A/N Okay my dear guests, please listen carefully. This chapter is INTENSE I cried three quarters of the way writing it. Keep your tissues AND your comfort snacks close by, please keep your hands and legs inside the ride as the dark shadow monsters haven't been fed yet. Also, please do yourself this favor. At the beginning of the chapter, you want to read it with Demi Lovato's love of a daughter, again not for the lyrics fully but the feel. Also at the end, you want Katy Perry's rise. I recommend a cover that is done by a group called SUPERFRUIT though the original works too. "Takes all your tickets"
Enjoy ladies and gentlemen.
Chapter 11 – The will of pain
J walked out of the room and headed to the stairs that lead to the basement. He growled in frustration as he paced back and forth.
Four hours, if this was Crane's idea of a doctors joke, it was a really bad one.
"Dr Crane, you are testing my patience and I have very little of it." He called from the top of the stairs. "You keep me waiting any longer and you'll force me to show you some of my tricks."
Crane didn't answer him but he could hear the scarecrow working.
Eve was in her stroller, sucking on a pacifier, clutching one of J's larger rings he'd handed her to sooth her.
She was mad at him and that bothered him.
Crane had to stick her twice, once in her arm but there hadn't been enough blood coming out of her small veins. So he'd stuck her leg.
She'd looked up at J with eyes that screamed up at him as she cried in pain. Help me, why are you letting him hurt me?
She was still vexed and hadn't allowed him to rest her on his chest like she had before. She'd only stopped whimpering and crying when he'd let her have the ring.
She waved it in her fingers like a rattle and even dropped it like it meant nothing to her but her grudge was clear.
You betrayed me, I'm angry at you.
He walked back into the room and saw that Eve was yawning sleepily.
She hadn't slept since before they'd come, she hadn't taken a nap and she obviously needed to sleep but she couldn't.
He walked up to the stroller, his men busy watching the TV, waiting for the results with the same boredom he felt.
He got on his knees in front of her and leaned in.
"You still mad at me princess?" He asked, keeping his tone mocking, letting her see that it didn't bother him at all. "You think I'm going to stop you from feeling pain? You'll have to learn quickly. Daddy ain't that sort of man. You'll feel far more pain."
She rubbed her face again, she obviously couldn't sleep and she wanted to.
"You let your mama stick needles into you with ink but two little shots make you hate me?" He asked her with a grin.
He reached a hand in and she grabbed it instantly. Wrapping her fingers around his pale fingers with no hesitation.
Her new message clearer.
I forgive you, pick me up.
He didn't pick her up and she didn't cry. The moment was theirs for now and she played sleepily with his fingers, obviously fascinated with his tattoos.
"Grudges make life worth living. They spice things up." He said as she played. "Hold your grudge if you want, daddy can take it."
"Boss, the bat's on TV."
J looked over at the plasma TV on the wall and watched as the caped dark knight chased after one of his fellow criminals though he couldn't see who it was.
J rose from the ground and picked Eve up in his arms. She went more than willingly, proving that she would never be able to stay angry at him for long. She tried to find her sweet spot on his heart but he didn't let her. He turned her around so she could see the TV.
"You see him princess? That's daddy's closest friend and his worst enemy." He whispered in her ear, so no one else could hear him. "Before mommy, he was the only one who understood me, the only one who saw the world like I did. Without him, I couldn't be what I am today, without him I would have never gone to Arkham and met your mommy and I would have never gotten you. So you see, I owe him quite a bit."
Eve leaned back into him, still sucking on her pacifier.
"Except... he made a terrible mistake in our friendship. He betrayed me, he did something so terrible that I can never, ever forgive him. See before, I toyed with him, I played with him but now. Well things have gotten serious. He stole your mommy from me, he took her away instead of returning her to me and in doing that, he stole you too. So he forbid you from being born here in Gotham, he took that right away from my princess."
Crane finally walked back up to the back room, his face as neutral as ever. Never showing what he was thinking or feeling, if the man could actually feel anything.
"I need to see her again." He said, catching everyone's attention.
