*DC owns every character except Jasmine, though she was created from DC characters*

Chapter 2

Joker and Harley Quinn sat in their prison cell at Black Gate with extra guards watching just to be sure nothing went wrong. It seemed to be that every time a villain such as Joker was put into jail, they managed to get out not too long afterwards. Knowing this, the smirks the two evildoers were giving made the guards rather uneasy and left wondering if they had a trick up their sleeve, or were simply trying to intimidate them. After a few hours, however, they soon grew bored, deciding it was probably nothing. That is, until two smoke balls rolled in and expelled black smoke, making it hazy.

As the guards rose in alarm, a figure slipped in. They were clad in a raven black cloak, and with the smoke, seeing the individual was rather difficult. Two whips suddenly uncoiled from the shadowed person's hands. The weapons lashed out at the guards, wrapping around their wrists and throwing them into walls and each other, causing Joker and Harley to laugh. It didn't take too long to take the guards out. It was obvious this person was trained to attack in such a way. Their skill with the two whips was almost beautiful to watch. Like a deadly dance. Once the job was finished, the individual recoiled their whips and bent down over an unconscious guard, taking the cell keys from their pocket.

"Excellent job! Now get us out!" Joker ordered, leaning against the steel bars that kept him imprisoned. Harley let out a gleeful giggle beside him, a wide smile on her lips.

A soft sigh could be heard from the figure as they straightened up, the keys jingling faintly in their hand. Looking up, the two villains could see the face of their rescuer, though they already knew who it was. The face was obviously feminine. Strands of dark green hair escaped from the confinement of the hood, and the woman's eyes were a reddish hazel. There was almost reluctance in her as she walked to Joker and Harley, using the keys she took to unlock them from their prison. Stepping back, she let Harley and Joker saunter up, taking an Ace of Spades and tossing it into the cell. It landed face up and she turned to the former prisoners.

"I brought an escape vehicle for us to take." She spoke up and the two grinned.

OoO

Sitting in her room, Jasmine thought back to what she had done last night somberly. It wasn't anything she was proud of, and really, she quite disliked the fact that she had done it not only once, but has multiple other times as well. There was once a time where she would have taken pride in her actions. However, that was a very, very long time ago, and she no longer felt any pride. Only disgust, and along with that disgust, a sense of helplessness.

It probably wouldn't come at any surprise to hear that her childhood hasn't been exactly wonderful. It wasn't as though her parents have been loving and supportive throughout her life. Joker and Harley wanted her to do as they had "raised" her to do, not what she wanted. There had always been the goal of raising her a certain way and with a specific mindset. What Jasmine wanted was never a consideration. To them, she was an object, not a being. At least, to Joker she was definitely more of an object than anything. Harley always seemed to have a small kind of soft spot for her and would buy her books here and there, but she never really expressed too much affection either.

Pulling from her thoughts, Jasmine got to her feet, and walked to a hidden closet. As she opened it, she hung up the cloak then stepped back, gazing at the green wig, black cloak and two whips. Much like how Batman and Nightwing were living a double life, so was she. The other part of her was called Spade, based on the suite "spades" in a deck of cards. Spade was the weapon her parents had created. She was supposed to be able to stand up to Robin, at least a little bit, in combat. With Jasmine's counterpart, they hoped to finally achieve some schemes they have cooked up. However, breaking her parents out of jail has been the only technically illegal thing she has done. They were planning on revealing Spade to the world sometime soon, believing her to be ready to join them. At least, this was what Jasmine assumed.

Already, her parents were out doing who knows what to Gotham. She was, once again, confined to the house, which meant she would spend her time in her room. With a small sigh, she pulled on a black tank top and dark gray running shorts. After, she lied back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, a bad feeling stirring in the pit of her stomach. She knew with her parents loose on Gotham, innocent people get hurt and even die. It wasn't as if Jasmine liked this. In fact, she didn't like it at all. It was just that this was the life she was meant to lead. The life of darkness, and evil deeds. There has never been another option for her, and the thought of another possible future had long ago been crushed.

Suddenly, her door slowly began opening, causing her to immediately look to it, tensing up. "Jazz?" A soft voice spoke up, which she recognized immediately. A small smile came over her. She had completely forgotten. Nightwing had said he would come back last night when he had snuck in. It looks like he kept his word. "My eyes are closed so I can't see you if you are changing." He added soon after, making her give a small laugh.

