. It was also made up of youngsters, but they at least weren't an embarrassment such as the Jokerz and they had skills that would have made them aspire to high positions, should they have chosen to make positive use of them.

Gangs of Gotham are merciless, and as each generation passes by, they get more younger and more crueler. They are daring, fearing nothing and no one, except an old foe, the historical protector of the city who is always there: the Batman. Every gang tried to make different traps to get rid of their assilant, but he always seemed to escape each of them. That is why the Joker had come up with his own plan to capture Batman which couldn't fail. Why? Because this time, the Joker knew Batman's identity.

That is why he had sent his thugs to a particular night club where the Batman in his civillian attire would attend with his girlfriend. The thugs didn't really know why they were supposed to capture this kid, but since an order was an order (and they were getting paid) they would carry it out in careful tactics.

They had entered the nightclub and hung at the back, unnoticed. One of them was a gangly, corpselike 19-year-old who had straw-like yellow hair and glowing amber eyes. Scars decorated his body and he looked like a horror creature of the night. His real name, Stewart Carter Winthorp III would not mean much, as he was known simply as Ghoul. Coming from an elite class, and in fact highly educated too, he was considered a freak at home and school. Unable to stand anymore this abuse, he ran away from home and joined the streets. His eyes glazed slowly across the dance podium in search of a teenage kid that his boss had told him to take care of, someone named Terry McGinnis. The gang had a photo of him and so they knew whom to search for.

'Is he there yet?' grumbled one of his gang associates.

It was a mere 16-year-old girl who was dressed in a black dress, platform shoes with her blond hair (equipped with waist-length extensions) spilling over her shoulders. Her name: Deirdre Dennis.

'If you keep distracting me like this, we'll miss him,' growled Ghoul. He had a certain accent to his voice that separated him from the ret of street life, an accent that could have meant that he had belonged to a different class of people.

'Calm down sis, we have just arrived here ten minutes ago,' Deirdre's twin sister, Dahlia, calmed her.

Dahlia and Deirdre Dennis, also known as 'the Deeds', were two charming, energetic teenagers, pretty in more of a juvenile way, and- as once described- 'rotten to the core'. One couldn't tell the difference from the other, and they always operated together, which is typical of identical twins. They usual costume was a red wig with a cap placed on their heads, a tight red top, short white shorts and knee-length red boots. They painted their faces white with blushes on their cheeks which was sort of an Asiatic design. But their large green eyes and pale few freckles always shown through their masks.

'Tell your sister to calm down, or the boss'll kill us if we mess this up too,' Ghoul repeated to Dahlia.

'Aw, don't throw it at my sister,' she defended, 'you know how Deirdre is.'

Even though the twins looked alike, talked a like, behaved a like, they were still different. Deirdre, the older twin, was more daring, even though this quality cannot be denied to Dahlia, who still somehow wasn't as daring as her sister who would do dangerous stunts, such as their first incidence with Batman in the warehouse. Deirdre would jump on his shoulders and try to beat him about the head, while Dahlia would attack from the side. Deirdre almost lost her life in this incident, if Dahlia wasn't there to catch her from falling to her death. Dahlia, the younger twin, was more secluded and more careful sister, with a touch of shyness which she had successfully overcome throughout her life.

That was why Ghoul had tried to approach Deirdre when he developed an interest in her. Once they had received their scolding from their boss from their last unsuccessful attempt, he had pulled her aside to talk to her privately. However, after he asked her if she was interest in him, and she accepted, he still got paired up with Dahlia. What happened? He had asked the wrong twin.

He had a job to do, and the reason Joker had hired him was for his prodigal skills in computer system hacking. As he went about his business, Dahlia had approached him to talk. Still upset with himself for being so foolish that he hadn't asked the right twin, he refused to talk with her, excusing himself for needing to do an important job. Dahlia just answered him that she would just keep talking and he could choose whether to listen to her or not (cheeky girl!).

As she talked, he began liking her more and accepted the fact that she was now officially his girlfriend. They never kissed, he didn't even think that Dahlia told any of this to her sister (which was really an exception, considering they knew so much about each other that they barely kept secrets). He started preferring Dahlia's slightly more mature character rather than the rash one of her sister. Perhaps he liked her character because it reminded him of home, of his logical, cold family. Quite soon, as in this current situation, Deirdre was actually becoming annoying.

'Why did Joker hire you?' asked Ghoul, his voice dragging him back to the present situation.

'Huh?'

'I know that you've got great gymnastic skills, but he could have hired anyone else, preferably male. Why did he hire you and your sister?' asked Ghoul.

