Love Hina Fan Fiction / Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ The Ace of Knaves ❯ Chapter 6

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: Omega X

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

- Chapter 05: The Joker -

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

“... and the police have quickly evacuated the premises. From what our sources hear, there is supposedly a bomb, and the Bomb Squad is on their way...”

“... amazingly, these events are coming in quickly after the Joker's capture, and rumor has it, he had escaped from police custody...”

“... whether or not Aoyama Tsuruko, the older sister of the murdered heiress of the Aoyama Clan has anything to do with everything that has been going around, it begs to question on why is she here, and why she is on custody.”

The news media were eating everything up. Even behind the barricade, even when stopped by riot shields, they still kept pushing. A few were apprehended trying to enter the building, and were kicked out of the premises.

Japan was in an uproar. That's what Kudo felt. She was still steamed about his disappearance and the ingeniously planted a bomb in the HQ to assist on his escape. But he couldn't have done it alone... he definitely had helped.

The bomb was placed on the basement. From what the person who found it described, it was a large multi-cylindered box-liked device with a timer on it, counting down at 30 minutes.

It's been past ten minutes already.

The first thing the Chief did was evacuate the premises. All the officers abandoned their work areas, and marched out the building calmly. Kudo had helped with the evacuation. Minimizing their losses, the only thing they could do was wait for the bomb squad, and keep the media people out of harm's way.

“Kudo...”

The detective turned towards the chief of police.

“We underestimated him...” she muttered. “With this going on, he'll be long gone by the time this whole thing was done.”

“Don't let it get to you,” the chief replied kindly. “We need your brains for this. Is there any way to track him after this?”

“I have a suspect, but it makes no sense,” Kudo shook her head. “Too many variables. Even then, the bomb isn't something that she'd be able to sneak in easily to this place. I could be wrong... and that mistake would just give him more lee-way.”

“Keep on it so you can get back on me when you get something... once the bomb is out of the equation, we'll send all our forces to track him down.”

“What about Aoyama, sir?” Kudo asked.

“We'll hold her for assault,” the chief replied. “But... I don't think we'll get anything more than a night in jail. I can imagine myself getting another call from the Commissioner-General...” he sighed.

Kudo nodded. It was difficult. If the media weren't here, they'd have been much more fluid with their manpower. Most of them were used to keep the media back from all directions. Some were guarding the prisoners that the police were holding during that time, including Aoyama, who seemed to have fizzed out after finding out the man she was beating the bloody pulp out of, was not the Joker.

There was another stir in the crowd. Looking up, she saw a fast coming truck deployed by the National Police Agency, with the words `Bomb Squad' written on its side. They rushed in the free road, and stopped immediately in front of the entrance. The back doors of the truck opened, and out came the unit.

They were fast and efficient. One group began to hand out the thick kevlar bomb suits to the other group. Another were deploying one of their surveillance all terrain robot.

The Chief walked towards what seemed to be the leader of the squad, and motioned Brea to approach. She was introduced by the chief, and the leader offered his hand to her.

“Nice to finally meet the famous Kudo,” he smiled. “Sergeant Lieutenant Yoshi.”

“Thanks,” Kudo muttered, shaking his hand. “What's the plan?”

“We'll be sending our Rockman Robo down there with our finest diffuser. Rockman will take a picture, x-ray of the whole device, and we'll cross reference it with our database, and see the best way of disarming it. How much time do we have?”

“Twenty minutes... most likely less,” the Chief replied.

“We'll be out of your hair in ten,” Yoshi declared. “We'll either diffuse it, or blow it up. Either way, ten minutes.”

“If that was a joke...” Kudo began, but the leader just shook his head.

“No, Detective Kudo... I was being damn serious.”

Kudo didn't reply as the Sgt. Lt. Yoshi twirled his hand around the air, motioning his squad to hurry up. Three men were now wearing full Kevlar suits with shatter-proof face guards. Two were carrying cases filled with wires, and pliers, most likely used for the bomb. One had an assault rifle. The Rockamn Robo was also completed... it looked like a small tank with a mounted video camera on it.

