This time it was Ivy who sang the sad songs during her shifts in the Arkham Club, tears trailing down her face as she mourned her lost love, who had yet to wake up. The atmosphere in the club matched her mood – there was a sense of despondency and foreboding, like the calm before a storm.
Bane came over to Cobblepot and whispered something in his ear. Cobblepot scowled, and followed Bane to the door, which was suddenly blown of its hinges as two familiar figures entered the club.
"You'll make Harley late for her set, keeping us waiting like that, Pengers!" laughed Joker, holding the smoking gun.
"J, you're not welcome here!" snapped Cobblepot. "Not after you tried to kill us all at City Hall!"
"Just a bit of fun, Pengers!" chuckled Joker. "No reason to bar your most popular performer from the club! She didn't have anything to do with it!"
"If she chooses to associate herself with you, she is responsible for the consequences of those actions," retorted Cobblepot.
Joker chuckled. "So you'd rather have the sad sack Weed up there bringing down the mood?" he asked, gesturing at Ivy. "C'mon, Pengers! This is meant to be a speakeasy! It's gotta have a jolly atmosphere if you want people to keep coming! And nobody does jolly like my doll," he said, kissing Harley's cheek.
Cobblepot glared at them, but nodded slowly. "All right. But you're limited to one drink per customer. I have a supply issue."
"No drinks for us, thanks, Pengers!" laughed Joker. "I just wanna soak up the atmosphere, and Harley wants to please her adoring public. Something tells me it's gonna be quite the show!" he giggled, as Harley headed backstage.
Ivy left the stage, heading over to the bar with her head in her hands. "Allow me to buy the young lady a drink?" said Joker, sidling up next to her.
Ivy glared at him. "You can buy me a bottle of something so I can break it and slam the remains into your eye," she muttered.
"Look, I never meant to hurt Harvey," said Joker. "That wasn't my intention."
"What was your intention?" she demanded. "Kill a bunch of randomers? What kinda joke was there in that?"
"Well, nobody expected that punchline!" chuckled Joker. "But no, it wasn't the joke I had originally set up. I wanted to kill the Batman. And if I took a couple of random senators and politicians down with him, so much the better!"
"How did you know the Batman would be there?" asked Ivy.
Joker shrugged. "I didn't. But I thought I'd have the explosives ready just in case. Turned out to be my lucky night!" he chuckled.
"Except you didn't kill him," growled Ivy. "You just burned half of Harvey's face off."
"I'll do better next time," replied Joker with a grin. "But c'mon, lemme buy you a drink to say I'm sorry. If my doll's gonna continue to work here with you, we should remain on friendly terms."
Ivy nodded slowly. "I could use a drink," she muttered. "But I'm not forgiving you, J. The cops are onto us – they were here earlier asking questions. Harvey's not there to control things with Loeb, and now Loeb is running scared. He wants to alienate himself from corruption charges, so he's trying to bring down anyone who has anything on him. Which includes everyone in this club. Everything's falling apart, and it's all your fault."
Joker giggled. "Well, I do love a little chaos!" he laughed. "Scotch on the rocks for the lady, please, Pengers," he said. "And credit my and Harley's drinks to her too. She looks like she could use 'em."
He clapped her on the back and then headed to the table in front of the stage to watch Harley perform. Ivy took the scotch, sipping it slowly and trying to hold back tears.
And then a very strange thing happened. The club seemed to whirl in front of her eyes, and then go dark. She was alone in the darkness, and her voice shook in fear as she called out, "Hello? Penguin? J? Harley?"
"Pam," whispered a voice behind her. She whirled around, and her heart stopped as she saw a familiar figure standing behind her.
"Jason!" she gasped. "Jason, what…what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to rescue you, Pam," he murmured. "From this life, this horrible life you're enduring. I'm here to take you home and keep you safe, and stay with you forever and ever. We can be together this time, for always. We can have our happily ever after."
