The Joker was now dead. No one stopped Batman as he walked out of the theater carrying the Joker's dead body. Even the cops were solemn. There was no celebration. No triumph in the fact the Clown Prince of Crime was dead. It felt surreal to everyone to watch Batman carry Joker's body like he had cared deeply about the Joker.
And after it was over and everyone was safe, there was a solemn sad feeling at Wayne Manor despite one of Bruce Wayne's adopted sons returning from his own world. Jongleur and Derek only stayed there for one day before leaving.
"I'm sorry, boss." Jongleur said with an awkward look. "But all this fancy stuff is not really our thing."
"I understand that, Jongleur. It's fine. I feel out of place too now, to be honest." Jerome said. "You take care of yourselves though, ok? Do you have a place to stay?"
"Actually, I hit up my parallel to see if he could help. He's giving us a place to stay. Don't worry about us, boss. We'll be fine. I'm more worried about you. Are you ok?" Jongleur asked with a worried look.
Jerome smiled reassuringly even though he was not ok. "I'll be fine, Jongleur. You don't need to worry. Say hi to Frost for me."
"Will do." Jongleur said before leaving with a smile.
When Jerome went back inside the manor he saw Richard Grayson standing there looking at him with sympathy on his face. Jerome smiled at him with a smile that he couldn't manage to look very happy. "I guess you heard I came back. Did you just get here?"
"Yeah. Bruce told me all that happened. That a few of your friends died in Arkham City when you were trying to help him. How are you holding up?" Richard asked.
"Well, I'm kind of getting tired of people asking if I'm ok. But otherwise, I'm doing as well as I could for the situation." Jerome said.
Richard went over and hugged him. Jerome stiffened in his arms for a few moments before accepting it and hugging him back. To get a hug from the eldest adopted son of Bruce Wayne that didn't even spend a whole lot of time with the rest of the family anymore was just more proof that all of the bat family still cared about him. They still considered him part of the family.
"I'm glad you're back, little brother." Richard said when they pulled away from each other.
"It's good to see you, Richard." Jerome said. "But I don't need you to try and cheer me up. Bruce tries to do that far too much as it is."
"He's just worried about you. He always worries about all of us. It's just how he is." Richard said. "Are you staying? Or are you headed back to the other world at some point?" Richard asked.
"I don't have any reason to go back. It's complicated and I don't really want to talk about it." Jerome said.
"That's fine. I won't ask." Richard said. "It's just good to see you. Bruce was pretty torn up when you left. We all understand why you thought you had to. But none of us are going to judge you harshly for that."
"So Bruce told you who I parallel?" Jerome asked.
"Yeah. After he thought you wouldn't return, he told us why you thought you had to go. It was really surprising to find out but that's not you, no matter what you might have been if you stayed in your own world. You aren't anything like that psycho. I want you to know that."
"You all have much more confidence in me than I do." Jerome said. They all kept saying that he wasn't anything like the Joker. And all of them were wrong.
"I suppose that is what family is for." Richard said, patting him on the back. "Alfred just made lunch. Come on." Jerome followed Richard to the kitchen where Alfred was setting plates down. Bruce and Tim were already sitting there at the table, both looking rather sleepy. They both probably just got up. Bruce smiled at Jerome as Jerome and Richard sat down at the table.
As they all ate and laughed and acted like a normal family, Jerome acted happy to be there. He acted like it was all ok. But he wasn't ok and them acting like he was just part of the family again wasn't helping like he thought it would. He was happy to see all of them. And he wished he could do more than just pretend that everything was fine. He wanted so much to just have a normal life again with them. Or as normal as having a family full of vigilantes was. But it felt like a lie. He didn't feel like he fit into all of that anymore. And it was devastating to realize that he'd probably never feel like he fit in there again.
"It would be great if you were here for this, boss." Jongleur said over the phone as Jerome sat in his room at the manor on the phone with him. "Frost wanted to say one last goodbye to his boss by throwing a party that Joker would enjoy. There's probably going to be a whole lot of drinking and stuff. None of them can be there for his cremation so they thought they'd at least have a memorial for him. He said I should invite you since you were important to Joker. Frost is pretty torn up about Joker's death."
