Devils are Red, Devils are Blue...

Participants: Joker and Eddie Bloomberg
Open/Closed: Closed
Location(s): Sanfran back alleys
Time of Day: Midnight
Weather: Who cares?
Summary: Two handsome devils collide

The Joker was a planner who made impulsive decisions on the fly. He was meticulous and free spirited, never quite one thing more than the other. It was hard to say if he was a plotting genius or a chaotic force. On any given day J could fall on any given side of the spectrum, it was what made him so confounding for the Big Bad Bat and the rest of Gotham's finest; he was always unpredictable. Whether his machinations were weeks in the making or suddenly thought up in an instant, Joker was not one who could easily be sussed. 

A plan was clearly being executed in the moment in which Joker was closed away in his office painstakingly typing away at his ancient typewriter, but to what end would this exercise serve was the question. Joker didn't often let those under him know his plans, and this current scheme was no different. Things tended to be less funny the more people that knew the punchline and were in own the joke.

This was not the first letter Joker had written for this particular ploy he had under his sleeve, in fact there had been heavy correspondence. He would send off a letter, and then get a letter, send off a letter, and then get a letter. It went on for a short while but Joker believed that timeframe had been enough and he was all too giddy to be typing up this new letter.

Joker blanked his mind and closed his eyes, a constant part of his ritual used to invoke his muse. He needed to get into character. Writing the letters usually didn't take very long, it was getting into the mind set of a burly, and delinquent blue-skinned, horned man that took up the majority of the prep time. Like so many letters before it, Joker forged the signature on his pièce de résistance and put it into the mail to reach its intended target.

It had been a long while since Eddie had had a proper conversation with Daniel Cassidy, aka the Blue Devil. The two had a tumultuous relationship to say the less. Both he and Eddie had tried reaching out the the other over the past few years, though mostly it was Eddie reaching out to Daniel, but it was few and far between. Eddie had been told Neron, the Devil who had granted him his powers, that he'd need to trust Daniel by his 20th birthday or he would forfeit his soul to the demon himself. It was what made Daniel's constant distance hard for Eddie to take. Despite that however, Eddie had been told by friends that Neron was often tricky and not always truthful in what he said. As such, the part about him losing his soul could be a complete lie meant to manipulate the young man.

All of that was why it was weird for Eddie to receive a letter from Daniel. For one, Eddie didn't have a fixed location he was staying, so for the letters to find him consistently was impressive. Two, and probably more importantly, even with the letters, Daniel was responding to his calls. While that was a little concerning to Eddie, the young hero was so desperate to get in touch with Daniel that he barely questioned it. He had a nagging feeling something was amiss, but propelled by his own want for his connection back with The Blue Devil that he pushed those thoughts aside. It was also why he hadn't told anyone about the letters. Part of him knew people would tell him to question them, but the other part of him didn't want to hear that. To him, it was just Daniel finally coming back around to talk to his former sidekick.

Eddie had feverishly responded to the letters and with the last one sent to him, he found out the Blue Devil would be in town for a movie shoot in the coming days. While he couldn't find anything online to collaborate the story in the letter, Eddie knew from his time on set that during early stages of production, things could be very hush hush. That was probably what was happening here, at least so Eddie thought.

Responding back to the letter as he had been, Eddie foolishly included his number. Stating he was sure Daniel must have misplaced it given the lack of calls, or answering of said calls. Eddie added that once in town, Daniel should text or call him so they could meet up. When exactly that would be, Eddie eagerly awaited.

It was all so very easy, too easy. This was why Joker almost never played with the hero crowd outside of Gotham. They just weren't fun. Where was the brood? Where was the stoic calmness that made goading so worth it? Where was the mental challenge of getting a stubborn night creature to fall into an elaborate trap? Nowhere to be found, that's where!

A few letters and Joker had the little Devilboy eating out of the palm of his gloved hand. Not even the baby Robin was dumb enough to fall for something like that so quickly and easily. It almost made Joker feel bad, punching down like this. But he would be a liar if he said the overall ease of it all wasn't at least a little funny. Besides, the devil was a key part of his plan anyway.

Joker shouldered the pay phone as he glanced down at the sheet of paper that he had recorded Kid Devil's number on. He wondered what type of relationship the devil he was impersonating had with the devil he was manipulating for the latter to so eagerly provide a direct line to him. Someone was clearly desperate for approval. Joker snickered to himself as the other line began to ring. There was a giddy grin on the clown's face as he bounced on the heels of his feet. He had Red Devil on the line now, all he had to do was reel his catch in. Now would be J's hour to prove himself as a true tesbian. He had sat and binged every Blue Devil movie he could find on Webflix, that had not been a simple or enjoyable task, but it was all in prep for this role. 

