Author's note
I was thinking about changing the way I structure my story. By that I mean inserting less elements per chapter, which would allow me to be a little more descriptive about things and probably update the story quicker. Anyway, I'll see what I want to do.
Until next chapter, enjoy this one.
Chapter 5
Batman had stealthily followed Joker through the street until he had reached the phone booth. He hid in the darkness of an alley way and hacked into the public phone ready to hear to following call. He had a visual on the pale man and doubted he could perceived him back, but he probably was aware of his presence. No one was outside, not even a drunk or some homeless person. It was a cold and dark night with a lot of wind yet there seemed to be no noise.
His nemesis was tapping his foot impatiently. He got his phone out of his pocket and glanced at it for a moment as if he was looking at the time and sighed loudly, it echoed in the empty street. He got some earphones out of his pocket, plugged them to his phone and put them on, it made the vigilante wondered how much early had they arrived. The jester smiled and started dancing awkwardly in the restricted space the booth was offering him. The hero already had a repulsed look on his face when the other man suddenly started singing awfully.
"Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me, I think they're okay! If they don't give me proper credit, I just walk away!"
The peace and quiet of the night was now drowning in his terrible voice. The dark knight was staring at the ground with a discouraged look, glimpsing at the clown from time to time surprised he had not woke someone up already with his singing.
"And I am a material girl! Some boys romance, some boys- Oh!"
The phone started ringing, he stopped everything putting his earphones away and picked up. At the same time, Batman got his focus back and started listening to the call.
Joker: Yes?
Caller: Joker?
Joker: Who is this?! I normally get Eddie! Where's Eddie?
Caller: Well, he's busy. It's Jervis.
Joker: He's not dead, right? 'Cause I got dibs on his murder.
Jervis: What? No! Anyhow, I needed to advise you of the next meeting. It's today at 23:00 in the abandoned school, the right room will have 18050419 written on its door. You got that?
Joker: Yeah, a series of numbers on some door.
Jervis: Eh... Good enough. Bring nothing.
He hung up and so did Joker. He got out of the phone booth and started heading back to his place. The detective did the same, still undecided about uniting with his enemy and somewhat skeptical of all he had told him.
6:20 AM, at Wayne Manor. Bruce was glad Alfred was asleep, he would have to tell him about the situation eventually, but if he could avoid doing so he would. He went to his room and laid on his bed, in about an hour and a half he would have to get up to go to work, with Joker. He knew he would have to give him the answer then, yet he could not make up his mind. He decided it was best to try not over thinking this at the moment as he absolutely needed some sleep.
Unfortunately, something else abruptly perturbed his mind, the clown's angry neighbor had heard him call him Bruce and saw him as Batman. He almost jumped out of his bed, but stopped himself almost immediately as he had no idea of what to do. He reflected on this problem, realizing this woman was not a person of influence, when she would come up with her theory and probably publish it over the Internet he would only have to give a simple alibi or a clever response for he had a much more significant reputation than she did.
Laying back once again in the bed he started emptying his mind, trying to drift into a sleeping state. He was relaxed, breathing steadily with his conscience careless and about to fall asleep when all of the sudden his phone rang. Picking it up he saw to name of the caller, Jackson White, he answered annoyed.
"What?"
"Red or green?"
"I'm trying to sleep. What is this about? Is this important?"
"Yes, very! What shirt should I wear today? I've got a red and a green one."
Bruce sighed while the other man kept speaking.
"The green one matches my eyes, but the red one makes me look so fierce. What would you prefer?"
"I'd prefer to go back to sleep."
He hung up and turned off his phone.
8:43 AM, he was in the car with Alfred driving. The billionaire was having a hard time staying awake even though he was overwhelmed with stress as he still did not knew what to tell Joker.
"Have you made a decision about Nygma, sir?"
"I guess I did." He replied slightly uncomfortable with the question. "Lucius hired somebody who might be fine for the job."
"Well isn't that convenient?" He optimistically said.
"No it isn't. This man is..." He cleared his throat bowing his head down, searching how to summarize this whole thing.
"This man is what? What's wrong, Master Bruce?"
"I don't have enough time to explain it all to you now. It's too complicated."
