Anna sulked her way from the room, as if things couldn't get any worse, Harley was back as the Joker little puppet, she was probably loving every moment of her torture time with her one true love. Anna groaned as she looked down at her top, a fresh blood stain from yesterdays wound creeping in.
She walked up the stairs, mind still on Harley. A completely different person after she'd begun to treat the Joker, it still baffled Anna how he had managed to change her friend. She had always considered Katherine to be more sane than she was, after all, it was her job to fix the insane. And yet he had reduced her to nothing, a meme reflection of his own distorted beliefs.
Anna opened the door to the reception, "Crazy little psycho-"

"Talking to yourself?" Marco greeted her in the reception area, a shrunken cigarette lagging between his lips, "That's the first sign of madness."
Anna paused, narrowing her eyes before closing the door behind her, giving him a sceptical look, "Whatever."
"Still 'aven't taken my advice on board, 'ave we then?" He leant his elbows on the desk, watching her with mild amusement.
"Which part? To act more like Harley?" Anna walked past him, her voice cold, "I wouldn't want to be where she is right now."
Marco turned to watch her as she passed, "Well, after what you pulled yesterday..." He took the cigarette out of his mouth and looked at it, "... I've got a feeling you're about to get knocked-" He stubbed the cigarette out onto the desk, "-right out."

"Oh well, thanks for the encouragement." Anna replied, her expression hollow, "I'll make sure to keep that lovely thought in mind."
"Mmm..." Marco smiled, his fingers drumming off the reception counter, "So what 'appened down there? Heard a shrill little scream and for some reason, I doubt it was Harley's."
"You can ask the Crackpot when, or if, she ever makes it out to grace our presence once again. Although I-" Anna crossed her fingers, "-will be upstairs for the rest of the night, hoping that she never does."
"That's a bit harsh." Marco closed his eyes, scrunching up his face, "Even by her standards." He opened his eyes, wincing, "But I'm afraid, you 'aven't got the rest of the night-" He raised his arm, glancing at his watch, "-you have... forty... two. Forty two minutes."

"Forty two minutes for what?" Anna said slowly, a sense of uneasiness growing in her voice.
"To get ready." Marco tapped the face of his watch.
"Ready for-"
"Ah!" Macro snapped, "No fuckin' questions! Alright?" He jabbed a finger at her, "All you need to know is that he's going somewhere, and you're going with him. We done?"
"And you expect me to just accept that?" Anna shook her head, "I don't really fancy playing along with any more of his plans.'
"I don't expect you to do anything more than complain like you always seem to do-" Marco snarled, "-but he does. So I would stop your yapping.'

Anna scowled at him, irritated and ready to get away.
"Oh, and here you go Cinderella." He tossed the dress at her which she caught with a frown, "What?"
It was the dress she had worn on her date with Jeremy, a dry cleaning ticket attached to the skirt, "What the hell is this for?"
"What the hell is this for..." Marco rolled his eyes, "What do you think, well? You put it on or you go in your underwear."
Anna looked at disgust down at the piece, "He wants me to wear this?" That was just weird, and creepy.
Marco gave her a devious smile, "'Ave fun at the ball, you little twat."

This was just typical. Anna looked up at the Chinese takeaway, 'The Laughing Dragon.' It was only a few blocks from her old apartment and where she used to go for food if she or Katherine weren't bothered cooking. The place looked closed, the blinds shut and the lights out. A smiling couple passed by, their arms linked under an umbrella to shield from the light rain. They ignored Anna, obviously not recognising her from the warning in the papers.
The Jokers men had shoved her in some car to drop her into the middle of Gotham, to get to this little Chinese takeaway.

Anna had put a cardigan on over the dress, she looked like an idiot all dressed up in front of an empty restaurant.
"Have fun!" Marco rolled up the window as Anna looked back over her shoulder to the car, "What am-?"
The car sped off, its engine revving and the tires splashing water onto her shoes, "-I supposed to do?" She finished her sentence to herself, frowning at the building.

Obviously she had to go in. That's why he'd brought her here, if she ran he'd kill Jeremy. That much Anna could add up in her head. Maybe he'd dumped her outside to tempt her, show that she really did have a choice, she could save herself or she could try and save her friend.
Well, he wasn't going to win, she would never stoop to his level. Anna took a step towards the door, trying and failing to peek inside the window, the place was completely blacked out.
Her hand reached for the door handle, fully aware that the sign on it said 'closed', it opened easily. Anna pushed the door open softly, suddenly feeling uncomfortable in the darkness of the room. It was normally bright with light chiming music in the background and pretty little fairy lights on the walls. Now it was pitch black and dead silent, and cold. "Hello?" She said warily, her voice clear in the silence. No answer.

