Saga Clown Car Parade

Once upon a time, Gotham City prepared for its favorite holiday of the year: Founder's Day. The whole city planned a grand parade down Main Street, complete with marching bands playing bright, cheerful tunes, city officials waving from open cars, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony to be led, as always, by Commissioner Gordon himself.

The Joker, of course, could not possibly resist crashing a celebration quite that big.

For weeks beforehand, tucked away in his hidden workshop beneath the old fairgrounds, he built an entire fleet of miniature Jokermobiles, each one small enough to fit snugly inside the next, like a set of colorful nesting dolls, each one painted purple and green with a tiny horn that honked out the same tumbling circus tune as its bigger cousin. When he had finished, he hid the whole convoy inside a single parade float shaped like an enormous purple top hat, tall enough to tower over every other float in line, and topped with a ribbon reading GOTHAM CITY FOUNDER'S DAY in swirling gold letters.

On the morning of the parade, the great top-hat float rolled slowly down Main Street, right past the reviewing stand where Commissioner Gordon stood waiting with his ribbon-cutting scissors. And then, without warning — POP! — the top hat sprang wide open, and out poured dozens of tiny Jokermobiles in every direction at once, each one honking tinny circus music and trailing bright ribbons of streamers through the cheering crowd.

Confused onlookers laughed and pointed as the little cars zigzagged around lampposts and fire hydrants, weaving between marching band members and startled city officials. A dozen bewildered GCPD officers gave chase on foot, arms outstretched, though the tiny cars were far too quick and far too silly to catch easily. One officer tripped over his own shoelaces trying to grab a passing Jokermobile and landed in a pile of confetti left behind by an earlier float, which only made the watching crowd laugh even harder.

Hidden inside the very last, smallest car of them all, the Joker himself sat steering, aiming straight for Gotham City's parade-day treasury float, where the day's ceremonial donations were being carefully collected for the city's children's hospital.

But Batman had suspected something the very moment he spotted that oversized top hat earlier that morning. He had quietly climbed to a nearby rooftop and waited very patiently, watching the whole parade route below with sharp, careful eyes. The instant the chaos began, he dropped down in one smooth, silent motion, scooping up three of the runaway Jokermobiles before they could even reach the edge of the crowd.

Meanwhile, Robin sprinted the whole length of the parade route, catching the rest of the little cars one by one, ducking under a marching band's tuba and hopping neatly over a fallen trombone, like a very strange, very silly game of tag played out across the whole of Main Street.

That left only the smallest car of all, still weaving determinedly toward the treasury float, engine buzzing bravely along. Batman intercepted it at the very last possible second, reaching down and lifting the tiny vehicle clean off the ground — with the Joker still folded up inside it, legs kicking comically over the edge, purple sleeves flapping in the breeze.

"Spoiled it again," the Joker sighed, though he was already laughing his familiar laugh, chalk-white face crinkled with amusement despite it all, dangling upside down over Batman's arm like a very silly ornament.

Commissioner Gordon, still holding his ribbon-cutting scissors in one hand, marched over personally to slap the handcuffs on, muttering something about needing a much bigger parade budget for cleanup costs next year. The crowd, still laughing and pointing at the last few wandering Jokermobiles being scooped up one by one by patient GCPD officers, seemed to agree it had been quite a memorable Founder's Day after all, honking horn and all.

And the donations? Every single coin, safe and sound and gleaming, reached the children's hospital exactly as planned, not one penny out of place anywhere.

Goodnight, Main Street, quiet again after all that honking and laughter and confetti. Goodnight, Gotham City, twinkling under its Founder's Day lanterns. Next year's parade will need extra guards, just in case — but somehow, everyone secretly hoped the Joker would find a way to crash it anyway.