Chapter 50: The Wrong Time to Man Up (Patreon)

Jimmy sat across from Gordon and Barbara in the cafe. He took a slow breath before continuing.

“Sebastian was pissed,” he admitted. “I sent him unknowingly straight to the Joker, who tried to kill him… but he let it go when I told him I truly didn’t know about the clown.” Jimmy paused briefly, then added, “After that, he took me out to eat.”

Gordon kept listening.

“In those two weeks he was gone,” Jimmy continued, “he managed to rob the Joker on his way out, make a fake ID, and rent an apartment.” He gave a small, almost disbelieving shake of his head. “Just like that.”

Barbara’s brows furrowed, but she didn’t interrupt.

“After that, he kept visiting me from time to time,” Jimmy said. “Just… to check on me and hang out. He asked about my family, my parents, checked family albums and genuinely cared for me. It felt as if I suddenly had an older brother looking after me.”

Gordon leaned forward slightly. “And despite this relation of yours, you don’t know how he ended up without an ID in the first place?”

Jimmy shook his head. “No. He never told me the full story.” He hesitated, then added more carefully, “But something terrible happened to him.”

Barbara’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“He once told me…” Jimmy continued, lowering his gaze to his hands, “that a person becomes a nobody when everyone who knows him is gone. He said someone erased him… and threw him into Gotham to die like a dog.”

Silence settled over the table.

Jimmy swallowed before continuing. “Whatever his story is… he’s a nobody now. No one remembers him but himself. I don’t think you’ll ever find answers outside of him.” He lifted his head, meeting Gordon’s eyes. “He might look crazy. He might act like an idiot. He jokes around, never takes things seriously… but…”

Barbara knew about this.

“There are moments,” Jimmy said slowly, “where he just… freezes. Or when his anger shows.” His voice dropped. “That’s when the mask slips. That’s the only time you see what he’s really like.”

Jimmy straightened slightly, gathering his thoughts. “Sir, I know how it looks to you. A guy with a fake ID, talking nonsense, calling himself a cocaine saint, hanging around a drug lord… but he’s not a bad person.”

“When he first came here,” Jimmy continued, “he was really homeless. Still, he helped an old man with chores. He fed someone like me when I had nothing. He feeds stray cats. He beats up thugs who target people.” He paused. “Even now… he still checks on a nobody like me.”

Gordon’s gaze remained steady.

“I’ve seen him give that… blessed cocaine to sick people,” Jimmy added. “He helps anyone who asks. I’ve never seen him do something truly evil. At most… he just messes around.”

“I don’t understand what goes on in his head,” Jimmy admitted. “But I know one thing.” His voice grew quieter. “He hates his own life.”

Gordon’s thoughts shifted. If Jimmy was telling the truth, then Sebastian wasn’t just a suspicious figure with a fabricated identity. He was… closer to a victim.

For someone’s entire existence to be erased, who could even accomplish that?

Barbara, on the other hand, sat in silence, her thoughts tangled. Her issues with Sebastian had always been simple in her mind. He is associated with drugs and chaos. But looking back… none of what she had seen pointed to him actually harming people, his only victim was her and that after she started the altercation.

Jimmy looked at Gordon again, more serious now. “Sir… please don’t go after him just because of the fake ID.”

Gordon didn’t answer immediately. 

“Thank you for sharing this,” he said at last. “But I won’t make promises right now.”

Jimmy wanted to say something but then stopped and nodded.

Barbara then spoke. “Do you think… Sebastian might do something crazy if he’s pushed too far?”

Jimmy hesitated.

“Yes,” he said. “He’s too angry. And he keeps hiding it behind a smile.” He looked down again. “All that anger could come out.”

Commissioner Gordon nodded then rose from his seat. 

“Thank you again,” he said, “I suppose I’ll need to speak with Sebastian directly if I want to understand what’s really going on with him.” Barbara stood as well, her face quieter than usual, and the two of them made their way toward the café entrance, leaving Jimmy seated behind.

Jimmy watched them go. He had said everything he could to help Sebastian. If anyone in Gotham would judge fairly, it would be Gordon. Hopefully, this would keep Sebastian out of trouble over the fake ID.

The thought barely had time to settle.

Gunfire erupted.

Jimmy’s head snapped up.

Barbara collapsed to the ground, her hands clutching her stomach as blood spread beneath her. Gordon was tackled immediately by two men, fists slamming into him as they forced him down. At the entrance stood a figure that froze the entire place into silence.