He was standing by the table they'd been using as an exam table, the plastic still on top of it.
J walked over to him and laid Eve back down like before.
Crane took out a light pen from his pocket and leaned over Eve's face. He checked her eyes and her mouth carefully, before jotting down notes in a folder.
J leaned against the table with an annoyed look on his face.
"Four hours Crane. Not funny."
"There, there it is." Crane said more to himself. "I wasn't wrong."
"Wrong about what?" J demanded, pushing on Crane's shoulder to get him to pay attention.
He put his pen away and looked up at the Joker, his eyes dark with pleasure and excitement.
"Well, number one, she is most definitely your daughter."
"I don't remember asking for a paternity test Crane." He hissed out like a snake.
"I was curious." Crane said coolly. "If it was really possible for either of you to actually reproduce. It seems, quite possible."
"I'm not giving you anything for your curiosity, so, give me something valuable or I might reconsider your payment plan."
"She's dying." Crane said flatly. His face as serene as ever, no concern for anything.
The room went silent, everyone turned to look at him.
"What?"
"I found a virus strand in her, something I've never seen before. Then again, I've never seen most of what I found in her system. It's unique. I think they meant to-"
Crane didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. A hand had gripped his throat, squeezing.
No one moved, not even Crane himself.
J's hand squeezed so tightly it instantly started to bruise the skin of the scarecrow. His grip only tightening as he moved the man backwards. A dark, wild look in his eyes, his teeth bared as he moved.
"Do not... lie to me." He warned the man in front of him.
He loosened his grip just enough to allow Crane to speak. "I am not lying to you, she's dying..."
J's fingers clutched to his throat again, squeezing even tighter this time. A growl erupting from him as he stared the man down.
"Do not lie to me scarecrow." he repeated and again loosened his grip.
"The virus is killing her, it'll attack every one of her body's functions within a month and she'll..."
Both of J's hands were on his neck now and he'd shoved the man to the ground. He climbed on top of him and tightened his hold, Crane started to turn blue as oxygen was denied. Still the fucked up doctor managed to look calm, unfazed by the fact he was being killed by the Joker.
"Don't lie, do not lie to me." J repeated. His eyes growing wilder, rage, panic, fear, desperation shining through without control.
Crane smiled as he tried to catch his breath, air that J was deny him.
Jonathan reached up and patted J almost sympathetically as he was choked.
He was not afraid of him, he was not afraid to die. He welcomed it, just like J did, just like any of them did.
When Crane started to laugh, J loosened his grip to allow him to speak again.
"I wondered... I wondered if it were possible, if you'd ever let go of it." He laughed and turned his head to the side, taking deep breaths. "I thought for sure when you lost the love of your life that we'd see it, I was mistaken... it seems that it was something else that you needed to break. It's a beautiful thing to watch Joker, thank you for letting me see it, feel it... Kill me if you wish, I don't think I could get anyone to feel this like you have. Not even the Bat."
J growled angrily at him but he didn't squeeze again.
"It's almost decadent, your fear. Like a wine that's been finely aged. The perfect amount of time to ferment, to change. Years of it that you've bottled up, denied yourself, like a pressure pot that's steaming and ready to enjoy. It just needed that last ingredient. It wasn't the fear of a man loosing his love that could turn you, it was the love of a father. Such a perfect thing, something neither of us could comprehend. We are fatherless boys because our kind isn't granted such things but your daughter, well... she'll die knowing her father loved her."
J balled up his fist and punched Crane's jaw, his ring leaving a nasty gash on his face.
Crane only laughed at the pain.
Again J hit him, harder, more viciously.
Suddenly it wasn't just what he'd said that made him angry, no it was everything.
Months of grief, of bottled up emotion that he couldn't fully grasp.
Harley, Eve, alone. The bat taking them away from him, the world denying him what he wanted. Feeling fucking human because of these females and yet feeling so much more than human with them as well.
Not knowing who he was before, feeling it tease the surface, the few flickers of images distorted. People replaced with the people he loved, Harley and now Eve.