“Come!” Yoshi called towards the Chief and Kudo towards the van.

Kudo noticed the park van having four wheels in the rear, and now supporting two metal posts coming towards the ground as she entered the back door. Inside was a spectacle to see. It was like a mini-command center, TVs, speakers, all showing the three personnel and the robot going inside the building.

“Central hub,” Yoshi explained. “This truck is heavy... much heavier than standard. It's laid with lead and steel, so even if the bomb goes off, this baby will be secure in place. All these computers monitor our team going in hostile territory. We can communicate back with them. Gives a double-assurance to it. Not only is our team capable enough to handle bombs themselves, they've got an extra eye and ear to help them with complications.”

Kudo and the Chief stood behind Yoshi, who sat down a chair, his hand on a microphone. Beside him was the operator for Rockman, who was steadily controlling the robot through the joystick he was holding.

Kudo admired the way they had operated for a moment, but concentrated on the task at hand. The personnel with the assault rifle was leading the team, checking out for them, and giving clearance after taking a look at the rooms they were entering.

“We evacuated the premises,” the Chief stated.

“We take no chances. Last time, a bomb maker had waited for my team to take them out before they could reach the bomb,” Yoshi replied. “Luckily, our front guard shot him down before he could get to the others, and we disarmed the bomb properly, without a hitch.”

“Sir... we have movement...”

“See? Scout motto... always be ready,” Yoshi smiled. He talked back towards the mic. “Investigate. If hostile, neutralize.”

“Roger...”

The camera's panned as the front guard cautiously walked towards on the door that was seemingly shaking. Kudo recognized the place... it was a broom closet where most of the janitors kept their cleaning tools. The man readied his weapon, and then kicked down the door.

“FREEZE!”

Inside were three men, stripped to their boxers, gagged and tied. Kudo blinked slightly, wondering who the hell they were. She took a look at the Chief, who also looked confused. The guard slowly approached them, checking the narrow closet for anything hidden, before he took out the gag of one of the people trapped in that room.

“Identify yourself.”

“We… we're the janitors assigned to clean for this week! Some… some group ambushed us, and took our clothes!”

“Well... I guess that explains who put the bomb here,” Kudo muttered. Janitors have almost unrestricted access to building, only limited to the holding cells and the file room. She deduced with three people dressed up as janitors, they could sneak in a bomb, and assemble it on location. She looked towards the chief, who nodded, and went for his phone.

“This is the Chief,” he muttered. “I need a personnel assessment right now. I need you to find out about the janitors we've assigned this week. They must have been evacuated with everyone. See if you can find them.”

Kudo looked at him for a moment, wondering how he was actually feeling after all these turn of events. His expression usually never changes, even during the most trying times.

“I don't think we'll find them,” the detective muttered. “They'd be long gone by now. They wouldn't be stupid enough to stick around.”

The front guard hurriedly freed the naked men, and told them to move out the building. Assigning a few officers to wait for them at the entrance, the Chief and Kudo came back to Yoshi, whose men were finally approaching the basement, where they had seen the explosive device.

“Alright, we have visual,” Yoshi muttered. “Hmmm... seems simple, crudely designed. Very easy to spot... you sure someone didn't leave a Christmas tree down there?”

Kudo, had it been less serious, would have chuckled at that. The bomb was a rather large multi-colored box, painted with an odd shade of green, purple, red and white, but its cylinders protruding out of that colorful square package, plus the timer counting down at 15 minute mark had shown that this wasn't harmless.

“What kind of damage can we expect from that?” the Chief asked.

“Depends...” Yoshi paused for a moment. “Depends on the explosives used. If inside those cylinders are C-4, you can say goodbye to that HQ of yours... but I highly doubt it.”

“What makes you say that?” the Chief asked.

“C-4 is controlled. The government would know if someone has been transporting some here or missing from its stores,” Yoshi replied. “I'm more likely to believe that the explosives inside are made of TNT, or home-made. It won't be as destructive as C-4... but then, if you look at where the bomb was placed, you'd see the problem.”

