Alex knew his normal life was over. He paced the room agonizing over it. Angie was looking at him with concern. "Alex, you're acting different. Did you go off one of your medications?"
"What?" Alex said, distracted by his thoughts. "Oh. Just one of the less important medications. Not the big one. I was just tired of being so flat. If I'm going to be normal, I can at least be allowed to enjoy my life."
"Oh. Ok. Just let me know if you go off the big one." Angie said unconcerned.
"I'm not dumb. Obviously I'll let you know. I know I might get a little dangerous to have as a love interest. Given what I twisted Harley into. Of all times for Harley and Ivy to do a heist! I can't believe I actually dated that woman." Alex said. Then he went off on a tangent. "You know what? Maybe Bruce'll let me have a promotion now that I know his secret and all. I mean, I do have a bit of leverage now. Even though I never intend on using that information."
Angie was too busy having a look at Riddler's information to really notice how strung out Alex looked. She looked up and finally noticed. "Alex, stop it. Don't get yourself riled up."
"How can one not in this situation? Fine." Alex sighed and plopped down on the couch. He turned on the tv to try and calm his nerves. But what he saw on tv did anything but calm him. The news was reporting on Ivy and Harley's heist and was showing Harley screaming at reporters that Joker was still alive and that the doctors messed with his head. Alex knew it. He knew she would say something the first chance she got. It didn't help his nerves either to see her vow on camera to make him pay for breaking her heart. He really wished his old self had picked a bit less crazy person to date.
When the gang that was trying to 'avenge' Joker, the Wild Cards, heard about him being alive, they seemed to get really excited. The deranged gang scoured the city trying to find their idol. But since Alex was normal looking, no one noticed. Well, Harley had noticed but she was observant. And obsessive. So it wasn't surprising. Alex was given a few days off of work. Bruce had figured he would need some time. It was weird to have this deep connection with a man and not even remember it like the other person could. He understood all Bruce's reasoning now. And didn't hate him for any of it. He wasn't the one that removed his memories. His former foe had only wanted to help him. And still did. He would call from time to time in the few days that followed, to see how he was doing. Alex was very grateful for the concern.
Alex forced himself to go to work. He couldn't keep staying home. He needed to be productive. Bruce let him and was glad to see that he was holding up well enough. The day didn't go all that badly, despite Alex being all over the place. The almost manic behavior was not noticed thankfully. And at the end of the day, he headed home. For a bit, this day to day seemed to work. But then he got some new symptoms that came out of nowhere. At first, he didn't tell Angie. But they worried him. Sometimes when he coughed, a little bit of blood would come out of his mouth. And sometimes he'd find himself briefly disoriented and confused. When Angie found out, she was pissed.
"Why didn't you tell me about this when it started? It sounds like side effects from a medication. You may have a chemical imbalance but even for you, these dosages must be hard on your body. You need to see a doctor." Angie said worried.
"You mean the same doctor that thinks I made his career? No thanks." Alex said dismissively.
"No. A regular doctor. He's a shrink. The coughing up blood thing is a cause for concern, Alex. Don't ignore it." Angie said.
"And what do I tell the doctor when he asks to have blood tests done? When he finds out who I used to be? I can't go to a normal doctor or the public will find out about me." Alex said. "They'll know what I look like then. People will know I used to be the Joker."
"Then tell Batman or something. Tell someone. You need to get yourself looked at. If one of the medications is hurting you, we need to know." Angie said exasperated.
Alex finally relented and told Bruce Wayne. Batman was very concerned and immediately went and found a doctor that knew and didn't care about who he used to be. One of the Arkham doctors that hadn't been involved in his treatment but knew. He used to be a medical doctor instead of a shrink. He did several tests on Alex. He did bloodwork. He even took him somewhere where he could scan Alex's brain.
"You aren't going to like what I have to say." the doctor said, sighing. Batman and Angie were in the room for emotional support.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Alex asked worriedly.
"The blood isn't really a cause for concern. It's a side effect of one of the medications but that's not an important medication to keep taking anyway. Without the bipolar medication which I see you seem not to be taking, you don't really need to be taking this one. That's not the issue. The bleeding will go away after you stop taking it. What really concerns me is your brain scans. It would seem that your brain is starting to make one of the medications less effective. Your brain is adapting to it and it's losing its effect. Hence the disorientation. It will only get worse as time goes on." the doctor said.
