The Mechanic and The Clown (Robert Downey Jr/The Joker)

Chapter 5

Tonys POV:

If only I hadn't gone there, I mean why did I need to hold a press conference so urgently? I mean sure, my self sustaining green energy project was making a tonne of success, but I didn't need to get all the press in on it. That was Pep's job...

Anyways, so yeah where was I? Right. So the press conference was held in this big glitzy over the top hotel and guess what? I was bored. I went up gave my little speech, answered a few questions and talked down that annoying blonde Christine Everheart. What is up with that girl? But after, I wasn't expecting that. I guess the Joker took my advice about getting better weapons on board because he sent me little gift. It literally had my name on it, yep the moron had clapped his hands on one of the few remaining Stark Industries missiles, but it was no ordinary missile... Oh no... It was... The Jericho.

The entire hotel blew up, I was on the ground floor thankfully but I was toppled over by the impact and everything went black....

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I strained my eyes, I had been moved but where? There was a buzz of voices in the background, my vision was still hazy but I had recollections of what had happened at the hotel. "Shouldn't I have been at the hospital or something?" I thought to myself.

I tried raising myself up to a sitting position, and that's when I felt it. I pressed my hand to my chest just to make sure I wasn't imagining things, but it was real. The arc reactor I had removed a couple of years ago had been put back in place. But how could that be? I threw it into the ocean, this has got to be a bad dream.

It wasn't.

He appeared, walking towards me, grinning widely with his yellow teeth showing. He was a disgusting and intimidating sight with his make up and greasy green-dyed hair.

"Hello there," he muttered, taking advantage of the fact I was handcuffed and had no access to Jarvis.

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes at the pathetic excuse of a man, I hated him more than I hated anyone. He had a way of crawling under your skin and he was the reason why my wife was in a coma. "How did you get this?" Looking at the arc reactor I was so glad to be rid of.

"You made it," his sadistic reply, "but you know, it didn't reach the water when you threw it into he ocean, I was watching you then and caught it just in time."

I breathed heavily, wanting so much to give The Joker a piece of my mind. But that's what he wanted, me to lose my temper, but I was better than him.

"You should thank me," he continued to my disgust, "if I never got them to place it back in, you would be dead Tony."

"Oh should I also thank you for what you did to Pepper?"

"That's the ticket!" The joker burst into a fit of hysterics.

"It's not funny, why is this about me?"

"I'm sorry isn't everything?"

I couldn't believe this man! He had a comeback line for everything.

"I'm going to show people the truth. The world is full of schemers, like you ,each having their own little worlds. Not me. I like to show the schemers how pathetic your attempts to control things really are. Deep down you're not really one of 'em, you're a freak like me, sooner or later you'll be an outcast. And when the chips are down these civilised people will eat each other. And where will you be stop the chaos? Hmm? Cos I'm not crazy I'm just ahead of the curb."

There was nothing I could do, that was a first for me actually. I never met a guy like this before compared to him that power crazed Loki and his space lizard army were easy. He was playing games and I was in the middle of it, forced to participate.

From behind me one of the Jokers henchmen must have hit me with a club or something because the next thing I remember was waking up with a splitting headache at my Malibu place and the arc reactor still attached to me.