"Security doesn't seem tighter than usual," Charles was saying as she studied the floor plans to the Weston building. She idly brushed her fingers across the scratch Catwoman had given her on the way to the Batcave, narrowing her eyes when said woman purred a little. "If they're still following the same routine." None of them looked up when the lift started.
"If they're on the top floor, it'll be easy to get them to the plane," Diana said.
"It's not, they are, and we've had a slight change of plans," the Joker drawled as he sauntered up to them. The small group of superheroes, and one villain, turned sharply and their hands went to their respective weapons. The man held his hands up with a mock-innocent look and wiggled his fingers. "Hey, now, let's take this easy. Don't want to, uh, heh, hurt Jackie now, do you?" The glint in his eyes as he grinned at them was self-assured and relaxed. "Batina, I'm gonna need your . . . special contacts for this. Here's what I need, down to the minute. Get them here as soon as you can." He tossed her a small package that she caught out of reflex, eyeing warily. "It's not gonna explode, doll."
"How'd you get in here?" Catwoman growled at him.
He snorted. "I'm just that good. I need to make a phone call . . ." He wandered over to the surveillance area as he dug a cell phone out of his pocket and dialled a number, his eyes fixed on the GCN news broadcast. The anchor was covering his latest bombing, barely a half hour old, and taking calls on it. Public opinion was firmly against the Joker. The phone rang twice before it patched through. Fox was, the Joker mused, a genius.
"Caller, you're on the line."
"Because Gotham listens when I have something to say," the Joker drawled while Charles pursed her lips at his requests and swung toward a computer. "And believe me, I have something to say."
On the television, the anchor had gone pale. "Who --- Joker ---"
"See, now, I don't like that name much," the man interrupted. "And I thought, since it's been so long, this city might want to know why I'm back, what I want this time. How are you, Mike? Oh, don't worry, I'm not planning on hanging you upside-down again." He chortled to himself. "Glad to see you're still around."
"Ah . . . And . . . what do you want?" the anchor asked after a moment of silence.
There was a long, drawn-out hiss of breath. "What's been taken from me," the man in paint growled. "See, Marco Gallucci, head of most of the crime in Gotham, thinks that he can take what's mine, keep it from me, abuse it, and --- and this is the important part --- get away with it. Now, I was all set to play along with him, take out other crime families for him, cause trouble for your Justice Club, but then Gallucci made a very. Big. Mistake. Do you know what that mistake was?"
". . . No. What was it?" the man asked.
The Joker turned with a snarl, pacing. "He hurt things that belong to me. And in doing so, he's broken his word --- and I can't stand liars and oath-breakers. Fortunately, since he's broken his promise, I'm free from my promise." There was ugly laughter. "If Marco Gallucci doesn't give me what's mine within twenty-four hours, I'm going to stop being careful with Gotham's sweet citizens. They may start dying."
For all his obvious fear, Mike Engel, GCN's main news anchor for almost twenty years, was holding up remarkably well. Especially considering he'd come face-to-face with the Joker on the man's first rampage through Gotham. "What did he take, if I may ask?"
"My family," the Joker whispered. He laughed at the look on Engel's face. "I want Rachel and Ava Dawes, and Janet and Susie Mills, released into the care of a hospital which I've already specified to Gallucci. Why so shocked? Why did you think I came back? See, these days I don't care so much about killing people; I'm not against it, but I've found other things to . . . better occupy my time."
"But . . . Over eighty ---"
The Joker waved his hand. "Criminals. Murderers." His voice dropped to a gut-twisting growl. "Rapists. People who deserve to die. It doesn't matter. We'd found a life we all wanted, we all were happy with --- you know Rachel's pregnant, right? I'm going to be a father." His voice warmed. "Ava Mirelle Dawes . . . It means 'desired miracle,' you know. I named her." He was proud, and it showed through his voice, and Engel sat back in shock. "She's due January ninth, if Gallucci's idiocy hasn't forced Rachel in labour by now."
For a moment there was nothing but the Joker's heavy breathing and a faint growl once in a while, and then he cleared his throat.
"So see, I've got a lot of good things going for me. We're going to adopt Janet and Susie, too. I'm more of a jokester these days, you know . . . You should see some of the pranks the high school boys and I get up to." Now he giggled, full of mirth, but once more went serious. "Gallucci's overstepped his bounds, and I want my family back. You have . . . twenty-three hours and . . . fifty-six minutes."
"But --- If Gallucci doesn't ---"
"Well, now, that's up to him, isn't it? If he gives me what's mine, you're all safe. I'm a man of my word, as you know."
"Why not just go to the police?"