"Which medication would that be? I'm taking so many as it is, it could be any of them you're talking about." Alex asked. But he knew. The look on the doctor's face said it all. "The big one, right? The one keeping me from being the Joker is losing its effect. Isn't it?"
"Yes. I'm sorry. This is the worst case scenario. Eventually the medication will have little to no effect on you at all. And that means..."
Alex interrupted the doctor. "That means Joker is coming back. Even if I don't have the memories of the Joker, he's still in there. And you're saying nothing will be holding him back soon. That's hard to hear."
"How long does he have, doctor?" Batman asked. He had a worried look on his face beneath the cowl.
"I'd say in about a month the medication will lose all effect." the doctor said with a sympathetic look.
"No. There's got to be something we can do." Angie said, determined. She went over to Alex and held him close.
"It was a surprise this medication even worked at all. And worked for as long as it did. That chemical imbalance of his makes him hard to medicate. Most of your assigned doctors didn't even bother trying with medication anymore. Your new one knew a guy who had an experimental drug and thought what the hell, it won't even affect the Joker at all whether positive or negative reactions so why not a human trial off the books? It was quite a surprise to even your doctor that it worked. And seemed sketchy as hell to the rest of us. I'm sorry he experimented on you. If I knew the extent of it, I would've done something about it. Maybe gone to Batman with the evidence. But the doctor didn't tell us anything. And then the city officials backed him and we had little choice. We couldn't stop him then." the doctor said.
"I guess it's time you take me back to Arkham then." Alex said sadly. "It's been pleasant while it lasted."
"I'm taking you back to your apartment for now. You have a month. If you feel like you are getting close, tell me and I can pick you up and take you back to Arkham. But you should enjoy the time you have left with your sanity. I don't want to take that from you." Batman said.
"That's decent of you. But risky. If I go suddenly, I might not have time to warn you. And then he'll be out there, capable of anything." Alex said.
"That's a risk that's acceptable to take. I can find you like I always have before if that happens. And it likely won't come to that." Batman said.
"He's right." the doctor said. "Barring some rather stressful situations that you should definitely try to avoid right now, you would feel it long before it stopped working completely. You should be fine for now but should keep people informed of your symptoms. I assume, Batman, that you will be keeping an eye on him? Because if that is the case then I don't see why he can't go live his life while he's still able to. I'm truly sorry for this. I wish it would've worked out for you. I'll be discreet. Your doctor won't know about this for now. He'd move to recommit you immediately and I don't think that's right. When the time is right, Batman, call me. I'll testify if his doctor is charged with something. What he did to his memories was not right. It was a cheap and unethical bandaid that wiped everything good and bad out instead of dealing with the problems. You could've gotten past the guilt with time and the right therapy. I'm not going to keep quiet about what your doctor did. I can't do it anymore. But I will wait until you are back at Arkham. I'll give you time."
"Thanks. I don't know what I would even do with what time I have left. How do you prepare for crazy? I don't know what to do." Alex said sadly.
"I'm sure if Mr. Wayne, your employer, hears of your circumstances, he'll offer his help in some way. You have support. I want you to know that." Batman said.
"I don't deserve any of that." Alex said, with a sad look.
"Well tough. Because you've got it. I'll be here for you." Angie said. "Even after you go back to being Joker, to a reasonable extent. I'm not giving up on you. I do love you. No matter what."
"I love you so much, Angie. But I might not even remember that love when I'm him. And what if I do? And I become awful to you out of some psychotic possessiveness?" Alex asked.
"Then I'll just kick your ass. Because I'm no victim. I can take care of myself, Alex. Your crazy self will just have to deal with that." Angie said, smiling at him. "Don't worry about me so much."
Alex went home to his apartment that he now shared with Angie. Bruce Wayne called not long after.
"Hey, Alex. Obviously I couldn't say all this before when we were with the doctor. I can do that now. You can come into work if you feel unsafe. I can look after you. You won't have to do any actual work if you don't want to. This is mostly just me wanting you to feel safe."
