Chapter 117. Part 2.

{A/N: I hope you guys liked part 1, these sections of the Killing Joke are original plot arcs I have written by myself in an attempt to connect the story of the Joker with the Dark Knight. Most of the readers at pat reon really liked, but please let know what you think of my improvisation.

Oh before I officially begin though, I think it might be good to inform you guys that this chapter is actually one of the biggest chapters have ever written with the word count being over 9600 words. So this chapter will not be just two parts but actually three.

Anyways on with the second part of this chapter. This is theramenlord signing off.}

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~ Quote of the chapter ~

"The rocks you throw at me are the stones I'll use to lay the foundation of my Empire."

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Date: 23rd, March, 1991.

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Time: 06:22 pm.

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Last time on the Hollywood: Head-Hunting System chapter 117 part 1 —

Oh, but he absolutely did, he wanted to torture the bastard for a few more minutes. But he wanted him to think so, so he lied, and it seemed like the old bastard bought it, because after a few more seconds of futile struggles he finally gave up and swallowed the pills.

The joker laughed in joy, seeing that his plan and bluff had worked so well.

He let go of the doctor as he laid there coughing on the floor, trying to vomit out whatever drug the Joker had given him. When coughing seemed to not work, he tried to shove his finger down his throat in an attempt to trigger his gag reflex.

Now continuing —

But Joker wouldn't let him, he kicked the old bastard in the head and dragged him to another bed and strapped him in. The doctor tried to put up a fight, but drugs in his system were starting to kick in. They got to witness that scene from the doctor's perspective.

Mark had really pushed Steven's template to the limits as edited this scene, the color grading, the distortions, etc. He had even personally drawn how the visage of the joker shifted from ripped his smile to a demonic figure whose laughs seemed to promise pain to those that heard it.

This was the last time usage of the template that he was gonna get, so he really pushed himself to the limits this time. After all, the Oscars were on the line, he had an event modifier that he could use to win one of the Oscar categories.

But he knew he wouldn't be satisfied with just one, so he went plus ultra while making this film. And that effort, that passion and care showed on the screen, the audiences couldn't take their eyes off the screen for a single moment.

After the intermission, some of them were eager to see if Marc could surprise them again, to see if he could top what he had already shown.

To their pleasant surprise, he had done just that, the realism of it still shocked them, and left wanting to know just how he made such a masterpiece. 

Back on screen, they saw the Joker explaining what drugs he gave the doctor. There was a drug that heightened his sense of pain from the torture, a drug that paralyzed him so he couldn't fight back. And finally, an experimental laxative that would make him shit out his organs in a shower of blood and gore.

They watched as the Joker electrocuted him to death by gradually increasing the power of the current. He laughed at the doctor as the old bastard squealed like a pig about to be slaughtered. By the end of it his hair was singed from the heat of the electricity and his pants brown and red. 

Before amping up the current the Joker had removed both of his eyes, the audiences thought it was to increase the pain. As loss of vision would cause him to focus even more on the pain, but wasn't the true purpose behind his actions. Though they will be finding out about it soon enough.

After torturing the cruel doctor to death, he moved closer to the hulking brute that was chained to the wall. Joker asked if he wanted to be free or die there, the brute grunted in pain and begged to be freed, and in a surprising feat of kindness Joker actually freed him. 

The Joker went back to the doctor, this time with a bone saw, and cut off his right arm. After doing so, the duo make their escape, the Joker had seen and memorized the layout of the asylum.

They made it to the metallic door that controlled the facility, and Joker used the severed hand and eyeballs to get through the biometric locks.

Joker then unlocked the gates to all the patient's cells and made an announcement that made all hell break loose in the facility. The patient's went crazy and started attacking the "nurses," and guards in their attempts to escape.

The security forces first used tranquilizers, but when it didn't work that well, they quickly switched to normal guns and rifles. It was a chaotic bloodbath, but it seemed like the crazies would eventually win as they didn't care about their own survival.

Joker thoroughly enjoyed watching all this unfold as he made his escape with the hulking brute following him from behind, crushing anyone who dared to stop his savior.

After seeing that they were winning and that all communication to the outside had been stopped, the Joker had a change of plans. He went to the vault of this place where they keep their experimental creations, after looking around in there he found a lot of shady things.

He found a high flammable liquid that he then distributed to the people who survived the fight and wanted to follow him. As they set the whole asylum on fire, it burned with a hauntingly beautiful green shade.

The Joker and his followers got in whatever vehicle was available and made their escape. As they were way crossing over the bridge, the burning Asylum could be seen in the background. It got smaller and smaller as they went further away. 

The shot then seamlessly transitioned from the burning building to the burning fireplace in Bruce's lodge; they saw Gordon and Bruce setting somberly as they thought about what to do with the Joker that was now wreaking havoc in the city.

In the background, they could hear Marc's voice over the radio talking about the burning of the building and the crazy amount of money that Joker had stolen from the banks. The scene then slowly went dark as the chapter came to an end.

Many in the audience took a sigh of relief, as they had been holding their breaths as they watched the film. They found themselves really vested in the story of Arthur, Joker and Jim Gordon, the detective. They wondered if Arthur will ever be able to gain back control of his body and have a normal life. 