"You're clear, but thanks for the consideration." She responded, sitting up as he came into the room. She noticed how he had one of his escrima sticks in his hand, but didn't make a comment about it. There really wasn't any need to, considering it would make sense as to why he would be cautious. She leaned back against the bed frame behind her, glancing over at her small window with an almost faraway look in her eyes, still bothered by what she had done last night. Does Nightwing have an idea it had been me? She thought to herself with a small frown. Surely not. He doesn't even know who I am. Jasmine reassured herself in her head, though a part of her remained skeptical.

Nightwing gave a small smile at what she said before walking forwards, seeming to be rather wary as he did. Pulling from her thoughts, Jasmine returned her eyes to him, watching as he approached her. In case he wanted to sit, she drew her legs up, but he remained standing, probably to see professional, though she could care less about how he presented himself.

"I know who you are." He said, clearing his throat for a moment before speaking up.

"Do you? Did your databases tell you from my hair sample?" Jasmine asked, raising her eyebrows in question. While she was pretty sure that he didn't find anything on her, he did just say that he knew who she was. Of course, it was very likely that he had simply figured it all out on his own. Given her location, it wouldn't be too hard to figure it out.

"No. You were correct about that. The database wasn't of any use. However, there was something I noticed about you when I was here. You look a lot like Harley and Joker in some aspects. Not only that, but you live here and claimed not to be a henchwoman or a prisoner. I used common sense to come to the conclusion." He answered, making Jasmine give a small smile.

"Good job. I applaud your detective work. You're right. I'm Jasmine Quinn, daughter of Harley and Joker." She said and he gave a small smug smile before straightening up, looking all serious once again.

"I know who your parents are and what they stand for, but what I need to know is who you are, and what you stand for. If you are a villain like your parents, then I will be going and hope to never see you on the streets, since you seem nice. However, if you're good, then we can continue this…friendship. It all depends on who you are." He said to her before giving a frown and meeting her eyes. "Don't lie about it, either. Trust me, I don't like liars." He said lowly.

"You are very black and white, Nightwing." Jasmine began with a soft sigh, "To be bad or to be good. Everyone has a bit of bad in them and a bit of good. Sometimes, good people do bad things, and even bad people do good things every once in a while. To only be one or the other, well, that isn't exactly possible." She said and he seemed to pause for a moment. She studied him for a moment as he pondered, narrowing her eyes slightly as she did. Did he honestly believe that she had some kind of choice to stand up for what she believed in? That she could actually be herself?

"Then let me rephrase. What path do you plan to lead? One with bad intentions or one with good intentions?"

At this question, it was Jasmine's turn to pause, frowning. A small shadow passed over her eyes and she glanced away, her eyes becoming distant again as she stared to the side. What path do I plan to lead? She mused to herself in her thoughts. There has ever only been one path for her, and that was the one her parents paved. All expectations about her were to be like them. Another Harley Quinn and Joker. And yet, she didn't enjoy fighting for the sole purpose of bringing pain and havoc to others, let alone assisting her parents with anything. She gave up the idea of another path a long time ago. She didn't really have any choices to make. It was already made up for her. Despite this, she wanted to explain her predicament to Nightwing with hopes that he will understand. She didn't want to be some evil, murderous being. It was just her destiny. Her expectation. Her fate.

"Have you ever been expected to be something all your life? Trained and raised to be a certain way, and you just can't seem to follow it? Or want to? And yet, everyone has a certain expectation, and it traps you into taking this path that you would rather avoid." Jasmine spoke up solemnly, a sad light coming into her eyes before she shifted her eyes over to Nightwing, "And despite not wanting to have any part in it, you lost any hope in finding a way out."

The hero seemed almost at a loss for words as he stared at her. Because she could not see his eyes, it was rather hard to read him. However, he didn't seem angry or disappointed. If anything…it was almost as if he was more so stunned about something that she couldn't place her finger on. It was then that he put the escrima stick in his hand away and sat beside her on the bed. The glowing white that were his eyes locked on her, and she found herself trapped under his gaze.

"You are not your parents, Jasmine. Your life isn't sentenced to go down a certain path. You get to choose who you want to be, and what you want to do. Don't start thinking for a second that you don't have a choice in the matter. You have free will, Jasmine. No one can take that away from you." He said to her, the sincerity in his voice making her catch her breath. It was as though he actually comprehended her situation, but instead of agreeing, he spoke to her about the opposite.

"You speak as though you understand what I'm feeling." She whispered softly and he was silent for a moment, as if contemplating what to say.

"Let's just say I was in a situation similar to yours, though not exactly the same." He responded carefully.

