Disclaimer: From this point on, I do not own any of the characters other than the possible oc's I might make up later on in the fanfic. All of this is owned by DC not me :). I only created the general plot. My first shot a JokerXHarley ;)

Summary:

The Joker receives a new doctor that is different from any other. Once again the Joker seems to be hiding something... and this time, he hasn't just got wicked plans for Gotham... but for something else too. When his new doctor finds out about these newly discovered plans of his, things begin to turn into an extreme situation... Rated T... for now.

Shotgun Serenade

1. Blink

Joker rarely wondered about the death of himself; he mostly thought of the ludicrous yet macabre ways he could cause death to others. He was selfish as a consequence, believing that he was invincible as long as Batman remained alive too.

And everyone knew that Batman could never kill his enemies, at least not deliberately.

And he wasn't going to start pondering on the path of whether there was a dull afterlife now, even though he was alone in his deadly silent padded cell, and had nothing better to do other than staring at the tarnished (blood?)stains on the cushioned wall on the other side of the holding room.

'Padded. Wow! They've started to pay out for the patients welfare...' he thought with a sneer.

Yet despite his desperate boredom, that usual wide grin was plastered onto his face - this was the infamous ear to ear smile that made the citizens of Gotham have nightmares each and every night, all of them pleading that this time, dear old Joker would be locked away in Arkham for good.

The thought of them tossing and turning, with the very real memory of his demented, joyous laugh echoing back to them from the last time he had made a public appearance... It was a satisfaction for him.

He began to chuckle, his arms struggling from the cramp the strait jacket was giving him.

He shuffled about over the soft furnished floor, stopping when his spine hit a wall behind him. He paused with his laughter, hard viridian eyes flicking from the wall opposite to the thick steel door, which was the only thing that kept the division between the sane Ordinary World and the insane Joker World.

He thought about how Gotham was doing without him... It will be like the last time... all normal, all routine, no change, no fun...

"Well that will all change soon..." he muttered, hands finding the opposite arm's forearm as they were entwined like some sort of knot underneath the strait jacket. "I will be free, free! Free as a certain bat, mentioning no names, of course..."

Joker giggled, nails digging into his forearms roughly as he rocked back and forth to the rhythm of his own laughter.

Due to his concentration onto his own maniacal chuckles, the noise of approaching footsteps were gradually becoming louder from the forbidden, forlorn corridor outside his cell and were going unnoticed.

It was only when that someone rapped their knuckles lightly on the metal door that his gleeful emotion was wiped clean off his face.

His eyes shot to the door again on his right, a slight hint of an amused smirk touching his unreal full scarlet lips. He never had been so happy to see another human in his life! Not because he wanted to be social because of his solitude...

No. In fact... He loved to be alone...

It was because whoever was now knocking at the door, would be his key to the door of getting the heck out of Arkham. They wouldn't know it. They wouldn't guess it. They would just do it.

He was in his element, just feeling the adrenaline surge through his slender, muscular body... that sense of curiosity he had, made him grin even more.

The eye slit was taken away to reveal a snapshot of the corridor outside... there were no eyes there to be seen.

Joker frowned, yet the grin stayed glued to its rightful place.

He shifted a little, stepping up onto his toes into the crouching position. He crept closer to the door, making sure he was right under the eye slit so he wouldn't be seen.

Joker raised an eyebrow and cupped a hand around his ear to listen through the metal door.

He let out a soundless laugh; whoever was on the other side was clearly either very scared or damn nervous for he could hear their shuddered breaths and could practically smell their fear...

The Clown Prince took his hand away and leaned away slightly, yet would still be out of the person's sight.

He heard something collide on the other side of the door, possibly their fear-exhausted body as they peered through the sight box.

Their breaths speeded up even more, turning into panting when their eyes were met with the empty, dimly lit cell. "No, no, no, no!" he heard them whisper firmly. He could just imagine their eyes darting about with worry... panicking that he had escaped.

"J-Jokah?" a little hoarse whisper said, the honest fear was dripping from each letter that formed his name and god... he couldn't express how much he was going to love manipulating this nervous one...

