Joker

Story One: The Start of a Joke

Chapter Five: Birth

Hidey-ho readers! This is Chapter Five of The Start of a Joke; 'Birth'. This chapter will take you on one final romp through the familiar confines of Arkham Asylum and break out into the world that is Gotham City. Will everyone make it? You'll just have to read the final chapter of this story.

I must pre-warn you all that after this chapter is complete, I am beginning a hiatus to work on my novel. When I find myself needing a break from it, I will gladly start writing more FanFiction but will stockpile the chapters and release them weekly without the pressure of constantly churning them out. But more of that later. Now, you are about to read the beginning of the end...

Another day, another brawl. It was the constant routine that repeated itself with the rise of the sun. Several members of two different gangs entered a dispute and it was the medic's job to treat the scratches, the bruises and the broken bones that ensued. At least all the cleaning staff had to worry about was the blood. Even they didn't need to carry away dead bodies. Luckily, today was not such a grim day for one of the unfortunates idiotic enough to get into the scuffle. Despite this, something was very unusual. At least, it would have been had anyone taken the time to notice. One of the men amongst those injured was not part of either gang. He was a complete unknown, a mysterious appearance. This man was here to collect something important for his own coalition, and the carrier of this information was the doctor treating him. "Took a nasty knock to the head, I see." Said Clemens, attempting false small talk.

"I'll live." Replied the assassin in his dark, crackling voice.

"So what do I call you?" asked Clemens in a slightly lower tone.

"Carter." Answered the man, making sure none of the other people in the room could overhear them. Clemens didn't believe that was his real name, but it would do. The man, 'Carter', continued; "Do you have it here?"

"Yes."

"Then make the drop."

"No." Clemens too was afraid of getting caught this early on in the act. At least after this, it was all up to them to pull off the plan. He had as much faith in it as far as he was involved. "I'll sling your arm. Make like it hurts." He straightened himself, allowing himself to be seen as doing nothing out of the ordinary. "Now, does it hurt when I do this?" He returned to his normal register and began squeezing portions down Carter's arm. As instructed, Carter pulled off quite a convincing pained look. "Right there, hmm? Not broken. I'll just pop that in a sling and then you're done." As Clemens tied the sling off on Carter's shoulder, he slipped a small piece of paper into the arm and out of sight. Easy as pie. "There, that should do the trick. Off you go." Carter nodded in thanks to Clemens and left Medical. He was careful to not appear suspicious as he was led back to Intensive Treatment. As he passed by a cell marked 'Kase, T.G.', he made his move. With swift reflexes, he took down his two escorts. The guards quickly reacted to his hostile actions and tried to subdue Carter to no avail. He knew how to remove himself from every hold. But it was not his intent to escape. When the time was right, he carefully positioned himself in front of the cell door and, as planned, was knocked in the back of the head by one of the guards. As he fell, he allowed the folded paper slip from his sleeve, slide across the floor and under the gap between the door and the floor. The last thing Carter saw before he was dragged away was a hand that swept it up and out of sight. Ra's al Ghul listened as his man was taken away to be locked into solitary confinement. Before the escape had even begun, they were one head down. That's how much this information cost them. 'It had better be good.' He thought as he unfolded the paper. Scrawled on the paper were directions and a hand-drawn map. He followed it along until he came across the objective. As it turned out, it had been worth the man after all; the directions would lead them to the figurative heart of the asylum. If they struck there, it would shut the facility down for good, using the power that the asylum so fool-heartedly relied on against them. Without it, they would be blind, deaf and powerless to stop any escape attempt. It would all happen, as the date in the upper hand corner predicted, late afternoon...tomorrow. Until that time, Ra's and his followers would need to plan for maximum effect.

"If you care about what happens to J, you need to do exactly as I say." The words were whispered into their ears. Olufsen and Hatzi tried to turn, but both were deterred; "Don't look." Warned the voice once again. They both looked around the Mess Hall, there were many more guards on the upper level than usual, all glancing in their direction more than any other.

"Doc Clemens? That you?" guessed Hatzi.

"Yes. Did you hear me?"

"Eh, that depends on what you want us to do."

"Hatzi!" Whispered Olufsen defiantly.

"I ain't stickin' me neck out for some kid." Argued back Hatzi.

