"You," was all that Iron Man uttered in response to the sight of the Clown Prince of Crime. "You disgusting piece of shit."
Joker whipped his head over to Iron Man's cell. Then he hurriedly trotted over to it, humming loudly while tapping onto the glass. "Why are you so upset to see me, Tin Man? I haven't done anything to you." "Yet," he added.
"Doesn't matter. All the things you've done, all those people you've murdered…that's enough to despise a monster like you."
Joker shrugged. "Hmm, fair enough, I guess. A name like mine certainly is known across the world."
And with that, the clown walked over to the other villains. "So, can we get right to the fun already? I'm eager to top myself after Robin's death."
The Joker followed that up with a grin. Iron Man seethed at the sight of this monster. This monster who had taken so many lives, enough to fill entire graveyards, and not feel the slightest ounce of remorse over his actions. How could a person like this exist? Someone who would torture, maim, and murder on a whim, and still be proud of themselves afterwards. And to do it on tenfold the level other sociopaths would do it at. The Joker practically skipped over to Doctor Doom to ask when they would stop standing there and staring blankly at the imprisoned heroes. Iron Man clenched his fists. Arkham Asylum had made a mistake for writing him off as insane and mentally ill. The Joker's smile revealed a man who knew full well what he was doing, and still reveled in every moment of it.
Iron Man's thoughts halted when he heard Batgirl speak up. "Why, Doom?!," she shouted to the dictator, who stood still with his arms crossed. "How can you ally with that scumbag clown?! Nygma, Crane, you've both expressed disgust at him before? Have all of you lost your minds?!"
The Scarecrow chuckled. "Oh, just you wait, Batgirl. You have no idea what's coming next."
"You're right, he doesn't!" Batgirl stated.
And before Iron Man knew it, the energy field keeping him and the other heroes imprisoned was gone. Looking at the cells of the wall, Iron Man saw nothing inside that he could've hacked into. No panels, no monitors, not a single screen to be seen in the cell. His anger at seeing the Joker, the man whose laugh should be silenced forever, was such that it clouded his mind. It distracted him from thinking of how to break free from the cell. But how did Batgirl manage to do the trick?
That question would have to wait. There were now several supervillains cracking their knuckles and charging over to the heroes.
"You scoundrels! How on Earth did you break through Doom's security system?!"
"You think we don't have any tech of our own in these batsuits?!" Batgirl replied, smirking as she backhanded Riddler in the face.
And so the brawl between the heroes and the villains began. "What, are you trying to make the Sinister Six jealous after they dumped you?" Spidey quipped to Doc Ock as he blasted his webs against the latter, trying to coat his robotic arms in the silky material. With two of the arms restrained, Spider-Man delivered an uppercut to Doc Ock's chin. The rogue responded by using his bottom right tentacle to yank Spidey by his leg and slam him onto the ceiling.
Scarecrow reached into his pockets, trying to make use of one of his fear toxin grenades, but Batgirl elbowed him in the stomach and decked him int the face. When Riddler tried to sneak away from her, the femme bat-crusader extended her leg from behind and struck him directly in the kneecap. She then slammed her elbow into Riddler's nose with a loud crunch ringing out as she made contact. He was sent backing up a few steps, holding his nose.
And then there was Batman. He glared at the Joker directly. The Joker raised his hand up and motioned for the Batman to have at him. When the Riddler was about to bump into him, Batman lifted him up and threw him down onto the ground. Less than an instant later, he whipped his head back to eye the Clown Prince of Crime. Painted onto his face was not the usual stoic frown that was synonymous with Batman at this point. Instead, he clenched his teeth. Iron Man swore that he could see veins nearly popping out from his neck, despite the cowl he wore. Batman pulled out one of his batarangs and swung it towards the Joker.
Iron Man, meanwhile, had to contend with Giganta and Moonstone. Giganta was growing in size, now about twenty feet tall. If she grew any larger, her head would crash through the roof, so she remained at that size as she swung her foot up and then thrusted it forward towards Iron Man.