White face. Green hair. A grin that stretched too wide.

The Joker.

Jimmy stopped breathing.

The Joker walked in as if he owned the place, speaking casually to his men while they dragged Gordon away. Then, as if nothing around him mattered, he knelt beside Barbara and began undoing the buttons of her shirt.

No one moved.

No one spoke.

Jimmy felt his body shrink inward as others around him lowered themselves, trying to disappear. That was how people survived Gotham. That was how they survived him.

His breathing turned sharp, uneven. Then something surfaced.

His hand moved slowly behind his back, trembling as he pulled out the pistol. The one he had bought after being told, over and over again, by Sebastian to get a gun for self-defense.

His vision blurred, then sharpened again as he forced himself to look.

The Joker over Barbara, stripping her naked.

He didn’t know her. Not really. But she was someone Sebastian knew. Someone he spoke about. Eris. The cursed redhead.

Jimmy closed his eyes for a second, thinking what Sebatian would do in his place.

Then he stood up on an impulse.

“STAY AWAY FROM HER!!”

The words tore out of him.

The Joker turned his head slowly, as if mildly curious. “Are you talking to me?”

Jimmy pointed the pistol with both hands at the Joker.

“STEP BACK NOW,” Jimmy shouted again, his voice shaking but loud.

The Joker blinked once.

Then burst into laughter, throwing his head back.

“I WILL SHOOT YOU!! YOU DAMN CLOWN!!” Jimmy screamed.

The laughter stopped abruptly. The Joker coughed once, then smirked. “Ah, sorry… you’re serious.”

He stood up and took a step away from Barbara.

Then another step toward Jimmy.

“Is this better?” he asked, tilting his head. “Or maybe this?”

He took another step closer to Jimmy.

Jimmy’s hands shook violently. “S-stay a-away…”

The Joker sighed. “You’re  a hard one to please, aren’t you? People like you ruin nice performances.”

In a quick motion, the Joker drew a gun and aimed toward Jimmy.

Jimmy fired back on instinct.

The bullet grazed the Joker’s shoulder.

Then Jimmy felt it. A burning impact in his chest.

He fell backward.

Air refused to enter his lungs. His hand pressed against his chest, but it was already soaked. Blood filled his mouth as he tried to breathe.

The Joker looked at his shoulder, then at Jimmy, and began laughing again.

“You actually did, you shot me!!” he said, amused. “Why are you tearing now?”

Jimmy couldn’t answer.

Couldn’t breathe.

The Joker shook his head. “You were doing great at first.”

He raised the gun again aiming at Jimmy’s head.

“Maybe I would’ve asked your name if you could still speak.”

The shot echoed.

Silence followed.

Jimmy’s body went still.

The Joker turned away as if nothing had happened. “Back to the main show.”

———

Hours later.

The cafe was quiet again.

Police officers lay unconscious across the floor, scattered like discarded pieces. The air still carried the faint scent of gunpowder and fear.

Inside the manager’s room, Sebastian sat alone.

The monitor in front of him played the footage.

He watched everything without blinking.

From the moment Gordon stood up… to the first shot… to Jimmy standing… to the final bullet.

The screen froze at that moment.

Sebastian’s expression didn’t change.

Only his voice broke the silence.

“Dammit.”

A pause.

“You chose the wrong time to man up, James.”

Sebastian covered his face and sighed, remaining there for a few moments, before standing up.

“You knocked out the police men” A gruff voice spoke.

Sebastian looked at the room’s door where Batman stood there staring at him.

“I am not in the mood for you right now.” Sebastian replied with an emotionless expression.

“You are going after the Joker, aren’t you?” Batman asked.

“Do you think I am insane or evil?” Sebatian asked with empty eyes.

Batman stared at Sebastian’s eyes then said “Stay out of this, I will find him and he will answer for his crime” 

“Despite everything I have done or said, I actually am quite sane and good natured for the most part. But I can be far more deranged than any single freak in this city if I chose to, and right now, I really want to do very horrible things” Sebastian said slowly.

“You will be no better than him if you act on your dark impulses,” Batman said.

Sebastian replied “That’s a problem, I don’t want to be better, I want to be much much worse”

White fire erupted around Sebastian and swallowed him whole.

He was gone.

For the first time since first meeting Sebastian, Batman saw insanity in Sebastian’s blank eyes and he knew something horrible would happen if Sebastian found the Joker.