Okay, so I'm trying this again, it's pretty different but hopefully more realistic, new names and circumstances but the same Joker/OC theme. I just wasn't happy with the way the other one was turning out so I decided to try and make it better.
I own nothing you recognise, it belongs to DC.
CF x
-xCFx-
I'd always avoided Gotham City.
It's a complex place with complex rules and if you didn't play by the rules you didn't live very long.
But sometimes circumstances aren't always in your favour and I had to learn to play by those rules pretty damned quick.
It was Danni's fault. Of all the places to settle down she chose the mad city, and part of me hated her for it.
But I made it my home, I put my blood sweat and tears into the place and made it home, and part of me loved her for that.
It was the people you see, Gotham City held a calibre of people that couldn't be found anywhere else. Madmen and genii and all manner of power hungry low lives that I couldn't help loving.
And I did love them. Even if they were my undoing so many times over.
And I blamed Danni for everything, after all, it was her that caught the Jokers eye, her and that stupid dress.
-xCFx-
It started on the Mayors birthday. A night to remember, or so she'd been told.
And so it was. Fireworks, champagne, and beautiful dresses worth more than the average Gotham citizen earned in a lifetime.
Danni had been informed that one of their US Senators would be attending along with his wife (and his mistress) as well many local influential figures such Sal Maroni and Bruce Wayne, so naturally she had to look stunning.
She was studying political sciences at Gotham University, living in a prestigious fraternity house with other high profile girls and intended to pursue a career in politics. As a result events like these were important for creating connections.
She'd spent the entire day at the spa, had been brushed, waxed, polished and plucked within an inch of her life before donning a beautiful custom made ball gown. A marbled silk gown in purple and red, it was completely strapless, hugging her figure before flaring out in a fishtail cut.
Her red hair was elaborately braided away from her face before falling in soft waves around her shoulders and smoky eyeliner surrounded vibrant green eyes.
I can imagine how proud she was in that dress, supremely confident that she looked her very best. What a fool she always was, a pathetic peacock strutting around.
It was the first night she really talked to him. Bruce Wayne. Playboy billionaire that every girl wanted.
She honestly wasn't that interested in him. His image was completely contrasted to the persona she'd so delicately created but for a fleeting moment she'd seen a look cross his face. One of sadness, disgust and confusion.
Now I'm the first to criticize the shallow girl, but she always had a good heart, so she tried to cheer him up.
"Dear me Mr Wayne, you seem to have lost your female companions, now that is an achievement."
She flashed him a warm smile to let him know she was teasing and he smiled cautiously back.
"It's Danielle isn't it? Danielle Augustine?"
"Indeed it is Mr Wayne, and here I was thinking I'd escaped your notice."
"Please, call me Bruce." He gave her a flirtatious smile but his heart wasn't in it.
"You don't seem to be enjoying the party Mr Wayne. Things on your mind?" She asked, blatantly ignoring his request to use his first name.
"I'm just finding it a little dull, once you've been to one of these; you've been to them all." She laughed at this.
"Aha, true, true. But perhaps I can liven it up for you. See that gentleman over there? He recently lured Miss Gotham into his bed by convincing her that he was the Batman." This earned her a snort of laughter from Bruce.
"Indeed, poor girl, not very bright, of course he's not the batman, look at his chin!" This time she got an actual chuckle. Emboldened she continued.
"The two ladies in the corner being introduced, they're both sleeping with Senator Gidron, they don't know it of course, the Lady in blue is his wife, the other his mistress. Oh look, here he comes to try and separate them." A squat, balding gentleman in a tux was hurrying past the dance floor.
"So what else Bruce? Shall I point out exactly which of the guests had to hire a date for the evening? Or perhaps you'd like to entertain me."
He grinned at her, and for once it actually seemed natural.
"It would appear that I'm not as knowledgeable as you. Tell me, how do you know so many things?"
"When one intends to pursue a career in politics, one must go into battle armed."
"Do you enjoy these balls Miss Augustine?" She considered his question.
"I enjoy the opportunity to put on a beautiful dress, but the actually event I wouldn't describe as enjoyable as such. I don't dislike them, but they're more like going to work than having fun. If we were having fun they'd be serving vodka instead of champagne."
She was treated to another barking laugh and found she rather enjoyed the noise.