"We're not doing it for the kid; we're doing it for Garber. And Kline." Hatzi simmered over this for a moment before settling back in his seat in compliance. "Right, what did ya want us to do, doc? And where is J?"

"Strange has him, one of his whole-day-chit-chat sessions." Clemens checked to see if anyone had grown suspicious yet. "There's gonna be a breakout tonight."

"Who's escapin'?" asked Hatzi.

"Everyone." Answered Clemens. "But to pull it off, I need a cardkey; a top level one."

"You don't mean...?" said Olufsen, worried and wide eyed.

"I do. Strange keeps it in his office in a desk. I have a mould of the key to his office door for you."

"Where is it?"

"In your bowl. Try not to eat it." Said Clemens. "I'll take you out of your cells for a physical inspection then let you guys slip away to break into his office. That cardkey is essential for the breakout. You two cannot fail."

"Why don't you get it yourself if you have all this stuff ready?" asked Hatzi.

"Because I need to drop the cardkey off to...the instigators." Explained Clemens. "If I'm even suspected of doing anything, Strange will lock me away and I can't let J out of his room, steal the cardkey and make the escape happen from a cell. Understood?" Hatzi and Olufsen nodded slightly. "Good. See you in an hour. Enjoy your lunch, gentlemen." As Clemens walked away, he felt a sickening churn in his stomach. There were so many questions in his head and all the worries in the world stacked on his shoulders. If this didn't work, if all of it didn't stop tonight, then what would happen? He knew that J would probably die, that this horrible experiment would continue into new and more diabolical forms but what of the man behind the scenes? What would become of Professor Hugo Strange? His power hunger was growing every day. It is so insatiable. He was becoming so confident in his own psychological theories being correct that he enforced all of the staff to call them 'diagnoses' and berated any who insisted otherwise. Warden Arkham had all but lost control over his asylum entirely to Strange who had some kind of a hold over his mind. If he was allowed to have some kind of a standing in society, then Gotham would have someone worse than any criminal to contend with. These are the reasons that drive a man like David Clemens to go against the hierarchy. These are the reasons that made him change his view of the world. These are the reason why he led Hatzi and Olufsen from their cells within safe walking distance of Hugo Strange's office. It took some work, but the key finally managed to click into place and unlock the door. The office was quite dark, even with the light on. There were no bright colours inside, no pictures or gimmicky nick-knacks. This was a serious house built on a serious Earth.

"Damn, can't this guy just be a freak in person?" joked Olufsen.

"Would ya shut up." Complained Hatzi. "Feels like he's in here watching us. Look around an' see what you can find. I'll check the desk." Hatzi began pulling out drawers and looking inside. There was nothing so far, nothing at all. Most of the drawers were empty. Olufsen looked around the shelves, checking all of the qualifications he had. Most of them were probably faked; there was no way he could have done most of these in such a short time. The first proper mirror he'd seen in a while, didn't waste any time in checking his reflection. He opened a nearby wardrobe and out toppled a woman. He jumped back in shock and stifled his cry of surprise; even Hatzi had to control himself. Luckily, the shock passed into relief when they realised it was a mannequin. The head had rolled away from the body which was only barely scantily clad.

"Looks like Hugo's got a bit of a sweet tooth." Chuckled Olufsen.

"Shut up, ya idiot." Laughed Hatzi. "Stuff her in and keep it down."

"That's what she said." Olufsen joked, smiling as he crammed the doll back into the wardrobe. "Professor Strange has human impulses after all."

"That weren't a sex doll, Ol'. He probably doesn't even know what sex is."

"Thanks, eagle eye." Mocked Olufsen. Hatzi opened one of the smaller top drawers and found the cardkey.

"Got it." He sighed in relief, picking up the card. He then noticed the book underneath it. It was the only other book in the desk, let alone the office, that they had come across. He picked it up, neither the face nor spine were labelled. Hatzi opened it up and flicked through the pages. "Olufsen, take a look at this." He said. Olufsen walked over and looked in the book. "What do you make of this?"

"Patient notes." He said. "You've seen him, he writes in this all the time."

"Yeah, but do you see us anywhere in this?" Olufsen watched the pages as Hatzi slowly turned them over one by one. There was no mention of them or Garber or Kline. There was only one name that stood out amongst the ineligible scribbles of hurried writing; J. Over and over the name was repeated, with ever page the words became more jagged and agitated, some pages only ever had that one letter etched into the paper. It was clear that this was more than an obsession.

