Marigold Lerner ❀ Lily Potter (pleasehavemercy) wrote in thereincarnates, @ 2013-10-03 03:11:00 |
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Entry tags: | kieran mckinnon |
An eye for two eyes, a tooth for chattering mouths.
Who: Kieran McKinnon and the Joker (Jasper Truman)
What: The Joker has to die, and Catwoman has asked Bane to do it.
Where: Gotham City
When: October 1st, early evening.
Warnings: Death.
Elliot's message had only been the catalyst for the whole project. Over time, he'd come up with different plans to get rid of certain people in his way. The Joker, however, had always eluded his grasp, if for the simple fact that he kept changing hands. One Joker suit was exchanged for the next so fast that you couldn't get take-out from the fastest delivery service out there, between changes. So, how to plan for someone as shifty as a clown with a death wish, and a different body every so often? You couldn't. You could plan for the last, but not for the new. Planning for a girl was a lot more different then for a guy. Then add in the location factor. Oh, it was easy to know where the Joker would end up, but you couldn't stand back and wait for that.
So you needed to find the home base, so to speak. And then, the third part, which was the trickiest: family. Some Jokers had families. Not good ones, usually, but some that might be an issue if they suddenly showed up dead. That Strange girl was proof of that one, and thank god he had nothing to do with any of that. But this Joker didn't really have family. Or, he had family, but he'd disappeared long enough, and in different circumstances, that finding his dead body wouldn't be that big of a deal. It was to the rest of the "family" that would make it a big deal.
And wasn't he making a mess of that. It was a shame that almost everyone's life seemed to revolve around the Bat and his family, but those who liked him did watch his back when he didn't know he needed it. Or maybe he did. Maybe the whole family knew, and they just let things go, even if they were terrible. Both Kieran and Bane doubted that, though. There was just a sentimental streak in them, enough that they couldn't kill the people they took in. Sending them back to the police, back to the asylum, but always to a supposed life behind bars.
Kieran and Bane didn't agree with that one. Good enough to play the good guy every so often, he wouldn't begrudge him that, but Kieran's motives meant that Bane was always on call. And Elliot's message had been the call. He'd checked in with his contacts in Gotham, who had given reports that the Joker was somewhere in the city. No one had a good idea of where, but Kieran hadn't expected them to. That would have just been too easy. It meant that he would have to go there himself, and sniff the clown out.
So he did what he would do if he was traveling to meet with a new client. He booked his plane ticket, kissed his girls goodbye and telling them that he would call them every day, and was driven to the airport. He decided to buy that fairly new John Grisham novel that was on the rack in the airport, and then a bag of mixed nuts for the flight. He hated how most airlines had done away with the packets of peanuts. Something about "allergies” or some other nonsense like that. His flight took about six hours, which was longer then he would have preferred, but he was flying first class and didn't have to worry about it too much. He was driven from the airport to the apartment he kept in the city, in case he needed to be here overnight.
And then he sat down to check some emails, and he called his girls back home and told them he loved them, and that they should sleep tight. Whenever he was in the city, he preferred traveling by motorcycle, versus a car. Bikes were easier to hide and get rid of, while cars required a lot more planning. After getting a slice of pizza, he was on his way to Gotham a little after midnight. Kieran didn't expect to find him right away, of course. But he could check into a motel in Gotham with a fake name, hide out in his room for a few hours before calling up his business partners. It was only when it was light out that Kieran ventured out of his motel room, and got down to the real hunt. All good little Bats and Birds stopped flittering around when the lights came back on. It was hard to hide in the shadows when there were none.
Dressed in a brown overcoat, and a bright red baseball cap, he started his search, not by the docks, but in old Gotham. He meandered his way through town, but only briefly stayed at Amusement Mile. It was an obvious place to have a hide out, so he knew that that wasn't the place where he would be. No, the Joker might be insane, but he wasn't stupid. It was only when Kieran was standing in Aparo Park that he made the obvious connection. Here he was, holding a pretzel, and staring straight at the Asylum.
"Of course," He muttered to himself, though he shook his head as he laughed. He should have thought of that place first. The Bats wouldn't be checking that place out, because no one wanted to be at Arkham Asylum. Everyone wanted out, who would bother staying there of their own free will? Going back to the motel, he put the coat and red cap into a trash bag, shoving that into his suitcase. Taking some time to sleep once it got dark, he woke to the beginnings of dawn on the horizon. Curtains closed, and he started packing his things. One duffel bag, with the garbage bag in it, two changes of clothes, a gun, some rope, and a few knives. Wearing a black overcoat and a bright green baseball cap, he put the mask into the coat pocket, and a few vials of Venom in the other.
Ready for the day, so to speak. He made a few trips, so plenty of people saw him. As he got closer to Arkham, he asked a man if he could switch hats with him, he'd make it worth his while. Kieran gave his green hat and twenty dollars to a man in a black overcoat, and put the new, brown pageboy cap on his head. He could feel his heart quickening in anticipation, as he finally, finally was able to get to the front gates of the asylum. There weren't any guards around, which he suspected. Most of the terrors of the Gotham underbelly weren't just here. They needed to be reincarnated into someone else. So long as Scarecrow wasn't in someone? He wasn't here.
