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Disclaimer1: Batman and all related characters belong to DC COMICS
Disclaimer2: Some scenes can be too strong for very young children...viewer discretion adviced.
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Chapter 7: THE HUNT BEGINS
She felt the strength of his glare on the back of her neck. She opened her eyes slowly and saw the pointy-eared shadow reflected on the wall in front of her. She smiled widely when she heard his voice. "Harley…"
She quickly jumped to her feet and like a ballerina, approached the acrylic doors. "Batsy! I knew it! I knew you'd come. But please… shhhhh… I don't want anybody to find out I'm helping you. OK?"
"Where is he?"
"How am I to know bat-brain? That's the whole problem. He's not here and I don't know where he is." Harley let herself slide down the door until she landed sitting on the floor. Her face showed sincere concern. "He should've been here a long time ago to get me, but he hasn't come. There is something really wrong with my 'puddin'."
"Harley, the message said you could help me find Joker. I didn't come here to waste my time."
"Oh Batsy, but I want to help you. It's just that… well… I'm here and he's out there."
"I'm not letting you out."
"No, I don't think you would, but don't blame me for trying." Harley said with a soft giggle. "You need to find Mr. J, and I want to help, because he needs his faithful Harley by his side."
"How can you help?"
"Have you gone to his hideouts, lately? The one in the industrial park?
"Yes"
"The Party Outlet warehouse?
"Yes"
"There is one in the Metropolitan…"
"Being there."
"And you still haven't found him? Boy Batsy, you are one lousy detective. Those are his favorite hideouts." Harley really sounded dissapointed
"Anything else?" asked the Caped vigilante ignoring her insults.
"It's odd that he has not gone to his favorite places, you know? Mr. J is, no offense puddin', an animal of habits…." Harley looked to be brooding deeply. "Have you found Blip, yet?" Batman clenched his fists the leather stretching underneath.
"You know about Blip?"
"My God, bat-butt, of course I know about Blip. Helloo! You're talking to Mr. J's girlfriend here. There's not'ing that I don't know about my puddin'."
"Do you know his name?
"Well, Blip of course," she answered while playing with her hair. "At least that what Mr. J. always called him and I don't think he calls him anything else. He's Mr. J's special ops man. He deals with all communications, electronics, financing, and that sort of thing. If it could be done with a computer, Mr. Blip would arrange it. He and my puddin' are like this." Harley joined both index fingers side by side.
"Can you give me a description?"
"Ah, well let's see. He's about twenty something, short, about five feet three, chubby running into the heavyweight department, blonde hair, and nerdy glasses; very odd guy, with awful taste for clothes and extremely quiet. Maybe that's why Mr. J. likes him, he doesn't talk back."
"Where can I find him?"
"Usually with Mr. J. Boy Bat-breath, if I didn't know my puddin' was straight, and madly in love with me I would think they were lovers." She giggled
"You're not helping Harley."
"OK, OK, let me think. There this building in the old district, used to belong to Mr. J. at one time long ago but you know the saying, once Joker's always Joker's. It's pretty close to an electronic shop that Blip used to buy a lot of his equipment from at the corners of Hamilton and O'Hara and even though it's not my Mr. J's style to reuse old hideouts already seized by the pigs, excuse me…police, under the circumstances Blip has to be around there somewhere close to that store, getting his equipment and gizmos especially if he's working with the boss to reorganized. He's such a nerd. It's something to start with."
She was right, it was just a start but was a sincere intent to help him get the Joker or was she just playing him as part of a master plan engineered by the Clown Prince himself. "I'll check on that one…anything else you can think of?"
Harley bit her lip and narrowed her eyes momentarily. "Not at the moment and if he's not there, well… then there's something really wrong with him." She lowered her eyes. "It's not like him to at least write me, you know." She looked at him and he would have sworn that tears had started to well in her eyes. "Bats…please don't hurt him…."
"I'll try, Harley…but that always depended on him."