But they then remembered what crimes Joker had already committed and knew that even if Arthur got back control of his body. He could never go back to his normal life, as the Joker had already destroyed any chance of Arthur ever having a normal, peaceful life.

The next scene showed Bruce, Brooke, and Gordon in the car, on their way back to the city after spending the night at the lodge. The shot cuts back to the city, it's nighttime and word had been going around the street that a crazed lunatic called himself the Joker was hunting down Harvey Trent.

This had a lot of people in a twist as they thought that this person was ruining Arthur's legacy as the joker who wanted the common man to stand up for his rights. It wasn't what he preached, but the media had already twisted the perception of the people, it was a subtle thing that Mark did.

It was like how in the OG Knives Out, Rian Jonson had shown the discriminatory behavior of Harlan's family but didn't go out of his way to point it out. 

In The Killing Joke, Mark showed how the media had changed Arthur's image from a crazed lunatic who wanted anarchy to a public figure for those who wanted to stand up to those in power.

It had already been quite a few years since Arthur had died in the BlackRock Asylum fire, but now they were reminded again of him, as someone had stolen his moniker and was going around town causing mayhem.

There's a small scene where Bruce is shown helping Brooke study and finish up her homework. It is a wholesome scene that brought a smile to quite a few members of the audience. But Rian who was watching the scene couldn't help but mutter, "oh poor girl."

Gong who heard him asked, "what?"

"They are spending too much time on her, even though she isn't that important to the story. The only reason I would do this, if I was the writer, would be to make the viewer emotionally invested in Brooke. So that if later down the line something bad were to happen to her, we would care more."

"Ohhh." Gong nodded her in understanding, she could tell from Rian's answer that he wanted to be in this field as well, or at least a writer.

And he wasn't wrong, but before that could happen the night came, and they saw Bruce and Gordon heading towards somewhere in a hurry, from their quick chat they found out that Harvey had hosted a charity event. 

And the duo were on their way there to stop the Joker when he would show up, which he eventually did and in style. He harassed and threatened the guests until Harvey's girlfriend stepped forward; and the Joker got a little too up close and personal.

But before he could do any damage, Gordon kicked him away. They have a fight where Joker got the upper hand because of the numbers. He took Rachel hostage and held her over a ledge while taunting Gordon if he thought he could be fixed now.

Meanwhile, with Bruce, he is moving stealthily around the lower floor taking around the Joker's goons and deactivating the bombs that they have planted. He is making no sounds as he is silently taking out everyone with the grace of a true Shinobi. 

He is wearing an all black outfit, with a mask that covers him from nose down and a cowl that covers his head. As he is almost done with everyone, he heard glass break overhead and saw Rachel being held over the ledge. 

He turned around and threw a few knives at the goons still standing, he then threw a wire around a pillar and ran towards the window.

Bruce had only been shown for a few minutes now, but the audiences could feel that he was something more. They thought maybe he was in the special forces and Gordon trusted him to take care of his daughter. 

They were eager to see him in action, and what he was doing now blew all expectations out of the water.

The action scenes were so real and stylized, yet it didn't detract from how perfectly executed it all was. This was the best action set piece they had seen in quite a long time, with it being 1991 it wasn't really that high of a bar that Mark couldn't reach it.

But it wasn't all, as they saw Bruce run towards the window and throw something at it that made the window crack, and then he ran right through it in an attempt to catch the falling Rachel. He succeeded and then broke another window as he landed with her in one of the lower floors.

Gordon tried to arrest the Joker, but his goons had also forced the wealthy guests to wear bomb vests at gunpoint. So there really wasn't much he could do but watch as the Joker casually walked out of there while taunting him that he was gonna make Harvey pay the ultimate price.

The film was getting more and more tense as the stakes were rising, the joker eventually succeeded in capturing Harvey, but he didn't just capture him. He took about a 100 people from the city hostage as well. Amongst them the mayor's wife, the chief judges' daughter, the police commissioner's brother, and more.

The Joker wanted to play a game. He gave the people a few numbers that they had to call to and after a certain number of calls he would let all the hostages go. But the catch was that after a certain number of calls, he would also burn Harvey Trent alive. 

As for which happened first? That depended on luck, but he told them that he was feeling generous, so he gave them a third option. It was for the police commissioner, the mayor, and the chief judge to come forward and reveal the truth behind Blackrock Asylum and what really happened there.

It was like gunpowder in an already volatile situation, because it tore off the mask of civility and innocence from the authorities of the state and showed them a hint of what truly hid behind. Because none of the three aforementioned individuals stepped forward to give any explanation.

When Gordon went to his boss, the commissioner of police, for an explanation, he ordered him to stand down, or he would be arrested for disorderly conduct. It really woke him up, he realized that he had no clue till now as to who was truly running this city. 

The public were appalled at the silence from the three public figures, who denied anything untoward going on behind the scenes. It chilled the hearts of the audience when they saw the chief judge berate his wife for asking him to step forward and speak the truth. 