It was hard to imagine Nightwing being in such a predicament. So much, in fact, that it could be pushed aside as clever wordplay. However, Jasmine didn't question it for a second. She could hear the honesty in his voice. He was being completely genuine. And yet, it was almost hard to believe his words. All her life, she has believed that she had to be her parents. She had locked away any thoughts of getting a new path. Now he was saying the complete opposite, and opening a locked gate, and showing her that she didn't have to become what she was brought up to be. *Is something like that…even possible for someone like me?*

"I don't want to be like my parents. Even the thought of doing the things they do makes me feel almost sick to my stomach." She said quietly, glancing down for a moment.

"Then don't be like them." He responded, then gave her a true, genuine smile and rested a hand on her shoulder. The touch caught her a bit by surprise and she glanced up at his hand before relaxing under the contact. It had been a while since she had such a…casual and friendly interaction. She simply wasn't used to it.

"I promise I'll get you out of this. In fact, there may be another option for you already." Nightwing spoke up. Hearing this, Jasmine's eyes widened and she met his gaze once again.

"Really?" She asked and he nodded.

"I can't give you the details just yet. I need to speak with Batman, but I'll come back tomorrow to discuss it with you." He said to her firmly. At his words, Jasmine felt her heart race in excitement, and a swell of something filled her. It had been a while since she felt its uplifting sensation. Hope. For so many years, she had simply been hopeless, and accepted her terrible fate. Now she was being offered an alternative.

*Finally an escape.* She thought to herself then smiled and nodded. "Okay. I'll be waiting tomorrow night then." She said to him.

It was then that the sound of a door closing caught her attention. Her eyes snapped away from Nightwing and towards her open door as her parents' voices echoed throughout the house. She cussed under her breath then got to her feet, rushing to the window in her room and opening it. Thankfully, it was a rather big window. Enough so that Nightwing shouldn't have that much difficulty getting through it. He had followed her over nimbly, so much so that she hadn't even heard his footfalls, which was impressive. Since there was simply an alleyway outside of her window, it would be easy disappear.

"I should be back around the same time tomorrow." He said quickly, staring at her for a moment longer before turning to the window and making his escape. He jumped from the window and landed to the ground in a crouch before running into the depths of the alleyways and melding into the shadows, as though he were one himself.

Quickly, Jasmine closed the window, locking it and jumped onto her bed. She pulled a book out and opened it up as though she had been reading right as her parents waltzed in, complaining about Batman, as they usually did. However, the fact that they had come into her room was new. Typically they stayed out of it. So, she closed her book and set it aside, soon getting off of her bed and facing them, clasping her hands behind her back tightly.

"Jasmine! Would you like to join us for some…fun…tomorrow night?!" Joker asked with a dark smile, giving Jasmine the hint that it probably revolved around another devious plan to take down Batman. However, what really confused her was that she was never really invited to do such things before.

"After doing such a good job last night in breaking us out of prison, we decided that you are finally ready!" Harley chimed in gleefully.

"Oh, I'm not nearly as prepared to take on such a…daunting task." She spoke up, feeling a bit nervous about where this was going. This meant that they were finally ready to expose Spade to the world, as she has been assuming for a while now. However, with this coming new option Nightwing has brought up, there was a chance she could abandon her title as Spade.

"Nonsense! We've invited you, dear daughter!" Joker exclaimed then narrowed his eyes, though his dark smile remained. "You do want to go, don't you?"

Jasmine remained silent for a moment, feeling a bit of fear rise up in her, since there was no way she was leaving to go help them tomorrow. "Actually, I would rather not." She said before swallowing hard.

"Don't tell me you're scared!" Her father said venomously, though he was still giving his dark smile as he began to stalk forwards, only for Harley to catch his arm to stop his advance.

"Puddin', perhaps in a few days she will be ready." Harley spoke up, meeting Jasmine's eyes. "Isn't that right, darlin'?"

"Yes. A few days. I just need time to prepare myself." Jasmine answered quickly, thanking her mother silently in her head for once.

Joker glared at Jasmine for a moment before stepping back and began to walk out of her room. "Fine! You will join us in a few days to take down Batman then! We'll be an unstoppable trio of destruction! Can you imagine it now, Harley?!" He said, letting out a crazed laugh as he left, Harley hurrying out after him with small giggled..

At their exit, Jasmine sat back on her bed, taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart. She was starting to fear that if she was still here and refused to be what her father wanted her to be, then things would begin to end badly. Already, tension was building up, and this was her first refusal.

*Please hurry to get me this option, Nightwing. I'm not sure how much longer my father is going to wait.*