*SNIFF'S*
*HAAAH!!!*
Just another day in the trenches…..Nah, I’m just kidding, I am still at the hospital but there's something different about today.
My time in therapy was a whole lot of crap, the nurses kept praising me with smiles on their faces each time I took a step while leaning on the wooden bars as support, treating me like a toddler who'd just started learning to walk and bribing the poor child with lollipops if it could walk up to the destined point.
*Sigh*
Yes their smiles served as a motivation to do better but I was a bit recessive. I couldn't bear it anymore. I know this will be my last session but the hospital's air was kind of sickening. I need some fresh air and a hearty meal as soon as I can.
"Okay that's enough for today," I heard the voice of the fitness nurse director which snapped me out from my thoughts.
Swiveling to my left, I saw my nurse, Lillian, standing by the door with a small smile on her face before she told me to freshen up and gave me the good news that I'll be discharged soon.
"About time."
One thing I know about the DC verse is that it's a place where shit just happens, one minute you could be going on about your normal day and the next… Boom! A villain could just pop outta nowhere and run your fade.
Too bad I just happen to wake up in a universe filled with people who sees it as a normal thing around here, luckily there are people who call themselves heroes and are willing to stop such villians.
I was never an avid fan of heroes and heroic fictional works in my previous life but if I was, I'll say the Flash would have been my favorite. I remember watching the DCW Flash series, yeah…I watched that and I swear that boy experienced more pain than most DC heroes I knew of.
This guy's mom was killed by the Reverse Flash - DC's most notorious opp - and his dad sent to jail for her murder while he was a kid.
After spending years in jail his dad was finally released when he was proven innocent and then killed in front of his very own eyes by Zoom.
Damn...Ain't that just diabolical.
Anyway, the hour had eventually come and I was discharged immediately after signing the discharge papers. I hitched a ride home with Dr. Walter who offered to be of help to me in any way he could.
He also told me about my family's lawyer who will be paying me a visit in a few hours, telling me I just have to sign some documents so my family's inheritance will be mine. From the looks of it that won't be much as the house seemed like a normal home unlike my actual dad's mansion in my previous world.
It turns out that this dad isn't as rich as he was in my previous world. On seeing the family photos and portraits on the wall I muttered to myself, "They must have been one hell of a happy family."
*Growl*
A sound coming from my stomach accompanied with slight vibrations, signaling me to pay my dues. It's been a while I felt this sensation, I've almost forgotten what it felt like to be hungry.
I walked up to the fridge and… God!
I almost puked whatever remains were in my belly from the hospital. The groceries had gone bad, like really bad and now I have to clean it up. Sigh!
[4 hours later]
*Ugh* I had finished cleaning.
'Finally'… I sighed with relief as I sank into my black cozy couch.
Who knew cleaning could be so much of a drag. Being a rich kid in my previous life, we had cleaners and I saw it as a lazy job that just had to be done but no, if I could go back I'll definitely give the maids and gardeners a raise.
I know I should be resting being that I just arrived from the hospital but I feel completely fine. I can't just lay here in sweats, "I have to freshen up."
*Ding-dong*
The doorbell rang immediately as I got out of my chill and refreshing bath.
"Who's there?" I asked while spying through the peephole on the door as I saw a man wearing a gray suit with black tie, holding a briefcase.
He identified himself as our family's lawyer. 'Right. Doc told me to expect his arrival.' I thought. I didn't have much dealings with lawyers in my past life but I knew what to expect and watch out for.
After carefully reading the documents he brought along with him, I signed them and my family's inheritance is now mine. The bank accounts of my parents and siblings will be closed and the money sent to my account. Meaning I have enough to live by for a while but I'd ultimately need to get a source of income.
"Okay it's all done, remember to call me if you need my assistance with anything." Said my lawyer as he extended his hand to give me his card, escorted by a hand shake, before taking his leave.
*GROWL*
Fuck, I almost forgot I was hungry.
I was exhausted, famished and dehydrated but I decided to just wing it, coming to the conclusion that I needed to grab a bite and I big one at that.
During my trip from the hospital Walter drove passed an eatery called Big Belly Burger, don't get me wrong but the name of that restaurant and the thought of such burgers along with fries and a chilled milkshake had my mouth watering and salivating to this delicacy.
