Grand Tour [Slade]

[The Joker]

Players: Slade and the Joker
Location(s): Gotham City
Plot Summary: The Joker takes it upon himself to give his good friend Deathstroke a tour of his city.

A steady stream of water rolled about in a marble sink as steam began to waft into the air until the thin clouds rolled against the high ceiling. Steam gathered quickly and filled the room in a foggy haze as The Joker held his stark white hands under the scalding flow of water. "Oh I probably wouldn't believe it myself, dear Ozzie, if I hadn't seen it with my very own eyes." Joker nodded to his words as he glanced up from his hands to peer at the reflection of the henchman in the mirror standing behind him.

"Deathstroke and Catwoman sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Ha ha ha ha."

[/b] While the Joker was amused by this discovery, his rail thin little henchmen seemed utterly lost as to what the whole point of all of this was. "You see, Kittycat's supposed to be on her best behavior, not to mention this means she's steppin' out on ole Brucey,"[/b] The clown looked back into the sink at his own hands, expertly washing away the crimson stains of some poor sap who possibly had been an enemy of the Joker's, and just as possibly could have been an innocent bystander; by this point Joker no longer clearly held the two categories separate.

"But the real importance of all of that is this!"[/b] Joker shut off the faucet and shook his soaking hands as he spun around to face Ozzie, his face stretched with his usual smile. Very slowly the Clown Prince approached his henchman, "Deathstroke the Terminator has come to town. I don't know why and I don't know for how long, but I think we both know I don't really care either way!"[/b] Joker's teeth chattered as he laughed lowly.

Reaching out with lightning speed Joker grabbed Ozzie by his shirt and....dried his hands thoroughly. "Thanks, heehee. Now, with Deathstroke in town and Batman off gallivanting with the Justice League some place, who's there to show our friend Slade around?"[/b] Joker paused and Ozzie mistakenly took that to mean it was a question he needed to answer. When the henchman parted his lips to speak Joker frowned and struck Ozzie right on the chin with a balled fist. "Me! That's who! But I'll do it the right way. No broken bones, no dangling from rooftops."[/b]

The Joker stepped his long legs, one after another, over Ozzie's crumbled form and continued his conversation to himself as he pushed the bathroom door open to exit. "Batsy never was any good in the hospitality department. Now if I were an one-eyed mercenary with horrible fashion sense trying to keep a low profile, where would I be?"[/b] The Joker rubbed his pointed chin as he wandered away from his own hideout in search of Deathstroke's. [/blockquote]

[Deathstroke]

Slade was never a big fan of Gotham. He came here a lot, actually more than a lot. Slade could have built an entire career out of just what he had done in Gotham. If it wasn't a contract to kill Batman, it was a contract to distract him or a contract to distract the police or a contract to do SOMETHING to Gotham. Sure, he'd razed entire cities to the ground before, but it was like he was drawn to Gotham, much to the Terminator's dismay. There was always just something... wrong with Gotham. He wasn't scared of it, but it didn't make his job any easier.

Then, there were the characters. Slade had been in Gotham, for what, a few hours? He had seen Freeze, Catwoman, and what he believed to be a Robin running around here. Forget Arkham, Gotham was the real asylum, and Slade was one of their favorite visitors. Dick wanted him dead, Riddler wanted to tell him a joke(or was that another villain?), or Bane wanted to work with him. They all wanted Deathstroke, and the man provided his services as the greatest assassin in the world every single time. He may have hated the place, but he still had a job to do. And for some reason, the denizens of Gotham had the cash to satiate him.

Deathstroke was perched on a building in the East End, trying to gather information on who killed the mayor. He had tracked Selina here, but she seemed to be searching just as much as Slade was for someone. So, they "split up" if you could call it that. It was more Slade allowing her out of his sight for a few minutes; so he could do some digging himself. It wasn't exactly the smartest thing Slade could have done, but he had faith that he could keep up with Catwoman when she finally decided to go elsewhere.

