Joker 2113 (Part 6/Conclusion)

October 29, 2113
Braddox had a meeting to attend at 10am, plenty of time to take care of the things he needed to do as Batman, get home, shower, and drive into the City, yet he was still 15 minutes late currently and at least another 7 minutes away. He called Mr. Hanzo-Son twice with no answer. Good Maybe he was running late too. He wished he could have driven the Batcycle he discovered this morning when he returned from his investigation. Damn that thing looked fast. No time for that now. He finally arrived at the park. Mr. Hanzo-Son insisted that they meet outside as he was one with nature. Over the phone he had said "The confines of an office building I can get anywhere. I want to experience the natural parts of Gotham, do you know of any park?" Bruce's immediate thought was MidPark Center. They had a wide open field for football, soccer, etc. and they had a trail if Mr. Hanzo felt up for a nature walk. Brad entered the park Briefcase in hand. Suit and tie, and running shoes. "Shit!" He thought to himself. He was about to turn around and go back to his car when he saw Mr. Hanzo-Son in a pair of Adidas sweatpants and an Ekko Hoody. Brad couldn't help but smile even with all that was going on. " Mr. Hanzo-Son, how are you?" He turned around to face Brad. His face was a tortured smile, his eyes deep red from burst capillaries. His throat still convulsing from his past laughing fit. Just then Braddox noticed that Mr. Hanzo-Son was not controlling himself he was being manipulated by strings that seemed to come from his wrist. no, not strings, were those his veins?!? In fact they were, a Giant laughing Clown formed from the clouds. "What’s the Matter Wayne? IS this guy too high strung  for you? AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA. The mouth got wider and took over the entire face. It opened wide and came towards Brad closing in on him, he panicked. He curled up in the fetal position. The mouth enclosed around him. Just as his head was about to be nipped off by this giant mangled yellow tooth.....he woke up. He was still trembling. 9:15am, He wasn't going to make his real meeting.
Rose was experimenting with her new found abilities, no not abilities, POWERS, all night. she found that she didn't need sleep anymore. All she needed was some sunlight in the morning and she was as refreshed as everyone else. Throughout the night she was fiddling with her abilities trying anything she could think of. In lieu of last night situation with Ed, she decided to try and stay on Joker's good side. She discovered a way to create unnatural hybrid plants and speed grow them. When she handed Joker the daisy he was pretty unimpressed until she had it open its mouth. It looked like a Venus flytrap with daisy petals around its head like aliens mane, only thing is this plant had real teeth. They looked sharp. Joker was definitely impressed. "Joker, you can talk to me through this guy if you need to. Also he spits. You can give him anything, acid, fear gas, hell you could give him gasoline. He is tough enough to handle any chemical without issue. just pet him here to let him know to spit." Joker kept the lapel flower Vic made for him but this was wholly more impressive. "You can also give him commands. For example if batman is too close to you, you can have him bite if need be." Joker was indeed impressed. "Rose I like the way you think, this was a very thoughtful gift and I must say an impressive one at that. You're tops kiddo. I guess for you we'll have to paint this town green instead of red hahahhahahaa."
Brad hurried to Midpark Center over by RamsFeild, for real this time. Mr. Hanzo-son was in the same spot, in the same clothes as in Brad's dream. curious. He checked his own clothing. Unlike in his dream he decided to be prepared and dress in a track suit and sneakers. This wasn’t a dream...right? no it couldn't be. "So Mr. Wayne-Son Let us conduct our business while out for light jog." Brad Snapped out of it, "of course Mr. Hanzo-Son"  Mr. Hanzo-son looked very grave for a moment as he spoke his next few words "Mr. Hanzo-Son is my father call me Hattori" His stone cold poker face looked back. Wayne felt very uncomfortable for a moment then Hattori smiled big, for a moment too big and it stretched across his face like in Brad's dream. His eyes went all bloodshot the same as in the dream also. "Mr. Wayne-son?..." Brad snapped out of it. A bead of sweat was rolling down his forehead. He saw a very confused Hattori Hanzo looking back at him "...are you alright?" Brad  nodded "Yes sorry, late night, let us continue..."  they began their jog.
