* J *

Part Twenty-Three: Chapter 164: One Step Closer

Joker's POV

I could smell that old familiar smell all down the hallway outside of the lab. It was an unmistakable smell, to me anyway. It was the kind of smell that you couldn't compare to anything else. The only way you could describe it was industrially toxic. I had sent two of my clowns to Ace Chemicals to bring back some of the acid. One of them seemed to have some sort of breathing problem from the place. He's been sucking on straight oxygen for four days and was still coughing up blood.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what injecting it into Jason was going to do. I haven't ever tried to shoot anyone up with the stuff. Using my own brother, my sole heir, might have been a bit risky. Truthfully, it could very well kill the kid. If that happened my only option would be to groom Harley to be the boss. I didn't want to have to drop such a huge responsibility on her. I'm not saying she can't do the job, I just didn't want her to be forever married to the mob, so to speak.

I have to hand it to Jason, the kids got balls. He's about to willingly take some unstudied chemicals straight to his vein, knowing it could possibly kill him. For all I know, that acid was the cause of my brain tumor. Honestly, if it were me, I would have just jumped in the vat at Ace Chemicals. However, this was what the kid chose, and becoming me wasn't as simple as an all night dentist visit. Anyway you want to slice or dice it, getting my permanent pasty complexion was going to involve pain.

When we walked into the lab Ivy was in a full on hazmat suit with mask. "Ivy, don't you think you're a bit...overdressed?" I found myself asking. She was going to scare the kid away looking like that.

"Well excuse me if I don't trust your crazy man-made toxic sludge," she rolls her eyes at me behind the mask. I knew that there was no way she was going to take it off.

"Here Jason," Harley smiles and pats the gurney for him to lie down on.

Jason looks a bit nervous, reluctant even, but that's to be expected. Its not everyday that someone voulenteers for something so crazy. He walks to the gurney and sits down on it. "Soooo, what can I expect here?" He asks me. "You know, long-term wise, besides a low sperm count and permanent change in appearance?"

I run my hand over my face. I guess I was a bit nervous myself. "I don't know. Harley and I were submerged in the stuff. I've technically never tested the acid in this method before."

"No, but I did," Ivy turns around holding a small mouse cage. I look in and see a little mouse with green hair.

"Hahaha!" I couldn't help but laugh. I was going to have to keep this little guy as a pet. I'll put him next to my fish tank of laughing clown fish. "Isn't it precious?"

"Well tha mouse lived. That's promisin' right?" Harley tries to ease some of Jason's last minute fears.

"I guess," he sighs.

Ivy approaches with a big fat syringe full of the green acid. Jason's eyes are glued to it. I couldn't really blame him. It didn't look like something that you would want to shoot into your body. "Lay back," I tell him. He does and I start putting restraints around his ankles.

"Hey, what's with the restraints?" He asks, lifting his head up to watch me.

"Just a precaution, you know, in case you thrash around or go crazy," I shrug and move on to his wrists. My answer seemed to pacify him a bit.

"Are you ready Jason?" Ivy leans over him.

"Guess as ready as I'll ever be," he nods and looks up at the ceiling, sort of bracing himself for the unknown.

"Don'tcha worry, we're gonna be right here tha whole time," Harley smiles and gently takes his hand in hers. It seemed to relax him some.

Ivy ties a tournaquet around his arm and steadied the needle over his bulging vein. "Ok Jason, try to remain still, even if it hurts, it must be injected slowly because it's so thick, it makes it harder to get through the hypodermic," Ivy says and I watch as she pierced his skin with the needle. She unties the tournaquet and let's it fall to the floor. "Starting the injection now."