It was anything but quiet in the Joker's hide out.

There was screaming, shouting, things exploding, the sound of various henchmen bustling about the place, the sound of metal on metal, and of course, the sound of the crown prince of crime's incessant cackling echoing around the warehouse, and her head.

Jaclyn had removed all of her makeup and the jester outfit last night, and sat on the tiny little bed in the corner of the office room in a pair of Harley's black and red polka dot sleeping shorts and a white t-shit. It had the Joker's face painted onto it...

Well she only had one set of sleeping clothes, and she got a clown thug's blood on it.

She sat there, combing her long blonde hair with one hand (and a comb), and the other clutched onto a shotgun. It was sawn off, so it wasn't too clumsy for her to hold, but still made her feel safe.

Safe?

Here? Really?

She'd had a nightmare in the night that the Joker had come in to beat her senseless for being dragged out of the car, and then slit her throat.

She woke up holding her throat and panting.

Jac had been sat there for a few hours now. she needed the toilet, and she was hungry.

But every time she contemplated going out of the room, she'd hear the distant howling of the Joker, and cling to the bed and the gun harder.

However, something got her attention and made her tip toe over to the door, to listen through the key hole.

"Yeah 16 years ago, and a bit. She sure as hell wasn't pregnant when she was with me." Jac peered through the key hole and saw the Clown prince, in his full purple and green glory, sat at his desk with the phone in one hand, and a knife in the other. He was gesturing with it as he spoke. "I want names of people who I didn't kill back then that might know who knocked the bitch up. I'm planning a little family reunion. With her father and her dead mother!" he cackled and stabbed the knife into the desk. "And I'm wanting it to be sooner rather than later, understood? What do you mean another way?" She pressed her ear hard against the key hole. "You know what, that's a great idea. You get the list of names, I'll get the blood. Seeya round budy, and keeeeeeeeep smiling!" he then slammed the phone down, yanked the knife out of the table and started grinning from ear to ear. "Harley!" he screeched. "Where the hell are-"

"Here Mr J! I was just-aah!" Jaclyn heard the thud of Harley falling to the floor. "S-sorry Mr J. I was cooking your lunch."

"Hn." He grunted, and Jac strained her hearing, desperate to know what the hell he meant by getting 'the blood'?! "Johny, our good friend and accountant, has given me a fantastic idea pumpkin."

"Go on puddin'."

"Apparently Gotham has a database, with all our unique DNA on it. he also has a dirty cop in the forensics department, who could run the bitch's blood and see who her pops is! If he's a criminal who's be active in the last 20 years, he'll be on there!"

"...oh...that's...great Mr J." Harley laughed nervously.

Jac actually clutched her chest to still her rapidly beating heart. It felt like it was about to leap out of her mouth and splat against the door.

That was a fantastic idea. A fantastic way of getting her killed. The Joker's DNA would be in that database for sure! What the Joker had planned would have sent him on a wild goose chase. She was fine with a wild goose chase. That involved her staying alive. But with a click of a button and a short waiting period, the Joker would get the truth and Jac would get her brains blown out.

"So I'll just get some blood from the brat, and send it over to John so his rat can get Gotham's finest on it." he giggled with glee, and his heavy footsteps could be heard coming towards the door. Jac whimpered and crawled back from the door.

She sat on the bed and grasped the shotgun for dear life.

What should she do?

Should she fight him off? No, that wouldn't work. He was the Joker for heaven's sake. He was more than capable of dealing with a teenage girl.

Did she bluff him and let him take the blood, and make a run for it as he transported the blood?

Or did she let him do the test and just wait and see if he might miraculously want his daughter?

Nah, I'll run for it once he's gone. If he finds out I'm his, it won't matter. I'll be gone then. Long gone. Like metropolis gone. Or another country. Yeah, I hear Spain is nice this time of year. Yeah, I'll run away to Spain.

The door creaked open slowly, and looked into the eyes of her predator with big fearful green orbs. He was giving her his full Joker grin, red lips peeled back over sharp looking white teeth and his left brow twitching. He practically skipped into the room, arms wide open, a sharp hunting knife hanging from splayed fingers. His other hand grabbed the front of his jacket like he was about to break out into the Charleston. "Good news kid, I'm going to find out who your daddy is. Then I'm going to cut him from his mouth to his ass." He giggled and ran a hand back through his messy green mop of hair. He pointed at her with the knife.

