All that could be heard at this point were shouts from the increasingly large crowd of on-lookers as they cheered for the appearance of Batman.
"Well, well, look who decided to show up and to lend us a hand," said Commissioner Hughes, clearly not overly pleased with the appearance of the Caped Crusader. "Listen Batman," he said as the much larger man approached, "this is a hostage negotiation, something you are not the least bit trained for. It requires skill and precision, you are for force and brutality. You are not necessary here."
"Hughes, without me, you wouldn't even be alive, so don't try me on whether or not I should be here. The Joker has to be stopped now before things begin to get out of hand. And lucky for me, I'm not one of your lapdogs who has to obey your every word."
"Don't even think about it, Batman. I'll have you arrested on the spot."
"Oh yeah?" Batman looks around at the surrounding officers and says, "which one of you wants to be the first one to do it? I'd love to see you try." Seeing the officers back away slowly, Batman turns toward the commissioner and says "well I guess that plan's not going to work. See you around Commish," and with that he heads off toward the bank, quickly scaling a side wall and going up onto the rooftop of the bank.
Gordon walks away from the commissioner and picks up a phone near one of the police vans. He pulls a piece of paper from his pocket and dials a number for the bank. After two rings, a high, cold voice which Gordon immediately recognized picked up the phone.
"Who is this?" The Joker demanded as soon as he picked up the phone.
"This is Lieutenant James Gordon of the Gotham Police. The Joker I presume?"
"Why, yes, Lieutenant, if that is the name you want to call me then I am your Joker."
"What are you doing in there? What is the situation? How many hostages, and is everyone still alive?"
"Well, Lieutenant, if you are looking for demands and negotiations, I have bad news for you, I'm just not interested. No, I'm not looking for financial reward or guarantee of safe passage. Robbery isn't the name of my game, that's just something extra I thrown in, sort of a like the cherry on my sundae, if you will. No, death and destruction that is the name of my game."
"So what are your plans for the hostages?"
"Did I not just make myself perfectly clear? Listen to me you worthless pig, I plan to kill several of these hostages, possibly all, and walk right out of here on my own terms and without any threat of incarceration. Understand? The Joker is here to stay, death and destruction Lieutenant Gordon, get used to it."
Before Gordon could so much as utter a reply the Joker hung up on him. Smiling maniacally to himself he leaves the manager's office and walks out into the lobby to see all of hostages and to brief his crew in on the situation.
"Men, listen up. Make no mistake, they will be coming in here, guns blazing. You know the plan when that happens, and you also know that there is nothing that they could possibly do to stop once it is underway. It is perfect. As for you hostages, do not worry, soon this will all be over." The Joker began to stroll away, but seemed to be unable to resist the urge and turned around to face the hostages once again. "Oh and when I say that it will soon be over, what I really mean is that it will soon be over for each of you. Permanently." Absolutely reveling in the situation, the Joker throws back his head and gives a high shrill laugh of joy that sends several of the hostages in the room into writhing fits of desperation.
As he begins strolling back into the office, though, the Joker hears a creaking noise in the ceiling above him and he smiles with his back to everyone in the room and continues on his way. "Jackson, get in here now" he calls and closes the door as his top henchman enters the room behind him.
Staring down at the sinister Joker through a ceiling vent from above, Batman sees his adversary pacing in the manager's office, not making any moves yet. Why isn't he readying for an escape, or at least readying for battle, Batman thought to himself from above. He couldn't place it, but Batman knew something wasn't right, and knew that since he had disobeyed Commissioner Hughes, the SWAT team would be working out an assault on the building, and could be coming in at any moment. He needed to get in touch with the police and let them know that the assault needed to be canceled immediately. Reaching ever so slowly into his utility belt, he pulled out a cell phone and dialed Jim Gordon's direct line.
"Gordon here" said the lieutenant from outside the building.
"Gordon, it's me, you need to listen to me, SWAT can NOT come in here right now, something is seriously wrong."
"Batman? What do you mean? Jim, listen, something is seriously wrong. Joker has to know we're planning an assault, but he doesn't seem worried, hell he seems excited. I think he even knows that I'm in here right now."
"Listen Hughes isn't exactly going to be excited to hear that you are giving him orders. In case you hadn't noticed-"
"Just trust me, Gordon, if SWAT comes in here there will-" but that was all the further that Batman would get in his sentence. The ceiling in which he was hiding was suddenly being riddled with bullets from a machine gun. He felt two hit him square in the back and was thankful for his reinforced suit to help stop the bullets. Still, too many shots would weaken the suit and eventually the bullets would not be stopped by the suit. He needed to move now or chances are he wouldn't survive. Realizing that there was nowhere to hide up here, Batman yanked the first thing he could feel from his utility belt and dropped a smoke bomb down through one of the holes created by the bullets, hoping it would handicap the shooter long enough.
Batman kicked through the vent and dropped down into the main floor of the bank right outside the manager's office.
He quickly looked around but the smoke had done its job a little too well, as he couldn't see more than a foot in front of his face. He stumbled into the shooter and tossed him into the pillar in the bank, rendering him unconscious.