“It's near the gas main,” Kudo replied, noticing where Yoshi was pointing at.

“Exactly. If that thing blows, it will cause a chain reaction, maximizing damage with just a smaller explosion. Whoever planted it knew what they were doing...”

“In position sir...”

“Alright... moving the Rockman into position,” a man beside Yoshi muttered, his hands moving the joystick delicately. “Taking an x-ray...”

One of the screens displayed the picture that the robot had taken. It showed the bomb with a few slightly more details... Yoshi seemed to stare at the picture on his screen for a moment, talking to the guy beside him. They both seemed to agree on something.

“Alright... the bomb is fairly basic,” Yoshi said towards Kudo and the Chief. “We can't determine the explosives used, but it won't matter as long as we can take the detonator out of the equation.”

“Proceeding with the diffusion.”

“Roger... take care. Even if the x-rays don't show booby traps on the body, don't get careless,” Yoshi replied.

“Removing outer covering...”

Kudo could feel her palms sweat as she watched in the screen. The bomb diffusers were careful, their hands very steady. One of them grabbed a small mirror attached to a stick that could be elongated. The mirror itself was able to move to get certain angles. The other though seemed to laugh slightly, looking at the maze of wires seemingly going around it forever.

Like the covering, the wires were colored red, green, purple and white.

“This is probably the messiest bomb I have ever seen...”

“You people hang around a lot of comedy bars, eh?” Kudo whispered towards Yoshi, who looked at her with a slight smile.

“Humor is a way of coping under pressure,” he replied. “Nervousness is not needed in this job. A little wrong nudge or shake, boom! its over. We keep ourselves alive through small controlled humor. Don't take it seriously.”

“I was actually making a small joke,” Kudo muttered, making Yoshi grin at her appreciatively.

“Control... it's too messy... we can't even see what's connected to what. I'm going to see if I can spread out some of the wires to see the interior of this mesh.”

“Careful.”

Kudo watched as one of the men started to spread out the wires carefully, and the other inserted the mirror inside. After some searching, they seemed to have stumbled on a black small box where two wires were connecting at it. A green and red wire.

“Detonator. Kinda cliché as usual... red and green. Others are probably trip wires.”

“Your show. You know what to do,” Yoshi muttered.

“Gotcha... cutting out the plastic covering of the red and green wire...”

Kudo took a deep breathe, watching as the two began to take out their own clippers and wires. She had a vague general notion on how to neutralize bombs... it was all the matter of rerouting the electrical energy to keep the detonator deploying by putting it in a parallel route while they worked on the timer. If they tried to force the timer off, it may trigger the bomb.

“So... moment of truth. Red wire?”

“No... that's the live one.”

Kudo watched as the men cut the green wire, and sighed in relief when the timer suddenly turned off. The chief beside her regained some color back to his face.

“Told you,” Yoshi declared after a moment. “Ten minutes or less.”

Kudo was about to reply in kind when in the corner of her eye, she noticed that the timer suddenly went on again. The two men inside the building seemed to have noticed as well because they suddenly stumbled with their tools.

“Sir! It reactivated!”

“It's counting down from 5 seconds!”

“GET OUT! GET OUT!” Yoshi ordered, but Kudo knew, it was far too late. The men inside the room were scrambling towards the exits, while the Chief, Yoshi and the detective braced themselves for the imminent explosion.

There was nothing. Kudo found herself opening her eyes again, looking towards the screen, wondering what happened. The Rockman camera was still online, and it was still looking towards the bomb. The timer was at zero, but instead of the usual explosion, there was a white smoke oozing out of the cylinders.

“W… what happened?” Yoshi asked.

“We… we were duped,” Kudo muttered, pointing towards the timer, which was now displaying one word.

HAHAHA

Yoshi wiped the sweat off his eyebrows. The robot operator beside him was looking very confused, while the team inside seemed to have wondered what happened.

“Control… what's going on?”