The phone stopped ringing and Joker cleared his throat, waiting for his cue to run his lines.

"Yo, wassup, kid?"

His voice was a perfect mimic of the stuntman/actor/hero/demon.

Eddie Bloomberg

He was desperate. He was needy. He was foolish. Eddie really should have taken time to think things through beforehand, but he so badly wanted to reconnect with Daniel that it clouded his judgement. He didn't question anything. He didn't suspect anything. He just blindly believed what was right in front of him. The poor naïve teenager. But he wouldn't know how poor of a decision he had made until later.

In truth, when the phone rang, Eddie should have answered with the whole Teen Titans team around him. Sure Daniel wasn't their mentor or anything, but Eddie would have loved for them all to get a chance to meet and talk with him. But, really, they wouldn't have cared. Eddie wasn't even a Teen Titan anymore. He was just lucky enough the group was letting him crash at their place since he had nowhere else to go. And so, with that thought in his mind, Eddie answered the phone. Alone. Desperate and needing.

"Daniel-" Eddie paused briefly. He pulled the phone away and stared at it for a moment. He hadn't heard Daniel's voice in a very long time but he could never mistake it. His finger hovered over the hanging up button. Perhaps he had been to quick to answer, too quick to reach back out the the Blue Devil.

No.

No, Daniel was reaching out to him. Things were finally looking up for Eddie.

"Heya Blue. Long time no talk. Not much happenin' here. Just, uh. Just hanging out with the Teen Titans. Just beat Superboy in some Pro Kart Racing. Had to sneak away from the rest though, they're all being so loud hah"

Eddie was lying. To the apparent Blue Devil and to himself. Something in his gut was telling him something was off, but the rest of him needed this. It needed Blue back in his life. But that was Eddie's life. A constant lie to himself and those around him. A constant and desperate need to be accepted and wanted.

It was all going to get him in trouble.

The teen on the other end of the phone made Joker's face break out in a stretched grin. If Joker thought he had been giddy then Red Devil must have been absolutely over the moon. There was no room for an other emotion in the teen devil's voice as it was flooded over by desperation and nervous enthusiasm. A bone white hand had to be clasped over Joker's red lips to keep any squeals of laughter from jumping out. He didn't want to blow his cover too soon, that would be no good and no fun. There was still much to be done, a plan needed to be followed if he was to reach the hilarious goal he was after, and boy was it hilarious.

He kept up the boring, air-headed dribble that would no doubt come flowing out of the mouth of someone like Blue Devil but the conversation was growing boring at an accelerated pace. Joker decided it was time to move on from talking and get into the action. Without making it too obvious that he was trying to rush the young Devil off of the phone he detailed a place for the two of them to meet. As luck would have it Blue Devi wanted to meet up in Red Devil's own backyard, right there in San Francisco, wasn't that fortuitous? Joker giggled to himself as he slammed the phone on the receiver.

It was almost showtime, Joker's favorite time! He had slithered into his best purple suit, applied enough hairspray to his green mane to obliterate the ozone (because he's evil), and slipped his slender feet into white wingtip loafers. Joker was certainly dressed his finest, and why wouldn't he be for what was designed to be his finest gag yet! Not the part where he was tricking a fanboy into a trap, that was just a minor detail of the grander scheme at play here - yet a vital detail all the same. When fishing for a particularly big fish it was nothing less than crucial to have the perfect bait.

Joker moved under cover of the night in San Francisco well aware that his appearance would quickly draw attention and throw his plans off kilter. Having something so annoying happen could not be allowed, Joker would be meticulous in his care to remain unnoticed until the perfect moment in which he could make his grand entrance. What an entrance it would be!

Eddie Bloomberg

Eddie wasn't as dumb as some of his past teammates thought. He wasn't as foolish or as naïve as the painted him to be either. But that didn't mean he didn't make mistakes; that he didn't have moments of blunder. This would certainly end up being one of those types of moments. But it really was something almost anyone in his situation would fall for. Being so estranged from the closest thing to a father-figure you had, the closest thing to family you had and having that person reach out to you. Anyone could fall for this trap. Anyone would so blindly go along with it all.

The conversation was brief but told Eddie what he wanted to know; where to meet who he thought was Daniel. Sure it was oddly convenient that Blue was here in San Francisco, but that was the life of a moviestar. Daniel also had a penchant for helping directors scout locations, so perhaps that was why he was in such a random location in the city. Sure this was all Eddie rationalizing clear red flags, but they at least made sense given who Daniel was.

