Disclaimer: I do not own any of the DC Universe's characters, only the ones I have created.

Chapter 20: You're welcome

My phone was ringing. Technically, it wasn't my phone but Joker's. Frost had given it to me as a means of contacting me. I only added Terry's number in it after our night out at the Iceberg Lounge which I now realized was a mistake as I stared at his name on the screen for what felt like the hundredth time today.

He had been calling me nonstop after he found out I was a metahuman and I pretty much bolted after receiving Frost's text message. I guess it had been my own fault for not telling him sooner what with Terry's obsession and all.

"So you can't die?" he exclaimed after having one too many beers.

"Shh, don't yell it, will you?" I looked around, making sure no one had heard. Terry didn't seem fazed by it at all. He was ecstatic. I shrugged on my leather jacket.

"I can't believe it!" he shouted, downing the last of his beer. "All that time when we worked together. I don't even know how old you are." He stared at my skin intently. "I didn't even know you had those tattoos! You're good at covering them up."

I rubbed my forehead and refrained from correcting him that they, in fact, weren't tattoos. Instead, I dialled the number for a cab and watched as Terry went on a rant of all the times at work when he should have realized I was different.

"Terry, I have to go," I interrupted him after I was done calling. He stopped midway of a sentence about the fact I always drank tea and he wondered if that had anything to do with me being immortal.

"You shouldn't drive home so I called you a cab, all right? I'm sorry I'll explain everything to you later." I quickly kissed his cheek and left him looking dumbfounded before he had the chance to stop me.

"I'm sorry am I bothering you?" Frost asked a little irritated pulling me out of my thoughts at the same time. I quickly looked up and tucked away the phone again without answering it.

"No, it's nothing." Frost raised an eyebrow. "Who keeps calling you? I don't remember putting anyone else's number in there besides mine."

I took a sip of my scotch and shrugged. "Just an old friend. Don't worry about it."

He still didn't look convinced so I continued: "Look, weren't you gonna tell me what I gotta do?"

We were sitting in the VIP section of the Smile and Grin waiting for the Joker to arrive. He was running late and in the meantime, Frost was here to fill me in.

Frost straightened his tie and glanced through the beaded curtains at the dancing crowd before glancing at his watch.

"What has gotten Ronald held up? He busy luring the Bat out of his cave?" I ran a hand across the smooth, white leathered couch I was sitting on.

Frost gave me a knowing look before sitting back and laying his notepad aside.

"Don't you want a real drink or something? I bet it's on the house," I asked as I nodded at his glass of water which also remained untouched. He stroked his beard mindlessly before answering.

"I never drink on the job. Mr J doesn't always like it, but he respects it."

I stared at him with this new profound information in my head. I hadn't expected him to be so formal and dedicated to the job. What was his job exactly for the Joker? Besides fetching me. I imagined him doing all the dirty work and the cleaning up after the clown's adventures but refrained from asking him about it.

Instead, I fingered the end of my long braid which hung loosely over my shoulder. I still hadn't washed it. I made a mental note to put it on top of the list of things I still needed to do. Such as clean up my apartment for example (it was covered with empty take-out boxes and used teabags littered the place).

Frost cleared his throat and after one more glance through the curtains he said: "Mr J wants you to catch someone."

I chuckled. "He wants me to do what now?"

Frost ignored what I said and continued: "It is very important that once you caught this person, he's taken to Arkham Asylum."

I set aside my glass of scotch and the smile had vanished from my face. "Why?"

"He needs to be out of the way and unlike Blackgate he won't be getting out on good behaviour."

"Why?"

"Because we'll take care of that."

"How?"

Frost gave me an exaggerated look and I sighed. "Look I'm just trying to understand, all right? First, you wanted me to be his bodyguard and now you want me to be a bounty hunter?"

"You're still his bodyguard. This is just someone we can't do ourselves."

I pondered over that. "Who is it you want me to catch?"

"Alberto Falcone."

The voice was a low soft growling and it did not come from Frost. I turned around in my seat and watched as the Joker made his way up the two steps to Frost and me, shrugging off his waistcoat and loosening his tie.

"Well well, if it isn't Pennywise. Sorry I didn't bring any kids for dinner."