Then, he saw the Joker. If anyone knew anything about the mayor's murder, it was the Clown Prince of Crime. Ironically, the Joker was... what did Joker call him last time he was here? "BFFs"? That sounded right. Whatever it was, it meant that Slade worked with the Joker more than most of the other costumed creeps of Gotham City. It didn't help that when it came to the Bat-Family, there was no one better at getting under their skin than the Harlequin of Hate, and if there was one thing Slade loved to do for business and pleasure, it was terrorize that particular group of heroes(them or the Teen Titans).

The Terminator dropped down to the street level and walked up to the Joker. Slade would have noted the oddity of talking to a supervillain outside and NOT on a building, but this was the Joker. He didn't play by the norm. Slade crossed his arms as he stared down at the smaller clown.
"Hello, Joker."

[The Joker]

So there he was, out on the Gotham streets well within the night and surprisingly there was no gunfire, no Joker venom being released upon unsuspecting citizens, no explosions to shake the city up. Nothing. Joker simply walked down the middle of the street with his hands in his jacket pockets whistling a tune innocently. He could feel the eyes on him, terrified peepers who wanted no more than to slink away and hide from the clown but where utterly convinced they needed to watch every movement he made. They watched from around corners, leaned back in cars, staring behind partially drawn curtains, and all other angles you could imagine. The Joker paid it no mind. He enjoyed having an audience but at the moment he was too preoccupied with his quest to find the merc with a mouth - that was one of his many nicknames right?

"Hello, Joker."

The voice was strong, aged, tough, and probably made Teen Titans everywhere wet their pants. "Strokey!" The Joker spun around to face the masked killer with his hands thrown up high in excitement. "What a coincidence, I was just looking for you." Joker smiled and then stopped. Was it a coincidence? He wouldn't put it past a man of Deathstroke's caliber to have bugged him; somehow, someway. Joker pondered it over for a split second before fanning his flimsy arm through the air waving off his own mental inquiry.

The large smile returned to the clown's face and before Deathstroke could do anything about it Joker's arm was already tossed over the taller man's shoulder. "Since you found me I'll let you go first. What's on your mind? Wait, lemme guest! You wanna know if Harley has any young friends that you can....Deathstroke, amirite? Ha ha hahahoohoo!" The Joker tossed his head back and cackled, the sound echoing through the street, all the while still clinging to Slade's side.

[Deathstroke]

Deathstroke had to admit it: the Joker was awfully docile. Normally, Slade would have seen about two dead bodies a step(four if he was using Joker Venom). He would have suspected that it was a fake or someone Joker had dressed up like him, but Joker would have had to practically make a whole new Joker to look this real. And yes, despite missing one eye, he COULD see at fully capacity for the most part; so, he was pretty sure that he was right. If not, he'd just kill the poor sap and save the Man Who Laughs(Slade couldn't remember if that was a nickname or not) the trouble.
"Strokey!"

Well, that was most certainly the Joker. Slade couldn't say he LIKED spending time with the Joker. They worked well together and all, but it was the Joker. It took a special breed of human being to deal with that man on a daily basis. He would have asked how Harley did it, but Harley was just as crazy as he was. It was sort of like putting a pair of slightly-mismatched pair of socks together: not many noticed the problem with it...where did that thought come from? Nevermind, it didn't matter to Slade.

Slade raised an eyebrow. The Joker was looking for him? Well, that wasn't anything new. When any of his assassin/villain "friends" from out of town came around, he was typically one of the first to say hello if the Bat didn't get to them first. He was... friendly like that. Still, the coincidence was a little too convenient. Oh well, that could wait.
"Yes, a coincidence. It IS very convenient, isn't it?"

Slade's instinct was to take the flimsy, pale arm currently around his shoulder and snap it in so many places that Batman would have needed to take notes. Word of advice to people who are not the Joker: don't touch highly-dangerous assassins. That's what Slade WOULD have done, but it was the Joker. If you did anything to him, if the Bat liked it or not, the Bat would make sure you paid. Slade did NOT want to go into THEIR relationship at this point in time however. He had business to take care.
"No, this is business not..." Deathstroke cringed slightly underneath his mask. "Pleasure. I was hired to kill the mayor of Gotham earlier in the day. I had everything set up and was ready to take the shot, but someone shot him first. I want to know who."