The next day, Arthur told his mother he was going out for a while. She still wasn't talking to him, so he figured he'd give her some more time. He put on his coat and went out and walked down to the bus stop. He smoked a cigarette while he waited. He had a million thoughts going through his head, mostly about Thomas Wayne. If what his mother said was true, then maybe Arthur could convince him that they needed help. He owed it to them, not just to the city. Though he still had his doubts, Arthur hoped that it was all true and not just a fantasy.

A man in a business suit came walking by, reading a newspaper. He shook his head as he folded it up and threw it into the trashcan next to the bench where Arthur was standing. The man kept on going, not paying attention to Arthur, who took one last inhale and disposed his cigarette before grabbing the newspaper out of the trashcan. He just started reading the headline when the bus pulled up. Arthur got on the bus and sat down in a seat. There were a lot of people reading the same paper as him. The bus drove far out from Gotham City, everybody keeping to themselves as the tried to make sense of the current situation. Most were reading the paper with thought of just how ridiculous the whole clown idea was, some had a more positive view on the subject. Arthur read the article inside about Thomas Wayne's run for mayor and saw a photograph of the Wayne family.

Arthur didn't see much resemblance between himself and the famous billionaire based on just a grainy photograph from a newspaper. He would have to get a good look at Thomas Wayne in person. He remembered his mother told him that Wayne Manor was somewhere far out in the countryside, way out past the city limit. He carefully tore the black and white picture out of the newspaper and stuck it into his journal, holding it close to his chest like a security blanket. He looked out the window, watching the city disappear and soon turn into wide open spaces and green trees. Not a single garbage bag in sight. Fresh air and golden sunlight filled the sky.

Wendy was leaning against the taxi cab parked on the corner, looking across the street and wondering where Arthur was at the moment. Travis was leaning against the taxi cab with her, wearing his green Army jacket over his plaid western shirt and rider jeans. He was drinking from a bottle of liquor wrapped in a brown paper bag. He offered a drink to Wendy, who accepted and took a sip. It was peach brandy, a particular favorite of Travis'.

"Don't you have a café to go work at or something?" Travis asked her.

"Not today", Wendy answered. "Today's my day off."

"Is this what you always do with your spare time?" Travis teased innocently. "You spend your day off stalking a guy?"

Feeling awkward, Wendy looked at him and asked nervously, "Do you think I'm weird for doing this?"

A warm smile appeared on Travis' face. He shook his head and told her, "Nah, I had the same problem you did once. So, are you and Arthur getting real serious?"

Wendy took another drink of Travis' brandy before answering. "I wish it were so. He seemed kind of distracted last night."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. He kept staring off into the distance and saying weird shit about those subway tycoons. I'm telling you, Travis, it just wasn't like him last night."

Wendy took a third swallow of peach brandy, forcing Travis to take the bottle away from her before she could finish all his booze. "You wanna slow down before you make yourself sick?" He asked her, taking a drink for himself.

Wendy looked at Travis, staring at his face. She never noticed just how handsome he was. He was good-looking and probably had a muscular-toned body on him, but she could tell he was lonely and distant. He had a cute little mole on his right cheek. His dark brown eyes matched the color of his short, slightly untidy hair. He rarely smiled, but when he did, it was like he swallowed a part of the sun, a faint glow bursting out from his cheeks. His face was gaunt like Arthur's, he even shared the same dark circles under his eyes. They could have very easily been brothers.

"You look tired, Travis", Wendy noted.

"I can't sleep at night", said Travis. "I work twelve hour night shifts from sundown to sunup, six in the afternoon to six in the morning, sometimes eight in the morning."

"How do you sleep?"

"I take a couple of sleeping pills to help me with that."

Wendy blinked and looked over across the street, staring off and saying, "Did you know Arthur takes seven different medications?"

"Seriously, what do you see in that guy, anyway?" Travis asked her.

"He's a good man, Travis", Wendy answered. "He's tragic and mysterious, a little childish at times, but still mature enough to take care of himself and look out for the best of others."