"And it would make you feel safer too I'm guessing. Having a timebomb like me in the city, you'd want to keep an eye on me. I understand. I'm not against it actually. I probably should have extra supervision by you right now. Who knows if it will even last a month? We need to be ready. You could stop me before I got bad. I'll come in. Thank you." Alex said before hanging up.
Alex didn't bother going to his college classes anymore. Bruce already called them and got that all canceled. There was no way the Joker would be finishing any of those classes. He went to Wayne Tower every morning instead and spent most of it hanging out with Bruce. At least for the first few days. Then he felt bored, so he did some work that wouldn't be dangerous for him to do at this point. He wasn't allowed near the labs for obvious reasons. He thought that was fair. He did paperwork and computer stuff. Boring but at least it was something. He started having moments of confusion and disorientation. The room would spin. He would get overwhelmed and oversensitive to everything around him. He would retreat to a darkened room to calm down. It was getting worse. He didn't have very much longer. It scared him, knowing what was coming. What would it even feel like to lose it? He tried not to dwell on it because that only made it worse. He survived his last days of sanity hanging on by a thread. And he spent as much time with Angie as he could while he was still capable of treating her right. He was trying to enjoy it while it lasted. And then something happened that ruined it all. And destroyed what time left he had. The Wild Cards attacked Wayne Tower.
The Wild Cards somehow knew that a few people at Wayne Enterprises were at least somewhat aware of where Joker was and they wanted that information. They didn't recognize Alex however and he was treated the same as any of the other hostages. The stress was not doing good things for him. He felt himself slipping and hated it. Why did they have to attack here now? And then he felt it. The stress really was getting to him. The doctor had told him to avoid stressful situations. He felt the confusion again. The disorientation. But it wasn't going away this time. It was growing. He felt so overwhelmed by everything that was going on around him. He couldn't take it. Alex needed air. He didn't have long before it was too late for him. It was happening too fast. He didn't want to be that man! Maybe he should just jump. The roof was far enough that the fall would obliterate him.
Alex somehow got away from his captors and quickly made his way to the roof. When he burst out of the door onto the roof and into the night sky, he felt the breeze on his face. This high up it was a chilling breeze. But it felt good. He walked towards the edge of the roof with his mind in a mess of a million feelings. He needed to do this before he became a monster again. Gotham was better off without him. But as he reached the edge and looked down at the city below he felt so overwhelmed by it all. The city was there laid out below him, shining beautifully. That adrenaline he got when he stood this close to falling over the edge was an amazing feeling and it combined with everything else. He stood there staring at the world below him and the giddiness started bubbling up. It was beautiful. All of it. How had he never seen the city like this before? He could hear the sirens approaching and it just added to the complexity of the experience. Gotham was untamable no matter how hard people tried to. The noise and lights and just the terrible beauty of it all started getting to him. The giddiness finally bubbled over and he started laughing at the euphoric feeling he had. He laughed at the absurdity of it all. How had he ever thought he could have a normal life? It was mind boggling how deluded they had made him. The laughing sounded almost hysterical and he barely had control of it at all. But he didn't care. It felt real familiar. It felt like home. That incomplete feeling he had always had was gone. He was back to his regularly scheduled programming. He was the Joker again. And it felt great. It felt intoxicating. He didn't know how anyone could pass up on a feeling like that. He was finally free. He didn't have to care about anything. Because what was there to care about anyway?
The Wild Cards were getting really frustrated when none of the Wayne Enterprises employees seemed to know anything about where Joker was. They tried to find Bruce Wayne but the man wasn't in his office. They ransacked it to see if he had any files but couldn't find a thing.
"Hey. You're looking for information about the Joker, right?" said a voice coming from the door. They turned around and saw a tall thin man standing there looking at them with an unreadable look. "I can tell you where he is if you want. But we have to get out of this building first, before the cops or Batman stop us. There's a service elevator down the hall. It'll take us to the basement where there's an old tunnel access to the subway system. I can lead you out through there if you want. Or not. It doesn't matter to me. I'll be leaving that way anyway for reasons. So if you want to tag along I'd do so."
"Who the hell are you?" one of the thugs asked.
