The inside of the warehouse was a sight to be seen. She could barely process it herself, but it certainly was very much him. It had a playful, funny feel to it mixed with an eerie unpredictability. They were surrounded on all sides by old carnival and amusement park attractions and decorations. In front of them was an old carousel, to their right she could see fun house mirrors, and to their left she could make out a clown balloon burst stand. Off in the distance she thought she saw a tilt-a-whirl. It was so much to take in all at once. She felt like a kid at a carnival that she had all to herself.
"Jack, this is… amazing."
He walked forward to the carousel and sat down on one of the benches. "Kind of fond of it myself."
Angeline followed him and sat down next to him. "Where did you find all of this?"
He laughed, turning to face her, as his tongue snaked out along his lips. "Found it. Y'see, this is where the, ah, amusement died and the, uh, clown came to hide."
She placed her hand on his scarred cheek, gently stroking with her thumb. "Well, I love it. I think it's perfect."
His dark eyes stared at her, his brows furrowed. "Yeah? You sure you wouldn't, uh, rather be back in the lap of luxury with Wayne in his perfect penthouse?"
Angeline kissed him and when her lips were free she whispered, "I'm here, aren't I? There's nowhere else I'd rather be."
His fingers entangled in her hair, pulling her back to him for another kiss. That was all he needed to hear. For now.
It had certainly been a productive day. He stared down at his sleeping Angel in his arms and smiled. How funny it was how things had worked out. Yet he knew the funniest thing of all was that there was no telling how long this would last. How long could they stay like this before something happened again to tear them apart again? His eyes fell on her scars. How long before he hurt her again?
He chewed on the scarred skin inside his cheeks. He had to get out of here for a while. Before he snapped and did something he'd come to regret again. He slowly slid his arm from under her and rolled out of bed. She looked peaceful and tired. She'd probably sleep the whole time he was gone and never even notice that he had left.
He walked briskly to the bathroom, grabbing his bag from this morning to pull his clothes out of it. He dressed in his trademark purple suit quickly. Turning to the sink, he grabbed the tubes of his make-up and went to work smearing it on. Once he was finished, he stepped back out into the bedroom to make sure she was still asleep. Sure enough, she was blissfully unconscious. He smiled at her before leaving the room with one thought only in his head. Mine.
On tonight's agenda he was going to meet up with some of his men. Since he got back out of Arkham, he was making sure to round everyone up again and make sure everyone knew he was still in control. It hadn't been hard to find most of them. Those who were loyal to him remained loyal; if only just because they were cowards who knew if they went against him their lives would meet a rather messy and painful end.
Still, there was one person he hadn't managed to track down yet. Thomas Schiff. He was a paranoid piece of work who had followed him like a dog for years. He wasn't good in conversation, in fact he was incredibly annoying and sniveling, but he was his right hand man on many jobs. He had expected him to be the first person he would find when he broke out, but for some reason he had practically disappeared. Though it bothered him, if only because he wanted to have the pleasure of killing him himself, he didn't let it worry him. Very few things ever worried him.
He made his way to The Narrows where he was set to meet some of his men under the bridge when he spotted something move above him. He ducked into an alley and looked up, laughing.
"Oh this really is my lucky night. Long time no see. Figured I'd be running into you soon."
Batman dropped from the building, sending a kick straight into The Joker's cheek. He fell back onto the pavement as Batman stood glaring down at him. He watched as The Joker got up, laughing, and brushed himself off. That same horrible smile on his face trying every last ounce of his patience. The Joker turned his head to spit blood out onto the pavement and turned his gaze back on Batman, still smiling with blood dripping out of his mouth and down his chin. The make-up on his cheek was now horribly smudged showing traces of skin, and black scuff marks.
"Aw now come on," he pauses to turn his head and spit more blood. "Is that really a nice way to, ah, greet an old friend? Hm?"
Batman growled, "You belong in Arkham."
"Y'know, I tried that already. Interesting place, but, uh, not really my thing."