The butler had a worried expression on his face as his friend had been looking so drained for the past months and now it seemed something else had rose up above all the other problems he already had. They were nearing the Wayne Tower which helped in making this sudden silence in the conversation a little less heavy.
"For every dark night, there is a brighter day." Alfred said.
"Well said." Bruce smiled. "I think I've heard this before..."
"It is probable."
They stopped and he left, unready for this uncanny day he was about to go through.
As he got closer to his office he noticed two things, Joker sitting on the floor waiting for his arrival and the fact that he was wearing a blue shirt. He decided not to even mention it and greeted him like he was no one but a simple employee and invited him in the room where once the door were closed they could talk normally. He sat down on his chair while the pale man sat next to him on his desk, like last time.
"So Brucie, are we partners or what?"
"I still don't see why I'd need you. I can avoid your death by not sending you back to Arkham, but I don't have to work with you either."
"I guess you could do that." He smiled in his own devilish way. "And I guess the people of Gotham will be very shock to learn about all the dirty things we did in that cabin."
"Justice is greater than me, greater than my own pride." He got up placing himself in front of the smaller man. "I want you to understand that you don't have any power over me."
He started laughing in his face loudly.
"Don't you think I know that? I've never wanted to control you, you're unpredictable and I love it!" He delicately placed his hands on each side of Bruce's face and softly said. "Don't you see, baby? You've always been free with me. All that have happened in your life, all of this, all of us, is your own doing."
He grabbed Joker's wrists firmly, holding his hands away from him.
"I never asked for any of this." The smaller man slightly struggled to get his hands free and got pinned down against the desk as if he had flat out tried an assault. "Now I'm stuck here with you! What am I suppose to do with you?"
The detective was leaning over him, pushing him against the top of his desk, their face where only a few inches away from one another. White smirked.
"With me, you do anything you desire." He purred.
The tone of his voice sent an unwanted chill down the larger man's spine who broke off and promptly stepped back.
"I'd like it if you could disappear."
"I did, for months." He stayed down, placing his hands crossed behind his head. "It was so cute, Batsy, so cute the way you looked for me everywhere."
Bruce wondered if this was an assumption or if the lunatic really did kept an eye on him during the past months. He was feeling foolish for his last sentence for this was not actually what he would have wanted from him. He was keeping quiet as he had no clue of what to say, fortunately for him the other man sat up and opened his mouth forming a phrase that made the vigilante's heart skip a beat.
"Knock on the kitchen window." He chuckled. "Are you going to strangle me too?"
"Tell me everything." He approached him, a voracious look in his eyes.
"Why? It's not like we're working together." He turned his head falsely uninterested.
"Maybe I'd like us to."
The hero could not believe himself as he placed his hands on the other man's waist, wishing to somewhat charm him into a confession. He felt even more out of place when Joker turned his head toward him with an amused yet uninterested look. He started giggling as he pushed Bruce away while getting off the desk.
"Pathetic! You should really stick to intimidation."
"I can't believe I'm agreeing with you."
The billionaire smiled embarrassed by his clumsy action and the pale man took off his glasses placing them on the desk. The bruise Batman had inflicted next to his eyes was way more obvious without this accessory and it made the man lose his smile in slight guilt.
"So, do you want us..."
"Yes, I do." The jester's grin widened to this answer. "But you must understand we have a facade to keep up."
His new ally headed toward a mirror in the office getting a small foundation case out of his pocket.
"Trust me, I know." He started applying make up on his wound. "Knock on the kitchen window is simply a hint about a new malfunction with Arkham's cafeteria windows since the last renovations. You see, it is possible to place very very small objects in the outside window frame and it get stuck there. From the inside, knocking on the window can make these objects falls in the inside frame..."
"That's how the drugs were getting into Arkham. The graffiti was advertisement."
"Let me finish!" The clown shouted frustrated before getting back to his usual weird sprightly tone. "But you're right, that's how it gets in."
"No guard ever noticed this?"
"From the outside, I don't know who and how the person was getting the drugs there unnoticed. From the inside, a person hitting on something for no reason is pretty common, so it wasn't seen as a big deal whenever somebody gave the window a little knock." He placed the foundation case back in his pocket after being done and turned around. "Also, all of Arkham's workers are complete idiots."