Krane was in his lab when the Joker Burst in unannounced as usual. "BRAIN MY BOY! How's things coming along?" Krane Hated when Joker called him Brain. Joker seemed very enthusiastic about Krane's Experiments since Rose gave him his new lapel flower. "So who's next? and whatcha gonna do to them? oh i know let’s make Deuce a werewolf or something to play on his name that way he has 2 personalities, or OOOH OOH I KNOW DO A JEKYL AND HYDE THEMED MUTATION! This is such fun.” ‘The joker clapped his hands together merrily like a school child who was allowed ice cream after dinner. Krane looked at him with disgust hidden behind fear. "Sir, I was going to attempt something like that on Alucard. I think that between what happened with Bayne and the way he gets all big when he's angry  combined with the animal DNA that i infused with cat i think i can make Alucard turn into a Man-Bat-Thing on command. If I’m correct that is." Joker looked back at him, the look on his face said "I don't know" but his normal air of apathy made his mouth say "Sure I don't care" He raised Alucard on the Comlink "Alucard You're up buddy time for some super powers, come up to Krane's lab."
Brad lay in the middle of the park shaking in a fetal position whimpering like a hurt and lost puppy. Hattori called the ambulance but they were taking very long. He was trying to get Braddox to talk but Brad just kept repeating "Clowns in the park, clowns gonna eat me..." He sounded like a child. There were no clowns in sight which very much confused Hattori. The ambulance arrived and tried to speak with Brad, but they were left to the same inane ravings that Mr.Hanzo-Son got. "Let's get him in the bus and sedate him" The paramedic turned to Hattori "Is he normally like this? does he take any medication? Do you know..." He was cut off by his partner "Hey Barry, this is that guy, the millionaire guy that owns pretty much everything in Gotham" Barry looked closely into Brad's face. “Holy shit you're right, that's Braddox Wayne, c'mon let's get him to the hospital." They loaded Brad into the back, closed up the doors and sped off Lights and sirens blaring. Hattori stood there still confused. He called his limo driver.
Joker stood in the meeting room. All his "Minions" were in attendance minus Krane and Alucard who were attending to other matters in the lab. "Well crew here it is, in 2 days my master plan will unfold and all of Gotham will bow before us. Till then we need more supplies. Bayne, I want you and Kat to break into Wayne Bio-Technics and steal me the nastiest thing you can find, Kat Make sure whatever he takes there is an inoculation for so we can't get sick from it, when you're done there meet us at the Gotham Water Reservoir. Deuce, I want you to lead the rest of the crew into the water reservoir and take that shit over. Wait for Bayne and Kat and My command. Rose, you Harley and I have to go take care of something at the base of the dam that holds the water in the reservoir. Are we all clear enough to handle this? Any questions?" Deuce raised his hand, Joker shot him in his good eye killing him instantly, "Clearly you weren't paying attention, Vic you're in charge, everyone clear?" They all nodded. Joker was too close to his goal to have to be repeating himself. One less throne to share as he saw it. As far as he was concerned Deuce taught them all enough hand to hand combat to get along, he was useless now anyway, besides soon they would all have super powers...
Barry burst into the ER with Brad on a stretcher. "We got a poison victim. He owns this hospital so i suggest you get to him quick." A Nurse recognized Brad from a picture on one of the waiting room magazines. She rushed to the stretcher. "What kind of poison?" she inquired. "No idea, tox screen in the bus showed an unknown toxin in his system, when we arrived on scene he was curled in a fetal position mumbling something about clowns. He was sweating profusely so we sedated him and ran a tox screen." They rushed him to the dialysis room to "scrub” his blood and hopefully remove the toxin.
Krane hoped he was right. If this worked Alucard would have the ability to fly which would be a great asset to the team. If he was wrong he was sure Joker would kill him. Joker didn't seem to value life, only utility. "Ok Al step in the chamber and we'll get started. When you get in put on that mask and imma seal you in. You will be able to hear me over the speaker in the mask.” Alucard did as he was told without speaking a word. The Chamber closed and sealed. It filled with neon liquid. "Nod if you can hear me." Alucard nodded "Good, ok this may itch a lil and sting a bit but it'll be over in 12 minutes just hang on and don't freak out no matter what you feel." Krane pushed a button which poured several liquids in the chamber where Alucard stood motionless. Finally Krane walked up to the vat and dropped a bat wing in it. The Batwing dissolved. A red cloud overtook the tank. When it cleared Alucard stood there the same as before. He looked different. Krane drained the tank of the neon goo that was now stained red. Alucard's eyes were blood red, the pupils were huge like he was tripping on L.S.D. His skin was pale. He almost looked Vampiric. Krane opened the chamber. Alucard stepped out of the tank. Up close Krane could see he was a foot taller and skinnier as well. He still looked human other than his eyes. With sunglasses he would look like he was just in dire need of a tan. "Can you change form?" Alucard looked at Krane. Krane was scared, Alucard looked very animalistic in his demeanor. Without a word he spread wings and took off. It worked. He 2 wayed Joker to let him know.
