WE ARE HALFWAY THROUGH FINISHING THE STORY!

Joker: Thank god you're nearly finishing this up! I hate it when you fan girls have to keep on writing me into your stupid stories.

*evil snicker* (refer to last post below story)

Man, I feel so old now that I'm going to be a college student soon. I'm excited, and yet, the oldness kind of feeling has finally set in. I can do grown up stuff now (not speaking of drinking LOL) and just be chill.

And here's the chapter I conducted within the past few days after graduating from high school. Warning: gruesome sex ahead! And some bad profanity… (even though that - the profanity - had happened in every chapter so far.)

Joker: FINALLY! I get to torture Babs!

And you finally get to know Mister J's past and how he became insane! (I also advise you the story is a bit long, so please don't fall asleep on me!)

Joker: …SHIT.

Chapter XI

So far my supposed-to-be-perfect evening was turning to be a complete disaster because A) I was being chased by The Joker and his fucked up goons and B) David probably doesn't even know what the hell is happening. To add on, I come to find out Bruce has been Batman for all long and that he ditched out so he and Alfred can stop these maniacs from killing me.

How else could this get any worse?

I'm leading this maniacs on a high speed chase through Gotham towards the harbor where purposively Bruce is going to kick their asses. I could ditch out on the plan, make a run for the penthouse and lock myself inside. Yes, that sounds a lot safer to me.

The pickup following me from behind kicked up speed and slammed against me from the right side of the lambo, causing me to swerve into the other lane where an incoming car pulled to the side for me to pass.

"JESUS CHRIST!" I screamed.

Does this guy find it so amusing to see me a damsel in distress?

I poked my head out the window to scream at the maniac trailing behind in his monster tractor trailer. "This is not a game of bumper cars you fucking clown!"

The driver — not The Joker apparently — was laughing, and kicked up speed as well to box me in next to Andrew driving the pickup. I was surrounded…great. The sliding door opened where a Joker was standing, hovering over the side with a gun pressed against his side.

"I would have loved to have shot the guy sitting with my cupcake," he cackled (and yes he just called me cupcake. Gross.), "but we can improvise…" he hissed at the end, and his facial expression changed from being calm to a psychopathic murderer gaze.

His gun whipped out from his side and the bullets shot out, hitting the metal like tiny pebbles making etching marks on the car. My hand flew out in front of my face.

"What the fuck?" I screamed as I took cover from getting hit.

"You seriously don't know how pissed I am with you."

"So, someone who betrays you is your reason to kill?"

"I don't just kill for my enjoyment, Babs — I just do what my gut believes is right."

"Did Jeannie ever betray you?"

The Joker frowned instantly, flames were licking from inside his eyes. A loud shot came and hit the steering wheel, nearly inches away from my chest.

Fuck!

"I'm asking you a question!" I screamed. "What did Jeannie do?"

"It's not your god damn business to know if she lied to me or not."

"You must have."

"Fuck, I have before." He snarled. "Doesn't everyone lie?" He shot again, and this time I slammed on the gas pedal and took off before his last bullet would hit me in the face.

I sped up some more so I could be as far away from the goons as possible, when all of a sudden a huge motorcycle past me with a person in a huge black cape driving the bike at an angle to turn and face the tractor trailer. I could hear The Joker's laugh when he spotted the same person stopping in front of them. "It's the man of the hour!"

Bruce leaned into his stomach and the vehicle sped up to the tractor trailer, I noticed something popping out from the front of his Bat-Pod.

"That bastard better not flip this truck!" The Joker roared, and pulled out a huge gun from behind one of the goon's backs.

My mind started panicking right when he shoved in some bullets into the new gun he was about to use; and soon, my instincts kicked in and I slammed on the gas to get as far away as possible from the psychopath. I didn't care if I was going a hundred down the road even if there would be a cop ready to arrest me for reckless driving the only thing that mattered the most was my life. And Bruce's but it appeared he had everything taken care of since seconds later I heard the truck come to a squealing stop.

I looked back to find no one following, in which that made me smile to know I wasn't on their radar for the meantime. I drew my attention back to the road and spotted Alfred sitting beside a vehicle with David talking animatedly on the phone; he probably found out about the whole ordeal and wanted to be sure I was alive, thus meaning his manly side would show when he would run up to me, give me the biggest hug in his life, and grateful nothing had happened. And surely when I pulled aside where the men were waiting Alfred walked over to open up the door for me. I looked up at him baffled when he swung the door open as though he were on a mission.

"I will take over my dear," he grinned.

Again, my face reacted in a way I would have felt embarrassed if I saw myself making a strange face in a mirror. "Is this some sort of plan you and Bruce planned ahead of time?"

"Technically speaking, yes."

I stepped out and let Alfred close the door as he poked his head out to talk to me. "The cops wanted this man found, so we decided tonight would be the night The Joker's havoc would end."

Thank goodness for that.

"Did you guys want me to help?"

"We're all set for now. We're going to boycott them into driving to the harbor where we will have cops ready to prosecute them on the spot."

