Ohayho everyone! CJzilla here with another update. FanFiction had a glitch in the login system; this update's been ready since Sunday. A little short but informative. In this chapter it looks as if Gotham's going to be without the Batman for a while and Joker comes up with an insane solution. Enjoy.
As I tear down this city, alls CJzilla has to roar is this: R&R! Love... Hate... Review.
"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world."
R. D. Lang
Chapter 5
Insanity Speaks
Six heavily armed SWAT officers stood outside a hospital intensive care unit. Glass was all over the floor but no commotion was heard. But inside the hospital ICU room, things were silent but far from peaceful.
Thickly solemn, translucently heartbreaking, fully amazing and unnaturally quiet. Batgirl and Robin, Commissioner Ellen Yin and Police Chief Ethan Bennett stood along side the Joker in that hospital intensive care unit. But there were no punches being swung, no Joker gas clouds and no handcuffs. What do two masked vigilantes, two high-ranking police officers and a psychotic supervillain have in common? The same person that was lying in that hospital bed. The Batman.
The five onlookers were silent as they stared at the critically injured crime fighter. The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the only consistent sound in the room. It was… strange for all of them, hearing the Batman's heartbeat. For someone seeming superhuman and so hard on crime, no one but his closest friends knew he had a heart; the powerful but sensitive organ that was capable of love and pain.
"I'll do it." The Joker's voice rang through the silence, making everyone jump. Yin, Bennett and Robin and Batgirl looked at the insane harlequin.
In the dim light, the Joker's crazed yellow smile dazzled the darkness.
"I'll do it." The supervillain repeated, his smile broadening once he saw he had everyone's attention. They all frowned at him.
"Do what, you screwball?" Robin growled. The Joker chuckled.
"What you're all thinking." The supercriminal returned. "Gotham's down one grouchy but cool crime fighter. Let's face it; the news that Batman's KOed is all ready out. I'd say all criminals down from chronic jaywalking gangsters up to A-list supervillains are running naked in the streets, free as the wind blows."
Bennett crossed his arms.
"Your point, Joker?" The Chief of Police tapped his foot. Joker chuckled again, stifling a bigger laugh.
The psychotic clown jumped in the air, just for the heck of it.
"I'll do it!" Joker got in Bennett's face, pointing at himself. "I'll fill in for Bats while he's sucking his meals through a straw!"
Gasps rang through the room.
"NO way!" Robin jumped between Bennett and Joker, swiped the air with his hand. "You're the Joker. You'd sooner plunder and gas the city before you'd protect it!"
Joker cackled and put a hand on the Boy Wonder's head, pushing him to the side. The harlequin focused on the chief of police and police commissioner.
"What? You'd leave Gotham City in the hands of Frick and Frack?" Joker pointed to Robin and Batgirl and gave a big laugh. "Even when Bats needed them the most, they were wiping their noses! They're barely old enough to order on the adult menu! How are THEY supposed to stop the bad guys with numerous henchmen?"
The crazy supercriminal got a shove from Robin. Joker tripped until he hit the wall. The clown just giggled at the irate look on the Boy Wonder's face.
"We've stopped you more times than you care to admit!" Robin spat, balling his fists. The Joker gave a low, amused but sinister laugh.
"But you always had the Batman to spearhead every case. Without him peewee, you're going to be so all-consumed by guilt, you're not going to see that bullet come whizzing toward your brain." The harlequin extended his forefinger and thumb pointing at Robin's forehead and then he grinned. "Boom. You're dead."
With that big smile on his face he relished the look on the boy sidekick's face. Then Batgirl stepped in front of his finger.
"You've got to give us more credit than that, Joker." The calm girl said. Joker shrugged and husked his finger in an invisible gun holster.
"Eh. On a usual night, maybe." The clown grinned but then that smile dropped off his face. "But you two weren't there for Batman. Of all the mess-ups in all the world, THIS has got to be the biggest one."
He pointed at the critically injured Batman and the sound of his heart monitor filled the room. The madman got his point across because a look of sadness fogged the girl's face. Then Joker did a cartwheel, landing by the window.