"HE CAN WHAT!?!? Spectacular, send him over" Joker decided this was the best day ever. Nothing could spoil it. "Har! Get this Al can fly, Brain gave him bat powers, how fuckin cool is that?" Harley looked unimpressed. "Puddin, what are you planning here? I think i get most of it but..." Joker cut her off as Krane was paging him again "One sec toots, i really gotta take this...Yellow? Send Vic back? will do, you're going to what? Oh my god, Krane u just saved me the trouble of bringing one of those tubes to the dam. You fuckin rock socks kiddo, keep up the good work." He disconnected from Krane and raised Vic on the mic. "Vic, i need you to go back to the base. Krane has a surprise for you." He clicked off his mic. "Sweeet, so babes what were ya saying?" Harley gave him that look that says i hate you "Nevermind."
It was late when they let him go home, but he was of sound mind, for  the most part, and he was technically their boss so the doctors couldn't stop him when Brad decided it was time  to leave. Other than the toxin they found nothing wrong with him. Since being released from the ER Brad was still having "Wakemares" but they were less intense and he could keep them in check. The nanobots helped with that as did the dialysis. The doctors told him to go home and get some rest. For once he was going to take someone’s advice. He needed rest before he could go toe to toe with Joker again. He was having a hard time telling the difference between what was real and what wasn't. A good night’s rest would give the nanobots the time to rid his body of what the dialysis hadn't.

October 30, 2113
Brad ddin't sleep. He spent most of teh night in the Batcave analyzing the eveidence he found at all the scenes. Nothing matched. The riddles made no sense. They also seemed to have stopped. Each crime was executed differently. Joker had assembled aq team, but the manner in which they did this was so erretic. they kidnap several boys from a  detention facility, then 2 girls fromanother one,possibly  a nurse that went missing the same day, they break into 2 separte Wayne facilities, steal several massive jars from one and torch the other.  “What the hell is he planning?” Brad said aloud.
Joker was up for hours before the crew. Tonight was a tradition Joker had waited his entire youth to enjoy the way they did a century ago...Hell Night.  The night before halloween. The night of all tricks and no treats. He had slept at the Water Reservoiur with Harley while Rose kept watch, as she doesn't sleep anymore. Bayne was also on standby napping away incase they needed some muscle. The Ex-emplopyees of the resivoiur would have slept fairly comfortably had it not been for that one mouthy motehr fucker. Joker decided last night to start beleiving in “Guilty by association” so he made them all stand barefoot outside naked on a bed of broken glass all night. He kept them standing by tying a rope around their necks so if they fell asleep they would choke themselves to death. To make things interested he forced them all to take a pill at random. Some were rat poison in capsules, some were aspirin, some were Ecstacy, and some were sleeping pills. Joker put all the pills in a sack , shook them up and randomly gave one to each of his hostages. “Well let's see which of our lucky contestants made it to the next round shall we?” he said to Harley as he woke her. She woke up with a smile. Her seductive clown make up smeared from rough sex and drooling in her sleep. She put on a see through nightgown and  joined Joker in the walk to the balcony outside the control room where all the smokers would go for breaks. Lined up was every employee that was in attendance the day and night before stripped and hanging.”Well well, Look Har, we have some  real fighters don't we?” He faced the “winners”, “Seems you four are the only ones to have survived. Well, that means you get to go onto round 2.” That evil grin engulfed his face.
Midafternoon rolled a round and Vic showed at the Reservoir looking exactly the same as before. “Vic?” Joker was puzzled. “I thought Krane had a surprise for you?” Vic smiled for t eh first time that Joker could rememebr since he met him. “Oh he did, see Krane is a genius, a pretty good inventor, but not much of an engineer. He and I stayed up all night building a couple of things. Alucard is bringing my Freeze suit and Krane, Oz and Kat are on their way.” Joker was pleased. So far so good. “Hey Vic, I need one more thing from you, I need some way to attract the Bat here without havuing  to escape from a chase. Work on that will ya?” Joker grinned  the “innocent” grin of a child who just stole a cookie and lied to their parents about it. “I know just the thing...hey but first what the fuck's with all the mannequinns dressed  like clowns?” Joker looked around, “oh them? They're not mannquins, they're dead bodies...except those four, they're booby trapped hostages....oh yeah, stay away from them.” His grin never left his face.