She was going to either faint, or be sick.

Hopefully not both in that order.

"Oh really?" she swallowed some bile. "How?"

"I'm going to get some of your DNA, then run it against Gotham's criminal database, and ding ding ding! I'll know who, then I'll hunt him down and ask why, then I'll just hunt him." Joker bounced down onto the bed next to her and put an arm around her tense shoulders. He then tapped the gun she held to her chest with the knife. "Now be a good doll face and put that down. Wouldn't want any accidents to happen to good ol' Mr J, would we?"

"N-no." Jac shakily put the gun on the floor, and slowly sat straight again.

"Good. Now, I'll have some of those hairs." He slipped his gloved hand around her neck, feeling her pulse hammering against his fingers. He twirled a thin lock of hair around his fingers then held them tightly. "One, two-" he yanked on two and giggled at her reaction.

"FU-KING-MOTHER-" She then shoved her fist into her mouth, or at least as many knuckles as she could fit between her teeth. Her foot had also stomped the floor a few times too. The Joker put the hairs, with tags, into a plastic sandwich bag. He then opened another one, and grabbed her wrist. Out of instinct Jac yanked the hand back and held it to her chest.

"Doll face." He peeled his lips back over his snarling grin, and snatched her hand away from her chest. "Don't make me angry."

Jac was shaking like a leaf. She wanted to launch herself off the bed, out of the warehouse and onto the first plane out of Gotham. The fear in her eyes was pissing him off further, for reasons he couldn't fathom, as he growled and looked to Harley in the doorway. She looked worried too. "Harley, hold the brat for me will ya?"

"Sure Mr J." Harley chuckled nervously, also getting Joker's attention. The woman sat next to her and grabbed her shoulders firmly. "Now come on puddin'. Mr J is just going to get some blood. Don't keep him waiting now." her arm still trembled as the Joker brought the blade down to her palm. He hummed the tune to 'I'm a little tea pot, short and stout' as he sliced a very slow, very shallow cut across her palm. He got enough blood on the edge of the knife for the lab to test, then put that in a sandwich bag too. He then released her hand with the intention of saying 'see? Didn't Dr J say it would be ok?'...but she yanked her hand back, launched herself from the bed and out of the door.

"If you leave this warehouse toots I'll cut you into mini doll faces!" Both Joker and Harley bolted after her, and only stopped when they saw where she'd been heading.

The bathroom.

The door slammed behind her, and Joker thrust the baggies at Harley. "Shove those into a bag whilst I go kick the shit out of the brat, will ya pumpkin?"

"S-sure thing puddin'." Harley stood there and watched the Joker roll up his sleeves as he approached the toilet door. She then turned away, unable to watch what was coming next. Joker was serious when he rolled his sleeves up. She then caught sight of something in the bedroom that brought tears to her eyes.

There was a wet patch on the bed.

Jaclyn had wet herself, she was that scared. Poor baby... Harley blocked out the world, like only Harley could, and packed the baggies into a rucksack for her puddin'. She then made quick work of changing the bed for another one (from one of the other office rooms) and set that one on fire. If anyone asked her why she was burning a bed in the middle of the warehouse, she'd just say she felt like it, and do some sort of mad dance. She was Harleen Quinzel, the Joker's Harlequin. She was insane enough to randomly burn furniture after all.

Joker banged his fist on the bathroom door and snarled a stream of profanities at her. many involved derogative things about her mother, things he was going to do to her when he got this door down, and how damn well sorry she was going to be once he was finished with her, if he even allowed her to keep breathing after defying him like that.

It was a while before he stopped hissing and listened through the door.

He could hear her sobbing.

He liked that even less.

"Open the fucking door princess! If I have to open this door then it will be with a fucking bazooka, understand me doll face?"

