Disclaimer: I still don't own Batman or anything like that. Just own the original characters.
The Calm Before The Storm
Chapter Two: Joker's Wild
I couldn't stop thinking about him, or stop looking at the worn and creased playing card he'd given me. I didn't understand what it meant, but on a deep level, the joker seemed a fitting calling card for the strange, scarred man.
I was sitting on the sofa in the living room of my apartment, my pug Lazlo on my lap watching the ten o'clock news before bed. Lazlo, the lazy little piglet, was sound asleep and snoring away, legs kicking sporadically.
The newscaster - a buxom blonde with perfect white teeth - was reporting on another murder that had occurred in the bad part of town.
Apparently a man had been stabbed to death, although there seemed to be no motive beyond a suspected connection with the mob.
I was getting ready to change the channel when I froze, lips parting in shock as the woman on the TV continued to speak.
"The victim was found in his home with several stab wounds, but the most curious detail? The Glasgow smile carved into his face, his cheeks brutally sliced open from both corners of his mouth. And another oddity is the joker card left in the victim's left hand. What does this mean? And the question everyone is asking? Will this mysterious "joker" strike again?"
Numb with shock, I turned off the TV and stared at the black screen, mouth dry and body shaking.
I don't know how long I sat there in disbelief before the knock at my apartment door startled me into awareness.
Legs wobbling, I went to the door."Who is it?" I asked, voice hoarse.
"It's meee." An all too familiar voice sang, and my stomach clenched, a wave of dizziness washing over me.
"Open the door, sweetheart." he called, and I took a step back.
He tried again. "Open the door. You uh, don't want to make me angry, do you?"
No, I didn't. Steeling myself, I unlocked the door and slowly opened it.
And there he was. Jack. Except this time, he was different.
His face was covered in paint - white, with the scars and his lips a ghastly blood red, eyes dark.
"Like my new look?" he struck a pose, then stepped around me and into the apartment.
Lazlo trotted up and began to sniff Jack's ankles, and I held my breath.
"Who's this, then?" he asked, and smiled. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Lazlo." I stated, and he nodded.
"He looks like a pig." Jack stated simply, then strode over to sit on my couch.
Looking over his shoulder at me, he made eye contact and patted the cushion next to him.
I took a deep breath and sat down beside him, folding my hands in my lap.
"What are you doing here?" I blurted, and he giggled.
"I wanted to see if you considered my offer," he began, "like I said before, you're perfect for the job."
"Why am I perfect?" I demanded, and he grinned, reaching out to take my hands in his. They were warm and calloused, and I blushed.
"I know aaaallll about you, Claire." he said, licking his lips, then probing the inside of his cheeks with the tip of his tongue. "I know about the therapy, your uh, stay at the nut house, all the medications…did you ever think that maybe, it's not you that's crazy, but everyone else?"
I stared at him in shock, not sure what to say.
"H-how do you know about all that?" I asked, quite shaken.
"I have my ways." he stated enigmatically, giving me a wink.
"And besides all that, I know your biggest se-cret." he sang, and I froze.
"And I know how much you enjoyed it, too."
"No! It was self-defense!"
"To shoot him eight times and stomp his uh, face into pulp?"
I flushed, but remained silent.
"You might have gotten off on self-defense and insanity, but you and I know that you wanted to do it. You were dying to do it."
Tears welled up in my eyes, and I blinked them away angrily.
"He hurt me so many times, he deserved it!" I exclaimed, feeling something I'd kept chained up tight inside me break free.
"He did!" Jack agreed gleefully, "and a lot of other people do, too."
"Like that man you killed last night?" I demanded, and he laughed.
"Yes. Falconi's boy, in line to take over running things. He had to go. Plus, he insulted my uh, war paint." he grinned.
"It's wrong." I said simply.
"No, they're wrong, with all their rules that they think will kept them safe. But uh, we know the truth, don't we?"
I laughed. Did I ever!
"So, whaddya say, pumpkin? You in?"
I looked at this insane, scarred, dangerous man before me, unsure.
"C'mon baby, I need you." he implored, and I felt everything inside me just let go.
'I'm in."
