CHAPTER ONE

The Clown That Could

Seated nearest to the entrance of the hotel's kitchen, Arabella waited tediously for the rest of the infamous mob leaders to arrive to the meeting Lau had called them for. She felt ridiculous having to be seated inside of a hotel kitchen, but with Batman lurking and the police getting tips from the flying rodent there was no choice but to take precautionary measures. The arrogant men entered one by one, trailed by enormous bodyguards whose muscles were covered by sharp suits. They reminded her of Teddy, her own bodyguard, but he wasn't present today. Today he was in the office and one of her various assistants had taken his place for the day. In the end there was only one chair left empty as the Chechen had taken a seat next to her. He was one of the few she managed to tolerate. Gambol sat opposite of her and Maroni was beside him. A few others who weren't as powerful, and simply worked for Maroni, were present as well. Arabella recognized a few from their weekly brunches at Maroni's favorite place.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Lau's men brought a small television into the room and placed it on the opposite end of the empty seat.

"The hell is this?" The man seated near Maroni asked angrily.

The television flickered on and Lau appeared, causing murmurs amongst the gangsters. "As you're all aware, one of our deposits have been stolen. A relatively small one: 68 million," Lau spoke, conceit seeping through his voice.

"Who's stupid enough to steal from us?" The Chechen asked.

"Two-bit whackjob wears a cheap purple suit and make-up. He's not the problem- he's a nobody," Maroni assured the Chechen. "The problem is our money being tracked by the cops,"

Lau continued, "Thanks to Mr. Maroni's well placed sources, we know that police have indeed identified our banks and are planning to seize your funds today,".

Shouting ensued as Lau talked. Arabella only stared at the man behind the screen. What was he scheming?

"So what are you proposing?" Maroni inquired Lau.

"Moving all deposits to one secure location. Not a bank." Lau explained.

Arabella scoffed at the man behind the screen and Gambol interrupted, "Where, then?"

"Obviously, no one can know but me. If police were to gain leverage over one of you, everyone's money would be at stake,"

"What stops them getting to you?" The Chechen asked.

Arabella already had her answer for Lau, she had practically known he would be useless to them since Maroni had proposed they became associates with him. Just by the way the man carried himself, it was evident to her that he wouldn't do anything to benefit her. It did make her want to pry into the other mobsters books, were they that desperate to trust someone who had no knowledge of how Gotham worked? She certainly didn't want him handling any of her money, especially considering a quarter of it was placed with the mob's account in the trusted banks. The rest was spread into two separate accounts, where police could easily access her monetary movements. She concluded she would have to speak to Lau directly, doubting he'd like to hear an earful from the acrimonious woman.

"As the money is moved I go to Hong Kong. Far from Dent's jurisdiction. And the Chinese will not extradite one of their own,"

"How soon can you move the money?"

"I already have. For obvious reasons I couldn't wait for your permission. Rest assured, your money is safe,"

Arabella's blood began to boil and was about to verbally complain to Lau when she heard it.

Loud and slow laughter filled the room and before she could properly turn she heard his voice. "And I thought my jokes were bad,".

The kitchen had come to a complete silence and the clown had gained everyone's attention. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't have my boy here pull your head off," Gambol told Joker. Arabella rolled her eyes at the temperamental gangster in front of her and looked back at the clown, watching his reaction.

The Joker proceeded to take out an ordinary sharpened pencil from his coat and slammed it into the table, making it stand upright. "How 'bout a magic trick?" Gambol looked at the clown with disbelief and motioned for his goon to take action. "I'll make this pencil disappear!" He proclaimed. Before the goon could even touch him, the clown had slammed him onto the table, truly making the pencil disappear. Arabella glanced up to him, intrigued as to what he wanted.

Sitting down, the Joker continued, "Ta-da! It's- it's gone," He looked around at the table of gangsters. "Oh, and by the way, the suit wasn't cheap. You oughta know. You bought it,"

Gambol rose from his seat and before he could begin to whine Arabella spoke. "Sit, Gambol," All eyes were on her now, including the Joker's. "The clown has caught my attention. Let him speak," She said quietly, her eyes focused intently on Gambol's, her brown eyes speaking words only Gambol could hear.

Gambol had tried to pursue Arabella numerous times and to much of his dismay, she just would not budge. She said no to breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, a night at the theatre, everything. She wouldn't even let him walk her to her car. Arabella was a tough one. He thought that with time she would see she would have to give in to him. How couldn't she? Driven by his desire to make her his, Gambol always had respect for Arabella, and the look she was giving him held a promise that if he did as asked he might be compensated, something he had been yearning for.

Gambol remained standing and the clown had a ghost of a smirk on his lips. He then pointed at Arabella and raised his brow slightly, almost thanking her. "Smart, gal," He told Gambol as he took his seat again. The gangster sneered at the man with the painted face.