Travis stared at the auburn-haired woman, thinking she was being idealistic about a guy she barely knew anything about. Although she was in love, Travis could tell she was miserable and wondered if Arthur had something to do with that. Travis thought he could very easily be the hero to her damsel in distress, but Wendy didn't see him like that. She already chose Arthur to be her knight in shining armor and saw Travis as more of a friend.

Wendy turned to the taxi driver and asked him, "What about you, Travis? Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No, not really", Travis admitted. "I tried dating a girl once, but it didn't work out."

Wendy looked away from him again. "Oh. Sorry."

"No, it was my fault. I shouldn't have taken her to a porn movie. It was a stupid-"

Wendy looked at him again, surprised to hear him say that. "Porn movie? You took a girl to a porn movie?"

"I thought she wouldn't mind, you know", said Travis. "I didn't know that was how she felt about those kind of movies. I barely knew anything about her except that she was working as a volunteer for Senator Palantine."

Wendy nodded. "I've heard of him."

"Yeah, well, the guy was a dick."

Travis placed his right hand on the hood of the cab, feeling a slender, gentler hand beneath his warm palm. He looked to his right and looked at Wendy, who shared the same expression as him. Travis looked down at their touching hands and pulled his away immediately, looking the other way. He didn't mean to come on so strong. If she wasn't so lovesick about Arthur, Travis would have asked her by now if she would be interested in him.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Travis."

Wendy looked to her right and ran a hand down the left side of her coat, tucking it into her pocket. She felt something in it and looked down and pulled out the switchblade. She kept forgetting she had it on her. It was meant to be a gift and a safety precaution from her uncle, but after their ordeal with the gun last night, Wendy didn't know who the weapon was from anymore. She should have known her uncle was part of the criminal underworld. Practically everything about him screamed bad guy. Wendy pressed the button, flicking the blade open. Her eyes turned dark in the reflection of the blade, feeling a small taste of power while holding the weapon.

Travis looked at her and asked, "Hey, you okay?"

Snapping out of it, Wendy looked at Travis and blurted out, "I think my uncle is a psycho. He's a complete narcissist and acts like a total nut. The first time I met him, I told him my mother died and he barely batted an eye. And that was his sister, for crying out loud. Every since I arrived in Gotham, I've been trying to get to know him, but he doesn't want to talk about anything. I'm not supposed to say anything, but he's a criminal. Even if I had enough evidence to convict him, it still wouldn't do me any good to go to the police because he's paying them off. He doesn't care about me, he only cares about himself. I don't know what exactly he's done, but it can't be good."

Travis stared at her with a blank face and asked her, "If you don't like living with him, why don't you leave?"

"I've only got so much money saved up and I don't have anywhere else to go at the moment", Wendy answered.

"Yeah, but you can't live in fear like that. It's a hell. A nice, young girl like you should live in a house surrounded by a white fence."

"Yeah, and what am I supposed to do after that? Ask Arthur to marry me and have three kids together?" Wendy shook her head and looked forward again, a faint smile on her face. "That would be something, wouldn't it?"

Travis didn't know how to respond to that. He bit his tongue and remained silent, taking another drink of peach brandy. He would have gladly offered to help Wendy out with her situation, but she probably wouldn't accept it.

Wendy folded up her switchblade and stuck it back into her coat pocket. She turned her head left and decided to change the subject, continuing her talk with Travis. "So, where are you from?"

"I was born and raised in the Midwest", Travis answered.

"Kansas?"

"Eh, close enough. Anyway, it's no big deal."

"Were you in Nam?" Wendy asked him.

Travis looked at her. "Huh?"

"I saw the patch on your jacket. Were you in the war?"

"Yeah, I was in the Marines. I was all around the country, but then I got honorably discharged after I received a back injury in Viet Cong. I got the scar to prove it. They ever want me to go back, they'll have to shoot me first."

"I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories", said Wendy, politely.