"Last time you invited me to a party I ended up the leader of a fucking cult, Jongleur." Jerome pointed out. He sighed. "But I'll come. Maybe I need to be there, for Joker."
"So you'll come? Great!" Jongleur said, sounding very happy. "Frost will be happy to hear that. He was really hoping to see you there. I think it will really help cheer him up."
"So you've been bonding with your parallel I see." Jerome said.
"Yeah. He's great. He's a lot more serious and down to earth than me but still a cool guy." Jongleur said. "And Derek is doing ok. Frost has a few friends who are also fond of explosives and they've been bonding over that. It's really helped him get over Roz and Cammy's deaths."
"Great. Sounds like a real good influence on him." Jerome snarked and rolled his eyes. "At least he's happier. Anyway, text me the address and I'll see you at the party later."
"Will do. See you soon, boss." Jongleur said before Jerome ended the call. Jerome left his room and ran into Bruce who was passing.
"Jerome, the city's been rather quiet lately so I thought we'd go out to dinner. We could go to that restaurant you enjoy." Bruce said.
"I'd love to, really, but I already told my friend Jongleur that I would go to this party he's going to." Jerome said apologetically.
"That's the friend that's Johnny Frost's parallel? That's currently staying with Johnny Frost?" Bruce asked with a worried look.
"Yeah. The Joker thug, Johnny Frost. Don't start judging Jongleur on who his parallel is or you'll have to do the same for me." Jerome said with some irritation in his eyes.
"Sorry. I won't judge. Just be careful, ok?" Bruce asked.
"It's just a party, Bruce. You worry too much." Jerome said.
"A memorial for the Joker I'm guessing, if it's Frost that's throwing it." Bruce said, perceptive as always.
"I thought you said you wouldn't judge?" Jerome said, not denying what Bruce said.
"I'm not judging Jongleur for who his parallel is. I am just concerned about the other people that will likely be at this party. But I trust that you can protect yourself if a situation should arise where you would need to. So I'm not going to try and stop you. I know that your feelings towards the Joker were complicated."
"They were. I told you what happened to my brother. Losing Joker was like losing Miah. So yeah, my feelings were and still are complicated. Thanks for not trying to stop me from going. I know that the majority of the people at this party are probably people that you've beat up at least once. But I feel I kind of have to be there. I know that they wouldn't dare hurt me. And I can defend myself if I have to." Jerome said. "I'll probably end up very drunk so don't wait up. I'll probably end up crashing on someone's couch after."
"I know that I worry far too much. But I care about you. I don't want anything to happen to you." Bruce said. "I will try and keep in mind that you aren't a kid anymore and can take care of yourself."
"And I appreciate that, Bruce. A lot." Jerome said, not sure he really deserved it. "I'll be careful."
"That's all I ask." Bruce said.
Jerome eyed the rundown building in front of him dubiously. He had followed Jongleur's directions and it led him there. It was an old apartment building. Maybe Frost's place? But it did not look big enough to host a party of what likely would be a lot of former Joker thugs. He texted Jongleur with a wary frown on his face.
Jerome: "I'm at the address you sent me. Where are you?"
Jongleur: "Frost said he'd meet you there. He's being paranoid and didn't want me to give you the actual location. I'll let him know you're there."
Jerome: "I suppose that's sensible given that most of the party guests aren't on the good side of the law. But why did he think I'd be an issue?"
Jongleur: "Not sure. Maybe it's because of Bruce Wayne? Who knows."
Jerome: "Just tell him to get here fast. This is not a good part of town and I don't feel like beating up any lowlives that decide to try and rob me."
Jerome stood there waiting. He wrapped his coat around him a little tighter. It was cold. It was nearly October and the leaves on the trees in the nearby park were an ugly brown. Not a pretty orange color like one would think Fall leaves would look. Just this dead looking brown. It wasn't shaping up to be a very cheerful Fall. Usually he loved Fall. Halloween was one of his favorite holidays. But he just had this feeling that he wouldn't enjoy it at all that year.
A van stopped nearby and Frost got out. "Hey Jerome. It's good to see you. Thanks for coming out here."