"You! You Vanguardians took everything from me!" Giganta shouted out as she exerted more pressure onto Iron Man. "Do you have any idea how hard it was for me?! After HYDRA collapsed?!"
Even when under the thick leather of Giganta's gargantuan boot, trying to blast free with his repulsor rays, Iron Man still said a murmured, "Oh, poor you, jobless after your evil organization was defeated before they could conquer the world! Cry me a river!"
"You don't understand!" Giganta exclaimed. "They were the only ones who -"
"Don't care!" Iron Man interjected as his next blast was finally enough to get Giganta's boot off of him. He flew into the air and used his arm cannon to fire photon blasts directly into her face. Before he could continue, Moonstone tackled him and sent him into a wall.
"May you burn in hell, you false idol!" she exclaimed.
Iron Man shoved her away, and when Moonstone sent an energy blast towards him, he responded by firing back.
*Tony, damnit, no!* Batman shouted over their earcomms, finally breaking his silence. *You know what happens when –*
Before Batman could finish what he was saying, it happened. The energy blasts that Moonstone and Iron Man were shooting at each other cancelled each other out in a massive explosion of light. Iron Man was sent back, but the crash did not feel rough and hard. It did not feel as if he had just crashed into steel, or cement, or even something like wood. Rather, it was soft but firm. When Tony turned to look round, he saw he was in a giant spider-web.
"You're welcome!" Spidey shouted over to Iron Man, before he slung over to Giganta. "Now, big lady, have you ever seen Empire Strikes Back?"
Iron Man already knew that Spidey was going to pull an AT-AT move on her, so he directed his attention over to Doctor Doom. Despite the raging battle, he had just been standing there, watching as the chaos ensued.
"What's the matter, Doom?!" Iron Man barked over to him as he began charging down towards him. "Feeling weak? What, no Doombots for you to hide behind?"
"Doom will make you suffer for that mockery!" the dictator fired back with. Right as Iron Man was about to use his arm cannon against him, Doom interjected by swinging a nasty, titanium-infused jab towards the 'invincible' Iron Man. Then Batgirl leapt into the air and fired one of her roped Batarangs towards Doctor Doom. Just as Spidey was attempting to swing his webbing around Giganta's leg, Batgirl was trying to stall Doom by circling her batarangs around him.
"Talking in the third person doesn't make you cool, Doom! It just makes you look like a try-hard!" she stated as she tossed a few more batarangs towards him.
"Does this seem like the work of a try-hard to you?!"
When Doom shouted that, he pounded his fist onto the ground, sending waves of green electricity crackling all across the room. The only ones affected were Iron Man, Batman, Spider-Man, and Batgirl. All of the villains stood by and watched. The electricity was potent enough to fry the circuits in Iron Man's armor.
Iron Man's HUD was bombarded and overwhelmed with error signals, with every component of the armor going wrong in some shape or form. *Warning! Warning! Systems failing! Power dropping by 62%* J.A.R.V.I.S stated over the comms, as if Iron Man couldn't already tell that something was up through his suit exploding with green electric beams all over.
"Now, imagine this. Methanol, gasoline, diesel, any type of fuel in the world." the Riddler began spouting out, as the electricity began to lessen and shrink up. "Vanished from the world, with no magic or science that could ever hope to bring it back -"
"Riddler, you idiot, don't tell them the plan!" Doc Ock barked over to the puzzle lover. The octo-limbed rogue followed that up with a sneer. "You can never keep your sniveling mouth shut."
"No, no," Doctor Doom replied, raising his hand up. "All four of the Americans are wounded and injured. The chances that they can stop our plan are unlikely."
"That's what they all say," Batgirl snarled out.
Smoke flowed upwards from Iron Man's armor. The error messages were disappearing from his scanner one-by-one, but it mattered little because there was a whole sea's worth of them now. *Systems rebooting, systems rebooting, systems rebooting* J.A.R.V.I.S said those words with no end in sight. All Iron Man could do, in that moment, was breathe. He looked around. Batman had several tears and cuts across his suit, as did Spidey. Spidey had a particular hole through his mask that exposed his nose and mouth. Batgirl had the least amount of visible injury, but two shiny dark bruises had etched themselves onto her cheeks.