This was Mark's way of depicting a state/city being secretly ruled by a secret society that controlled everything from the shadows. He planned to expand this later on into a mystery thriller live action TV show about the Court of Owls. 

Mark had planted many Easter eggs into the film that he could use later to introduce new characters and create spin-off TV shows or movies. Like — The Batman, Scarecrow, Killer croc, Bane, Batgirl, Court of Owls and even more that would be revealed by the end of the movie.

The screen went black again as they sat in silence for a few seconds before they heard a phone ring and then multiple at once, it was a little jarring. As the screen was lit up by the projector, they saw the Joker sleeping on a king-sized bed surrounded by many telephones that constantly rang.

They cut off suddenly but then just as suddenly started ringing again, two goons behind the Joker's door were talking about it. As they heard the conversation, they remembered about how more phone calls would save the people taken hostage, but it might also kill Harvey.

The shot then cut to Bruce and Jim, who were trying their best to find Harvey before it was too late. A long story short.. they failed, the Joker surprisingly kept his promise and let the people go but sent the evidence of the truth behind black rock to multiple news channels and demanded them to broadcast it or else.

The heads of these channels knew that broadcasting meant death, not doing so would result in the same as well as the Joker was a ruthless murderer. In the end most of them chose to broadcast it, after all if they were going to die might as well go out with a bang.

That broadcast broke not just the city but the country in two, it only ran for a few minutes before it stopped airing, and it didn't get into any of the secret society stuff. It was stopped after human experimentation and illegal drug trials, as the news channels that decided to air it.. they were cleansed.

Meanwhile, Bruce, who was riding around the city, was called by Gordon about a warehouse at the docks being on fire. He was close to the location, so immediately headed there to save Harvey. 

Upon arrival, he found that it was locked from the inside, so he had to scale the wall and get in through the roof. Unfortunately, by the time he got to Harvey, his body was already covered in 3rd degree burns and his hand was badly charred, as for his face it wasn't really shown properly. 

As they only got to see one side of his face as he was lying down on the ground, but they didn't pay much attention to it. After he was brought to the hospital for treatment, Gordon visited him, probably in hopes of asking what Joker's plan was. 

And despite everything that they had experienced till now in the film, they really weren't ready for it when Harvey finally turned around and revealed his face.

There were a few feminine screams from the crowd that immediately died down, as they saw that half of his face was completely burnt. They could see the muscles of the mouth move as he talked. It was horrifying, he didn't have the eyelid on the burnt part of his face.

They had seen Harvey before, he looked like the kind of person whom people would curse behind his back for his handsome face. His face was now ruined in such a way that felt tragic, they even felt like it would have been better if his entire face was gone.

Because the way he was now, he would always look at his right side and be reminded of what he looked like, of what he had lost to the whims of the crazed clown. After Harvey had exhausted himself by lashing out at Gordon for being responsible for this and for trying to help that lunatic. 

Gordon tried to reason with him, but before he could make any headway, he got a call from an unknown number. The man told him to put it on speaker if he cared about the life of his daughter. Harvey listened in on as the man told him about when and where to find the Joker. 

He was to bring him alive, for which he will be given a promotion to captain that had been long overdue. Jim was shocked by the phone call and immediately asked about his daughter, he was told that his daughter had already been kidnapped by the Joker's men and that the crazed clown wanted to see him face to face.

Before he could ask more, the man had cut off the call, and Harvey had already turned away from him in bed. Gordon sighed and left the room to track down the Joker, to a place he wasn't even sure if he really was there. 

The detective had already been searching high and low, but the joker was in the place where they least expected him to be.

The crazed clown had come to pay a visit to his favorite patient and blow up the hospital, it ended with the audience realizing that Harvey had been corrupted by Joker as well. 

But Mark left it open-ended, with his fate still remaining a mystery for the audience to guess and debate over.

The shot changed to nighttime with joker waiting for Gordon while Bruce was trying to locate Brooke. Thankfully, this time he had more information to work with, and he had ID'd a few of his henchmen. So he had the general area figured out, now all he needed was a call to trace.

Gordon met up with the Joker, arrested him and brought him in; and just like the man on the phone had said, he was immediately awarded by his boss with a promotion. But it just made his heart grow cold from the hidden strings manipulating everything.

He tried to ask Joker if he knew about the man who called him on the phone, but the joker just laughed at him and said, "There are no strings, on me.. for I am free." He said with a knowing smile.

It only served to frustrate Gordon, as he couldn't understand the Joker's intent. The two exchanged a series of dialogues that conveyed their ideologies. The Joker with his intent to see the world burn and Gordon with his intent to save every innocent man he could, and how he believed that deep down inside him, Arthur was alive could be saved.

— To be continued…

In the next episode of Naruto: Road To Kage.

*Cough* *Cough*

I meant in the next chapter of Hollywood: Head-Hunting System.

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Word Count: 3347 words (after excluding the disclaimer, opening Author's Note and the closing Author's Note.)

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{Closing Author's Note: If you guys want to read ahead of the public release or if you guys like my work and would like to support me then please do subscribe to my pat reon it really helps me out, as it reduces the amount of work I need to take on and can focus more on my writing.

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