"Joker."
Jude looked at the thin figure before him and spoke the name reflexively.
One of DC's top villains. But no one was ever sure what his real name was. No one knew his past. No one could understand the meaning of his actions.
He had no superpowers. Couldn't be matched with fingerprints, DNA records, or dental records. The Joker would always remain a "mystery" in the DC world.
According to Jude's understanding, the Joker might just be an identity rather than a specific person. He represented abstract concepts rather than a biological individual.
Chaos. Madness. Evil. Depravity. Senseless crime. The part of human nature always inclined toward darkness.
Therefore, he never had fixed goals. No sense of good or evil. Did whatever bad things he wanted, like a dangerous madman.
In reality, he was just a dangerous lunatic. Smart enough to rival Batman. Evil enough to corrupt Superman. Too dangerous to be tolerated outside Gotham.
And now such a character was his opponent.
Jude's mind raced. If the target to be dealt with was the Joker, he couldn't kill him first. According to his limited knowledge of comics and games, whoever killed the Joker would become the next Joker.
Or something worse.
The probability might be small in this universe, but Jude wouldn't gamble on it.
So how do you deal with a clown?
"Oh, Santa Claus actually knows my name! Hahahahahaha!"
The Joker burst out laughing, as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world. "So I am a good kid after all! Hahahaha! So where's my gift?"
He leaned forward with exaggerated curiosity. "Is that red bag filled with candy? Snacks? Or maybe a big black bat?"
"Christmas gifts," Jude replied steadily. "I find it very convenient to dress as Santa Claus and sneak into people's homes to steal presents. If I'm caught, I can pretend I'm Santa delivering gifts."
The Joker smacked his lips. His smile suddenly turned disgusted. "Damn, that lame joke is almost funny. I hate when other people are funnier than me."
CLICK
The sound of a hammer cocking.
The trigger of a revolver large enough to be called a hand cannon pulled back.
The atmosphere fell into eerie silence.
Jude stared at the black muzzle of the gun, every hair on his body standing on end. After meeting the Joker, he'd only had time to say a few words before being shot at without warning.
PROTECTIVE CROSS (8/9)
He looked at the status notification and realized this misfire wasn't a mistake. It was a shot that would have been fatal. This was the first time since arriving in Gotham he'd faced such straightforward, decisive killing intent.
No hesitation. No moral principles. First sentence confirmed Jude knew the Joker's identity. Second sentence confirmed ulterior purposes. Next second he opened fire, eliminating all variables that might affect his plan.
This was the fate of most people facing the Joker. Lives taken by careless bullets. No fanfare. No earth-shattering events. Death simple and sudden. For the Joker, it was nothing more than pulling a trigger.
And he didn't mind pulling it repeatedly.
Several more seconds passed.
"Seriously?" The Joker was first to break the awkward atmosphere. He peered into the dark muzzle with one eye, hand still on the trigger. "You're going to misfire now? I've invested so much time and money in a little tool like you, and this is how you repay me?"
BANG!
A stream of fire brushed past the Joker's scalp and pierced the ceiling above his head. Wood chips and paint fell down, nearly dripping onto him.
"Ha! Thank God." The Joker didn't care he'd almost shot himself in the head. He kissed his pistol with a smile, then pointed it at Jude again. "Ahem, sorry. That was an accident. Let's try again."
Santa Claus spat fiercely. "Who the hell is trying again with you? Bad boys get punished. Solomon!"
"SOLOMON GRUNDY, BORN ON MONDAY!"
A huge blue-grey figure leaped through the window into the house. Its massive body doubled the size of the windowsill, slamming into the Joker like a dump truck.
Jude dove aside the moment he shouted the first word.
He saw clearly that the Joker ignored the loud crash behind him and Grundy's roar, instead pulling the trigger twice more.
PROTECTIVE CROSS (7/9)
PROTECTIVE CROSS (6/9)
No doubt about it. The Joker was an extremely accurate shooter.
Solomon knocked the Joker away, crushing him against the wall. Smoke and dust filled the air. Rocks and debris flew everywhere. Grundy crashed straight through the wall. Under the dense bricks and rubble, only half of the Joker's pale hand holding the gun remained visible.
"SOLOMON GRUNDY, BORN ON MONDAY!"
Grundy roared again at the ruins, venting his anger. His best friend had been attacked. This made him instinctively furious.
Jude stared in amazement at the collapsed brick wall and the Joker buried underneath, his heart surging with conflicting emotions.
Is this the end?
The Joker. DC's top villain. Batman's nemesis. The always-prepared mastermind. The embodiment of chaos, evil, and madness. Defeated just like that?
No. Definitely not possible. The Joker might make his final exit someday, but he'd never do so hastily.
But seeing him lying motionless, Jude genuinely worried he might be injured to death. And then Grundy would suffer the consequences.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
A hand lifted broken bricks. A Joker in a purple suit crawled out from under the brick wall, covered in dust.
Seeing this, Jude breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's not fun at all." The Joker brushed dust from his clothes, grinned, and spat several mouthfuls of blood. Laughed coldly. "The Joker and Santa Claus playing together on Christmas should have been a very interesting game. But you directly called a brute to mess it up."
"So boring. So boring. Hehe. So boring."
His hand moved to his jacket pocket.
"Fortunately I can always make things more interesting."
"Hehe. Hehe. Hehe."
"Hehe. Hehe. Hehe. Hehe."
Jude listened to the two separate creepy laughs, his expression growing more solemn by the second.
Faint moonlight shone through the broken windowsill. The huge figure standing still raised his head in the moonlight. A strange smile hung on his zombie-like blue-grey face.
"Hehe. Hehe. Hehe. Hehe."