Batman spent the better half of a the day hurt and hallucinating while looking for clues. He went over everything a million times and came up with nothing. He was weak mentally as  well as physically. The Nanites healed him alot but not fully. Since he remained active they had a hard time repairing certain tissue and the gas was still affecting him. He was also having a hard time staying awake. He decided that he HAD to sleep at this point it was no longer a choice. “Computer take me home.” It was only 9:30PM but when he got home he didn't even make it to his room. He slept in his Batsuit on the couch in his study. Joker himsef could stand on Brad's head and he wouldn't wake up.
“OK BOILS AND GHOULS! Tonight is hell Night. I Need several people to come with me and help me wreak as much havoc as possible. However I need some of you to stay here and watch over things make sure the Bat doesn't fuck us over if he finds us early.”  Vic and Krane both volunteered to stay, Vic because he had work to do, and Krane because he needed to find hiding spots and get Vic to make remote light controls for the whole buildng. Joker asked         Bane, Alucard and Oz to stay behind. “You know what guys, you got your “toys”, Imma take the ladies out for a special Hell Night treat.” Kat, Rose and  Harley all linked arms with Joker and they went out to wreak havoc. Unbeknownst to them Batman was sleeping very heavily at the moment and would not be available to stop or even limit their chaos. They burned churches, old folks homes, and a hospital. Then when the Firemen were out dealing with those fires they set the fire house on fire. They flipped and burned cars. Lawn gnomes were Joker's  favorite thing to destroy. After about the fifth one he decided to collect a bunch and destroy them all at once in a glorious bonfire. They stole every lwan gnome they could find in a 10 block radius and stashed tehm in the middle of a nearby park. When they were finished teh robbed a near by gas station for gas, money, ciggarettes, beer, eggs, toilet paper, and Harley wantd a ring pop. They returned to the park got drunk, set fire to the gnomes, and tehn went around  TP'ing and Egging every house for about 4 blocks before they ran out of TP and eggs.
October 31, 2113
Joker Stood atop the damn . One would think he was going to jump. Most wish he would. He was just enjoying the breeze, the quiet before the storm. Harley was freaking out that he was going to fall, or slip or something terrible. Alucard was watching him as requested. With his new powers even if Joker did fall Alucard would turn into his Man bat form and catch Joker mid-air. Joker didn't care anyway, he believed he was invincible. So far nothing could stop him. Today was the day he would make Gotham bend to his whim and make him their king. Today they would see this new Joker as the True Clown Prince of Crime. No. He was not a mere prince. He was the Dark Clown KING of Gotham City, or at least he would be by tonight. He made sure to inoculate the entire crew and himself to the highly toxic bacteria. He didn't want to have anyone so near and dear to him come down with an illness. He laughed at that thought. He had Alucard watching from the sky, and Rose was watching the ground from the eyes of her new "Watcher plants" she had create last night. She was also holding back her Tree from tearing the damn open. Vic was keeping the Bacteria on Ice to keep it from infecting the water before the time was right. Kat was patrolling the parts around the dam where Rose could not plant her "babies" without compromising the integrity of the dam. Bayne was guarding Harley in the Main control room where she watched Joker and worried. Oz patrolled the hallways of the Water facility and Krane was lurking in the shadows praying he had a chance to test the suit he and Vic built. Everything was falling into place. Joker spent all day on top of the dam. When he finally faced Harely from his suicidal location, it was almost night time. He signaled Harley to shine the Batsignal Vic had made into the darkening sky. Now to attract the bat.
