149 The clown is terrified

Allen snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed someone hanging on his back. At first, he thought it was Rebecca, remembering that she had already recovered and it wouldn't be strange for her to show up at any moment, but it wasn't her. It was Harley. It seemed that Harley and Harleen had switched places again.

She had been in the section for female villains and criminals until now. Perhaps it didn't seem like it, but there are women in Arkham, although to a lesser extent.

"You're back?" Allen said with a smile, disregarding Harley's actions.

She smiled joyfully and rubbed her cheek against Allen's. "Don't make that face, it makes me want to eat you!~"

Is it dangerous to put Harley in charge of a bunch of mentally troubled female criminals? Possibly. However, Harley wasn't alone; she had the company of Harleen, who acted as her conscience and restraint. Of course, there was a benefit for Harleen; Harley wouldn't bother her as much when she was in control of the body.

'It's a bit strange,' Allen thought, wondering if there's any possibility of separating them and turning them into sisters, but it all depends on both their wills.

Victoria was surprised to see Harley but decided to remain silent. However, the camera continued to focus on their interaction. Pamela touches her forehead 'Is it okay for an uncontrollable girl to show up when Allen is trying to present a good image of himself?'

===

MCaverage – There's no way to explain how jealous I feel right now!!

Felicia – She's quite bold... I hope no one gets upset about this intimacy... unlike the previous villainesses and heroines, Harley doesn't seem reluctant to be with Allen, hehehe.

Hestia – Tsk, that pervert... when did he put his hands on her?

Antena – Poor girl, two souls in one body...

– I enjoy your livestreams a lot, but you always rub it in my face that I'm single and you're a harem king. You disgust me, Allen, but you're doing well :(

– Oh man, look on the bright side, if you had a girlfriend, you'd have to endure watching her fangirl over him...

– Are you speaking from experience? O_o

– ...I don't have a girlfriend, but my mom tunes into the stream before I do...

– Hahahaha

– Shut up!!

===

Allen noticed that Harley's "dialogue" was stained with some blood.

"Hm? Oh~ there was a fight~," Harley said cheerfully. She moved away from Allen and pulled out the baseball bat from the holster on her back, then proudly swung it. "Two inmates fought while eating, and I used the dialogue to stop them."

A bead of sweat formed on Pamela's forehead as she thought about how inappropriate it was to say something like that at this moment. But seeing Victoria confused, she knew that she hadn't understood what Harley was talking about, and the same went for most viewers.

But as always, there were people of culture who understood the reference.

...



...

She smiled proudly, trying to be praised. Allen could swear he saw ears popping out of her head. "daddy, I did my job in the women's section, but a couple of them started fighting, so I stopped them, risking my life. I would like a reward!"

Allen smiled contentedly at Harley's cute and crazy attitude. "All right, but not now."

"Yay~"

"Dr. Quinnzel?" Victoria said with a trembling voice.

Victoria was stunned; she couldn't recognize the girl in front of her at first glance. She thought that an inmate had escaped, but after observing her, she realized she was Harleen Quinnzel.

Victoria had written an article about her before. Every person who works in Arkham runs a great risk, and a beautiful doctor even more so. So when Harleen decided to work here, it was news. Perhaps not front-page news, but it deserved a small article, and Victoria had interviewed her.

"Oh, Vicki!~ How have you been?~" Harley was in a good mood and hugged her, making Victoria uncomfortable. But Victoria was still stunned, not understanding how she had changed so much.

"But..."

Allen decided to intervene so that Victoria wouldn't ask any more questions.

"Well, here we are!" Allen interrupted, pushing a door.

The place Allen took her to was a yard where there was a large number of inmates running around.

"What?!" Victoria exclaimed as she watched the prisoners running in panic.

Allen smiled confidently. "They've lost the value of what's given to them. Coming here, they get free food and shelter, it's the same as telling them that their crimes will be rewarded!"

The prisoners ran around in a panic, fleeing from something furry that was chasing them.

"HELP!!!" One prisoner shouted upon seeing the cameraman, hoping that since it was illegal, they'd be saved.

"Stop shouting, that beast will see us, idiot!"

The two inmates hid behind a tree, but a dog saw them and ran towards them. Yes, Allen had put a guard dog to chase them around the yard to make them run all over the place.

Victoria was trembling with fear; the cameraman was in shock, as were the viewers. But there was an explanation for this.

With a murderous look, sharp teeth, and growls that intimidated a bear, the creature that resembled a pit bull was chasing all the prisoners. If that didn't seem terrifying enough, the pit bull was the size of an elephant!.

Allen whistled, and the pit bull came running with its tongue out, showing its huge teeth, but with a cheerful expression. Its footsteps shook the ground.

"Mr. Allen!!" Victoria shouted in fear.

"Don't worry, it's harmless," Allen said, but then raised an eyebrow when he saw that the dog wasn't slowing down. He would be fine even if he were rammed by Cerberus, but he was accompanied, so Allen took a few steps forward and raised his hand.

The giant pit bull intended to pounce, but Allen stopped the giant dog with his hand. However, the collision created a shockwave.

"Ahhh!"

