Chapter 14: FaCe ME
I smiled as the cold night air pierced my skin and caused my eyes to water. As I got closer to the Sions metal workshop, I couldn't help but feel a uncontrollable joy.
Joy wasn't an emotion I came by often. I loved the free feeling.
I ran forward with no regrets. The weight of the axe in my hands was the only things holding me to earth.
I could've flown. Could've. But I didn't have wings.
That bitter resentment kept me going, too.
I knew what I had to do. This was it. And I wouldn't dare turn back and cower down.
I was going to KILL Joker.
I didn't care if I was successful or not. I was going to take this opportunity and run with it.
The building loomed over me. It belched black smoke into the already dark sky. Embers glowed from the nozzles of the pillars and through the windows. Banners mourning Joker's "death" covered every entry. I let out a sour laugh.
I went up to a window. I climbed up and rested on the sill and balanced out my weight so I wouldn't fall or wobble. The last thing I needed was to be spotted.
The window wouldn't budge. I didn't dare use the axe on it and attract all the attention to me. I shuddered at the thought.
I leapt down and stuck to the shadows. I saw a crate attached to a wall. It most likely lead to the vents. That's how I'll enter!
I pushed the axe blade between the crate and wall and pushed until the screws popped out and the crate fell off. I crawled into the small, square space and pulled the crate back into place.
I began to crawl forward, deeper into the confusing passageways. I kept my ears and eyes opened. Oh, and my axe was clutched in my hand.
I listened for the slightest sign of a voice.
With no luck, I decided on looking out through other crates. Most of them showed thugs gathered talking stupid.
" Do you honestly think The Bat will come?" Asked the first with an edge in his voice.
" Are you kidding?" Asked the second incuriously, " What would he be doing here? The pointy-headed nimrod actually thinks J's dead!"
The others chuckled at the thought.
" Yeah," Chimed a third, " He got Harley arrested with his last visit, but she'll be back soon enough."
" Ugh," Groaned the fourth and final thug with a disgusted face, " She'll greet us with complaints and nagging."
The second thug raised his voice to a horrid girly pitch, "' Mista J wanted this plan to be perfect! Mess it up, and I'll mess YOU up!'"
The cronies laughed, egging him on.
"' Leave me alone, morons! I want my ME time!'" The thug continued.
' God,' I thought, ' Could there be worst security?'
The thug opened his mouth to continue, but was cut-off with a loud speaker overhead.
" Hey, everyone! It's me."
I scowled. It was the man I was looking for.
" I believe we have an intruder in the house! And we don't want uninvited guest crashing the party, do we? It only brings filth! Ick! Now, take care of it." The line went dead.
I was frozen. He knew I was here. The handle in my hands grew sweaty, making the axe heavier.
No, I wasn't going to stop. This was MY time. My teeth clenched as my grip did.
I made a right in the vents. It was like I let my instincts take over. Like my brain knew where he was and I had to trust it.
I traveled deeper into the heart of the beast. I made lefts and rights through the vents. My knees began to throb and my back was aching. Yet, I wasn't going to give up on stage one. Never.
I made one final right, and found myself staring out a crate. I peered through the horizontal bars and gazed.
It was so...normal. I wouldn't expect the office of Joker to seem so sane. Simple bookshelves lined the walls and one desk pressed against the window. You could see all of Arkham.
I pushed the crate away from the wall and leapt down. I stretched my arms and legs and back. I then twirled the axe in my hands. I let out a silent prayer.
This was it.
Then, there was a voice.
" I knew the idiots couldn't stop you. No, " There was a laugh, " You're special."
The chair facing the desk swiveled around and faced me.
His eyes burned into my own. I felt them looking into my mind and my soul. It set fear through my whole being.
" I see you came prepared. Well, good!" Joker clapped, " I'd hate to make this an unfair fight."
" Shut up," I hissed.
Joker smiled and let out a small laugh, " Tell me, if you kill me, what'll it accomplish?"
I scowled. He was trying to pollute my mind and hack my thoughts. He was going to kill me from the inside out. He loved torturing his subjects. It was sick.
" What wouldn't it accomplish?" I threw the ball back in his court. Two could play at this mind game, " You're the face of chaos. If I kill you, I'd be a hero."
" Is that so?" He smirked, " What makes you think that'd fix everything? Because it wouldn't. How do you not know someone worse will come along?"
