CHAPTER 9
ABANDONED WAREHOUSE
Joker gestured to the bench on the shipping dock looking out to the sea. Buffy sat down watching Joker pace back and forth. He was talking to the news station. Buffy sighed heavily crossing her legs.
Joker said beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I had a vision." He continued, "Of a world without Batman. The mob ground out a little profit and the police tried to shut them down, one block at a time. And it was so - boring. I've had a change of heart. I don't want Mr. Reese spoiling everything, but why should I have all the fun? Let's give someone else a change… If Coleman Reese isn't dead in sixty minutes, then I blow up a hospital." His thumb pressed down on the END button.
Buffy's eyes widened. Joker smiled and pushed her hair from her neck trailing his finger tips over her punctured scares. "I can't believe you!" Buffy jumped to her feet angrily. "I'm not letting you blow up anything! What don't you get about 'I will beat your ass if you kill anyone', don't you understand?"
Joker looked up at her calmly. "I'm not killing anybody. There probably wheeling all the sickly's out as we speak. I'm not killing anyone. It's all a mind game sweet-ling." Joker explained with mocked innocence.
"If a single person has so much as a bruise on their body, I swear to god Jack, I will break every bone in your body. Do you think I'm joking?" Her eyes narrowed angrily.
Joker laughed. "You think you can threaten me? This is my town-"
"I don't care if you're the President. Not a single person, Jack. This ends now."
"I'm not going to stop. You can't make me. I'm the boss around here. I'm the show stopper. Why are you even-"
"I'm trying to save you!" Buffy blurted. She paused taking a deep breath. "I still love you. So much. And it scares me. I'm terrified of what I feel. Of who you've become. I have moved on from you. It was hard but I did it. Then BAM! You're here… Right here, sitting in front of me, looking like a goddamn clown, planning to blow up a hospital and I love you." Joker thought for a moment then stood from the bench. He reached out his hand to caress her cheek. "But if I have to stop you… I will." Buffy hardened.
Joker looked at her glumly. He nodded. "I know, you will. I also know who you are. I know all about you. I gotta say, I didn't believe it at first…"
"You don't know as much as you think."
Joker turned away from her. "You are Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Buffy stared at him dumbfounded. "By that expression, I must be correct. I had to ask around but you, my darling, you are a figure of chaos."
"How - how'd you find out?"
"I watched you. I went to Sunnydale with the intent to get you back. I followed you to a cemetery. I thought you were taking some sort of shortcut. Until, I realized you were on the hunt. I watched a man attack you. I was going to save you but it looked like you had it under control. Then POOF! He turned into dust. I couldn't believe it at first but it all made sense. That story of the gym full of vampires seemed much more believable now."
"Why didn't you tell me you were there?"
"Because I saw some guy get there before me. Spiky hair, oversized forehead." Buffy rolled her eyes. "I saw the way you looked at him. All googly eyed. You moved on." His playfulness dimmed. "That killed me more then you'd ever know. So much I went a little insane, but I think it did wonders for me." Joker smiled widely with his arms spread out wide.
"You're an idiot." Buffy said. Joker paused and looked over his shoulder. "You think I was over you?"
"Seemed that way sweet pea."
"Yeah, it's true, Angel helped me get over you, but, god knows how much I loved you. When I left, I was ripped into pieces. It was hard enough being a Slayer!"
"So you lay the first body you can find?" Joker asked her knowingly.
Buffy slapped him hard across his painted cheek. "You have no right to judge me! You're the one who went psychotic."
Joker waved his hand. "You have no room to judge little missy. I'm doing this for you."
"This is not for me. If this was for me, there would be no threats on hospitals."
Joker stepped towards Buffy frustrated. "This is all for you Buffy!" He calmed as a slow smile crept across his face. "I'm trying to get the message out there that chaos is good. Being ahead of this monarch society is good. You and your Slayer powers is a good thing. People that are strange and different like us, are good. We have the power here."
"I don't kill people."
"Let us define the word kill."
"I don't kill innocent people Jack. I slay vampires, demons, avert apocalypses. Not once, have I ever ended a human life. That's the difference between you and I. I save people."
"So you're here to save me? By putting me in jail, I'd be saved?" Jack raised his painted brows.
Buffy shook her head calming herself. "No, jail won't do anything for you but give you a playground. When you get caught and sooner or later you will be caught, you'll be placed in an isolated psychiatric ward probably for the rest of your life or you'll be killed."
"I still have time before that happens. We're going to the hospital to pay Harvey Dent a visit." He reached out to take her reluctant hand. "Everything will somehow work out. You have to trust me." Joker bore his eyes into hers. "Trust me." He said the words with an intensity Buffy did not recognize. All she could do was stare at him.