Months of weakness.
It didn't matter that Crane wasn't the one who'd injected Eve with some killer virus, it didn't matter that he wasn't the one who'd allowed Harley to give birth in a cell. It wasn't his fault that they'd taken her away but none of that mattered.
It didn't matter.
He wanted it to be his fault, he wanted it to be all his fault because he was underneath him right now, he was there and he was a willing punching bag. Because if it wasn't him, then there was only one other person to blame and J didn't want to do it.
Because it was his own fault.
He'd left her in the car, pregnant. He should have known she was pregnant, he had known the first time. He'd known almost days afterwards so why hadn't he known with Eve? Because he hadn't wanted to know, because he hadn't wanted to allow himself to feel. Feelings were weakness, he'd thought that. He'd left her there, thinking it would be fine. She'd come home or he'd go get her at Arkham but no, she'd been taken away and with her the little ball of chaos inside her belly.
Alone, they'd been alone, she'd suffered through tests, through things he should have been there for alone.
Eve was born in a cell, a cage and Harley had done that alone.
Still his girl had made sure their child knew him, that she loved him by sight, by sound and touch. Fear? No, this wasn't fear, this was something else. Something far worse.
Eve was dying?
No, she wouldn't die. He wouldn't allow it, he couldn't loose her.
It didn't matter right now, he wasn't the king of Gotham, he wasn't the Joker. Not right now, not right this second as he took out his rage on the man in front of him.
He was her father, he was the only one who could get her to sleep here, the only one she trusted enough to close her eyes completely. Because already at two months old she had no reason to trust, she had reasons to doubt the world but not him, not her father, not her mother.
She had them, she trusted them. She was their future and they were taking her away, they were killing her.
"Fix her." J stopped long enough to bark that out. "Now."
Crane gasped and laughed harshly. "I can't."
Another hit.
"There is no... curing it."
Again.
"It's too... quick."
J didn't care where his blows landed, his hands were heavy for as slender as they were and he put all his power behind them.
"I couldn't even make a vaccine." Crane grinned at him, his whole face bloody.
"Fix her."
"No, I can't." Crane didn't even try to defend himself. He was enjoying himself, he was enjoying this.
No one came to help him, no one tried to save him. Everyone watching as J beat the man who'd declared the princess of Gotham a walking corpse.
Frost walked over to her, she was whimpering quietly on the table.
She was exhausted but the sounds of flesh connecting with flesh had caught her attention.
Frost picked her up in his arms and held her as gently as his hands could. The little girl had only been with them two days but he could sense the loss already, she'd done something... in those two short days she'd brought something back with her, she'd brought J back, she'd brought them back.
For months they'd all been lost, criminals who questioned their purpose. Something they'd never done before, they'd never questioned themselves before. Not even when J was in Arkham or Blackgate. They never questioned their place in the world but when Harley was taken, she'd taken that with her, she'd taken J's soul with her and this little girl had brought it back for him.
She was so easy to care for, hardened monsters looked at her and were drawn to her like guard dogs.
Frost hadn't assigned her two guards, they'd assigned themselves.
She was a piece of them that they could hold onto, their pasts, the families they'd left behind to follow the Joker. She'd stared at him and felt no fear, doing what none of them could without practice and she'd made him love her.
How could they not grow so quickly attached to her?
"Save her." J didn't stop this time, he kept hitting Crane wherever he could, the violence coming so naturally, so easy.
This was familiar, this feeling of hate, of utter desperation and blood lust.
He embraced it, this man would do as he wanted, he would do it or die.
Crane shook his head. managing to still speak. "She'll save herself or die."
That caught J's attention. He stopped again and sat up.
"What?"
"The virus, is meant to kill, I... don't know what it is..." He coughed up blood. "They want her to fight it herself... they... miscalculated her strength."
"Are you telling me she can survive this?" J barked angrily.
"No, she doesn't have the resistance, they thought that being your child, it would be... enough." He choked on more blood and turned his head, his face a disaster. "The only other thing I recognized is your venom, they gave her a strand of it but the formula is incomplete."