“False alarm, boys… false alarms,” Yoshi muttered. He looked towards Kudo, who was now in her thinking mode. “I don't know whether to be mad or relieved… I mean… I'm glad no one is hurt, but as a bomb diffuser…”

“Let's just be glad that it was another joke,” the Chief muttered. He looked towards the detective. He blinked as he recognized her expression. “What's on your mind Kudo?”

The detective didn't answer, her hand over her mouth and chin. There was something definitely odd about this. Her head popped the question: Why fake the bomb?

She couldn't understand it. It fit him… his personality. Hanging out with him in the interrogation room gave her a slightly deeper insight than it did before. The Joker was a showman. He loved to display himself, appearing twice on TV to display his kills, or telling his exploits without any remorse, but with enjoyment. Most of his plans, as elaborately made, were colorfully shown as it reaped its results.

It would make much more sense if the bomb was real. Would it not only fit his purpose of escaping, but also demoralize the police forces, and cause a circus of chaos… something he just loved to do.

Maybe he was just thinking of his escape? But Kudo shook her head at that. It was too simple, and if there is anything about the Joker is that he isn't `simple'. He looked like a clown… harmless, funny… but he isn't. Face-value isn't something you add beside the Joker…

So… why fake the bomb? Maybe he didn't have resources to actually get one, so he had to fake it? No… with more than 15 million yen unaccounted for, he could get explosives (or even make them) as easily as getting guns.

No, if the bomb was never meant to explode, it meant that it was used for something else. A bomb threat would keep the police busy, buying his escape… but what else? What else did he use the fake bomb for?

And it hit her. The bomb was meant to buy time, all right… but maybe just not for his escape. It was a thought so damn crazy it was exactly like him. The realization smacked her out of her thinking mode as she suddenly grabbed her gun from her holster.

“Kudo?” the Chief asked.

“The bomb was meant to bring everyone out! Someone is still inside!” the detective muttered, rushing out of the van. She pointed towards three police officers who were assigned to take care of the naked janitors, and signaled them to come over.

She moved in fast. She didn't know how much time the Joker needed to buy with the bomb, but she had to stop it. Part of her wanted to be wrong… part of her thought it was too illogical, but after she realized who she was dealing with, logic doesn't cut it anymore. He was always one-step ahead of them because they were never truly thinking like him… and that was his advantage. No one could ever truly think like him.

Kudo got a stroke of inspiration. If she ever called it anything else, it would have been a fluke.

She rushed past the ground. Up the stairs, the three officers followed her, their weapons out as well, though slightly more nervous as they didn't know the status of the bomb, but they respected Kudo enough to follow her lead. Quickening their pace to match hers, they all passed through the mess room, the recreational area, and finally, towards her office.

Kudo signaled everyone to stop. Her ears listened carefully as she heard whispers coming from her office. She was about to signal a formation, when she heard glass smashing, breaking. She skipped her original plan, and just rushed in.

“FREEZE!” she shouted, spotting one of the janitors… the one that bumped into Brea earlier. He ignored her, and just jumped out of the window. Kudo could only see him and two other fake janitors swinging down a zip-line going towards the other building.

She cursed. Too late. She didn't figure it out sooner. She looked towards her computer, where all the files of Urashima Keitaro had been authorized, connected to almost all government agencies that had given his files… there was one big joker card on display.

It was gone… all of it. His name… his past, his records. This was his plan all along. The Joker, ever since the beginning of his story, never, ever, wanted to be called Urashima Keitaro. It was a burden he was forced to carry… a burden he didn't want or need. Even the diary that was sent through the envelope without return address (that was supposedly, though now very doubtful, sent by Urashima Haruka) was gone.

The Chief appeared on her doorstep, his gun out as well. He looked around the office, and looked at the detective with an inquiring eyebrow.

“Chief…” Kudo muttered rather weakly.

“Kudo… what's going on?”

“Three men were in my office. They were tampering the computer connected to the various files concerning Urashima. His birth, school history, and even the files that Brea and I have accumulated… it's gone.”

“What!?”