I needed a change of clothes which led me to my doppelganger's wardrobe and yeah, I gotta say I was impressed. It seems we've got style and a good fashion sense no matter the universe we are located in.
I threw on a black jean followed by a grey hoodie against the chilly evening, then topped the outfit with some basic Vans.
Taking my wallet containing my credit card as I ventured into the night, boarding a taxi which took me to an ATM near the restaurant.
Turns out my pin was the last digits of my dad's contact line over here, typical me.
I entered the restaurant, walking directly to the counter to place my order as I observed everyone. Don't know what I was expecting but everyone on here looked…normal(boring).
"Maybe I'm the one who looks like the villain?'' I whispered to myself.
A chuckle from the girl at counter drew my attention, making me turn to look at her, lifting a brow as I noticed she was giving me an apologetic look yet was trying to stop herself from laughing with a hand across her mouth.
I wondered why she laughed, so I just had to ask the question…
"Uhm, excuse me miss. Do I have something on my face that has you laughing?"
"Nothing sir. I just happened to overhear you, also your hair dye is catching."
"Oh, okay," I answered with a more relaxed expression on my face but still did not bother correcting her about the second part of sentence.
"Can I take your order?" She asked with a smile on her face. I placed my order then took a seat at a far end corner of the restaurant.
After a short while my order was brought to my table, a big belly burger with fries accompanied by a chill milkshake to wash it all down. This meal has me salivating, well time to dig in.
I savored every bite as compared to my previous life my dad rebuked me from eating such meals. Oh, all the things I missed out on just for an inane body and mental health.
Well being as it may, I've started a new life and I'm going to enjoy every bit of it. A life filled with excitement and thrills. It would be like my very own reality TV, watching heroes and villains go to slam town.
A life where I'd feel the kind of adrenaline rush I've never felt before, all while staying away from unnecessary stress and commitments.
Looking at the TV screen it came to my notice that there was news about the Joker escaping from Arkham Asylum and also news about a very expensive diamond stolen from a museum without any trace or evidence except frozen lasers and frozen locks with the ice reading at a temperature of absolute zero.
I didn't need anyone's help before figuring out that it was the work of Captain Cold and thank God I wasn't in Gotham, the Joker is way too scary and unpredictable to be in the same city with.
Who knows? He might just wake up one morning and say to himself while having a psychotic look in his eyes, 'Oh, I think I'll spray everyone in Gotham with my Joker gas so everyone would look just like me' . No thanks, I don't wanna be around an unstable lunatic.
I blame Batman though, he knows the Joker will always escape and yet he still decides to take him to the same prison he just broke out from.
It's like they are playing some sick game of tag.
Maybe I'll visit Gotham soon, I might find something amusing over there. Who knows what the future has in store for me over here.
Standing up I signaled the waitress and paid for my meal as I took my leave.
While embarking on a taxi I realized something that hadn't fully registered in my head since I got home.
It's just me, no parents, no siblings, no annoying commitments and if I walk past anyone I'm supposed to know but don't, they'll just take it to be amnesia.
I'd really like to live a very calm and normal life over here because I don't have any responsibilities, I don't have anyone trying to impress or surpass.
It's just me, myself and I, so I am going to live life for myself without being bothered by others. I undeniably need to start going to a gym over here too. God knows I can't bear the sight of this pathetic body structure. It seems staying at the hospital for a while really does a number on one's muscles.
One good thing is, I just happen to live in Central City where everything it's all rainbows and sunshine, where the villians have cute nicknames and lack actual bloodlust or have a raging boner for the resident speedsters. Even if they cook up something to kill civilians, eventually they'll be stopped and sent to Iron Heights by the Flash.
Upon arrival at my doorstep, there's one thing I'm still pondering on even while still on the taxi, which was what DC verse in particular am I currently residing so I'd know just how fucked I actually am.
