Chapter 7

Katelyn had fallen into a heavy sleep when she'd finally gotten home; her dreams were turbid and short, one murky scene jumping to the next, and the last thing she remembered before her eyes snapped open was seeing herself with a vicious, red-lipped grin. She sat up in bed, then turned toward the direction of the television in the living room. Sometimes she left it on all night when she took off on her escapades so the neighbors would think she was still there, living her boring psychologist's life one episode of Gotham City Pawn Stars at a time.

What she was currently hearing wasn't reruns, however; it was the Joker's voice, harsh and biting.

"…Nobody knocks off my guys but ME, and this little invitation is going to keep running every hour…"

She practically fell out of bed and ran out to the living room to watch the rest of the video. Her first thought was that he took the murder of one of his henchmen way more seriously than she ever thought he would. Her psychologist's mind began to take over and she wondered if this was just his excuse to remind everyone how crazy he was by threatening the destruction of Gotham once again; or if henchmen really meant that much to a super criminal; or if henchmen acted as an extension of his own deep-seated insecurities; or if he was using her as a lure to draw out the Batman for one more battle royale before they all got shipped off to Arkham to bunk up in a padded cell.

She squinted and crawled up close to the TV when he held up the card. "Happy-Laughs… All right Joker. See you soon."

She donned the She-Wolf outfit and covered it with a long pea coat. It was impossible to move through Gotham during the day without being noticed by somebody, and she wanted to play it safe. She stuffed the wolf mask into her purse and clipped a leash on Shiva as if they were going for a walk. They left her apartment building and headed toward the east side of the City.

When she arrived near the docks, she saw the old factory looming in the distance ahead of her. The sky had grown dark on her walk, and it threatened rain any minute. She unclipped Shiva from the leash and stuffed it into her purse and bid Shiva to keep close as she ran toward a large stack of pallets and climbed on top of them to get a better view of the entrance of the warehouse. There were armed thugs meandering around outside the doors. She quickly jumped off and ran around the corner of the building, shedding her pea coat on the way and pulling on her wolf mask. "Sic 'em."

She pulled a grapple gun from her purse and shot it up at the roof, riding the line up as it retracted. She could hear Shiva barking and growling down below and a few gunshots going off. She stuck the grapple gun back onto her belt and crawled swiftly along the roof until she found a large skylight that provided a view down into the warehouse. Suddenly the sky cracked and the rain started pounding down on her with a thunder and lightning accompaniment. She saw more thugs running toward the front doors in response to the commotion Shiva had started. When it looked as if the coast was clear, she grabbed a large chunk of brick that had fallen from one of the crumbling chimneys on the roof and smashed it through the skylight, shot the grapple gun through the hole in the roof and swung down into the warehouse, hooking around to the side and dropping down to the floor in a corner. She stayed near the wall, in the shadows, and listened.

"My dear Wolfy, is that you!? Come in and have a seat!" She heard maniacal laughter and all of a sudden a whirring and gear-grinding sound started up behind her and her soaking body was bathed in a bright light. A giant 15-foot toy robot painted with macabre clown colors started moving toward her, pincer hands snapping open and closed. She tried to dart out of the way but the thing must have had some sort of advanced motion sensor, and its pincer arm slammed down on top of her, knocking the breath out of her. She wheezed and struggled as the robot closed its pincer around her and lifted her up, carrying her toward the dimly lit throne at the back of the warehouse.

"Ahh, how do you like my new toy, Wolfy? Isn't he marvelous! I had to tweak him a bit after I found him, but I think this redesign is much better!"

She could see his grinning face as he stood up from his throne and began descending the steps to meet her. She tried fruitlessly to pull the pincer apart, but it was steel and wasn't going to budge. She had to think quickly. She scanned the robot for some sort of control panel or wiring circuitry, spotted a hydraulic mechanism hooking out of the joint in its neck, and quickly shoved a knife into it, hacking through some of the wires and flinching away as hot steam and sparks began to shoot from the coils she'd cut. The robot halted in its steps, emitting a loud alarm and went to reach for her with its other pincer as the first one's lock began to loosen and set her free.