They spoke for maybe another 20 minutes before his fan club of scantily dressed girls descended upon them with many passive aggressive comments and cold glares.
Danni excused herself and wandered away to contemplate what she'd experienced. It would seem she'd caught Bruce Wayne with his guard down, she'd never heard him sound so…. Sensible? Normal? It was hard to pinpoint, perhaps it was simply because it was the first one on one conversation they'd had, but he seemed much less like an idiotic tool than usual.
Moving swiftly about the room, talking pleasantly with acquaintances and friends as she went, Danni found herself alongside Angelica Garcia.
Smiling serenely she complimented her on the party, wishing her husband a Happy Birthday before being drawn into a conversation about the Narrows.
"Well I admit that the Narrows needs significant investment, nobody is arguing the point, however the fact remains that better policing in this area would decrease crime, increase investment and therefore increase the standard of livin-"
She was cut off by a sharp, staccato sound cutting through the air.
A gun shot. Then another. Then another.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! We… Have come to wish a very very very happy birthday to our dear, dear friend, the Mayor."
Screams were immediate, but they were quickly silenced. There he was, standing on top of a table wielding a semi-automatic which he quickly tossed aside.
The Joker.
He was supposed to be in Arkham. Batman had stopped him, they'd put him in Arkham, the news said so.
But there he was. Danni froze with fear; he was scanning the crowd searching, until his eyes came to rest on her.
No, not her, behind her.
She followed his gaze. Of course, she was standing in front of the Mayor.
The Joker began to move through the crowd towards them, scaring people as he went.
Eventually he drew level with her and stopped, staring intently at the Mayor. For a moment he stayed perfectly still, those manic eyes boring in to the man before him before he suddenly spun around.
"I thought this was supposed to be a party, aren't people supposed to be happy at parties."
Nobody moved.
"Tut tut, this is a rubbish party, I mean, where's the pass the parcel?" He looked around shrugging.
"Oh wait…. there it is!"
He gestured wildly to one of his henchmen who was holding a messily wrapped box, the masked man quickly thrust it into the arms of Janet Dalled, the wife of a high up banker. She shrieked but kept hold of the box.
Danni could see Bruce Wayne next to her looking incredibly torn.
The Joker turned back to the Mayor, eyes sweeping over her as he went.
"Now then, either you, our dear May-" He stopped mid-sentence, turning to look back at Danni. She swallowed deeply.
He ran his eyes over her figure.
"I like your dress."
"Nice colour pattern." It was then that she remembered her dress was purple and red. Purple. The Jokers favourite colour. She began to panic.
"Do you think I could make a tie out of that material? Or do you think it'd clash with my waistcoat?" It took her a few heartbeats to realise he actually wanted an answer.
Scared, Danni thought quickly. What did he want her to say? Deciding that the truth would probably be best she took a shaky breath.
"I think it, it'd probably clash."
He nodded like he was considering it.
"You're probably right." He turned back to the Mayor leaving her fairly shell shocked.
"Now now now now now….. Where was I? Ah yess. Pass the parcel." He'd pulled out his potato peeler and was looming threateningly over the Mayor. It never captured on the news just how big he was.
But it wasn't just his size; he seemed to absorb the energy in the room, he didn't need to say anything, just by being there he was the absolute centre of everyone's attention.
"Now then, see the parcel that the pretty lady is holding? Well it's got a nice surprise in it, one everyone in this room can enjoy." Danni shuddered; it didn't take a genius to figure out what was in it.
"So, here are the rules to our little party game." He had the Mayor by the front of his shirt now and was gesturing wildly with his hands.
"If anyone tries to leave, or ah call the cops, they get to experience first-hand, just what's in that box. And you, our dear Mayor, you're going to answer me a few questions. If you get them right, well, hmm, I'll keep the parcel. If you don't well, you get to unwrap it. Got it?"
The Mayor nodded slowly.
"What do you want to know?"
"Who was first on the ah, scene of Harvey Dent's….. Murder?"
The Mayor seemed reluctant to say, but knowing the lives of everyone in this room were in his hands he answered.
"Commissioner Gordon."
"Ah ah ah, anyone else?"
For a moment the Mayor looked confused.
"Well there were other men as well, but they didn't enter the building until the pursuit of the Batman had been called off."