"Jason," she stammered, her voice shaking. "Jason, I…I…oh God, Jason!" she cried, throwing herself into his arms. "I never thought you'd say those words to me, I never thought I'd see you again! I missed you so much, and…and I love you, Jason! I love you!"
"Oh, Pammie," he murmured, stroking her hair. "Pammie, Pammie, Pammie."
He tilted her chin up to kiss her, and then stopped inches from her lips, grinning. "You always were a stupid girl," he muttered. "And I can't believe you fell for it again!"
He suddenly started laughing hysterically, shoving her to the ground and turning to go. "Jason!" screamed Ivy. "Jason, please wait! Please don't go! Don't leave me again!"
But the darkness had swallowed him up, leaving Ivy alone again. She could hear noises in the blackness around her, her heart beating in terror as she strained to see anything. And then a man with half a face appeared in darkness in front of her.
"Harvey!" she gasped, racing toward him. "Oh, thank God! Thank God…I…I can't be alone again!"
Dent didn't seem to hear her – he looked beyond her, and then turned slowly to go. "Harvey!" Ivy screamed, racing after him, but as fast as she ran, she couldn't catch him. "Harvey!" she cried. She stumbled and fell to the ground. Looking up with a sob, she saw Dent growing further and further away, and the darkness at her heels, threatening to consume her. "Harvey!" she screamed. "Harvey, no, please don't leave me! Please don't leave me alone!"
And then the blackness swallowed her up with a scream.
…
"God in heaven, what on earth is happening?!" exclaimed Jervis Tetch, gazing around him in horror. Everyone in the Arkham Club had suddenly begun screaming and panicking. Some were attacking each other – some were writhing on the ground, or cowering in a corner, but all had the same terrified looks in their eyes.
Crane was staring around too. "Something's…affecting them," he gasped. "Something's making them afraid…"
"Why aren't we affected?" demanded Tetch.
Crane gazed at him. "The alcohol," he stammered. "We…we haven't drunk anything."
"What?" gasped Tetch. "But…but that's impossible! We were watching it all night – nobody could have tampered with it!"
"Congratulations, Professor Crane," said a voice behind them. They turned to see the Joker, smoking calmly on his cigarette, apparently unaffected by the panic that had seized everyone else. "A very successful experiment in terror, wouldn't you agree?"
"What are you talking about?" demanded Crane.
"Your toxin," said Joker, grinning. "I'm glad it's proved so successful."
Tetch gaped at Crane. "You…you did this?" he stammered.
"No! No, I didn't!" exclaimed Crane. "I mean, I…I am working on a fear toxin but…every test has always been unsuccessful! And I don't know how it could have gotten into the…"
He trailed off, turning to Joker. "It was you," he whispered. "You put the toxin in the alcohol."
"Guilty as charged!" chuckled Joker, blowing out a cloud of smoke. "Just wanted to see the look on your face at finally achieving your lifelong dream, Craney!"
"Why?" gasped Crane. "Why hurt all of these people?"
Joker gestured around at the writhing masses on the floor. "Some joke on them, huh?" he laughed. "Expecting a drug to relax their minds - instead they get one helluva stimulant!" he chuckled. "And I'm sure Batsy would approve – it's what people who break the law deserve, after all!"
"The damage could be…irreparable!" gasped Crane. "Some of them will never recover their sanity…"
"Some of them never had much to begin with!" chuckled Joker. "Anyway, I did everyone a favor, helping them embrace the madness! I know I, for one, have never been happier since my little accident that drove me crazy! I just want to spread the joy!"
He clapped Tetch on the back. "Bet you're glad you don't drink now, huh, Tetchy?" he chuckled.
"We…we have to call an ambulance," stammered Tetch. "We have to get help!"
"Fine, spoil the fun!" sighed Joker, puffing on his cigarette. "But I, for one, am gonna sit here and watch my doll perform among the shrieks of the masses. Should give her quite the accompaniment!" he giggled, taking a seat at a table in front of the stage.