"I know…but I'm scared…something's really wrong with him…he's not well."
Batman turned around to leave when he heard a soft giggle coming from Harley's cell. He looked at her on the floor in front of the door, playing childishly with her hair. She was looking at him intensely, and a soft smile appeared on her face. Why was Harley smiling now?" "Hey bat-boy. Do I get at least a thank you note from the Cape Crusader?"
"Harley, if this is another one of you and your boyfriend's scheme, you're going to regret it."
"Oh, Batsy, I love it when you talk dirty to me but tonight, I swear, this is the last resort of a woman madly in love. Just promise you'll bring him back. He needs to be here with me. And please don't tell him I helped you, that'll make 'im really, really, mad, OK?"
He walked out of the cell hall and passed through the security desk where he retrieved his batarang and some other weapons. Harley had spoken of Blip. Though he knew never to take anything seriously from her, the information, if true, definitely confirmed that this individual was real, and related to the Joker in a much intimate way than he had anticipated. What if that's exactly what he was supposed to think? This could still be just a ploy planned by Harley and Joker to confuse him or kill him. Both were totally insane, and definitely capable of planning such a thing. But why did he have the feeling that Harley, in her insanity, was being sincere, maybe for the first time. Her eyes were so filled with concern and dread after Joker's inactivity. The truth is that Joker had always come back for her at the asylum after he had escaped, but it's been almost a month and he had not even tried to contact her, why? Was she playing a role in this puzzle? He didn't have an answer, and unfortunately had no way of confirming her involvement with Joker for the moment; it was as if Joker had forgotten about her… The only thing left to do was to follow the lead she had offered him.
He thought about Blip. His research in the computer at the cave had yielded very interesting information about this enigmatic character. He had expected to not find much on the guy, but instead, he found dozens of entries under the name, all related to hacking, and computer identity theft which seemed to be this hacker's favorite line of work and when he compared those crimes committed by the Joker and Blip's electronic transtgressions… he saw a pattern. Not only that, Blip had been bold enough to try to get into the Pentagon computers once; luckily without success. This hacker knew no fear….and someone like that, associated with Joker, could be as dangerous as the Clown Prince himself…especially if like he suspected, Blip had the same disregard for human life the Joker had.
Blip and the Joker were definitely related… Harley had confirmed it, but what made this Blip so special? Joker's associates never lasted more than a few weeks at a time and this Blip seemed to have been in association with the Clown Prince for at least two years. How could that be possible? He must really be very close to him and he suspected that Blip had access to classified information that Joker found indispensable or there would be no hacker in the first place. Someone that close to Joker had to have fallen already, but at the same time, had to have been overlooked. But how could someone overlook such an individual…Someone in Joker's organization had to know about Blip…or maybe not. How do you protect someone as important as Blip without catching the attention of associates or the police…unless he did not look like a hacker?
Batman had to go over the list of previous associations with the Joker and see who fit the bill but for some reason, there was something very familiar in the description Harley had given of Blip. Once he could check the police lineup and the arrest records, he'll be able to pinpoint the hacker from the pack, but the description that Harley had given him still sounded so familiar...
The Dark Detective will have to move fast and efficiently. Joker seemed to have protected this hacker for a long time but he didn't doubt that if the clown knew how close he was to knowing who Blip was; Joker will kill the hacker immediately. Joker was very good at disposing of his henchmen when they became a hassle.
ooooooooooooooooooo
Joker fell to the floor hard on his back and panted while he stared at the ceiling and noticed that the room was starting to spin clockwise subtly, but enough to be noticed. He was not made for this type of abuse. The Batman had bruised him bad in the past, broke some bones, dislocated a few joints here and there but he was a gigantic bat with suppressed anger issues and a clinically confirmed hatred of clowns; this was different. He was loosing a fight to a woman…. Joker thought of the irony and started to laugh loudly.
