The Joker And The Fool

7.(3) Fools can be kings

7.3

After a month of freedom, Jonathan Crane had been arrested and brought to Arkham Asylum once again. The Batman had found him somewhere in the gutter. Unlike what Diana had claimed, it seemed that he had no intention of attacking the city. So, Bruce concluded that Diana would have given him that information for another cause. Maybe she had wanted to illuminate one of her opponents. He imagined that it must have been the purpose of their relationship. But, like many it was a conversation left unspoken. He needed Diana as much as she needed him.

Until that moment their contact had always remained unknown to the members of the circle. She believed that they were too afraid to start the discussion on the mole, for they could very well be the mole themselves. There was no fair play amongst them, that was quite visible. The only man that cared but little for honour was Penguin himself. And even he would not dare to start such a discussion.

They had lived for more than a year under Penguin's rule. Nothing had changed for the worse, and yet nothing had changed for the better. Penguin had let go of Falcone's methods from the very beginning. She had expected for this new method to cause for some obstacles. But a year went by swiftly and they were not faced with any more difficulties than the year before. But that was mostly because the city government was still recovering from the mayhem and murder of the prior years.

Diana understood that there was a clear division within the board. She could see that Bronson and Zuko mostly agreed to Penguin's doing, then Bertinelli and Abramovich always posed as a neutral, and then Warren, Diana and Paris were at the other end of the table. Paris always hoped to accomplish a neutral position, but he always followed smarter and mor efficient causes, which meant that most of the time he could not side with Penguin. Warren only ever looked to Diana, he followed her. He followed her, clearly. She learned quite swiftly that it was not a matter of influence on the group, it was a matter of competence. Which was why Penguin had so easily defeated Roman. Roman had always been incompetent. There were more than a few men who would have found themselves fit for leadership. But once not everyone agreed to it, it would be disregarded. And even still, figures like Paris Francesco who were competent, decided to stand down from the role themselves. Either that or they dared not to challenge Penguin. Nobody wanted a war.

Diana heard many things of the Joker, though she tried her very best to stay away from him. Occasionally she saw him in the blackspot, that was about the only place where he was allowed to come (he wasn't allowed in Forty-Four Below anymore, nor the Zero-Thirteen-Bar). Sometimes he visited Kenner's but never when Francesco was there. For Francesco did not approve of him. At times that she did so happen to see him, they would not share one single word. But their actions very well spoke for one another. It was clear that they had decided to take some distance from one another. It was unsure, however, if they would ever feel the need to rebuild a bridge, they could attempt to rekindle any sort of friendship.

Diana often partied with rich and eligible men, who many times took her home, to dinners, parties. She spoke not to Grayson anymore. She was sure that he had understood that she had lost her interest in him. Joker also never spoke a word of it. Nor did he show any other form of protest. She was not sure if that was what she wanted to provoke, but for some reason it did disappoint her. Perhaps he knew that she did not intend to come back to him. It had been years since had claimed it, perhaps his theory like many others, was not correct. 

Elizabeth had become old enough to attend a school, Diana had sent her to a private school in Gotham City. She would make sure that Zsasz, or Tommy would drive her to that school and pick her up afterwards. She never wanted to be associated with Tommy or Elizabeth. Beside some members of the circle that were close enough to be invited to her home like Warren, not many people knew of it. Though to some who looked hard enough, it was easy to find that she was protecting someone. Tommy did not work, not for Diana, not anywhere else. It did not last very long before he spiralled back into his substance abuse. Diana allowed him to become addicted for a very selfish reason. For one, she felt that he was incapable of being a father to Elizabeth and rather wished him to be dead than for her to have a father like him. Secondly, she wanted to offer him up as bait, in order to destroy the person who had targeted him in the first place. She cared not for the fact that she would sacrifice her brother to get what she wanted, life was a game to her, death all the same. She had always hoped that penguin was the individual that meant to kill him. But she knew that it was not true. She expected it to be James Bronson, who had sought to kill her brother. It was the only person who Tommy had lightly accused of it. Besides, Diana knew that Bronson often used gamblers as a way to launder money, besides Warren the White.