The man sat lazily in a straight backed chair, his feet propped up on the tiny round table in front of him and his right arm casually raising and lowering the 25 pound weight as his left arm brought the cigarette to his mouth. The television in the background blared a comedy special as he chuckled to himself occasionally at bad one liners and overused punch lines. Low brow comedy was his favorite. Not too much thought and no long winded jokes to listen to.

The sound of a ringing phone caused him to exhale a puff of surprised smoke, looking over to the smaller table beside him where the electronic lit up with a strange sequence of numbers. For a moment, he considered not answering it. But it wouldn't be the first time an unknown number turned out to be legitimate, even at these hours. Begrudgingly putting the cigarette out in the nearby ashtray, he put the television on mute before finally picking up the phone after the fifth ring.

"Yea?" He answered gruffly, not bothering to stop the weight lifting.

"Well." Came the nasally voice with a little too much pep to be believable. "If it isn't my favorite news caster."

The man's weight suddenly dropped with a heavy thud on the carpeted floor as he sat up straight in the chair. Letting out a nervous cough, he continued.

"J-Joker. Hey. What are you…?" His voice trailed away as he tried to think of something to say. He'd had a couple of dealings with the clown via telephone only, and if he was completely honest, a couple was far too much. Each drop that he'd completed made him nervous with terror. Normally a hand off was made to one of his men or just left in an inconspicuous alley. So he'd been lucky to avoid any face to face interaction which he was more than thankful for. Because while it was much better to be on the Joker's good side, he preferred the anonymity.

He pulled the phone away from his ear as a giggle erupted on the other end of the line.

"D'ya miss me?" The joker continued as his laughter died down to a light giggle.

"What…um." He coughed, desperately thinking of something to change the subject as he wouldn't have to answer that question. "Where ya been?"

Luckily the Joker seemed not to care much about what he had to say in the first place. "Oh here and there. So tell me. How are things in Gotham without the party? Hmm?"

"They're uh…it's quiet." He said finally. "The cops are spending all their time looking for you. Makes it easy for the rest of us."

"Well you know I aim to please." He said drily.

The man continued, knowing that the Joker would want all of his information. "Santini's taken over most of the business for now. Ever since you killed his partner."

"Me?." The Joker let out a light giggle as he thought back to his cupcake's last outburst with a grin.

The man paused, wondering if he was supposed to respond before deciding to just continue with another uncomfortable cough. "But…um, it's pretty disjointed right now. People are doing what they want. And there's a new girl about the neighborhood."

That seemed to interest him.

"A girl?" He interrupted.

"Y-yea." The man said hesitantly, he much preferred when the Joker found little interest in what he said. "Been here 'bout a week. No one knows what the deal is but she's offing people left and right. Santini's tryin' to figure out what to do about it."

There was a long pause on the other end as he thought, wondering if the girl that he was talking about was the same one that irritated him beyond belief every time she dared to cross his mind. But of course she was. Of course she wouldn't be content with being alive. No, she had to force herself back in one way or another and surely her crime spree was her latest way of accomplishing just that.

"A week you say? Is she cute?" He said in a teasing tone.

"Yea." He said a little too quickly before backtracking. "I mean, I think. They're still trying to figure out which girl it is."

"Are they? And what about you? Have you got this-ah…all figured out?"

The man was silent for moment too long. He wouldn't be able to get away with a lie at this point. "Working on it."

He laughed at this, not swayed in the least by his attempt. "Well why don't you do Joker a favor and keep working on it? Hmm? Keep an eye on our newcomer for a while. I want to ah…personally welcome her to the neighborhood."

Silently, the man punched the air in front of him, wanting nothing more to stay out of the whole situation, especially now that it involved the Joker and possibly one of the biggest mob bosses in the area. He had never physically met the Joker so maybe there was a chance the man would never find him. But he knew just as well as anyone else that it was wishful thinking. He mouthed a few choice words before finally letting out slow breath and putting the phone back to his ear.

"Okay." He said shortly, knowing that there was no other acceptable answer to a statement that hadn't been a question.

"Good." He said with a slow grin. "Gotta go."

The Joker hang up the phone before the man had a chance to reply, taking a moment to stare at the electronic accusingly as he sucked his cheeks, the smile immediately disappearing.

The loud noise around him that had been so much fun only moments before now starting to grate his nerves as he thought. Mentally, he scowled at the idea of having to deal with her again once they returned to Gotham. He'd told himself when he'd left her and the extra bag of money that she would likely run away, never to be heard from again so that he could move on with his work without having to worry about her invading his space, his life, and digging up old ghosts that were better left in their graves.

She was supposed to disappear. And then he wouldn't have to face the constant second guesses about the promise he'd made to her. The only one he'd ever made to anyone. Sure, it was the promise that he'd kill her one day. But it had surprised them both how quickly "soon" changed to "eventually." And now, from the sounds of it, he'd created a monster…one of his favorite pastimes. It angered him. But somewhere in the back of his mind there was a flicker of excitement. As much as he pretended to be annoyed, he couldn't wait to see this particular monster in action.

Grunting, he shoved the phone in his pocket and stood over the railing of the giant house that was quickly being transformed into the headquarters he needed for the short time he planned on being here, taking count of the growing number of men partying in the large open living room. He'd only been here for about a month so far, but since then, he'd managed to turn the five men left into nearly twenty. That was after the needed pruning of course. Some men just weren't made to be criminals and he was more than happy to dispatch of any ones that crossed him in the process of training. It was soothing and it kept the others in line.

He pulled his shoulders to his ears as his gloved hands gripped the railing, a deep frown on his face as he watched, unseen, from the balcony. These affairs were getting so dull and far too repetitive. Initially, he'd partaken in the gatherings in order to figure the new men out and offer himself a much neaded . But it was those initial gatherings that led to the killings. His fuse was exceptionally short these days and nothing made him feel better than a few stabbings. Now, he simply allowed the shindigs to continue because Dougie swore they promoted loyalty. Idly, he made a note to put a stop to them once they were back in Gotham.

"Hey Boss."

The Joker's lips twitched as he turned his head only slightly where one of the newer mean was bounding up beside him.

"The other guys want to know if we can get some girls. They're getting antsy."

He paused, chewing the inside of his cheeks for a long moment as he mustered up enough patience to bother before finally turning around with a large grin.

"Girls?" He repeated, leaning an elbow lazily on the railing, his voice returning to the nasally tone that he was used to. "Now." He waved a finger at the man. "What did we say about bringing back strays? Hmm?"

"Yea. Yea. I know." The man gave a sheepish chuckle. "They're trouble. We was just making sure."

"That's right." He continued in a voice strained with impatience. Finally his grin gave way to the frown that had been tugging it down. "Now go." He growled at him.

The man visibly flinched, scurrying away without so much as a questioning glance.

Smirking, he turned to lean back on the railing as he let his mind wander over all the ways he was gonna twist her when he got back. Images flowed through his mind and blocked out the noise below that made him want to stab someone all over again.

******Yay, Part two! I'm still working on this so bare with me as updates might be about a month or so in between. Once again, this is a sequel. So if you haven't read break me, you should definitely get over there and do that because you may or may not be lost without it. It's a great story...even if I am a little biased. But you don't want to get into Chapter 1 without it! Or maybe you're into prequels? Either way. Hope you enjoy the ride. :) ****************