chapter 117. Part 1.

{A/N: I am really sorry for not posting anything for nearly a week. I didn't even post an Author's Note, to notify you all about what was happening and why I wasn't able to post.

The thing is that I have gotten the new system and for some reason I was not able to login to my webnovel account from it. After trying for days I was closed to giving up but thankfully I was able to login this time.

Once again sorry for the delay and I promise that I will be updating the chapters in the interval of one chapter every 3 days from now on.

Also before, we begin the chapter, I would like to thank two new patrons who have joined my pat reon page. Thank you fireblade974 and Guleid Ab** (Didn't have permission) for the support. It means a lot.

If you would like to know more proud my Petri on page or would like to join it the details will be mentioned in the closing authors note of this chapter.

This is theramenlord signing off.}

..

_________________________

..

~ Quote of the chapter ~

"The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart."

..

--------------------

..

.

Date: 23rd, March, 1991.

.

Time: 06:22 pm.

..

Shock and awe. These were the two feelings that filled him, as he stared into the screen and watched one of the best, if not the best acting performances of his life. It had humbled him, he didn't think much about Marc when he came to his uncle's house for lunch.

The box office success of Knives Out, while being a good movie, could mostly be attributed to his pervasive marketing tactics. He didn't see Marc as an artist, but rather just a successful businessman who disguised him as one to make him look like he belonged in Hollywood.

But this film truly showed him what the Spector was capable of when he put his mind to it. Knives out was just him dipping his toes into the water to test what kind of response he would get. Whereas, The Killing Joke? It was a bold statement, Marc was done playing around.

He felt ashamed of how he behaved when the young director had come to their house for dinner. In his short-sightedness, he didn't think much of the man and acted like Marc wasn't worth talking to and instead ignored him even when Marc had tried to initiate conversation with him.

And now, he would have to swallow his ego when and if he talked to him to ask if he had a role for him in his upcoming projects. Though thankfully he had his cousin who was doing her apprenticeship under Marc. So maybe she could be his way into his circle.

He turned his head slightly, glanced from the corner of his eye at her; Sofia Coppola, the once shy ugly duckling of the family. She had surprisingly blossomed into the confident young woman he saw right now. She was sitting beside her dad, giddily explaining all the small details of the scenes that were playing out on screen.

His eyes were once again drawn back to the screen, and every time he saw Arthur or the Joker. He couldn't help but compare himself to the actor who played him, River Phoenix, the media called him a star that was making his comeback after going radio silent for a year or two after losing at the Oscars.

But now he's back at it again with this grandiose performance, his performance as villain in Knives Out had already landed him an Oscar nomination. And he was not gonna lie, it did make him feel a bit jealous inside. He was even more in awe of Marc, as the first time director got 10 Oscar nominations for his film.

Many of the older directors in the industry expressed their disdain in hushed conversations. They called him a "kid." A brat who got too many nominations that he didn't deserve, solely because of the high box office his movie earned. 

Though even they had to admit that his film was good, they still said that it was nowhere near good enough to justify the amount of accolades it was being nominated for. 

Personally, he didn't understand what the fuss was all about, after all, it was not like Marc could win any of the important Oscar awards. He may win one or two technical awards if the academy judges felt charitable enough. 

But he knew that at such a young age against such great competition like — "Dances With Wolves" and "The Silence of the Lambs;" the chances of Knives Out winning in one of the main Oscar categories was near impossible. No, it will be impossible.

But when he saw the Joker's outburst and killing of the host Murray, the crazed outcry of the following he was gathering, he felt like Marc really had something here. And when he saw the Joker spread the blood across his lips and cheeks to form a bloody smile as tears fell down his eyes. 

Standing above the crazed mob, with his hands spread out as they cheered him, as they all rose up in anarchy against the system, was a bone chilling scene to see. And in his opinion, Marc ended it perfectly, with the Joker's laugh echoing in the background as the screen turned black.

.

..

.

After the intermission, the crowd was once again seated and eagerly waiting to know what would happen next, would the joker be captured again or would he go into hiding. The scene opened with sounds of burning wood, and the choking sobs of a young girl.

When the screen lit up after a few seconds, they saw that it was Brooke who was trying and failing to hold back her tears. She got up from her chair and went around the table to give Bruce a hug, they understood that maybe it was Joker's story that made her cry.

But it was what she said next that stunned quite a lot of them, "Bruce weren't yo—killed that d—." She had to choke her sobs back a few times, so the sentence wasn't fully heard, with a few of the words missing. 

But they were still able to understand the gist of the situation and found themselves fascinated by the interconnectedness of the plot and its characters. The shot cuts back to Bruce with the close up of his eyes. They shone a haunting blue against the glow of the fireplace, the edges of his eyes slightly reddened. 

The shot pans closer to his eyes, as it cuts to a short flashback, and they see that the couple who died in front of their child were actually Bruce's parents. Bruce patted her head to ease her mind, but found that she had gone to sleep. 