"I know", said Travis, "but I still hate to think about going back there after what happened. After I got discharged, I went to New York and drove a cab for a couple of years. I can't complain, it makes good money."

Wendy shrugged. "Why did you leave?"

"I needed a change of scenery. Too much crime and bullshit in the city."

"It's the same thing here, isn't it? Almost everywhere has some sort of crime happening nowadays."

"Yeah, and most people who barely have a pocketful of money are just trying to survive."

Wendy nodded her head. "Yeah, I hear you. Decent people like you and me shouldn't live here. We'd be happier someplace else."

"The way this city's going to shit, I'd want to get out of it myself. If it isn't clown sightings one day, it's penguins in the sewers the next day."

Wendy blinked and looked at Travis, her brow creased in confusion. "Penguins in the sewer?"

Travis's mouth formed into a thin smile. He shook his head and told her, "You wouldn't get it."

"Whatever", said Wendy, chuckling and looking over across the street, spotting Arthur at a bus stop. He was smoking a cigarette while he waited and wasn't looking in her direction. "There he is."

Travis looked over to Arthur, his face devoid of expression, his gaze intense like cold, hard steel. He didn't hate Arthur, but he was very judgmental about him. There was something about him that rubbed him the wrong way.

A man in a business suit walked by and tossed a newspaper into the garbage can. Arthur reached in and took it out and looked at the headline just as the bus pulled up. They both watched him as he got on the bus.

Travis took another swallow of his brandy and opened the back door and told Wendy, "Get in."

Wendy walked over and got in. Travis shut the door for her and opened the driver's side door and slid himself into the driver's seat and started the engine. He headed on down the road, following the bus.

"Where's he going?" Wendy wondered.

Travis shrugged. "Maybe he's leaving."

"He has a sick mother, Travis. Arthur's not the kind of guy to just up and leave like that."

Travis glanced at the redhead in the rearview mirror, a crazed look in his eyes. His penetrating gaze was lost on Wendy, whose only interest was following Arthur out to wherever it was he was heading out to.

"Turn the meter on", said Wendy.

"What for? I'm off duty."

"I know you're off duty. Just turn it on."

Travis nodded and flipped the meter down, the motor running and the numbers rolling higher and higher with each mile.

Playing alone inside his playhouse, a young boy about eight-years-old was wearing a black cape and mask, pretending to play Zorro. His parents were taking him to see the new movie this weekend and he couldn't wait. While the boy imagined he was in a duel with a bandit, he looked over toward the brick wall surrounding his family's estate and spotted a strange man standing on the other side of it. At first, he was a little bit creeped out by seeing the strange man staring back at him, but then the man slowly lowered himself out of sight and popped his head up a second later, this time wearing a red clown nose. He started walking up toward the iron gate.

The boy got curious about the strange man and walked across the bridge of his playhouse, sliding down the pole. His feet touched the ground and he walked up toward the gate to get a better look at the man. Maybe he wasn't so dangerous after all. The boy took off his mask and stared up at the strange man, as he pulled out a magic wand from his sleeve and started dancing with it, humming a tune. The strange man pointed the wand at the boy, who did nothing and said nothing. He never even cracked a smile.

The strange man waved the wand above his head and pointed it at the lock on the iron gate, as though expecting it to open up for him. It didn't. The man looked at the wand in disappointment and placed a hand on his hip, wondering what he should do. He got an idea and passed the wand through the iron gate, handing it over to the boy. The wand became like a noodle in his hand, drooping and loosing its straight form. The man laughed. The boy shrugged and handed the wand back to him. Just like magic, the man made the wand as straight as before and tapped his head with it. He danced a little bit more and then turned to stick the wand up his sleeve. When he turned back to face the boy, the tip of the wand burst into an arrangement of colorful flowers. This actually made the boy smile and laugh a little bit, which was just the kind of reaction the man wanted to see.

