[Thread] The beginning is the end is the beginning.

[entro_pist]

Characters : [OU]Joker ; Open to the Bat family.
Where : Your choice, Batz. Just make it obvious in your post.  
When : The second/third day after the Joker's arrival to the city, approximately. I'll leave time of day/night up to you as well (the Joker rarely, if ever sleeps)
Summary : How will the Bats react now that their sworn nemesis is in town?

Comments

[gonnaloveme]

The night sky was obscured by menacing clouds by the time the Bat made his way onto the scene. What little moon was left before it disappeared completely in its timely cycle was even hiding behind the dark clouds as if it knew what lurked on the darkened ground beneath its pale light.

A flitting shadow was all that indicated the Batman was even out at all tonight. He raced along the rooftops like all the others of his "family" but he was careful to avoid them. Already, within the short time period he'd been here so far, he knew their likeliest areas of patrol as well as almost the entire compound better than he knew the back of his hand. He was sure-footed and quick, silent and precise in all his movements. He jumped from one building edge out into the open and the cape behind him snapped into rigidity at a pneumatic command. He glided perfectly to the building below and landed already practically running.

He stopped just short of the final building and crouched on the concrete rim. Before and below him was open space, the area where the majority of the buildings stopped and a vast empty lot began. Most of it was covered in overgrown weeds, some spreading up out between cracks in the land, while the minority rest of it was still a barren concrete expanse.

His body twitched once as he began to turn back around and head back to another patrol area, but he stopped short and froze in place just before the motion became intractable. Something caught his keen eye; something was moving out there where nothing should be, not at this time of night at least.

[entro_pist]

Little bat. Little bat. Little bat. Papa bat!

There was no place like a refuse lot for discovering sharp and dangerous objects. He'd already found some nice shards of tainted glass and metal, pocketing them. They would do until he could get himself some real weapons. It was too dark to carry out much of an exploration; perhaps he'd return in the day. And wouldn't you know it? - There appeared to be a dark figure perched at the edge of the nearest rooftop, so black that it was almost invisible in the night. The Devil himself might have never noticed had it not been for the feeling of being watched.

A sharp thwack - something being kicked - echoed in the darkness and an old hubcap rolled into view at the edge of the lot where light from streetlamps faintly reached.

"I spy...with my little eye--" Laughter, low and menacing, preceded The Joker as he emerged from the darkness. "--a Batman spying on me."

[gonnaloveme]

The Bat's gaze seemed to take in the rolling hubcap without ever leaving its intense stare from the form of the Joker. He was frozen still; not, of course, from fear, but rather the effort of will it took to control himself from performing an action he might--or might not--regret later, and if not regret then certainly would have its consequences concerning the damn cuff currently shackled to his wrist. He had yet to test the cuff's nature in any definite way and his mind was churning with the negatives and positives on doing such a thing right this moment in concession with the Joker, trying to find its answer of "yes" or "no" to different potential actions.

In the end he settled--for now--with a gruff reply from his perch above. "It'll get worse," he promised before flinging himself from the roof with a powerful push. His arms flapped open and the cape snapped into place behind him as his set of wings. He floated gently down and cut the glider off a good six feet from the ground, thus causing his landing to be a strong thwump of black body-armor and fluttering cape. He was left in a low crouch glaring up at the Joker and, surprisingly, he made no move to rectify this degrading position. Yet.

[entro_pist]

He had to hand it to Batman - the Dark Knight wasn't afraid to get down in the dirt at the first chance. No more than six feet away, he stood gazing down upon the crouched Bat without fear. Perfect. Simply perfect. An amused smirk distorted his features, as if the warped visage wasn't already grotesque enough.

"Now, don't give me that look. You know the irony is absolutely hysterical. We were -destined- to end up like this, I said it before. You and me...we're both just two sides of the same coin."

[gonnaloveme]

Batman let out a low growl at the word "coin"--he had no doubt in his mind that the Joker used that specific phrasing on purpose. Yes, taunt the Bat with the only thing you have left, Joker; use your corruption of Harvey as a mean to strike forth even if the cuffs limit you otherwise.

The Dark Knight was up and moving quickly towards the Joker in one smooth motion. Though his pace was quick, the stance was that of one walking calmly to their destination. He covered the ground between them in three large steps and before the Joker could react the Batman had his hand around the man's throat, pulling the shorter man up onto his toes to be on level with Batman's face.

"Same coin," his voice was pitched low, that deathly growl of his more dangerous than even usual, "different sides. You said it yourself. You're tails--chaos and disorder; I'm heads--justice and order." He paused. It wasn't like Batman to give speeches. But this deserved one. "Wherever you go, I'll be there to stop you."

((Anytime you don't like something I write, let me know. I want to do Bats with all that rage, but it's hard when I'm not certain how the other person will react. So let me know, I'll gladly change anything I need to, and all's well in the end. Yes? ^^''))

[entro_pist]

Laughter, choked and maniacal, escaped the Joker's constricted throat and both of his hands were tightly clutching the Batman's wrist. He didn't mind the rough treatment. No, he welcomed it. Wanted it. Wanted to see how far he could push the man.

"Are you starting to get it now?! Are you??!" He rasped, voice reaching a frenzied pitch. Then with a belabored swallow and lick of his lips, he continued - "Without chaos, there is. no. order. No rules." A gasp.

"So -do- it," dark eyes locked on the Bat's. "Break your own rule."