He was about to wake her when Gordon stopped him, saying how it was for the best, as what comes next might break her trust in the authorities. It caught his attention as he knew about how the Joker's eventually died, or at least what the powers that be want people to believe.

But what he wanted to know was Gordon's role in it. The guilt and shame regarding whatever it was clear as day on his face, but he knew Gordon was a man of principles.

His best guess was whatever he did, he did unknowingly, or maybe with good intentions, but unfortunately things ended up going to shit anyways. It was something that happened in that cursed city a lot. They were hearing all this in Bruce's internal monologue.

When it ended, Gordon sighed and told him that the higher authorities were thinking about sending the Joker to prison for life or just outright executing him. Though the latter was only a random suggestion, it showed just how badly they were panicking and wanted a solution.

He told Bruce how he and Harvey, who had been the assistant DA, had come up with the solution. They saw a flashback of the young Gordon talking with a young Harvey about wanting to help Arthur. Gordon genuinely wanted to help the clown, who wasn't even in his 30s and had gone crazy due to his loneliness.

He explained to Harvey how if they send Arthur to prison or, worse, kill him, it will only make him look like a martyr in the eyes of his followers and the public of Stygian Springs. Harvey asked him, "then what should we do?"

"We should help him."

"He admitted to being mentally ill, right?"

"Then let's send him to the best mental asylum in the city.. No, the state. The people of this city must believe that we are on their side, that we have their backs."

And we can do that by helping Arthur." Gordon replied with conviction, wanting to help Arthur get better.

"It might actually work." Harvey said with a thoughtful look.

Bruce then stopped Gordon's narration, the shot cuts to the present time, and they see the Stoic Bruce had a horrified look on his face. They found it a little surprising as the man was able to hold back his tears even when the sensitive topic of his parents had been brought up.

'What could it be that has shocked him this bad.' that was the thought that most of the 

"It can't be.. it was you."

"You, who sent him there."

'Where?!' They thought and waited with bated breath for the reveal.

"Yes." Jim admitted with guilt in his eyes.

"They tortured and experimented on him there, before he "allegedly" died." Bruce said plainly as he stared at him with no judgment, but just sadness that his friend was unknowingly responsible for such a tragedy.

"I know, at that time, we didn't know the truth behind what really went on in there."

Gordon explained to him how most of their forces had to be diverted to control and calm the rioting mob. So he only got the time to conduct a surface level background check, and it didn't ring any bells or whistles.

Also, the organization had a stellar reputation as the best asylum in the state and had the ratings to match said reputation.

"You.. sent him to BLACKROCK." Bruce said the name with such disgust and vitriol that his hate for Blackrock was clear to see.

"Yeah, Harvey and I decided on the place and I did the background check. I see am respons—" 

"Jim.. don't blame yourself.. some very powerful people were behind the operations of that "asylum," you couldn't have possibly known." He said, patting his shoulder, after taking a breather to calm down.

"But how do you know about it? It never even made it on the news."

Bruce explained how he had been trying to keep track of the Joker's location, as he was one of the major reasons behind his parents' death. He then asked Harvey what exactly happened there, as his information was incomplete due to redacted files.

This prompted Harvey to narrate the next chapter of the Joker's story, they see shots change colors to signify the pastime. They see the joker being put in the back of a car with a younger Harvey, saying that he'll pray that he gets the help he needs and gets better.

But it only caused the Joker to snap and cuss at him, the drive to the Blackrock Asylum was largely silent, as the Joker stared bored out of the window and saw the city slowly going back to normalcy.

They drive down a slope and a curvy road to finally arrive at a long bridge that stretches from the shoreline to a small island that housed the institute.

As they got to the end of the bridge they were ID'd and buzzed in, Gordon narrated how the security had given him a false sense of safety.

He had thought maybe it was to keep the inmates from escaping or something. It was only after the incident that he realized that it was to keep people from outside being too nosy.

Joker was escorted out of the car and handed over to the staff, he wanted to take a look around, but he was denied.

It felt odd to him, but he still bought the excuse of him being an external factor that might trigger some patients if they saw him.

As he was leaving with his partner, the thought of checking out the place did cross his mind. But the thought of his young daughter at home alone made him reconsider.

That decision haunted him to this day, he didn't know if he would have found something or not, or if it even had made a difference.

But the "what if," still kept him up at nights where he remembered all those that he had lost in the life of duty rather than the ones he had saved.

The audiences were in for a ride as Mark took a note out of Moon Knight; one of his favorite TV shows from Marvel.

He doubled down on the hallucinations and split personality, but he just added in the kick of illegal drug testing, psychological and physical torture and even human experimentation.

He hinted at human and animal cross DNA splicing experimentation with the drawings and reference images of crocodiles, experiments with toxic gasses to induce extreme emotions from their victims, and more. 

The scenes where the Joker was waterboarded and electrocuted at the same time were especially harrowing for quite a few members of the audience. Gordon then explained that it was done in an attempt to develop bioweapons and super-soldiers.

