I maintain that what happened at the top of the elevator was not my fault; Jay snickers and says that it was, because I knew some of the Blackgaters were armed, and I had even told Two-Face once that given a fifty-fifty chance, most people made the wrong decision ninety percent of the time.
What happened was--this is difficult to admit, but here is how it happened. I was checking out the elevator for explosives while Other Joker was going on about Frank Boles, the alcoholic turncoat. "I bet you're wondering how I did it. Frankie and me go way back. I got him out of... a spot of bother a few years ago." (I could guess what form the 'spot of bother' took. Probably vehicular homicide--in other words, he killed someone in a drunk driving accident.) "So when I need security codes or an old man clubbed to the ground, I just call on him."
Other Joker went on to play a recording of Boles betraying his colleagues, ordering them to cover the entrance because Joker's army was storming the front gates. Then he shot them in the back.
By then I was wondering if somehow I could extend my lawful prey to include people who killed their workplace 'family'. At the same time, Jay had summoned the elevator. I thought it would be a good idea to cover the sounds it was making, because there were five Blackgaters loitering around the elevator lobby on the top floor, armed with pipes and full of spunk. To distract them, I started off with an ominous croaking sound, and...well, by the time I reached the top, I was climbing the wall spider-fashion at high speed, with four arms and four legs to carry out the theme. (All illusory, of course.) Plus there was my natural ghostly phosphorescence, and I'd added a few extra pairs of eyes and another mouth or two. There might have been slavering involved as well. Who doesn't get carried away once in a while?
All in all, I guess I looked pretty terrifying when I burst up out of the pit and landed among them. Even big strong Death Row inmates can panic, and some of them have surprisingly girly screams. There were two locked doors leading out of the elevator area, and as it happened, one of them led to an empty corridor, while the other led to three convicts with firearms and orders to kill anyone who came through that door. (There were also two Arkham guards between the door and the firing squad, crouching behind a compressor and fresh out of ammo, certain they were about to die, but that's beside the point.)
Which door did the five Blackgaters unlock, given that there was safety behind one and certain death behind the other?
Just guess.
Not Door Number One.
Jay arrived while two very surprised and very thankful guards were confiscating firearms and handcuffing the three shooters. To their credit, the killers were genuinely upset about having shot their own men, although since that may have been motivated more by fear of Other Joker than by remorse. Once he found out what had happened, Jay started teasing.
"And you have the nerve to complain about me!"
A/N: An extra short-short, just for fun. A longer and meatier chapter next time.