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George sighed as he pulled the dirty blanket over himself, lying inside the dumpster. Gotham's winters were absolutely horrible, and the people weren't kind to the homeless bums like him. He still wondered why he was living in this rat's nest, maybe it was sentimental horseshit, maybe it was the fact he had nothing and no car to drive away from here.
But it didn't matter. This was his home, and he had to make do with it. He snuggled into his garbage bag mattress and sighed, hoping to fall asleep.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
George shot up, angry that his precious sleep was ruined by some laughing asshole. He lifted up the lid of the dumpster, grumbling. "Who the fuck would be out here in this hour...?" He grumbled as he climbed out of the dumpster, a knife he fished out from a garbage can in his hand. "I'm gonna teach them a lesson..."
"Please, don't hurt us!" A couple were at the end of the alley as a certain green-haired clown was standing before them, grinning.
"Aww, look at you, two lovers having a good time out on the town. Pity I wasn't invited." Joker cackled, leering at the blonde man and brunette woman, teeth split in a nasty grin. "Stop me if you heard this before. Where do you get nine lives from?" He fingered his flower on his suit.
"W-What?" The man blurted.
"Oh, come on, just take a guess! It's just a joke!" Joker encouraged the hapless man. His girlfriend tugged on his arm. "Please, just answer him!"
"F-From a cat?"
Joker shook his head, making a tsking noise. "No, silly. From a broken heart!" He pulled out a gun and grinned. The woman shrieked in horror as she clung to her boyfriend. "You're really not good at guessing games, aren't you?"
"B-But that doesn't make any sense!" The man protested.
"My good man, I'm the Joker! Sanity is sooo overrated." Joker burst into wild laughter as he prepared to pull the trigger...
SHINK!
The clown stood there for a moment, smile frozen in place, before a tip of a knife burst out from his chest, and blood began to rapidly grow onto his breast pocket on his suit, Joker then falling forwards onto the ground, going limp. The couple shuddered and held each other as they saw a knife in his back, and a puddle of blood began to form onto the ground beneath him.
"...Oh, my god." The blonde gasped in shock.
"Darrin, what are we going to do now?" The woman asked.
"I don't know, Michelle. I don't know..."
George let out a yawn as he headed back to his dumpster, having dealt with that weirdo freak in the clown getup. Maybe now he could get some sleep. He pulled the blanket over himself once again and began to fall asleep.
Later....
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jason snapped, glaring at Batman. "You're saying you don't know who killed the fucking clown?"
"I didn't think there was anyone that had the guts to kill Joker." Tim replied, narrowing his eyes at the screen. It had been a while before the Bats came to the scene and discovered Joker's dead corpse. And Jason fought the urge to find the person who took his vengeance and kill them. "Then again, he has made many enemies. Not surprising."
"Regardless, the pathetic clown is no more." Damian snorted. "That's one less wretch to deal with."
"Fuck that shit! I should've been the one to murder the fucking clown!" Jason snapped.
"Hood, take it easy." Nightwing tried to calm him down.
Red Hood turned to him, snarling. "Hell, I wanted B to take his ass down! Not some random nobody!"
"And yet that random nobody did what you failed to do, Hood." Robin huffed.
"Shut it, gremlin!"
"That's enough." Batman finally spoke, his voice ending the argument. "We need to figure out who killed the Joker and why. We need to get to the bottom of this."
"No, we don't! What we need to do is to find the asshole that killed the clown and kick his ass!" Jason snapped.
Dick shook his head. "Little Wing, how is that going to help?"
"It'll help me a great fucking deal when I find them!" Jason hissed. "There will be hell to pay, I swear it."
The next night....
George yelped as a blast of loud music boomed throughout the alley, causing him to rise up and hit his head on the lid. "Goddammit!" He shouted as he pushed the lid of the dumpster up and glared. "Turn the fucking headache noise down!" He shouted. "I'm trying to fucking sleep!"
"Didn't you hear, man? The Joker is dead!" A teenager shouted at the bum from across the street. "It's party time all night long~! WHOO!"
"Fuck you and your fucking Joker!" George growled as he gave him the finger. He then yelped as noise blared through the alley, a group of rowdy teens dancing and cheering, carrying a stereo which was playing god-awful music that made his head hurt. "Turn that shit off!" The bum climbed out of his dumpster and growled at them.
"Go back to your trash can, Oscar. We're having us a party!" A teen with shades grinned at the angry hobo. "The Joker's dead, and we're having fun!"
"Fucking little shits..." George threw his hands up and began to leave the alley, wanting to get away from the madness. Damn kids and their crazy attitudes. God, he really needed to get away from Gotham. This city was insane.
"Hey, Jarred, look what I found!" A blue-haired teen pulled out a blood-crusted knife from the dumpster. "I think we found a slasher's murder weapon!"
Jarred cackled loudly. "Holy shit, Jason Voorhees must've been the one to stab the clown. Fucking A!"
"Or maybe you assholes killed him." Red Hood's mechanical voice rang out as he jumped down from out of nowhere right in the middle of a terrified group of teens. "Question is, which one of you turds did it?"
"H-Hey, man! I didn't shank him!" The blue-haired boy cried out.
Jason snorted. "Yeah, and I'm the king of England. The knife has blood on it, kid. And it might match the same blood of the Joker. That makes you a fucking suspect."
"B-Bullshit! I didn't! It was one of those homeless bums!" The teen shouted.
"Fuck this, run!" Jarred shouted as the teenagers broke into a full run, scattering like rats. Red Hood managed to tackle the blue-haired boy down and pinned him down onto the asphalt. "Talk, blue boy. Why did you kill him?"
"It wasn't me!" He cried out as Jason forced more pressure onto his him. "It hurts, please stop!"
"Tell me the fucking truth, you stupid little fuck. Why did you fucking kill the clown?!"
"I didn't! I didn't kill him, I swear to God!"
"SWEAR TO ME!" Jason roared as he lifted the boy up and slammed him against the brick wall repeatedly. "If you don't... Well, then, say good-bye to your little buddy." He glanced at the boy's crotch as he pulled out his gun and aimed at his junk.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" The blue-haired boy wailed. "All right, all right! I fucking killed him! Okay?! I did it! It was me! I killed the Joker! He was a crazy-ass fucker, man! He's not human, man! He's a fucking, black-hearted monster! He deserved it! Haven't you wanted him dead?! Have you ever dreamed about his death?!"
Jason stood there for a long moment, recalling his time with the evil clown. He then shook his head and pulled the gun away. "...Get the fuck out of here."
The boy did not need more convincing as he ran for the hills. Jason let out a shout as he kicked the dumpster and slammed his fist against the wall. "Goddammit all..." Jason took off his helmet and flung it to the ground. "God..."
"Do you ever think we'll find the Joker's killer?" Stephanie asked, sitting in a chair.
"I'm not sure..." Barbara sighed. "It could be anyone, really. Gotham is a big place, after all." Oracle then began to type onto her computer, scanning databases. "It could take some time.
"Maybe answer closer than we think," Cass spoke, tilting her head.
"I just hope you're right." Oracle sighed. "Maybe the answer could be right under our noses." She resumed her digital manhunt on the computer. Little did they know, that the suspect was just right in the next building over...
George sighed as he wrapped himself in the sheets of a bed in an abandoned room in an old apartment. Now this was a step up from the dumpster, and it was quite comfy too.
"I hope no one else makes any damn noise, just like that stupid clown from before. Don't know why everyone's so fucking excited over that goofy freak." George let out a sigh as he pulled the covers over him and began to nod off to dreamland. He really hoped things would die down in the morning...