Handing the wand over to the boy as a present, the man knelt down to the boy's eye level. "Hi", he spoke softly, taking off his red clown nose. "My name's Arthur. What's your name?"

"I'm Bruce", the boy answered him.

"Hello, Bruce."

Arthur's heart melted. He looked like such a happy boy. In a way, he envied him, but knowing that Bruce was only an innocent child, Arthur saw no reason to harm him. He only wanted to be his friend and make a connection with him. Reaching his hands through the gate, Arthur started to caress Bruce's soft hair and angelic face. He then started to hook his thumbs into the corners of the child's mouth, hoping to widen his smile just a little bit more.

Bruce found himself feeling uncomfortable by being touch by a stranger and took a step back from Arthur. He wasn't hurt, but something told him that this was wrong. "What are you doing?" Bruce asked innocently.

Arthur placed his hands on the bars and told him, "I just wanted to see a bigger smile on your face."

"Bruce!" Came the English-accented voice of a middle-aged man running over toward the gate. He was wearing a butler suit.

Bruce turned and backed away from the gate, just as the butler came over and checked on him. "What are you doing? Get away from that man."

Arthur stood up and explained, "It's all right. I'm a good guy."

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The butler demanded. His name was Alfred.

"I'm here to see Thomas Wayne", Arthur answered.

"Well, you shouldn't be speaking to his son", said Alfred. He looked at Bruce and took the flower wand away from him, passing it back through the gate to Arthur. "Why did you give him these flowers?"

"They're not real", said Arthur. "It's just magic."

"Well, it's not funny, is it?" Alfred scolded. "Do I have to call security?"

"No, please", Arthur begged him. "My name is Arthur Fleck. My mother is Penny Fleck. She used to work here. Can you tell Thomas Wayne that I just need to speak to him?"

Bruce looked up at Alfred, who looked at Arthur in confusion and walked closer to the gate. "You're her son?" He asked him.

Arthur placed his hands on the bars and whispered to Alfred, "I know about them. She told me everything."

"There was no 'them'. You're mother was delusional. She's a sick woman. You're better off without her."

"Don't...say that", Arthur threatened him, quietly. There was brimstone burning in his bright green eyes. "Thomas Wayne is my father."

Alfred shook his head in sympathy and said, "Arthur, just go, before you make a complete fool out of yourself."

Suddenly, Arthur snapped, reaching a hand through the gate and grabbing Alfred by his throat, choking him. The butler tried to pull away, but Arthur only tightened his grip on the old man. A small voice cried out to him.

"Arthur, stop!"

Arthur glanced over at Bruce, his face losing some of its vengeful darkness. Bruce was staring back at him, scared that he might kill his faithful butler. Alfred might have been a cranky old man, but he was still his friend.

Seeing the look of horror on Bruce's face, Arthur released Alfred and turned around quick, running as far away as he could from Wayne Manor.

Alfred backed away from the gate and turned his attention over to young master Wayne, escorting him away.

"Alfred, are you okay?" Bruce asked him, his face horrified at witnessing the traumatizing violence.

"I'm fine", said Alfred. "But your mother and father will hear about this."

Arthur ran as far away as possible and looked back to see if anybody was following him, but there wasn't. Just as he looked forward to see where he was going, Arthur turned to his left and felt himself run into somebody, sending them both crashing down hard on the ground. He heard a woman groan in pain beneath him and sat up at once and looked down to see who it was and found it was Wendy.

"Arthur, what are you doing?" Wendy asked him, sounding slightly annoyed.

Arthur was too out of breath to answer her, but stood up at once and offered her his hand, which she took and allowed him to help her stand back up on her feet.

"Are you okay?" Arthur asked her.

"No, I'm not okay", Wendy complained, placing a hand on her backside and wincing from the pain. It felt sore and she was sure to have a bruise there in the morning. "Ow."

A car horn honked and Arthur and Wendy looked to see that it was Travis, poking his head out the driver's side window of his cab and saying to Arthur, "You wanna tell us what's going on here, pal?"