Chapter 4

Gotham had three cemeteries: one about a mile from Arkham Asylum, one by the docks and one by the new Slayer school. The one by the Slayer school was the one that ironically the one with the least demonic activity (word about the arrival of the Slayers must have spread fast). It was also the one where the newer Slayers sometimes trained. At least, that was what Willow said. The Joker didn't really care about the details. When it was time to rob the Slayers, he would do it. Until then, he was going to have his own fun.

Currently, the Joker was following a pretty teenage girl. What a pretty little thing like her was doing out alone was beyond him. Unless she was a Slayer (and he doubted she was that) it wasn't safe at all for her to be out alone at night. Especially in a place like Gotham. The girl suddenly looked around, obviously aware she was being followed. Joker grinned. This was going to be very interesting.

The girl turned into a dark alley. She walked about halfway through it before stopping. "I know somebody's following me," she said loudly. "You better knock it off."

The Joker stepped just enough out of the shadows to be seen, but not enough for her to get a good look at his face. "But I was having so much fun," he pouted.

"Why were you following me?'

"Why wouldn't I follow you? After all, you're very…beautiful." He stepped out of the shadows completely. She gasped as she got a good look at his face.

"What?" he said innocently. He took a knife out of his pocket. "Is it the scars?" He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her against him. She struggled, but the knife to her throat put a quick end to that. "Want to know how I got them?" He pressed the blade against her throat as hard as he could without drawing blood. "My mother was a stage mom. She saw how handsome I was and got me every modeling gig she could. My brother, on the other hand, was ugly and she hated him for it. So one day, he comes upstairs to my room and pins me down. He was three years older than me and much bigger." He slid the knife into the right side of her mouth. "He puts a knife in my mouth and does this…" He sliced her face, starting from the corner of her lips and going all the way up to her ear. The same was done to the other side of her face. Blood was getting everywhere. "He did it so Mom would hate me too. And it WORKED!" He tossed the girl down to the ground and smoked a cigarette as he watched her die. It didn't take long.

"Wow Harris. That was a sight to be seen."

The Joker turned around. Spike had appeared out of nowhere. The vampire was smirking at him. "What?" Joker asked in annoyance.

Spike's smirk got even bigger. "Oh nothing. I'm just trying to think who that reminded me of just now." He walked over to the Joker and got right in his face. "Oh right, now I remember. You just remind me of Angelus."

The Joker grabbed Spike by the throat and pushed him against the wall. The stake was out of his pocket before the vampire could even blink. "I would be very careful if I were you, Spike-y," Joker hissed. He pressed the stake against Spike's chest. "This is a case where sticks and stones will only break your bones." He licked his lips. "Now, just because Willow hasn't killed you, that doesn't mean I'm not willing to do it for her."

Spike kneed Joker in the groin and punched the Clown Prince of Crime down to the ground. "You think you scare me whelp?" he asked. He kicked the stake out of Joker's hands. "You think there's something you can do to me Angelus already hadn't put me through?" He kicked Joker in the ribs. "You see, Drusilla turned me into a vampire, but Angelus made me a monster." He delivered another kick. "It's kind of the same with you. Your father turned you into a ticking time bomb but it was Angelus that pressed the detonator."

The Joker grabbed Spike's foot and pulled the vampire down to the ground. He got back up on his feet and grabbed the stake he had lost. He turned around to face Spike, only to find that Spike was now pointing a gun at him.

"Did you really expect me to come at you unarmed?" Spike asked. "Did you really think I was that stupid?"

"Yes," Joker replied honestly. He had never considered Spike a threat on the intelligence side of things.

Spike chuckled. "A lot of people have told me that." He cocked the gun. "You see, I've never been stupid; just rash and impulsive. Everybody thought Angelus was so smart, but the reality was that he was just sadistic fuck that thought he knew everything about everybody. But he never looked past the surface. He thought you were just the goofy best friend and the heart of the little Scooby gang. But I saw something in you the moment I laid eyes on you. I saw the monster waiting to be released. It just needed a little push."

The Joker cocked his head to the side. He hadn't been expecting this insightful little gem from Spike. "Wow, that was honest. I like honesty. So does Willow. Maybe that's why you're still alive."

Spike shrugged. "Maybe. She has developed a taste for the murdering, psychotic type. In fact--"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by a bus pulling up in the alley. It stopped a couple feet short of them and a moment later Willow stepped out of it. But it was a different looking Willow. Her hair was now light blonde and she was wearing a pink blouse and bell bottom jeans. "Come on boys," she said. "We've got a Slayer school to invade."

Neither Spike or Joker moved. "Willow, what the hell have you done to yourself?" Spike asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Joker said. "I thought once you went black you never went back."

Willow glared at them. "I'm disguised as one of the new Slayers. I'm now Ellie Peterson until we get in and take control of the school. Now get in."

Spike put the gun back in his jacket pocket and got in the bus. But the Joker made no move to do what Willow said. "You know Will, I'm not the whipping boy like Spike is," he drawled out. "I don't like to be told what to do."

Willow merely shrugged. "Fine. Don't come then." She started to get in on the bus but then stopped. "You might not want to stay here though. Gordon's on his way to arrest you right as we speak and I'm sure he's bringing the Batman with him."

The Joker growled and got on the bus. Spike gave him a smug look as Willow started driving again. "So how are we getting in?" he asked in an attempt to keep himself from strangling Willow and staking Spike.

Willow grinned. "It's real simple: we're all going to pretend we're Slayers. Spike's going to get stabbed--"

"Like hell I am!" Spike objected.

Willow gave him a look that shut him right up. "Spike is going to get stabbed and we'll carry him up to the school so he can get "fixed". Now Spike, you'll have to keep your faced buried in against Xander until we get in. Just because I'm slapping a wig on you doesn't mean you'll look like a girl."

The Joker raised his hand. "Will, I'm with you on the Spike getting stabbed part-"

"I bet you are," Spike muttered.

Joker slapped him on the back of the head. "But we have one little problem: I don't look like a girl either."

"Look in the bag in the seat across from you," Willow said. "There's a dress, a pair of high heels and burka in it. I swiped it from Roheen, a Siberian Slayer who just tragically died tonight."

"Hold on a minute," Spike said. "If he's wearing a dress does that mean I have to wear a dress?"

"No, you get to wear a shirt and pants."

Joker grabbed the bag and took out the clothes. "So why do I get stuck with the dress?"

"Because it's a convenient way to hide that face. Besides, I figured you wouldn't mind, seeing as you got dressed up in a nurse's uniform while you were playing naughty nurse with Harvey Dent." She frowned as soon as the words left her mouth. "I did not mean to say it like that."

Spike screwed up in his face in disgust. "You really need to rephrase that Red."

Joker began to take off his clothes. "I had no intentions on playing naughty nurse with Harvey at that hospital." He slipped the dress over his head. "I don't like my lovers extra crispy. I've been down that road and his lips tasted like ashes."

"WHAT?" Spike and Willow yelled at the same time. The bus nearly swerved off the road as Willow turned around to look at him.

The Joker rolled his eyes. "Typical," he muttered. "The girl experiments with other girls and everybody thinks that's so cute and hot. But when the guy admits he's done a couple of guys, people lose their minds and nearly wreck buses. I'm telling you, there's a serious double standard going on around here people."

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