"I'm your way out of here that doesn't include jail time or being committed to Arkham. That's who I am. I'm also the one that can give you the information you've been looking for. So it's your choice. But choose soon since I'm leaving now. How much do you want that information about the Joker?" he turned around and started walking away despite the guns trained at him. They stared at each other in confusion. Why wasn't this guy scared of them? One of them radioed to the other thugs what was going on and to head to the basement as quickly as they could. And then they followed the mysterious man. He got in the service elevator and waited for them with a calm almost arrogant look. They hurried inside the elevator right before the doors closed.
"What do you know about Joker?" one of the thugs said, a bit unnerved by the man standing there. The man at first glance looked totally normal. He was dressed in clothes that suggested he was an employee there at the Tower. He looked normal. But he wasn't acting normal. He had an aura of danger around him like he was a predator who could pounce at any moment. They could all feel it and didn't know what to think.
"Have a little patience, would you?" the man said. "I said I'd tell you after we left here. When I have time to explain things without worrying about Batman crashing the party, I'll tell you." And the man said nothing more. They didn't dare ask any more questions. It was clear he was a dangerous man. When they got to the basement, the other thugs were waiting for them.
"Who the hell is this? A hostage?" asked one of the thugs, confused.
"Do I look like a hostage?" the man asked with an exasperated look. He walked calmly past them and found what he was looking for. The door was locked but it wasn't a deterrent to the man. He simply picked it and opened the door. There was a maintenance corridor beyond it. He looked back at the thugs. "Are you coming or not? I'm not going to wait for you." he said that before walking through the door. The thugs looked at each other in confusion. Who was this guy? They ran to catch up with him. The man led them through corridors and into the subway system as promised. "See. Just like I said. We're home free."
"Now you can tell us who you are and what you know about the Joker." one of the more brave thugs said.
"Like I said, I'll say that when we are in a location Batman won't find us in. He knows about this tunnel so we don't have long. You should probably take me to wherever you all happen to think is home for now. Do that, and I'll tell you what you need to know." the man said.
"What makes you think that we're just going to lead a complete stranger to our hideout?" the thug asked. "Especially when you won't even say who you are?"
"You're the one that wanted to know this information. I offered it. If you don't want it then I can just leave. It's no skin off my back if you never figure it out." the man said amused.
The Wild Cards took the strange man back to their hideout. The gang leader walked up to him and got in his face.
"I'm getting really tired of all the mystery. Your information better be useful or I'll have my friends kill you in a very slow and painful way."
Now most people would be quaking in their boots at that statement. Not the mysterious man though. He stood there, with an amused look on his face.
"That wouldn't be very productive now would it?" the man said, amusement dripping from his voice as he calmly stood there.
"And why is that?" the gang leader asked a bit unnerved.
The man burst into laughter. Maniacal laughter that was very distinctive and familiar to all of them. The man grinned an ear to ear grin. "Care to take a wild guess?"
"Joker..." the gang leader said backing up, his eyes wide with shock. The other thugs looked shocked too. They knew who this man was. It was clearly the Joker.
"In the flesh." the man glanced at his reflection in a nearby mirror. "Though, I admit that the flesh does look rather different at the moment. I suppose I should fix that."
"Ever since we saw Harley say you were alive, we haven't stopped searching for you. We thought they had messed with your head. We were going to rescue you from it." the gang leader said, in a bit of awe.
"Well as you can see it was hardly necessary. I'm the Joker. Not some damsel in distress. Like always, the medication they had me on failed, it just took a bit longer than usual this time. I'd say no harm done but I do have a fairly large hole where most of my memories should be. I'm going to have to kill my doctor for that. I may be the Joker again, but I don't remember being me. All I have to go on are news programs. But there are an awful lot of those. The spotlight does love me."
"What do you need from us?" the gang leader asked. "We have so much respect for you. We will do whatever you need us to do."
"It wouldn't hurt to have some loyal lackeys. I can't exactly remember the contact info of the ones I had before." Joker said.
The thugs looked excited at that statement. "What's the plan then, boss?" the gang leader asked.
"I don't have some epic plan...yet. But I do have things to do. My doctor needs to pay in a very satisfying way at least. And I have the perfect idea how to do so. This will be fun!"