"Let's wind the clocks back a year, these cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross any of you? I mean, what happened? D'your balls drop off? Hm?" Arabella allowed herself to smile at the humorous clown. He was putting on an act, alright. "I mean, with the exception of little Red here, of course," He added, glancing at her before continuing. "Y'see a guy like me-"

"A freak," Gambol aspersed, earning chuckles from the men. The man with the painted face ignored him.

"A guy like me…" Arabella watched something in him change, a flicker of an unidentified emotion wavered, but it quickly vanished. "Look, listen. I know why you choose to have your-ahem-little group therapy session in broad daylight. I know why you're afraid to go out at night. The Batman. See, Batman, has shown Gotham your true colors, unfortunately. Dent? He's just the beginning. And as for the television's so-called 'plan'- Batman has no jurisdiction. He'll find him and make him squeal. I know the squealers when I see them and…" The Joker needed to continue no further.

"And what are you suggesting we do, exactly?" Arabella inquired.

"It's simple. We, uh, kill the Batman." The room erupted with laughter but all Arabella could do was stare at the clown. Killing the Batman seemed too good to be true. Besides, the Batman hadn't caught any of her workers. She had a very different method of employment and work compared to her fellow colleagues. Her employees had much more slim chances of getting into her undisclosed industry than those working for other mobsters. Not only that but they did all their dirty work during the day in a professional and confidential manner and setting. Not at night when the flying rodent was out. She didn't need the Batman dead, her business wasn't hurting.

"If it's so simple, why haven't you done it already?" Maroni questioned the clown, not amused.

"If you're good at something never do it for free," The clown recited.

"How much you want?" The Chechen asked.

"Uh, half," The laughter returned, now louder than before.

"You're crazy," Someone said. Arabella could only observe the Joker, watching intently as his eyes turn dark and cold. They had poked the bear, she could feel his anger radiating towards her and the other men.

"I'm not. No, I'm not," He placed emphasis on the t. "If we don't deal with this now, soon, little-uh- Gambol here won't be able to get a nickel for his grandma-" He had just began to humor himself again when he was interrupted once more.

"Enough from the clown!" Gambol roared, rising from his seat.

"Ah, ta, ta, ta, ta," The clown stood up and opened his coat, exposing various explosives sewn into it. The men swore and backed away, leaving Arabella to be the only one still seated at the table. He had caught her off guard and now she stayed frozen to her seat, nothing left for her to do. "Let's not blow this out of proportion," He joked and glanced at Arabella, a small laugh wanting to escape her lips despite the predicament she was in.

"You think you can just steal from us and walk away?" Gambol asked the clown.

"Yeah,"

"I'm putting the word out- 5 hundred grand for this clown dead. A million alive, so I can teach him some manners, first," Gambol stated, seething at the clown before him.

"Alright, so, listen. You give me a call when you want to start taking things more seriously." The eccentric man took out something from his pocket and raised it up for all to see. "Here's my card," With that, he placed a joker card on the table and backed away, leaving.

"Call Lau. Cancel everything and get my money back as soon as possible," Arabella instructed the assistant who had come along with her. He nodded quickly, his hands shaking and his face pale.

"Arabella, where the hell are you going?" Gambol asked her, in disbelief.

"To employ the clown you just threw out," She said without looking back, walking as quickly as she could in her heels to find the Joker.

Making her way out of the kitchen and into multiple halls, Arabella ended up in the back alley of the hotel. She huffed and felt stupid upon seeing the old brick wall before her. As she turned her heel to go back inside a voice called out to her.

"You know, I'm surprised it only took you a minute to seek me,"

Turning around, she came face to face with the infamous clown. He looked amused as he made his towards her. "I mean, I'm flattered, but my, my, you didn't seem all that eager in there," She arched her brow at him, not liking the fact that he had analyzed her despite the fact that she had done the same to him.

"It's nothing but a bleak affair with those idiots. Anyways, I need your help," Arabella told the clown before her.

He let out a short laugh, "Try telling that to little Gambol."

The humorous tone in his voice made her want to smile at him. How could he be so comical when Gambol had just put a price to his head? "Gambol is a pertinacious being," She told him, taking a step closer to him to show confidence. "But, I didn't follow you to talk about Gambol," Arabella said carefully and took another step forward. "I'm willing to compromise and make a deal if you can complete a task for me,"

The clown smiled.

I know the first chapter is slow, but I promise the pacing will grow and will be much more interesting [or so I think], and will center on Arabella. I've been working on this idea for a while and finally built up the courage to publish the first chapter.

Also, my dialogue will be based on both the Nolan script and film, depending on what I think fits best with the scene. To see the original film script, which I highly suggest everyone reads because it's brilliant, you can easily google it and find an online pdf.

Thanks for reading, your comments are always welcome and much appreciated.

Disclaimer: None of the DC or Nolan characters are mine.