Batman was the first on his feet. "How do you plan on doing that? I can think of at least five people smart enough to figure out a solution."
Doom's metal boots clanked onto the ground as he began pacing around. "You are mistaken, Batman! Doom would be the only one who could restore the world's fuel, with his own generator that can provide all the energy in the world. In exchange that they bend their knees to me. Even the Wakandans and the Atlanteans will be at Doom's mercy!"
Iron Man was the next to get onto his feet. The error messages had dwindled enough to where he could properly look the dictator in the eye. "You're an intelligent man. But you're arrogant as shit, to think that even Wakanda and Atlantis will bend the knee to Latveria for their energy. Where is this generator anyway? And also…"
Iron Man pointed his finger over to the Joker, who was a few feet away from Doom. "Why on Earth is he here?!"
The Joker twiddled his thumbs around, smugly grinning and gloating. "Another fair point from the Invincible Iron Man. You're right, I don't really care for stealing the world's energy and yadda yadda yadda. Doom offered me complete legal immunity in his new regime."
His grin grew wider and wider. Somehow, the Joker's grin was able to reach even beyond his ears. "And then I can torment Batman all I want to."
The Joker began slowly trotting around the room. "Now, Iron Man, the Riddler here may want to reveal our plans, but he's also a crafty one," he said. He followed that up by grabbing out his revolver, grabbing it by the front, and bashing the Riddler's forehead with the handle. The Riddler exclaimed loudly as he tumbled to the ground, but the Joker carried on walking. He whipped his head over to Iron Man. "He was able to deduce some truths about you. As much fun as I have with the Batman, maybe I'll pay Pepper and Morgan a few visits."
The countless scenarios and possibilities began flooding through Iron Man's mind, with enough strength to burst any dam. He remembered the images of Jason Todd's cold, lifeless corpse, amidst the wreckage and ruin. All of these scenarios, be they in a heavily populated area swarmed with people or a remote forest in the middle of nowhere, ended the same: With Morgan just as bloodied and beaten as Jason was, and Tony holding his precious child in his arms, having been unable to save her.
"She's just a baby! Leave her alone! Don't you dare touch my Morgan!"
Iron Man charged over to the Clown Prince of Crime and grabbed him by his neck. "If you so much as lay a finger on them, I will not hesitate to incinerate every last cell from your body! Do you hear me?!"
Admist the acks and coughs, the Joker let a small chuckle slip. "Perhaps me and my….*ack*…perhaps they'll come along."
The villains all looked around at each other, their brows raised and their mouths agape. Doc Ock was the one who spoke up. "Uh, no, Joker, whatever you plan to do with his family, we don't -"
"Shut your mouth before I kill you as well!" Iron Man roared out, aiming one of his arm cannons towards Doc Ock. "If you go anywhere near my daughter, I'll slaughter every single one of you!"
"We've already been talking about it, tin man," the Joker replied, his neck still in Iron Man's grip. "If you really care, deal with us now."
Moonstone shook her head. "Shut up Joker, we've never even talked about this!"
Iron Man was sneering and growling like a thousand pound polar bear. Perhaps the Joker was lying, but perhaps he wasn't. It was the Joker, after all. Iron Man looked around at all the villains. Some of them were glaring at the Joker, others were shaking their heads in an attempt to distance themselves from his claims. Iron Man stared at them at all. If they were really after his daughter, they would need to pay the price with their lives.
"Iron Man, no killing! It's what the Joker wants! You crush his throat and he wins!"
To hear Batman say those words, after Jason, after the threat against Morgan…how could he, Iron Man thought. How could he?
Before he knew it, a green and deadly liquid was poured onto Iron Man's suit. It actually was stomach acid, emitted from the Joker's flower. His instinct was to jump and in the heat of the moment, he let go of the Joker.
