CH 7

Nikki hummed the usual tune the Joker liked to drone as she adjusted the nurse's belt around her waist. With a snigger to herself, she proceeded to check up on her next patient, or better yet...she glanced down to check her nametag... Susan Jones' former patient. No one gave her a second glance as she walked around. In any other circumstance that would have been unusual with her scars, but today she expected it. The atmosphere was tense and full of fear as everyone evacuated from Gotham General.

Nikki reached the next room on her clipboard and paused at the door as she painted a cheery smile on her face. The bed was occupied by an elderly man. He was staring blankly at the wall. Nikki coughed loudly to get his attention. He didn't budge.

She frowned. He was going to ruin her fun. At least some of the other patients recognized her right before she killed them. Nikki sighed dramatically and decided she would be a nice person for once. She slapped the man's cheek to try to stir him. When he didn't move she went ahead and injected the air bubble in his blood stream. She gave him one last look before she turned to leave.

Suddenly the old man grabbed her wrist. Nikki's heart jumped as she sucked in a quick intake of air. "Thank you," he said dryly before shifting his head back into a blank look.

Nikki stared at him, not sure whether to yell at him or laugh. He just thanked her for killing him? What did he think she was? Some sort of assisted suicide angel? Was he in so much pain that he truly wanted to die? Nikki gritted her teeth. She didn't want to help him, dammit! She should have left him alive.

Now in an annoyed spirit, Nikki huffed out of the room into the chaos of the hallway. Someone shouted something about a Mr. Feguerson being dead. The voice was told to leave him...they had to get everyone alive out immediately. The voices got further and more distant as Nikki furthered down the now empty hallway where she knew the Joker was. She paused on the last door at the end.

"Hey Betty! It's Susie. I'm coming in," she called in a false upbeat voice before she opened the door. She didn't feel like having the Joker accidentally blow her head off thinking she was a real nurse.

The sight that met her eyes was a freaky looking Harvey Dent staring at the Joker with a gun in hand. Nikki couldn't help but drop her clipboard in surprise and begin to laugh. She managed to gasp, "Holy fuck! You look like shit!"

Dent's eyes narrowed on her face. He snarled, "I would say the same thing."

Nikki continued to smile her mischievous grin. She was loving the sight of Harvey Dent looking so broken. The Joker made a "tut tut tut" noise before pushing himself and Nikki out of the door. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided them down the hall. "Now now princess...he's not in a very good mood. Best not to prod him too much. He has work to do for us. Besides, we have a building to explode!"

"Are you planning on changing out of your darling little ensemble?" Nikki gestured to the Joker's nurse outfit identical to her own (though Nikki had to admit she had the figure to pull it off unlike the lean Joker).

"What's the matter? Mad we match?" the Joker giggled as he pulled off parts of his outfit.

Nikki muttered a "Yeah right." She was distracted by a buzzing in her pocket. She pulled out her cell phone to find a text from Maroni:

Guess what bitch? You've been dumped.

Nikki stared at the screen and scoffed. She didn't fucking care about Maroni anymore. She had better people to kill for. The Joker was already reaching for the phone from her hand to read her new text message. "The mob has officially broken off from you, but we knew that already," Nikki told the Joker as he handed her phone back to her.

The Joker started to laugh so hard he had to stop walking. "Broken up with me? He's not even going to be alive soon! The former white knight of Gotham is paying him a special visit."

"The sooner he's dead, the better," Nikki answered in a bored tone as she began to light a cigarette.

"You know, princess, just out of my usual, uh, curiosity, what exactly did he blackmail you with to start to work with me?" The Joker asked casually as he continued walking. He fumbled with the bomb detonator in his hands.

Nikki scoffed and was about to explain how fucking stupid Maroni was, but suddenly realization hit Nikki like a stack of bricks. She chocked on her spit.

She had been so lost in her bloody spree and her newfound sense of freedom with the Joker that she had completely forgotten. It's not like she cared that much in the first place, but she still had her connections. One thought kept replaying over and over in her head.

Maroni wasn't taking care of her issue anymore.

The words kept repeating like some ailing broken record. She felt a mixture of irritation and anger because of the new problem she had to deal with. Her walking pace quickened as she called Maroni back. The Joker was cackling at her sudden mood change. Nikki thought she could faintly hear him talking to her. Nikki tuned him out. She was focused on the ringing in her ear.

"You fucking son of a bitch. What did you do?" Nikki yelled into the phone as soon as Maroni picked up.

"What's this, Nikki? Are you actually caring about someone for once?" the mobster asked in a sarcastic voice.

"You have three seconds to tell me what the fuck you did," she growled. Her hand clawed at cheek as she felt her anger growing.

"Well, let's see. Last I heard your nephew was checked into Gotham General by his mommy because someone accidentally hit him with their car...I'm assuming he's being moved as we speak...that is if he actually gets off the bus. Who knows if another accident happens," the voice laughed before the call ended with a 'click'.

Nikki felt her hand shaking from her anger. She dropped her phone before taking off in a run. The Joker watched her throughout the conversation with a curious look. "What is it, beautiful? Someone's got you awwwfully upset," he called. His voice was upbeat but had a suspicious undertone underneath.

Nikki burst out of the hospital doors and looked around like a crazed person. Her eyes found her target, the two school buses that hadn't left yet. She pulled the gun out of her pocket and began to shoot at the nearest school bus as it began to leave. The Joker watched her from the steps of the hospital. His head was cocked crooked and he tapped the detonator at his side. It was truly peculiar. Why was she acting that way? He giggled and shook his head. He initiated the detonator as he walked toward the second school bus.