"What?" J grabbed Crane's shirt and pulled him roughly upwards.
"They're missing the main ingredient, obviously they couldn't get it." He caught his breath.
J slammed him back down on the ground. The main ingredient in his venom was the chemicals from ACE.
A cry brought J back to reality.
He turned to where Frost was holding Eve, she was staring down at him, her eyes full of tears and her cries a desperate whimper.
She was afraid.
Of what? Of him? No, she wanted him to come to her. Her cries were for him to protect her. As if she somehow knew what Crane was saying about her.
He got up and came to stand in front of her. Snatching her out of Frost's arms without thinking. His hands covered in blood. "Hey, hey, hey. There isn't any need for all that princess."
No one spoke, only Crane's harsh breathing piercing the silence.
"Daddy has you princess, daddy has you. Daddy isn't going to let you die, no, he isn't. You're going to be fine. Daddy's going to make this son of a bitch cure you."
"You must have some issues listening." Crane coughed as he got up onto his knees. "I can't save her, no one can."
"How long?"
"The virus is not active yet, it's strange. I believe... the other formulas in her system are keeping it at bay, the minute she starts showing symptoms though it'll be too late. She'll either survive it or she won't. Months if she's lucky, weeks if she's not."
J moved to the table and grabbed the notes Crane had made, reading over the results himself. He didn't know most of this either, none of it made any sense, even the virus was outside his realm of understanding. It didn't read like any virus he'd ever seen before but there was one thing he could see, one thing he knew very well.
They had fucked it up, they had designed a generic version of his personal poison, they'd injected it into his daughter with the hopes that it would boost her resistance to this virus, for what purpose he didn't know or care. Still, something clicked.
He'd been thinking for the past two days why they would keep Eve in a cell with Harley, wherever she was, no government would allow that but they had.
Harley's milk, they had assumed that Harley's milk would give her the remaining resistance she needed.
If he hadn't retrieved her, they would have watched her die and there would have been nothing anyone could have don to save her but as J looked down at his child who'd stopped whimpering and was starting to grow very heavy in his hands as she finally found the place where she could sleep, an idea occurred to him.
The formula was incomplete, what if...
"Get the car." He growled at Frost and then looked at Crane. "Bring him with us."
New York city Manhattan.
Terry sat on the patio of the cafe, sipping her coffee as she waited for her guest to arrive. Hoping that he would, there was never a guarantee that he would answer her. They had a strange arrangement at the best of times.
She couldn't do this alone, she'd tried all of yesterday to find out where the Joker was hiding with the child but no one was talking. Either they had no clue that Eve was even found or they weren't talking.
It was frustrating, she'd searched for people with cloaking abilities who were easier to find than this two month old baby.
She glanced at the file she'd taken from Logan's belongings earlier that day. He wasn't pleased to see her, he never was but she was saving his ass so he'd tolerate her presence until this was done and the baby was back in their possession.
She read down the list of information she had on Eve and her current situation.
She didn't know how much this would help, they had no idea how she was reacting to the treatment, if she was resisting it or if it was killing her.
Either way, Terry had to get to her before it started taking effect. Sarah had said it would take weeks before they saw any results, yet that was an adult, not an infant who's immune system was very delicate and raw.
They were placing a lot on the child's heritage. On her mother's ability to pass on her own immunizes but would Harley be able to survive that thing? If they gave Harley the same stuff, would she live?
Terry thought it was too much, she thought they'd taken a big risk in creating the thing they had but if it worked...
"You put too much faith in science Terry." a voice said, she smiled without looking up and closed the file.
"No, I question it too much to have any faith in it." she admitted and then looked up. He was tall and dark skinned, his eyes a dark brown and his smile a perfect replica of the Cheshire cat. Hiding so many secrets and knowing you could never afford them.
Terry rose from her seat after placing her cup down and opened her arms for a hug.
He laughed a little, a rich sound that made her shiver as he hugged her tightly.
"Long time no see old friend." she said, feeling some strange comfort in seeing him again.