"And what makes you think you're more capable than Batgirl and Robin, Joker?" Yin questioned, setting a hand on her hip as she narrowed her eyes at the criminal. "In case you've forgotten, you're a convicted criminal who's made several attempts on every living soul in this city. How are YOU better than these two?"
"Well, Robin and Batgirl may have a clean record with the law, they may be the Batman's right and left hand AND they may have matching costumes, BUT-…" The Clown Prince of Crime paused, his yellow, crooked smile once again shining through the dim light. "I'm the only one who knows Bats from the inside out. I've been in his mind and he's been in mine. We share a level of understanding that other people only dream they had. Why, we're practically brothers!"
Robin growled again.
"Oh, you're just FULL of it, aren't you?!" The masked ebony-haired teen fumed, pointing an accusing finger at Joker. "I don't see you in a matching Batman costume! I don't see you in a black cape and cowl! And I certainly don't see you and Bats on good terms! Last I checked, YOU and him are enemies!"
Joker locked eyes with the Boy Wonder.
"I've been side to side with the Batman WAY before you and all the other bats walked into his life, peewee." The clown returned, that big smile still on his pale face. "You're not giving me any credit for the time period before all of this sidekick madness."
The teen boy gritted his teeth, angrier than ever. Robin stomped over to the insane harlequin and stuck a finger in his face.
"I'm not giving you ANY credit, you delusional LOON!" With his outburst, the Joker's smile faltered. "You want it in black and white?! Fine. You're my mentor's fiercest enemy and this city's GREATEST threat! You have no right to think you can even touch Batman. You don't know Batman like you say you do, you're not his brother and you're certainly not his friend!"
Now the Joker's smile was totally gone, his red eyes squinted at the boy in a type of hurt look.
"There. Now with that reality check, WHAT makes you think you can fill in for the Batman?" Robin crossed his arms and glared. The crazed clown was silent for a long while as he stared right back at the teen.
"I never said that I'm equal to Bats." The Joker finally spoke, his tone low and wounded. "The Caped Crusader's in a league all of his own. But he is my best friend."
The room was silent.
"So bring up my record with the law, tell me I'm a homicidal maniac that's sick in the head and laughs too much!" Joker added. "But I'm not volunteering to take on the Batman's cowl to commit more crime, to silence the ghosts of my past or to get even with him… I'm volunteering to help my one and only friend."
Joker's elaborate mind was sometimes briefly viewed by outsiders. Bigger, more obvious glimpses of what blazed across the madman's thought pattern were mainly seen in the type of crimes he commits and in the execution of his felony misdemeanors. On the other hand, though, sometimes moments like these were witnessed by only the lucky few. Peeks into the feelings and thoughts that weren't always so obvious as his laugh and unique look. Now ironically the chief of police, commissioner of police and two masked heroes had front-row seats to this supervillain's confession.
Ethan Bennett cut the silence this time.
"Listen, Joker." The fit bald, black man took a step toward the supercriminal. "Even if you wanted to, it's not in you to be a hero; you know that by now."
The clown pursed his lips and looked to the ceiling for a moment. Then he smiled.
"Well, I'm obviously not a Boy Scout, but if you all recall, Bats isn't really one either." Joker returned. "And a grouchy hero is exactly what this city needed."
Bennett nodded.
"Point taken, Joker." The chief of police nodded. "But the last time you tried to be a hero like the Batman, you still held Gotham in a stranglehold."
Robin looked up at Bennett and quirked a brow.
"It was before the Batman took on sidekicks." Yin spoke, butting into the conversation, answering the confused looks from Batgirl and Robin. "Joker briefly impersonated the Batman, enforcing the law instead of breaking it."
Batgirl looked at Robin.
"That's one story Batman never told us." The masked teen girl glanced up at Joker. The insane clown looked annoyed.
"But Joker made a terrible superhero because the offenses he targeted were barely considered crimes at all." Bennett set his hands on his hips and shook his head. "And he gassed every one of them, from jaywalkers to the eleven-items-at-a-ten-item-grocery-checkout offenders."
Joker shrugged.
