Justice. Just Us

Chapter 1

Gotham City had always demanded a sort of balance to be able to keep itself stable. A balance between chaos and justice that ran as deep into the very concrete roots of this city. Without it, well, everything would fall apart at the seams. Upsetting the natural order of the world wouldn't be beneficial to anyone involved. That simple balance that took on the form of two opposing forces that never had any intention of breaking until the other one broke first. In short, it left a game to be desired and pursued to its rightful conclusion. Only one could survive in the end. A Bat King who ruled the darkness this city had to offer versus a Clown Prince who could bring as much merriment and a laughing death punchline to all its audience in spades.

A game of cat and mouse that would leave a trail of bodies in its wake until the next show would start the whole cycle all over again. Never ending until the stitch that forever bonded the Bat and the Clown was cut with a single slice of a knife.

Codependency was allowed to fester in the cracks of their fights against each other. A slow poison that crept under the surface undetected until it was far too late for the infected to notice in time to do anything about it. A sick joke that was absolutely hilarious as it was damning to the very core of one's essence. Giving meaning in a world that had none to offer up on a silver platter. All the cards stacked in one's favor if they paid enough attention to use the winning hand. Where a Bat would live in self-ingrained denial of the connection, but the Clown would embrace the embers that would grow into a raging inferno threatening to swallow him whole. One day, all the pieces would fall in their proper places and the biggest punchline would make Gotham City laugh itself into enteral silence.

Laughter echoed through the room for all to hear. If only all, but one person was still alive to notice it. It really didn't matter if no one joined in the laughter, their smiles were enough proof to the clown that they enjoyed the joke. The rain pattered against the window as thunder cracked the skies above. Bad weather was as essential as the balance was for Gotham City.

Boredom was another slow killer that wasn't pleasant to stand in the least. It sucked all the fun out of a game meant for two. A certain change of pace was needed to be added to spice the relationship up. Couldn't allow everything to become stale after all. Boredom wasn't always awful. It left Joker in a state of mind to have inspiration for new wonderful games to play. An invitation to set up a new dance for his playmate. Which unfortunately these days seeing the Bat was growing slimmer and slimmer.

He couldn't have that. Gotham would never allow it, but it was happening all the same. Batman's attention was being divided in so many directions that Joker had to set up more and more elaborate schemes to even be graced with the others presence. It really shouldn't be getting this tedious just to get his Bats love taps. The lack of attention infuriated him. Regardless, he couldn't hold his Bat fully responsible, no matter how much he wanted to.

See, the status-quo that kept everything in place had been shattered. Distorting the reality that Joker held so firmly in place. A disease that was festering in this playground of theirs and that needed to be eradicated. As soon as possible, preferably; if he had a say in the matter. Which of course; he did. There was only one problem. Not an unfixable issue, but was taxing at best. Where Joker understood what course of action needed to be implemented with dealing with a nuisance of pests. His playmate, however, wouldn't do what was necessary to stop it. The Bat's pesky moral code he held onto for his own self-denials of how alike they truly were stood in the way of turning everything back to normal. It was almost infuriating to maddening degrees, if the Joker didn't easily forgive his only friend for his flaws.