"Jesus." Gasped a breathless Hatzi. "This whole experiment...is all for him. It was always for him." A noise outside startled them; footsteps approaching the room. Hatzi and Olufsen backed against the wall by the door and watched two shadows pass the door. Relieved, but still shaken, they both knew it was time to leave.

"Better put that back." Recommended Olufsen, pointing to Strange's book. Hatzi placed it back in the drawer exactly as he had found it and both of them left the room. Only they and the hidden camera behind the mirror would know about their mission.

Another day, another brawl. This was the first time Ra's al Ghul had graced the recreation yard with his presence, which was already quite suspicious. The guards knew something was up and had a watchful eye on the man. Ra's was here to meet up with some of his men who were being kept in another part of the asylum. Before he had even joined them, the first amongst the group turned and glared at him with vengeful eyes. "You said that we would succeed. That the demon would protect our noble crusade." Spat the follower.

"We would not have been brought here if it were not to serve a higher purpose." Ra's predicted, staring down his ex-follower. "You must understand, Anriel. This is all part of what must be sacrificed in order to succeed."

"No. You are wrong!" The prisoners were beginning to notice the commotion, the guards too. Those that stood around them backed away to what they assumed would be a safe distance. "The League is folly and you are not fit to lead!" Without warning, Anriel pulled a makeshift wooden knife from his pocket and with a sudden thrust, the blade pierced Ra's skin, digging deep into him, blood leaking from the wound. "You are overthrown, Ra's al Ghul." Anriel released the knife and allowed Ra's to see it. He tried to pull it out, but every time the pain grew until finally, he died. As though the order were given, Ra's followers attacked the former, resulting in yet another scuffle. The guards were quick to pull the men back and the medics were ready to carry Ra's away, placing him on a gurney and rushing him to the Medical Block where Clemens awaited him. When he saw who it was, his heart fell.

"My God." He said in shock. The one man his hopes rested was dead. When there was nothing he could do and everyone had left, he sat in silence by the body, wishing that something would go right.

Anriel's crew were being taken to Extreme Isolation. After his actions, all of their recreation privileges had been revoked. Nothing to do now but escape. The guards directed them to the new scanning tunnel and proceeded to carry out a weapons scan. This was it! Anriel and his crew incapacitated their respective guards who had assumed a handcuffed assassin was a harmless assassin. Using a security card, Anriel freed his men to create a diversion. Anriel and his closest follower, Illin, made their way back through the asylum, causing as much havoc as possible on their way to their objective. The alarms blared as they did too often for an asylum. It disturbed Jeremiah from his afternoon nap, waking him up in a maddened state. "What the hell?" he cursed when he realised what was happening. He quickly rang the man downstairs. "Strange, the alarms are on. Is this your fault again?"

"This is not a problem on my end." Assured Strange. "Perhaps you should be keeping a closer watch on your flock instead of sleeping on the job."

"Can't you go five minutes without insulting people?" Jeremiah didn't even wait for a response. He slammed down the phone and tried the security station. "What's all the fuss about?"

"It's Harry Barnes, sir!" came a young, exhausted voice from the other end. "Some of those ninjas that were brought in...have escaped. Some of the men are dead, one of the prisoners too."

"Where did these ninja's go?"

"They're all over the place!"

"Can you be a little more specific?"

"I'm afraid not-" The phone line disconnected.

"Barnes? Barnes? God damn it, this place is falling apart!" He threw the receiver across the room and grabbed the P.A. "Attention. Attention. This is Warden Arkham. We have escaped...ninjas in the asylum. Use extreme force and extreme caution when apprehending them. If you can't capture them, kill them!"

"Come in, Warden." Said a muffled voice in his drawer. Jeremiah opened it and pulled out a radio. The voice was a lot gruffer than Barnes'. "Can you hear me?"

"I'm here. What is it? Where's Barnes?"

"Barnes is dead, sir. This is Reggie Maclimoor. We've caught three of the escaped prisoners and chased two towards Prisoner Transfer."

"Listen, Reggie, I will give you a goddamn promotion if you get these guys. Make it quick!"

"You got it, boss." And then, everything was silent. Jeremiah leant back in his seat.