"I see… Okay, where did they ah, lose the Batman?"
"In the west district, near the Narrows."
"Good, good. Okay, final question…. Do you ah, really think the Batman killed Gotham's White Knight?"
The Mayor paused looking shocked.
"And remember Mayor, you have to tell the truth."
The Mayor looked incredibly torn before breathing almost silently.
"No." The Joker started to laugh; it was a chilling sound, the sound of insanity.
"I believe you." There was a collective sigh of relief in the room.
"But…." The relief disappeared fast.
"If I ah don't kill anyone at these things, well it's bad for the image." He was right in the Mayors face at this point.
"And as you can see, I'm a very image conscious guy." He gestured towards his purple suit.
"So…." He pulled a revolver out from within his coat, and quicker than you could blink he shot the man next to Danni.
She let out a strangled gasp as the man collapsed to the floor by her feet. She knelt to the ground, immediately putting pressure on the wound, but it was fairly obvious that the man wasn't going to survive.
The bullet seemed to have gone straight through his heart. A perfect shot.
There were screams all around her, and a shout from someone who sounded like Bruce but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the dying man.
Not until strong, gloved hands heaved her up by the shoulders.
The Joker spun her around grabbed her by the back of her neck, crushing Danni to his chest as he whispered in her ear.
The room was so silent that everyone could hear his words.
"I really do like that dress."
Then he was gone, stalking away from her, his shoulders shaking with silent chuckles as the crowd parted for him.
Danni's knees went weak. She would have collapsed to the floor if a different pair of arms hadn't caught her.
"It's okay Danielle; the police are going to be here any minute."
A vaguely familiar smell reached her.
"B-Bruce?"
"Yeah, it's okay, it's going to be okay."
-xCFx-
It took hours before she was allowed to return home.
Hours of police reports, medical check-ups and lengthy conversations that she wished could have waited until morning.
Bruce had disappeared almost as soon as the Police had arrived, it wasn't really surprising. He had all of his dates to comfort.
Still, it had been nice of him to comfort her at all and he had made her feel a little better; she decided she should probably send him a thank you card or something.
Of course the girls in her house were desperate to know everything.
She told them to fuck off and went to bed; she'd deal with it all in the morning.
The morning, however brought yet more questions, the focus of which was a huge bouquet of white roses left outside her room.
The card read.
Hope you're okay, Bruce x
Which naturally incited a whole wave of excitement from her housemates.
"Bruce? As in Bruce Wayne? The Bruce Wayne?"
"I didn't even think you knew Bruce Wayne."
"How did you meet him? He doesn't exactly move in your circles."
"Is it to do with the Joker?"
"What happened last night Danni?"
"Did Batman turn up?"
"The news is telling us next to nothing."
"Come on Danni, tell us what happened."
She hadn't even managed to get out of bed by this point, they'd all invaded her room.
"SHUT UP." They fell silent but all looked at her expectantly.
"Yes, they're off Bruce Wayne. No, I didn't know Bruce Wayne. Yes, I met him last night. No, he doesn't really move in my social circles. Yes, it's to do with the Joker. No, the Batman didn't turn up. NOW, if you want to hear about last night, one of you is going to have to bring me breakfast, and it better involve pancakes."
There was a pause in the room before two of the girls went flying out of the door to get some food.
Danni was not usually the centre of attention. They were all pretty high profile in Gotham. Most of the girls she live with are the daughters of some high flyer, and usually they attend these parties together.
Last night however, one of the male fraternities was hosting a party, and considering that almost all of the guys involved were incredibly cute, it was no surprise that Danni was the only one that chose to go to the Mayors birthday.
Her breakfast of pancakes and orange juice arrived on a tray and she finally gave her housemates the story that they wanted.
They gasped and oohed and aahed in all the right places.
"Oh Danni! If I'd met the Joker I think I would have died!"
"But you did look beautiful, perhaps he was taken with you."
Danni had lectures at 12 so she shooed her friends out of the room and got ready.
She was still a little shaken from last night but a hot shower made a world of difference.
Feeling like herself again she opened her wardrobe and tried to find something casual but stunning to wear, She needed a confidence boost and nothing boosted her confidence like clothes.