I shrugged, and said, "Do be careful, Alfred."

He smiled and pulled away as David ran over to me it was no surprise when he gave me the hug I mentioned before, but it was a surprise when he discovered I was leading these men on a chase. With my head snug underneath his chin, I drew my eyes up to see David staring at me like a vulture. "What in the hell were you thinking, Babs?"

My eyebrows rose. "Sorry?"

He sighed, and shook the thought off. "Well, I suppose it's been a long night. How about we head back to the penthouse for the evening and we'll talk things over?"

David drove the car to Bruce's penthouse, mute throughout most of the ride until we reached the property was when he began to brag about how I've put my life in great danger whenever I tried to face The Joker off like two roosters fighting in a death battle to prove whose stronger than the other. Okay, so he had a point I was crazy to fight this man, but wasn't my reason to stay in Gotham for as long as I shall live was to beat The Joker in this untimed battle?

"There's going to be one good day when you'll regret fighting him."

"You sound just like my parents, David."

"That's because I've thought through this long process and came to realize your parents are telling the truth."

"What are you telling me?"

"Barbara, The Joker is not an innocent man that can be transformed simply by consent. He will kill you out of enjoyment."

"I as you this: how come he hasn't killed me so far?"

"Go knows what that bastard has for plans…" His sentence was cut short when his phone went off and answered it. There came a long pause of questioning when suddenly a smile appeared. "Wonderful!"

"What?" I asked.

He looked at me and said joyfully, "They caught The Joker."

Usually when good moments come your stomach fills with butterflies and your face gets warm; as for me, I was getting none of that. "Good." Was all I said as my mind pondered about the news. Once we got to the penthouse, I felt relief struck me like lightning.

David and I entered into Bruce's penthouse, tossing our coats aside, holding hands while we sat down on the sofa to watch the latest news on The Joker's arrest. There the screen showed an image of a man in face paint being escorted to a heavy metal car with the doors closing on him once he got inside. I felt that sudden relief again when I no longer saw the face of the mass murderer again. Maybe this was a good feeling to have even without the butterflies in my stomach.

"I can't believe they caught him." I murmured as I laid my head against David's shoulder, and closed my eyes for a second to recap the past few days I've been through. I pictured the school shooting with Jr. hunched up in a corner as he tried to strive for survival, giving me the thumbs up for getting The Joker caught in action. I mentally smiled about it as the image changed to The Joker and I having our one on one conversation as we were playing poker, the same time when I began to learned that The Joker was a happily married man before he became psycho. My eyes fluttered open again to find myself alone on the sofa with my head leaning against a soft cushioning, that being my jacket I had thrown onto the sofa.

I stretched out the kink in my back and eyes the TV that was still projecting the Joker-related news. Already I was getting sick of it, so I picked up the remote sitting on the coffee table and shut the TV off, and after, I got up and walked over to the fridge to grab myself a cold bottle of beer — hopefully Bruce won't mind having me borrow a couple of his drinks. The liquid flowed down my throat, soothing away the numbness I had after having to swallow the truth whole that The Joker was long gone from my life. He'll be lock up in Arkham in no time, and I wouldn't give a damn if he rots in his cell or even in that case, dies.

I brought the beverage with me into Bruce's master bedroom and slid into a nice pair of female boxers and a huge t-shirt, plopping myself onto the bed with my laptop sitting in front and my legs crossed in the air. Wanting to my mind of the madness I decided to work on my father's case by cracking the codes provided from my father's files.

I clicked open a window and clicked on one of the files; most of it had to do with what I had previously hacked for The Joker, especially that obituary I found of his wife.

He probably was upset over his wife's death, I said to myself.

When I read through the same obituary again I still didn't find a clue to his real name; I sighed, disappointment filled the atmosphere. There has to be something that'll give me enough evidence…

I opened up a web browser and typed in The Gotham Times into the URL, which brought me to the homepage with all the latest news; currently they were airing the latest on The Joker's goons that were taken down by the Police. I clicked on the obituary button; a new page opened, giving me the opportunity to search any obituary article from any date. Out of curiosity I decided to enter in the date when Jeannie's article came out.

Who knows if something really interesting comes from it, I mused.

I knew for most sites they let you go up to a certain date, nevertheless they store the old obituaries into a file, so the only way to get an obituary from twenty years ago would be to hack into The Gotham Times. After I imputed my secret hacking code, I clicked the search button, and seconds later an article appeared with a picture and all.

My mouth hung open for what felt like hours.

She looks exactly like you! My conscious yelled.

No shit. I said.

It was true. The woman who appeared to be hugging her future psychopathic husband in the picture provided looked so much like the woman who was currently searching for her obituary — me. She had a small frame for her age, about a foot shorter than her husband, her hair was a coppery blonde with an orange tint to it, her eyes a luxurious blue — and her smile was beyond speak able.

She really did look beautiful back then. People would have told The Joker he'd won the golden ticket.

I scanned the article some more and I found my lucky golden ticket sitting in front of my face. Her last name.

Jeannie Victoria-Napier.

It got even better when I found a name underneath the picture caption.