"I don't get paid enough for this." He sighed and went back to sleep, confident everything would be handled with in due course.

Reggie had a lot on his plate. The Warden didn't say it, but he knew that if he failed then his job would be down the crapper. He and a group of guards were chasing after Anriel and Illin down the tunnels of Prisoner Transfer. They had to be caught before they reached the elevator shaft. "C'mon!" he shouted back for everyone else to pick up the pace. The assassins had the edge over them; being more physically fit and carrying less equipment. They had unlocked their handcuffs and knew where they needed to go. Unfortunately for Reggie, they reached the elevators before being caught. There were already doctors in the elevator, watching as the prisoners were charging towards them. "Don't let them on!" ordered Reggie. The doctors quickly closed the outer and inner doors of the lift and locked them shut, but this was no good. Climbing on top of the lift as it began to ascend, Anriel and Illin dove in through the emergency hatch.

"Stop or I'll shoot!" shouted one of the newer guards. He didn't even give them time to surrender before he let off a few shots, almost skimming Illin as he disappeared inside the cart. Reggie pushed the rookie's gun away from the lift.

"You out of your mind?" he shouted. "You coulda killed those doctors!"

"What do we do now, sir?" asked Jones, peering up the shaft as the elevator ascended.

"We follow 'em." Said Reggie, running for the second lift. He and his squad ran inside and began their own ascent. Reggie then pulled out his radio. "Turner Squad. I need you to set up 'road block' at east lift on your level. Hostiles are inbound. Use caution."

"Roger that, Moor Squad. Road block is in place." Replied Turner. "We'll have your hostiles in custody when you get here. Over."

"Got 'em." Smiled Reggie. On the second floor, high above, Turner Squad was in wait for the assassins to arrive. The elevator came grinding to a halt before the men, their weapons raised and trained on the cart. Turner unlocked the doors and they slowly entered the lift.

"I'm gonna need medical assistance over here." He said as he saw the unconscious doctors in the corner. They all rushed inside to help carry them out, and that's when Anriel and Illin struck; Anriel closed the doors of the lift, destroying the lock while Illin cut the cable for the elevator. It plummeted down past the second and was only stopped by the emergency brakes. Moor Squad in the second lift watched the event in total horror.

"Turner Squad, report in." Reggie said through the radio. No reply. "Shit! Go down!"

"What about the assa-" began Jones.

"I said go down!" ordered Reggie directly. Meanwhile, on the second floor, Anriel and Illin stood triumphantly as they watched the second elevator begin its long crawl down the shaft. They smiled and walked to the door which promptly opened to the sight of two dozen guards, all with their weapons trained on the two men. With slight hesitation, they raised their hands in surrender. One of the guards noticed the bandage on Illin's left wrist; it had been cut on purpose and then treated. It dawned on him that the only reason anyone would do that was to syphon off blood, just before the lights went out.

One Hour Earlier...

All hope had been lost. Who was their now to instigate the escape and free J? No one. Clemens just couldn't believe it. How had things gone so wrong? He looked down at Ra's dead body. "Well, at least you tried." He said. "It's all over now."

"It has only begun, Doctor." Ra's commented to the surprise of Clemens. "You made a convincing act."

"But...your wound...the spleen was punctured by the knife. It was too late." Stuttered an amazed Clemens. He watched as Ra's removed his hand from the knife, allowing it to fall away from him harmlessly. It was a fake with a retractable head but with real blood inside.

"Bait to create our distraction." Explained Ra's. "My men should be taking care of that right now. Do you have the cardkey?"

"Yes." Clemens pulled Strange's cardkey from his pocket and handed it to Ra's. "Don't lose that." He warned. "You'll need it to get into the generator room. If you try and break in, that room is sealed off; impenetrable. Remember to switch off both generators before you destroy them."

"Committed to memory, Doctor. Where is the quickest way there?"

"The ventilation system. I'll take you." Clemens proceeded from there to lead Ra's to the nearest vent and left him to complete the mission. Ra's crawled through what seemed like miles of vents but it was child's play to a man of his background. He had ventured through caves that had less leg room than this place. Finally, at long last after following the directions on the crude map Clemens had made, Ra's reached the generator room. He entered with the help of Strange's stolen cardkey and destroyed the generators, cutting off power to the entire asylum; turning off lights, rendering security systems useless and shut down the electrical locks to every cell in the facility.

