Gotham's Finest : A Villain's Perspective

Negotiation

I stayed with Nigma for most of the day. One of the great benefits of having him as a friend was his talent for devising quick plans and predicting his enemies moves. In this case we were trying to find a way to attract the Joker, so that he would want to 'help us out' – the joker has any pro-social bones in his body. We didn't want to come at him from a violent stance as he would desire to one-up us. We needed to catch his attention in a way that'd impress him.

It turned out that the best plan for that was identifying where the current whereabouts of his 'funhouse' was and confronting him there.

"Night or Daytime?"

"He may be the 'clown prince of crime' but he still takes naps, during the early mornings - I'd assume," I reminded Ed. "Which you should probably do now too, I'll be getting my rest when I get back to my apartment," Before I could let him disagree with my statement I grabbed my jacket and walked out of the door, into the evening rain and walked back with my jacket over my head.

When I got up the stairs I noticed that my door was slighting open and I could hear rustling. I was evidentially being robbed.
I quietly stepped into the apartment perfectly in time to see the idiot decide to use my bathroom to do his business. I used this opportunity to open my briefcase that was hidden under my sofa and swiftly put on the mask and load the disappointingly small amount of fear toxin I had left in the vial into a syringe.
When the intruder came out again he went back to trying to crack the safe which had no money at all within. Of course the idiot didn't know this. I stepped very quietly behind him. It was terribly difficult as he was in a perfect place to observe the room and I had to skirt around his vision strategically.

"Why is this lock so friggin stubborn!" He growled. His voice was deeper than expected as he was a relatively thin man – thankfully, as I would find it easier to perform my attack.

"Amateur," I commented at his inability to pick the lock. The sudden shock of hearing a second presence in the room caused him to turn quickly in surprise and expose the part of his neck that I wanted.

Almost immediately, he fell and I had the misfortune of having to stop his head hit the floor.
"We don't want you disturbing that old woman who lives below now, do we?" He was still in stone shock and it would be a matter of moments before he started wailing. "Where's my duct tape?" I looked around and found that it was on the kitchen table as if I'd left it there intentionally.

A minute or so after I applied layers of tape on his mouth legs and arms, he began to scream. I checked my watch, dissatisfied with the slowness of my product.
"Where do I put you?"

I was two minutes early for work. Normally I was eight minutes early, however I had to study a particular experiment at home.

"Good Morning Dr Crane," The receptionist nodded to me and I returned the gesture before I got into the elevator. Today was my shorter working day and that was convenient as I had a date with the Riddler and the Joker in the afternoon.

The buzzer went off on the desk phone. "Dr Crane speaking,"

"We've had a new admission in the Criminal Ward Dr Crane, Mr Arkham would like you to over-see this one," The lead psychotherapist informed me.

"I'll be right down,"

It was merely a low-life criminal diagnosed with paranoia. I had partially hoped it was the Joker so I could speak with him while hidden in plain sight as a doctor. However that would also risk my unmasked face. I was careful, still, with that. Only a few had my trust. Those mainly were Poison Ivy and Riddler.

"I prefer your real face with your lovely cheekbones and strong jaw,"

"Moving in are we, Ivy?" She sat in the armchair watching me tighten and test the Scarecrow burlap sack on my head which I'd recently re-sewed.

"You need life in this room Jonathan, it's so dull and boring," She looked around in distaste. Probably imagining a vine covered wall would be more appealing. "I wouldn't wish to live here at all," Yet there she was, picking my place as her refuge while the Batman looked for her. She claimed my flat was perfect as it lacked all the things that batman would trace while looking for her.

"It's free rent as a long as the real owner is still believed to be alive and well," I explained after pulling off the mask. "Besides, I have no reason to complain currently,"

"Yes... what has got you so excited?" She laughed at how I was quickly getting myself into part for Scarecrow.

"I'm going to make Gotham fun soon... Chaotic," I explain to her. "You'll be able to grow as many plants as you want," The second part was only slightly true. I didn't know how plants would react to my 'medicine' and would have to test that at some point to see if Ivy was going to be cheated in my plan or not.

"Fabulous, I'm not stopping you, enjoy yourself," she winked and I made my way out of the door.

 

Eddy was waiting outside in a car he'd stolen six months before. I got in to the passenger seat and listened to him explain where we'd be going.
The drive was thirty minutes long and finding an undetected way in took another twenty minutes.
"How can you see the vent with your tinted glasses?" I ask my friend who was able to spot the ventilation shaft that we crawled into so easily while wearing dark glasses in the evening.

Rather than responding to my question, he offered a latex gloved hand for me to be hoisted up into the shaft. He then continued to use the glove as a means of friction when pulling himself up and I aided him by tugging on his other arm.

We crawled through, following the voices. Of course, the laugh was the easiest thing to hear as it was so loud. There was a large slide placed close to the ventilation shaft. I let Nigma go in front of me and stand at the top of the slide and followed after. Joker had three men with him.
I let my colleague lead the introduction after he was done removing the gloves and readjusting his attire.

"Greetingssss clown prince of crime! I am The Riddler and I come with the Master of Fear to negotiate,"

"Negotiate?!" He began to giggle. Riddler jumped down the slide, stood up and jazzed his hands in a theatrical mannerism. I, instead, went down the ladder, not wanting to destroy any of the vials I'd brought. "What about?"

"Chaos," I said with emphasis. "Gotham needs it," His eyes lit up in agreement. "Help us make it possible,"

"What's the catch?"

"Catch? None at all! You get to do what you love and we get to do what we love,"

"And we turn a blind eye to Two-Face's rendezvous ideas," I added.

Joker threw his head back and laughed, jumping off the mini stage he'd been on before. "Oh Boys! Count me in,"