Dahlia scratched her head, thinking deeply. She looked up at him and said, 'Dunno. It turns out that my grandma was Harley Quinn. Hah! Can you believe that?'

'Your grandmother was Harley Quinn? Joker's crazy girlfriend?' Ghoul asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Yup. And when I asked her, she confirms it too.' Dahlia grinned.

Ghoul grew silent. It couldn't be, it was too much of a coincidence……

'I told you about my family, but you never told me about yours. I just know that you're from high-class society and that you ran away.' Dahlia's wide green eyes stared at him curiously.

Ghoul scowled, answering, 'None of your business.'

'Why not? I'm your girlfriend!'

'Keep it down!' Ghoul snapped,'I don't want the rest of them to know about us.'

Dahlia's lower lip trembled, and her eyes filed with tears. 'Fine,' she said bitterly, 'I just thought that you may feel better. Bet it's really lonely being you.'

Ghoul couldn't help but feeling a pang of guilt at her words. He had never cared about what other people thought about him, especially sweet, friendly girls. But this specific sweet, friendly girl was an odd exception.

He gave in. 'Fine,' he said,' but don't go telling this to anyone. Not even to your sister.'

Dahlia beamed, and he felt a satisfaction, 'Sure!'

Ghoul thought of how to say this, but some words tumbled out of his mouth, 'I was….. different back at home. Very different. Even though I was intelligent, my family had high expectations of me and they thought I would pursue my family business.' He paused before adding an explanation to Dahlia,' They own shares of Wayne Enterprises and run its finance departments.'

Dahlia cocked her head to one side, not understanding the concepts of Economics.

'At school I was considered weird and as I grew older I became more of a freak. If I had attended a public school I would probably have been bullied. I went to Vreeland School,' he said.

Dahlia whistled, 'That's some good private school you went to. It's one of the best in Gotham!'

Ghoul gave one of his more frightening smiles and said,' I guess so. School and home life was unbearable. My parents wanted me to go and study Business while I wanted to continue with IT. They wanted me to continue working in the firm, and what I chose was unacceptable.'

His eyes darted across the dance floor, thinking that he had spotted the kid. But it was someone else, so he continued,' I often thought of running away, but something always held me back. I thought that everybody in my family was perfect and that I was gonna make an idiot out of myself. That is, until my mum told me about her side of the family.

'She told me about her grandfather, that is, my great grandfather. When he was my age, he had it off with some teenage girl who became pregnant by him. When the kid was supposed to be born, he ran off and got married soon after and had two kids, one of them being my mum's father.

'The girl he dumped had given the newborn baby to be raised by her sick old grandmother, who tortured the kid while growing up. The kid was an outcast like me: weird, smart and bullied in school. Later, he grew up to become one of Batman's greatest foes. He even killed his father later on and attempted to kill his mother.'

'Cool!' exclaimed Dahlia,' You have Batman criminals on you side too? Who was he?'

'Keep you voice down!' he hissed. He looked to see if anyone was watching, and then whispered something in her ear.

'No!' she gasped.

Ghoul nodded somberly,' That's why I ran away from home. Not only because I was too much of a freak, but also that something runs down my bloodline and makes me unstable. I don't want to hurt anyone back home. I don't belong there.'

Dahlia smiled sympathetically, 'No wonder you're so smart.'

'No wonder you're so crazy.' He smirked.

'How did you get so scarred?' Dahlia touched one of his scars carefully.

Ghoul reflexively pulled his arm away, and said, 'Let's just say, that I had an accident and that I tattooed my skin gray so it would show less.' Tattooing whole skin in one color nowadays was getting popular.

'Guys!' called Deirdre, 'I think Woof sniffed out our party. Dahlia! Come over here! The rest of you: you know what to do.'

'Great,' said Ghoul dryly,' I have to get his stupid girlfriend. What fun.'

Dahlia fluffed her enormous hair, saying,' Not as bad as when I have to suck up to this retard. Deirdre thinks he's cute.'

'I'm disappointed in her,' said Ghoul.

Before leaving, Dahlia turned to him, smiled, and said, 'Don't worry, your secret's safe with me,' she leaned in and whispered into his ear, 'and the fact that you are related to Jonathan Crane should make you even more proud.'

With that, she was gone.

Ghoul spotted his victim, stared at her under his eyelids and a creepy smile crept up his face.

'Show time, my little pumpkin.'

THE END

Author's Note: Yep, a soppy, crappy story which made it difficult for all the characters to be in character. I think that most Scarecrow fans figured out whom Ghoul could be related to. I just had to write it ever since I saw ROTJ. Anyway, would you be kind enough to leave me a review?