Danni found it difficult to concentrate in any of her lectures over the next couple of weeks which wasn't surprising but she made up for it by working harder at home. Still all the extra-curricular activities she usually did suffered for it.
Tonight however she wasn't going to let that happen.
Donald Parkman was speaking at the town hall about his experience as the Secretary of State during the final years of the cold war and Danni was desperate to attend. She was hoping to write her final paper on that time and this was an excellent source.
The speech was interesting and very helpful and as she was leaving she ran into the Mayor shaking hands with Bruce Wayne.
"Miss Augustine! How are you doing?" Bruce was the first to speak. she shook hands with him smiling.
"I'm very well thank-you Mr Wayne."
She turned and shook hands with the Mayor who gave me a warm smile. He quickly excused himself though which just left her with Bruce.
"Can I offer you a lift home Miss Augustine?"
"Well I was just going to get a cab."
"Nonsense, my car is just outside."
She smiled at his high handedness and followed him out to his Lamborghini.
The ride back to campus was interesting. Danni found she liked Bruce, he was funny and charming when he wasn't making an ass of himself in public, plus he was pretty good looking.
Still she didn't expect anything to come of it, she could hardly afford to be labelled as one of his entourage.
Danni thanked him for the ride and headed into her house only to find it in a whirl of activity and panic.
Her housemates were all running around in towels and high heels shouting about makeup and jewellery. Grabbing Jane by the arm she demanded an explanation.
"Johnny Scott is having an impulsive party and EVERYONE is going."
Danni considered it, she really should be writing up by notes but she hadn't had a proper drink since the Mayors party and that had been over a month ago.
Making a decision she took the stairs two at a time and jumped in the shower.
She was in and out in less than 10 minutes which was some kind of record for her and was soon applying thick eyeliner around her dark green eyes.
A frat party provided her with a different sort of fashion opportunity and she wrenched open the wardrobe and began sorting through her extensive collection of dresses.
Eventually she settled on one she'd picked up during Gotham fashion week, a low cut halter neck dress that clung to her hips and looked like it was made out of molten silver. She added black stilettoes and onyx jewellery and hurried downstairs reaching the lounge before Tanya and therefore avoided being the one they were all waiting on.
Johnny Scott was the son of Harold Scott a hugely successful stock broker with fingers in more pies than you could count, his parties were infamous for being loud, impulsive and full to the brim with sex drugs and alcohol
His frat house had a ton of empty rooms and during parties they were almost always full of couples hooking up.
Whilst Danni and her housemates didn't really bother with any of that it did tend to make the atmosphere a lot more fun and flirtatious which was one of the reasons Johnny's parties were considered the best.
Fighting her way through the crowd she gave him a one armed hug. He grinned at her and shouted over the heavy music.
"Looking good Danny, the vodka's over there."
She nodded her thanks at him and set off towards the booze. She'd been so freaked out over the Joker thing that she hadn't realised how much she'd missed these parties, grabbing a bottle of vodka from the table she found Jane and they proceeded to do shots until they felt tipsy enough to start dancing.
Her knowledge of the next few hours was sketchy at best but somehow she found herself dancing on the table with Tanya and a girl whose name she didn't know. Whoever she was she miss stepped and almost fell of the table and in lunging to grab her Danni lost her own balance. The girl remained upright while Danni tumbled to the floor.
Strong arms caught her before she made contact with the tiled floor.
In the darkness she couldn't make out the face of her saviour but she tried to thank him over the music.
She wasn't sure if he'd heard her but he set her upright keeping his large hands firmly on her arms.
For a heartbeat she knew something was wrong but couldn't figure out what.
Gloved hands, the man was wearing gloves.
A door opened and a sliver of light landed on his face, a face covered in grease paint.
She froze. This wasn't happening again, it couldn't.
He must have felt her tense up because he dragged her closer and spoke directly into her ear.
"You're quite welcome Princessa."
She could only just hear him but his voice was full of menace and she began to tremble. Bizarrely the only thought she could keep in her head was that she wasn't wearing purple this time.
Suddenly all the lights flickered on, there were confused cries from the crowd which soon turned to panicked screams as they realised that the room was now full of men in clown marks wielding shotguns.
But facing Danni was the biggest threat of all, the Clown Prince of Crime, upon actually seeing her though he frowned.