Strangely, he made more sense to her than the people she worked for.
That wasn't a healthy mind set.
"I'd heard you were back in the country."
"Hmm, what else have they been telling you?" she said, pulling away from him with a knowing look.
"Many... things, curious things." He said and Terry offered him the opposite chair and waved down the waiter.
"Would you like something?" she asked as the waiter came running.
The man looked at the young man and placed his order, they watched the boy leave and Terry sat down to stare at him.
"Thank you for coming, I know that you're busy."
"For you Priti, I have all the time in the world. Especially for this."
Terry grinned at him and pushed the file towards him.
"The scientific version of what's going on."
He flipped the file open and read over it, shaking his head wryly before handing it back to her.
"They toy with things they do not have belief in and then they expect it all to go well. Foolish."
"Well, not everyone is as enlightened as we are Linton." she said with a smirk. "How much have they told you?"
"Heaven and hell are rumbling, the world is changing and they sense it."
"Oh, that I'm sure. I'm sure that neither side is pleased with it."
"Irregardless, they will not interfere in this, it is not for either side to touch. This is... something that they are forbidden from."
"By who?" Terry frowned. "Above or below?"
"Both." the man said calmly. "This is not a war between angels and demons Priti, not this time."
"Do they know what's happening?"
"Like I said, the world is changing." the waiter came back with the man's coffee and they waited for him to leave again before Terry spoke.
"It can't be just that, they know what we're doing, they must have something to say."
"Many things but they will not get involved this time. This is... mortal affairs and I believe they wish to see what becomes of it."
"So they'll watch us destroy each other for their entertainment?" Terry shook her head with a laugh. "Well, I suppose it's the right of the divine and the damned to entertain themselves with us."
"The moment we begin to assume we understand them, is the minute we are in trouble Terry, remember that."
"Trust me, I know. I mean no disrespect honestly. I just think it's funny that they're uneasy and still won't get involved."
"The universe is too large a place to meddle each time humanity crosses a brink."
"Well, come on, we have got some very crazy things happening around here. A man who flies, a bat who hunts villains, men who can run as fast as the light and lets not forget the little secrets overseas."
"And yet people question belief."
"Not everyone has that sort of thinking." Terry countered as she touched the folder. "What are they saying about this?"
"They call her the child of chaos, the wild card."
"Poetic, is that just what they're calling her or is that what they think she is?"
"To be honest, they aren't clear on the matter, her future is... fragile."
"Linton... what do you mean by fragile?" Terry leaned closer. "Is she, dying?"
He didn't answer her but the look he gave her was answer enough.
She sighed. "I see, well that was a waste of tax dollars."
"Both sides rumble for her blood Terry, I doubt either will receive it though, thanks to what your people have done to her but that is not what I believe you want from me."
Terry sighed again and got back to business. "Either way, I need to retrieve her."
"Ah so this is... about the agent of chaos."
Terry grinned. "Joker, yes."
"Have you practiced since working for them?"
"No, not really." she admitted and sighed. "I see the world split in two, like them and like you. It's making this difficult."
"Perhaps you need to stop seeing things like they do and seeing them like they really are."
"Sometimes the truth is a bad place to be." she said looking down. "Linton, don't get me wrong. I'm not a good person, I've done things, terrible unforgivable things that have probably earned me a spot in hell but I feel..."
"You've done what you've had to do, terrible as they might be you are still in between."
"The logical side of me says that I must retrieve the child, its' my job, it's dangerous if she does die. The thing inside of her, it will spread and without her filtering it, it'll kill many many souls but the other part, the part that still believes in fate, in a greater universal power... is it coincidence that this happened? Is it fate's hand playing across the board?"
"You already know the answer to that." He said, taking a sip of his drink. "Fate will always have its way, if she is where she is. It is because she was meant to be there. If he has her, it is because he is meant to have her and you are here because this is where you should be."
"And of course the ending isn't written for me." Terry bit her lip and then looked back up at the Voodoo priest. "Can you help me?"