Anna stepped forward to try and find the light switch, forgetting the door which shut slowly behind her. Her hand slid across the wall, searching for a switch, about to feel around with her second hand the familiar music began to play.
Soft, flowing Asian chimes, all of a sudden eerie in the dark. Anna stopped moving, her heart thumping wildly, eyes wide in the blackness of the room. Her hand moved an inch, finding the light switch. The rest of her body frozen and her breath held, she flicked it upwards.

Anna nearly screamed at the sight, four men, tied to chairs, their mouths and bodies taped. They were staring at her franticly, muffled sounds coming from their gags. Anna rushed over, her mouth gaping, "Oh God, Oh God..."
She ripped the tape clumsily off one of the men's mouths, her hands shaking. He immediately began to shout at her in Chinese, speaking quickly and urgently, his head shaking and voice frantic but Anna only stood there, unaware of what he was trying to say, "I'm sorry, no-no... I don't understand-"

"Ahh-ahhhghhh-" Anna turned to the back of the room to where the Joker stood, his shoulders hunched, "Why'd you have to do that-ahhh?"
The mans tone changed to that of pleading, begging the Joker in a different language.
"Do you know how long it took me to get them to keep quiet? Hm?" He questioned Anna, stepping out from behind to counter, apparently annoyed, "All I wanted was to order a little takeout, but for some-" The Joker made a confused face at the man, "-crazy reason-" He looked back to her as if perplexed by the idea, "-they wouldn't serve me."
"So you tied them up." Anna glanced at the whimpering worker, her forehead crinkled.
The Joker snatched the piece of tape from Anna's hand and slapping it back over the mans mouth equally as fast, "And-ah I've dropped something into that complaint box for bad. Service." He tapped the tape several times to ensure it was secure, grinning down at the mans terrified eyes.
At least he hadn't killed them, Anna favoured the idea of seeing these people tied up than blown up...

"But that's not going to stop us." The Joker snapped back to reality, grabbing a menu from the counter beside him, making Anna jump at his sudden movement.
He frowned at her and then down at the page, "-since you like duck, and I like duck-" He nodded towards the door behind the desk and Anna reluctantly got the message, walking behind the counter end through the door, followed closely by the Joker himself.
She cleared her throat awkwardly as they entered the kitchen, a dark a dimply lit place. In the corner was a small table with four chairs, playing cards laid out as if just abandoned by the players, "I actually don't really like duck... and I mean you tied all the employees up-"
Her feet carried her to the middle of the room as she subconsciously searched for an emergency escape route, eyes drifting across to where knives hung casually on the wall...

The door shut behind her and she turned her head to look over her shoulder to the Joker who was leaning against it, flashing her a sudden sadistic grin.
"How 'bout a game?" He suggested, pulling a chair out from the table.
"No thanks." Anna replied as politely as she could without soundly absolutely horrified, the prospect of playing games with the Joker was so unimaginably unappealing to her, "I'm not very good at, ehhm, card games..."
"No?" The Joker gave her an 'Oh really' look, eyes popping suggestively before shrugging. He threw the menu over his shoulder, sitting down on the chair and tapping on the tablem "How 'bout a different kind of game then-"
"I'm not really good at any games. At all." Anna walked over and sat down anxiously, immediately crossing her legs and arms, "What are we doing here anyway?" She blurted out, attempting to steer the conversation in a different direction, sensing that her weak attempt to avoid any games wasn't working.

"Oh! The questions game!" His eyes lit up and Anna was slightly taken aback, "Wha-"
"I love this game." The Joker slapped her hands together, "Every time I answer your question..." He pointed at her, "Because we both know how much you love questions, you answer mine." The Joker leant forward enthusiastically, "We're here to eat. Didn't they teach you about nutrition in school? Hm? Its all about essential vitamins and ahhh... all that."
"Bu-" Anna began, trying to argue with his answer, they were definitely not here for the food.
"My turn!" The Joker chirped, ignoring her, "Whose a better kisser, me or Jeffrey?"
Anna gave him a disgusted look, crossing her arms even tighter, "His name, is Jeremy."