Batman had been on patrol for about most of the morning investigating the fires from the night before. When he saw the piles of Lawngnomes he knew it had to be Joker. He spent about 3   hours at the site of the charred gnomes looking for clues when he saw a spot light in  he sky that bore the insignia he had on his chest. He knew it had to be Joker. "Computer, take me to the source of that spotlight." The Batmobile spun a 360 turn and shot off in the direction of the Water reservoir. It was getting dark but Batman preferred that. When he arrived darkness had set in. He saw a figure atop the damn. He quickly and quietly made his way past several minions. Little did he know that Joker ordered all his minions to ignore Batman so that he could deal with Bats himself. When he got close he saw Joker standing on the dam. He quietly crept in the shadows to try and sneak up on Joker. Harley shone a spotlight right on him. He stood up from his crouching position. Joker turned to face him. They both stood atop the dam where joker had stood earlier enjoying the breeze. "So Bats, you like my lil plot? Pretty creative huh?" Batman stood silent as ever. "You know it's really impolite to ignore me. Or are you a mute? HAHAHHA..." Batman lunged and grabbed Joker. Batman had Joker by the throat. He was not like the old Batman, he had no issue killing Joker for the sake of the city being safe. He was after all their guardian. Had he been a knight and joker a dragon there would be no question as to what had to be done. Joker was trying to say something. Batman loosened his grip against his own better judgment. "You know Bats it's not polite to create something and then just throw it away when you're done" That was the second time Joker had insinuated that his creation was Batman's fault. "What the hell are you talking about?" He questioned. Joker smirked and attempted to let out a laugh but batman constricted around his throat again. That smile never left joker's face "Awww, you hurt my feelings bats, you're telling me you don't remember that night back when you wore the Halloween costume of the original bat. HAHA, you weren’t even a super hero then you were merely a kid not much older than me thinking he could fight crime. What happened Bats someone take your candy and you vow to never remove the suit? AHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA!" Batman choked him harder again. "You made me" Joker gasped "whether you choose to believe me or not you did and you will now have to deal with me I suppose" Joker touched the lapel flower he had. Its middle part opened to reveal a mouth, before batman could react it spit something at him. The instant it hit his mask he knew what it was. Acid. It began eating away at his mask. He dropped joker and removed his mask. "AHAHAHAAHHA, REALLY? Braddox Wayne? O-M-G Bats could you be anymore cliché?" Batman knew he had to kill Joker for sure now, he knew his secret. "Uh oh, what’s that look bats? You’re really gonna do it huh? well get on with it but know one thing, I am pretty delusional so no one will believe me, also I will forget your face in time, but you...you’ll remember mine the rest of your life" Joker produced a gun he had up his sleeve the entire time. He took advantage of batman's exposed head and shot his directly between the eyes. Batman dropped to the ground cold. "AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA, I did it, I KILLED TEH BAT! AHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......" He cackled loudly for a few minutes, then it actually hit him "I killed the bat....now what?" his laughing stopped. He stood there looking at Braddox until Harley came and grabbed him. "Puddin we have to leave NOW! The police are on their way." She grabbed him by the jacket and dragged him to the escape car. Sirens were blaring in every direction and they were getting louder.
November 1, 2113
Joker was depressed. His plan went off without a hitch. He escaped after killing the bat. He called the commissioner and demanded full reign over Gotham. He revealed his plan to destroy the dam and flood the city with bacteria infected water. They agreed to his demands with no fight. He was the new ruler of Gotham City. He managed to secure the city and even the government accepted his new status of Royalty. He won. Yet he felt empty inside. He lay in his bed clenching the mask of his late arch nemesis. Harley was worried about him she tried to talk to him but he didn't handle sadness quite as well as other emotions. He got angry. Harley mentioned the late batman and he slapped her. She was shocked; he had not yet raised a hand to her. She was hurt more emotionally than physically. Joker returned to his previous state of self pity and placed his head in his palms again. He bore a permanent smile but he did not feel it anymore. He was no longer happy, he was no longer delusional. He was very aware of his surroundings. Everything was so surreal. More than half his life had been dedicated to becoming this character from a comic book. He did the one thing the original couldn't. He disposed of his nemesis. This left him empty inside. He knew not what to do with himself any longer. Then the pain started. His hear hurt. At first he actually thought it was raw emotion. Then he felt the warm sticky liquid dripping down his back. He removed his hands from his face and stood up. He looked in the mirror and there it was. His favorite dagger was plunged into his back stabbing him directly in the heart. "What are the odds?" was all he could think. When he saw Harley standing there blood dripping from her hands and sprayed across her face he smiled again, one last time. HE started to walk towards her, began stumbling his way over and then collapsed inches from her feet. Harley was crying "Why puddin, why? Why did you have to hit me? I vowed long ago to never let a man strike me and get away with it. I loved you." She began full on bawling. She screamed "ILOVED YOU!" between sobs. She went over to his body and removed the dagger. She flipped his body and held him. Joker’s eyes opened wide. He grabbed her throat and applied as much pressure as he could. He successfully crushed her windpipe. She was pinned under his weight and couldn't move, he cackled a low menacing laugh. His laugh continued until Harley stopped gasping for air. They both died within the same second. When the crew found them later they didn't know what to do. They had been mutated, trained, and instilled with joker's sick sense of life. They looked at each other and without a word went their own ways to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting, and unprotected citizens of Gotham. Maybe they would cross paths again, but would they be friend or foe. Only the time will tell.