"You OK, boss? I hope I wasn't too hard on you this time." Charley said walking towards the man laughing on the floor. All of a sudden, Joker stopped laughing and just stared blankly to the ceiling. "Oh God, I think I hit you too hard." Charley came closer to him, but he didn't even notice her presence, "Boss?"
Jack had seen them around for a few days now. They've being roaming the streets frightening the owners of the small business in the area and collecting large amounts of money from them. Even one of them, the one they called Big Lou, had given him a five bucks once to flatten the tires of the two police cars parked in their street. Five dollars…he ate like a king with those five dollars and seeing the face of the cops after they found all four tires on their cars slashed was priceless. Those pigs were not going to chase any bank robbers that day.
Now he had decided to follow them, to find out where they were hanging out and that is how he got to the warehouse. It was a bold move, since these guys were really tough and were not afraid of beating people up, but they also collected a large amount of money. Coming around any amount of green stuff when you roam the streets is hard, and it's even harder if you are only fifteen, and everybody wants to take advantage of you. He thought for a moment on how different it would have been if he had stayed in Brenton, than rather catching a ride to this big city. It was just that Brenton was so small, insignificant, that it really didn't offer him much; only bad memories and a lot of pain. Gotham city was a whole new world, a new market for opportunities, and his was waiting right in front of him now and he was prepared to take it this time; armed and dangerous just like those thugs, and ready for action. He was safe here in the second floor of the warehouse, hidden silently among the shadows waiting patiently to find out where those guys where keeping all that money…it was a matter of patience.
Jack felt something out of the shadows pull him by the hair. He looked up and saw a man clinging to his head. He fought the grip bravely, but it felt like a crane pulling on his head. He threw a wild kick and the man released him with a groan. He started to run, but did not get too far. The same man grabbed his arm, flung him against the wall with great force and drew his gun. Jack tried to start running again but the large man hit him hard with the gun handle on the back and Jack lost his balance.
"Come 'ere, you little turd!" The man said putting an arm around the boy's neck. Jack couldn't breathe with a grip that tight. "Hey Lou, look what I found. A spy." The man laughed and Jack was starting to loose consciousness, his vision slowly blurring. "You wanna meet the boys, runt? Go down and say hi to Uncle Lou."
The man started to laugh again and pushed Jack over the rail. The boy fell down to ground level and landed painfully over a pile of cardboards. He felt another man pulling him from the pile, but it was hard to focus on anything, since his head and all his body was now in pain. "What the hell..? It's just a kid, Marty." Big Lou said in his deep voice.
"Kid or no kid he was spying on us." Marty said coming down the stairs. "The kid knows where we hide and what we do and he's gonna be a problem."
"He's right Lou, the kid can go to the coppers with the information and he's gonna fuck up our little enterprise here. Bianco is not gonna be happy if that happens."
"Doyle, you don't understand, it's just a kid!" Lou said holding Jack up by his shirt, the boy obviously still not completely aware of his surroundings. He was looking as limp as a puppet on strings.
"Sorry Lou. Ice the kid."
Jack heard the fat man speak…ice…as in cold…as in dead cold. He searched in his sleeve and pulled the sharp piece of metal he had improvised as a knife and always kept handy. With all his might he forced the weapon into Lou's arm and the large man screamed releasing his grip on him. Jack growled, jumped on Lou and stabbed him multiple times in the torso, neck and arm with his knife. Lou fell to the ground, but Jack continued stabbing the man violently, while growling furiously. Marty fired his gun and Jack felt a painful ringing in his head. He lost his balance and fell to the ground in all fours beside Lou. Everything in front of him was spinning, and he felt warm blood running down his forehead.
"Did you see that Doyle?" Marty said walking closer to Lou's unmoving body on the ground. He put two fingers against the man's bloody neck. "My God! He killed Lou…this little piece of shit killed Lou!" Marty took aim to the kid on the floor. Jack lifted his head to look at the man with the gun, but the headache was tremendous and he winced in pain. "And the son of a bitch is smiling…I'm gonna kill 'im!"