Jeannie Victoria-Napier with her husband, Jack Napier.

A grin appeared on my face as I picked up a cordless phone on the bedside table and dialed my father's number. A voice appeared afterward.

"Comissioner Jim Gordon's office — this is Greg Warden speaking."

"Hey, Greg. It's Barbara Gordon."

I could feel Greg smiling at the moment. "Hey Babs, how are you feeling?"

"Great! Is my father around or did he leave already?"

"Jim is currently with someone at the moment, but is there anything I can do for you?"

Why not? He's working with dad. He'd probably be useful for the case.

"Yes, indeed. You will not believe what I found from my investigation."

"And that might be what?"

"The Joker's name."

Everything went still for a second until I heard Greg's voice. "Shit! How did you do it?"

"Technically, I had to hack" — yeah, I had to or else I wouldn't have gotten anything — "into The Gotham Times by imputing a code into their search engine, and so when I did it brought up his wife's original obituary."

"You are awesome, Babs!" He rejoiced. "Seriously, that's going to give us a huge lead into the case."

I smiled. "Do you have a pen and pad ready?"

"Certainly I do."

"Okay then." I gazed back at the article to read out the name. "It's-"

Suddenly, there was a huge ping sound as though a light bulb would burst from too much energy and the lights suddenly dimmed; the entire complex was in the pitch dark. I couldn't hear Greg's voice after the sudden blackout happened.

"Greg?"

There was no response, not even a dial tone.

The light from the laptop screen dimmed since the power cord wasn't working anymore, so to speak the two hour battery from my laptop was my only source of light for now. I picked up my laptop with the screen facing forward to light the way.

I'd assume Bruce would have flashlights in this place…

I maneuvered around tables and chairs without slamming into any of them, and scuttled towards the open kitchen where my feet squeaked on the linoleum floor as I made my way to one of the cupboards and opened it to find a whole set of batteries and a pair of flashlights ready to use. I took one of them out and flipped the switch on.

Now it was the search for my hopefully-it-didn't-run-out-of-battery cell phone. That's going to be an adventure.

I held my flashlight in front of me and searched the living room from head to toe, from corner to corner I aimed the glowing yellow light at objects to be sure I wouldn't hit anything in my way, and eventually after some time of searching I found my cell phone lay across a coffee table with less than half of its battery life already used up from being on most of the time.

I dialed in David's number (since he was lucky enough to know Bruce's cell number and I wonder why I don't) and waited for a dial tone. His answer machine popped up and I went on with my message.

"Hey, David," I sounded really courteous — more like head over heels — "It's Barbara. I don't know if this affected you or not, but the power is out up here in Bruce's penthouse. Would you mind giving me a call back, and hopefully give me Bruce's number so I can ask him where the generator is? Thanks."

I hung up, praying that David would get the message in time.

An icon flashed on the screen with a picture of an envelope in the shape of a chat box, so I pressed on the phone icon to listen to the message.

Barbara — It's David. Hopefully you're all right after that weird incident. Right now it's six-thirty, your father is currently meeting with someone from the National Guard to help us stop this fucking madness with The Joker. God, Babs, this guy is a fucking lunatic — I can't believe he still hasn't done anything to harm you. I mean — I would have figured he'd done something to you during those two days captive.

I hoped for that as well.

Anyway, keep safe and keep an eye out for that bastard. If something happens, call me or Bruce…

Most of David's message was a rant, but thankfully he did provide me with Bruce's number to call him. So after I finished listening to the message I dialed Bruce's number and was welcomed by the voice of Bruce Wayne.

"Hey, Babs!" He cheered, "What's be happening?"

"Well, want the whole truth or not?"

"Sure."

"Did you lose any power at the mansion? I lost it here at the penthouse."

He sounded as though he wasn't certain of what I was talking about. "No, I haven't." He said. "There's a generator on the floor beneath; pull the switch up and you should be fine for the next few hours or so."

"Okay then," I said. "Where are you by the way?"

"I'm with Alfred in the truck. We just rounded up the last of those scumbags."

Thank heavens for that.

"I didn't realize The Joker had this many recruits."

"Hell. I'd expect more."

"I couldn't agree." He said. His voice didn't sound as calm anymore when I heard him mumbling to Alfred about something Joker related. "However, that doesn't mean we have caught everyone in the act of this nonsense."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Apparently," Bruce sighed. "We don't have the real Joker."

The whole room went into a spiral.

"What?"

"Some asshole decided to switch spots with The Joker and have the police arrest him than the real guy. By word of mouth from one of the goons he stated they have unfinished business."

My mouth went dry instantly when I realized what The Joker planned out.

… then my dear Babs you clearly are in for a rude awakening.

Fuck, why do I always cause trouble?

A hand flashed out and covered my mouth, making me scream from the tops of my lungs. I look back to see The Joker in his blue honeycomb shirt and his purple striped pants, his makeup was smudged with dirt and grime from his forehead to his chiseled chin.

"Say one peep and I'll fucking kill you."