J had been sitting quietly in his cell, contemplating over his life. Or at least, the one he had been denied. He wasn't stupid; he knew that there was a world outside where people lived normal lives. This isn't something you have to be taught to understand. It's instinctive. It's natural. But at this point in time, he really thought that no matter how hard he tried to reach his goal that it would always be kept out of his reach. Besides, there was no point in trying to escape right this very second. Not with his own personal guard escorting him throughout the facility from now on. It truly seemed like this would be the end. Now, being in a darkened cell, J didn't realise that the power was out because the lights turned off. He realised it by the click the electric lock made without hearing the beep beforehand when the card was being swiped. He waited a few moments to see if his guard, waiting just outside, had noticed that the door had unlocked. He hadn't. Well, J would be damned if he let this opportunity pass him by. He rammed the door, swinging it into the guard, knocking him into a daze. While he was dizzy, J jumped on his back. The guard grabbed his cattle prod, desperately trying to zap J into paralysis, but he kept out of reach. They stumbled back into the cell, the guard knocking into the walls then trying to bash J into them. J bit the guard's neck and punched him continuously in the face as brutally as he could. Slowly, the guard crumpled to the floor and it took a few moments before J stopped punching him, realising that he was no longer fighting back. This was it. He was finally free. He could feel that fresh air on him, the wind whipping his hair back even now. Even the other prisoners had noticed their no longer locked cell doors and were beginning their escape. J joined the horde, knocking down anyone who stood in their way. Clemens was running with the crowd too but stopped at J's cell. He was too late; J was already gone. Before he could make sure the boy was in safe hands or had at least not been recaptured by Strange, one of the prisoners pushed him into the cell and slammed the door shut, triggering the lock to reset itself. Meanwhile, J was being herded along with the rest of his fellow prisoners. Someone grabbed his shoulder, and another grabbed his hand.

"C'mon, kid. We'll get ya out." Said Hatzi to J's relief. They helped him up the stairs and into the asylum which in itself was also in chaos. At least, a different kind to the usual chaos. Everywhere they looked, crazies were running free, fighting guards or cowering in their cells. No one knew where they were going. To their right, a line of riot guards were pushing back the inmates, tazering them into submission and then moving on. They were almost upon them. Hatzi picked up a nearby pipe and began walking towards the line. "Keep J safe!" he called back to Olufsen who quickly ushered J in the direction many of the inmates were fleeing.

"Come on!" he yelled and finally, picked up J to carry him away from watching the horrible scene. Hatzi charged into the line, breaking it apart. He bashed as many guards as he could before three of them shocked him all it once. Hatzi fell limply to the floor, his muscles no longer alive to be tightened. Olufsen was leading J blindly. He couldn't trust that the path made by the inmates would actually lead them outside, but it was the only one they had. They entered another large room but were startled to find that it was no longer the guards that were attacking the inmates. All of the mental patients had been set loose and, frightened and confused by the alarms and activity, were beating everyone they saw. Olufsen hugged J in a protective grip and manoeuvred them both through the room, avoiding the patients as they leapt across the room onto people, jumped on dead bodies and senselessly tore at the flesh of live ones. One even tried to attack them; sprinting across the room, arms flailing in the air with a maddened cackle and roar. Olufsen picked up one of the nearby cattle prods laying on the floor and zapped the patient who darted away, screaming in terror and pain. They continued on through the asylum, passing one room where the guards shot down several inmates. Before long, the stampeding crowd lessened in numbers. By the time they made it outside, it felt as though J and Olufsen were the last ones. It was night and the stars were shining brightly. They were however not the brightest light. Many of the inmates had made it outside already and had tore across the bridge in their bid to escape. Now, J and Olufsen watched as helicopters followed them with their search lights and the police blockade stopped them from getting any further than the other end of the bridge to the mainland.

"Shit!" cursed Olufsen. That was the easy way out. Several more inmates pushed past him and J but were deterred to continue across the bridge when they realised how futile it was.

"Look!" pointed J. To their left was the docks where a group of men were boarding a police boat.