"Yeah well you could've just told me the actual location. This wasn't necessary." Jerome said.
"If I told you, you wouldn't have come." Frost said with an unreadable look on his face.
"What are you talking about?" Jerome asked before getting knocked over the head from behind. Everything went dark.
Jerome woke up tied up. He was lying in the back of a van that was on its way to an unknown location. He lamented the fact that getting knocked over the head and kidnapped was becoming a pattern. He looked up at Frost who was staring at him with an apologetic look on his face.
"Could you maybe tell me what the fuck you're doing?" Jerome asked.
"I've always been loyal to the Joker. I would do anything for him. So I have to fulfill his last request. I'm sorry. I don't want to do this to you. But Joker wanted me to."
"Did Jongleur know you were doing this?" Jerome asked, having a sinking feeling that whatever Joker had planned for him wasn't going to be pleasant.
"No. He really thinks we are having a party. I didn't want to lie to him but he would've never gone along with it. He's as loyal to you as I was to Joker." Frost said.
The van stopped. They were at their destination. There were no windows in the back of the van so Jerome had no idea where they were. The back of the van was opened by a Joker thug and Frost helped the Joker thug drag Jerome out of the van. Jerome saw where they were and it didn't give him an encouraging feeling. It was Ace Chemicals.
"Oh... So that's what he wanted you to do." Jerome said quietly as he stared up at the ominous building that looked similar enough to the Ace Chemicals plant in his world to give him some uncomfortable deja vu.
"Like I said, I'm sorry." Frost said as they led him forcibly inside the building. "When you came back, Joker came to me and told me that if the cure didn't work and he died, that I should take you here. So his legacy would be intact. Most of Joker's thugs will follow you. The ones that didn't go and follow Harley instead. You'll have a lot of people that have your back once you take the title."
"What if I don't want to take that title, hmm?" Jerome said with an unpleasant look on his face. He could've fought them off and escaped but he let them lead him through the chemical plant.
"We aren't really giving you a choice. This is what Joker wanted. His last request. We can't ignore that." Frost said as they reached the area with the chemical vats. They walked onto the catwalk and Jerome had to try very hard to hide his nervousness. The chemicals bubbled menacingly in the vats below and were an almost glowing green.
Suddenly, Batman swept in from above and landed on the catwalk. "Let him go. Now!"
Several of the Joker thugs attacked Batman, including Frost, and Jerome was left with only one thug watching him.
Jerome found a way out of his cuffs and as the thug went to restrain him he turned around to glare at the thug menacingly. "Keep your paws off me if you want to keep them." he snarled at the thug. The thug's eyes widened and he backed away. Jerome looked over at Batman. Batman was already almost finished fighting off the Joker thugs. Only Frost and one other were still conscious. Then he stared down at the hand he chemical burned back when he tried to save Miah. Why was he still fighting this so hard?
"Just stop." Jerome said with an irritated look on his face. They ignored him. "I said fucking stop!" Both the thugs and Batman paused in their fighting, looking over at him in surprise.
"Jerome, I'm going to get you away from here. Don't worry." Batman said.
"Why?" Jerome asked with a deep in thought look.
"Why?" Batman asked, very confused.
"...I'm never going to be normal. No matter how much people care about me I will always be unstable." Jerome said, looking down and staring at the chemicals below. "And the awful thing about that is that, unlike Joker, and unlike Miah, I do actually care about people. I do feel guilt. You'd think that being able to care would be something positive. Something to enjoy. But I've come to the realization that its a fucking curse. Miah was the lucky one. He didn't have to feel all this pain. All this guilt."
"I understand very well how much it hurts, Jerome." Batman said, looking worried at what Jerome was saying. "That's why you have to be strong. Learn to live with it and let it make you stronger. I can help you with that if you'll let me."
"Learning to live with it isn't going to make it go away. You are proof of that. You still have all this pain and yet you live with it. It just drives you to protect people more. I'd love to be like you. But I'm not as strong as you. You make it look easy. It's like this Batman thing was what you were meant for. But me? I'm not built to care this much." Jerome said with an overwhelmed look. "Joker said that he used to care before all the crazy. So maybe...maybe doing this to myself will make life bearable."