My eyes broadened when Andrew step forward with his gun sticking out in front of him, surrounding me like a hungry vulture, his eyes as dark as the man preventing me from speaking.

After tossing my phone aside, The Joker wrapped an arm around my chest and dragged me across the floor with my feet kicking away and my screams muffled out by his hand. When all seemed at fail, he finally eyed Andrew for his immediate attention, and Andrew ran up without a hassle and took a hold of my feet to prevent them from kicking about. Soon I was airborne, my body dangled in their grasp as they dragged me towards the door.

I am not going to let them win!

With all my might, I drew my knee in close, and gave Andrew a good kick in the nuts. I heard him make an oomph sound as he fell back.

"Is it that hard trying to pick up girls, Andrew?" The Joker asked him, chucking at the end when he noticed his statement sounded more like a joke than a direct question. He squeezed me tight when I tried to break free.

Andrew, who was still clenching onto his sore spot, slowly rose and knelt over when the pain grew unbearable. "If you want to do this, then go ahead." His back arched, he saw a plasma screen TV sitting in front of his very sweat-gleamed face. There was a twinkle in his eyes when he grinned awkwardly. "I'll get the loot while you take care of her." His eyebrows rose at me, and he turned away to begin unplugging the cords to the TV set.

The Joker looked down at me. "You heard the man — lets scadoodle."

He released his hand from my mouth, which was manageable for me to speak my mind.

"I'm not leaving." I groaned.

"Whether you like it or not, you're not leaving my sight so I'd listen if I were you."

"Why is that?"

He rolled his eyes clockwise, pulling me towards the kitchen. "You ask so many questions I can't bear to listen to." As he dragged me across the linoleum floor, he was able to get a glimpse at my laptop that was still glowing for being on battery power; he leaned to the side to look at the screen and stopped suddenly when he saw the image on the screen. I saw what he was looking at, and gazed up to see his reaction — there was utter shock seen all over his face.

Andrew finished unplugging the TV when The Joker watched the laptop screen, and pushed the television through the door without looking back to see if anything was wrong or not. He just strolled out like any ordinary person would.

I continued to stare at the face painted man while I haltered myself up with my back against him, and made eye contact with the computer screen once more.

"Why does she look so much like me?" I asked, looking back at him for an answer.

There was no answer though coming from this man, only the silence of a man who had been hiding his dread for so long, all of that relinquished at the very moment when he came face to face with the reality of his past — that being a simple picture shown on a computer screen — it gave him a good kick to finally realize his inner feelings to see his wife again in pixel form.

Was it a good enough kick, though, for him to finally see the destruction he did to this city because of Jeannie?

"I promised myself I'd never want to see the same picture."

I spun on my heels and turned to him. "Why?"

"It's too hard to choke it." He bit on his lower lip without looking at me, as though he trying to hold it all back. "Lately, though, I doubted myself about you, willing to see if you were like her or not…"

My teeth clenched together when he finally said it.

"…you remind me so much of her."

And without warn, he planted his lips onto mine.

His weight had knocked me off balance, which because of that made me toppled onto the couch with him on top of me, still hungry for more. I felt his chest fall on top of my tiny frame with both of his knees digging into my sides; he positioned himself on top of me so that my legs would be useless if I were ever to kick him, with his upper torso leaning into my chest he hungrily went in for another bite at my lip as I continued to fight back. Both of his hands shot out, pinning mine to my sides.

I moaned hastily when I felt his tongue dig through my mouth so that he could feel around for my tongue, and when he did his tongue started to wrestle with mine.

Okay, let me be honest: even if it was totally unexpected, this situation did have the pros and cons — the pro: for I have never been kissed by a guy before, I never knew how the feeling would be like. Now that I was feeling it, I felt so…nice. And the con: it's The Joker who's kissing me, which made me want to puke.

I felt his mouth release from mine, his lips traced down from my lower jaw to my nip of my neck and at the same time he was occupying himself by having his hands trail up my boxers, tugging onto the elastic band that was keeping my boxers from falling.

No. No. No.

Just when I was going to yell at his face, his lips glided up my neck and were planted instantly on my lips, the moisture from his lips built up while he tugged down my boxers; carefully, his teeth bit down into my lip to keep me from screaming, moans peeped through my throbbing lips when I tried to beg him to stop.

The boxers finally slid off, and I felt his hand go to unbutton his pants.

No!

He finished unbuttoning them and continued to hungrily go for my lips, devouring his pleasure while I tried to feed off the evil trying to devour inside me. Then, with his knees buckled tight, he gave a good thrust into my womanhood area. I was screaming like a banshee as his thrusts continued to grow painful by the second. One of his legs listened up from pinning down one of my legs, and when he did I drew my foot close and kicked him square in the abdomen, making him tumble off of me.

I hesitantly got up the couch to run until his hand reached out and grabbed my ankle. I felt my weight shift, and suddenly I was falling flat on my face with my nose slamming the tiled floor, there was a loud crack sound afterward. I raised my hand to my nose and the slightest touch made me squirm — blood was pouring rapidly from my nostrils.