"Let's g-" began Olufsen, but was tripped to the ground. He pushed J away as two guards grabbed his feet. "Run, J!" he shouted as he was dragged away and beaten senseless. J didn't argue. He ran along with a dozen others across the field towards the dock. While the others jumped into the water, J had never swum before. He walked up to the police boat and was met by a strange looking man.

"Hello." Said J. The man simply raised an eyebrow at the boy. Suddenly, he withdrew his sword and laid it against the boy's shoulder.

"Are you why he did it?" asked the strange man. J had no idea what he meant. He was too afraid the man would kill him. "So you're what the doctor was willing to risk life and limb for?"

"Sir, we must go." Informed another man on the boat. He had a bandage around his left wrist and looked curiously at J. The strange man placed his sword back in its sheath and stepped back onto the boat, leaving J on the dock.

"Good luck to you." He said as the boat pulled away into the distance towards the giant city.

"They're running over this way!" shouted a voice that snapped J back to his senses. He looked back to see several armed guards chasing after the inmates making for the river. "Fire!" shouted one of them and they opened fire. There was nothing to it; J leapt into the water, hearing the loud bangs and screams from the surface. The water was so cold and every breath stung his throat. He had never swum before, but there was no time to learn. He kicked and he moved his arms. Slowly but surely, he was dragged away by the current out into the river along with everyone else who had jumped in. It was the longest and hardest thing he had ever done, with a dead body bobbing by him every now and again. The waves were becoming bigger and bigger as the wind churned the water. It was a miracle he hadn't already drowned.

"Hello? Hello!" called Clemens, banging on the door. "This is Doctor David Clemens, can anyone hear me? I've been locked inside this cell and would be appreciative if anyone would let me out!" He had been in here for quite some time now and didn't like it at all. At least everything had panned out the way it needed to...except for this. His only thoughts were now about J and whether he had gotten away from this place. Through the door, he finally heard the sound of approaching feet. "Hello? Hey, it's Doc Clemens! Open up!" He slammed his fist against the door several times until he knew they were just outside. He heard the lock being broken away from the door and then finally, light pierced his eyes. Unfortunately, the sight was not one to be cheered at.

"Hello, David." Said Hugo Strange. "I hope you are very appreciative of this." He added with a smile.

"Don't be too confident." Commented Clemens as he stood and walked out of the cell. He followed Strange up and through the asylum, seeing the trail of destruction along the way for himself, thankful that so far there was no sign of J.

"What's the damage?" Strange asked a guard.

"We've got at least twenty dead men, two squads trapped in the elevators, thirty-seven prisoner fatalities, dozens wounded on both ends and around fifty unaccounted for as of now." Checked off the guard.

"Any children?"

"Children?" The guard was taken aback. He checked his list with a confused look in his eye. "Uh, no sir."

"Where is the Warden?"

"Personally escorted off the island, sir."

"Well that figures." Scoffed Clemens. They walked outside and saw the police on the bridge. They also saw the inmates escaping by the river.

"Get the boats out into the river as soon as possible." Ordered Strange. "Make sure you don't kill anyone you may find."

"Right away." The guard pulled out his radio. Strange watched eagerly as several of the helicopters over the bridge made for the prisoners on the ocean, their spotlights revealing them in the darkness.

"It's unusual." He said. "That these people knew exactly how to cripple the system." He turned back to Clemens. "It's almost as if they had help from the inside."

"Mmm." Agreed Clemens with a stern look. He kept his gaze on the river, knowing that one of the silhouettes against the reflected sky was J. As the boats closed in, his hopes were dredged away.

J too was experiencing this exact same feeling. The police and coastguard boats circled around the inmates, almost taunting with them. J didn't know what to do but swim. Maybe he wouldn't be noticed. Maybe he would get scooped up by the tide. Maybe he would be recaptured and taken back. No, he couldn't let that happen! Not again! With all his might, he pushed against the freezing cold water and kicked. He swam between the boats that came so close to hitting him. The city was getting closer, the buildings beginning to loom over him. Freedom was so close, he could taste it as much as the salt water in his mouth. Just then, one of the helicopter lights passed over him, blinding him for a moment. As he shielded his eyes, he didn't see the police boat heading towards him. The front of the boat knocked his head and J hit the water, barely floating above the surface. He felt dizzy, the stars were becoming swirling lights. As he felt the breath escaping from him and his body started to sink, a hand wrapped itself around him. For a moment, he feared it was one of the guards pulling him out of the water to take him back to Strange. He felt better when he saw the orange shirt and trousers.