“The three men uploaded a virus in my computer… it probably spread to all the other computers it was connected on. All the online data we have on Urashima Keitaro… it's gone.”

“Where are they?” the Chief asked.

“They have escaped through a zip line out my window…”

The chief of police grabbed the his cell phone as Kudo checked out her broken window and witnessed the three shadows making a fire on the roof. She knew what they were going to do… and she couldn't do anything about it. There was only one thing they couldn't delete easily because it was a hard-copy…

Urashima Keitaro's journal… along with the letters that `Urashima Haruka' supposedly wrote. They were now destroying it.

“Damnit… I should have seen this coming… I should have…”

“Kudo…” the Chief looked at her for a moment. “Why would he do this? Erase his criminal record so we don't have anything to show against him in court?”

“I don't think so,” Kudo shook her head. “Brea said he was insane… I doubt he'd actually have to fear anything from the court or evidence we can procure. No… it was something else.”

“What?”

“He said to me once that the only way to live in this crazy world is to live without rules…” Kudo muttered. “Rules, boundaries… all the same. And for him, the Joker, his only boundary was his past… a name he doesn't want anymore. This whole thing… the robbery, the murders… I thought it was all connected to one motive: revenge. No… he's gone beyond that. This was his plan… to be truly free, to be without rules; he destroyed Urashima Keitaro, to truly be the Joker.”

“That's crazy!” the Chief muttered.

“Sir… the Joker is crazy,” Kudo replied. “And he won. The bastard won again.”

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

As if it wasn't enough that the Joker escaped, things never calmed down. As soon as the police was getting back on their track (the HQ was still tense until the Bomb Squad carried out the fake bomb out of the building) there were multiple of calls.

Chaos has erupted once again. Juveniles were beginning to flood the streets once more, brandishing their clown-like visage as war-paint, terrorizing the streets of Tokyo. Calls came in like a tidal flood, forcing the police to, once again, thin out their forces to the point that capturing the Joker (who was still missing) was secondary to keeping peace on the streets.

The police had something to show, though. They had captured the three men who dressed up as janitors, though it's not something Kudo felt that should be bragged about. They stayed where they were, burning his journal and laughing, dancing around the fire.

The two were computer specialists, and the other a fireworks maker. The Joker freed both from the asylum, many months ago.

Kudo sat down on her table, sighing. At the rate where things were going, Japan would change… maybe forever. Never in such a scale were the law was terrorized as much as it did now. Yakuza, though they had man-power and means, never achieved something this lunatic did. And to think… he was just your regular average guy until his change…

She shuddered.

Kudo had an inclination where he was… but it didn't make sense. Too many unknowns were present, and if she got it wrong… it would be something she'd regret for the rest of her life. She needed proof… or anything that would make her guess more than just baseless thinking.

Whilst she was pondering over her thoughts, she suddenly received a call.

“Kudo…” she answered immediately. She blinked. “Dad?”

It was Kudo Shinichi… her father.

“Hey, kiddo. What's up?”

“Why are you calling?” Kudo asked. “You don't usually socialize.”

“Heard you were on the spot of trouble, and being a kind father I am, I thought maybe I ought to show my daughter that even though her IQ test was higher than mines, it doesn't really mean anything if you don't know how to use it properly…”

“Oh, great,” Kudo growled. “If you're just here to joke around, I'm hanging up.”

“Oh, you do not want to have some inside information? Something that would help you in your case?”

“Dad, you're in America.”

“Yes, with the FBI. I stumbled on a very interesting case… you know… mysterious corpse. I heard Professor Agasa has given you the heads up. Thought you may want to look at it before it gets released into the media.”

“What does your case have to do with-”

“Faxing it to you. Good luck kiddo.”

Kudo cursed as his father turned on the fax tone, and she in turn did the same. What did her dad want? What did he have?

Soon, she was receiving papers… and everything came at full circle. All the pieces of the puzzle were suddenly began to fit in place. A whole crime-spree, the Joker, his helper, now everything was finally answered; her doubts vanished as she realized that her insights and instincts were correct. She got her criminal, and she had proof.

