PLAYING THE GAME

We arrived back at Joker's place. It was a small apartment building with blood and broken pieces of furniture and everything. Not the nicest building...but I was with my puddin, that's all that mattered.

"Harley, You're such a good girl, you make me so proud. Listen...I'm sorry about earlier. But I hope I can make it up to you." he directed me towards the living area of the apartment. There was a man tied up to a chair.

The man was in his 30's, brown eyes, ripped suit, black scruffy hair and unshaven face. Mistah J had kept him here a while...was this a 'I'm sorry' from Mistah J?

"Do you like your present? I know you love watching me work" he said, smiling at me and then looking at the man.

Oooooh! Maybe we were going to play the 'you smile, I smile' game.

What's 'you smile I smile'? It's where Mistah J asks the hostage a question and then hurts them, but if they don't smile at the pain then he hurts them again, and then he smiles!

"Who's this, puddin?" I asked inquisitively looking at the man tied on the chair begging for my mercy.

I ignored him, because I didn't give mercy.

Not anymore. I have the freedom to do anything.

Mistah J promised me this freedom, and now I see he's kept his promise.

"This, my dear is our welcomed house-guest! What's your name?" he asked our hostage.

"M...Mark...It's Mark!" he stuttered in fear.

"Stupid name for a stupid guy, hurt him real good puddin'" I said, slouching on the sofa and watching Mistah J do his thing.

"Right...Mark, we're gonna play a little game I like to call 'you smile, I smile' here's how it works. I'll ask you a question and then you'll answer. If you don't answer, I'll hurt you. When you finish answering, I'll hurt you. And the key is you have to smile after I hurt you or I hurt you again, and if you don't smile then I smile! Fun right?" he finished explaining, laughing out loud in front of the man. I fall in love with his laughter more and more each time.

Mistah J adjusted the camera on a tri-pod and pressed record.

"Oooooooh! I love this game!" I squealed.

"Where is your family?" Mistah J asked.

"Wh-what?...?"

Mistah J hit him.

"Smile! Remember to smile! And you gotta answer the question or it doesn't count." The man didn't smile. Mistah J hit him again. Mistah J let out a large grin. "I win! You're not very good at this, are you?" he asked, laughing. "I'll step up my game" he said, pulling out his switch-blade knife.

"You're...you're crazy" the man said, looking at Joker and trying to wriggle in the chair.

"We got a live one here tehehehe." I said, giggling as I got a bag of marshmallows from the cupboard and sat back on the sofa. Perfect snacks for perfect entertainment.

"Your family? You know, mum...dad, brother, sister? All that crap you know! Don't pretend you're not wanting to get hit, I know it feels great but at least humour my dear Harley with your screams of agony." Joker said, putting the blade near his mouth.

"I have a feeling he won't last very long, Mistah J" I said, putting a marshmallow in my mouth.

"My family...they...they're at home." Mark said.

"Are they really? Let's see what's on the TV...shall we?"

I pressed a button on the remote to turn on the TV. There was 'Mark's' family, with the Joker, it was a recording of him murdering them.

"You...you...no...you couldn't have been there!" Mark looked at the TV in disbelief.

"Oh, I was. Just like you're here now, and I'm here with you. See that camera up there?" Mistah J asked, pointing to the camera on the tri-pod which was recording the entire session. "This is a live recording, of you and me. Just like I did with your family. It's the most fun part of the entire experience! Me and Harley watch these back and sometimes just end up laughing at other people's stupidity, it's quality entertainment and it's your five or ten minutes of fame before your death. These video tapes should be sold at millions of dollars each, they're priceless works of art, capturing the 'real' person who's behind the camera. You see, the last minutes before impending death is when you show your real self. What's your real self, Mark...?" Mistah J asked, laughing at the man.

"I...I...this is impossible...there's no way you killed them" Mark said once again, trying to come to grips with the imagery on the television screen.

"I know it's hard. But trust me, scars fade." Mistah J said, showing Mark the scars around his mouth which had faded and were nearly unnoticeable now. "Next question, are you single?" Mistah J asked, running the blade along Mark's chin.

"No...no...I'm not single" Mark answered. He tried to smile but couldn't force his cheeks to make the motion.

Mistah J sliced Mark's chin.

"Oops, my fingers slipped" Mistah J laughed. "Harley, I'm thinking our guest wants some more wonderful entertainment!"

I turned the TV channel to another channel showing the recording of Mark's wife.

"No!" Mark cried out.