Jaclyn Ester sat in the shower, with it on, and drenched herself in water. She tried to clean herself to the best of her abilities, and she did for the most part. She now just sat there, soaking wet, in the bottom of the shower and sobbed into her knees. Her long blonde hair became slick to her neck and back, as her fringe did to her forehead. She watched the swirls of red dance in the water, dripping from her trembling hand.

He's going to find out. He's going to kill me.

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR DOLL FACE!" she sobbed harder. Little did she know, that was pissing him off more.

Look at me. I had big dreams of becoming a strong villainess and one day meeting my father. Fighting alongside him. Making him proud of me. Making my life worth everything I've gone through. Being loved by someone. Instead he's going to kill me here, in this shower, in pissy pj's with his face on them. I'm so pathetic. "THAT'S IT! HARLEY, PASS ME MY BAZOOKA!"

"Pumpkin, I'll use my mallet to open the door."

"Just fucking do it."

In slow motion the door burst at the hinges, and fell to the floor. Harley tried to run in first, but found herself planted face first into the floor. Joker had kicked her in the back for getting in the way and stormed straight over to the bath. He pulled the shower curtain open and glared down at the girl. His blood was boiling in his veins with rage. How dare this little bitch defy him?! she belonged to him! She had the fucking nerve to run away from him after he'd treated her so good! She had her own room, he took her out on a heist, and he promised her diamonds if she was good. And, he was trying really hard not to smack the bitch about, and this is how she repays him? Makes him look like an idiot, banging on the bathroom door, with all his men watching?

This bitch was going to die!

He reached out to grab a fistful of her hair, when she looked up at him.

In that moment, Jac no longer cared.

"This is why she left you, you know."

Joker's world stopped. His breath caught in his hissing mouth, and his body froze in place.

The kid was just sat in the bath, looking up at him with tired green eyes.

"...what?" his voice came out in broken pieces. Was she talking about Jane?

"She warned me. In the 'I'm dead letter'. She gave me all her toys and costume and the back story about her being the Jester." She sniffled and wiped her tears on her hand. If she was going to die, she was going to get this off her chest. "She talked about you. She never stopped loving you. I never had a dad for as long as I've lived, because of how she felt about you." She whimpered through her wounds, and saw Joker lower his hand. "Every birthday I had, had a clown. My room was decorated as a circus. Whilst all the other kids had dolls and action figures, I had clown teddies and magic tricks. She never loved again."

"Then..." Joker peeled those shocked lips back into a venomous grin. "Why did the bitch leave me if she fucking loved me so fucking much?!" he reached forward and grabbed Jac's shoulder, yanking her to her feet and slamming her against the wall. "You seem to have more fucking answers than you let on kid. If you want to keep breathing then-"

"She thought you'd kill me." Jac closed her eyes and turned away from him, still sobbing. "She warned me in the letter I shouldn't get myself into causing trouble unless was going to be good at it. She meant you, didn't she? she meant if I was going to take up the mantle, I better be good enough to protect myself from you." he released her like she'd burnt him. "I was so stupid. I'm 16 years old. All I wanted was to meet you." she sank back into the bath and pressed her head back against the wet wall. "I've been so stupid. I've done the one thing my mother didn't want me to do." She opened her eyes at that moment and caught his gaze. His eyes were a torrent of feelings. "Meet you." She didn't know if he was going to laugh, cry, turn and walk away, or beat her senseless with that blank face. Either one would result in a psychotic overload the Joker was renowned for.

"Who got her pregnant." He ground out. she lowered her 'I-no-longer-give-a-fuck' gaze to her fists. They were by his sides, clenched and shaking with bubbling rage.

"Puddin', can't you see?" Harley clung to his shoulder desperately, only to be back handed with such a force, she fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Who fucking spawned you kid?"

It was strange. He was more terrifying now, when he didn't have an expression, and his voice was monotone and quite, rather than his usual jovial grinning and cackling. She'd have never guessed that if she wasn't witnessing it now.

He was like a tightly turned coil, about to spring out and snap her neck at any moment.

"You have my DNA. You tell me."

"No. I don't think I will." Finally that grin appeared on his bloody lips, and he finally reached out and fisted her hair. He then turned, dragging her out of the bathroom and out of the warehouse. He only stopped to snap at a good to bring 'the black bag' to him.

