The Result

The fight was brief and to the point because Joker was unstable mentally. Unlike most, he would have most likely chosen a path of mutual destruction. Sure, he was basically immortal but the commotion would have alerted the resident superhero of Gotham, Batman. So, I chose to use the element of surprise and lethality, something Joker was not used to. And my gamble worked much to my happiness. The Joker was dead and he had left me many gifts.

"Hello my pretties," I crooned as I looked at the tubes filled with a green liquid. I was in the back of my car looking at the test tubes like a man possessed. This was liquidized laughing gas, Joker's own specialized weapon. With this, he had become a much more dangerous threat to public safety than his madness alone.

Creating my own self improved gas mask and gloves, I put them on before creating a microscope and slides. Carefully, I dripped a drop of the green liquid then started to study this dangerous chemical weapon.

This were the moments I was glad to have Child Emperor's intelligence. Before, I could only consider myself a Neanderthal, limited to my thinking. I was stupid, average according to the scale, but stupid compared to now. With this intelligence, I knew much more things I could never had known and with the quirk Creation, it meant I was quite literally a one man army.

"Fascinating," I exclaimed as I continued studying the liquid. I was slowly deconstructing its molecular formula, little by little. My editic memory was saving everything in my portable hard drive, never to be forgotten. My intelligence helped in deconstructing it much faster and in ten minutes, I had the entire formula and it's antidote. I had ways to make the gas more potent or even less lethal.

With this, I created microbots that immediately went into a controlled frenzied destruction. They focused only on the laughing liquid chemical molecules, fully purging and making my car clean. Whilst they were doing this, I got to the front of my car and sat down. A chime was sent to my phone signalling that the chemical was purged at it was green light to get the duck out of here.

I drove off, not once looking back and thanking my luck for Gotham had very little lighting. I made it past the Gotham River and into the mainland where I drove to New York, to my awaiting Warehouse. I had much to make and even more to experiment with.

....

It was dawn and the citizens of Gotham were met with a rather terrifying news. Harley Quinn was back from her usual mayhem causing and found Joker's diced pieces. Apparently, her shrill scream was enough to be heard a couple blocks away which alerted her friend, Poison Ivy. When she had come to check on her, she was shocked stiff to see Joker, prince of crime, dead. Harley was trying to put the pieces back, her hands bloody, tears and snot covering her face. But, there was just no way they could put him together, no glue in this world was enough for this!

Minutes later, the police arrived and just like Ivy, they were stunned at seeing Joker's body in pieces. Joker had terrorized the city to a point most don't even think of him dying. The cops, corrupt or not, were even more so as they saw first hand of what he was capable. The two cops immediately radioed it in and with that, soon every big player in Gotham came to know. And one of them was Batman.

As the person who has fought the most with Joker, his death had come as a huge shock to him. Alfred had woken him from his micro-sleeping and still groggy from the previous night's patrol and tiredness, his butler broke the news to him. That sobered him up, immediately putting on his Bat-suit and went to the scene of the crime.

However, he had to put off investigating the scene because of the cops and most importantly, FBI, roaming the crime scene. He was sure it would be terminated by tonight but there were other ways to find the culprit. Looking at the apprehended Harley Quinn, he could put her off the list. She looked too distraught to be the killer. Just then, his League communicator went off. Slightly annoyed, he picked it.

"Batman," he growled.

"We heard of Joker's death," Superman said. "Do you need back up?"

Joker's death was sure to cause a storm both in the criminal underground and civilians. He was sure a war was about to hit Gotham, a war he was not ready for.

"I might need Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and Captain Atom," Batman said while in deep thought. Wonder Woman's expertise in combat was much appreciated in taking down combatants quickly. Captain Atom was in case of any thing unpleasant. His Matter Manipulation would be of much importance then. Martian Manhunter would be needed to deescalate things down a few notches thanks to his swiss knife kind of powers. But mostly, his telepathic powers. Mostly, he was adamant at not having other heroes in his backyard but this was dire. The shocking death of Joker was sure to send waves and he would rather be safe than sorry. The underworld will be fighting for the vacuum left and he the streets of Gotham would be unsafe. Right now, he hated Joker's killer for the repurcasions of his deeds.

"But for now, I will deal with the matter till the situation de-escalates," Batman added. Sure, Superman's help might be welcome, but the Man of Steel was not ready to face the underbelly of Gotham's criminal underground. He was not ready to be the kind of ruthless him and Wonder Woman are.

"We will be on stand by. Call us if anything happens," Wonder Woman was the one to speak next. Batman nodded at this before cutting off and calling Alfred.

"Alfred, I'm coming home. Post pone all meetings and pull every traffic camera to and from Gotham," he said.

"Master Bruce, Master Grayson is here," Alfred said as calmly as always.

"Good, we need all the help for this. Put him on the traffic job. I'll be there soon," Batman said and cut off. Looking down at the crime scene below, his eyes steeled before jumping away.

A few minutes later, he arrived at the Bat cat, all doom and gloom. He was awaiting the bad news, something he always heard everytime in Gotham that he was used to it. Sure enough, as soon as he removed his cowl, his apprentice was already on him.

"I tried to get into the system but something weird happened. At nine thirty seven all of the cameras suddenly went on loop, including those at the bridges...all the bridges. They come back to normal a minute later. But, at ten twenty two, they go on a fritz and a minute later, they were back to normal," Dick said while busy behind the Bat computer.

"The port has a few cameras too. Check if they got anything, some of them can pan out to all three bridges. We need to know which model car passed twice during these two timelines," Batman told his apprentice.

"Tried it, they go on a fritz too. Tried to atleast get something but it's all clear," Dick sighed in defeat. Batman scowled too, immediately knowing that the party involved was not a newbie. They were extremely thorough and this was a bust. He was sure no digital recording would have caught anything and he was smart enough to make sure nobody would triangulate his exact route.

One bridge headed to New York, another to Bludhaven and the other to the highways. By now, he might be at any of these locations, making it impossible to find out who he is. With the crime scene already tampered with and any evidence collected, he was out of options.

"Dick, we are going to increase training. Dark days are ahead of us," Batman told his apprentice grimly.