“Thanks dad,” she whispered to the air before hastily grabbing the papers, and ran towards the Chief in his office. She didn't even knock in anymore, and just barged in, much to his surprise. He was about to question her when she just slammed the papers she received from her dad to his desk.

“I know where he is.”

The Chief looked at them, disbelieved at what he was reading… but he didn't have enough time to dwell on it when he saw Kudo rushing out.

“Hey! Kudo! Where do you think you're going?” he asked.

“I am getting him,” she replied immediately, looking back at the Chief.

“Wait until we get enough forces to accompany you-”

“No! He'll escape by the time comes… I have to go now!” she muttered before rushing out.

The Chief could only watch helplessly as Kudo left his office, and he sagged down his chair. He had a sinking feeling when he saw her retreating back. He grabbed his cell phone, and began to dial a number.

Damn it, Kudo… I'm getting you back-up… but until they come, good luck, he thought.

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

Inside Brea's apartment, the good doctor was packing her things when her doorbell rang. Surprised, she rushed towards the door without pause, and looked through the peephole. It was Kudo. She opened the door immediately.

“Kudo… hey, you caught up! Wha…” she stopped when she saw Kudo's expression. “What's wrong? Did something happen?”

“Yeah… he escaped,” Kudo replied.

“No!” Brea muttered, shocked.

“Yeah… but don't worry. I know where he is.”

“Let me go with you,” Brea stated, turning. “Let me get my jacket, and let's go…” but she stopped when she felt Kudo's hand on her shoulder. She turned, and looked at the detective.

“What is it Kudo?”

“You know… if I wasn't right, I'd be regretting this,” and suddenly, Kudo punched the woman right in the gut, sending her reeling to the floor. “I didn't know your fighting prowess, so, sorry for being a bit underhanded, but you're under arrest.”

Brea coughed, and her arms were forced behind her. She could feel the cold metal handcuffs tightening around her wrists.

“W… what are you doing, Kudo?” she asked weakly.

“Stop pretending to be Kyla Brea,” Kudo muttered neutrally. “Her body was found earlier, and she was identified by my father. You're undone…” and she felt the skin, and pulled it off easily, “… Urashima Kanako.”

The blonde American transformed immediately after Kudo pulled off the latex skin mask. Instead, what she got was a black-haired Japanese woman who growled as she was exposed.

“You made a mistake…” Kudo muttered as she grabbed Kanako's hands and handcuffed them. “When the Joker was found to have escaped, there was only one person who was capable of helping him… and that was the last person who went with him going to his cell, mainly you. You probably knocked out the guard, did your make-up and disguise on him, and walked out of here while the Joker escaped by pretending to be the said guard.”

She paused.

“Urashima Kanako… according to many reports, you specialize in disguises, can change your voice, and even your body structure. You were supposed to be in the US, studying… you were not even on my suspect list, the Maehara girl was… that is until they found Doctor Brea's body in her vacation cottage in Arizona. They just identified her now.”

Kudo lifted Kanako up the wall, and pinned her there.

“It seems the FBI needed her on the case whilst she was taking her vacation leave. My father assisted in the matter. After that, it made sense… who you were, the means, the way, and everything finally came to a full circle. The only question is… why?”

Kudo shook her.

“Why? Why are you helping that monster!?” she demanded.

“Don't talk about him that way!” Kanako growled.

“He just killed three of his former tenants and has killed more just to go on his way!” Kudo hardened her tone. “And I'm not going to put up with this anymore! Where is he? Where is that monster!?”

“Monster…? Now, now…”

Kudo turned, letting go of Kanako, whilst taking her gun out from her holster, and aimed it squarely on his chest. It was him… the Joker, once again, wearing his usual clothing. His purple pants, custom shoes, and his purple jacket wrapped around him tightly.

He smiled at her.

“If you're going to talk about me… at least let me get a word in, edgewise… like… seven.”

“Freeze, Joker! You're little plan of erasing your records may have worked, but you're not getting away with it!” Kudo ordered, shaking her hand holding the gun. “It's over!”