She-Wolf wriggled out of the robot's steel grip and flipped over the other arm that was swinging down to grab her. She landed behind the robot and jumped up onto its back, prying open the control panel there with the knife she pulled out of its neck and stuck it into what looked like a hard drive. Sparks flew at her as the robot seemed to shrug, then straighten, then crumple down into itself. She stabbed and stabbed at the techy bits in its back, until the thing was on the floor, silent. The Joker clapped as he reached the bottom of the stairs, tilting his head and eyeing her.

"Hmm, resourceful little minx aren't you… " He pulled a large-barreled gun out from under one arm, tapping it against his leg impatiently. "Ya know, toots, for some reason I'm not nearly as pissed about old Rocky the Robot here as I am about my man Marvin. I mean, the audacity! Killing my henchmen all willy-nilly..." He edged around the broken heap of robot toward her.

"Marvin and I had unfinished business, Joker. You're just going to have to deal with that. Give me Tommy Marcino and this'll be the last time you have to deal with it…" She edged around the robot, backing away from the Joker.

He erupted into a riotous cackle. "You want another one of my boys!? What do you think this is, toots, Kill-Joker's-Henchmen-Day!? Do you know how much stolen money I have to spend just to get those guys' records cleaned!?" He lifted the gun and aimed it at her.

She grabbed a knife from the sheath on her thigh and flung it at him, cutting his hand and causing him to fumble and drop the gun.

"What's the big deal?" She grabbed another knife and lunged, pressing it against his neck as the Joker, on his knees on the floor, grabbed the gun and pointed it at her again. They seemed to have reached a stalemate. "I'm sure you've got guys clambering all over each other just to have you get them killed. What's the difference if I do it or not?"

The Joker raised an eyebrow, seemingly bewildered that she would even ask that question. "Why, it's the principle of the thing, toots!" He pistol-whipped the knife out of her hand, stood up, and squeezed the trigger. "Bang!"

She clasped her hand and shut her eyes in fear as the gun went off. There was a deafening sound and smoke seemed to be choking up her throat, but right as she backed straight into the arms of Tommy Marcino, she opened her eyes and saw that the gun had only shot out a handful of confetti and a flag that read "BANG!"

The Joker laughed and laughed as She-Wolf struggled to get out of the man's grip, but he had her arms clasped behind her back tightly and she quickly discovered that if she struggled too much, he would dislocate or break them.

"Tommy my boy, good timing! I suspect Wolfy's little sidekick has been taken care of?"

"Yeah boss, and it's still alive, just like ya said. "

"Good…bring it to me. I want to test out my little theory…" Joker fingered the gun in his hand idly, humming to himself as he waited.

As Katelyn panted in the behemoth's grip, two more thugs walked out of the shadows dragging the lifeless form of a dog behind them. They were both bloody and would need some serious stitches after this was over.

"Shiva…" She struggled uselessly, beginning to panic. "Don't touch her!"

Joker walked over to the dog, dropping to a knee and lifting up its head to look at it. "You know it's some coincidence that there would be two dogs just like this in Gotham…." He let the dog's head drop to the floor and stood up, walking toward the woman struggling in Tommy's arms.

The Joker grinned, flicking at the mask that covered her face. She grimaced, turning her head to the side to try and avoid him. He grabbed her chin roughly and made her face him, leaning his face in close.

She couldn't help thinking that he smelled remarkably nice for a total psycho. She swallowed hard. "Do whatever you want to me… but don't touch her again."

The Joker raised an eyebrow, looking at her quizzically, then looking at the dog, and then looking back at her. "You care more about that fleabag than you do about your own self? Hm, how poignant." While continuing to stare into her eyes, he pointed the popgun in the direction of the dog.

"You think you're gonna fool me with that again?"

He smiled at her and pulled the trigger. A deafening bang echoed through the room. She heard the dog yelp once as the shock of the bullet snapped her out of her stupor for a moment before she fell back dead. She-wolf trembled, her eyes widening. Joker smiled a little wider. "Trick gun, gets 'em every time." His laughter echoed in the silence.