It was the place that they used to test experimental drugs that have not been approved by the FDA for human trials.

As the flashback continued, they saw how the joker's mind was slowly being destroyed from the inside, and it was not just the Joker but Arthur as well.

It was a tense moment, filled with a tense background score that perfectly blended in and put them in the scene. Joker had been planning his escape for quite some time now, he had made a shiv out of a broken toothbrush handle.

He had a piece of sharp glass wrapped around a piece of cloth stuffed down his throat, which he was going to use to cut down the restraints.

The Joker had had enough, he was wheeled in on a stretcher with restraints on both his arms and legs. Looking at his physique, one would say that he looked quite good, but one look at his face would tell anyone that this was a man ready to just snap. 

And snap he did, the doctor, whom they all called Dr. Wicked, injected him with a new drug that he couldn't care less about.

He was a lunatic on a mission, the moment the doctor left him alone he vomited out the blade and shiv. It took quite a bit of squirming, but he finally got them into his hands, from there it was just a question of time.

Unfortunately for him, the doctor brought him a play date, it was one of those mindless beasts in human skin.

They were the end results of the illegal super-soldier program, they got enhanced strength and durability, but their minds were gone. Most of them weren't even capable of following simple orders or having individual thoughts.

He hoped that this new element that was added to his plan wouldn't mess it up. He was almost done cutting all the way through of one of his restraints and he stopped. As he didn't want to make the doctor's job of catching him in the act too easy. 

No matter how funny, it would have been as a practical joke.

He switched the blade to his other arm, and he patiently began the tedious cutting all over again. By the time he was half way done with his other arm, the wicked doctor had already returned to his side. He said something, but his vision was starting to get blurry. 

Seeing that the drug was working, the doctor got excited as he began explaining the toxin called Venom that he had injected in his veins. It was called so because it had nearly killed every person it was ever injected into. But he reassured him, saying that he had tweaked the formula to reduce its effects.

The joker tried to say something but couldn't because he had been gagged, after being annoyed by Joker's constant attempts to speak. The doc made a big mistake. He came closer to Joker's "bound" form and leaned over him to take off his mouth gag.

But as soon as he did so, he felt a glass shard being stabbed into his neck. He was shocked at this sudden attack that happened out of nowhere and stumbled backwards as he clutched the glass shard to his neck, trying to stem the blood flow. 

Meanwhile, the Joker causally got up from his bed and grabbed a scalpel and decided to take care of the doctor. It was sad that he didn't have much time to torture him again as the real powers that be behind this institution might come after him, so he had to fake his death and get out fast.

But before that, he was definitely going to pay back the doc for what he did to him for the past few years. Yes, the Joker had been experimented on and tortured for years, it was a miracle that he could still use his damaged brain enough to create a plan. 

The doctor would be dying fast, he knew it, unless he did something to prolong his suffering. After being tortured and experimented on for years, he knew that place like the back of his hand. He immediately opened up a few cabinets and took out a few tablets and a spray.

Till now the Joker's back was turned away from the camera the whole time so they didn't get to see his face after the gag piece had been removed. But as he was done rummaging for drugs and meds, he turned around and left the crowd speechless. 

It looked like someone cut into the corners of his mouth to extend it.

'Did the doctor do it? Did he do it to himself in one of his bouts of craziness?' The audiences were left guessing, they thought that Marc couldn't surprise or shock them anymore as they had grown desensitized from the constant shocks, but it looked like he still had a few aces up his sleeve.

The Joker immediately headed for the doctor, who tried to crawl away and take support from a wall to stand up again, but it was useless. The doc was only used to inflicting pain, he had never been on the other side of the equation until now. 

The Joker grabbed his head from the back and pulled him closer, he sprayed something on his neck wound that looked like foam. But the moment it came into contact with the air, it seemed to harden and stop the bleeding quite perfectly. 

Doctor Wicked opened his mouth to say something, but before he could do, so the Joker just shoved the tablets he had with him in his mouth. After doing so he blocked his nose and mouth, not allowing him to breathe, and told him. 

"You are either going to swallow your medicine like a good boy, or you're going to die right now. I don't care either way."

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 struggle he 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.

— 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.

-------------------

Word Count: 3017 words (after excluding the disclaimer, opening Author's Note and the closing Author's Note.)

-------------------

{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.

You will find the link to my pat reon in the authors thought section or you can just Google my name theramenlord and patr eon together to find me.

Joining my pat. reon will give you access to the following –

3 Advanced chapters of Head-Hunting System.

(Chapter 120 work in progress)

11 Chapters of Naruto: Road To Kage. (my Naruto fanfic)

5 Chapters of the Revised Script of Phantom Menace.

And Prologue of two of my new fanfics for free.

Sorry for not being able to upload any chapter in so long. Unintended it might be but I took a week long break from webnovel. But now I am back and I hope you like this chapter because the end of it is something release special.

Again the chapter doesn't have a name, so please do give some suggestions. It will be much appreciated.}