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Part Twenty: Chapter 144: Brothers

The Joker sat in his SUV behind the wheel. He glanced up in the rearview mirror, checking to make sure that no white skin was peeking out. He licks his lips, careful not to lighten his pink lipstick. The sound of a dinging bell filled the air and the Joker's attention is taken away from his reflection. Soon the sound of youthful children replaces the bell. The Joker watches as the children start filing out of the school. All ages. All sizes. All colors. Laughing and shouting, seeing the world through a child's eyes.

All save one child. The Joker would have spotted him a mile away, even if he wasn't looking for him. Jason...his baby brother. It almost amused the Joker to see how different the child was from his peers. Jason, like himself, hadn't had the luxury of being a child. They had both grown up in a world where it was just wise to mature fast. It was essentially survival of the fittest. And one thing Jason had in common with his two older brothers, was the fact that he was a survivor.

The child has lived and experienced things that children normally don't. Like having to commit crime in order to maybe eat a few times a week. A part of the Joker was grateful to Bruce for taking their brother from such and giving him more. But the Joker didn't think that Jason should have been out fighting criminals such as himself. The Joker knew just how much Jason straddled the fence that lie between himself and Bruce. Bruce, the caped crusader and Joker, evil incarnate.

The Joker saw far more of himself in Jason than he did of Bruce. And the Joker had tried to warn Bruce of the fire he was playing with. The child has the Joker's unpredictability and not Bruce's dependability. His views of right and wrong were skewed in comparison to Bruce. Jason knows they exist, but like the Joker, he had that side of him that placed his own well being over them. He had to as a child, or he wouldn't have survived long enough to be who he is now.

But out at night fighting crime with Bruce was teaching him a skill set that could be used for good or evil. It was teaching him the strength to never back down or surrender. It was teaching him how to go toe to toe with the worst. But what the Joker couldn't make Bruce see, was that Jason wasn't born of good like he had been. Jason was born into the same evil world that the Joker had been. A world one can never truly escape. A world Bruce could never fully understand.

The Joker knows that one day Jason would see that Bruce's way doesn't work. Bruce thinks that he's rehabilitated Jason, the same as he's always trying to do with the Joker. But that's not what he's done at all. What he was doing was teaching Jason how to be a better criminal. He was actually teaching him how to get away with crime. Bruce's good intentions are lost on people who truly know how the world works. There is no black and white like Bruce thinks, but only gray.

The Joker watches as Jason walks, backpack slung over one arm, hands shoved into his pockets. He stares at the ground as he walks, trapped inside of his own head. He doesn't look at the world with a child's curiosity and amusement. Jason already knows that the world isn't worth looking at. No new surprises of joy and wonderment will be found on his walk home and he knows it. He knows a truth that Bruce doesn't. And all the good intentions in the world couldn't change the simple truth.

Hidden somewhere in the last pulses of humanity in the Joker lie a sympathy for Jason. He would suffer great confusion on his way to becoming a man. He would be forever in Bruce's shadow. The father figure that he would envy. The man that he would try to mold himself in the image of. But one day an injustice would befall on Jason, and the Joker in him would would forget everything that Bruce has taught him. And inner conflict within his own mind would create a compulsion to just do what makes him feel better. Right and wrong will cease to exist, and selfishness will reign supreme. The Joker understands selfishness.

The Joker cranks the engine and put it into drive. He slowly pulls up along Jason as he walks. He rolls down the passenger window and calls out, "Hey kid." Jason looks over, not recognizing him. "Get in."