Title:
Title: I Love You…I'll Kill You
Fandom: Post-Dark Knight
Rating: M
Summary: The Joker wasn't always so twisted and evil. He had a "normal" life before he adopted the Joker persona. He got rid of everything that reminded him of his former life, expect for her.
Pairing: Joker/OC
Genre: Drama/Angst
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own the Joker or Batman.
Author's Note: This is my first fic in the Batman fandom. I have to admit that I never read the comic books and have only seen a couple of the shows from the animated series. So if I get some details or facts wrong I am sorry!
This story starts about six months after the end of the Dark Knight. So Rachel and Harvey are dead, the Joker was sent to Arkham Asylum and Batman hasn't gotten back into the good graces of the people of Gotham City.
Lacy is an original character but I assure you she isn't a Mary Sue! (At least I have tried my hardest to make sure she doesn't become one of those characters.) Also, don't expect any conventional romance between the Joker and Lacy. It isn't that kind of story. With all of that being said, enjoy and please let me know what you think! I welcome all comments.
Chapter One
"Police are investigating another home invasion that they believe to be orchestrated by the Joker. As you'll recall, the Joker escaped from Arkham Asylum two months ago and is still on the loose. The robbery occurred late Wednesday afternoon and resulted in the death of a young couple. There has been no word on just what was stolen and police aren't releasing the names of the victims, but…"
Lacy walked up to the television and reached up to turn it off. As soon as she did, her co-workers complained.
"Hey Lacy, what'd ya do that for?" Chris asked. "We were watching that."
"Yeah! What gives?" Michelle chimed in.
"Forgive me, I just didn't want to hear any more about the Joker." Lacy explained. "Why does everyone in this town feel the need to talk about him all the time? There are other, more important things that we could be focusing on."
"Yeah, but those other things aren't psychos going on a crime spree." Michelle pointed out. "Why should we be watching a news story about the newest panda bear to be born in Gotham Zoo when we can be hearing about the destruction the Joker's doing to our city?"
"Besides, I think he's fascinating and kind of cute." Ramona spoke up.
Michelle rolled her eyes. "Oh please! No offense Ramona, but you'd have to be a real loser to want that maniac. No sane person would seriously be attracted to that."
"I agree. You would have to be pretty messed up in the head to get involved with him. " Kevin laughed. "Ramona, maybe you belong in Arkham Asylum with him. You two could share a cell."
"Ha ha." Ramona laughed, throwing her napkin at Kevin. "Very funny. I'm not saying that I wanna date him or marry him. I just think he has got a certain charm. He's got that bad boy thing going for him."
"You wouldn't feel the same way if he tried to kill you or carved up your face to look like his." Chris pointed out.
"Whatever." Ramona shook her head. "I'm tired of trying to explain myself."
Lacy had stayed out of this part of the conversation because she really didn't have much to contribute. Michelle and Chris were right. No sane person would get involved with the Joker.
"Lacy, can you please turn it back on?" Michelle asked nicely.
"Fine." Lacy gave up because she knew that she couldn't change everyone's minds about this. She turned the television back on to find that they were still talking about the Joker, only now they were showing stock footage they had from his last videotaped message. A few days after he escaped from Arkham, he sent a video to GCN to announce to everyone in Gotham that he was back. That had been the only direct communication he had with the public.
"This marks the fifth home invasion resulting in murder connected with the Joker. The last one occurred two weeks ago and resulted in the death of millionaire heir Andrew Cobblestone…" Mike Engle reported.
She watched, but only for a moment, knowing if she watched longer than that she would likely breakdown. With a resigned sigh, she turned and walked out of the break room.
Chris followed her, catching up to her fast stride about halfway down the hallway to her office. "Lacy. Lacy, hey, wait up." He lightly grabbed her arm as to get her attention, and then he let her go.
"Yeah Chris?" She asked.
"Why are you so against watching the Joker? Don't get me wrong, I don't like the guy and I think he's completely twisted but aren't you the least bit curious?"
"Curious?" She asked. "About what?"
"Who he is, why he turned out so evil, what he's hiding underneath the make-up? He's a complete mystery to us." Chris explained. "I mean, I wonder sometimes if he was always that crazy and evil."
He wasn't. She thought sadly. There was a time when he was a normal, loving man but that seemed like ages ago. "I'm not curious about that stuff." Lacy replied gruffly, leaving out that she knew the answers to Chris' questions. But even though she knew the answers to those questions, she still felt the Joker was a complete mystery to her. "I don't see the point in dedicating every free moment to watching the Joker."
"Ok." Chris relented, knowing the he wasn't going to get anywhere with her. "Those papers you wanted about the Wayne Enterprises consulting job are on your desk."
"Thanks." Lacy nodded.
"You sure you don't want me to come with you for the proposal meeting tomorrow? It's your first solo pitch meeting. I thought you might want some moral support since it's such a big account."
"No, but thanks." Lacy replied. "I want to do this one on my own."
"Ok. Just thought I would ask." Chris replied as he walked back to the break room. Lacy had started working for Ace Consulting, Inc about two years ago as a junior consultant but worked her way up the corporate ladder quickly. As of two weeks ago, she was made a senior consultant and given quite possibly the biggest account the company had ever seen--Wayne Enterprises. How she got Samuel Drake and the rest of the senior partners to give her that account he had no idea. She had surprised everyone in the office with that news.
