"Well, hello. I wasn't expecting to run into you here."
"What are you trying to prove, Alyce?" James asked, sidestepping small talk.
"Why should you care?" Alyce asked smoothly, taking a few small steps toward the open window. "Shouldn't you be off rendezvousing with that new girlfriend of yours? … eh … what's-her-face?"
"Is that what this is about?" James asked in disbelief. "Jealousy?"
"Ha!" Alyce laughed mockingly. "Darling, I don't have time to be jealous of you and your little playmate. I've got more important things to attend to."
" 'More important things to attend to?' " James repeated dubiously. "You've changed, Alyce. I don't know what's happened to you. He's gotten into your head, hasn't he? How can you let yourself be deceived by him?"
"I've never been surer of myself," Alyce countered, glowering darkly at James as she began to pace across the room. "Look, I don't need you involved in this. Just let me be. I'm a big girl... I can take care of myself."
"Oh, really? You think the Joker is going to let you live?" James asked. He shook his head. "All he cares about is chaos and madness. I don't understand how this is appealing to you."
"You wouldn't."
"What exactly are you planning to do?"
Alyce stopped pacing and turned to face the dark streets of Gotham beyond the open window.
"I'm planning to see if I can't whip up a little chaos myself. See what the Joker will do when he's not the only one playing the game."
James stared at her incredulously.
"You're mad. The guy is Gotham's most wanted criminal!"
Alyce looked pointedly over her shoulder at James. "I know." As she turned to face the city streets once again, she smirked. "Besides, under whatever else he may be, the Joker is still a man. Men have needs, do they not?"
Laughing quietly, Alyce jumped out the window. As her leather boots found the concrete sidewalk two stories down, she heard James growl from above.