Jaclyn grabbed his wrist, trying to either A, make him let go, or B, lessen his grip so it didn't feel like he was joining to scalp her then and there. she got her wish, as she collided first with his knee to her stomach, winding her, then fell on her front onto the floor. She gasped for air, and for the world to stop spinning, as she shakily dung her fingers into the ground. When she managed to look up, she saw the Joker rooting around his bag of goodies. He then proceeded to kick the living shit out of her. "Once-" kick. "-twice-" kick. "-three times a laaaaady!" he giggled with glee, revelling in the fun of beating her up, and the prospect of being rid of this annoying little puzzle. "Now I have your DNA, and you've kindly provided that rich source of information about your dear Maa, for me, I really don't need to punish myself by keeping you around anymore! Aint that great?" he kicked her again, hard, and sneered when she spluttered blood onto his shoe. He then kicked her again, to wipe the blood off. "Right, now for your swimming costume."

Swimming costume? Her swirling mind managed to pull itself together enough to see she was at the edge of the docks. The dark water rippled at the surface, so dark and so deep she couldn't see the bottom. Well, she would soon. "Ah, lucky for you, this is a one size fits all!" he cackled with mirth and grabbed her foot, pulling her closer to the edge of the dock, and into a convenient line for him to 'dress' her.

"What, didn't have it in yellow?" she managed to splutter as he picked up some dirty, rusty gray chains.

"Nah toots, it's not a popular issue."

"Let me guess." She spat some blood out of her mouth. "The inflatable version is a bigger hit?"

"You know what, I think it is!" he giggled and lifted her ankles, beginning his mission of coiling the thick chains around her body. "You know, I wish all my victims joined in the joke like you did. It's almost a shame to kill you." he wheezed at his own joke and started pushing her back and forth on the ground to get the chains around her body further. He then started wrapping it around her wrists. "Then I remember how fucking annoying you are, and then I think it is worth killing you!"

"Well, glad to have that all cleared up then." She looked deep into his eyes, something none of his victims had ever done before. It actually halted his movements. "You know, I know you don't know any better. And I want you to know I forgive you for killing me." He cocked his head to one side. Clearly, that was a new one for him. "I just have one request."

"OH I bet you do." He giggled, finishing his work with a final wrap of the chains around her neck. He then picked up a padlock and started throwing it up and catching it, mockingly as he indulged her last request.

"My Maa is buried at Gotham central cemetery, plot number 0801. I know there won't be a body, but I'd like to have a grave next to my Maa. It doesn't have to have anything on it by my name. Even if you're not going to, could you tell me you will anyway?" tears slugged from her eyes and her lips trembled. "Please."

"...my inmate number is 0801." He stared down into her eyes, and he saw something there. this was her kid. No matter how annoying she was...could he really kill Jane's daughter? Wasn't this the very reason his Jester left him in the first place? For fear of him harming her daughter?

"Please." She started sobbing again. He snarled and looked away. He hated seeing this damn girl cry. Especially as she always looking him in the damn face when she did.

"Fine. I'll do it." he got to his feet and almost jumped out of his skin when one of his henchmen came running up. "What does a gentleman have to do to get a little privacy when he's disposing of a body?"

"Sorry boss!" the large clown thug was bleeding from his busted nose, and bashed in teeth. "Harley woke up, and beat the shit out of everyone. She's looking for you boss!"

"So?"

"She's trying to stop you killing the kid."

"Oh is she now?" Joker put his hands on his hips and shook his head comically. "Why does everyone try to ruin my fun?" he then turned and looked down at the weeping girl. "Bottom's up kid!" He picked up a broom and pushed it to her front.

"At least I got my wish." She closed her eyes and relaxed. "I got to meet you."

"The pleasure was all yours, I assure you." He then brought the broom back. "Hay kid! Where do shellfish go to borrow money?" her sad little green eyes opened and she giggled softly.

"To the prawn broker." The broom collided with her gut.

Her body slid over the edge of the dock.

She couldn't remember feeling the water as she hit it, or the cold of it. She remembered seeing the Joker's face as he watched her drown. He was grinning and pointing, getting his goon to join in the fun.

Then she couldn't see anything at all.