I felt his hands clenching onto my thighs for support as he got up slowly, moaning from being kicked in the stomach.

I let out a scream so loud it made my ears ring.

"NNNOOOO!"

…And that scream had suddenly awoken me from my sleep. (I didn't know I had even fallen asleep in the first place.)

My body went numb as my heart pounded inside my chest as though a ticking bomb was about to go off.

"Barbara?" I heard David moan from inside his pillow where his face was stuffed in between his pillow and mine. His head rose with dark circles underneath his eyes — due to the lack of sleep he endured during these past few days — a hand was placed on my arm where he suddenly shifted as though he was given an electric shock.

"You're skin is clammy — is everything okay?" He asked.

I reached over to the side where David touched me, and I felt the moisture on my skin he mentioned. Was I sweating in my sleep?

I shrugged. "Yeah," I said uncertainly, "I'm okay…"

Even I wasn't sure as to why I was so upbeat from one moment to the next. Okay, so maybe the nightmare had to do with it. That's reasonable — yet, never have I been this uncertain in my life.

David passed out eventually after he was awoken by my shift in movement, whereas my mind couldn't get rid of the fact the nightmare I had has a reason for me to be frightened: even if you try to convince the devil believe in God, you can't compel him to do so. I have had my drawbacks with The Joker even at this point of time when convincing him to believe in reason — it has not been an easy task to make him see the destruction he's caused for us. I mean — maybe Jeannie didn't die because Gotham didn't care; maybe they did care in the first place but yet she couldn't be saved anyhow.

With that being said, the nightmare was more than a regular message from my subconscious, but rather than a warning about what would be to come if I wasn't careful with what I say or do, or else The Joker by then would officially kill me.

I fell back into my fluffy pillow and forced my eyes shut, when suddenly I heard my phone vibrating on the bedside drawer almost falling off the edge when I reached over to grab it. I opened the screen with the icon of an envelope indicating a text message; my thumb pressed down on one of the buttons to open it, and the message appeared.

If you want to know what really happened to Jeannie, then meet me at The Square Plaza today at seven.

-Andrew

I found it odd that Andrew managed to find out my phone number through The Joker purposively, but then again, he sounded as though he wanted me to know the truth by desperately letting out a plea as a reply to my curiosity. I thought about it for a while whether I should trust him and meet him at the place, and decided eventually it would be worth the risk of knowing the truth from a likely source rather than walk in circles without a clue if I was going in the right direction or not.

I managed to sleep once more that evening, and found myself waking up at six on the clock just an hour before Andrew and I were to meet face to face again — hopefully he hasn't decided to kill me like he was about to just a day ago. The bed was unusually soft when I woke up; turning to my side I noticed David had left for the day to head to the station to continue his work from last night (before being interrupted by my dilemma with The Joker and his slavish goons.) I stripped the sheets off of me and noticed the accumulation of sweat from last night stained in the blankets — I guess I did sweat a lot in my sleep. After stripping off the old sheets from the bed, I produced a pair of black slacks and a geometric blouse and threw him on quickly so that time wouldn't be wasted on my clock if I were to have a serious conversation with Andrew.

By the time I finished touching up on my hair and applying a little bit of lip balm, I walked over to the key ring set and plucked off my car keys and closed the door behind me.

About ten minutes later after having to drive through the western end of Gotham, I arrived at our destination, and parked into a convenient spot so that Andrew would be able to spot out my car in the plaza; surely in no time I recognized Andrew, walking over to my car from behind with a slanted grin and his hands in his pockets.

With his back arched, he approached me by taking his hands out from his pockets and offered me a handshake. I cringed for a moment when his hand flashed out, but eventually my nerves were calmed by his soft sympathetic voice.

"I'm not here to hurt you or anything." He placed his hands back into his poets to tug out the insides of them. They were empty.

I shrugged then. "Okay."

I followed him as he walked into an antique coffee shop, ordering two hot coffees for the both of us and paid — yes, surprisingly — the cashier with a handful of one dollar bills. After thanking the cashier he handed me my coffee and again followed him outside and seated at a black mesh table with his hands clasped together.

"So, you knew J had a wife before, correct?" was his first question to start off our serious conversation.

I nodded. "I knew that after reading through some files he wanted me to steal for him."

His freed hand went scavenging through his coat pocket and produced a thick piece of paper, and handed it to me. "I found this when I was in his room once, and since then he still doesn't know I have it."

I took the thick paper from him and gazed down at it. To my amazement, it was the same picture I saw in my dream.

"She's really pretty." I said, smiling a little.

He nodded as well. "When I first met you I had to do a double take when I found the picture, and I thought for certain you were Jeannie coming back from the dead or something." He chuckled.

"Then again, I realized you were nothing else but Barbara Gordon, the Commissioner's daughter, with similar looks that to Jeannie."

I placed the picture down and looked up at him. "I really do look a lot like her, although I doubt we have any relation as a fact." I bit down on my lip as I mused about The Joker. "Do you think that's why The Joker doesn't really want to kill me because I remind him of her?"