My jaw tightened, " I wouldn't care. They wouldn't be related to me. They wouldn't try to kill me! THEY WOULDN'T WATCH ME SUFFER FOR YEARS, CRYING, BLEEDING, BEGGING, AND DYING!!" I was screaming now. I was finally screaming everything I wanted to say to him.
It only fueled me more. Raw rage burned in my heart and spread out through my body with every beat.
Joker laughed. It echoed in the simple boring room and pounded through my brain.
That when the first flash happened. It was like a shortage on an old TV. A screen of black with a scraggly line of white fuzzy.
Words erupted around me. Things I've said and things that've been said to me. Phrases. Nightmares. Cries for help and cries in pain.
Then my vision returned. Joker didn't seem to notice my sudden incident.
" YOU are the face of chaos, Jolley. You are me! Isn't it fun? Don't you enjoy it?" He asked with excitement.
" No!" I snapped, " You're insane!"
" But so are you, Jolley," He chuckled, " I mean, you grew up in an asylum!"
" That doesn't make me crazy." I growled.
" Oh, yes it does, why don't you just ask Chris?"
The axe sagged in my hands. How the heck does he know about Chris?!
" You monster!" I seethed, " I didn't kill him! I never killed anyone!"
" What about Talia?" And with the look on my face, Joker laughed harder.
" I'm sure my friend, Bats, would love to hear the real story! Don't you agree? Everyone loves a good novel. Especially one you can relate to." He grinned.
With a roar, I lunged forward.
I swung my axe at his shoulder. I was going to split him in half. But he moved like smoke. He was gone and I whacked the chair and it swung backwards into the desk, scattering it's contents everywhere.
" Well, Jolley, come and get me! I dare you!" Joker said,
" All you had to do was ask," I replied.
I swung again. But Joker's reflexes caused him to grab the handle. Now we both were struggling with it.
I was trying to rip it away from him. His grip wouldn't give.
" I'm not giving up! I never will!" I shouted.
" Good, because neither will I. See, I'll be more successful, though. You are only one, and I have an army of thousands!" Joker replied.
" I'll fight through all of your thugs."
" Ha! You and Bats are two of a kind! You should be HIS kid! Not that I wanted you." He shrugged.
" Yeah, I'm a mistake. Guess that's how we're alike."
" You don't know that half of it."
Another frame of black and white fuzz wet through my head. It pounded.
As I looking into his eyes, I tell myself he's just a man.
I tell myself he doesn't know the things he says he does. He can't know your fears. But he knew about Chris...my friend. And his eyes.
I've studied eyes. There are six movement that reveal motive, each having fifteen variations.
On everyone else I've face-even the most hardened of baddies-the pupils contract or expand depending on emotion.
Happiness, laughter, affection. The pupils open.
Fear, anger, hatred. The pupils close.
But not his. His pupils stay fixed, tiny points of blackness, the eyes of someone who hates everything and everyone.
Eyes that let in no light to see through the darkness, stare into you, each pupil a tiny black pearl in green space.
A bullet coming at you. Eyes that say he's more than a man, eyes that say he knows you to your core. You're secrets. You're pain. You're fears.
No...I know what he is. I must tell myself the truth. He's just a man who fell into a vat of chemical waste. He's just a man...
Skin, bone, flesh, and fears. Like me.
I shake with struggle as the axe is still being fought for.
I look down and see an option. The blade is facing straight up. I rip the blade up and right.
It makes contact.
With shock I watch my hands guide the blade closer to his head. It makes contact.
I heard a moist ripping sound.
I fall backwards and he falls away from me.
We both hit the ground.
I quickly jump to my feet and raise the axe above my head. Just he was still.
I nudge his body with my toe. Nothing.
My God...
Blood was pouring onto the ground and pooling around his head.
My God...
I look around. I was in shock and utter daze. I look at the desk. Papers covered the ground and piled in it. I peer at Joker's body, then back at the papers.
I start skimming through the papers.
I find one moldy Manila envelope tiled this: Inmate 18576 Jolley.
It was my file!
I glanced at Joker's body once more, then shove the file into my shirt.
I leave the axe on the floor.
Then, I see one other file. It was far more beat-up. I shove it into my shirt, too.
I go to the window and look into Arkham City.
I jump and land on the ground and roll onto my back.
" Jolley?"
It was not who I expected at all. I leapt to my feet.
" R-Robin..." I gasped.
" What were you doing?!" He asked.
" I," I froze. What did I do? Did I really just do what I think I did?
" I killed The Joker." I said.
Then, collapsed.