The Joker sighed and wandered over to Catwoman, scratching her behind her makeshift ears. She hissed at him. He ignored her. "Look, Mike, since we've got a history together, I'll level with you. I'm tired of doing this. This is a message, to leave me the hell alone. I could live my life quite happily with my girls and Rachel, see, because with them, I don't need to raise hell. I don't need to blow shit up and threaten to kill people, engineer mass destruction . . . Although I'm not gonna lie, it is fun to do. But see, Susie --- she's the youngest, after Ava, of course --- Susie doesn't care that I used to kill people. It doesn't scare her like it scares adults. In fact, after I first met her I asked her if she was afraid of me, and she said no, because . . . well, her main reasoning was that I did everything Rachel told me to do, so Rachel must be the boss of me, and Rachel would never let me hurt someone." He screwed his face up in a bemused smile, and then laughed at the slightly nervous chuckle Engel let out. "Yeah. Kids. She never cared, see. Right from the start she was all over me, wanting piggyback rides and to be tossed in the air . . . She just wanted someone to love her." His voice got quiet. "So did I. And Rachel loves me. She's got more reason than anyone else to hate me, but she loves me. She tells me Ava's going to love me, too --- Hey, I can get her to calm down by singing to her; works like a charm and lets Rachel get some rest at night. I'm not going to let Gallucci screw that up," the Joker went on after clearing his throat. The moment of personal revelation was over. "He's wasted fifteen minutes. If I have to go in and get my family," the Joker growled, "I'm going in for blood." The line went dead and the man turned to the group of heroes. "What?"
"How much of that was a lie?" Wonder Woman asked after a moment of silence. On the television, Engel was being flooded with calls that were abruptly in support of the Joker.
The man in question pursed his lips and rolled his eyes up as her considered her question. "Uh . . . Five percent. Roughly."
"And specifically . . . ?"
"The part about Gallucci having twenty-four hours." He leaned over the table and pursed his lips at the floor plan of the Weston building, taking up an orange marker. "Sentries here, on these floors," he said as he dotted the paper. "Shift change is routine: on the hour, every four hours. Got a hold of your guys yet? We'll need a perimeter here, and a blockade right up front, after we're all in. Hey, Bondage Girl." The princess ignored his jibe and tilted her head at the plans he was drawing up. "That plane of yours . . . it'll hold three passengers, right? And they'll all stay invisible?"
"Depends on the passengers. If you're thinking Rachel and the girls, they'll be fine, and won't be visible until they're out of the plane. How do you know Gallucci won't up his security? Once he gets your threat, he's going to tighten it."
"Doesn't have the manpower," the Joker returned as he shook his head. "Plus, he's let me get a little too close to some information sources. He's got a lot going on right now. I know how to keep someone looking the wrong direction," he said loudly, overriding her protests. "I've been working on this for months. The only thing I'm really concerned about is Janet."
"What about her?" Charles demanded before turning back to her phone. "Not you, Sir. No, Sir. Go on, Sir."
The look of fury on his face made even Wonder Woman step back. "Some of Gallucci's thugs drugged and raped her. I've got someone watching her twenty-four/seven, now, but . . ." His hands clenched in fists of rage and the man shook as he spluttered incoherently.
Diana lowered her head to give him the illusion of privacy, turning a blind eye to the tears that fell down his face when he finally returned his attention to their plans. "How will you find Gallucci?" she asked softly.
"He'll be trussed up like a turkey, waiting to be carved. I've got people on the inside." His voice cracked on the last word, but the man who had been Jack cleared his throat and went on. "Chuckie, you done yet?"
"Yes, Sir. Thirteen hundred today. We move in at fifteen hundred. Oo-rah, Sir." She planted her fists on the table and glared at the Joker. He held his hand out and she handed him a piece of paper. He entered the number into his phone with a nod. "You planned everything," she accused.
"I always do," was the absent reply before he sighed. "Not all of this is going according to plan."
"What happened to Janet isn't your fault."
"Yes it is!" the Joker bellowed. Diana leaned back a little, but didn't try to convince him further. He coughed and shook himself. "They won't know you're all involved until it's too late. The Marines ought to keep them occupied for a while. If we're lucky, we can grab Rachel and the girls and be gone before anyone notices." He cracked his neck. "I've gotta go."
He left without another word.
***
The Joker looked down at the girl on the bed as his men stood guard and pursed his lips. How to go about this? He needed her down from her heroine high, but able to function while off of it, all without losing it when a man touched her. He chewed on the insides of his scars and finished wiping his face off before adjusting his overcoat.
"Janet?"
She twitched and whined a little, forcing bleary eyes open as one hand flung itself out, track marks in her arm. "Please," she mouthed.