"I suppose that's the reason." He suggested, "To be honest, if you didn't have any similarities to Jeannie you would not have been here right now; he can easily throw away his 'possessions,' but anything that's related to his past he seems to have a hard time letting the rope go."

"You mean to tell me he actually thinks — or even speaks — about his past as a daily thing?"

"Yeah." He said. "I know — it's hard to believe a man like him would mention something like their past life when things were happier then."

"How would you know?"

He went quiet for a moment and brought his attention back to me. "I used to be friends with him before his life changed."

My mouth wanted to prop open, but I couldn't make it.

"Well, we're still buddies but it's nothing like it used to be." He said honestly.

And so, his story began.

:: :: ::

Andrew's point of view.

"I clearly remember the day him and Jeannie got married — I was his best man and the only groomsmen since they wanted a small, traditional wedding with immediate family members and friends. It took place on a ranch Jeannie's family owned at the time, on a beautiful day that fitted perfectly for a wedding like theirs, and the results to their wedding were beyond words I can describe. They were happy is the only thing I can say.

"They went on their honeymoon days later to Acadia National Park in Maine, and from what he told me their trip was simply a delight. It made me wish I was a newlywed back then." He laughed. "He eventually found a good paying job in Gotham as a laboratory scientist and decided to get an apartment for the two of them not far from the town hall. A year passed and the couple decided they wanted to raise a family. Jeannie, though, had trouble getting pregnant.

"Apparently the doctor told her it's a natural thing for a woman to have trouble getting pregnant and it was likely due to genes. He advised them adoption would be their likely option if trouble persists. Jeannie was distraught about it, and for the next five years she kept her feeling underneath her skin by submerging herself in a huge depression, thus leading to a husband in emotional wreck. He clearly wasn't sure how to help Jeannie get through this huge ordeal, and so he relied on me to give him my best advice to help her out. There was one time when I suggested to him adoption would be the likely scenario to have children, and he agreed, so he told Jeannie what I suggested and she eventually agreed. A week later, Jeannie found out she was pregnant.

"She and J were elated, and prepped up for the baby's arrival later on that year. However, three months later after they found out they were expecting a child, a huge recession hit Gotham and t effected everyone including J and his family. Jeannie's work hours were cut down to twenty hours a week, and she eventually quit so she can take care of the baby. Sadly for J, he was laid off completely from his good paying job. He was determined to find another job so the family wouldn't have to live in poverty, but their luck got worse when the rent guy evicted them from their home when Jeannie and J failed to pay their rent on time — money was frugal at the time and paying the rent proved more of a problem for them. Because of this, they decided to room in with Jeannie's family since J's lived far away, and were given a few months to stay until J would find a suitable job and a new apartment.

"Life then became stressful for the two. J had trouble finding a new job and signed up for unemployment, thus making Jeannie mad when J gave up half way through her pregnancy; they would have fights in occasion debating on what would be best for them and the baby — there were talks of divorce, but that never happened. J, again, would come to me for advice, but this time I had nothing to offer him other than luck.

"While J struggled to find a job, Jeannie suffered another depression. She turned to alcohol as a sedative, drink throughout the night until she'd pass out on bed. For J he was appalled she would let herself go in such a way that would not only risk her life but the baby as well, and in the end he convinced her to stop drinking because he loved her.

"J did find a job — although I can't say it was a smart decision, and a good job. He worked with a few mobsters from Gotham and made life threatening deals with thugs and dealers I would hardly ever face in person. And here he convinced Jeannie to stop drinking — look what he has to deal with that is also just as risky as Jeannie's drinking. So anyway, he managed as a new mob dealer for one of the toughest mobsters in Gotham at the time, made good money and was lucky enough to find an apartment outside of Gotham. When he told the news to Jeannie she was delighted and wanted to move out of her parents' ranch as soon as possible.

"I was getting worried about J and his new 'job', that I felt Jeannie needed to know the truth or else her questions would be unanswered if she were to be sitting beside her husband's coffin in the near future, so I told her the truth about J as a mob dealer. She was utterly shocked, and upset when he came home to a wife in distress. She was literally screaming at him through tears, saying how he was raising an unhealthy family and that he didn't care a damn about the baby's safety. She walked out on him when he was about to plea to her that he was doing it so that they would be able to have the money to move to a new place and to start life over again. He was mad at me of course, but I told him it was for the best and so their lives wouldn't be at stake, which he understood for a fact. He went out to find Jeannie who had taken her parents car, driving through the town searching from block to block; it took him nearly two hours to find the street she was on.

"I found J after following him with my truck, and parked beside his, and stepped out to see where he was going. My heart literally sank by what I saw. The car Jeannie drove was smashed to bits.