Dr. Matthews was ready for his day to be over. He couldn't wait until people knew what he had accomplished and he didn't have to see as many common place patients anymore. 'Alex' was the best thing that had ever happened to him. It would make his career to have cured the Joker. But the powers that be still wanted it a secret for now. It was so frustrating. He still saw Alex every two weeks for his appointment. He thought it was simple therapy. But it was really to make sure he wasn't going back to his old ways. The last few appointments were a bit odd but nothing to be too concerned with, he thought. And now he was waiting for his patient. He was late. But not that late, since right then his secretary buzzed him that he was there for his appointment. He smiled at his patient when he entered. Alex seemed to be in a good mood today. He smiled pleasantly back at him.
"Alex. It's good to see you. Have a seat. How have things been for you lately? Still having some trouble?"
"Oh. Things have been great. Never better, doc." Alex said, smiling at him.
"That's good. Why are you still standing? Sit. We should talk more about your relationships with people today." Edwin said, wondering why the man hadn't sat down yet.
"I'm not here for a therapy session today, doc. Sorry." the man said. His pleasant smile turned into an ominous ear to ear grin.
Edwin nearly wet himself when he saw the deranged look on his patient's face.
"So much for making your career, huh doc? I can only offer you the solace that you won't really care about the disappointment soon anyway...because you'll be dead." Joker said grinning menacingly at the man.
"Alex, there's no need to be hasty. I only have your best interests at heart. I wanted to help you have a better life." Edwin said, very frightened.
"Wow. That was total bullshit." Joker said. "So destroying every memory I have from my life, good and bad, was helping me? Did you think I would forgive you for that? And you and I both know that my name is Joker. Not Alex. I stopped being Alex the minute the medication stopped working. Calling me by that name is not helping your situation."
"I'm sorry! I just saw that that medication was working and I was so surprised. Do you have any idea of how much fame I would get for curing the craziest man in Gotham, maybe the world? You were unfixable! And I fixed you. Or thought I did." Edwin said, frightened. He knew he was probably not getting out of this.
"Got a little ahead of ourselves didn't we? Given that my screwed up body chemistry makes any medication pretty useless after awhile I heard. It was only a matter of time. And now it's up. Bummer for you." Joker said, smirking darkly at him.
The doctor tried to call the police on his cell phone under the table. He quickly looked down and saw it wasn't connecting.
"Not trying to call someone are you, doc? That might be a bit of an issue for you." Joker said, before pulling out a signal jammer. "I wanted us to have some alone time. Don't worry. Your secretary already went home. We'll have plenty of time all to ourselves."
"Please don't hurt me. I'm so sorry." the doctor said, terrified. "I don't want to die."
"You should've thought of that before messing with me. Now, I do believe we have somewhere to be." Suddenly, a few Wild Card gang members entered and grinned at the doctor. "Boys. You know what to do."
The gang members grabbed the doctor, who started screaming for help. Joker went up and put tape over his mouth. "That's enough of that."
They took the doctor to a new location after blindfolding him. Edwin couldn't figure out where he was but he could tell he was outside and it seemed to be windy and chilled. Why was it so windy? But then the blindfold was removed and he saw just why it was so windy. And it chilled him to the bone. They were on the roof of a skyscraper. And he was deathly afraid of heights.
Joker grinned at him. "Probably shouldn't have mentioned casually to me your little phobia during a therapy session. Seems like a rather dumb move. You wouldn't let something like that slip to Crane would you? So I have no idea why you thought I wouldn't take advantage of the information, myself." He ripped off the tape on the doctor's mouth.
"Please don't do this. Please." the doctor pleaded for his life. "Please don't kill me like this."
"Well that all depends on you really. Is there a way to get my memories back? Hmm?" Joker asked with an eyebrow raised.
"No. I'm sorry. I can't. Please! I can't be this near the edge!" the doctor said in a panic.
"Oh dear. Not very good news for you, doc. If you could bring my memories back, I'd have a use for you. But if you can't, well, I don't see any reason to keep you alive." Joker said in mock distress. "What do you think, boys? Seems like we should throw this fish back into the sea if we can't use him."