I personally don’t think Batman is responsible for Joker’s continuous behavior…
Many comes with the argument that the bats should just take the law into his own hands but the thing is that he don’t want to be that guy and he is seen working WITH the police in almost any iteration of him…
So no as long as he follows the law to the best of his abilities he don’t get to decide where criminals go after stopping them…
Joker is everything fundamentally wrong with Gotham since the city refuses to put him on death's row or some more secure prison…
He and other villains like him can only go to the lengths that they do due to the absolute lack of care from the government side…
And at times it even seems like the whole city is just a testing ground for them to release some new bio weapon or something similar just so they can do some “field testing” and then blame it all on some villain who “happened to steal it from under their noses”…
That is my opinion at least, have a good day ~~
I mean, >.> looks at how suicide is created.... yeah
The only thing he "fallow" the police is the part about putting in prison, because he basically "torture" the goons to the point of almost killing them, and in some cases I think he does kill the goons (but never the boss), he says he wants to make Gotham a better place, yet Joker (and some other villains) literally massacre people go to prison escape, and does all over again, for years, I believe people deserve a second chance, but when it's to the lvl of some "villains".
PS: I am not going to write more about this because I am on a cellphone, if/when you answer I may write more depending on what you wrote.
Actually, it's a little more complicated than that. Batman has tried a lot of things to stop the Joker throughout the DC multiverse, and found that the most effective way to stop the Joker is to always have Batman personally stop him and hand him over to the authorities. There was one Batman who killed the Joker, and he turned into The Batman Who Laughs (one of the scariest villains in DC multiverse, who regularly kills other universe's Batmans for fun). There was another time when the Joker finally died, and he went to hell (while Lucifer was on vacation and Hell was in chaos), and he made friends with the demons supposed to torture him, and led an invasion to earth with his demon buddies from Hell. Another version of the Joker got put into the Kryptonian prison dimension, and he somehow made friends with superman's enemies there and gained superpowers, and led them in an invasion of earth while Joker himself had Superman+ level of superpowers when he got out.
Those are the ones I know of off the top of my head, but there are probably other cases that are similar. Those are why Batman makes sure to keep the Joker obsessed with Batman himself, because he will be more predictable when he inevitably escapes (and he has seen what happens when other versions of Batman try various things to permanently stop their version of the Joker). Also, Batman and the Joker both know that if Batman kills the Joker, then the Joker wins; even if it doesn't make another Batman Who Laughs, it will makes Batman slide down a slippery slope and end up as a villain after killing all the other Gotham villains, and villain Batman is dangerous enough that Batman isn't willing to risk it (The Batman Who Laughs recruited a bunch of other evil Batmans, most of whom had singlehandedly wiped out their local version of the Justice League).
Also, the Gotham villains occasionally team up to stop the Joker if they think he will do something that might get Batman to kill him (since they know that a lethal Batman will kill all of them as well).
Also Gotham has like 5 different sources of Evil (capital E) infecting it (some are alien, some are demonic/divine, some are magical, and any of them individually would be enough to break the city of most other DC heroes), Batman is the only reason why Gotham is generally the 3rd worst city on the planet (not always, but usually Bloodhaven/Bludhaven (this is sometimes Nightwing's city) and Hub City (the city that is usually covered by The Question))
@WeaselLord That was a really good answer (not sarcasm), but one that in my opinion pushes Batman and Joker on something way more than they should be, plus there are a lot of other villains that he does not kill despite what they do, and we cannot give the same reason as to why, that you did for the Joker, and this is not my only issue with Batman, my biggest problem is that I believe he is too overrated, not in the fact that people like him because he is "edgy" (which is generally the reason people that don't like him give as to why they believe others like him), but what he does in any kind of media he is in, they always try to exaggerate what he does (his impact) to make it seems like he some kind of "supreme human" way over every other beings, even the other heroes, when in reality a good chunk of his appearances in league business he should have 0 impact, but instead they try to construct something for him to be relevant, which is annoying in my opinion.
PS: One of the defenses I saw on this was about the fact that Batman was "put in his place" by a lot of members of the league (it even had the pages to show it) but when he is against villains, and I am not talking about the more "human" ones, but the borderline Gods (or literal Gods), those things never happen, it's as if he takes something out of his butt to try and make him relevant, as if those scenes of the league doing that to him was just to try and show he is "weaker" in a controlled environment, when in reality a "sneeze" should be more than enough to deal with him.
PPS: I just really think that in the context of DC, Batman is too "fake", as they try to make him relevant by pushing the reality of the world they are in, in something that make it unbelievable.