“Six.”

“Put your arms above your head!”

“Five.”

“I said put your arms above your head… NOW!” Kudo growled, wondering if the Joker was even listening to her.

“Four…”

“This is your last warning…” Kudo muttered, her index finger now twitching.

“Three…”

And he opened his jacket to reveal he was wearing what she could only describe as a vest of dynamite, wrapped in red paper; all their collective fuses were joined towards the timer with his picture at the bottom of it, ticking down from three to…

“Two…”

She froze. It came in too fast. If he had a gun, or a knife, she'd still be able to disarm him, but a bomb? Strapped to himself?

And as he counted down to one, she took a step back. His smile was still plastered all over his face, showing no fear, just a smile. She knew he was unhinged, crazy, unpredictable, but even then, she always thought the Joker wasn't this crazy!

“Surprise!” he exclaimed suddenly, and something squirted from the bottom of the timer to her face. She felt the cold creamy liquid splatter across her face, and for some reason, her muscles froze. She tried to sputter, wipe the thing off her face, fearing the toxic or poison that he was handling, but she couldn't move. The Joker just laughed aloud in front of her.

“Oh detective! You should have seen your face!” he laughed. He grabbed a mirror from his jacket pocket, and laughed. “Now you can! And look at that! Like some lewd picture off the internet! HAhAHAHAHAHA!”

The Joker continued to laugh, hiding the mirror back to his pocket, while Kudo, whose eyes are the only ones unfrozen or numb, blinked and looked around desperately.

“Whooowheee!” he declared. “How'd you like my new paralysis poison? First batch I had made! Sure… not as fun as JokerIZE, but it has a lot of potential!”

He suddenly jumped in front of her. “BOO!” and he laughed. “Wow! Must have scared the living daylights out of you! Oh, oh, wait, how about this…”

He suddenly posed in front of Kudo, his hand playing being a gun. “FREEZE…! Wait… you took it too literally! HAHaHAHAHAHhAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, I got another one…!”

And his face, for a moment, turned solemn and serious again

“Uh… Kudo-san… I know you just got back from your beauty fix… but… you're son is dead. Why aren't you reacting? Too much botox?” and he laughed again.

He smiled at her. “These are jokes… you can at least appreciate them. Why so stone faced? Are you paralyzed by some new toxic? Oh… wait… you are!”

He laughed again, his gloved hand knocking on Kudo's forehead, making the `toc toc' sound as he made contact with her. “Knock on wood. Get it?”

And he laughed harder than ever, so much that he had to pause and take a breather. “Oooh, detective… that was so much fun, wasn't it?” he asked, his gloved hand tapping her cheek. “Ew… it does look like lewd, doesn't it? Oh well…”

He walked away from her line of site, and as numb as she felt, she could still feel him going for her pockets.

“Let me burrow this for a sec,” he stated as he showed her, for a second, what he took. It was a dangling key-chain, where she had kept most of her keys, including one of her handcuffs. “Being here, detective, I must congratulate you. I never thought you'd actually make it this far… there you go, my little Harley, now get me my little sprayer…”

He appeared in front of her again, smiling. He must have used his keys to release Kanako from her cuffs… Kudo mentally shouted. She was forcing herself to move.

“But we must say our goodbyes… I have done what I needed to do, and now I can face the brave new world… like Columbus when he went to India, and landed on America by mistake,” and he whispered, “though seriously, how could you not expect that since he went the wrong way? HaHAHaHAHAHA!”

“Here you go, Mr. J,” Kanako came to view, smiling. She handed the Joker a bottle of water with a fitted sprayer on top.

“See? My little Harley had trouble smiling before, but now… she's shining,” the Joker smiled, as he aimed towards Kudo's face with the sprayer, and unleashed a cold torrent of water. For a moment, she felt a ripple of response in her body… her lips were begging to gain their feeling, and her tongue was slowly loosening itself.