"Oh yes! I'll have lots of fun! It'll torment Batman to know he can't save his friends! Your friends think they know torment?! Wait until they get a load of me!"
Then smoke erupted out from nowhere, consuming the whole room. Iron Man peered over and saw that it was Batgirl who had dropped the smoke bombs. Iron Man's scanner detected her in her silhouetted form kicking Doc Ock in the shin, then grabbing him by his head and butting him into the Riddler. She formed a fist and punched the Scarecrow in the stomach, before kneeing him and shoving him down onto the ground. Finally, she went for the Joker. Moonstone flew towards her, while Giganta prepared to send a colossal fist her way. But the other heroes could help with this.
But then, the Joker pulled out his gun again. And then….bang. A sound of thunder echoed through the air, and Batgirl fell to the ground. Forget the others. Iron Man readied his cannon to blast towards the Joker's face, intending on it to be reduced to mere atoms. This could go on no longer.
"Enough is enough, Doom!" Scarecrow shouted. "You said you would take care of The Joker! It's time!"
It was very unlike Doom to take commands from anyone. But indeed, he delivered a solid, metallized punch to the Joker's cheek, and the clown was immediately left unconscious.
"Very well, Scarecrow," Doom stated, while keeping his eye on Iron Man. "It's time to enact the other plan."
Moonstone was repeatedly blasting towards Batman, while Giganta enveloped Spidey into her fist before the latter could complete his Empire trick. Doom lunged towards Iron Man, and Iron Man prepared his chest arc reactor to fire into Doom's chest. But Doom struck first. And before Stark knew it, everything went black once more.
Batman awoke to find himself…in front of a massive ocean's worth of people. There were rows upon rows of them, chanting and ranting and cursing to their heart's content.
They were in Doomstadt, whose sky was dark and cold, the winds breezing wildly. People from the capital had been gathered together to see him all tied up and bound. He still felt the leather of his mask, so he had not been unmasked for the world to see. He looked around. Spider-Man was all tied up, while Iron Man was restrained differently. Since his suit could break through rope or metal like it was a twig, he was instead held in some kind of energy plasma field that neutralised his armour. Why they hadn't just taken him out of his armor, Batman didn't know. Maybe they didn't want to expose their identities, for one reason or another?
But in any case, Batgirl was nowhere to be seen.
"I present to you," Prime Minister von Bardas shouted onto the podium, "The disgraceful Vanguardians Batman and Iron Man, who have the gall to enter our country uninvited!"
Booing and barking echoed throughout the air, with some even throwing rocks and other such things at the heroes. Batman groaned. He tried to wiggle and squirm to break free, but to no avail. This wasn't dollar-store rope that was keeping him restrained. This was industrial and almost crushingly strong.
Doctor Doom stood behind von Bardas. The Riddler, the Scarecrow, and Doc Ock stood to his left, while Giganta and Moonstone were at his right. Not among them was the Joker. It only took an instant for him to see where the Joker was. He was also tied up, kneeling down next to Giganta. He was bruised and bloodied, just like the heroes were.
So, the Joker hadn't convinced the other villains to change their minds on him after all. They hated him as much as they ever did. But that only raised more questions. Before Batman could ponder further, his ribs began squeezing particularly hard. He clenched his teeth and grunted.
"And now, citizens of Doomstadt, I give you, our glorious ruler himself, Lord Victor von Doom!"
And with that, Lucia von Bardas stepped to the back. The crowd began to cheer uproariously and fanatically, with spit coming out of many of their mouths as they bellowed and hollered in joy. How much of this was genuine or fake, unclear, but Doom didn't seem to mind either way. He approached the podium and placed his hands firmly atop it. He nodded towards his crowd. It was a good minute or two before the hurricane of encores finally died down enough for Doom to speak.
"Citizens of Doomstadt, it is with a wounded heart that Doom must announce that the reason these three American 'superheroes' – Batman, Iron Man, and Spider-Man – all infiltrated Latveria's borders, was in an attempt to depose me before I could achieve my latest grand plan! We were able to intercept them in time, and here they sit now, in shame and dishonor!"