"Have we met somewhere before?"
He raised his eyebrows in a way which might have been comical had she not been scared for her life and once again she raced to figure out if he actually wanted her to answer him.
Deciding that he probably did she shakily spoke.
"I was at the- the Mayor's birthday last month." A glimmer of recognition flittered through his dark eyes.
"Ah-ah! The girl with the um, delightful dress, we really have to stop meeting like this, not that I mind another chance to admire your ah wardrobe." He raked his eyes over her figure and she suddenly found herself wishing she'd worn a less revealing dress.
"Well as much as I've enjoyed our ah little chat I have to get on with a little business, you know what it's like, work work work."
He released her arms and she scuttled backwards as soon as he'd turned around.
His clowns were dragging a boy through the crowd, he was shirtless and blatantly high but that didn't stop him from being terrified.
Danni didn't know his name but something about his features was familiar.
The Joker beamed at him and skipped forward, pulling out the infamous potato peeler as he went.
"I need to send a message to you dear, dear uncle and I was rather hoping you'd um, help me out."
Finally she realised who the boy was, Damien Strauss' nephew. Strauss owned pretty much all of the prostitutes in the northern narrows and a fair chunk of the southern ones too.
"Please, whatever you want, I'll tell him whatever you want." The boy was babbling.
The Joker feigned confusion before shaking his head.
"No, I don't think you quite understand, you're not going to carry the message, you are the message."
The boy's whimpers quietened as he tried to make sense of the clown before him.
That's when the Joker slit his throat.
Several people screamed and all hell broke loose.
The Batman burst in through the French doors at the far end of the room and immediately engaged three of the Joker's henchmen, the crowd of students panicked and all tried to get out of the room at the same time causing a stampede, and one of the running backs on the football team accidentally clocked Danni with an elbow sending her sprawling to the ground and into the flight path of one of the clowns the Batman had just sent sailing across the room.
The guy was heavy and she was trapped between him and the hard tile floor, struggling to crawl out from beneath him she felt a hand on her arm and looked up to see the Batman helping her to her feet, he shoved her towards a door.
"Get out." He growled at her, only to be blindsided by one of the clowns.
She jumped back and hurried to follow his advice only to find her way blocked by the Joker himself. She skittered backwards her heels sliding on the tiled floor.
The manic clown grinned at her before stepping forward fingering one of his knives.
"Want to know how I got these scars?"
"No." Another growl from the Batman and suddenly he was shoving her behind him, putting his armoured body between me and the Joker.
Danni didn't understand, the clowns were grabbing at lots of students in the room, why was he so intent on defending her?
The Joker seemed to be wondering the same thing.
"Well well well, it seems you have an admirer Princess, I think I should warn you though, the last girl Batsy had a crush on got blown up into a million little pieces."
She felt sick.
That was when two clowns tackled the Batman. The Joker lunged forward and grabbed her forearm pulling her towards him. He looped an arm around her neck and ran his knife down her cheek, she shivered.
"Alright, we got what we erm came for. I think we've had enough fun for one night don't you." He projected his voice over the screaming and his men seemed to recognise the dismissal.
They immediately began to move towards the doors only to be followed by the Batman but the Joker's sing song voice stopped him in his tracks.
"What about the eh, the bomb?"
The Batman growled at him.
"What have you done Joker?"
"I just hid a little present in the house, better find it quick, it has an um, expiry date."
With that the Joker erupted into giggles and dragged Danni off as the Batman started tearing the room apart looking for the explosive.
Once outside the Joker threw her into the arms of one of his thugs and they started a strange procession across the Quad. Due to the layout of the campus it was almost a five minute walk before they reached the surrounding roads and houses and Danni was dragged quickly down an alley towards a blacked out blue van.
She started struggling, bucking against the thug who held her, he slapped her around the head in an attempt to make her stop but she slammed her heel down on the man's toes.
The Joker turned at the sound of his scream of pain and watched with amusement.
In retaliation the thug punched her, hard.
The punch sent her reeling into crumbling wall of a house and her head collided with the stone with a sickening crunch.
For a moment her vision wavered, then it went black, and then….. I woke up.
-xCFx-
This is pretty much all we'll see of Danni which won't make much sense until next chapter but she isn't really my main character, just bear with me.
CF x