Victoria wanted to run, but her legs wouldn't respond, and she ended up falling to the ground from the blast of wind. Ivy had used her vines to hold herself to the ground, and Harley hid behind her.

As the air calmed down, the cameraman, who had been pushed, recovered and continued filming, only to see an image that made him choke.

"Wow!!"

The cheerful bark of a dog echoed loudly; the terrifying monster was lying on its back panting, with Allen rubbing its gigantic belly.

"..."

Most people were in shock; how could they accept this image? The monster was literally a dog but enormous.

Allen smiled as he turned around. "Her name is Princess, and she's an adorable dog."

"Woof woof!" Princess responded with a friendly bark.

"This girl will take care of the yard... and the prisoners," Allen added with a cold smile that sent shivers down people's spines.

...

Victoria got up, dusted herself off, and asked Allen why he had Cerberus in the inner courtyard. Her brows were furrowed because she didn't like falling to the ground in front of the cameras.

Allen sighed, stroking the dog's snout.

"Well, when I was little, I wanted to have a dog, but I couldn't because of the circumstances... that, and with my bad luck, the dog might die by my side."

"I didn't ask you that!" Victoria retorted.

Allen stopped pretending to be melancholic and shrugged. "Okay, okay, it's just a joke. The main reason is that many prisoners weren't motivated when I proposed exercising to earn their food ration. So I thought a little motivation would help."

"And is that Princess?!" Victoria asked her right eye twitching.

Allen raised his thumb. "Yeah!"

"What kind of motivation is it to be chased by a giant dog?!"

Allen looked away. "The other option was to put explosive collars on their necks and make them explode if they stopped in the same place for more than ten seconds... but I thought that was a bit much."

"Are you a demon?..."

"No, well, technically not," Allen crossed his arms.

"What do you mean?!"

"Heh..."

===

– Allen is sometimes a complete troll -_-

– Then he complained about us, but we learned from him LMAO

– The worst part is he'll blame us for making him like that XD

...

Diana HC – Is what he said about the dog true?

Natasha HC – Hm? No, but the luck issue is true. Allen thought his bad luck could harm animals, so he never wanted pets.

Ruby HC – That's sad...

Nikky HC – No! How can the world deny you something as wonderful as having a pet? I have three cats, and they're my treasure!

===

From that moment on, Victoria looked at Allen with suspicious eyes. She began to think that maybe letting a villain take charge of a prison wasn't such a good idea.

What she doesn't know is that Allen keeps the truly dangerous secret. Allen isn't sure if he should show it to his viewers either.

[Host, I advise you to do it; it seems the woman reporter is starting to doubt your abilities as the director of Arkham.]

'I guess I should get serious...'

Allen smiled mysteriously and looked at everyone."Well, I'd like to take you to the maximum-security sector!"

"What?!"

Victoria's eyes widened. That place is off-limits to the public; no one knows what it's like inside, but it houses the most dangerous villains.

People understood that for those villains, monsters, being chased by a giant dog and tortures would not make them stop being villains.

All the viewers were attentive, they understood that each villain was a world of their own.

Batman narrowed his eyes, watching the screen. Allen's goal wasn't to punish villains, which anyone outside the law could do, but to make them harmless.

"What are you planning, Walker?"

...

..

...

The Joker knelt in front of Batman's decaying corpse. He had done it; he had killed Batman.

"Why?" said the Joker with a dry, emotionless voice, without any hint of satisfaction.

For him, his enemy was dead, the one who always prevented him from causing chaos. He should be euphoric. He had eliminated his nemesis and greatest enemy, but he wasn't happy.

At first, he was, celebrating by placing bombs all over Gotham and setting them off. But when he saw thousands of people dying and no one stopping him, he realized it was boring.

There was no pleasure without risk. For the Joker, it wasn't just about causing chaos; it was about having a Batman trying to stop him. Two entities with different ideals, pursue their own goals and clash with each other.

But now that the Joker had killed him, he no longer felt like doing such things.

...

Days passed, and the Joker made a completely absurd decision: he decided to quit crime.

"I'm sorry, I'll fill out the form~ go to window one then go up to the third floor and come back."

"I've been in line for five hours!!"

"I know, HAHAHAHAHA!"

Days passed, and the Joker got a job in a bureaucracy where he could torture people as he pleased, but that was only a fleeting pleasure and helped him cope with his depression for a while.

Weeks passed, and the Joker felt empty, purposeless, without relief. Then it happened; he saw news that made him jump for joy.

"Batman's back!" he shouted with joy, spraying acid from the flower on his chest onto one of his coworkers.

"AHHHHH!"

"I'm sorry, David! I have a date, and I got excited!" The Joker apologized, giving the man with half of his face melted a kiss on his forehead.

However, the Joker's joy didn't last long, and his smile froze. He ran out and returned home, slamming the door open and rushing to his closet. When he opened it, Batman's body hung there like a shirt. The Joker was enraged.

"HOW DARE YOU USE HIS NAME!!"

The Joker pounded the floor, then searched his attic for his weapons and gadgets. He set out to capture the impostor and dunk him into a vat of acid.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

His maniacal laughter echoed throughout the neighborhood.

