What Doesn't Kill You

I watched in awe. This Joker character, the one that I’ve been running into, he really ain’t half bad.

Lurking in the shadows, I saw the bat coming up. And out goes the Joker.

I crept a little closer, trying to stay out of the madness. “Who is helping you?” the bat growled at him.

The Joker started laughing. “Who isn’t helping me?”

I smirked. This is how I can get my revenge. I stepped forward, withdrew a knife, sent it whizzing by the bat’s head and right into that of a cop’s. “Me.”

Bullets started whizzing by my head, and two cops came at me. “Awe, did I strike a nerve?” I asked a female cop who attacked me. I kicked her in the chest and easily took her out. She fell backwards off the curb and cracked her head. One down.

The male was a little harder. He was strong. He grabbed me from behind, flipped me around, and lifted me off the ground by my neck. I tried kicking him, but his stomach was padded with his bulletproof vest, and I wasn’t getting anywhere. I kicked him hard in the throat and he dropped me.

I reached for a knife and drove it straight down through his neck.

The bat turned around to commissioner Gordon. “Who is that?”

He sighed. “Amphetamine.”

Sitting in the back of the police wagon, across from the Joker, I should have been fretting over my wounds. I should have been trying to stop my arm from bleeding all over my clothes. I should have been plugging up the gunshot wound. But I just stared.

I stared back at the Joker. We had engaged in a staring contest. It’s way more fierce than it sounds, I promise. The Joker smirked, and I glared. What the hell is always so funny with this prick?

I looked away. I hate losing, but this was really just pissing me off.

“So, amphetamine, huh?”

“It was a misunderstanding that stuck.” I said. I told someone my name and they assumed I was another kid in Gotham that went by an alias. “The Joker?”

He just smirked. “So, doll, are you joining my little group? I’m warning you, initiation is bad. All of the seniors really take it out on you younger kids.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why’d you bail on me, Jokey? Another one of your hilarious jokes?”

He smirked. “Well, you got out, didn’t you?”

“Well, this is just a warning,” I said, standing up. There were two cops in the back with us, and they stood up and started telling me to sit back down. You don’t send a rookie out with me. I stepped over my cuffs so that they were in front of my hands.

I elbowed the one rookie in the nose. I guess I got the right angle, because he was dead. He slinked down the wall onto the seat before falling on the floor. I didn’t get to see the Joker’s expression.

“Now, you, I’ll give a choice,” I said, coming closer to the other one. “As you can see, I have a thing for killing cops. You can put in your two weeks notice right now by letting me go, or we can do this the hard way.”

He swallowed, hard. “I… I…” I rolled my eyes.

“Words, boy,” I said, before kneeing him in the stomach and smashing his head against the metal seat with my foot. I grabbed the keys off his belt and unlocked my cuffs. The Joker looked relieved through his smirk. He started laughing.

“Well, I’m impressed. Amphetamine, huh? I have some use for you. Once we get out of here, I’ll give you my card. Would you like to join my little club?”

He looked at me expectantly. “As I said,” I told him, looking for the key that opened the door. “This is just a warning.” I kicked the door open, and jumped out, taking the keys to his cuffs with me.

I don’t bullshit when it comes to the list.