1Notes: I've had the idea for this novella-ish-thing and have been working on it on and off for at least a few years now. I originally planned for it to be more fleshed-out — to take more time with the story than the 14,000-ish words it ended up as — but finally decided that wasn't going to happen. So it's a little more fast-paced, more like a series of vignettes, and you probably have to have seen "Joker's Millions" to get it, since it's an AU specifically of that episode of BTAS and draws heavily from those events.
One of the things that always fascinated me the most about "Joker's Millions" was the fact that Joker just decided to stop being a supervillain, because of no other reason than: "why not?" — and it worked. Until he ran out of money. It seems to the be the basis of a lot of Joker-centric stories, both published and fanfic, that Joker couldn't just *stop* being a villain; that he's too tied up in his obsessions or psychological problems for that to ever work out. But DCAU Joker, apparently, had no issue with that — at least for the short term. It's a different game than he usually plays, for sure. Might he have gotten bored of it and gone back to a life of crime? Quite possibly. But because the inheritance he got was fake, he ran out of money before that could be tested.
This AU asks the question, what would have happened if the money *wasn't* fake?
While this takes place entirely in the DCAU, the story is equally inspired by the comic "Going Sane" — in which Joker, thinking he's killed Batman, loses his memory and becomes an ordinary (though haunted) member of society again... but Batman (who, surprise! is not dead) doesn't buy it for a second... he is convinced that the evil, villainous Joker has something up his sleeve — and he won't rest (or stop stalking Joker) until he's figured out what it is.
In a sense, this AU is also: what if you told the story "Going Sane" in the DCAU, instead of the comics? (and with no amnesia.)
The story owes a further indebtedness to the Telltale Batman series, for use of Joker's lovely green shirt. :)
· prologue ·
Joker was lost in his plans of exotic deathtraps designed to lure in the Bat, and couldn't be bothered to commit a run-of-the-mill robbery, while Harley peered at their almost-empty tank of gas. It wasn't a fortuitous start to the day.
"If you want money so badly, why don't you buy a ticket to the lottery?" Joker groused, when Harley brought up their situation again, petting Bud and Lou's heads sympathetically as they snapped at her, angry at not having enough food. They had a couple of frozen steaks left, at least; Harley was running on scraps, and there was no way she'd starve her pets before her. She side-eyed an unfortunate rat in the beat-up walls while Bud and Lou trained their hunters' senses on it. Living with Mister J had its highs and lows. There'd been times when they could afford the bigger warehouses and the swankier hotels (that didn't care who you were or where you'd gotten your money). This beat-up old apartment was the lows.
Harley sighed, and tried to remember that she was the reasonable one here, and there was no call for her to drag Mistah J from his chair and shove his head into the fridge so he could see the few crusty pieces of mold (and nothing else) for himself. "But no one ever wins the lottery, puddin'," she said.
"Nothing!" Joker said, dramatically, tearing through a bunch of boxes. Harley sighed. "We have nothing! Where's all my gadgets? My toys?"
"Used up, Boss," Harley said.
"Why haven't you gotten more?" he asked, rounding on her in annoyance.
"Because we don't have money," Harley repeated. "Like I said?"
Joker only stared at her.
Maybe she should buy a couplea tickets. She'd have to spend her last few bucks on something, before they finally called it quits and went back to Arkham.
She wasn't entirely surprised (though she was certainly annoyed) that her puddin' ditched her on an ejector seat when the Bat finally caught up to their little stunt, and honestly, by the time she'd gotten checked into the Asylum and caught up with Ivy (who just couldn't resist needling her about the Joker's actions, because she was a wet blanket) she'd entirely forgotten the tickets she'd left lying on the old table in their place.
.
.
.
