LICK Just another Tuesday night in Gotham the other officer said with a smile Ah Gotham the Joker said laughing You never cease to amuse me The Clown Prince of Crime glanced around the art museum Everywhere he looked he saw paintings of Pagliacci the famous clown Surrounding him were countless people all of them staring at the floor Well that’s not right the Joker said All their eyes should be on me He walked over to a short muscular man dressed in a tuxedo You there the Joker said Slowly the man looked up Yes you Why is everyone staring at the floor Is this some new modern way of appreciating art No the man mumbled We’re trying to avoid making eye contact with you Ah the Joker said And why might that be Because we’re terrified of you the man said quietly I see the Joker said Well that’s certainly not unreasonable In fact it’s quite logical If you weren’t terrified of me well you’d simply have to be crazy The Joker burst into a maniacal laugh A sadistic grin crawled across his face And I’m afraid I’ve got the market on crazy cornered CLAP CLAP The Joker clapped his hands suddenly But I’m afraid this simply won’t do he said I like an audience Everyone look at me Look at me The Clown Prince of Crime went up on his toes and spun around like an agile ballerina His shrill voice rang out To see the Joker up close and personal like this he called out It’s a once in a lifetime chance if you’re lucky He peered around the room Every person in the museum now had their eyes trained on him Not a single pair of eyes blinked It was obvious he had their full attention
Excellent he cackled That’s more like it Now then I BEEP BEEP BEEP The Joker froze He tilted his head trying to figure out where the sounds had come from BEEP BEEP BEEP The Clown Prince whirled around He slowly moved across the gallery’s enormous floor On the tips of his toes he went first this way and then that way BEEP BEEP BEEP Suddenly he squatted down Behind a row of legs he saw a girl and a boy sitting on the floor away from the group They were playing with a pair of handheld video games And what do we have here the Joker purred Neither child looked up Games the girl answered The Joker smiled I love games he cried out with childlike glee What kind of game are you playing A video game the boy said in an annoyed tone Well obviously the Joker cooed Does this oh-so-captivating video game have a name The girl sighed Ninja Nemesis she said Her voice made it very clear that she thought the question was foolish The Joker tapped his chin And is this Ninja Nemesis game fun Neither child answered The Joker cleared his throat Finally the boy grunted out a Yeah More fun the Joker said standing up and throwing his arms out triumphantly than the Joker The Joker paused waiting for a response But when he looked down he discovered
neither child had bothered to look up from their games TAP TAP TAP On the boy’s screen a ninja performed a backflip over a speeding vehicle The Joker squatted down next to the kids Are you telling me that those games are more interesting than the Joker he asked After another pause the girl asked Who’s the Joker Who’s the who’s the Joker the super-villain sputtered Oh my poor dear neglected child Joker said What do they teach you in schools these days Have your parents taught you nothing Reading writing criminal masterminds who prey on the innocent The girl shrugged Still not looking up the boy said We don’t really pay much attention to politics The Joker went still Then he stood He slowly counted to ten Then taking a very deep breath he shrieked AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH The eyes of each adult in the room grew very wide Every person held their breath The silence was deafening The Joker’s eyes twitched in anticipation of a fearful response from the kids
Then the little girl spoke Shhh she said to the Joker This is a really tricky level