Mistah J hit him.

"I didn't say a question, that's cheating." Mistah J said, smiling.

I stuffed another marshmallow into my mouth and stretched my legs across the sofa. My red and blue short shorts were pressing against my stomach, I had to be comfortable after all.

We did do some shopping before we arrived at his apartment, I got these amazingly fun shorts which matched my baseball jacket, a pair of grey, red and blue fingerless gloves and a choker necklace with 'puddin' engraved onto the precious metal, it was custom made for me. Because I love my puddin.

I also got these tights to completely show my new persona.

The persona that shows maybe a bit too much body and ass to care about anyone else's opinions. I also treated myself to some new inks, by threatening the tattoo artist and lying there whilst he spent hours drawing diamonds, Joker related imagery and words such as 'puddin', 'Harley & Joker', 'Mistah J' randomly over my body, legs and arms. My personal favourite tattoo has to be the words 'Lucky you' written on my stomach in fancy writing and an adorable little jester head next to it. Yeah, our shopping spree was one hell of a shopping spree. So much fun... and so much blood.

"Well, how about that! Your wife was one lucky woman." Mistah J said, looking at the TV recording of him murdering his wife.

"Sh...she was?"

"She's lucky I killed her rather than spending another second with you! Hahahahahaha!" Mistah J hit him. "I told you not to cheat, don't make me ask you again." he said more seriously. "Next question, what do you think about Harley?" Mistah J asked, forcing Mark's head to look at my sexy body.

"She...she's very pretty..." he said. Mistah J moved the knife closer and cut his lip slightly. "You...you're a very...lucky guy!" he tried to smile and a little trembled smile forced his cheekbones to stretch.

"You're saying she's pretty? What do you think, Harley? Do you think he means it?" Mistah J asked me.

"I think he's makin' it up so ya don't kill him, puddin'" I replied, getting up and standing in front of Mark. I slipped off my baseball jacket and threw it on the sofa, showing off my cropped t-shirt. "You like what ya see huh? Perv!" I said, slapping Mark's face.

"She breaks the rules, she's allowed to. So am I. You're not allowed to break the rules, stop ruining the game! It's not fun if you ruin it." Joker looked at Mark's beaten up face. "I think that's an improvement, don't you, Harley?"

"Mhm" I said, with a gooey half chewed marshmallow in my mouth.

"If you understood the joke, you'd be laughing." Mistah J said, taking the knife and threatening Mark. "You're too serious. So serious. Why are you so serious, Mark?" Joker asked seriously.

"I...I'm not serious...I...I...I'm...I'm smiling...see...?" Mark muttered, nervously grinning but secretly wanting to scream for help.

Mistah J slapped Mark's cheeks with his hands repeatedly "I cannot wait to show this video recording to your friends. When they find themselves in the same position you're in right now. One by one they disappear from their houses and then each one of them dies, watching yours and all of the other deaths which were in this room. It's exciting, Mark...you're part of something beautiful." Mistah J said playfully.

"Wh...what do you want from me?" Mark asked.

"Breaking the rules again? Well, I tried with you Mark...I really did." Mistah J said threateningly, moving the knife blade towards his mouth and forcing the blade to cut a permanent smile line into his mouth and jawline.

"AHHHHHHH!" Mark screamed.

I just sat there watching with a smile on my face.

Mistah J finished improving Mark's emotional state and walked over to in front of the camera lens. He made sure his face was covering the entire frame of the camera.

"Oh...Mark, wow. That's quite a change, are you sure you're ready to live with that?" Mistah J asked. "A scar is a huge part of who you are, it shows your insanity." Mistah J got the gun out of his pocket and shot Mark in the head. "It's nothing personal, it's how the game always ends." Mistah J said, laughing.

Mistah J got a bucket of red paint and dipped two fingers in the paint. Fingers coated in paint, he drew over the scar with red paint which mixed with the blood coming from Mark's dead mouth. Mistah J then got a piece of paper, a black permanent marker and wrote 'victim 73' on the paper in thick black writing. He placed the piece of paper on Mark's dead body, some of the red paint smudged onto the paper. I think it was an added effect to make it look like blood.

"You just witnessed an amazing round of 'you smile I smile' and if you ever find yourself watching this or any of my other recordings, or if you find yourself in that chair like good ol' Mark...think of it as a blessing. The Clown Prince of Crime has chosen you as his latest work of art and it will be admired by all of Gotham...soon enough Hahahaha!" Mistah J laughed as he stopped the recording.