Joker's Dream

Gotham City.

On a rainy night, atop a tall building, Batman and the Joker stand facing each other, just like long ago.

"Surrender, Joker. You can't win. It's over," Batman said coldly.

"Oh, Batman, my old pal. How many times have we played my little games? You should realize that there are no winners in these games; the real fun is in the playing." The Joker let out a strange laugh.

"Enough!" Batman lunged at the Joker. "Get ready to spend some time in Arkham's hospital bed!"

"Hey, missed!" The Joker easily dodged, and Batman slipped and fell heavily to the ground—headfirst.

"Ha! That looks painful! The shoes' slip resistance needs improvement—" The Joker laughed loudly, jumping and taunting Batman, but his voice gradually faded as he saw Batman motionless, his body sliding down the roof.

The Joker stared in disbelief at everything, then asked his men, "Did we tamper with the roof to make it more slippery?"

"No, boss. I think the roof is slippery because of the rain."

"I don't understand, is this some kind of trick?" the Joker asked, looking completely bewildered.

What kind of trick could it be?

"I don't know. We should go down and check on him, right? Otherwise, we'll just look like a bunch of clowns standing here."

The Joker led his two henchmen downstairs and saw Batman lying on the ground, his head soaked in blood.

"You should poke him, boss," suggested one of the Joker's henchmen.

"Go poke him! That's what I pay you to do," the Joker urged.

"I poked him, boss, now?" The Joker's henchman poked Batman's corpse.

"He's probably unconscious—now you should turn him over, right?" the Joker said after thinking for a moment.

"Oh." The Joker's henchman flipped Batman over; his face was a bloody mess from the freefall, causing another of the Joker's henchmen to vomit.

"So it's not a coma—" the Joker said, clutching his face.

"We—we killed Batman?" the vomiting henchman asked.

I think he tripped over himself.

"But he tripped because of us, right?"

"Hahahaha----" The Joker suddenly burst into manic laughter. His men watched him the Batman Who Laughs in the rain, feeling that the scene was rather embarrassing.

"What do we do now, boss? The public will be furious, won't they?"

"Yes, that's right, I think we should go." The Joker put his hands in his pockets and turned around.

"Did we successfully rob him?"

"Oh—a robbery? No—it's pointless now, right?" the Joker said.

"Are we just going to leave him here?"

"Throw it in the trunk."

"What trunk? We came by train."

"Then let's steal a car!"

In a late-night Restaurant, the Joker placed Batman's body on the seat next to him, while his two henchmen sat opposite him, eating some simple fast food.

"We need to plan our next move."

"Maybe next we should assassinate Superman."

"Ha?"

"What's wrong? If he finds out we killed his best friend, he'll definitely go ballistic, right?"

"Yes. But how are we supposed to kill Superman? I don't know. But we did kill Batman, didn't we?"

"Kill Batman? Or did he just fall off the roof like a fucking idiot?" the Joker said Rage, yelling at his two henchmen.

"Alright, alright—but we still have to do something, right? We're still a criminal organization, and doing pretty well," said one of the Joker's henchmen. "How about we go kill Green Arrow?"

"Sure, I think we can take him down. Whatever," the Joker said casually.

"However, there's really no need for that, boss. Let's do something more interesting!"

"----OK."

The following week, the Joker and his gang robbed a bank, attacked a ship carrying uranium ore, and built a massive bomb, after which he disappeared without a trace.

In the warehouse of Funny Bone Airlines.

The Joker, wearing a vest and eating junk food, looked like a homeless person.

"No plans for today, boss?" the Joker's henchman asked.

"I plan to finish watching 'The Metropolis Wife' today," the Joker said dismissively.

"You finished reading it yesterday."

"Then let's watch it again."

"Batman is dead, everyone else is making a fortune while we're doing nothing? This is what you've been striving for your whole life, boss!" the Joker's henchman said excitedly.

"So what should I do now?" the Joker asked.

"Do whatever you want!" the Joker's henchman looked at him expectantly.