The boos reignited, and more objects were chucked towards the three. Spidey hadn't even crossed the border of their own volition, and yet they received vegetables and other such objects pelting on their faces and torsos. None of them said a word, not even Spidey. No quips or snark emanated from him. Instead, he hung his head low, and shook it softly.
"And just what was this noble plan of mine?!" Doctor Doom roared out, raising his arms high into the air. "What did these three consider to be a conniving scheme that needed to be toppled for the good of mankind?!"
Doom whipped his body to the side at break-neck speed, and pointed directly at the Joker. "Him! They wanted to save that monster from receiving the horrendous end he so desperately deserves!"
Batman watched as the Riddler and Doc Ock clenched their hands onto the Joker's arms and dragged him forward with such ferocity, the Dark Knight could almost swear he was seeing dust spatter into the air. "Hey, be gentle, this suit ain't cheap!" the Joker snapped at them, but they kept dragging him until he was right next to the Dark Knight. Batman sneered to himself; kneeling near him like this, he could smell the rotting odor of the Clown Prince, who also bore the stench of freshy drawn blood.
"Doomie, what's happening here?!" the Joker barked up towards the Latverian dictator. "I was promised that I would be exonerated from everything I've -"
"YOU WERE NOT GRANTED PERMISSION TO SPEAK, YOU REPULSIVE ANIMAL!"
Doom delivered a swift kick to the Joker's stomach as he screamed those words as loud as any human being could hope to scream. There was dead silence. Even the Joker had finally shut up. Instead, he coughed so hoarsely that it seemed as if he was trying to force his spleen out through his mouth.
Batman kept his eyes locked onto the whole scene. To see Doom go through all this trouble, to get rid of the Joker. But then he raised an eyebrow. If Doom and the villains he had convinced to join his cause had wanted the Joker dead this badly, then why had they not just done it themselves? With all of Doom's wealth and resources, he surely must have had the means by which to have the Joker smuggled to Latveria so he could inflict every torture conceivable to man before making his final moments be of terror and agony without respite. But instead….this is what Doom had in mind.
"The Joker is one of the worst monsters to ever grace this planet!" Doom shouted boomingly, his voice echoing all throughout the city block. "He has tortured, maimed, and killed more souls than could ever be counted! America's superhero community knew full well how low he sank, how such a vile and ghastly creature did not deserve to be considered a person. Yet they did nothing! They locked him up in Arkham Asylum only for this creature to break out and kill more people all over! They allowed the so-called "Clown Prince of Crime" to keep breathing, costing more people their lives in the process."
Doom then turned his head to face Batman. Even under that mask, Batman could see Doctor Doom's fiery and hateful eyes narrow towards him. "But the blame goes to him!" he shouted, pointing at Batman. "It was The Batman who the Joker obsessed over! It was him that drove the Joker to kill as he pleased, just to get his attention! It was him that had many an opportunity to snap his neck, and yet did no such thing!"
Batman grunted. He had thought of breaking the Joker's neck many times. Not a night went by when he didn't think of tracking down the Joker, taking out his kneecaps and his hands, and then grabbing his neck and twisting it like it was a towel. But he felt that if he did that to the Joker, as much as he wanted to, then he would do it to the Riddler, the Scarecrow, and every other supervillain he came across, until his arms were drenched from fingertip to shoulder in blood.
He felt an abrasive pull atop his cowl. It was Doom, having walked over to where Batman was kneeling down.
"What do you have to say yourself, Dark Knight?! Why have you continued to let more innocents die by his hand?!"
Batman took a moment and spat onto the ground before looking up at Doom. "Don't act like you don't have blood on your hands, Lord Doom. We both know that you aren't a saint. You rule a country with an iron fist, and yet you have the audacity to take the high ground? And what of them over there, the other villains present? You don't think they've done horrible things?!"