It wasn't hard for the teen to get across the city. While he didn't know the exact location, he knew places near to it. A few teleporting jumps around the city and stopping to ask a few of the locals lead him to the spot. While some people would have been freaked out from seeing an actual devil talking to them, Eddie had spent enough time with the Titans to be at least known around the city and not raise suspicion.

The location he was sent to should have raised more questions for the young man. A couple of old warehouses strewn about, most looking pretty empty. Maybe the studio Daniel was with just needed a place like this? A lot of these lots were cheap to rent or purchase for filming, and a lot of the people you got the land from didn't care if you tore down the buildings or not. They were good for heavy action explosions.

"Hm, hello? Danny? Blue? Kinda super sketchy out here old man, you sure this is where you wanna meet up? Not like...get coffee or something?" Red had called out quite loudly as he entered the location. Even with his glowing eyes, it was still hard to make out everything inside the building. His gut though was telling him something was right.

Their designated meetup spot was dark, the only lighting provided by a few measly bulbs that cast light over no more than a three foot radius and of course the moon high above. The moon looked small tonight, its crescent shape a glowing silver knife in the sky shedding light that sliced through the dark of night, only to have most of that light obscured by the dense clouds hovering over Gotham. A fitting setting, the Clown Prince thought, as things were about to take a decidedly dark turn for the demon boy no doubt excited about the pretenses of his meeting tonight. For Joker, this would be an excellent appetizer for what was to come.

From little Red Devil's position in the abandoned warehouse he would be able to hear the sound of Joker's entrance: the cry of a rusted door sliding on its hinges as footfalls soon followed. After the door wailed once more when shut it was immediately chased after by another sound. Music. It was perhaps cliche for a clown's grand entrance to be accompanied by such a tune, but a classic's a classic. 

Joker was not immediately visible to Red Devil, he didn't want to spoil the big surprise just yet. By now though, the teen hero would no longer be able to lie to himself and hide behind wishful thinking. The darkened locale, the odd musical choice, he would be more than sure that he wasn't going to be meeting his older, blue counterpart tonight. Joker's soles tapped metal flooring as he jumped around and danced in the recesses not touched by natural or artificial light. "My my my, I'm so glad you came." His voice came out like venom. Joker spoke in a low tone, it was a natural occurrence when circling one's prey.

"When I was planning this all out I told myself there was no way anyone would be dumb enough to fall for it." A low chuckle reverberated in Joker's throat. "Lucky me, I was wrong! HAHAHAHA"

Joker jumped onto a metal rail, his shoes balancing him perfectly atop the old banister as the warehouse lighting flooded over him in all of his purple-drenched glory. He cast his gaze downward at the devil, his smile taking up most of his white face. "Now, don't huwt your wee wittle bwain trying to figure out why. This'll all be over soon."

Even with the limited light in the area, Eddie wasn't fully blind. While the most striking aspects of his devilish visage was his strength, teleportation, and fire breathe, there were some smaller bonuses. Eddie's senses, while not amazingly amplified, were slightly above normalcy. His eyes adjusted better to the darkness than most, his sense of smell was slightly better - minor things like that. So while the area may have been dimly lit, Eddie was mostly okay with it.

Okay with it outside of the fact it was creepy as hell where Danny wanted to meet up. And then the rusty metal sounded, and footfalls started echoing. "Blue?" Eddie called out before...was that circus music? "Blue, what the hell is going on? This isn't funny old man, this is just getting creepy. DAMNIT DANNY, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Eddie called out once more, frustration over-taking the creepiness he had been feeling. His voiced echoed out, and the last tinge of his words were laced with a small ember of fire beginning to build in him. The back of his throat began to light up brighter than before, the fire inside of him waiting to come out.

And then the voice came. A low tone that still managed to peak and dip in unexpected and uncanny ways. Eddie had never met The Joker before, but the voice was unmistakable. And that laugh. That chuckle. The creepiness feeling crawled up Eddie's spine as the laugh reverberated through his ears.

More words came out, and soon the image appeared. There he was. The Joker. The man who had hurt so many people. The man who had killed his best friend. The rest of Jokers words washed over him, finding no purchase. Eddie's brain clouded itself as visceral, nearly animalist, instinct kicked in. Sure Jason was back, but this man took Jason away from him. The taunting and threats didn't even reach Eddie's mind as his solid yellow eyes grew brighter.

"YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME!" Fire spewed out of Eddie's mouth as the thought of his friend dying flashed in his mind. Without hesitation, his body reacted to the clowns image and his tail let out a loud SNAP. Quickly disappearing into a portal, another would appear nearby to the Joker and Eddie would lunge forward, fire already pouring out of his mouth.