The Joker thought for a moment and said, "I want to rewatch 'The Stepmother of Metropolis,' oh, and 'Superman's Stepmother,' 'Temptation of the Kent Family'— "

"This isn't what I wanted! I should be working for Black Mask right now!" the Joker's henchman cursed, then stormed out the door.

A few days later, Wayne Enterprises.

"As you can see, Wayne Enterprises has a presence in almost every technological and industrial sector. Our influence extends to every life form on Earth. This job is worth the tireless dedication," said Jester Wayne, Chairman of Wayne Enterprises, to the Joker had come to apply for the job. "Welcome to the company, Mr. Caesar."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Di. I can't wait to join this team. I think it will give me the authenticity I've been searching for."

"The meaning of life," the Joker said respectfully to Jester, just like an ordinary office worker.

The next day.

Nine o'clock in the morning.

"Ah----work." The Joker combed his hair like an adult, put on Tie, and walked into Wayne Tower on time to clock in for work.

"Hello!" Just as the Joker sat down at his workstation, a slightly overweight middle-aged female supervisor walked towards him.

"Hello—what can I do for you?" the Joker asked.

"Let me introduce myself to the newcomers. I'm Helen." Helen greeted the Joker.

John Caesar.

"Ha, I just wanted to make sure you're settled in. If you have any questions—"

"Uh—actually, I do have a problem," the Joker asked. "What do we do?"

"We are responsible for approving AERs, which are regional approved funding reports," Helen said.

"So we decide where the money goes!" The Joker's eyes darted around, and he came up with some ideas.

"Oh my god, no. It's the people in the big Office on the 65th floor who decide where the money goes, but they never touch it." Helen shook her head.

Shaking his head.

"That's our job—to transfer money for them!"

"Good heavens, no, this job is too stressful. The expenses department on the 53rd floor solved this problem, and now all we need to do is do the accounting."

So we're just making sure the money is spent where it's needed?

"No, darling, we handed it over to the Accountant department on the 48th floor, and then the funding was approved."

"You mean we only approve all the reports prepared by the Accountant department?"

"Well, actually, it's approved by the 33rd floor; they approve the Accountant department's reports and generate AERs."

"So what exactly do we do, Helen?"

"I told you. Our job is to approve approved reports," Helen said matter-of-factly.

"So what's our department called?"

"Hmm... uh-huh..." Helen paused for a moment, "I think we don't have a name yet, but we're very important. The final safety agreement. Think of the whole company as a car." "I get it. We're the company Accountant's seatbelts." The Joker slapped his forehead.

"No, no, no, we're more like a device to ensure the seatbelts don't break, a seatbelt protector," Helen corrected. "Time flies, we'd better hurry, or we'll be late for our daily AER analysis meeting."

"Are we still having that meeting?"

"Of course, our work is important," Helen said frankly. "Otherwise, why would Mr. Wayne pay us such a generous salary?"

A few weeks later.

"This job is much better than my last one," the Joker said, pouring himself Coffee. "I used to work in a calendar factory. They fired me because I took a day off and because I kidnapped the boss's wife."

"Good morning, John!" Helen greeted the Joker.

"Good morning, Helen." The Joker nodded.

"Is the report complete?"

"Of course." The Joker frowned. If he remembered correctly, Helen seemed to have asked the same question yesterday? Then he just microwaved Helen's head until it exploded.

However, to be fair, he was indeed a mental patient. He might not be mistaken, but it was unlikely that he was. The Joker thought to himself as he sipped his Coffee.

Good morning, Mr. Caesar!

Good morning, Mr. Caesar!

Several interns came over and greeted the Joker very politely.

Another day passed, Joker finally lost his temper. He stood on the table, holding a megaphone, and shouted at the people at their workstations, "Listen up, you bunch of lowly ants! Gears in this machine that's trying to destroy you! Useless sycophants trying to control your capitalist the Union! Utterly useless!" "John, can you come to my Office?" Jester walked over with a cup of Coffee.