But the Joker was. And now, so was Bane. Once he was inside the building, he shed his coat and hat, bringing out the mask and looking into the face. He could hear someone whistling, and occasionally breaking into hysterical laughter above him, so it meant that now was the time. Taking the vial, he got the syringe, bringing out some venom, and then injecting it into himself. He rarely used it, because he didn't like to use it. Hence why the mask had been fixed, so it didn't need to pump anything in. So when he pulled the mask on, he could feel his muscles tightening, and expanding. Contracting. Growing larger, becoming stronger.
This was why Kieran didn't use the drug. He didn't mind selling it, and in fact, he wanted to. But using it on himself? He knew how Bane was. How he felt about it. The fear he had, mixed in with the repulsion Bane had, and it made him stronger all the more from it.
"I've heard a terrible joke," Kieran called out, staying where he was, half under a stairwell, but able to be seen by whoever was up above. Like the Joker, he assumed.
"A guy came up to another guy at the bar, and... no, that isn't it." Kieran let himself drawl that one out, so he could start again. "There's a girl who's dating a guy, and she meets this other guy at the bar, and they..." Again, he makes a fake frustrated sound, shaking his head.
"A little help please?" One good old standby for most of the Batman's Rogue gallery? They always had time to stop and say something. He heard the shuffling of someone upstairs, before he was grabbed from behind, and something hit his head. As he backed up, he could see it was Jasper; what was left of Jasper, which really was only the body. He had a shovel in his hand, which was probably what had hit Kieran on the head. The Venom gave him the strength to ignore it, though, and to keep going. Bane was a big man, put into Kieran’s smaller frame, so his hits and grabs always seemed more powerful than you might expect.
He grabbed the Joker by the front of his shirt, leaning in close so he could see him. "We're getting tired of cockroaches." He wasn't able to show the grin he had, since the mask covered most of his face. "And I'm tired of no-kill traps." His hold on his shirt went up to his neck, holding on tightly, watching as his face turned purple from lack of air.
"If you hadn't touched some toys, you could have gone on for much longer. What a shame." Jasper's body was roughly the same size as his, if a little taller. But with the strength of Venom in his veins, he snapped Jasper's neck. The Joker was long gone, and all that was left was Jasper's body. Somewhere, out there, the Joker was ready to come back. He might have plans against Bane, like the rest of the Batfamily.
But he'd done them such a service today! And why shouldn't he let them know that he was the one to do it? Pulling out his phone, he quickly sent a text to Elliot, telling her that he was dead. While waiting for her reply, he gave Jasper his signature move; he held him up in the air, and then broke his back on his knee. That wasn't what killed him, but it still felt good to do.
Her reply came after he'd done that, and he picked up his phone to read the message with a laugh. Letting her know that he was dead, but the fireworks were coming. That's how this should go. In a manner of minutes, he had his men on their way there. He kept the mask on, though. Now, he had to play who he really was, and this would mean a very crucial thing. None of them knew him as Kieran. They hadn't known who he was at all, through a series of misinformation had never led back to Kieran McKinnon, and nothing led back to Bane, despite the growing amount of Venom.
"Tie him up with rope like you would do normally," Bane growled, walking past them to his bags. The black overcoat and brown cap went into the trash bag with the red baseball cap and brown jacket, and he handed it to Thug #2.
"Leave it right outside the gate, before we leave." The guy went to do that as Bane waited patiently for them to finish binding Jasper up, and then putting him into the trunk. "Gently." Bane said in a final tone. No retort for any of them, and they placed him gently in the trunk. Jasper was a person, after all, and he deserved to be treated with respect, even in death. They all hopped in the car, and picked up the guy at the gate, and as they drove to the GCPD building, Bane laid out exactly what would happen.
There was some involvement with someone on the inside, of making sure it was a time where everyone was cleared away. And then Jasper was deposited on the steps of the GCPD building, arms and legs bound, and face uncovered. He wore the Joker's clothes, and that would have to be enough.
If not for one last detail. A note was written on a piece of paper that was held by a string around his neck.
"Here is Jasper; what remains of the Joker. For taking the lives of two of your own, Batman, I've made sure that he has paid his full price. - Bane"
Once Kieran grabbed the bag left at the asylum, he took off from there to New York City, where he had a plane to catch in two hours. Kieran was satisfied. If anyone asked, they would remember a guy in a red baseball hat, and another in a green one. Both coats and hats were now at the bottom of the river, when he drove to New York. Everyone knew that Bane was officially back, now. And the Bat and his family could ruminate in their darkest desire made reality.
Bane had killed him for you, Batman.
This happened because of you.
And because he had promised: When the police found the body on the steps, a trigger was pulled when they went to move it. It sparked a set of rockets on multiple rooftops, so when everyone knew the Joker was dead? There were fireworks to mark the occasion.