Although Batman couldn't see him, the Riddler sneered from behind. "Batman, we may be criminals and scourges of society but even we are not as depraved as…-"
"Silence!" Doom interrupted with, and the Riddler did as he said. Then he lowered his head back over to Batman. "Their body counts combined only add up to a couple dozen. The Joker's body count, on its own, is in the thousands! He has killed more people than any individual person in history! And the others have their motivations for what they do, be it money or some other form of self-benefit. My motivation is to lead the world into a new era of prosperity and glory, to save it from its own chaos! The clown, however, is only motivated by sadism!"
Doom formed his hands into metal fists. "The worst kind of man is he who simply wants the world to burn, smiling at those he kills and those he makes suffer, just for his own amusement! I have watched from my country as you let him continue to live, to breathe! Even after he killed your Robin! That is when I knew I had to intervene!"
As Doom gave his speech, Batman pondered his point. Indeed, the Joker's body count surpassed any other supervillain by a country mile. Even other monstrous and remorseless supervillains, such as the Reverse-Flash, Mr. Zsasz, Carnage, and Bullseye, didn't come close to leaving as many bodies six feet under as the Joker. Every body laid into the ground gave Batman another reason to want to take the Joker and break him in two. Especially now that Robin was gone. And Batgirl might have suffered the same fate.
"You have permission to speak."
Batman looked up at Doom, sneering. "I take it you're going to make me watch as you kill the Joker yourself?"
"No," was Doom's response. Bruce perked his head at this, his eyes widening. "I want to show you something, Batman. You know that the Joker has killed thousands, but have you actually talked to anyone who lost their loved ones to any of them?"
Doom grabbed the top of Batman's head and whipped it to where the supervillains were standing. With all that was happening, Batman hadn't realized until now that there was a panel there. The panel then started showing security footage of a factory. Some guards were standing in the front of a rusty, brown-reddish building, shrouded in nighttime. Until one of them fell to the ground. The other raised his assault rifle up and pointed it into the woods nearby….only for the Joker to come into frame, pull out a dagger, and impale him. Two more guards burst through the door, only for the Joker to run to the corner of the wall and hide behind it. He grabbed out a grenade, unpinned it, and tossed it over the two guards. An explosion of fire and pain consumed the camera's view.
"That is the only footage I was able to retrieve from the Joker's massacre in Sokovia. I had sent troops and experts there to aid them in a crisis. He went in and killed them all for the fun of it, thinking that I wouldn't find out since it wasn't in my own country! 40 people were slaughtered in that factory, 18 of them from Latveria! My country hurt and bled that day, all because you were too cowardly to end his despicable life!"
Doom waved his hand over to the crowd. "The family members of those lost in the factory stand here now. Face them! Face those who suffer every day because of him, and because of you!"
And Batman did. He looked into the faces of the crowd. Tears rolled down from many of their faces while their eyes appeared red and soaked. Some of them held up picket signs displaying photos of those that had been lost in the Joker's attack. Most likely, Doom had dropped the news to them just shortly before confronting the Dark Knight and his group, and here they were now, barking and cursing at Batman.
"My husband died because of you!"
"My sister had her whole life ahead of her!"
"We demand justice for them!"
"Their blood is on your hands as well!"
And the Joker said, "I'm not the least bit sorry for any of it!"
Batman hung his head low. The cries continued on for a good moment. From the corner of his eye, he could see Iron Man and Spider-Man both looking at him. Even though their faces were covered, their lowered heads screamed of sorrow and pity.
"I was going to make you watch as I killed the Joker with my own hands, but the Scarecrow convinced me to go in a different direction. Crane, Nygma, step forward! It is time!"
And with that, the Scarecrow and Riddler both walked over to Doom. Riddler had in his hands a blade, while Scarecrow had a smoke grenade-resembling device in his palm. When Batman felt Riddler cutting the rope with the blade, he almost jumped. What could this be for?
Then, right before cutting the last of the rope, the Riddler stopped for a moment. Doc Ock approached them, now wearing a gas mask. He handed one to the Riddler, who took it and pulled it over his head.
