"Your perfect."
Joker whispered to me as I stepped out of our bathroom the morning-after, dressed solely in his purple jacket and white knickers. My job as a strip dancer had hardly left me self-conscious, or out of shape, so I simply cocked a hip at his words and blew him a kiss as I skipped across our bedroom in search of clothes. J had finally moved my clothes into the room, so I could finally actually choose what to wear each day. Flinging open the wardrobe door, I walked inside it and pulled out a nice shirt dress and a pair of knee high boots. I had woken up to J whispering in my ear about a job he needed to do before lunch so I had hurried out of bed so not to be left behind yet again. The shirt dress provided enough coverage that my jealous soulmate wouldn't kill his guys just for looking at me but provocative enough that I felt like a bad-ass bitch.
Standing in the closet, my chosen outfit clutched to my chest, my mind raced. I had done it. Last night…last night had been amazing. It was one of the first time's I had ever felt completely and utterly in sync with another human being. Yes, we had physically joined…but it was more than that to me. Emotionally, I had let myself be vulnerable to a man, a powerful, influential man who could crush me with a single bad word to the right person. The kind of man whom I had always sworn to avoid, the kind that made me feel weak and yet so so so strong all at once. As a child, I had imagined my first lover as a sweet, polite young man who would kiss my hand and leave flowers upon my doorstep. But now, now I didn't want that. I wanted Joker. Joker. The man who would rather present me with a bomber jacket than roses, the man who kidnapped me instead of courted me. Joker, my Joker.
When I returned to our ramshackle bedroom Joker was sitting cross-legged on our bed in his usual purple suit jacket, black jeans and chains of jewellery. A normal outfit for a hopefully normal day. He didn't even look at me but shook his head and pointed towards the jacket I had discarded while dressing. I humphed at him but kissed his cheek and slipped the bomber jacket on never the less, it was a little task but it pleased him. And I seemed to live to please him nowadays. Last night however, last night had been all about me. I doubted I would ever forget that night, my first time, my first time with my soulmate nether the less. Once I had finally put on the jacket J unfolded his legs and strolled towards me, pushing his thumb under my chin to see my face properly,
"I'm not happy with you coming along baby girl. You will do exactly as I say and not leave my side."
His grip tightened on my chin to enforce his threat,
"Do you understand?"
I nodded my head quickly at his words,
"I understand Daddy."
A grin stole his stern expression as he groaned and laced his arm around my back, leading me out of the door.
"Your going to be the death of me baby."
Giggling, I leaned into his touch and blew warm air onto his cheekbones, he was the only man I had ever felt this comfortable around and I wasn't about to let that go easily. Even if his touch was so cold I was already regretting not grabbing a pair of gloves.
So this was it. Joker was finally letting me out with him on a job. He couldn't really understand why I wanted to see such violence but he didn't fully grasp what growing up as a french aristocrat involved. I saw blackmailing, death, humiliation and rape all throughout my childhood. My parents never hid the dark part of their lives from me so I never fully grasped the concepts of right and wrong, even as a child. My father would often bring home defected workers for my brother to 'practice' on while similarly I was trained in all sorts of gun techniques. Although I was never considered 'important' by my parents, sine they already had an heir and a spare, it would bring to much shame to them if I was killed because of my lack of experience with violence. The house of Bouffon had to remain strong, even if that meant murdering people with to much information our selves. As a family we were not afraid to get out hands dirty, or mangled. But J didn't need to know this…I would keep up my disguise of being the helpless, tiny dancer for a little while longer. Another skill I learnt from my deceitful mother.
"Do you really think I'm going to need this, Daddy?"
I asked my soulmate in a small, weak voice as I tried to hide my love for the pistol he thrust into my hands. J clicked his tongue against the side of his mouth and tried to shush my concerns while showing me how to use the gun,
"No no pretty. Daddy will look after his little girl. But make sure the safety is off before you take a shot…and look down the little visual… like this."
I payed close attention to his words while inwardly rolling my eyes. I had learnt this stuff as a toddler, but the gun really was beautiful. Inscribed with my name, Jester, in a pretty white font I had to admire his attention to detail.