"No! Please don't!" the doctor pleaded as the thugs holding him got closer to the edge.
"I can just see the headlines now. Esteemed Arkham doctor can't handle the pressure and decides to end it all. So sad." Joker said grinning savagely. He went up and put his hand on the doctor's shoulder. "It's only fair that we help you along. Isn't it?" Joker then shoved him, making the doctor fall forward off the building screaming in terror. Joker looked over the side and watched him fall and then splat on the ground. He laughed in triumph. "A moment of silence, boys, for the good doctor." he said mockingly.
Angie got worried when Alex didn't come home when he usually would. And then Bruce called her asking if she had seen him. Apparently there was a Wild Card heist at Wayne Tower and now he couldn't figure out where Alex was. He was rather worried. He hoped the Wild Cards didn't take him.
Angie jumped when she heard the front door opening. She went to see and there Alex was, taking off his coat and hanging it up as if nothing was wrong.
"Alex! Where have you been? Bruce and I were worried. Are you ok?" Angie said.
"Oh I'll bet Bruce is worried." Alex said, a bit amused. "I'm fine. I went to my therapy appointment. That's where I've been."
"And you didn't think to tell someone where you were? You had both of us worried." Angie said, relieved. She went up to him and gave him a hug but he just stood there stiffly. Then he brushed past her to sit on the couch. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing at all. Actually, I had a satisfying therapy session today. It was cathartic." Alex said with a little smile. He turned on the tv. The news was on.
"Then why does it seem like something's wrong? It's ok. You can tell me." Angie asked, confused. "Why are you acting like this?"
He glanced up at her and then gestured towards the tv. She looked curiously at the tv which where a reporter was reporting on an apparent suicide. Someone had jumped off a skyscraper. Then she stared in shock as they revealed the name of the man that fell. It was Alex's doctor.
There's no way the man who Alex told her mentioned he was afraid of heights would jump off a building. She looked back at Alex and saw he was smirking.
"The medication stopped working. Didn't it? That was you. You pushed him off." Angie said not knowing what to think.
He smirked even wider at her. "Yep. He had it coming. You know he did. I'm just wondering how this relationship of ours is going to go now that I'm back to my normal more entertaining self. That's why I even bothered to come back. I'm not Alex anymore. That's very clear. Even if I don't remember being me I'm still me. I'm the Joker. And I don't really see how I could ever have a healthy relationship. That's...not really my style. So doll, this is probably goodbye. I figured you deserved a polite farewell." He went to leave and Angie stopped him.
"So that's just it? You're going to leave me? What did I say before? I don't care if you're the Joker. I love you. No matter what. We can figure this out." Angie said.
"What is there to figure out? That little part of Alex that's still hanging on just a little bit won't let me drag you into my insanity. So there's nothing more to say." He said. "Goodbye, Angie. It's been fun. Have a good life." he pushed past her and left.
After he left, Joker walked down the street a little bit, thinking. His head might be a psychotic mess...but he did still feel something for Angie. He didn't want to say goodbye. He wanted to keep her as close as possible so nothing would take her from him. But he didn't want to end up treating her like he had Harley. And he knew realistically that at times he might do just that. He wasn't sane. He wouldn't be able to help hurting the one he cared about.
Joker shook himself out of his musings. He had something he needed to do. Something he had been putting off. But there was no point in delaying it any longer. He walked with a purpose back to his lair.
After Alex left, Angie called Bruce.
"Hello. This is Bruce Wayne speaking."
"Bruce? It's Angie."
"Angie. What's wrong? Is it Alex?" Bruce asked, concerned.
"He came back to the apartment. But then he left again. He's not ok. The medication stopped working. He's calling himself Joker again. I thought you'd want to know." Angie said, nearly in tears.
"Did he say where he was going?" Bruce said, a bit of Batman voice leaking into the tone of his voice.
"No. He told me he was saying goodbye to me. He said he didn't want to drag me into his insanity. I don't know where he went." Angie said.
"It's ok, Angie. I'll find him. Before he does something bad. I'll make sure he's safely back in Arkham." Bruce said, trying to reassure her.
"What's the point? Even if he's back at Arkham, they won't be able to help him." Angie said, rather upset. "They were never able to before. This medication was a fluke."
