Week passed by and there was still no sign from the Joker. Bruce was beginning to worry, whenever the Joker spent a long time not committing crimes it means he was planning something big but in the visiting room he had admitted to Bruce that everything from the start wasn't planned. Gordon had come to visit Bruce a few days ago to talk to him about Jacks real identity and promised to arrest him the moment he slips up. They were watching the cameras 24/7 and they had doubled the amount of guards at the asylum. Bruce was once again sitting in the common room battered and bruised watching the TV as he always did, waiting for the moment a Joker related crime was reported but it never was.
Meanwhile in the lobby of the asylum Jack was being searched for weapons and suspicious objects, strangely he stood there and didn't say a word or show any kind of objection to the search. Dr Leland and Gordon were watching him from a distance "Doesn't act like The Joker" Leland stated.
"Trust me he is The Joker" Gordon said narrowing his eyes at Jack.
"Look Jim, I know you were close to Batman and that you're not happy with seeing him in Arkham and it seems like believing him is your coping mechanism"
"No, Napier admitted to me himself he is the Joker" he hissed "He has the tattoos to prove it"
"Well Mr Napier is not a patient here and so far we have no solid evidence to support Wayne's accusations. So as far as Napier is concerned he is entitled to his privacy"
"You can't actually believe this guy!"
"What are you going to do Jim? Go in there and strip the poor man of his clothes?" Leland yelled.
"At least let me question him" Gordon said trying to control his anger.
"I'm not the one you need to ask" Leland said gesturing to Jack.
Gordon reluctantly walked over to Jack "Morning Mr Napier, could we by any chance ask you a few questions involving Bruce Wayne's accusations?"
"Of course, commissioner" Jack nodded "I'll do anything to help"
"Yeah sure you will" Gordon muttered leading Jack and Leland into a room with a table and three chairs, they all sat down, Jack on one side and Leland and Gordon on the other.
Jack sat very formally with his back straight and his hands neatly folded on the metal table between them. Leland looked at Gordon sceptically until Jack spoke up "Is this about Master Wayne's accusations?"
"Yes, I'm afraid it is" said Leland "If you have any objections to the questions you are asked you have the right to not answer then"
"Leland, this is a matter of life and death and you're giving him the right to pick and choose the questions he is asked?" Gordon objected.
"Yes because that's a human right for any person being questioned" Leland responded.
"That thing is not a human!" Gordon yelled pointing at Jack but Jack surprisingly stayed silent.
"Jim Gordon!" Leland yelled back "You either stay here and act like a civilised human being or you can leave and let me do the questioning" Gordon calmed down and nodded to Leland to let her begin the questioning "Now, Jack" she said turning to him "Are you in anyway related to the Joker?"
"Not that I know of. If so, distantly" he replied calmly.
"So you don't deny that you may be related to him?" Gordon asked leaning in with interest.
"Well there's always the possibility isn't there?"
"Yes there is" Gordon replied.
"Ok, do you have any form of criminal record?" Leland asked.
"No"
"Have you ever been diagnosed for mental illness?"
"No"
An hour later Leland and Gordon had gotten nowhere, all of the answer to the questions pointed to the conclusion that he was not the Joker. To Gordon's annoyance Jack had stayed calm and rational the whole time, while Leland was about to asked another question Gordon interrupted "Take off your shirt" he demanded.
This seemed to make Jack agitated "W…what?" he stuttered.
"Take off your shirt" Gordon repeated.
"I really wouldn't feel comfortable…" Jack began.
"There's no way around this, not this time. Take it off"
Jack reluctantly stood up and began unbuttoning his jacket "Jack you don't need to…" Leland said before Gordon pulled her back and watched Jack intently. Jack sighed as he pulled of his jacket and undid his tie letting it hang around his neck. Leland and Gordon watched as Jack slowly unbuttoned his shirt revealing his pale chest covered in the Jokers tattoos.
Gordon immediately reacted drawing his gun and pointing it at Jack "Put your hands on your head and get down" he ordered and Jack obeyed calmly "You're arrested for almost every crime under the god damn sun" Gordon said as he applied handcuff to him "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?" Gordon said as he reviewed the Miranda rights.
"I do" Jack replied.