Harley began singing amid the screaming, and Joker's occasional burst of laughter. Crane and Tetch left the den of madness, hurrying outside to call the emergency services. By the time they arrived, Joker and Harley had vacated the club, leaving only the screaming, writhing masses, or the ones who had survived anyway.
Crane and Tetch accompanied them to the hospital, and they sat in the waiting room in the glare of the lamplight.
"This is all my fault," murmured Crane.
"No, it's the Joker's fault," snapped Tetch. "If you let him get to you, he's won."
"Oh God, Jervis, he's won anyway," whispered Crane. "Don't you understand what he wants? Pure, unchecked chaos. And he's going to get it. If those people don't recover, and get out…there'll be madness in the streets."
"I'm sure someone here can synthesize a cure," said Tetch. "Or maybe you can, since you know what's in it. You could offer them your services."
"I could," agreed Crane, nodding. "That would be the decent thing to do."
An alarm suddenly went off. "Everyone, get to unit 66 now!" shouted a doctor, racing past.
"Unit 66?" repeated Tetch.
"Miss Ivy!" gasped Crane. They both ran after him to see several doctors struggling to hold down Poison Ivy, who was writhing on the bed, screaming.
"What have you given her?!" shouted a doctor.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, but it's reacting with her blood!" shouted a nurse. "I've never seen anything like it!"
"Oh God, what's happening to her?" gasped Tetch.
"Her skin," murmured Crane. "It's turning…green."
"The plant, Jonathan!" gasped Tetch, gesturing to a potted plant in the corner of the room which suddenly began writhing and undulating in a manner that mirrored Ivy. With a scream, she sat up, throwing the doctors off her, and the plant snaked around her protectively.
"Yes, you won't leave me, baby," she whispered, petting it. "You won't ever leave me."
Crane and Tetch could only stare at her in horror, as powerless as the doctors to do anything.
"Professor Crane?" asked a voice. They turned to see Captain Gordon standing behind them.
"Yes, Captain Gordon?" asked Crane.
"It's Commissioner Gordon now," said Gordon. "Commissioner Loeb tendered his resignation this afternoon, amid charges of corruption and bribery."
He gestured two police officers forward. "Professor Crane, you're under arrest for conspiracy to commit mass murder…"
"What?" stammered Crane, shocked, as he was handcuffed.
"This fear toxin is your invention, isn't it?" asked Gordon.
"Well, yes, but…but I didn't put it in the alcohol!" exclaimed Crane. "It was the Joker! He confessed to it!"
"Do you have any record of this confession?" asked Gordon.
"No, but…but I didn't do it!" exclaimed Crane. "I'm not that kind of man – I have no desire to hurt anyone!"
"You're a criminal, Professor Crane," snapped Gordon. "A bootlegger. Mr. Wayne will attest to that. I'm sure mass murder is just a small step up for you. You invented this toxin to terrorize people, and you couldn't resist doing a test where you could watch the results, could you? Well, I hope you're happy. Twenty people are dead because of you."
"Look, you have to believe me – I never wanted to kill anyone!" exclaimed Crane.
"I don't believe anything a criminal says," muttered Gordon. "Take him away," he said, gesturing to the officers.
"Commissioner, if you do this, if you arrest and try to convict me for a crime I didn't commit…then I swear to you, this will not be the last you see of my toxin," growled Crane. "If you are prepared to create a monster, then I assure you, you will have one on your hands, a monster that inflicts fear and terror on the guilty as well as the innocent."
Gordon shrugged. "What's one more monster in Gotham, Professor Crane? You'll fit right in. But from today, the police force is dedicating itself to hunting down the monsters. You first."
The police dragged Crane off. "Mr. Tetch, you're arrested on charges of bootlegging," said Gordon, gesturing to two more officers. "Your crime is less serious than your friend's, but not by much. Perhaps you'll be able to share a cell, if not life sentences."
Tetch just stared at him as the handcuffs were placed around his wrists. "The time has come,' the Walrus said," he murmured, as he was dragged off."To talk of many things: of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax — of cabbages — and kings — and why the sea is boiling hot — and whether pigs have wings."