"His name-ah, is Jer-em-y-ah." The Joker rolled his eyes upwards, mocking her as Anna inhaled deeply, "And the answer is him. Every time." Her mind thought of Jeremy then and there, "Did you really break his legs?"
The Joker propped his elbows up onto the table, looking upwards, "Ahh, yeah."
Anna's cold expression wavered to that of horror and heartbreak, she couldn't even imagine the pain of having both legs broken, and by what method she did not want to find out.
"I'd like to know how-" Anna uncrossed her arms momentarily to push a piece of hair off her face and behind her ear. She spoke calmly, trying not to show her distress, "-you can live with the fact that you do terrible things on a daily basis and continue to go about your life without a shred of moral ethic or humanity?"

The Joker gave a small laugh, staring right at her, "You said it yourself, its because I have no moral ethic or humanity."
"How many people have you killed?" Anna forgot about the stupid rules of the made up game, the Jokers casual view on what he had done was just evil.
"Well..." He thought about it, a smile trying to hold back more laughter, "I, I mean that depends, do you want that number to include ahhh, collateral damage-" He winced, "-Because I don't have an exact figure, I mean you know how these things just add up-"

"You're-" She struggled to find words to match her disgust, "-merciless and inhuman and heinous and-" She shook her head, "-and loathsome."

The Joker nodded as if impressed, "I'll add them to my list of adjectives as described by the ever literate Anna Hart."
"I could give you some worse ones if you'd like?" Anna glared at him form across the table.
"Save them for after." He smiled, the grin spreading to his scars.
The natural response burned in Anna's mind, after what? Her face went blank, thinking she knew the answer, but not wanting to think about it. "Well then," She swallowed, eyes scanning the room to avoid his, "-are, are we going to eat or? Because that's why we're here, that's why you brought me to this takeaway, to eat." She tried to change subject, noticing how uncomfortable the chair she was sitting on was.

"I killed the chef." The Joker said bluntly, returning her blank look, his expression now as unreadable as hers. With an exhale of breath he leant back casually on his chair, fingers drumming on the surface. He sat there, legs and arms spread, contrasting perfectly with his company. Anna broke eye contact momentarily, glancing down at his restless fingers on the table. She looked back up to meet his eyes, still staring at hers, fascinated.

Unwilling to take the silence any longer, Anna nearly opened her mouth to speak when he moved. He shrugged his coat off, letting it fold over the back of the chair as he took his hand from the table and fumbled it in his pockets.
He took something out, placing it on the table in front of him.
She looked at the little box, complete with a tiny red ribbon. The Joker made no attempt to hand it to her or slide it in her direction, his face still devoid of answers.

Anna didn't want to know what was in the box... dynamite, a knife, a gun, poison... She grew increasingly hesitant, drawing her eyes away from the box and back to the Joker. She was scared, she was always scared of the Joker, but despite his humourless expression she couldn't help but react with sarcasm, guessing that is was some weird 'gift' for her, "Oh you shouldn't have."

She watched with a bemused uncertainty as he closed his eyes, it took Anna a moment to realise he was shaking slowly and silently, his mouth opening gradually into a smile and creaking to a grinding laugh, "Ha, ha, haaa... HA!" The Joker slammed his hand suddenly onto the table, making the cards shift and Anna tense abruptly, "Ha ha haaa-ahh! You are just so funny! You-" The Joker clenched his fist together, "-make me laugh Annaaa. Your sarcasm is so endearing-ahhh. But, but here's the thing-" He lost the smile, leaning in so his shoulders were over the table, "-I think its time to put aside the humour for a moment. Yeah? Because me and you need to have a little heart to heart, hm?"

Anna uncrossed her arms subconsciously going to push her chair out form the table and stand up, but the Joker was so utterly terrifying that she froze and instead pressed her shoulders back against the chair, her whole body tense.
Put aside the humour? When did the Joker ever want to put aside the humour? His gloved hand creaked as a fist uncoiled and pointed at her and then back to himself, "Because this, oh this is just getting out of hand, I mean," He sliced his hand sideways through the air, "you could cut the tension between us with a knife."

She half expected him to whip out a knife there and then by the look in his eyes.
"We just have to do something about it because..." He shrugged, his voice deepening, "Its driving me craz-eyyyy... What, what are we going to do about it? Hm? We cant just ignore it, no no no... anyyy suggestions?" The Joker moved a hand into a pocket, "Or are you gonna give me the usual response of wide-eyed-pretty-little-girl-who-would-want-to-kill-that?"
He took out a shining metal knife, admiring it for a moment before looking over the table to her terrified face, "Because I want to. I really-" Anna whipped her hands onto the table to shove the chair backwards, "-really want to."