"With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?"
"No"
A few hours later Gordon had announced to the public that Jack was indeed the Joker and that he would be locked up in Arkham again for good this time "Good luck with that" Joker had chuckled. The crowd had started booing and Joker laughed even louder "Wow aggravating a homicidal maniac that sounds like a brilliant idea" and the crowd had immediately fell silent. After Joker had been put in Bruce Wayne's old cell Gordon, Batman and the GCPD had all gathered in the police headquarters to celebrate the capture of the Joker and apologise to Batman.
"It alright, at least it's all over now" Batman said
"I don't think we could ever express our apology enough, it's amazing that you got out of there alive considering that you put most of the people in there" Gordon said as he stood up and held Batman's arm in the air "To Batman, Gotham's greatest hero" Gordon announced holding up his beer in the other hand and the whole room cheered for Batman.
One of the forensic scientist came into the room in the midst of all the celebrations with a distressed look on their face "Guys…guys!...GUYS!" she yelled over all the noise and the room fell silent "I know how The Joker got away with pretending to be Jack Napier even through all the DNA tests"
"How?" Gordon asked
"Because Joker is Jack Napier" she announced and the room looked at her in confusion "They're the same person! The Joker's real identity is Jack Napier!" she yelled and the whole room looked at her in shock.
Gordon remembered a small boy coming into the station years ago after his own parents were murdered, no older than nine years old. Gordon was only a rookie but the case was one of the most violent he had ever seen:
My lieutenant brought the boy into the room and sat him down on one of the desks, everyone turned their heads to look at the poor child who was staring at the floor with wide eyes. The boy was covered in blood from head to toe and the lieutenant ordered one of the men to get some new clothes and then asked be to come over to him.
"Yes sir?" I asked.
"I need you to help me on this case and catch whoever did this" he replied.
"Yes sir" I answered "What happened?"
"We walked into a house where one of the neighbours had called the police, the place was covered in blood. The two parents were on the floor with hundreds of stab wounds and the floor was covered in a good two inches of blood and this kid had been sitting in it for the past two days. Poor little guy, he must be traumatised. It was a god damn massacre and this poor kid had been left there to starve to death"
I turned to the boy who was staring at the floor still and kneeled down so I was in his line of sight "Hey kid, whats your name?"
He looked at me for a while and stayed silent before answering "Jack…" he stopped to sniff "Jack Napier"
I nodded as the other men came to take to child to get cleaned up "I hope he's gonna turn out ok. No kid should see something like that if anyone at all" lieutenant had commented as the Jack and the policemen turned the corner. The case had never been solved and the child was transported to a mental facility for post-traumatic stress,
The name also brought back memories to Batman that he didn't want to be reminded of:
I had arrived at ace chemicals where there was a supposed robbery going on, there were three men still in the plant two of them had been shot and the other was backing away from me down the catwalk over the vats "S…stay back. Don't hurt me!" he pleaded.
At closer inspection I realised that this was the man who I had returned to the Gotham Mental Institution after he had escaped three months ago, he had been sent there after a traumatic experience as a child and after I heard what had happened to him, I considered it nothing near the trauma I experienced as a child. A couple of days ago I had been notified that he had been kidnapped from the hospital by the two men who had been shot in the plant but I didn't know they had taken him here with them "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you" I said trying to comfort him.
"I know what you do to people so you better just stay back!"
"Everything will be alright, we're going to walk out of here and get you back to the hospital"
"I don't want to go back!"
"Ok, we'll just leave and figure it out" I said as I finally reached him.
"No!" he screamed as I reached out to him, he had backed away from me too far and was now on the edge of the platform. I tried to grab him but I was too late and he fell into the chemicals.
Both men stood there in shock, all of the GCPD were staring at them expecting them to say something but instead of saying anything…both of the men fainted.
END
I hadn't really focused much on the relationship between The Joker and Harley as I was originally going to but I thought that it'd be better to focus of his past instead. Sorry if that was a bit of a disappointment, also if you'd like to see this continued in a different story more focused on the Joker past please tell me. And I'm sorry that the Joker being arrested was so sudden and you thought it could be more detailed. Hope you enjoyed the ending.
-Eric