Bruce gave a small nod disappointed in the work of the people in the asylum. He was feeling hopeful, but knowing how unreliable the clown was he still kept a doubt in his mind. He picked up the glasses and handed them to the pale man.
"It's all very interesting, but Lucius is expecting us. We'll continue later."
"Right, let's make some new technology that Batman will mysteriously use too." He started giggling. "Seriously, how does people not figure out your identity?"
"I could say the same about you."
"Oh, I get compared to myself quite a lot."
Lucius Fox and the two other men were sitting at a table. Only him and Bruce were brainstorming ideas, all of them too problematic to become actual projects. The whole thing was pretty awkward, as the CEO did not knew who Jackson really was and that this man knew of the Batman's identity. Meanwhile, the pale man was to act as if he had no knowledge that his work was to become of use for the vigilante, even though upgrading him up was his main goal. After another few useless concepts had been thrown on the table and quickly forgotten, White said something.
"Are the GCPD still using bullet proof vests made out of Kevlar? Because Kevlar is overrated. Do you guys like spiders?"
"I feel indifferent when it comes to them, why?" Fox asked back.
"Golden orb spider's silk once processed can be made into lighter, thinner and stronger vest than Kevlar. This new technology could expend even further than just the GCPD, think about the SWAT, think about the military, an army of almost bullet proof and faster soldiers! To be frank, no World War II pun intended, I'm disappointed in you two and this entire company to not have come up with this sooner."
He had just silenced two of the brightest and most powerful men of the city and he did so in less than thirty seconds. They were waiting for his next words, quiet in the discomfort the small man had just created.
"Mr. Fox, I'd like you to compile data on how many cop's death were not avoid by a bullet proof vests and how many complications had been linked to this piece of equipment. Bruce, I want you to look up who makes this silk and get us a good deal on it. I'll be working on the design in the meantime."
The billionaire was not ready to simply let him boss him and his friend around.
"I think I should work on the design, while Mr. Fox makes the deal. You'll be the one doing researches this time."
The jester smiled and caressed one of the larger man's shoulder, softly answering.
"As you wish, boss."
He then left the room to seemingly go do what he had just been told. Bruce turned to Lucius an annoyed look on his face.
"Let's never make the mistake of letting him publicly speak on the behalf of this company."
"Agreed."
The day at the office went better than he could have expected, then again, anything was to be expected. He designed new vests and equipment parts while also working on what could become his next suit of armor. His CEO had contacted many potential suppliers of the material and also started working on a way to present the project as an ethical one to the public since the silk could only be properly harvested from genetically modified organisms. As for Joker, he did what he had to do, not more, not less. He also spent a great deal of the day racing through the hallways on computer chairs, cracked a vending machine by crashing into one and played ping pong with the youngest janitor using tablets belonging to the company and a big piece of bocconcini cheese. Unfortunately, this made the billionaire realize that in order to keep him around he would have to watch him constantly, just like a kid. Still, he was glad the clown had not insulted nor physically injured anyone.
It was evening, like usual Alfred was to pick him up from the Wayne Tower and get him home, yet this day was a different one. The two new allies had decided to continue the investigation in the lunatic's crummy apartment for the detective felt he could maybe pick up some clues from this place itself. The fact that the butler was to meet this Jackson White face to face was making it somewhat easier for Bruce as he would not have to summarize anything, the man would surely rather understand the situation.
The car stopped, both men got in and the driver turned around.
"Evening, Master Bruce and..."
"Hey! I know you!" Joker said looking at Alfred who's face had just shifted to confusion.
"So do I..."
Time seemed to have slowed down for the vigilante who tried keeping a neutral expression while staring at his friend in hope he would not blow this up.
"Now, where have we met already?"
White burst out into a laughter.
"Oh my, don't tell me you drank that much!" Alfred started smiling as if he knew what the pale man was talking about. "We were at the same club two months ago!"
"Of course..." The older man replied while turning his head to the road and starting the engine. "I never miss their Tupac memorial party."
"I wish I could've heard of this yearly party sooner."
The larger man slowly turned his head to look out the window highly perplexed by the conversation his partner was having with his butler.