"J was screaming through tears as he tried to call for Jeannie to see if she was okay or not; we did get a response from her, but it was a weak one when he approached the destroyed vehicle and tried to fish her out of the mess. He pulled her out and laid her out on the pavement with her hands covering her abdomen, thus making us worried if the baby was harmed in the accident. I ran over to assist J as he cried for help from any witnesses who saw the accident — nobody answered, not even the cop sitting beside a lamp post. Jeannie was struggling to survive as we tried our best to get help from a random pedestrian who had the wits to call over her husband who is an EMT driver, and ran over with his EMT duffle bag to check on Jeannie's vital stats as her progression slowly got worse. He examined her injuries and told him that her injuries were life threatening, beyond repair and that the chance of survival would be slim for Jeannie. There was nothing he could do to save Jeannie, and instead he watched J struggle to revive Jeannie from her injuries. I stood back in disbelief and knew J couldn't do anything either.

"I believe that was the start to J's madness, that even the heroes of Gotham, can't be trusted.

"Seconds later, Jeannie went limb in J's arms." He swallowed hard as though the memory was too much for him to hold. "I'll never forget that day when J finally gave up on people, a simple accident — Jeannie's sudden death and the loss of his child — pushed him over the edge. He was gone the second Jeannie died in his arms. When he got up, I no longer saw the J I used to know, the sensual look of happiness vanished from his eyes. No longer would I see the grin he'd have when Jeannie and I would make him laugh…

"J left early to tell the family about the accident, while I stayed behind to talk to the Gotham Police Department whether this was intentional for Jeannie to die in such a horrific way or if this was simply caused by human error itself. After, I went home to check on J to see if he needed my assistance, but when I walked inside the house I felt something strange as though something fishy was up, and I found J on the bathroom floor with his mouth gruesomely cut open with a knife. I ran to him, his face smothered in blood, he coughed up the blood that was oozing from his huge Glasgow smile. He had trouble responding, but eventually managed to speak through the hoarseness of his voice, tears spewing from his eyes.

"You just need to smile and see the bright side… he moped softly. She's…not…suffering…He broke into tears right afterward.

"I called for an ambulance and they arrived in a jiffy to bring him to the hospital, I rode with them as I kept an eye on J, wondering how in so little time a man can instantly change; I couldn't devour the fact whole for it seemed so soon J would become a man full of hatred and disgust that he decided Gotham would suffer for their doings. When he arrived at the hospital he was brought in for immediate treatment — they shipped him into the emergency room to stitch up the cuts he made into his face and give him a blood transfusion, and after he was placed in immediate care by the nurses and stayed there for over a week. I made sure to stop by every day to check his progression, and apparently he was going to make a huge turn around once he was given permission to leave. On the days though I came to visit I was told he was either asleep or was getting treatment done, so I didn't want to waste his time and decided to leave for the day. I made my final visit a day before the doctors told me he would be ready to leave the hospital; when I entered into his room I felt an unusual presence — foreign to me — and sat beside his bed as I waited for him to wake up. He did about a few minutes later and I told him the good news, but to him it wasn't that pleasant.

"What's the point when there's nothing to come home to? He told me, There's no meaning to life now that Jeannie is gone.

"J, I said, things will get better.

"No, they won't. Just yesterday I had Jonny Bang-Bang walk in to inform me-

"Jonny Bang-Bang? I asked, confused. It was Jonny you worked with?

"He nodded, and said, Jonny's kicking me off the team. Apparently, my absence has pissed him off and doesn't want to end up having a freak work with him.

"I rolled my eyes. You know how mobsters are. They want to have a 'good image.'

"Apparently, that's how the whole world thinks. People think their life is perfect, having the perfect good looking wife, the perfect kids, perfect job…well, the truth is nothing in this world is perfect. Look at me for Christ's sake. Look where the hell I am just because I thought my world was perfect. He looked up at the ceiling when he felt a tear rolling out from his eye; he inhaled deeply, and a frown appeared. Well, I'm about to change that.

"What in blaspheme are you going to do?

"If my world can't be perfect — then nobody's can. They are going to suffer what I went through just when I was trying to have a normal life for once. He looked back at me, with an eyebrow arched. And you're in it with me.

"There is no way in hell I am going to cause havoc for this city.

"You are going to hack into the hospital's computer system and erase my files permanently from the system — if as though I never existed.

"That's impossible.

"It won't be if you do the job right. He rose in his bed and leaned over to me. Gotham City College has some students majoring in Criminal Justice and Electronics about hacking into computers and such — there's a kid Jonny Bang-Bang knows named Jacob whose good with that stuff. Have him help you and get me out of this God forsaken hospital.

"And so, that is exactly what I did if I wanted to keep myself under his radar from changing his mind if I was considered useful or not. He gave me Jacob's number and I called him to offer him a deal with working with J and I, and soon I come to find out about an hour later he snuck into one of the doctor's offices and erase J's files completely from the server, and waited outside for us beside my truck. I tried whatever I can to convince one of the nurses that J look good enough to leave, but she wasn't convinced.

"After I informed J about our new problem, he harshly threw off the sheets and threw his legs over the side to stand up. Close the side curtains near the door. He pointed out, and I turned around and took a hold of the turquoise curtain. J searched the room out and opened a drawer from across the room and produced a set of bed sheets, tying the ends up to make a handmade rope. It's two floors down to the ground, he said.

