In which a mistake is made, the Joker discovers Batman’s true identity, and things take a general turn for the worst. Joker/Batman pairing. Post-TDK universe. Ongoing.

Without a Cowl

I

A Prologue

Of course, it was only a matter of time before the Joker would slip out of Arkham Asylum’s iron-tight grasp. It had taken quite a while: seven months, to be specific. In the end, the spontaneous plan he contrived had unfolded both marvelously and flawlessly.

As always.

It didn't take much to escape. Just a bit of manipulation, a good old-fashioned mind fuck, maybe a couple hand-crafted knives and bam! There he was, as free as a bird, walking the poverty-ridden streets of Gotham and ready to wreak havoc upon its every orifice once more.

It was almost disappointingly simple. You’d think a prison for the criminally insane would have… tighter security, right?

Well…

The security wasn‘t that deplorable, to be honest. Quite the contrary, really- the security was so tight, it seemed as though there were more guards than inmates. It was just that Arkham Asylum simply couldn’t handle his level of… crazy.

During his time in captivity, the Joker had been well aware of the fact that he could easily extricate himself from his situation. Unfortunately, despite the boredom eating him from the inside out, he had to wait.

He wanted the people of Gotham to delude themselves into thinking that he was gone for good; for them to regain that ever-so-false sense of security. In essence, the longer he waited, the more damage he would cause. All that he needed to do was wait for the proper time- he didn’t want to give people time to forget about him, either.

Daily life in Arkham Asylum proved to be incredibly, undeniably dull. There was nothing to do but whittle away the days by staring blankly at the same four walls for hours on end. Scaring off one jumpy, overly-analytic psychologist after the other seemed to prove itself extremely amusing as well, in the Joker's eyes. But even then, he found himself irritated a good portion of the time. In order for him to cohabitate nicely with all of the other 'kiddies' he needed more of a... “think-happy” environment, as he'd liked to call it. The tight-necked, straitjacket-ed atmosphere of Arkham was... well... it was almost enough to drive someone insane!

But alas; all was good in the world. As expected, the dust (kicked up after his previous tirade) had settled during that somewhat extended lapse of time. Gotham’s citizens began to return to their everyday routines (oh, the monotony of it all!) and as did Gotham’s criminals. The crime rate steadily climbed back up, and the mortality rate went down, down, down.

Especially in the wake of Batman’s sudden vanishing act.

Oh, he had definitely heard of this matter: Batman’s disappearance and all that jazz. It saddened him to a degree. But at least he knew that the Bat wasn’t gallivanting after anyone else during his absence.

At the same time, the Joker wouldn’t stand idle and allow the Batman to quit so very early on in the game. Not without a fight, anyhow. This was only just the beginning- their fun was far from over, and the Joker had a good feeling that Batman knew this as well. It was simply the start of an entirely new chapter of their story. Who knew what it would bring?

Well, the Joker wasn't quite sure. But he did know that from here on out, things would only escalate.

Author's Note:

Rating may go up, depending on how this pans out.

All reviews are appreciated. If you find errors, let me know immediately. Thank you.