"I must say, you look quite different."
"Well, I was rocking an other style then, wasn't really looking like myself..."
Bruce stopped listening to their conversation. He was disappointed that Alfred had Joker right under his nose in September, but did not recognized him at all. It made him wonder how many times the criminal had blend into crowds and society in general to hide from the law and even from him. Although the conversation taking place beside him was an exceptional one, he was still proud of how both of them were handling themselves. Especially his butler, he was convincing to the point he himself started believing that he really did not recognized Jackson to be the clown prince of crime at all, but only this club customer from some months ago.
They both left the vehicle in front of the apartment building where they entered and started heading up. Arriving at the door, the smaller man started unlocking it when the angry neighbor from last night showed up in the hallway.
"Oh Jackson... Why are you getting home so early? Go out or somethin'."
"No can do, I just love bothering you."
She rolled her eyes and slammed her door while Bruce followed his partner in the filthy apartment. Upon entering, the lunatic headed to a cabinet in the kitchen where he took out a small container of some yellow liquid and headed to the bathroom. The detective was feeling uneasy, everything in this place could become a threat to his life if Joker ever get a change of heart. He slowly walked in the kitchen and started looking through the cabinets. They were full of home cleaning products, a few unidentified chemicals, few cups, bowls and plates, some chips, cookies and candies here and there and a whole lot of knives. He opened the fridge to find white wine, lemonade and steak, nothing more. To his surprise, to freezer did not contain any human body parts, rather a lot of meat, identified and pretty easy to trace back to local butchers.
"Don't even think about drinking my lemonade!"
He headed back to the living room without answering, where he started scrutinizing it just like the kitchen. Nothing of importance was there, only the chair, TV, DVD player, really nothing of importance. Bruce was about to check on what the other man was doing when suddenly one of the many phones on the table started ringing. From the corridor emerged Joker, shirtless, wearing a homemade garbage bag apron and some yellow dishwashing gloves he shook off of his hands to answer.
"Customer?... What a shame... We've all been there, I know. I still remember my first time..."
He chuckled and continued talking while the larger man went to the bathroom curious of what he might found. The blue shirt was on the floor and next to the bath was the chemical container, now empty. The tub was still filled with tools and yellow liquid with a brush to clean them, this was just a cleaning product he had made himself.
"Hold on, hold on... Darling, be careful in there! That stuff is bad for your skin!"
He rolled his eyes and went to the bedroom. Under the blanket on the mattress he found a machete and a loaded desert eagle, which he unloaded, but could not confiscate for a man have the right to own a gun. Still, on second thought, he decided he would steal it whenever the chance would come up, but right now Joker would notice if anything was to go missing after the detective's inspection. He got through the boxes where he found some cash and a lot of clothes, but curiously enough no purple suit. Bruce joined the pale man who was now starting to get annoyed with this customer of his.
"I don't do carpets, I already told you... That's not my problem!... I guess you're doomed to have a gross carpet, that's all!... No! No matter what price you offer, I just don't do carpets!" He moved the phone from his ear to his mouth and whispered. "Carpets will be humanity's downfall..." He hung up and turned to the hero. "Nah... Even when I do it, random still isn't funny."
"I was thinking about this meeting of yours tonight, I could add a camera to your glasses and watch it while you're there."
"There already is a camera and it's linked to..." He hovered his hand above the pile of electronics things on the table before picking up a tablet. "This one!"
"How much battery life does this have?"
"The glasses or tablet? 'Cause the glasses are good for about 24 hours, but the tablet, one hour max."
"I'll have to stay here..."
The jester nodded and started undoing the other man's jacket.
"Get comfortable."
Bruce grabbed his hands.
"I'll do this myself."
The smaller man walked away as if he did not really care and retrieved his yellow gloves before heading back to the bathroom. He was followed by the hero who leaned on the door frame, watching him cleaning the tools.
"Talk to me, Joker." He said, as he continued undoing his jacket.
"Can you believe this weather we're having!?" He giggled.
"You know what I meant." The clown started humming while continuing what he was doing. "What's the role of everyone in this gang?"
"Johnny-Boy seems to be the leader of the faction I'm in, he's the one who will give us order or take care of us if we were to disobey."
