The Super Killer

Ch.15

Palmer lit a cigarette and took a deep inhale. The smoke sat in his lungs for only a moment before it stung, and he let out a forced exhale from his nose. He took another puff and wrote in the open case file, "Doctor Stephen Strange immolated himself with a flame so powerful it turned the surrounding air into glass that fused with his cell." He took the cigarette from his cracked lips and flicked the ash on the floor of the dark office. "The bastard effectively turned himself into an impenetrable, eternal flame, which fits with the pageantry associated with the other deaths." He exhaled and took another hit. "He could alter time, and even stop time for everyone but himself. How else could someone kill Superman and Batman without any resistance? He even admitted in the interview that he could jump bodies and use his host to kill his enemies, which means he would have access to unlimited power. There is the issue of an accomplice, but I'm positive it's Brother Eye, which makes Stephen Strange, and he alone, the super killer. It is my recommendation that the SCU close this investigation."

Palmer gripped his pen to write more, but it slipped from his oily hand and fell to the floor. He stared at it and after a long moment of silence he said, "Honestly, I'm floored." He let out a single chuckle, then took the open case file and tossed it over his head. "What are they going to do...fire me?" Palmer laughed so hard it hurt his sides. "Get it, fire me." He was now hysterical and looking around the room as if searching for an audience. "Because that bastard set himself on fire." Palmer took his cigarette and turned it so he was looking at the cherry. "Oh look, purple smoke."

From the corner of the dark office emerged a crooked, yellow smile. The Joker stepped forward from the shadows and raised his hands to show the restraints. He said with sunken eyes, "I'm unarmed."

Palmer jumped up to his feet as if shocked by the sound of the voice. He reached for his gun and said, "Get back."

"But I'm not moving."

"Don't make me do it."

"Why are you doing this?"

Palmer pointed his gun at the Joker.

"Come on," the Joker chided. "Shoot! Shoot! Or are you too bitch to do it?"

Palmer approached the Joker and pressed his gun into the side of his head. "What did you say?" The Joker said nothing. "Move." He led the Joker out of the room and all the way to the underground cell containing Stephen's eternal flame. He pushed the Joker to the flame and lowered his gun.

"I knew you couldn't do it," the Joker chided.

Palmer kicked the Joker in the back and sent him into the burning glass. The Joker appeared stuck to the glass, and Palmer watched as the Joker's head sunk into the glass, like someone slowly disappearing under a thick sludge. The flame ate the Joker and didn't stop until the eternal furnace had swallowed him whole. Palmer was now alone in the room and staring at his own reflection in the burning glass. But staring back at him was the body of a boy in a field of grass. Palmer heard a voice say, Not anymore.

The door to the room clicked, then slid open.

Gordon's voice shouted out, "Palmer, Christ, there you are. We have a problem: security's down, and the Joker is missing. We think he used the riot to escape. What were you doing in here?"

"Having a breakthrough."

"About what?"

"We're leaving."

Gordon shook his head in disbelief. "Did you hear me? The Joker—"

"It doesn't matter," Palmer shouted while turning to face Gordon. "We're going back to Metropolis."

Gordon threw his hands into the air in disbelief. "What could be more important than catching the Joker?"

"Finishing the job."

"What job? Do you mean Corporon?"

"We pick the warrant up in the morning, and then we have brunch with Corporon." Gordon's hesitation was visible. "Come on, I know what he said to your daughter. Don't you want to be there when we get him?"

Gordon's eyes burned with the reflection of the eternal flame. "I'm sure the Joker will turn up. He never strays too far from home."

Palmer agreed. "He's probably closer than you think."