"I was graduating to the bigger criminals, chief." The clown gave a grin. "You expect me to take down the big boys on my first day in tights and a cape?! Talk about pushy."
He pouted, folding his arms.
"That's not the point. The point is that you couldn't be a hero, Joker." Bennett crossed his arms. Joker looked back at the police chief.
"But this is different." Joker returned looking very irritated. "I keep telling you people that."
"And we keep tellin' you that it's not going to happen!" Robin growled, obviously frustrated. "So shut up about taking over for Batman! Stay a criminal, Joker. It's the only thing you're good at."
As the Joker merely looked at the boy, weighing in what he just said, Batgirl elbowed Robin in the ribs. It was at that point that Joker had made up his mind to ignore everything the two cops and two munchkin heroes just told him.
"Well-!" Joker stood from leaning on the window and stretched. "I'm glad to see Bats still breathing. But this clown has gotta run."
The crazed harlequin laid a hand on the window and slammed it open. He hopped on the ledge and gave everyone a big, Joker smile.
"Don't forget to smile everyone!" He told them. With a cackle, the supervillain did a back flip out of the hospital room and fell.
Yin, Batgirl, Bennett and Robin rushed to the four story window and watched Joker gracefully bounce between the hospital and the adjacent building. Dropping to the dark alleyway, the psychotic clown disappeared into the crowd of people and then slinked off into the darkness of the night.
Everyone was still a little stunned at the relatively non-hostile visit from the madman. They were all even amazed that Joker never mad an attempt on the Batman's life, since the hero was critically injured and so vulnerable. Then Batgirl slapped Robin upside his head.
"What is wrong with you?!" She snapped as the Boy Wonder rubbed the back of his head. The four ducked back into the room and shut the window. "You just encouraged the Joker to stay a supervillain!"
Batgirl growled in frustration as she pulled on her red hair and walked back into the room.
"So what?!" Robin shot back. "I'm not going to let Joker, of all people, to parade around Gotham as the Batman! He's mental! HOW would that reflect on the real Batman, Batgirl?! It's better that he stay a criminal."
The masked teen girl shot Robin a glare.
"Just listen to yourself!" She snarled. "You just goofed BIG time!"
The Boy Wonder gritted his teeth.
"What? You'd rather have Joker running around as our mentor?" He marched up to her. Batgirl held a frown on her face regardless of how angry Robin looked.
"If it means that Joker would stay out of our hair until Batman recovers, then yes, I'd want him in a rubber muscle suit with matching bat ears." She returned. "And you just told him to that he was better suited to be a criminal. Way to go super blooper."
Robin and Batgirl were ready to start throwing punches at each other. Bennett stepped between them.
"Easy you two. Keep in mind what's going on now." The fit black man voiced and then he looked over at the Batman. "I can't believe it's come to this. After all he's done for us… he's on a hospital bed and having a machine breathe for him."
His blue eyes traced the medical equipment in the room and focused on the IV that was trickling fluid into the Caped Crusader's veins. It was nearly too painful. Bennett sighed.
"What now?" He looked to Yin. The oriental beauty looked up at him.
"We keep Batman safe and breathing." Yin took a firm stance. "We all want him to recover as soon as possible."
Then Robin looked up at the two officers.
"Bats can't stay here. Not after how easily Joker got past all of us." Robin sneered. "We gotta relocate him."
Bennett and Yin nodded.
"We were discussing that too." Bennett returned and then looked over at Yin. "But it wasn't exactly settled."
The oriental commissioner of police gave her friend an irritated look.
"Then let's settle this now." Yin put her hands on her hips. "The Batman will be moved to a secret safe house with all the resources we need for his critical condition. Once he's well enough, we will release him to his two partners, Batgirl and Robin."
Robin and Batgirl nodded. Then Batgirl sighed, rubbed the back of her neck and stole a glance at her mentor lying still in the hospital bed.
"It looks like Gotham will have to go without the Batman for a while." The red-headed heroine looked over at Robin. Again, the steady beeping of the heart monitor was the only thing heard.
R&R! LONG LIVE ROCK!