"Is Crane the one committing these unsolvable murders?"
"Well he surely is responsible..." He seemed thoughtful and confused for a moment. "I really can't answer that."
Bruce had to keep in mind that everything the man was saying could be lies, yet he did not get the feeling that he was not answering the question to protect Crane, he really seemed clueless.
"Eddie works as a spy, gathering information on people through surveillance footage, e-mails and what not. He's nothing but a nerd, as usual."
He started emptying the bath as he seemed to be done, he took off the apron and gloves and started washing his hands, torso and face with water from the sink.
"Tetch is the last one to get hit by the rain when we all stand together, he's also some sort of inventor, but he's very secretive. I know he modifies the drug when necessary and he's suppose to come up with some other modified things..."
"They really don't trust you."
He dried himself off with the blue shirt before walking past the larger man to head to his bedroom and go through to boxes.
"I don't get why. I mean, it's not like I'm a traitor or anything." He turned to the hero with a large smile and gave him a wink.
"Just keep going."
"And then there's the icing on the cake, me! The future Champion, the one who'll get rid of you and take your place." After he had taken a few clothes out of one box he started taking off his pants. "But we both know how this part will play out. You and I... Look at me when I'm talking!"
The detective had turned his head away from Joker who was now taking off his underwear. He knew that the other man wanted him to feel uncomfortable, but the truth was that he was not. The reason he was looking away was to offer him privacy. He turned his attention back to the jester and tried focusing as much as possible on his eyes, on his face, not his body.
"Like what you're seeing?"
"What about Harleen?"
"Oh, she likes the sight of this sexy body." He moved his hands as if presenting himself.
"I was talking about her role in all of this."
"Don't worry baby, she's my ex right now."
The vigilante angrily sighed to the man's stupid answers. He glanced at his pale body, covered in scars and realizing he was probably responsible for most of them. He then grasped on the fact that he had close to no guilt for he knew most of them where from fights he won in order to protect innocent people. Without knowing, he had started staring, understanding that from now on, to keep up their facade he would no longer have the chance to inflict pain and suffering upon the lunatic. He had never comprehend until now, how meaningful this sort of ritual was to him, to physically subdue the pale maniac whenever he felt the need, to take complete control over him, to be a rightful hero and him an evildoer.
"Do you always eat with your eyes before taking a bite?" Joker purred.
Bruce snapped out of it, cleared his throat and went back to focusing on his green eyes.
"What is Harleen's role in the organization?"
He started putting on some underwear and dark gray pants.
"She was the first one to promote the drugs and... That's pretty much it."
"Where did the drugs came from?"
"No idea who the official creator was, but somebody saw some potential in Harley, enough to ship it to her before anybody else in Arkham."
"Poison Ivy."
"That's what we all thought at first, but she haven't been in contact with anybody in Gotham, not even Harley for about a year now."
The detective scratched his chin while reflecting on who could be behind Quinzel's freedom. He could not take the jester's word without any proofs, but he still had to theorize on other possibilities than this person being Ivy. He came up with the displeasing idea of this organization, those drugs being from Amanda Waller. She possesses all the resources necessary to make such a project realizable and with this organization formed of the most intelligent, most dangerous criminals under her control, possibilities were limitless. This was very likely of her and the vigilante decided he would investigate this lead soon, but without Joker knowing.
The pale man was buttoning a white shirt while walking toward the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror.
"Hmm... Too much white... I miss my green hair."
"Wear a dark coat over it." He headed to the living room to plug the tablet and get familiar with the system his partner made. "It makes no sense for the gang to keep her if she is as useless as you say."
"Well, she isn't completely useless..." He arrived in the same room, wearing a black coat. "She brings snacks at the meeting."
"She could be useful to us. You don't know much because they don't trust you, but she would. Maybe she knows some things you don't."
"Are you really asking me to play with a woman's feeling in order to get what I want!?" He responded falsely shocked. "I just love the way you make me do things."
That statement left Bruce vexed. He sat down on the one chair with the tablet, now looking through the smaller man's glasses, he was looking at him.
"I guess I should go if I don't want to be late."
"Don't do anything foolish on your way there. I'll be watching you."