"I'm busy right now, Mr. Jester."

"Of course, after you're done with your work."

"Your deaths will not be mourned by your own families!" the Joker declared, raising his hands in a passionate outburst.

"Is it all done?" Jester asked.

I think so.

Two identical people walked into the Office, and Jester's expression suddenly turned serious.

"John, close the door and sit down. I'm afraid we're going to have a rather unpleasant conversation," Jester said. "You're a rising star. Bruce Wayne thinks highly of you. You shouldn't always be making a fool of yourself, buddy."

"You think I'm a good fit?" The Joker was taken aback.

"I'd like to make you the Assistant Deputy Director of Regional Management," Jester said, patting Joker on the shoulder encouragingly. "I'm pretty sure you have the talent for it."

"Are you... are you sure?" The Joker was completely bewildered.

"Absolutely certain."

One week later.

"As you can see, our numbers this month are ridiculously low. I'm not sure if someone forgot to use decimal or mistook multiplication for division, but it's absolutely terrible!" The Joker pointed at the report and said to everyone, "The last time I saw something this ugly was when Batman stumbled upon the Joker's murder scene, hahaha----"

A hush fell over the room. The Joker raised an eyebrow and said with displeasure, "You dare not laugh when the boss is joking?"

"Ha ha ha ha----"

"Ha ha ha ha----"

"Haha—that's a good joke, boss."

The Office was instantly filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

A few more days passed.

At the celebration banquet marking the project's successful launch, everyone raised their glasses to the Joker.

"Ha!" The Joker downed a beer. "Remember, just because I'm your boss doesn't mean I can pay your bills! But I can approve payments only after someone else has approved them!"

He was completely drunk when he Youyou out of the tavern and headed towards his apartment. As he passed through an alley, he suddenly stopped.

Dim light seeped down from above, outlining the stained walls on either side. This place was familiar to the Joker.

"Crime Alley ----"

The Joker sensed something was amiss and started running forward, "No one can outrun John Caesar —huff—"

But because he had been sitting in the Office for a long time without exercising, he slowed down. A Baseball Bat knocked him to the ground, and then four or five Mob members began to beat him up.

"Hmph! You've just made a very important decision in your lives—very important! Ha!" The Joker, instead of the Batman Who Laughs, suddenly pierced one of the men's eyes with two fingers when they weren't looking. "Gotham is my city! You're just damned tourists! I make the rivers flow! I command the sun to set! Don't you know who you've messed with? But I'll make you understand!"

"... Boss? Is that you?" A former henchman who had left the Joker stepped out of the shadows.

"Hello, Gaggy. I can tell you've started your own operation, committing even cheaper crimes."

"We don't know what happened to you, boss. We've searched everywhere, I'm telling you the truth. So—boss, where have you been?"

"Oh." The Joker dusted himself off. "I've been at work all along, Gaggy."

"Oh, really? You're preparing a big heist for us?"

"No." The Joker shook his head and prepared to leave.

"Then what do we do?"

"Find something meaningful, Gaggy. You can't just sit there forever waiting for someone in a Bat costume to attack you. What kind of life is that?" The Joker shrugged and went back to his normal life.

He successfully integrated into the workplace and became a rising star in Wayne Enterprises. His subordinates admired him, his colleagues trusted him, and his superiors valued him.

He married a woman, not Punchline, not Harley Quinn, just an ordinary woman, and had a child with her.

Until the dream collapses, the Joker awakens in his bed at Arkham Asylum.

So it was just a Nightmare?

"It's alright, you're safe, you're with your friends," Solomon Grandi reassured the Joker.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" the Joker asked the people surrounding him.

"Sigh—" Mark Zeus's lips twitched, "You'd better get rid of this habit of talking in your sleep."

"You said you can't leave Batman," Bane said.

"You also said, 'I can't possibly catch the real Batman. If I can't catch him, then everything is fine,'" Scarecrow added.

"Everyone shut up, I'm going back to sleep." The Joker pulled the blanket over his head.