"Don't give up hope. You care about him. It will help for him to have someone that cares." Bruce said. "I'll let you know when I find him." Bruce hung up the phone.
Joker stood inside Ace Chemicals on the catwalk and stared at the vats below. He didn't remember falling into the vats but didn't really need to remember to know that it was going to hurt like hell. He wasn't all that enthusiastic about doing it deliberately. But he knew that he would have to. His outsides didn't match his insides. He may be the Joker but he didn't look like the Joker. And his image was important after all. He was trying to build up the nerve to jump when he heard something. His thugs raised their weapons and looked around. Shit. If that was Batman, then he didn't have long. He couldn't afford to let Batman stop him. He prepared to jump.
"Stop. Please." he heard from behind him. He whirled around and there was Angie.
"What are you doing here?" Joker said, surprised to see her.
"I figured this is what you'd consider highest on your priority list considering you are calling yourself Joker again. So I came here as soon as I could." Angie said, walking up.
"You shouldn't have come, doll. If you thought you could talk me out of this, you were very mistaken. Don't try to stop me." Joker said, irritated.
"I'm not here to stop you. I know that would be pointless." Angie said.
"If you aren't here to stop me, then why are you here?" Joker asked.
"I love you. I'm not going to just stop loving you if you try to walk out of my life. I told you I would love you no matter how sane or insane you are and I meant it. I'm not here to stop you from jumping. I'm here to join you. Harley took this jump for you so let me do it too." Angie said with a determined look.
Joker stared at her with a surprised look for a few moments. Then he laughed. "Oh boy, do I know how to pick 'em. You're really willing to let me twist you up as badly as I did Harley?"
"Yes. I am. If that's what it would take for us to be together now, then I am willing. I won't let you abuse me like you did Harley. I'll kick your ass if you try. But I want to be a part of your life. No matter the details. Please. Don't shut me out. Take me with you." Angie said standing right in front of him.
Joker had a complicated look on his face.
"I said I was right beside you if you wanted me to be, back when you were Alex. That doesn't change just because you changed your name." Angie said, grabbing his hand and holding it.
He looked down at his hand in hers and then back up at her with a frown. "Angie…"
Suddenly they hear a loud crash and a dark figure lands on the catwalk. "Stop. Don't do it." said Batman.
"Don't do what, Batman? Don't go back to being what I'm supposed to be? Do you really hate the real me that much? I'm so hurt." Joker said, pretending to be hurt. He squeezed Angie's hand and smiled at her, then looked at Batman. "Don't try and stop us."
"Us?" Batman asked, confused. Then he looked at the way Angie was looking at Joker and realization dawned on his face. "Angie, don't do this. This is not the way to help him."
"I've made my decision. I love him, Batman. If this makes people see me as just another Harley, I'm fine with that." Angie said, determined. "I'm ready."
"Try not to inhale once you hit the chemicals. I don't remember it personally but I do know that would not do anything good to your lungs. And no swallowing." Joker gave her some quick advice.
"I'm not going to let either of you do this." Batman said. But couldn't get to them because of the thugs. He fought with the thugs trying to get to them.
"Better do this while he's occupied, doll. There's no telling how long they can hold him up." Joker said, smiling at her and then facing the chemicals. She turned to look as well, still holding his hand. He clutched it tightly. Then, as one, they leapt off of the catwalk into the vat below.
Joker had returned. He was as crazy as ever and Batman did all he could to stop him. But Batman had to admit, Joker didn't do as many horrifying things as he had before. Because he wasn't alone. Joker had someone to care about. Joker's girl, Chance, as Angie referred to herself now, didn't egg on the crazy. She simply stood by his side and was there for him. Chance wasn't quite sane. A fall into chemicals like that changes a person. But she was saner than Harley and, true to her word, didn't let Joker treat her like shit or twist her up worse. And Joker actually seemed fine with that. She became his limit. The thing keeping him from doing something the city couldn't come back from. Batman was grateful to her for that and was never as hard on her when he captured her as he was on Harley. Because Joker needed her. The whole city needed her. Because she was the only person on the planet that Joker cared about in a healthy way. And that made all the difference.