No one was surprised by her promotion though. She was a hard worker, usually working an average of seventy to eighty hours a week. He wondered how she managed to have any kind of social life outside the office; however, he never asked her about it. She was strangely silent about her personal life and he got the impression that it was because something terrible had happened to her before she moved to Gotham. Getting her to talk about it would be impossible though because she had brick wall defenses up all around her.
Lacy entered her office and closed the door, leaning against it and sighing. She knew she couldn't stop others from being fascinated with the Joker, but that wasn't her true intention whenever she chastised them for it. She hoped that if she appeared to be against the Joker, her coworkers wouldn't notice the truth.
She went to her computer and turned on the monitor, quickly typing in the website for GCN. On their front page they had a huge picture of the Joker. She stared into the picture, searching for any signs that the Joker hadn't completely swallowed up the man underneath. But, like always, it seemed the Joker was taking over more and more. Sooner or later, there would be nothing left of the good man who had once been a major part of her life—assuming it hadn't happened already.
Alfred entered the living room with a tray of dinner and laid it on the table besides Bruce's chair. He looked over at Bruce and saw he was going through a bunch of papers. "If you don't mind me asking, Master Wayne, what are you looking at?"
Bruce didn't look up from the papers. "I think there is a link between all of the Joker's latest victims."
"You mean besides the fact that they are all wealthy?" Alfred asked with a laugh.
Bruce laughed and looked up from the papers. "Yeah, besides that. I did some digging and found out that all of the victims were heirs or CEO's of companies that had hired Ace Consulting just prior to their deaths."
"Ah." Alfred nodded. It was all making sense now. "So that is the reason for you hiring the consultant for Wayne Enterprises."
"Exactly." Bruce replied. "I'm hoping to get more information by gaining access to the company…"
"Through this young lady?" Alfred asked, picking up a picture of Lacy.
"Yeah." Bruce answered. "I'm thinking that if I can befriend her then I can gain more access to the company, maybe figure out the link between her company and the Joker."
"Sounds interesting." Alfred stated. "Of course if you can't find out anything from this young lady, maybe you'll get lucky and the Joker will come here trying to kill you."
Bruce laughed again. "Actually Alfred, that's Plan B."
Later that night Lacy was sitting on the couch with papers strewn across her coffee table. Unlike most nights though, these papers weren't about her job. They were the news reports of all the Joker killings since he had escaped from Arkham. She had printed off all the information she could find about the five home invasion killings, hoping to figure out some common denominator other than money.
The Joker didn't care about money. There was no way he would keep killing Gotham's wealthiest just for cash or expensive art. So the question plagued her. Why was he only targeting the wealthy men of Gotham? What could he possibly have to gain from it?
All of a sudden, she realized something. Andrew Cobblestone's company was a client of Ace Consulting. The company had actually just finished doing a job for them a few days ago. She looked at the names of the other victims.
John Franklin, Parker Short, and George Stanley were all fairly recent clients too. She had worked on the project for Parker Short's company but not on the rest of them. She decided when she got to work tomorrow she would look into it further.
Down by the ferry, in an old, abandoned warehouse, the Joker sits in his makeshift office. On the walls are candid pictures of Gotham's wealthiest men. Many of the pictures appear to be of the men walking on the street or sitting in their offices. Some of the pictures had big red X's crossed out over the men's faces.
The Joker stared intently at the pictures, deep in thought. Finally, he took out his red lipstick and marked an X over Andrew Cobblestone's face. "You were definitely not what I was looking for." He talked to the picture. "You were no help at all."
He took out a knife from his pocket and spun it around on the table. "So which one of you is going to be next?" As he was contemplating his next move, his cell phone rang. "Yeah, what?"
"Mr. Joker?" The voice hesitantly answered. "This is Samuel Drake from Ace Consulting."
"Why hello Mr. Drake!" The Joker greeted with more enthusiasm. "What's the reason for this call?"
"I just wanted to let you know that we have a pitch meeting with Wayne Enterprises tomorrow. I realize that Wayne Enterprises was on your list companies we need to let you know about if we do business with them." Drake explained.
"I know how the deal works." The Joker rolled his eyes. "I came up with it. Remember?"
"Of course! I didn't mean any disrespect." Drake exclaimed, hoping he wasn't making the Joker mad at him. "Anyway, we have one of our best senior consultants in charge of the project, Lacy Williams."
The Joker had been starting to pay less and less attention to Drake until he heard Lacy's name. While he knew Lacy worked for Ace Consulting, he had no idea that she would be in charge of a project this large. He was going to have to be extra-vigilant with her to make sure that she didn't complicate what he was trying to accomplish.
Realizing that Drake was still droning on about something unimportant, he cut him off. "Thanks for the information. You know what to do when you land the account, right?"
"Yes Mr. Joker." Drake replied.
"Good. We'll talk soon." He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair for a moment. "Well Lacy, looks like I'll be paying you another visit soon." With a smile and laugh, he turned back to the wall of pictures. Picking up the red lipstick again, he circled Bruce Wayne's face. "And it looks like you are next, Brucie."