The clown caressed the back of the other man's head.
"See you later." He left.
22:42 PM, he was entering the abandoned building and switching to night vision. The hero was glad the changes Joker were making on his glasses were also transferred to the way to camera was filming. He started roaming the somewhat creepy hallways while humming. There didn't seemed to be anyone there, not even a homeless person which was rather surprising. He kept walking in the building stopping at every door until he found the right one marked with the series of number 18050419. He turned off the night vision and knocked.
The door unlocked without opening, he pushed it open. The room was filled with lamps and in the middle of it was gathered school desks forming one big table. On it was one lamp and of course snacks, lots of them. Crane was sitting at the end of the table, on his left was Harleen and on his right was Jervis. She started laughing uncontrollably upon seeing him while the two other men simply looked at her in wonder.
"What?! What's so funny?" He asked while taking a seat next to her.
"Nothing, Jack Frost!" She continued laughing.
"The white hair looks great!" He angrily replied.
"I didn't say it was ugly!" She calmed down a little. "Ya look nice like eeh..." She started giggling. "A fierce snowman."
"You've made a right choice by deciding to be an albino, it is very believable." Crane said, probably in hope of preventing a fight between the two of them. "Have you gotten into Wayne Corporation?"
"Yes, but only recently, there's not much to tell."
"I still think we should have sent Nygma." Tetch said.
"Speaking of Eddie, where is he?"
"He should arrive shortly." Jonathan answered.
Joker grabbed a bag of chips and a can of Pepsi then proceeded to start eating. From the corner of the image it was possible to see Harleen, just staring and smiling. He finally turned to her.
"What?"
"Ya look so different."
"That was the point."
"I think I like it."
Somebody knocked at the door and Tetch got up to unlock it once more, Edward entered.
"Eddie!"
The Riddler only nodded to him and took a seat in front of him. Crane stood up.
"I'd like us all to take our Reds before starting this meeting. Jervis?"
The small man searched the inside of his coat for a moment before pulling out a small bag containing what seemed to be red marbles. He handed it to Jonathan who distributed some around the table, one for him and Nygma, two for Tetch and Harleen and three for Joker. Jervis, Crane and Quinzel ingested them quickly while Edward and the pale man inspected them before placing them in their mouth. Bruce was appreciative of the clown's gesture, placing each one of these Reds at the level of his glasses, giving the detective a great visual on what the drugs were like. Scarecrow still had not sat down, he went back to addressing the group.
"As you all know, our goals consist of changing the law, changing Gotham in our advantage for good. Now, public opinion is an easy thing to control and with Nygma working his way through private information, blackmail will be our first and most valuable weapon against opposition for now. Despite the fact that most people are easily controllable, there are some who aren't as worried about what people think of them, aren't afraid of us nor the law and will most likely oppose us. Penguin..."
Just at the sound of his name, long sighed and gripes of disapproval rose in the room, forming unclear words of hate coming from each and every person around the table. Crane cleared his throat and started speaking louder, above the complaints.
"I might not know your personal business with him, but we cannot disagree on the fact that he is a powerful man of Gotham. Having him as an enemy would only slow us down and restrain us on our actions. On the other hand, having him as an ally means more power and the chance to make the changes we wish to accomplish with this city."
"This man will betray us on any given occasion." Edward said.
"That is why I called you all here, we must find a way to convince him that we are worth something. We must form an alliance, share something in common that would break under treason."
"Why don't we just shoot him?" Harleen asked, which made Joker giggled.
"He's always surrounded by henchmen, we'd have to start a full blown shooting war to get to him." Jervis explained.
"We have the entire night to come up with an idea." Crane concluded while sitting down.
"He's just another idiot enslaved by money and money is an easy thing to make. Why can't we just pay him to not bother us?" Joker said.
"Don't let your hate blur your vision of him. Yes, he's likely to appreciate money at first, but when we'll start shaking things up and gain power over what he already have he'll get jealous, he'll want that power for himself..."
"Now listen here, Pumpkin head! Just one gang war to control an entire city isn't a big of a deal." Joker replied emphasizing on the number.
"He's got a point." Harleen agreed.
