Chapter 6: Confusing Timeline

The newspaper's date refers to three years before the date shown on the wall calendar.

Three years ago, the conflict between Batman and the Joker escalated. Despite Batman apprehending Joker multiple times and sending him to Arkham Asylum, Joker always managed to escape and resurface.

Joker seemed unsatisfied with the repetitive game with Batman; he expanded the scope of the war, involving other criminal forces in Gotham City. He also started targeting more innocent civilians and people close to Batman.

Finally, after a series of extremely heinous events, something happened that pushed Batman beyond his breaking point.

First, Commissioner Gordon's daughter was kidnapped and found paralyzed from the waist down after being rescued.

Then, a body, severely abused and killed, was discovered in an old factory that had undergone a severe explosion, seemingly that of Batman's sidekick, Robin.

It seemed Joker had finally hit Batman where it hurt the most. The climax occurred when Batman located Joker's hideout, ending with Batman handing Joker's body over to the Gotham Police, bringing the curtains down on the ordeal.

Although everyone was shocked by Batman's first violation of his no-kill rule, most didn't blame him. They understood it was the only way to protect more lives from Joker's rampage.

This incident profoundly impacted Gotham. In the clash between Joker and Batman, most of Gotham's villains were caught, and their forces dissolved.

More importantly, this incident instilled fear in the villains who had previously taken Batman's no-kill rule for granted. They realized Batman was also human and that if genuinely provoked, anything could happen.

In summary, after this incident, Gotham did indeed become relatively calm. In these three years, there were hardly any major malicious events.

However, this was just the background from the report. What followed was the author's "internal intelligence":

Allegedly, the reason Joker's location was found was that his assistant, Harley Quinn, switched sides and voluntarily cooperated with Commissioner Gordon by revealing information.

The evidence? Despite Joker's demise, Harley Quinn wasn't wanted or charged with any crimes. Undoubtedly, this was special treatment received for betraying Joker.

Seeing this, Jekyll took a deep breath and decided to organize his thoughts.

What in the world is this altered timeline!

While some events in it align with comic book storylines he have seen before, like the death of the second Robin and Barbara's injury, the core difference is that this world's Batman has apparently forsaken his no-kill rule, targeting the Joker!

However, considering Batman's mental state from earlier, he seems somewhat normal, not plunged into the "Batman Who Laughs" timeline, thankfully.

But what's even more shocking to Jekyll is that after Joker's demise, the other villains seemed to vanish as well?

As for the latter part of the report regarding Harley Quinn's betrayal of the Joker, Jekyll furrowed his brow and carefully read it again.

Honestly, he wasn't inclined to wholly believe this newspaper clipping; after all, who knows how much credibility Gotham City media holds. However, the part about Harley seems less like fabricated journalism.

The evidence lies in a hastily scribbled sentence beside this section of the news clipping.

"I'm sorry, I had no choice."

It's Harley Quinn's home, and it's not hard to guess who wrote this sentence. If the person involved personally certifies it, this part of the content holds some credibility.

Jekyll flipped through the clippings behind the notebook; most of it was about the suspected reappearance of the "Joker," swiftly captured by Gotham PD or Batman, confirmed to be an impostor.

Closing the notebook, Jekyll began mentally piecing together all the information and intelligence he'd gathered since arriving here.

Three years ago, due to Harley Quinn's betrayal and Batman killing the Joker, Gotham had an unusual period of calm.

Now, three years later, someone is conducting risky research in an abandoned factory, seemingly related to creating clones of the Joker.

The experiment failed, at least that's what they thought. They planned to destroy the test subject to eliminate evidence, but one of the test subjects managed to survive by having possessed by someone - me.

Afterwards, just as I, Jekyll, know it, through a series of coincidences, I killed Bane and was then rescued by Harley Quinn from Gotham City Police Department and brought here.

However, two important questions arise here, closely related to my current situation.

Why did Harley Quinn appear at that place in time? Moreover, why would she, having once betrayed the Joker, rescue someone who looks similar to Joker, and why has she still treating herself as a clown?

Even though she just saved him and gave me quite a show earlier, he's not entirely defenseless against Harley Quinn. Jekyll knows that the prettier a woman is, the more likely she is to deceive, after all.

But these questions can only be asked face-to-face with Harley Quinn once she returns. There are no windows here, only a menacing guard hyenas at the door, and with himself buck naked, he can't investigate and escape.

The key now is that Jekyll has decided to seriously consider his future.

Even though he's now in DC comic world he used to love, it didn't matter as he's still resistant to living in a world dominated by superheroes and supervillains.

After all, when gods fight, mortals suffer. No one likes a world where either aliens invade or the city center becomes a war zone.

Of course, strictly speaking, he's not an ordinary person either; he can use skills from the League of Legends' demon Jester character, which is a sort of advantage. But honestly, compared to other superheroes, this ability isn't quite enough. Bullying street thugs is manageable, but when facing superheroes or villains, he can only hope for a chance like Bane's.

Most importantly, Jekyll used to be a lazy bum in his previous life, content with clocking in and out every day and playing games. If he truly had the drive and willpower of a supervillain or superhero, he'd have either succeeded in life or been a government worker.

Just because he reincarnated and got a little power-up doesn't mean he wants to change his personality. Suddenly going from being an underdog to a showoff? That's not possible.

Now that Gotham City is supposedly peaceful (as the media says), Jekyll knows what he wants to do. Even though he may run into supervillains, it's not a big problem in a world where wearing glasses can perfectly disguise him.

He, Jekyll Hartwell, just want to live a calm and ordinary life in Gotham City.

Or will he?

°°°

Hungry for more chaps? Then check out our pătreon!

Link: Påtreon.com/BaphometFiction

I post advanced chapters of this fanfic there.