Batman stepped forward, grabbing him by the coat, and throwing him face first into the brick building next to them. He held him there, listening to his high pitched whimpering laughter. "What have you done with the woman? Have you hurt her?"
Oh, Batman, why do you have to make everything so much more fun and interesting? He laughed through the pain and raised his eyebrows at Batman. He licked his lips tasting more fresh blood on them. "What woman?"
Batman's grip remained firm as his lips curled back in a snarl. "I saw you with Bruce Wayne's fiancé. What have you done to her? Where is she?"
The Joker erupted into hysterical laughter. "Oh ah he ah ha. That's, uh, that's rich. Y'see, Wayne's had to trade up. She left him. Because, y'see, she was, ah, she was mine to begin with. I didn't hurt her. She's, ah, she's willingly mine. Not going to hurt her. And, uh, coincidentally, I've got a little bone to pick with you over her as well."
It was taking everything he had in him not to kill him. One simple snap of the neck and he and the rest of Gotham would be rid of The Joker once and for all. Angeline would be safe. But he couldn't. He couldn't step over that line. The instant Batman stepped over that line, there would never be a way to go back. He'd be just as bad as the criminals he fought against. He'd be just as bad as The Joker; and that's what he wanted all along. He simply had to clench his jaw tight and glare at him, his body tense.
"You know who she is. Don't, uh, don't pretend you don't. And, ah, don't you think you may be calling the kettle black? Hm? Here you are asking me what I've done to her. You're assuming that I've hurt her in some way. Don't you think that's a little, ah, funny? Because the way I remember it, Bats, you hurt her way more than I ever did. Didn't you? You, ah, you broke your little rule that night. You did. You broke your little rule the instant you shot her and you, ah, you took her away from me."
He had had enough. He couldn't take it anymore. He growled, shoving The Joker roughly back into the wall. He let go of him and when The Joker whirled around, his face bloodied, to face him, still laughing, he kicked him hard in the stomach. The kick sent him falling back into the pavement again. Before he could scramble to get up and reply again, he shot his grapple gun up the building and disappeared into the night. He had all he could take of The Joker for tonight and at least he knew she was safe.
The Joker coughed for air, the wind knocked out of him. He grabbed his stomach and scrambled to get up, groaning. When he was standing he looked up into the night sky, seeing no trace of his dear friend, but knew that he was still out there somewhere.
"Fine. You, ah, ha, you can run from the truth, but you can, ah, you can never hide from it. It'll always be there; eating away at your mind. I know what you did and, ah, so do you. It's only a matter of time until Gotham finds out that you're no better than me."
He smiled, laughing to himself. He made his way to the bridge where his men had been waiting for him. When they saw him, they stepped back in shock, staring at him.
"You ok, boss?"
He nodded, hiding a groan with laughter. "Just fine, boys. Just. Fine. Listen, meeting's canceled. I think I've, ah, had enough fun for tonight."
AUTHOR'S NOTE-
Thank you again to all my readers. You guys are the best! If I could hug you or bake you cookies or something I would. Thank you all for continuing to read, and for continuing to support this story and me with your wonderful reviews and kind words. Also, thank you to any new readers and I hope you're enjoying the story thus far. I'm always happy to see story alerts and favorites popping up as well so thank you to all of you as well. Seriously how many more times am I going to say thank you? What can I say? I'm a very thankful person haha.
Sorry about leaving you hanging on the last chapter, but I hope the fact that I have this one all ready for you soon after makes up for that. ; ) I couldn't help it. I pretty much wrote these two chapters almost back to back. I finished the other one and I couldn't stop thinking about the story so I turned into a writing tornado and got this down in a fury. I do hope you all enjoy it. The down side is, again, I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be out. Hopefully soon, just not THIS soon haha.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Happy reading to all of you!
Yours Truly,
foxotr
P.S.- I always write to music and I keep a pretty extensive Joker related play list as well as play lists for each of my stories. I'm always looking for new music though, so I was wondering - what songs do you guys listen to that remind you of The Joker or of this story or even of certain chapters/scenes? Feel free to message me away! Always love hearing from all of you and I always reply. : )