He leaned forward and gave her a very serious look. "It depends on what you want help with Terry, if you want my help in saving the girl from her fate, I am afraid that I cannot help you with that."
"No, I wouldn't ask you to throw your lot to a side." she said firmly. "I just need, I can't find her Linton, I have days, not weeks to find this child and I can't find her. Her city has grown silent, as if it feels loyal to her. No one knows where she is and I've gotten too close more than once. They question why I'm asking and I feel that if I continue chasing lost threads I'll find myself in a situation I can't get myself out of easily. I need, a better way."
She knew he would want a payment for this, she knew it wouldn't be cheap but she feared Waller, she had a very throat cutting personality that she hadn't faced before. Not because the woman would so easily kill her if she could but because there was nothing she wouldn't do, nothing she wouldn't cross to get what she wanted.
"You want me to find her for you?"
"Yes."
"And what else?"
Terry grinned, he could always tell when she was holding back.
"I need, men. The kind you wouldn't miss but who are competent enough to hold a weapon right."
"Can you afford all that?"
"Well, what's the price and I'll put it on my expense account." she teased but they both knew it wasn't money, the men he'd want money for but the other thing, no she'd have to pay him in other ways.
"I will help you find her." He said calmly. Looking out at the city he called his. "Your payment will be to bring me the child before you take her back to your people."
Terry frowned, confused by his request.
"That's, incredibly generous of you Linton, forgive me for being suspicious but why?"
"I wish to look at her face to face, the first, perhaps the only if you fail and the ether is whispering her name. I wish to meet the child that heaven and hell have declared not their problem."
Terry considered his offer, it was possibly the cheapest price he'd ever offered her or the most expensive.
The minute she got the child back she was supposed to leave, head out of Gotham and find a way back to Louisiana without being followed, she might get a pick up somewhere in the middle if she could get to the military base without getting followed but maybe heading to New York would throw them off course.
"How much for the men?"
"You don't understand Terry, I will help you with the men and the child for this price."
She felt her stomach turn, yes this was the most expensive price he'd ever asked of her.
"Linton, do you know something I don't know?"
He grinned. "Of course I do Priti but don't worry, I will help you retrieve the child of the agent of chaos."
Suddenly, the idea of getting her back felt far more foreboding than Terry had anticipated.
Gotham city
J hadn't let her go the entire ride, she'd fallen asleep minutes after getting into the car as Frost drove silently through the now darkened streets.
They'd left the Lounge without a goodbye, without a word. Dragging Crane and his notes with them.
She felt warmer to him, as if she were running a fever but she was just fine.
How could she be dying?
No, she wasn't dying, he wouldn't let her die.
If she did... it would kill Harley.
Just Harley? His mind taunted. Would it just kill Harley?
You aren't allowed to die, I forbid it. He thought to her silently.
They called him evil, they called him crazy but it was alright for them to give his daughter poisons, for what? To test how she reacted to them? To punish Harley, to punish him?
They stopped in front of the gates, he'd sent the boys back to the club with Crane, ordered them to set him up somewhere where he couldn't just take off and for him to be ready for him when he came back.
Frost opened the window and put in the code. The gates opened and they continued driving in.
"What Jonny?" J asked, not looking at the man, looking out the window at the large building.
"Nothing boss." He said in a low voice. "Want me to go in with you or should I wait out here?"
"Get her car seat out then wait out here." He said in a raw voice as he opened his door and got out. Adjusting Eve so she was cradled in his arms.
Frost did as he was told and J placed the sleeping infant in the seat, not strapping her in.
The night was warm but not unpleasant and J grabbed the car seat from Jonny before turning around and without a word he walked to the building.
This might not do anything, it might even make things worse but he couldn't just do nothing. He'd never been able to just do nothing. It's why he hated Arkham, the place encouraged nothing. He'd never been able to just wait around, he knew that about himself. Even before, he'd been a doer, he'd been a man who couldn't just be still.
He turned on the lights and moved silently through the offices to the main level.
He hadn't come back here since... Harley.