However, as soon as Batman turned around, three men in clown masks were on him, and Batman was thrown through a glass window into the manager's office. Once inside there, he tried to sit up but the darkness of the office made it difficult for him to see where he was going. And then, seeming as if it came from the darkness itself, he heard it. A vile, high-pitched laugh that made his stomach turn. It's him, Bruce thought to himself as he tried to get up, it's the Joker.
Bloodied by the shards of glass and weakened by the bullets and the fall from the ceiling, Batman was barely able to stand, and almost as soon as he made it to his feet, his was sent reeling by a strong blow to the face followed by a blunt object into his ribs that sent him stumbling out of the office and back out into the light.
The smoke had cleared by now and Batman turned around to face the doorway of the manager's office, and out of the shadows emerged his attacker, and at last, Batman and the Joker came face to face.
"So, you must be the Bat. Allow me to introduce myself, the media has taken to calling me the Joker, a name I rather enjoy, so we'll stick with that for now. Tell me Batman, why do you hide your face? I mean of the two of us, I'm the only one with acid burns covering my face, badly scarred cheeks, and green hair. So why do you hide your face? Are you ashamed, or just plain scared? Well soon enough the world will know your identity when they play your smoking carcass from the wreckage that will soon be this bank. As for me, I don't much care who you are. I won't be giving you my real name, so certainly I wouldn't dare force you to tell me yours."
Seemingly still in shock from the appearance of the Joker and the generally evil aura that surrounded him, Batman was unable to react momentarily before finally coming to his full senses. "What's your plan here, Joker? You do realize the entire Gotham police force is out there don't you? You do understand that when they sweep in here with the wrath of god you won't stand a chance with your pathetic crew of 10 lowly henchmen."
"Batman, you disappoint me. I understood you to be a smart man, and intelligent crime fighter, but if that were the case, surely you would know that I wouldn't dream of engaging the police here. Instead, I think I'll just kill the ones who try to come in, kill all these hostages in here, and preoccupy the ones outside with the carnage that will be created when SWAT tries to break in. You see Bats, this building is only 3 floors tall, and since I have gone to every effort to make it appear as though I haven't even touched the top two floors, I guarantee SWAT will make their entrance there. And because of such action, well I hate to give away the whole plot line, but suffice it to say, the fireworks will be something to see, of course, I intend to give you a front seat to this evening's proceedings. Jackson, stand him up, now."
With the order from his boss, Jackson reached down and pulled Batman up and held his arms back as the Joker delivered a crushing kick to Batman's midsection, and then followed that up by grabbing a billy club from the security guard and delivering repeated blows to Batman's face with the weapon.
Outside the bank, Commissioner Hughes, upon seeing the smoke dissipating toward the front door of the bank from Batman's smoke bomb became very concerned and immediately called the SWAT team together and gave them the green light to go inside.
"Listen, Commssioner," Gordon said as he heard Hughes bellowing the orders to the SWAT team, "I'm not sure this is the best idea."
"Jesus Christ, Jim, what are you talking about? Not the right idea? Where do you get off telling me what is and isn't the right idea? What do you know that makes you think you're right?"
"Batman."
"Batman? What is he up to now? The man just complicates our job sometimes, and you know it Jim. He's a rogue vigilante who complicates things because of his brutality and his refusal to listen to directions. He can't be depended upon."
"Dammit Richard," cried Gordon, surprised at himself for using the police commissioner's first name, "Gotham would be in ruin right now if it weren't for him, and if there's one man in this town who I do trust in this kind of situation, it's him and if says we shouldn't go in, then I believe him."
"Jim get the hell out of my sight," Hughes said as he turned back to the SWAT commander, "SWAT has the green light to move in from the roof into the third floor. Go when ready."
The commander relayed the message, and the SWAT team snuck up the back of the building, and being that it was now dark outside, they were able to do so much more confidently than they would have been before.
Jim Gordon stormed away from the crime scene and as he did so, he bumped into the last man on the planet he wanted to see, Anthony Reese.
"Lieutenant-"
"Dammit Reese not now" was the only reply Gordon could muster.
"Lieutenant our cameras saw that confrontation between you and Commissioner Hughes moments ago, does it have anything to do with Batman showing up here today and entering the building to assist the police?" Reese immediately saw that Gordon wasn't going to reply to this, so he pushed further. "Jim are you trying to say that you think Batman does a better job than the police by storming away from Hughes like this?" Still no response. "Fine, then, it sounds to me like Lieutenant Gordon is at odds with Commissioner Hughes, and then Gordon is forming an alliance with Batman against the Commissioner." That did it, Reese knew, as Gordon spun around and came right toward Reese. This will be spectacular, the reporter thought, but before he knew it, he was being thrown to the ground by the officer and handcuffed. "What are you doing, Gordon? Are you out of your damn mind? You can't do this to me, I've done nothing wrong. I'll have the city's ass for this." Gordon remained silent but grabbed Reese by the neck and dragged him towards the paddy wagon and tossed him inside and shut the door behind him.