"Everyone, put your gas masks on!" Doom commanded.
And before Batman knew it, the entire crowd had gas masks covering their whole head. Every single one of them. Not a single face to be seen without one. And then the Riddler cut the final piece of rope off his blade.
And after that, the Scarcrow dropped his grenade onto the stage.
It was only moments later that a yellow gaseous cloud spread across the entire air. Batman coughed hoarsely as the fear gas strengthened and intensified. When he had been in contact with the gas before, what happened was that Batman would see that night again. Himself, eight-year-old and helpless Bruce Wayne, seeing his parents lay cold and lifeless in a pool of blood while their mugger ran off to escape justice. But not this time. Instead, he saw Jason. Jason stood there, in his Robin suit, beaten and bloodied.
"Help me!" Jason shouted, his eyes and mouth wide. "Please, Batman, help me! For the love of God, save me!"
The image of Jason collapsed onto his knees. "Where are you, Batman?! …Bruce…please! The Joker's gonna kill me!"
Batman's mouth went agape. His heart pounded and thudded so hard that it would pop out of his chest at any moment. If he wasn't already kneeling, he would've collapsed to the ground, for his legs felt completely like jelly. Sweat poured down his face, slipping through his cowl, at rapid and ludicrous paces.
"J-Jason…I'm sorry…"
And soon, Jason wasn't alone. Other figures began emanating from the fear gas. Batgirl was among them, looking as bruised as she had before the Joker shot her. Her eyes were just as wide as Jason's.
"What happened?! What is happening here?!" she exclaimed.
For all Batman knew, Batgirl's time might have been cut short, her body hid away somewhere.
"It hurts, Batman! It hurts so much!" Jason continued, tears rolling down his eyes. "I tried my best against him, but…arrrgh!"
The other figures were blank, with no features whatsoever on them. At first, Batman tilted his head. He had never seen anything like this before in the fear gas hallucinations.
Then one cried, "Help! Someone help! It's the Joker!"
"Sweetheart, don't worry! I won't let him hurt you!"
"OH GOD! IT'S HIM!"
"I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die!"
The victims of the Joker, standing before Batman now. The featureless figures began appearing by the thousands. Everyone who had ever had their life taken away by the Joker, cruelly and heartlessly, inched closer to Batman. Some of them cried pleas for help, others cried out for help that would not come in time, and others still cried in unrelenting agony. And Jason and Batgirl remained, pleading and crying out alongside everyone else.
Batman heard the screams from the crowd, those who remained alive but had to live without those who the Joker slaughtered, to kill the Joker.
Finally, Batman looked the Joker in the eyes. Doom, Iron Man, Spidey, and everyone else were no longer in view, there was only the Joker. He looked up at Batman, with a smirk on his face.
"Oh, don't worry. I know we'll escape this," he said, that smirk morphing into his infamous smile. "And then I can finally top killing Robin. Soon, your Boy Wonder's death will seem like nothing to me, just like everyone else's."
The lack of regret on his face. The promise that he would continue to do it again. The faces of Jason and Batgirl, and the spirits of those who deserved better than to be brutally murdered by a sadistic clown. And the cries of those still alive, demanding his head.
Since beginning his war on crime, Batman had beaten it into his mind that he was to never kill. That he would grow old and die peacefully without having ever taken another person's life. But this…all of this…
The Joker chuckled. "Let's hurry it up already!"
Finally, the Dark Knight snarled. He grabbed the Joker's neck. He began twisting it around. And twisting it. And twisting it. And twisting it, with Herculean might.
'No!' his mind roared to himself. 'Don't you do this! Stop! No!'
That part of him kept screaming and bellowing. He even held the Joker in place for a moment. His arms trembled in resistance. But the fear gas and the pressure from thousands of raging voices worked a nasty charm. Batman tried with all his mind to stop himself, but the fear gas was seeping through his mind, consuming it.
'No! Dear Lord, no!'
But it was too late.
Snap.