Crash and Burn, ch. 2 (part one): First, do no harm
Title: Crash and Burn
Chapter Summary: The Joker gets a visit from the new director of Arkham Asylum, and Harley plots her revenge with a little help from an old mentor.
Disclaimer: Batman, Scarecrow, Joker and Harley Quinn are the property of DC Comics, and Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are the property of Warner Bros. Inc. I'm not making any ( Read more... )
"wrinkling his nose with distaste as if he was being forced to touch a pile of dung and not a person [..] he took his hand away and wiped it on his white physician’s coat."
--> This was so made of win, this is exactly the the kind of reaction he instills in people : fear, hate and disgust. It always bugs me in fanfics when they have the Batman or Gordon or any other victim pitying him right away (the only person who could is someone who never was a victim of the man in one way or another or who didn't know him). I mean, when in the comics has something like that happened? (Am I right?)
And yes, he revels in these feelings, he loves the fact that he brings the worse emotions in people, that their empathy doesn't include him.
"He had accepted his inability to get revenge on his daughter’s murderer, not because he genuinely believed that vengeance was wrong, but because he couldn’t imagine himself becoming a proverbial Cain, an outcaste of society’s numbing hold. Coward. He would never know what it was like to feel truly alive."
--> Wow, just wow.. There is so much Him in this sentence I can't even begin to explain it..
"some people just wanted to give you all kinds of valuable information without any prodding, or, you know, torture, and who was he to discourage such helpful behavior?"
--> I couldn't keep from giggling at that, even though I felt bad for the poor man (it was heartbreaking the way you depicted him) because come on, offering information like that to the joker is just like giving him a loaded gun.. or a torture device..
Also, he thought the Joker was about to rape Harley? I hadn't seen it that way while reading the previous chapter, was he mistaking? Personnaly I think the joker isn't the type to rape people (I don't think he raped Barbara Gordon for example) not because it's beneath him MORALLY but because it's just so common, something just every thug would do and he is the opposite of a common criminal. He has other ways of asserting his dominance over people than just taking their bodies. He is more of a MIND-rape type, also I don't think he is interested in sexual intercourse like most people..
Aaaaand I'm really way out of subject..^^'
I just wanted to say that I really really enjoy this and that I think you have done a very good job with this fic. Keep writing.
ps: sorry for typos and wrong-used words, English is my second language..
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Do you think I should make their assumptions more clear, through the Joker's thoughts about the accusation, or something? I didn't think that he would care if people thought he tried to rape somebody, so I didn't think he would correct Dr. Wells, either. Maybe I'll just show his amused thoughts on the subject, concerning what people will assume about a guy once he's blown up a building or two. I'll see if I can fit that into the flow of the story.
I’m not actually an expert on comic Joker, but I don't see Ledger's Joker as being interested in sexual intercourse, because he doesn't see himself as a person. I do think he's a sadist, though (which doesn't have to involve sex, but it does mean that he's turned on by mental and/or physical torture).
About people's reaction to the Joker:
I don't think that most people would feel pity for him, because it's not a natural human reaction to someone like that, unless you're like Harley (and even she's not feeling to forgiving right now). I do think that Bale’s interpretation of Batman is capable of feeling compassion or pity for the Joker, though, even though it’s probably overshadowed by a whole lot more rage, disgust and incomprehension (of how someone could turn out like that). Despite his sometimes almost brutal approach to apprehending criminals, he also seems capable of extreme, selfless kindness, and I think he’s trained himself to see crime as a social disease as well as a personal loss. If that makes any sense.
I’m glad you liked this one, too, and I’ll try to have the second part done ASAP, though I am having a little trouble with Harley, at this point (She’s being stubborn, and not telling me what she’s thinking. Stupid willful characters.).
Don't worry about the occasional wrongly used word. I can understand you, and you probably write better in English than I can write in German (I took it in high school, and have had almost no practice with it since then). What language is your first language, then?
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