Geoffrey Black was a thief, one of the best in the world. In his line of work, you had to have balls of steel. So, he didn't scare easily. But right now, he was terrified.
Waiting at Gotham Harbour, the thing that was scaring him was his cargo. He'd broken into a scientific research facility in Europe to collect this bounty, but before the heist, he'd done some research on what he had just collected. It was like something from a sci-fi horror story.
Contained inside the crate before him was something by the name of antimatter. In the process of creation, two kinds of energy were created. Matter is the particles and atoms that make up everything we know. Air water, our very bodies. But scientists have discovered that, elsewhere in the universe, there exists the very opposite to matter itself. Antimatter.
In recent years, the world's greatest scientists have finally succeeded in recreating something like The Big Bang (on an infinitely smaller scale), and in the process, created both matter and antimatter. The potential for antimatter as an energy source is endless. it releases energy with 100% efficiency (as opposed to the 1.5% efficiency of nuclear energy), and has no side-effects like radiation or pollution. A single droplet of antimatter would be enough to power New York City for a whole day.
Of course, as Black researched more, he discovered that there was a dark side to antimatter. Being the exact opposite of matter, the yin to matter's yang, the two cannot come into contact. When they do, a neutralising action known as annihilation takes place. The energy created by this process is of frightening power. If even a gram of antimatter were to be exposed to any form of matter, even air, the resulting explosion would be equivalent to that of a 20-kiloton nuclear warhead.
Geoffrey Black found that fact particularly disturbing, as right now, he had exactly one gram of antimatter with him.
It was being held in a containment pack, a metal cylinder with an installed magnetic vacuum, powered by a self-recharging battery system. All it would need was for the magnetic vacuum to be turned off, and the tiny drop of antimatter inside would fall and touch the metal, leading to annihilation. This could make for a very dangerous weapon in the wrong hands. So thankfully it was going to the good guys.
Just then, Black spotted the CIA agent who had hired him. He was a tall, lanky man, with a hooked nose and a pointed chin. There was something about him that was familiar to Black. But he couldn't quite place it...
"Do you have the antimatter?" the agent asked.
"Yeah, it's in a containment pack inside that crate," replied Black, "Now what about my money, Agent Kerr?"
"Please," said The Joker, "Call me Joe."
The Joker grinned, then put a bullet in Geoffrey Black's head. The thief collapsed to the ground, dead. The Joker opened the crate, his eyes widening with glee as he looked inside.
"Oh, this is wonderful..." he gasped to himself.
It had all worked out so well. While construction on his House Of Fun was underway, The Joker kidnapped the family of a CIA agent, in order to find out if there was any ineresting things going on in the world he should know about. The CIA agent told him about the antimatter, and the European research facility that was creating it. The Joker thanked him by burning down his house, with the agent and his family inside. That's what you get for jeapordising international security!
laughing softly to himself, The Joker placed this infinitely powerful weapon in the backseat of his car, then got in front and drove off. Somehting created as an energy source, to make the world a better place, was now in the hands of the one person who would use it to kill millions, just for the hell of it. The mere thought of it was enough to make THe Joker want to laugh.
So he did, throwing his head back and letting a stream of maniacal laughter flow from his mouth. Gotham City was in trouble. Big trouble...