"Don't do it, Jerome." Batman said, now very worried. "Don't give up on your sanity." He moved to get closer to Jerome but the Joker thugs stopped him. Some of them had woken up again and rejoined the fight.
"My world's Ra's saw this. I remember now what he said that I dismissed at the time. He said I would take the fall into insanity willingly. And I guess he was right. About everything..." Jerome said with a look that said he was done with everything. "Tell Bruce Wayne not to blame himself for this. Please. It's not his fault."
"I won't let you do this to yourself!" Batman was fighting the thugs, trying desperately to get to Jerome.
Jerome moved closer to the edge and leaned backwards over the railing making sure Batman was watching. "Goodbye, Bats." He leaned over further and fell over the edge into the chemical vat below.
Batman POV
Bruce had been devastated when Jerome decided he had to go back to his own world. But he knew why Jerome thought he had to. Bruce didn't care who Jerome paralleled. He had always thought that if he was there for Jerome and made his life a good and happy one that Jerome wouldn't feel the need to lose his sanity. When Jerome returned Bruce was so happy to see him...but Jerome was different. Something had happened. Perhaps his own world had tried bringing out Jerome's mental issues. But Bruce didn't care. That was still his son. His son had returned. When he learned later that Jerome had to witness his own brother become the Joker, he understood Jerome's pain. But he had no idea that Jerome was going to give up because of it. He watched in horror as Jerome leaned over the railing and fell into the vat below.
"No!" Batman yelled as Jerome fell. The thugs had stopped fighting to watch him fall. Then, as Batman was frozen in shock, the thugs used that time to run for it. Batman didn't stop them. He was just staring at the vat below, devastated. "Jerome…"
Frost POV
Frost was surprised yet relieved that Batman hadn't gone after them. He ran out of the chemical plant with a purpose. He knew exactly where he had to go. Joker had explained to him where the overflow pipe would take Jerome. He had to make sure that Jerome made it. When he got to the small shore near the plant, he saw Jerome drag himself out of the water and then collapse unconscious. Frost told the thugs to bring the van as he rushed to Jerome's unconscious form.
"Fuck, please don't be dead." Frost said as he carefully turned Jerome over. He stood back in shock as he saw Jerome's face. It was uncanny. He looked like Joker now. A younger Joker but still, the pale skin and red lips and green hair were all there. Frost shook himself out of his shock and made sure Jerome was still breathing. He was. Frost sighed in relief. The van pulled up and Frost yelled for a blanket.
"He ok?" a thug asked.
"What the hell do you think? Get me a fucking blanket!" Frost said, irritated. The thug ran back to the van to get one.
They wrapped Jerome up and carried him to the van. A thug was putting him in the van when he accidentally touched Jerome under the blanket and cried out in pain. "Oww! what the fuck? It burns!"
"That's why I wanted the blanket, genius. He's still got some of those chemicals on him." Frost said. "We need to get him back as quick as we can so we can wash them all off. I'm kinda worried he's not waking up. Step on it. You know where to go."
Jerome POV
When Jerome woke up he was in a lot of pain. But it was a physical pain instead of mental and that somehow made it feel almost pleasant. His head was a jumbled mess. What had happened? He opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on a vaguely familiar couch. He sat up and saw that he was somewhere he hadn't been in years. It was the funhouse at the old abandoned amusement park he met Joker at years ago. Why was he there? Then he remembered what he did to himself. Did he actually do that to himself willingly? He got up and felt dizzy but still went over to the mirror on the wall across the room. He stared at his face in the mirror in shock. He really did fall into the vat. He now looked like Joker. His skin was pale white. His lips were crimson red. And his hair was stained green. There was no turning back now. At that thought he started laughing. But when he started, he couldn't stop. There really was something seriously wrong with him, wasn't there? He would've worried at that but as he laughed he also realized… he didn't feel any pain or guilt anymore. He was finally free. So he just lost himself in the feeling. He heard people arguing as they walked into the room.
"You lied to me, Frost! You told me it was a party! I trusted you!" Jongleur snarled at his parallel. "You threw him in!"