Screams, explosions, and gunshots were filling the air. As the Joker walked closer he could see the windows splatter with blood. His men from the other school bus were calling out to him. He lifted his index finger, indicating for them to wait. Gunshots continued to pour out until finally there was no more screaming. Nikki stepped off the school bus covered in blood. In her arms was a blond little boy in a hospital gown and a blue cast on his wrist. He looked like he would be five or six years old. He was clutching Nikki out of fear as tears poured down his cheeks.

The Joker started to laugh his high pitch hoot. "Geez, princess. If you wanted a kid THAT bad I am, uh, more than equipped to knock you up."

Nikki didn't respond. She hastily boarded the second yellow school bus full of hostages and the Joker's men as the building continued to explode. The Joker gave the signal for them to go. He sat down next to Nikki in the back of the bus. The blond boy in her arms buried his face in her neck. Nikki made no move to comfort him. Her face was a blank with hints of anger popping through her facade as she stared straight ahead.

"Sooo," The Joker began, waiting for Nikki to explain. He wasn't too entirely sure how he felt (how funny, him thinking about his feelings!). He found the whole idea of Nikki sitting with a child in her arms greatly entertaining, but he still wondered what the fuck was going on.

Nikki cleared her throat when the felt the Joker drifting his knife along her cheek. She nuzzled against his knife. "He's my sister's kid," she whispered in a soft tone so unlike the heartless Nikki the Joker came to know.

The Joker's tongue darted out of his mouth as he leaned in closer. "Go on," he urged in his child-like tone.

Nikki's eyes met his. She looked bored again yet a tinsy bit frustrated. "So when I got let loose out of the asylum, Maroni thought he had to bribe me working for him. He offered protection for my sister and my parents."

The Joker cocked his head back and growled a deep "Hmmmmmmm". He was starting to become annoyed with this new Nikki who cared for others. Nikki could sense his hostility growing. She licked her mutilated lip and scoffed. "Don't get that look on your face. I don't give a fuck about my family. The only reason I'm taking care of the kid is because it was an agreement. And just like you, I keep my promises."

"What type of agreement? Some of them can be, uh, broken if given the right loophole..." The Joker hinted at as he licked his smeared lips. His mouth watered for a new challenge where he could kill someone unexpectedly because they thought they were 'protected'.

"Not that easily," Nikki mumbled. The child on her lap curled closer to the side of the bus rather than her stony body.

When Nikki didn't respond any further, the Joker began to cut her deeply on her upper arm. "What agreement?" he snarled as he grasped her arm tightly.

Nikki hissed. She broke her arm free from his grasp and clenched his shirt to pull him closer. This just amused the Joker further who had now broken into a fit of giggles. "Listen and comprehend this" she hissed in a low voice. She needed him to understand something for once instead of try to shatter it. Some things in her life could not be undone.

Once the Joker stopped laughing and only had his wide smile on his face, Nikki loosened the grip on his shirt. She continued. "When my parents first put me in that FUCKING asylum, they made me promise to never let any harm or any other shit happen to the family. They said it was the least I could do seeing as how I caused soooo much grief on them. I agreed because I was stupid. I was at the age where I knew I was fucked up but thought I could still have a family. But what did they do instead? Abandoned me in a fucking nuthouse."

The Joker mocked sighed and clicked his tongue. "Princess, you're not making any sense. There's no point for you to honor that, uh, verbal contract at all."

"I have to honor it," Nikki said through clenched teeth. "You wouldn't understand my reasoning anyway. Just deal with it."

But the Joker was not one to let an uncomfortable topic drop when he had so much fun with it. "You know," The Joker began in an unsettling gentle tone, "You could always just, uh, kill them. Then they certainly wouldn't be bothersome."

Nikki glared at him for a moment before turning away. "I can't" she hissed.

"Why not princess? It's better not to have any, uh, ties to the mundane idiots who populate this planet. I could help you..."he replied with a giggles. His knife was drifting over to the small boy's cheek.

Nikki clutched his hand and pulled his knife so it cut along the side of her neck. She stared at him with rage in her eyes mixed with embarrassment for her own weakness. She looked away at the window of the passing streets of Gotham when she couldn't stand his gaze any longer. She didn't want to talk about her family anymore...she just couldn't kill them no matter how much she hated them. It was like they tied her to living since they created her. No matter how much she wanted them dead, she couldn't let them die. When she agreed to never let harm befall them, she was still almost normal...not even close to the level she was now. Yes, she was still crazy, but she still had her humanity. Somehow that agreement, that one answer of 'yes' represented a life she didn't want anymore, but at the same time represented a time where she didn't feel so cold or alone.

Not that she cared...or at least that's what she kept telling herself. Shit, if she didn't even understand her feelings, how the fuck could she try to explain them to a guy like the Joker? She turned her eyes back on him. He was watching her like a hawk with that never ending grin growing wider and wider on his face.

The Joker couldn't help but giggle at Nikki's emotional struggle. Each passing second had a new emotion on her face. He brushed a loose bang out of her eye. He would show his princess the route of freedom eventually. He couldn't let her have any strings attached to anyone but him. He ruffled the hair on the small boy who shivered from silent tears and giggled. He would kill her family after his 'plan' tonight was done. That would be his generous gift to her.