The Joker pushed the table with such force that before Anna could stand up it slammed into her stomach, smashing her into the wall behind. She clutched her ribs in shock, trying to edge the table away to breathe properly, "What the hell... are you... doing?"

The Joker propped his feet up onto the table nonchalantly, holding it in place so Anna was trapped, wedged between the wall and the table in front of him, "We-" He picked up a glass that one of the employees had left and looked down at the liquid inside, "-have a routine." He gave the drink a sniff and raised an eyebrow, spilling it out onto the floor, "And it goes like this... I try and have some fun, introduce some spontaneity into your petty little run of the mill lifestyle. I don't kill you, I even try and have some down time with your boytoy, I keep the jealous best friend from slicing you throat... "

(My hero. Anna said sarcastically in her head.)

"And in return." He took his hand out from behind his head, "I get denial."
"Denial?!" Anna tried to stretch upwards, sucking her stomach in the relieve some pressure from the table edge pressed into her body.
"There it is again," The Joker unfolded his legs at sat normally, "You're a liar, Anna. You're lying to me and you're lying to Jeremy and," He narrowed his eyes, "worst of all, you're lying to yourself. There's something going on between us and you know it."

Anna pushed the table away from her now that the Jokers weight was off it, "Maybe you're right. Maybe there is something going on between us but would you like to know what that is?"
The Joker nodded to the side and opened his arms as if open to suggestions.
"You kidnapped me and are holding Jeremy hostage as some weird coax to get me to sleep with you-" Anna stood up, readjusting her cardigan angrily, "-and after that, after you're done with me, you're going to murder me. You're going to kill me and Jeremy because that just what you do. You're the Joker." Her hands fidgeted with the fabric of her top, "So what's the point of it, there's no point of a coax or a deal. You said it yourself, you want to kill me. You're going to kill me."

"If that's what you really think," The Joker turned the side of the chair to face her, one elbow casually on the back, "why are you still here?"

Anna stopped fumbling with her hands, looking at him for a moment with an honest loss for words. She took a deep breath in, frustratingly unclear about her answer, "Wh-, that's a ridiculous question! Because you have Jeremy and me as hostage-"

"If you really believed you had no hope, no chance of survival," He pointed an accusing finger at her, "You'd be begging for me to at least spare little Jerry's life, let alone your own. You seem a little too comfortable to be on the brink of death. Or maybe you just don't care about his life?"
"Comfortable?" Anna scoffed incredulously, "I-I mean, do I really seem comfortable-"
"Yes." The Joker replied bluntly, "You don't really believe I'll chuck a knife into your stomach, despite my, ahhhem urges..." He just looked at her for a brief second, allowing for her to process her lack of answer before he stood up, "Ah, ah-" He shook his head as Anna took a frightened step back, "-c'mere, hm?"

Her arms were crossed in front of her like a barrier as he approached, "Did you ever think, ah, c'mere." Anna edged away from his enclosing steps, "Did you ever think, maybe... after I was done with you, I'd let you go? Hm? And you can have what's left of him."
"How could I possibly think that?" His hands made no attempt to touch her as she walked further backwards into the kitchen, but he followed her, his frame dauntingly taller against hers, "You've messed with my head this long, you're not just going to let that all go for a one night stand."

"Hm." The Joker hinted a murmur of a laugh, "Why? Cause I'm too gentlemanly for that?"
"No," Anna hit the kitchen counter behind her, "Because if all you wanted was to sleep with me why wouldn't you have done it before now? At Gambols or at my apartment, or any other encounter." She uncrossed her arms and placed them to the side, fingers sliding under the counter to steady herself, "I don't believe that you don't want something else."

The Joker smirked momentarily, absentmindedly rolling his sleeve up before stepping forward, placing his hands on either side of her and onto the cold tile of the kitchen counter, "Like what?"

Anna edged her upper body backwards in response, clearly uncomfortable with being so enclosed by the Joker despite the fact he wasn't touching her. Yet as a result her hips tilted forward, brushing off his and she jolted towards him again, his head moving backwards as her moved forward. Her hand accidently touched his beside her which she whipped away, staring with horror into the Jokers amused black eyes. They were engaging in some weird, awkward tango in which he was clearly enjoying.

"Blood." Anna muttered simply after a torturous shared moment of silence between herself and the Jokers unmoving gaze.
He gave her a trace of a smile in return, "Mmmm, but this is so much more-" His head tilted down and Anna received the warning to prepare herself, yet how could you ever be mentally prepared for this, "-fun."