Jerome turned around and whatever Jongleur was about to say died in his throat as he saw the way Jerome looked. "Boss…"
Jerome smirked. "He didn't throw me in, Jongleur. I jumped."
"What? Why?" Jongleur asked.
"Because I'm tired of being one of the good guys. I was so tired of the guilt. The pain at losing people I cared about. Now I'm free. I don't care anymore. It's a wonderful feeling." Jerome said with a smile.
Jongleur stared at him with a worried look. "...I suppose if you're feeling better I shouldn't worry so much. But boss… look at your face. Are you going to call yourself Joker now? I thought you said you'd never call yourself the Joker."
"I did say that, didn't I?" Jerome said, looking back at his face in the mirror. "I suppose I'll have to break that promise to myself. With a face like this, who else could I be?"
"Like I said before, most of Joker's thugs are probably willing to follow you." Frost said. "All you have to do is say the word."
Jerome thought for a few moments and then grinned. "Well then, I think it's time they learn about the leadership change, don't you? I know that party was a lie. But that doesn't mean we can't have one. Throw that party for real, Frost. Invite all Joker's loyal lackeys here for a memorial for their dead boss. And at that party I'll let them know the score."
"Sure thing, boss." Frost said. "I'll go contact people. Jongleur, I might need some help getting supplies.
Jerome stared at his reflection with a frown. "One more thing. Go kidnap a decent tailor. If we're going to have a party I'll need to look good."
"I'll get right on that." Jongleur said, running off.
Frost POV
Joker always seemed to inspire loyalty in his thugs for some reason. Out of all of the villains, he had the least thug betrayals out of any of them. Perhaps it was because he tended to hunt down whoever did betray him. But as the former Joker thugs kept trickling into the abandoned amusement park and congregated around the area of the park that served as an amphitheater, Frost realized that even after he was dead, they were still loyal. They gathered and drank to their lost leader, genuinely sad that he was gone. Many expressed disappointment. They thought the excitement that came from being a Joker lackey was over now he was dead. Two-Face and Penguin were not nearly as entertaining to work for.
Jongleur was sitting on the edge of the stage with a less than happy look. But it was for a completely different reason than most present had for being sad. Frost could tell the young man was still not sure what he thought of his boss's new look.
Frost got up on the stage when it was time. "Welcome. You all know why we are here. We are here for the most entertaining boss any of us ever had. No matter how much risk came with being his henchman, it was always worth it. It was never boring. To Joker!" he raised his drink.
"To Joker!" the crowd said in return.
"The boss would never want us to mope about this though. And we don't have to. Just because he's dead doesn't mean the party's over. All of you know about JJ. You've heard stories. Some of you even met him. The rumors are true about him. All of them. He was the Joker's parallel version. And now he's accepted the truth about himself. Put your hands together folks… for the new Joker!"
Jerome stepped into view onto the stage. He gave a demented grin to the crowd. And the crowd started getting excited. There he was in full Joker glory. His face was pale and clownlike. His grin, unmistakably Jokerlike. His outfit was purple, green, and orange. Jerome figured he'd better go all out. He was every bit a Joker but he made the look his own. It had a slight punk flair to it.
"Hello there boys and girls." Jerome said, grinning at the crowd. "I know that all of you are sad to lose my parallel self. But like Frost said, the party is far from over. I'm tired of being just a spare psycho destined to die in the prologue. I want to be the main event. Not just the opening act! So now I will. The Joker is dead. I'm the Joker now. Long live me!"
The crow started chanting 'Joker' over and over, getting louder and louder until it was almost deafening. Jerome grinned even wider at their show of loyalty. Frost was surprised just how into his new role Jerome had become. He was no longer Jerome anymore at all. He was Joker.
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
There you have it. The end of Jerome's adventure in Arkham City. He's lost himself to his madness and become the new Joker. Tune in next time for the next installment of Jerome in the Arkham universe! The Arkham Knight has plans for Gotham. How will Jerome, or Joker as he refers to himself now, react to the identity of the Arkham Knight? And for that matter, how will the Arkham Knight react to the way Jerome is now?