Frost gave me a warning look which was unnecessary as I already cowered underneath the Joker's glare. His knuckles turned white (as white as was possible with his already pale skin) as he clutched his purple cane matching his suit as usual and that's when I noticed the faint dried blood that was there.

His expression was unreadable as he studied my face and I had a faint feeling he was holding himself back from hitting me with his cane.

I gulped. "Guess you're not in the mood for jokes, huh?"

He turned around and snapped his fingers on which a girl arrived carrying a tray with a bottle of scotch and a glass. He quickly shooed her away again, nothing like the last time when he had a flirtatious smirk planted on his face.

"Trouble in paradise?" I knew I should have kept my mouth shut but the underlying question I've been having for days was burning on my tongue. Where was Harley?

The Joker took a small sip of his scotch but quickly spat it out again. "Too much ice."

Without saying anything the Joker had taken out the gun from his belt and pointed it at the girl who now stood back in the corner waiting for another request.

Even though I knew what was coming next, I sat frozen on the couch, not being able to do anything to stop it from happening. The shot was deafening and ringed out all through the club; silencing everyone when only the music carried on undisturbed.

"You're gonna keep your mouth shut or the next bullet will be in your head, capiche?"

I caught Frost's eye and he didn't seem as fazed by it as I had expected him too. Instead, he shook his head in the slightest way while the Joker still glared at me, one eyebrow raised, waiting for an answer. I nodded as I didn't trust my voice at the moment.

"Good." Just like that he became a different person; smirk back on his face, muscles relaxed as if the murder was his way of calming down. "Now on with the plan."

I kept my eyes fixed on the letters on his forehead spelling out the word damaged as two men carried away the dead body of a girl who had done nothing wrong except putting one ice cube too much in a glass and the unfortunate event of catching him in a bad mood.

~.~.~

I pushed back the sunglasses on my face which Frost had provided me. They were too big for my head but I sure as hell looked cool. I was glad that I had put on a warmer jacket when the wind blew my hair in my face.

It was chilly, but given the fact that I was clutching the edge of a tall building which had the perfect view of the Falcone penthouse which I scanned for a sign of Alberto. Apparently, he had been put under house arrest by his father for being linked to certain Holiday killings.

The only reason the cops hadn't gotten him yet was because of money. Of course. Rich people, always buying themselves out of shit. I drank the last bit of tea and then flicked the cup over the edge before getting to my feet.

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. There was the little bastard. I narrowed my eyes as I watched him enter the room within my view, closing the door behind him with a cup of coffee in his hands. Well, it's now or never.

I rubbed my hands together and ignited the power from my marks, letting them course through my veins. I stared intently at the room Alberto Falcone was pacing in, trying to memorize each piece of furniture and object within. I planned on not ending up halfway in a wall or bouncing into a chair, you know?

Then I blinked. The ground disappeared from underneath my feet and instead made place for a soft carpet. I stubbed my toe against a desk in the corner and cursed out loud.

Alberto whipped around, startled at the sight of me. Now that he was up close I could see the dark lines under his eyes and his unwashed clothes and dirty hair. Seems like daddy wasn't too happy with him either.

"Get straight to the point and scare him if you can. First impressions are very important in these cases," J had told me with a smirk in the Smile and Grin.

"Oi," I called, clutching my toe. "Why do you got to have such angular furniture?"

"Block any doors or exits. The fewer witnesses, the better."

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" I dropped my foot and shoved a chair underneath the door handle, preventing anyone from coming in.

"Look, we can do this the hard way or the easy way," I explained to him, clicking on a recording device inside my jacket. He looked at me questioningly.

"Are you or are you not responsible for the Holiday killings?"

He didn't answer but just stared at me. I waited patiently for him when I noticed him move slowly towards a mobile phone that lay on a table next to him. I rolled my eyes. "Look, man, don't do that." He stopped, apparently surprised and that surprised me too.

"You a cop?" he asked unsurely. I sputtered. "Of course not. Do I look like a cop to you?"

He frowned. "Then why do you wanna know about them murders?"

"Make him hurt if you have to. He can live with one or two fingers less. Plus it's fun to do."

I rubbed my face. "I don't have time for this." I blinked forwards and firmly grabbed him by the throat, letting the power flow through the muscles in my arms as I lifted him off the ground. The latter wasn't really hard to do at all; he was quite the scrawny kid.