"I know you're more of a guy who works alone than a gang leader, but you have to trust me on this, a city is normally worth a lot more than just one fight. This is the opportunity of a lifetime!" The clown continued.
"All right, let's say we can take on his gang, then we will have to deal with all of the other gangs bellow him. We will slowly lose forces, until even the weakest of these organization could be able to defeat us. War would be our downfall." Jonathan answered.
They started arguing, words piling over each others in a cacophony of disagreement. Meanwhile, Quinzel seemed to have made a weird sign to Tetch who looked confused. The detective was disappointed to see that his partner had totally lost focus on what could have been important, as the woman stood up and walked past Crane to end up pulling the small man away from the table with her. Nygma glanced at them before getting back to listening to the two men arguing. Bruce watched in the corner of the image how Harleen was bent down to speak with Tetch in secrecy, he wished he could be hearing what they were saying, he was trying to make out what was happening. She was whispering incomprehensible things, he seemed to be disagreeing with most of them. They then turned toward Edward for a second and got back to talking together. It ended weirdly, Jervis grabbed her face with both hands and seemed to have been searching for something into her eyes, like a doctor inspecting a patient. She was very comfortable with him doing so and that caught the attention of the jester.
"What are you two doing?!" He rudely asked.
The small man let go of the woman who stood up straight and followed him back to the table.
"We have found a solution." He declared. "Penguin have a lot of cash, a lot of muscles and a lot of weapon, but what he does not have is a lot of intelligence in his organization, beside his own. He needs somebody smart, but without any leadership skills, somebody who can work with information just like he does. He needs a Nygma."
"What?!" Edward expressed.
"Good information is always powerful, whether it is old or new. Nygma could give us what he have found out so far and we'll work with that. We will give him to Penguin as a gift in exchange for him to let us be, to let us make our changes in this city..." He continued before being interrupted by Harleen.
"Also, Eddie'll be wearing a neckbomb, so betrayal equals to no more brain for Penguin!"
"No! Out of the question! Absolutely not!" Nygma got off of his chair.
"This could actually work..." Crane said.
"I'll agree to this only if I can hold on to the detonator!" Joker stated.
"Oh God, of all people, not you!" Riddler continued slightly distressed.
"Nygma, you won't be in danger for as long as you are useful to Penguin." Crane explained.
"I don't feel at risk because of my capacities, I'm sure once Cobblepot will see the way I work he'll find me to be indispensable. What I am uncomfortable with is leaving my life in one of your hands!"
"Eddie, why are you so scared? You'll probably find a way to diffuse the bomb even before I start feeling like killing you." Joker said.
"I want the detonator to be in pieces, I want you all to hold on to one piece of it. You will all have to agree in order to end my life." Nygma declared, looking at the clown.
They all looked at each other, knowing how long of a time it can take for them to all to agree on something, especially that important.
"Why not?" Harleen said.
"I agree." Tetch continued.
"I did not even think we would ever need to murder you." Scarecrow added.
They turned to Joker who had not said anything so far.
"If it comes to it, I want to be the one pressing the button." He finally agreed.
Crane stood up once more and addressed each member of the group.
"Joker, keep working as usual. Jervis, Doctor Quinzel, let's make this bomb and operate Nygma now."
"Here?" Edward asked.
"Don't worry, we will go to a sanitary place." Jonathan assured him. "I will contact Penguin and arrange for a meeting as soon as possible." He turned to the jester. "Now go, you get to leave first today."
He started grabbing as much snacks as he could, fitting some into his coat and suddenly Bruce's phone rang. It was Alfred, he answered.
"Sir, the GCPD has just made contact about a bank robbery that is turning into an out of control shooting."
Not now, he did not have time for this. He wanted to stay, to keep watching, he really was looking forward discussing everything with the pale man, but now his responsibilities had just crashed down on him.
"Pick me up, there's no car I can use here."
"Are you still with him?"
"No and I can't explain anything to you now."
He hung up knowing his butler would arrived in the following minutes. He exited the building, joined with him in the car where he tried summarizing the situation under a minute and then went on crime fighting. He was wondering what Joker might think when he would come home to find out that he had left without any explanation. Surely, he would quickly figure out that the hero was needed somewhere else, for now.