"I took the rope and tied it up to the bed just as J opened the window and was about to step out. I checked to make sure the rope was nicely secure, and when I did I gave him a hand signal to go and he crawled down the rope without hassle with Jacob waiting below to help him. I didn't want to deal with the nurse as to why I had closed the curtain, so I crawled down the rope as well and landed safely on the pavement; Jacob started the truck in no time and I jumped in with J. J, who was still in his hospital gown, looked a bit uncomfortable as he tried to fix himself.

"Did you bring anything for me to wear, Andrew?

"I shook my head. Sorry, dude.

"I did. Jacob replied. It's in my duffle bag behind the seat. Used to belong to Jonny.

"J reached over for the duffle bag and unzipped it, pulling out a set of purple striped pants and a blue honeycomb shirt. He eyed it as though it didn't appeal to his taste. Did Jonny decide to become a clown or something? He joked.

"It used to be one of his old suits and gave it to me — I figured you'd look good in purple.

"He shrugged. Good enough. And he tugged on the pants from underneath his hospital gown. I don't know what Jacob was thinking, but from the looks of it J appeared to have taken a liking to the color and the details of his new pants, so goes for the button up shirt he slid on afterward. I guess Jonny has a good taste in style. He laughed, and fixed the collar of his shirt.

"Jonny sped up on the highway as we left the city boundary. Where shall we settle?

"J turned to him after he tossed the duffle bag behind him. I would like to stop at an old place before we settle anywhere.

"About minutes later we approached the ranch. I wondered why he wanted to come here, but I thought about it some more and figured he needed to get some stuff before he would leave his past life. I got out with him and walked up the porch as he entered inside without looking back. I waited for him on the porch for what felt like hours — Jacob was getting impatient in the truck and tooted the horn twice to hurry up J. Finally, J stepped out with stuff in his hands and shoved them into his pocket.

"Okay, he said, let's go.

"Just as we began to walk away, I heard a loud explosion coming from the building and it made me tremble on my own feet from shock when I spun on the balls of my heels to see what happened. The building was engulfed in flames. He surely wanted to put the past behind him from what it looked like. And through the crackling of the wood being burnt, I heard the cackle of a man…a man I no longer knew of as Jack Napier…he was none other than a diseased man with a cold heart, and that no one would be able to make him think the same way again…"

:: :: ::

At the end, he finally slowed down his story, ending at such a huge climax to the story I wanted to know what happened afterward. He sighed, breathing softly to catch his breath after speaking for so long.

"Jack Napier?" I mumbled, astonished to know for a fact the name I dreamt of was accurate to what Andrew had said.

He nodded when I figured out his name. "I figured since you needed to know the truth, that you needed to know who he really is as a human being than a monster."

"Do you think Jeannie killed herself intentionally?"

"I honestly don't know — she wouldn't do such a thing for what I've known when they were married. She loved him a lot even if he did have a stupid job in the end."

"What if she did mean to kill herself?"

"I would suppose her depression would have been one sign…"

I mused for a second about Jack. "Then maybe he doesn't know that. Maybe it wasn't Gotham's fault but her fault."

"I see your point," he said. "But why would she kill herself when she knew she was pregnant?"

Again, I went back into pondering about the possibilities about Jeannie wanting to kill herself — even if she was pregnant and was expecting soon. "What if she wasn't?"

Andrew's eyes broadened at the thought. "We would have known that before she died."

"The likelihood of having a miscarriage isn't that small for women who've had trouble getting pregnant in the first place. Probably she had a miscarriage but didn't want to tell Jack."

"It's hard to believe Jeannie would end her life that way." He shook his head in doubt.

I scrutinized at him. "Not from what he told me."

Andrew looked at me as though he wasn't aware of something.

"I asked him once if Jeannie had ever betrayed him for anything wrong doing; he said he betrayed her once — probably when he lied to her about getting a decent job. I would think Jeannie betrayed him as well — that having a miscarriage without telling him and saying everything is fine. Lying to your life partner is basically like betraying them for good."

"So, it was intentional for Jeannie to betray him by lying about the pregnancy…" He mumbled. "Do you think her guilt is the reason why she's dead?"

I couldn't think otherwise, it had to be true. Jeannie loved him too much, so why would she commit suicide? I looked down for a moment, with my mouth hung open when I realized he was right.

"I think it is…"

And then all I could hear was the sound of an explosion piercing through the wind.

I LOVE INCEPTION!

Joker: More than me?

Yes, more than you.

Joker: *whips out gun and points it at Catie's head* You've got five seconds to change your mind…

Okay, yes, I love you too.

Joker: *grins and puts gun back in jacket* Much better.

But still, go see INCEPTION. It is mind blowing.

Joker: *whips out gun again* I thought I was mind blowing?

Jeez *sigh*

So, for your curiosity, I have an idea for another Batman fiction from a dream I had about a year ago, and lately I have been thinking about conducting it into a fan fiction for the fun of it. (The dream had me and a friend in it. I can tell you the whole dream if you ask.) If you think it's a good idea, then give me a shout out and I'll start planning it out!

REVIEW!