"I know you did it, all right? But I wanna hear you say it."

He gasped for air, clutching my hand with two of his. "I don't know what you're talking about, okay?"

Suddenly someone bounced on the door. "Alberto? What's going on?"

"Hurry up if you hear other people coming. You don't really wanna make a scene. Except if you're me of course."

I knocked his head back on the window. "Admit it!"

"If he won't budge tell him you're gonna kill him and tell him exactly how."

His fingernails scratched open my skin but I didn't flinch. "Look, kid, you either tell me or I'm going to throw you out this window and it's a long way down, you hear me?"

Panic flashed across his face and his face started to turn red. "Please don't!"

"If he starts to beg then you've got him right where you want him to be."

I forced back the smile that was tugging on my lips; it felt strangely empowering to hold him like this. Never before have I tortured someone into giving me information of some kind.

Then out of nowhere the door burst open and two men barged in, carrying guns.

"Should people come in, take them out fast. You don't want to stop the process of torturing him too long."

It took two seconds for the two men to take in the sight of me holding Alberto by the throat and for them to raise their weapons. In those two seconds I had dropped Alberto, taken hold of the table next to me and swung it to the two henchmen of Carmine Falcone. Bullets were fired into the wood and I sprung over the table, kicking away one's gun and smashing his head to that of his friend. They dropped to the floor like two sacks of potatoes as I blinked back to Alberto.

"Say you did it!" I yelled at his face while squeezing his neck a bit.

"Okay, I did it, all right?" Alberto's eyes were wide open after seeing me take on two of his father's men.

"Did what?" We were both yelling now.

"I murdered those people! It was me!" There was a strange sort of pride in the way he said it, but at the moment I took no notice of it. Instead of letting him go, I grabbed him more firmly and blinked.

I guess you could say that my first mistake was to blink right outside the building instead of a few miles away. As I dialled 911 and gave my whereabouts to the police, screeching cars were heard from ahead. Apparently, Carmine Falcone didn't appreciate someone barging in and questioning his son.

Of which the latter was crouching on the ground, tears streaming across his face, all the while muttering to himself. I took a hold of his collar, pulling him to his feet and made myself ready to blink again when a bullet hit my leg. Immediately I dropped Alberto and hissed in pain as I had to hold on to the wall from falling over. Another bullet grazed my hair. Well, shit.

I didn't dare blink in this state and instead dragged myself with Alberto behind a car. People in the streets had now realized what was going on as more shots were fired and some screamed whereas others were frozen in place.

"You wouldn't happen to have a gun on you, would you?" I asked the puddle of tears next to me. I pursed my lips. "Thought so."

I turned towards the car I was hiding behind and pulled off the bumper on which the car's siren went off. I threw the bumper towards the building entrance where more henchmen were situated.

I took the chance of blinking towards them, stumbling halfway due to my leg and pulled out two knives from my boots. Those were the first people I killed on orders from J. The few that followed, were a lot easier done.

The screeching cars halted in the middle of the street out of which more of Carmine's men emerged with big, expensive guns. I started running, letting the adrenaline take over the same way back in Midway City. Their bullets couldn't keep up with my blinking in and out of sight. The nearest to me didn't have the chance to look surprised as I knocked the feet from underneath him.

"Keep as many of them alive as you can. Might sound strange coming out of my mouth, but I want you to trust me."

It was a piece of cake. Didn't take long before I had the majority knocked out and for the police sirens to get here. I guess a few extra calls from civilians on the street might have hurried them up too. I recognized one of them as Commissioner Jim Gordon from the news. The look of surprise on his face made me wanna laugh.

How does it feel to have a single woman do what you and your police force couldn't for the past few years?

I chucked him the recording device and dropped Alberto to his feet. "I've got your Holiday killer." He stared at me and I could see the conflict in his eyes. Should he arrest me or thank me?

I smirked and right before I blinked away, I said:

"You're welcome."

A/N: Please forgive me if there are any mistakes in there... It still needs editing, oops. Please leave a review and tell me your thoughts! Thanks for reading!

Momochan77: I'm glad you liked the interaction with Penguin! I was afraid that I shouldn't have strayed from the usual Oswald we see in most movies and comics... Thanks again Momo!