Jack sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand in his, his eyes tightening when she winced at the physical contact. "No, honey, I need you to listen to me. Will you listen to me?" There was a small sound from the doorway and he held his free hand out without looking. "Come here, Susie."
"Is that you, Daddy?"
"Just for a bit," he said. "Come here." The girl wasted no time in flinging herself at him, sobbing into his embrace. Jack took just a moment to calm her down before wiping her tears away, kissing her cheeks. "Shh, shh, sweety . . . Stop crying, now. I need you two to help me." Janet was twitching again, legs spasming while she bent almost double and groaned. Jack sighed and took out a small kit, talking as he opened it and started setting up what he hated himself for needing to do. "Susie, some people are going to come visit you. They're going to take all of you out of here, do you understand?"
"You're rescuing us?" she asked.
Jack smiled as he nodded, finding the right vein and not shaking as he injected more heroin into Janet's system. "That's right, I am. I'm leaving a bow and arrows for you, and a gun for Janet. Can you hear me, Janet?" She was smiling now, nodding dreamily. He smoothed her hair out of her face. "Do you want those men to die, Janet?"
"Uh?" She blinked at him, still riding the drug high, and nodded. "Okay? Do you want me to suck your ---"
"No," he cut her off firmly. "You don't ever need to do that again, Janet, and I'm going to kill the men who made you do it. Do you understand? They won't hurt you again."
The smile she gave him was angelic. "I love you, Jack . . ."
He smiled and kissed her forehead. "I love you, too, baby. Get some sleep. I need you to be rested, okay? Look, it's noon. I'll be back at three-thirty. Can you two make sure Rachel's ready?"
"Okay," Susie promised fervently. Then she looked down, only raising her eyes to look at him. "Do you . . . Do you have to be the Joker again now, Daddy?"
Jack sighed and nodded. "I do, baby. But I promise, he's going to be a lot nicer to you, all right?"
The girl considered, tugging at her auburn hair, and then she nodded. "Okay. Can I tell Rachel we're leaving?"
"I'll let her know, poppet. You just make sure Janet's awake and ready to go. If you do good today, I'll get you a kitten. I have to go, now." He pulled the girl into a fierce hug and rubbed his nose against hers. She was trying not to cry. "I love you, Susie. I love all of you. Don't you ever forget that, all right?" She nodded, tears falling down her face, and he set her next to her sister with another kiss for each of them before leaving the room and sliding down the wall once the door had closed. Jack clenched his fists in his hair and rocked back and forth. "Please," he whispered. "Please. Let's make a deal. We can both have what we really want. Let's just . . . cooperate."
After a few minutes he stood, much more composed, and went into Rachel's room. She was on her side, staring off into space or maybe sleeping with her eyes wide open. She didn't move when he closed the door, however, and he was crouching next to her before he saw that she was still breathing.
"Rachel?" Her only response was half a blink and it tore him up. "Look, bunny," the Joker sneered as he got tired of her silence, "things are about to uh, heat up, you know?" He tied his long hair back in a ponytail, having rinsed the green out earlier. "I need you ready to go."
"Jack," she whispered.
The man pursed his lips and leaned down, pressing them to hers gently as his hands pressed against her stomach. The resulting movement from his daughter was faint, but there. It was enough for now. "We're working on that, sweet. Three-thirty. Be ready. We have to go." He stood and shook his head as he walked out of the room. "Don't you dare start blubbering, you damned pussy . . . Doc, three-thirty, have them all ready to go." Sanchez raised his eyebrows and nodded. The Joker left, humming. "We've got a lot to do --- is it one lump or two? . . ."
***
At two-thirty, on opposite sides of town, two of Marco Gallucci's main warehouses imploded. The men guarding the small fortune of drugs were nowhere to be found.
At two-forty-five, Gotham City's public school and parks systems received anonymous donations totalling over four million dollars, received in boxes wrapped in bright orange, blue, and purple paper. At the same time, south-east and south-west of the main warehouses, two more smaller buildings disintegrated from within. Police response was unnaturally slow.
At three, due south of the two main warehouses, half a mile south of the second explosions and half a mile closer, two more buildings went. There were no civilian casualties. Large teddy bears stuffed with toys were deposited at the steps of the city's children's hospitals, while their bank account balances almost quadrupled.
At three-fifteen, half a mile south and half a mile closer, two more building went. In his office, Jim Gordon circled the largest two explosions in black, then took two red pens, held one down on either secondary explosion, and dragged them down and together in a curve. The Weston building was in the centre. As the city's homeless shelters and various aide programs received donations totalling nearly ten million dollars, the number of phone calls to GCN and local radio stations in support of "the Jokester" grew. The red face grinned at Jim as the Two/Twenty-Fifth Marine Corps Infantry Battalion flooded his city.
He smiled back.