“And as your role ends, my dear detective…” he continued, giving the bottle of water to Kanako, who gave him something that looked like a lipstick, “it would be sad if you hadn't come out of this without a smile.”

He opened the cap, and extended the red stick forward, then slowly smeared her lips, delicately brushing the upper and lower bits, extending them on her cheek, giving her a large red smile.

“Beautiful,” the Joker laughed, and proceeded to remove his bomb vest. “Stop me if you've heard this before!”

He put the bomb right in front of her still frozen body, though if someone looked closely, her fingers were beginning to twitch.

“How many thawing detectives does it take to disarm a bomb?” the Joker asked. “None. HAHaHAHAHAHAHAHA! See you detective! Come out with a bang!”

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

The people moved out of the way as they spotted the Joker strolling down the street with a younger girl hugging beside him, his arm encircling her waist. He was laughing, chuckling, smiling as he caroled on the streets.

A black limousine strolled beside him, and a muscled man came out of the driver's side, and opened the back door, letting the Joker and Kanako inside.

“Kuro!” Kanako said with glee as she saw her black cat, and hugged it. The Joker didn't say anything, but sat down beside Kanako, and produced a thin cylinder with a red button above it as Kanako hugged her pet, and scooted closer towards him.

The muscled man went back behind the wheel, and the Joker smiled.

“Bob… radio! We need some music!”

Bye bye bye… BYE BYE!

“Ugh, no, no… something less literal!”

GO! Gogogogogogogo GO! Gogogogog…

“Too metal…”

Bang-bang… my baby shot me… down…

“Depressing. Bob, just close it, would you?”

The radio was turned off, and the Joker looked towards Kanako, who just looked at him.

“We have to get the music industry fixed. We need happy music!”

And he pressed one of the switches at his side, making the sun roof to open up, and he stuck his head out, looking back at the condominium where he had left the detective, prone.

Kanako followed, and she too looked towards the condominium as well, and back towards the Joker, who looked slightly solemn. He looked at the remote detonator he was holding, his tongue licking his lower lips slightly. He twirled the cylinder across his palm for a moment.

“Maybe we oughtn't to do this,” he motioned, waving his hand dramatically. “The detective was a fun woman… it would be nice if we could play with her again, wouldn't you say, my little Harley?”

She pouted. “Mr. J-aaay…”

“Now, now, precious, no need to get jealous,” the Joker smiled. “After all, the more the… whoa, whoa!”

And the Joker seemed to have lost his footing, and slapped his hand on the roof to keep himself from falling… but when he did, he pressed the red button of the detonator he was holding, leaving a spectacular explosion on his wake.

The Joker grabbed his cheek, and looked at the detonator which was he was holding.

“Oopsie… did I do that?” and he laughed. He saluted towards the explosion, his mouth quivering with exaggerated sadness, his eyes seemingly also shaking, almost as he was going to cry. “My dear detective… I hope you like barbecue!” and his face changed as he laughed again. “HaHAHAHAHAHAHahaHAHAHA! Bob! Drive home!”

As the limousine drove away, up above the sky, a helicopter was flying towards the explosion site, with black cars coming in from every direction behind the Joker. They weren't after him though, as they all stopped in front of the near the condominium which exploded.

The Chief of police hurriedly went out of one of the cars and assessed the situation. Rubble was still coming down, and the stander-bys were scrambling away. He looked above, and shook his head. He looked towards the men wearing black suits coming out of other cars as well.

“We need a rescue team… ASAP!” he ordered, and the nodded. The Chief hurriedly grabbed his cell phone, and dialed Kudo's number. He didn't get anything. He cursed as he looked up again.

“Damn it, Kudo… hold on…”

Up above, unseen by anyone other than the sky, the room that had exploded was now in ruins… but a bloodied hand was sticking out from under the concrete ruble, its fingers moving slightly as the helicopter above it circled around again.

- To be Concluded -

Author's Notes:

And the conclusion to Ace of Knaves will be next. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. And again, thanks for Aaron for giving me an honest opinion before I posted this (as I have struggled with this slightly).

Get to writing dude. XDD