He looked down at the sleeping face of his daughter, her bag slung over his shoulder.
For a second, he had to stop and hold his head with his free hand. A flash of a memory, a younger man, a man he didn't know and yet knew was him. Looking into the mirror with a look that screamed that he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Like he didn't know what to do, lost, his future changed because of something he didn't quite understand.
That boy hadn't known what to do, J did. He was not that boy.
Not anymore.
"Come on princess, daddy's gonna make everything right." he promised her, walking down the stairs to the bottom floor.
His intentions were quite different from last time.
He had intended to get rid of Harley once, she'd been so... agitating. Declaring her love, that she loved him, that she wanted to be with him and he'd pushed it away, over and over again he'd run from her.
He'd told her that she had no place in his life, in his world.
He hadn't been able to let her go though, he hadn't been able to let her die and he wouldn't let this baby die either.
His will was tied to them, his power, his life. He needed Harley, he needed this child to do more than exist, because to them he was god and without that belief he was nothing.
J took Eve to a small side room connected to the main factory area, where they worked with smaller amounts of the chemicals, to dilute or make a more concentrated version of it.
There was a large faucet connected to one of the larger vats, he put Eve down on the ground and walked over to it. He used this room when he needed to restock his venom, it was easier than dealing with the vats themselves.
He turned it on, using his strength to pry the tap open, letting the chemicals pour into a large tank. It didn't take long, the yellowish green liquid pouring into the large container with an almost eager ease.
J took off all his jewelry and threw it on a metal table near the door, his gun and holster as well. He removed his jacket and shirt and threw them on top of the rest.
His tattoos glowed a little in the light of the liquid as he moved back to his daughter.
She hadn't woken up yet.
Maybe that would be better, for her not to wake up. She moaned a little in her sleep but nestled herself into his chest and her breathing eased, her body relaxed.
He took everything she wore off and walked to the chemicals that were almost to the top. The faucet had a safety feature that would force it to stop when the tank was ready to overflow.
He could just let her sleep until it was done but...
"Hey, wake up." he ordered as he nudged her.
At first she didn't, it took several attempts but with a whine she finally opened her eyes, she was still very sleepy but she looked up at him and gave him a What daddy look.
"You aren't allowed to die." He said aloud. "You don't get that choice princess, you don't get to die."
She blinked up at him, utterly unaware of what he was saying.
"Daddy's gonna fix ya, it's gonna be bad, really, really bad." he bared his teeth to her.
"It's alright puddin, you have to." Harley's voice whispered to him. "You have to save her, we can't loose my honey bun. Please don't let our baby die."
He moved to the edge of the tank and pulled Eve away from him and held her over the liquid, he knew what it would be like for her, he knew it would be something that would hurt her.
Like Harley had been forced to tattoo her, he had to do this.
"Trial by fire princess, call it a right of passage into daddy's world. You're strong, like mommy and she did this too."
Eve didn't react, she just kept staring at him sleepily.
He lowered her into the chemicals without hesitation, it was better to do it quick.
She went under, he held her as she was there, he could barely see her in the murky liquid. He could hear Harley's voice singing, the lullaby he knew she sang to Eve, to their dead son.
He counted off the seconds in his head, knowing he couldn't just let her dip in and then out.
Would this change her? It had changed him, it had changed Harley, would it change her too?
"Pull her up puddin, she's ready." Harley whispered with a hint of reverence, as if this was some sort of ritual.
J pulled his daughter up from the chemicals.
She was still breathing, coughing violently as the white film of chemical dripped off her tiny body.
She screamed, angrily, viciously. Her eyes still closed as she did.
"There she is." J crooned at her. "That's it, let it out for daddy."
He pulled her against him, not caring that she was covered in liquid. She was breathing, she was screaming and she hadn't lost any strength to it.
He wiped her eyes clean but he knew he would need something else.
Pushing the door open he took Eve to the emergency hazard bathroom, they had a large sink there.
The water steamed the mirrors as he filled up the sink with water. Eve still crying angrily.
He held her, letting her slid into the hot water.