'Let the games begin.' he thought, grinning mischievously as he slowly raised out of his crouching position, bending over now, so that the person on the other side would still be blind to seeing him.

"J-Jokah?!" they said a little louder.

By this point he could tell that they were a woman, which made his eyebrows arch up in surprise. A woman? What was a female doing stood at his cell door? Most of them steered clear of any contact with him... Then he noticed something else. Joke-Ah? Since when had he been Joke-Ah? He let it go, it was probably nothing.

Before he realized it, his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he'd stood up abruptly, popping up right in front of the woman's eyesight. She gasped and her aqua eyes grew wide with fright; he ducked his head further down in order for her to stare right into his lime eyes.

Even though she couldn't see his smiling mouth, she knew he would be from that sadistically amused stare he was giving her.

"Well hello there to you too..." he greeted sarcastically, giving the door one good kick and just knowing that she jumped as he did so. "And what could the Clown Prince do you for you, Baby Blue?"

The eyes seemed to look surprised as they were referred to in his sudden nickname, they blinked a few times.

"My name's Dr Quinzel..." she said quietly in a slightly toned down Brooklyn accent, surprising him further when he noticed she hadn't just closed the eye slit on him, since most people were usually too scared to carry on talking with him. "I - I'm going to be your new doctor."

He jumped back from the door, and then attempted to point to himself with his shoulder, mouthing 'My new doctor? Why do I need a new one?'

Dr Quinzel's eyes darted around, since he'd gone out of sight again. "Why's that Baby Blue? What happened to my old Doc?" he asked abruptly, frowning in deep thought, keeping his smile there.

"He... He hung himself after your last session, d-don't you remember?"

Joker laughed, rushing up to see her eyes again and making her let out a scared squeak.

"Oh yeahhh. I must've so darn busy with 'ol Bat Guano, that it must have slipped my mind. Ah well. He can't have been that important. Heh!"

Dr Quinzel was shaking on the other side of the door... Yet she felt the cold metal handle of the door inside her sweaty palm...

'What the hell are you doing? You're not going in there with that... green haired monster are you?! You know that he talked the last intern into his damn grave!'

Her eyes squeezed shut and then opened again.

She inserted the key to his cell into the lock...

On the other side, Joker's smile had faded a little, leaving a small smirk on his face, although his green eyes said different.

He lifted his eyes to see that the cyan ones had been staring right at them, and now looked into his soul as if he was sane as any other... like her fear of him was now gone and had been resolved by herself. It was like she was another person...

He heard the lock jolt and unlock...

She wasn't actually... going to enter was she? Didn't she remember what she'd just told him? She knew that he'd already 'killed' his last doctor...

They continued to look into each other's eyes, like there was no door between them at all.

It was then that she blinked again, turning the key back so that the door was once again locked.

Joker grinned and his eyes seemed to darken.

"You were going to come in here, weren't you Baby Blue?"

"N-No..." she replied worriedly, clearly frowning. "And it's Dr Quinzel to you."

Joker rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her (not that she could see his mouth).

"Tomorrow we have our first therapy session, so have a think about whether you want to talk about anything - "

"Ooh. My choice huh?"

"What? Yes, anything that's seeming to bother you, or has bothered you in the past."

He burbled up a deep snigger, smile growing even more (like it was even possible...) as he brought his red lips right in front of his Doctor's eyes.

"I shall look forward to it!" Joker cried joyously, literally laughing into her face. Dr Quinzel quickly slid the sight box shut with the thin steel sheet that had been in place before, blocking the Joker from view. However, his wicked, maddening laughter still rumbled through the door, sending chills down her spine.

And at that point Harleen knew that she'd made a huge mistake.

Why the hell had she even agreed to become the Joker's new doctor?

Shaking her head, she shrugged, "Come on Harl, it's just another job... Get a grip..."

She slowly walked down the chilling corridor, the echoes of the Clown Prince's laughter following her all the way before she ran off down another ward to get away from the maniac's high pitched cackle.

"Get a grip?" she whispered, thin fingers pushing a few stray blonde locks out of her face from her bashful demeanour she had, now that she realized what had just happened. "I don't think I can..."