[ooc: No worries! This is exactly how I imagined it. *___* Go ahead and punch him/throw him around, he likes it~ ♥]

[gonnaloveme]

The Batman's eyes pitched dark and deep, a deathly glow to them like the cold flames of hell had taken up residence within them. The arm holding the Joker jerked almost spasmodically in a shaking movement that wrenched its captive first backwards and then forwards more than once. His grip tightened for the briefest of moments as he held the psychopath close to his face.

He breathed once. Twice.

Then suddenly the Joker's grip on Batman's wrist was broken with a clean sweep across the elbows and the maniac was being propelled backwards from the force of a severe punch thrown into the grease-painted white nose by the Dark Knight's all-too-willing fist. The Bat growled again, this time whether it was from an inner rage or the electrifying pulses of the cuff on his wrist, was completely indeterminable. The pain was simply ignored.

The black suited figure leaned forward over the Joker, sprawled haplessly on the ground and ceaselessly laughing because of it, getting in close enough to growl lowly and still be heard. "And end our little dance? Forfeit the pattern? And then where would you be? Without your precious order to break."

He straightened and his cape snapped once behind him as he flicked it carelessly out of the way. "No. Never."

((Yay psychopathic masochist! XD Btw, I love your Joker to death. You do his voice so *beautifully*. It's fantastic~! ^___^))

[entro_pist]

Of course, this only made the Joker erupt into a full blown frenzy of wild cackling, even as he lay face down on the pavement. Pain was nothing to him. In fact, it was one of the few physical reminders of actually being alive at all. But not only that, he was curious to see how the cuff would play out in accordance to the enraged Batman's actions. Rolling himself over on the ground, the Joker collapsed onto his back, chest still rising and falling erratically with his continued laughter and gasps for air. Spattered across his white cheek were flecks of dark, wet blood from the punch.

"Wh-! Where would I be?!" He uttered between excited fits of noise. "Where would I be?? I would be in HELL!! And...and your precious little bunny would be alive! Harvey Dent would still be Gotham's White Knight instead of a deranged freak. But NO, you chose to cling to your justice and your rules, I'm still here, and you lost both of them."

By this time he'd calmed down a bit and his voice was returning to normal. "Are you starting to see where ya went wrong? What, don't tell me you're blind."

[ooc: Thank you I try!! ♥ *is lucky to be working with such an awesome B-man!*]

[gonnaloveme]

Batman knew the Joker was just trying to push his buttons the wrong way. He knew that the murderous clown would just keep on trying to push his buttons for all that it took for Batman to finally break his one rule. Batman's hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly.

He knew letting the rage out now would only delight the Joker even more. He had learned to use his vengeance for him, rather than let it work against him. But it was so hard not to give into that blind ferocity. The Batman's hands clenched again, and beneath the black gloves his knuckles went white as a ghost.

He had gone too far. The words sent the Bat into a rage of frenzy. With a growl, and an invisible hiss of pain, he leapt forward at the Joker. The electrical pulses sent down his arm were only a smidgen of what force he put into beating the Joker into the ground.

His right hand reared back for a final blow; he gasped and froze in place instead. Gritting beneath it all, grinding his teeth in a mind-numbly fierce pattern, he resisted the cuff's insistence of putting him to sleep. His hand fell back to his side and he blinked hazily.

Batman shook his head viciously to clear it and stood up with a great effort. He looked down on the beaten clown and grimaced.

"I did... what I had to do... I did... what I thought was right..." The first half was perfectly audible to the man below him; the second was so quiet a whisper even a bat would have trouble hearing it.

((-blushes- Is it too late to deny it? Because... I do. -denydenydeny-))

[entro_pist]

Even as the Batman was driving fists into his vitals, the Joker never ceased laughing, not even when there wasn't a breath of air left in his lungs to make a sound with. But he hadn't taken the beating without getting in a few kicks and battering his opponent around the cowl, though the resistance was designed chiefly to fuel the Bat's fury.

All too soon it seemed, the barrage of Bat-fists stopped and the Joker's body ran on autopilot, sucking shallow breaths of air into his pummeled torso. It took a few moments for the pounding fuzziness in his head to clear, but things finally settled enough to allow for coherent thought.

"At least...at least you got one thing right," he said, voice sounding oddly slow and dazed and a bit congested from the swelling of his face. "You are...too -fun- to live without." There was a breathless chuckle, almost too low to hear. Resilient as he was - like most evil, he began the long process of dragging himself up off the ground.

"Your little friends, too. They seem entertaining..."

[gonnaloveme]

Which it most undoubtedly had. Batman, swaying slightly from the effects of the cuff but trying not to show it, wiped a thin trickle of blood from his lips with the back of his fist. He wouldn't have even noticed it if it weren't for the sudden tangy metallic taste that sprang into his mouth when he licked his dry lips after the pummeling. He scowled slightly at the sight of the deep crimson that looked like black ink on his glove.

Those last words caused the Bat the go stiff and rigid. No signs of the earlier swaying from near unconsciousness plagued him now. His eyes blinked once and snapped back open with a burning inner rage that awoke him more than anything else could have managed at the moment. Unknowingly, or perhaps purposefully, the Joker had fueled Batman with the one thing that could help him easily fight off the machinations of the cuff.

His eyes narrowed dangerously at the Joker. "They're from a world like ours, but not the same one. Still, you'll stay away from them if you know what's good for you."

Not that the Batman thought the Joker cared what was good for himself, but it was not an idle threat. At the same time, he wasn't willing to call them his "friends" just yet. He didn't need the association. But like any stranger met on the street, the Batman would protect them with his life.