Washing off the chemicals as quickly as he could.
When he and Harley had taken their turn in this burning rebirth, their skin had changed, they had changed but Eve... Her skin had only paled a little, very little and her hair... that had turned only a few shades lighter, not like Harley's, not like his.
As if she'd always been part of it and all he'd done was returned her to her source.
"That's a girl." He soothed. "Daddy had to hurt ya, he had to let you face the fire to help you."
When her eyes were completely clean, Eve opened them and looked up at her father. There was something different in them, there was a new color in them, they were still his gray blue but there were flecks of a dark green now, like lightning streaking in a cloudy sky.
"Hey princess." He grinned at her when she was completely clean, his own arms and upper body rid of all chemicals.
She pouted at him.
She cried the whole way back to the other room but he let her, she had every right to after all. Yet now that it was done he berated himself for not bringing the boys.
He grabbed her bag and dressed her quickly, using the spare outfit they'd packed.
Long pants and a long sleeve shirt.
He put her down in her carrier to get dressed again, watching her as she cried louder, glancing in his direction to make sure he was watching her cry.
"Cry all you want honey."
His heart was racing, he'd felt that feeling before, when he'd watched Harley breath after her lungs filled with chemicals. It was a sense of completion, a feeling like everything was right with the world.
He leaned forward and cupped her small cheek, she didn't feel so warm anymore, even after the hot bath.
He gave her his best hyena smile and buckled her in.
"Lets go home."
A/N I am so sorry this took so many days. A few things happened. My dragon child brought home the flu, so lots of attention required there. Then my demon child got it and well. Lets just say my household all voted that letting me finish this chapter was not gonna happen without a fight. But I hope it was worth the wait.
So I'm gonna publicly address this. I have NOT decided what I'm doing about Eve as a only child or if she's getting JJ back as her little brother. This arc is all I'm thinking about when it comes to this story line. I'll get back to that decision once this is done but until then I'm not even gonna think about it because it's a huge decision that changes the whole story either way. If you love JJ then YAY I love our Jester boy too, he's awesome and really loves to pry minds apart like his mama. If you want Eve to be an only child I respect that but I have not and will not choose either way until after this arc.
So, I am a believer in using all resources available to me. DC is an immense universe and I love incorporating those things together to make a more cohesive story. Also I think it's fun. So for all of my comic book fanatics or if you just know what I've done, I hope you enjoy the cameo and the Easter egg that was placed in the story.
So you are ALL worried about the injection Eve got. Well, you should be. Yes I am going to more thoroughly reveal that one and how it is VITALLY important to the story. Yes, they fucked up on J's venom and honestly. I can say this, if J hadn't gotten her. Eve was going to die. If she died, that would have been very, very bad. Not only because it sort of cuts our story short but for another reason.
I wish I could make this arc longer, I am loving playing with J as a dad. I love Eve interacting and getting her time as a princess, though it's still rough on the honey bun. I really wish I didn't have to do what has to happen really soon but well... it'll hurt me more than it hurts you.
I wanted J to be as real as possible. I want him to be believable not only as the Joker but as Eve's father. I know that a few people don't believe that J would be a good parent and in many ways, you're right but I happen to know for a fact that it's possible for someone like him to be an incredibly protective father. He's gonna mess her up in other ways sure and she's never going to have a normal life with him but I can assure you. Being a sociopath crazy clown like he is, does not mean he doesn't love and adore his princess. Look at his queen. Look at what he's willing to do for her.
Anyway, that's my own beliefs on it. I hope you like where I'm going with all this, I hope you guys stay tuned, I should have the next chapter up tomorrow night. As long as my angel child doesn't get sick too. Sadly we are nearing the end of this arc. "cries sadly" so enjoy it while yous till have tokens.
Please remember, double digits are required for this ride to continue but I love you all and thank you for your support, your comments and everything else.
Also a quick question. What do you guys think purple, blue or green for eve's hair?
"skips off and unlocks large door to next stage of ride, turns to all of you and curtsies theatrically." Ladies and gentlemen, after you.