"Don't ya worry, kid." Choked the man through the water splashing his face. "I got ya." J looked down at the man's breast pocket. His name was marked 'J. Chill'. It was the last he saw before passing out in his arms as Mr. Chill swam towards the shore.

The action seemed to be tiring down. The police boats were separating and the helicopters departing in the distance. The guard with the list approached Strange having just gotten off the radio. "Coastguard says; no children were picked up." Strange sighed at the news. "They think nearly a dozen made it into the city, maybe your boys among them."

"No." said Strange. "No, let him go." Clemens was surprised. He had expected Strange to make more of an effort. Strange saw his expression. "It's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"B-But..."

"Hey!" called out a medic to Clemens. "We need some help with this guy. The guards beat him up pretty bad." Clemens recognised the man he was treating; it was Olufsen. He looked from the prisoner to Strange.

"I suggest..." thought Strange. "...that you treat him."

"Thank you." Said Clemens and went about his work. Tomorrow, no matter what, he was handing in his resignation. Strange looked out at the river. The lights were dispersing and darkness descended once again on the cool tide.

"There will always be another...obsession." he mused to himself.

With great difficulty, Joe Chill pulled the young boy up the dock ladder and lay him down on the wooden planks, huffing and puffing. The boy was still breathing, but Joe was only concerned for his own safety. If the cops were around here, then he shouldn't be. Joe checked that the boy was okay, even lightly smacking his cheeks to wake him up. "Hey, kid." He whispered, even though he was alone. "Kid, you awake?" Bang! Bang! Joe noticed two flashes of light coming from the windows of the nearby warehouse on the pier. He knew those sounds very well; silenced gunshots. Without hesitation, he hauled arse off the pier and into the city, leaving J out cold, his legs hanging off the edge of the dock. The door to the warehouse swung open and three men walked out dressed in dark suits, a fourth was carried out.

"Dump him in, nice and easy." Ordered the one not carrying the body. He lit a cigarette as the other two shuffled to the edge of the pier.

"God, this shmuck weighs a ton." Complained one of them.

"Quit bitching, Zed." Insisted the second carrier. "Just carry him, would ya?" They both stopped at the water and chucked the dead man into the river. "He's the Bureau of Sanitation's problem now!" he chuckled.

"You would be a comedian, wouldn't ya, Trent?" Zed began walking towards a dark sedan not too far away.

"Hey, that one wasn't that bad."

"Says you."

"Yeah, says me." Trent turned to the third man with the cigarette. "Hey Red, we're done." But Red wasn't listening. He was looking at something in the half-light. "Red, what is it? Cops?" Suddenly, Red burst into a run. He turned and headed down the nearest dock, right to the end and knelt down before the small boy lying there unconscious.

"Jesus-Trent! Give me a hand!" he called, taking his trench coat off and wrapping it around the freezing wet child.

"Zed, bring the car closer!" instructed Trent. Red picked up the boy, wiping his face clean of the dirty river water.

"It's gonna be okay." He said. "Everything's fine now, you're gonna be alright."

Thank you so much for reading Chapter Five and all of Story One! I slaved all night to get this in on time, but it was damn worth it and gave me a lot of satisfaction to see it done. A special thank you to Keywee and MintierBadger for their outstanding support and reviews. It's people like you two who make me look forward to writing Story Two in the future. I hope you all noticed some references I added in and that you enjoyed the story enough to give me a PM or a review.

I really will miss writing Joker. It's been so much fun. You see, the story originally came to me when I was in high school and I was trying to draw a comic. Unfortunately, I'm not too good at drawing quickly and I just couldn't work the dialogue I wanted into such small squares. FanFiction really allowed me to present it to you in a way I was happy with. In fact, I've gone further than I did in the comic version (mind you, I did that back during chapter one :P ).

Anyway, don't be forgetting this storyline too quickly. I'll come back with 'Story Two: Gotham's Red Knight' sometime shortly. Until then (if you haven't already, but if you have you should still do this) go and read Keywee's own Joker Origin story: The House That Jack Built. She's getting near the end of writing it, but it's a fantastic story with great characters and even better twists on the 'accepted' origin. Once again, thank you for reading and farewell for now!