*J* (the continuation)

Part Forty: Chapter 296: Insurance

Jason's POV

Today was the day that the Riddler had set up for me to meet the drug lord kingpins. I would have to convince them to do as I wished. However, drug lords aren't convinced as easily as lower level street thugs. You can't just kick the hell out of them and expect obedience. They were harder than that. They required the same infinitives and motives that a full fledged mob boss would. You had to present yourself as a threat to them. A threat to their money and power, to their loved ones, to their very way of life.

How do you do that, you ask? It's pretty simple really. It's nothing more than a battle of psychological warfare in which you make them scared shitless of you. That's how you bend their will and take their control. You have to prove your power over them. You gotta show them that you mean business. That you're an undeniable force to be reckoned with. That there's no avoiding you. No beating you. You have to show them that they aren't beyond your reach. That if they don't comply to your demands, something horrible will befall them or someone they love.

Love, after all, is the greatest weakness a person of power can have. The minute you show someone that you care is the same moment to which you sign their death order. Unfortunately, very few powerful people are successful in not falling in love and creating a family to end up as mere leverage to their enemies. All of which suit my efforts just fine. I have no problem ending the lineages of drug lords. It wasn't as if there was a shortage of them or anything. There was always someone in the ranks looking to step up.

So with a few hours left until the meeting, I'm out securing a way to get their attention. An insurance policy, if you will. A foolproof way that will show them the power I have. Something that would definitely instill fear in them. They'll have no choice but to shut up and listen to me. A little something that would keep them on a straight and narrow path until I was done with them.

Sometimes a job of this nature can get a bit... messy. Ok, ok, fine. Bloody. There are you happy? Thankfully, I'm neither necrophobic nor hemophobic. In fact, things like blood and death don't too much phase me. They never have. As a vigilante with Bruce, I had seen my fair share of gore. Blood, stab wounds, gunshot wounds, burns, mutilated corpses, infused with the unmistakable smell of decaying flesh. I knew these things before most children even realize what death is.

But at J's side, I created the gore. I had to learn how to get my hands dirty. Had to learn how to become the artist he was. How to kill and feel absolutely nothing... well, almost nothing. You always feel something. Especially when you know that you can't be caught. And J taught me all the ways to never get caught.

As a mafia hitman J learned all the little trade secrets to getting away with murder. A big key to that is getting rid of, or not leaving behind evidence. LolAlways wear gloves so you don't leave behind prints. Wear dark clothing to disguise any blood that might end up on you. You should wear long sleeves, that way the victim can't scratch you and get your DNA under their fingernails. Wear your hair in a manner that the victim can't grab a handful of it. Keep all bodily fluids to yourself. If you have to get rid of a weapon, the best way is to dissolve it in acid. Leave no witnesses. And always dispose of the damn body, unless you have some message to get across.

J learned a lot of ways to dispose of bodies. It's not something your average everyday person can pull off. It took knowledge, skill, and imagination. All three were things that J was more than proficient at. After twelve years as the Joker, you could say there was absolutely nothing else he could learn. And everything he had learned over the years, he taught to me. I too became proficient in the art of murder.

And when it comes to chopping up a body into pieces... Well the movies get it all wrong. Knives work, but they wear you out. Chainsaws tend to bog down when they hit bone. The teeth on the blade clog and the chain jams. Power tools do the job, but tend to sling blood and tissue everywhere. Plus they create a lot of noise, which isn't always good. But a true craftsman gets a Gigli Saw. A surgeons tool. It's a flexible saw blade attached to two handles. Doctors use it for amputations. It's not motorized, therefore it's quiet. Plus it's designed to get through bone and tissue like a hot knife through butter.