"Hold on, Marty," said the fat man. "This kid just did something I thought was impossible. Lou was the closest thing I've seen to indestructible…now look at him…stiff. What's your name, kid?"
Jack fought to rise to his feet, but felt his legs turn to jelly. Marty advanced towards him and grabbed him lifting him by the neck; the warehouse around him looked like a combination of a merry-go-round and a fun house, with a dash of nausea and a truckload of pain. "Let me ice 'im, Doyle."
"Don't even think about it, Marty. Hey kid…if you wanna keep breathing…you'll talk to me, OK? What's your name?"
"J-J-Jack." The boy responded not able to hold vomiting on Marty's hand.
"GROSS!" Marty exclaimed grimacing.
"Hey Jack, what were you doing up there? Where are your parents?"
"Just…me…, "Jack said with great effort. "… need the money. " Doyle smiled.
"You can't be older than sixteen or seventeen. Would you be interested in a job, Jack?"
"You can't be serious, Doyle. You saw what he did to Lou. This kid's crazy."
"It is precisely because of that, is that I'm offering him a job. If he could take on Lou, this kid is really tough. He could take anyone down." Doyle walked over to Jack and ran a hand on the right side of the boy's head. The boy screamed in pain and the fat man could see where the bullet had graced the boy's head and was bleeding profusely. "You're lucky, Jack. Marty's bullet missed your brain by an inch, and Marty never misses. Still interested in the money?" Jack nodded.
"I can't believe you, Doyle. The Boss is not going to hire a maniac like this."
"Don't worry about the Boss, Marty. This kid will be working for me, not Bianco. I think that Jack is a kid with many talents, aren't you, Jack?" The boy just stared at the fat man. "I have use for those talents. Now kid, if you're gonna work for me, you better do as I say. You have a lot to learn of this business and Marty is the man to teach you."
"Doyle…" the henchman protested.
"Marty…release the kid."
Marty loosened the grip on Jack who fell back on the floor. The fat man asked Marty to get some clothes and some food for the boy as he left, but he didn't say anything about aspirin, and Jack's head was about to explode. The two men entered in a hot argument, but Jack could only think of the splitting headache about to crack his skull in half. Jack pressed his head against the floor when someone kicked him on the abdomen. He fell on his back moaning in pain and saw Marty looking at him, the fat man was gone.
"Listen, Crazy Jack. This is a one in a million chance so don't fuck up, understood? Marty snorted. "I am not happy of what you did to my friend Lou and I'm reserving a bullet with your name, so don't make me use it. ARE YOU LISTENING..?" Marty yelled as he kicked the boy again. Jack closed his eyes and nodded. If only this headache would go away…. "Now get up and come with me, we need to take care of that wound and get you some decent clothing."
"Mr. J., are you with me? Please say something," said Charley pushing Joker's shoulder.
"Yes, sir…I'll do whatever you want…I'm your man…" The Clown answered looking at her with attentive wide eyes.
"What are you saying?"
The Boss looked around as if trying to situate himself and then pushed himself up with his arms and with a grunt he finally sat down and massaged the right side of his head. He felt the old scar. By now he had started to laugh again. "Why didn't I find you before, Princess? You can give the Big Bad Bat a run for his money." Joker said smiling.
"What I would like to know is how you, with no physical abilities and no fighting technique can be considered the most dangerous man in Gotham City. I haven't even being rough with you yet, and I've knocked you down twice in ten minutes."
"Charm." Joker said giggling.
"What?"
"It's my charm. You see, I smile, say 'how do you do?' (Because I'm very polite)," Joker rose from the floor with Charley's aid. "And just try to look as helpless as I can, after all, I'm a good boy at heart."
"And then they feel pity on you." Joker lost his balance and grabbed onto Charley's shoulder. "Where does that take you, Boss?"
