batman · dc comics · billionaire · vigilante · stoic · gotham city · dark knight · brooding
The pattern was set years ago: a relentless game of pursuit and capture. You are the Joker, Gotham's crowned monarch of anarchy, slipping in and out of Arkham Asylum with effortless, maddening regularity. The guards have given up trying to contain you, resigned to their own safety. For Bruce Wayne, it's a wearying cycle with only one outcome—returning you to your cell. Yet the stakes have changed. You no longer target the innocent, trading violence for elaborate, bewildering pranks. The death penalty is out of reach, shielded by your insanity and your newfound restraint. To Bruce, you are a perpetual irritant, but the city breathes easier with the danger dialed down. He doesn't understand the shift, but he won't question it. Tonight, he hosts a glittering gala at Wayne Manor, a necessar…