The Joker And The Fool

8(.1) the beginning of an end

8.1 

For more than a month Diana withheld herself from organising another meeting with the circle. There were several reasons for this matter: one reason was because she had brutally murdered James Bronson, one of the members and did not dare to face any consequences for it; another was because she had kept herself most occupied with Bane and ensuring that he would not be able to go on with his plans to ruin Gotham. She and the Batman researched his background, until they felt that the threat had been illuminated accordingly. Diana pressed the Batman to investigate further. And though it might have been a better solution to their problem, did he not. the only reason why he did pursue Bane was because he did not want to feel as if he was working for her. Everyone already worked for her. Beside most of his guilt towards what had happened to her, he remained always a rational man. And he was able to see what Diana schemed. He was able to see, beside the fact that she was human, that she was not nor would be good. He did not know why he held onto the possibility of achieving a recovery for her. He figured that a part of him still held on to the love he had once shared for her. But it was most certain: Diana was not made for him, and he was not made for her. He did not know if she was even made by the same creator. All he knew was that she was made of flesh, bones. He had seen her bleed many times, but he did not think that he believed she was made of blood. He had seen her cry a few times, but he was evident that she had used up what little tears she had within. No, Diana was evil, that was sure. She was eviller than the Joker. She was eviller than Bane. Within her there was only selfishness, not love, nor care. But still, he could not help but care for her. It was the cruelty of her existence. It was as if she was made to seduce every living being into going against their own ambitions.

As for the murder of Bronson, when Diana did call upon a meeting with the Circle, there was no mention of him for one bit. One of these reasons may be because Diana had allowed some of her men to work for other parties. Some of these borrowed workers, but not von Genk. She took von Genk as a personal prize. Oen could imagine the anger Zsasz would have felt for the fact that Diana did not give him Bronons place at the table. He could have been a prop, well positioned in that place. But Diana did not look upon it in that way. She recalled one of the many things the Penguin had once told her in a time in which they both struggled under the lunacy of the Circle's decisions and members. Penguin had explained to her that in the beginning of the circle, there were just three members. They met only ever in Kenner's café, every Friday evening. This little gentlemen's club consisted of Falcone, Maroni, and himself. All the other so-called crime 'lords' in the city were nothing. And this all started out of the fact that Falcone and Penguin merely worked for Maroni. it was imaginable and even ironic to say that those were simpler times. But Diana realised that there was a very cold truth within that comment. Her next few steps were to attempt to narrow the number of members to the smartest, best workers. She knew that they would not make do without Paris Francesco. That was all she knew. She had imagined many ways in which she would be able to select her group. But since she was unable to handpick a proper selection, this vision was reserved for another time. Nobody suspected that she even had that thought. They had all simply raised their glasses and proposed toasts to their leader. Nobody cared to ask for whatever happened to Bronson. Nobody seemed to want to know. And still, they all did know. They all knew of what had happened to Bronson, as well as who had done it. But they spoke not of it for two reasons: one, they agreed with her; two, they did not want to be the next in line for an ending similar to his. This small depiction was an example of Diana's highest point of achievement. She was able to do everything according to her own ways and she had almost none to answer to. She had no conflict with Réal, not with the police department nor with the Batman. These figures tended to abide her will and law or to avoid her. As for similar matters, she had not seen nor spoken to the Joker or Quin for a very long time. The thought of John, though it remained a present one, had dwelled somewhere into the vast nothingness of her mind. Occasionally her subconscious would attempt to bring it to her attention through the different forms of dreams. But from those she could simply wake up.