...

After several failed attempts, the Joker captured the fake Batman. Far from feeling satisfaction, the Joker looked upon the Batman hanging upside down from the ceiling of a warehouse with disdain.

"Pathetic copy; Batman wouldn't fall for this trap!" said the Joker resentfully, but his gaze trembled with amazement. The fake Batman's build was too close to the original's, and although this Batman was inferior, he was on the level of a Robin. 'It can't be, Batsy is dead in my closet!' the Joker felt his insides churn.

He reached out and did something he never thought he'd do: he grabbed the mask and removed it. But what he saw left him frozen.

"Impossible!" the Joker screamed.

It was him! The Joker was the one beneath the Batman mask, but he was there.

"What's happening?!" the Joker held his head and began to feel that something wasn't right with the world. "Ahhh!"

Luckily for the Joker, he didn't have to wait long for his answer this time.

"Oh, it looks like I arrived just at the end of a cycle."

Allen's voice came from everywhere, and a door fell from the sky, crashing through the roof and landing on the concrete. Upon opening, Allen stepped in.

The Joker opened his eyes and covered his face with his hands, his eyes bloodshot, his eyelids trembling with anger.

"You did this!"

Allen smiled, and the Joker looked at him, it was hatred, pure hatred. The Joker couldn't remember if he had ever hated anyone as much as he hated Allen. His gaze was bloodshot, and without hesitation, he fired his gun at Allen, but the bullets passed through him as if he didn't exist.

"Open your eyes..." said Allen with a cold gaze.

The Joker felt as if he had been struck in the head, and the next moment, he was sitting in a chair inside his containment cell, wearing a straitjacket.

Allen stood in front of him, with Victoria, her cameraman, Ivy, and Harley behind him.

...

Allen allowed everyone to see how he dealt with the most dangerous villains.

Far from this being a way to make criminals feel bad, Allen had truly planned a way to deal with villains and supervillains.

The idea was simple: to use the power of the system mixed with *nightmares* to introduce villains to unpleasant *dreams*.

"Damn, how dare you!! I'm going to kill you!! I'll kill everyone you know, and you'll watch!!"

The Joker was hysterical, without laughter, jokes, or mockery, purely anger and hatred towards one person.

Allen grabbed the Joker's hair and looked at him with disgust, "I told you I knew how to hurt you, and you laughed, remember that?"

"Ngh!"

"Shut up..." said Allen softly, but his tone carried Conqueror's Haki, which struck the Joker's head and made him stagger. A normal person would have passed out, but the hatred the Joker felt kept him conscious.

"Allen?" Victoria murmured, confused. They had only seen the Joker asleep, and then when he woke up, he made a terrifying threat to Allen.

She swallowed hard as her legs trembled, she had never seen the Joker act like this. He always laughed, whether he won and killed someone or lost and was captured, whether he was tortured or even humiliated, the Joker never hated someone like this.

Allen didn't respond to Victoria; his attention was on the Joker. "What did it feel like to spend a year inside a nightmare? What did it feel like to live every day without your purpose? Without Batman, without satisfaction, only to realize in the end that it was all a dream... a joke."

"You... what kind of sick joke is this?!"

Allen grabbed the Joker's face. "It doesn't end there; there are worse futures, like what if Batman becomes the villain? He wouldn't be your enemy anymore."

"You!"

"What if Batman finds another villain he hates more than you? What if he leaves Gotham to deal with other problems, and you end up being a secondary villain?"

"He wouldn't leave me!!"

"And you know what's best? You won't remember it; each nightmare will be so faithful to reality that not even a fortune teller would know. Only when it all ends and leads you to the greatest despair will you remember everything."

"...!?"

"That's your future, Joker, living that hell over and over again..." Allen struck the Joker's cheek and held him firmly. "You can't escape from me, no one can."

"...!!!"

...

Batman watched with wide eyes as the screen played. Not because the Joker was obsessed with him; he already knew that. It was because he saw something he never expected to see.

The Joker was pale; the previous hatred had disappeared, leaving only a sincere expression of terror. He was terrified.

It wasn't the first time the Joker had been scared, nor was it the first universe where it happened, but in those versions, the Joker feared death, making him easy to handle. However, considering the type of Joker they had here...

A Joker with no fear of death or pain, smarter, more sadistic, more dangerous. It's normal; the Joker is Batman's main villain, depending on which Batman we're talking about.

The Batman of this universe showed immense intelligence, capable of finding ways to stop Allen within hours, a Batman even Allen himself wouldn't take lightly. That's why this Joker must be incredibly terrifying to be his nemesis.

As a result, despite there being stories where the Joker has been afraid of Flash, Superman, and Punisher, this Joker wouldn't be. Normal means would never scare him and would only provoke him.

That's why Allen searched his memory for all the stories where the Joker lost and suffered, and even when he won, he lost.

Based on that, he developed variations of those stories presented as dreams where the Joker would never smile, where his grin would be erased not with pain, but with the greatest and purest boredom and despair.

The Joker visualized an eternity like that and couldn't help but feel afraid. He was scared of Allen, who only smiled coldly.

===

A/N: Patreon.com/mr_aizen