"To the winning circle of course, because then …" Joker kicked Charley forcefully in the abdomen making her fall on her knees wincing in pain. He then quickly slammed his fist against her jaw with such strength that Charley hit the floor face down. Joker jumped on her and lifted her head by the hair, produced a Joker card from apparently nowhere and gently ran it over her neck from right ear to left. "…I have the element of surprise." The Clown giggled. "By the way, Princess, you're dead."
Joker let her head go and rose from the floor putting quickly some distance between Charley and him. No need to push his luck. He folded his arms over his chest and rested his head on his left hand. Charley rose slowly from the floor.
"Joker, you're a slimy son of… you fight dirty." Charley said running a hand over her neck where a small trickle of blood got her attention. "You cut me...you fucking cut my neck!"
"But at the end I win. Isn't this what it's all about? And don't be a crybaby… it's only a paper cut, for the love of God!" Joker just stared at her with that large evil smile carved on his face. She did not know if he was mocking her or being serious; with that ever-present smile…she could never tell. "I'll be more worried about that lip…it looks kind of swollen."
Charley put the tip of her fingers over the right side of her jaw and the pain finally hit her. She felt her lip puff up and looked at the Joker with an evil glare. The Clown Prince just stared at her this time giggling softly.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Charley said almost growling.
"Actually I am, but don't look at me like that. You started this..." Joker noticed Charley's eyed got really tiny and angry. "You wanted to know what made me so dangerous. Charming, don't you think?"
"You got me by surprise, I admit it. But to succeed in your attack, you need to be very close to your target. I doubt that the Batman will ever let you get that close."
"Oh, the Bat. " The Joker let out a resentful sigh. "He doesn't care. He wears this armored black costume…bulletproof, fireproof, Jokerproof."
"That doesn't mean he's not vulnerable."
"Interesting point of view…" Joker started walking towards Charley. "I would like to hear more."
"Sure, why not…don't you want to fight the bat?" Charley met the Joker's approach and slapped him on the face. "That's for cutting my neck and busting my lip, Clown."
"I've killed for less than that…" Joker said angrily, massaging his cheek. He held his Joker card up, the sharp edge glinting under the lights.
"No killing today, Boss," Charley said waiving a finger in front on his face. "It wouldn't be funny… and plain revenge is not your style."
"Funny is the clown's style, Princess, and he's not here." With a swift maneuver of his hand, Joker made the playing card disappear into thin air. His eyes softened, and he even smiled. "You like living dangerously, don't you?"
"And you need a lot of training if you want to face the Bat and kill him with your own hands, so let's continue practicing, yes?" Joker nodded and followed her to the middle of the room. "First things first, let's learn a little about defense…"
"Defense is the best offense." Joker said trying to look very serious.
"That's true…It will allow you time to study your enemy, learn his pattern for the final confrontation while it helps you stay alive."
"That's too complicated…just give me some fertilizer, a fuse and a clock and I'll blow up everyone in a three mile radius." Joker smiled with glee.
"What is it with you and blowing things up?"
"It's funny. Large explosions use to make me laugh." Joker forced a sad face, his large smile still ever present.
"Shut up and pay attention. Analyze your enemy. He has to have a vulnerable point."
"He doesn't have a sense of humor." Joker said heavily.
"That's not relevant, Mr. J."
"Of course it's relevant. Every time we fight he doesn't say a word, just beats the crap out of me…how you want me to find my center when every time I say a joke he doesn't laugh..? It's exasperating."
"That's your vulnerability… not his." Charley rubbed her forehead. "You need to control your temper and stop talking nonsense. Now tell me about this armor he wears."
"What you want to know? It is just armor." Joker said shrugging.
"Most armor contains some type of metal which can serve as a conductor, and need mobile joints that are very difficult to protect efficiently allowing for weaknesses that you can exploit during an attack."
"Oh, you are so clever….." Joker clapped joyfully. "You and I are gonna make nice music together...I can just hear it…When do we start with the Kung Fu?"