"Listen up men, Jester will be coming with us. She is not to be hurt do you hear me? You protect the Queen at all cost. Or you will wish you had by the time I'm done with you."
J seethed out to his men who stood, lined up, waiting for instruction from their boss. All different types of men awaited instruction from my man. Middle-aged men in business suits, teenagers with arrogant grins and twenty somethings with guns attached to their waists. One of the younger ones leared at me, quickly to be noticed by my soulmate who grabbed his own gun and shot the youth in his right leg,
"Let that be a warning to you all."
Grabbing my arm, J shoved me towards the man I had previously met, his right hand man, Johnny. Johnny was a decent guy, as decent as they came in this line of 'business' anyway. I wouldn't say I liked the guy, but I definitely held a certain amount of respect for how long he had worked alongside my crazy soulmate.
"Take my girl with you Johnny."
Before I could even open my mind to question why we were separating so soon after his declaration to stay by my side at all times, I was pushed into one of the large white vans and ordered to strap in by Johnny. Glaring at him, I did as he asked and settled in for what would undoubtably be a rough drive. I was proved correct, when less than 20 minutes later a loud crashing sounded from the roof of our van and Johnny began cursing and shooting wildly with his gun. I took the safety of mine and held it like a bat as I stared at Johnny with confused eyes. Johnny spun around from his position in the driver's seat, catching my concerned look with a wild eyed grin,
"Hold on Jester, the Bat has attached himself to our van."
The Bat? Who the hell was that? By the noises coming from Johnny I could only assume that this was someone really bad (or really good from the publics' perspective). The buildings of Gotham city began rolling past the windows at an alarming speed, and soon the dock came into view. The dock that lead straight to the sea. As in the sea with lots and lots of water and no oxygen.
"Johnny! Turn the hell around, your heading for the sea!"
I screamed my lungs out at him but he just looked back at me with relaxed eyes,
"Don't worry Jester, this is the only way to get him off the roof. We can't have him attached to bosses vehicle, we have important shit in here!"
"That makes no sense you insensé man!" (foolish)
Surely driving the van straight into the sea would make for more damage than just driving around till we managed to get the Bat off? Or just shooting him?
"Stop Johnny! STOP!"
I screamed in a variety of languages as we began to get closer and closer to the end of the pier. There was no way we would survive this. The heavy van would sink so fast that we could never be able to reach the surface in time. We were done for.
The van leaped into the air and hit the water at a terrifying speed, a bone-breaking, head hitting speed. Then everything went black as I was nocked unconscious.
"Get your filthy hands the hell of my girl, Batty. Before I cut them off for you."
I awoke to the furious growling of my soulmate. Coughing, I spat up the leftover water in my lungs, stiffening as I felt the warmth of an unfamiliar chest holding me close. Joker was never this warm.
"J…"
I whispered out as my eyes fluttered open and I regained full consciousness. Everything looked weird from this angle but I could clearly see my handsome soulmate holding a gun to the man who's arms I was in. I wiggled and hit the huge man holding me but after nearly drowning I had very little force to combat him with. I was completely helpless and my soulmate couldn't help me without possibly killing me in the cross-fire - something I knew he would never risk. J turned to me and sent me a slight smile but his overall face remained furious at my current situation. I shivered in this strange man's arms, I was fucking freezing from my stupid ocean dip. Stupid Johnny.
"I want to go home."
I whispered to no one in particular but I saw the way in which Joker's face fell as he realised how utterly helpless he was to help me. If he shot at the man, then there would be a good chance that he would hit me by accident. I was hardly in the condition to move out of the way from approaching bullets.
"Hey baby girl, it's going to be okay. Daddy's going to find you and he's never ever going to let you go. Never again."
I mumbled my acceptance to his words even as I was carried away from his protection and placed inside the boot of a very fast car that took me very far away from my soulmate. For a very long time. Hours would turn into days, days into weeks and weeks into months before I saw my soulmate again.
