"What is this place?"
In the map, it appears as an abandoned hotel... But as soon as he batman went inside. What met his eyes was a different world.
It's like straight out of an apocalyptic film.
Outside the door was gotham, and inside through the window looked like something a nuclear missile would do, leaving nothing but a large deep crater and oddly stood in the middle of it was this abandoned hotel.
Must be an illusion..
Batman already knows to expect he might not just be facing the joker at this time.
A team could be? Big chance harley quinn was with him, but the thought of a third party is also possible.
Question is... Who is it and why?
Before he went inside, superman keeps trying tp contact him, but now... The signal suddenly just disconnects that even he can't make a call outside.
Something was disrupting the signals...
Step step step, silent metallic steps muffled by the cartons laying around, it was dark which always works to his advantage, but aftwr a recent clash with two behemoth... He wasn't in great shape.
He can feel he atleast have a few broken bones... But he can manage. Even if there's a 3rd party, joker will always be the least dangerous.
All he had was a joke, he's a madman and a psychopath, he can atleast say that much while he might not be the most dangerous villain, he's the most deranged and given enough time and power, he's easily one of the most feared.
He was the joke that everyone fears and batman was the knight of the dark that defeats the evil of darkness.
*clank
Something fell, an empty can with a joker sticker, smiling eerily and half burned.
The walls are filled with green and violet graffiti that says -My Paradise- and other random words, the most noticable sentence was -Joke-King- followed with -I'm just joking-
It was... Pretty random.
Suddenly, a static popped through one of the room, then faded followed by a red flicker.
A busted speaker overhead crackled to life with a distorted hiss, like a dying radio channel suddenly loosing it's signal.
From it, a very familliar voice spoke.
"Ohhh Batsy… You really don't look good." The Joker's voice echoed, playful but distorted by feedback.
"I mean, I always pictured you showing up tall, brooding, with that stiff little scowl you love to wear… but tonight? You look like you fell down a staircase, twice, then fought a freight train on the way here."
Ofcourse joker knows about the recent fight, after all it was broadcasted live.
Batman moved silently past torn curtains, and puddles of blood that might not have been real.
"You're wondering where you are, aren't you? It's alright. Most people would call this a haunted house. I call it a renovation. All that clean white plaster and tasteful carpet just screamed 'boring rich people problems.' Sooo I redecorated. For her."
What is he talking about?
Batman turned a corner and froze. A hallway lined with flickering lights stretched before him. At the end was an elevator — doors open and empty, yet smeared in fresh paint. A smear of red with a handprint dragged downward. Above it, another graffiti that reads.
-WE'RE ALL MAD DOWN HERE <3
Harley Quinn's shrill voice chimed in, her tone much less amused.
"—and I told ya, Puddin', that little gremlin of yours kicked me in the ribs! That stupid brat in the red mask! I got a bruise the size of Nebraska!"
"Oh sweetheart, don't be so dramatic. It's not like we killed him." Joker giggled, then coughed with exaggerated sincerity. "Wait. Did we?"
There was a faint groan through the speaker, followed by Harley's voice again, closer this time, like she was in another room.
"Ugh. She's still out cold. Shoulda brought somethin' to draw on her face. Maybe a big red smile?"
Batman knew who harley quinn was speaking to, his fist tightly clenched.
Well in anyway after a long tag game with the joker, he knows even if they plan to kill her, he won't just do it suddenly without him to witness it.
One could say, then don't come there to save her. But if batman didn't came, next thing that would come to his door is probably a package of nightmare and inside was the girl they have hostage.
"Don't worry, Bats," Joker resumed. "She's in good hands! We gave her the suite with a view. Hope she likes haunted house"
The lights flickered again. The hallway warped for a second, walls pulsing, almost breathing.
He still didn't know how joker manages to pull something like this, was there panels on the window to make thses illusions?
Joker's voice continued, lower now, intimate and amused.
"By the way, i might have put tons of explosive somewhere in the city, or i could be lying?"
What exactly was joker playing at?
"What do you want?" Batman finally spoke.
"Ohh, i thought you've gone deaf after the big show... "
With a swing of his fist, the metal door flew away. It was a strenght not belonging to a human.
Thanks to his upgraded suit, batman can punch harder than a gorilla.
The metal fist hissed after a charge, a courtesy from Jack 5.
Taking concepts feom.games proved to be quite good, if there was anything he learned after fighting against the likes of bane and darkseid, he learnt that sticking with only hard armor isn't going to do much, so he revised his armor concepts.
It was a small change that provides protection and a strong offense.
Looking through the cams, joker was quite surprised "I wish i had your gadgets batsy"
That reminds him, how did joker found the bat cave?
While occupied with his thought, the floor he was standing on suddenly exploded.
Dust covered everything, and as the smoke clears out, batman was nowhere to be seen.
"Batsy, Batsy, Batsy..."
Joker's voice slithered through the speakers.
"You're being awfully quiet. Did I finally break that big, broody brain of yours?"
Batman said nothing.
"Ohhh, don't tell me you're sulking!" Joker's laughter crackled, sharp as broken glass. "I went through so much trouble setting this up! The balloons, the confetti, the—" A wet cough. "—the explosives... and you're not even laughing?"
Harley's voice cut in, muffled but unmistakable. "Maybe he's got one a' them silent laughs, Mistah J! Y'know, like when ya watch somethin' real funny an' ya just…" She made a wheezing noise.
"Oh, Harley," Joker sighed, disappointed. "If he's not laughing now, he definitely won't after this!"
*click
The lights died.
For a heartbeat, there was nothing but the hum of the building's dying electricity—then, with a screech of rusted metal, something moved in the dark.
Batman's lenses adjusted instantly.
The hallway was empty.
But the air smelled like gasoline and cheap perfume.
"Warm or cold, Bats?" Joker's voice whispered—too close, right beside his ear.
Batman spun with a quick turn.
No one was there.
"Ohhh, you're good," Joker crooned. "But let's play a real game. You like games, don'tcha?"
A door at the end of the hall creaked open.
Inside, a single chair. A rope. A puddle of something dark.
And on the wall, in dripping red:
"WHY SO SERIOUS?"
Batman stepped forward—
*CRACK.
The floor gave way beneath him.
He caught the edge, gauntlets digging into rotting wood as the ground yawned open below him. What revealed under was a hidden basement.
It was a funhouse mirror stared back at him from the darkness, shattered and warped—reflecting not his face, but the Joker's grinning up at him.
"Boo," the reflection mouthed.
Then the rope around the chair yanked taut.
And Barbara Gordon's unconscious body was dragged into the dark.
What are these? He didn't inhaled anything weird right? Why was he hallucinating? Just incase, batman put on a mask from his nose and mouth. And nut now his rescue traget seemed to be moving somewhere.
Suddenly the fun house dissapeared which is actually just a dark long corridor.
At the sametime as batman was having his trouble, barbara has already silently loosened the binds that restrained her.
All those Utube survival tips are somehow useful despite knowing that most what they taught won't work in actual dangerous scenario.