Title: Control

Fandom: The Dark Knight

Rating: M

Pairing: OC/Joker/Harley

Genre: Drama/Angst

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own the Joker or Batman.

A/N: Sorry for the sporadic updates. I have a very busy week coming up so I might have to switch to updating this story every other day. Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Four

"Are you sure you should be doing this?" Alfred asked Bruce as the younger man held on to him for support.

"I'm sure Alfred. This is the only way I'll get my strength back." Bruce replied. Over the past week the swelling around his spine had cleared up. Once that happened, he was able to regain feeling in his legs and started to regain mobility.

So for the past couple of days, he would have Alfred help him get out of the bed and walk around at least three times a day. The first time he tried it he could barely get out of the bed. But each time he found it got a little easier and he was hoping to be back on his feet soon.

"I can't help but think you are rushing your recovery." Alfred commented with a sigh. "You suffered a severe injury and shouldn't be moving around like this. Dr. Troy agrees with me too. You could pull stitches or hurt yourself worse than before. You have to take it easy."

"I can't do that." Bruce refused, shaking his head adamantly. "This city needs Batman right now. Lacy needs Batman. I can't let everyone down. I've been gone for far too long. I need to stop what's happening."

While he understood that Bruce wanted to save Lacy from both the Joker and herself, he wasn't too thrilled about the way he was choosing to do so. "I can't help but think that this is wrong and I won't apologize for my opinion."

"I would never ask you to." Bruce told him. "But you have to respect my decision because this is my life and my body. I know my limits."

"If I didn't respect your decision I wouldn't be helping you right now." Alfred pointed out.

Bruce grinned at that comment. "I think I'm making good progress."

"You are doing well." Alfred agreed. "I don't mean to keep harping on you, but would you mind telling me exactly why you haven't told Lacy about your progress?" Lacy was still under the impression that the swelling hadn't gone down and that Bruce couldn't feel his legs. For some reason, Bruce had made him promise not to tell Lacy otherwise.

"She has enough to worry about right now trying to stay one step ahead of the Joker." Bruce reasoned. "Besides that, if she knew she would try to stop me. And unlike you, she wouldn't respect my decisions."

He felt bad about not telling Lacy and letting her believe that he was still as bad off as he was before. But he felt it necessary to keep her in the dark about his recovery. If she knew that he was getting better she would start worrying that he would interfere with her plans and that could distract her. Distractions were the last thing she needed right now.

So he would wait and keep working on his rehabilitation. If he was lucky, maybe he could stop her from executing the final phase of her plan.

Lacy walked into Vincent's office with her head held high. Although she was still fighting the internal struggle over her actions regarding Harley and felt guilty about everything she was determined to continue on with her plans.

After all, if she didn't then Harley died for nothing and she didn't want that to be the case.

"Wow." Vincent raised his eyebrow at her appearance.

"What?" She asked, not sure why he was wowing her.

"You look different." He explained.

She realized what he was talking about. "Oh. I took out the colored contacts and dyed my hair back to its normal color last night."

"Why go back now?" He questioned.

"Well I had concealed my appearance when I left Gotham two years ago in the hopes of preventing the Joker from knowing I was alive. Now I don't care because he knows I'm alive. So I might as well go back to my old self." She replied. "Besides, I didn't really like the black hair that much anyway. It was too gothic for me."

"Your natural color suits you better." He complimented.

"Ok." She gave him a small smile. "I didn't come here to gab about my hair. I came to see what progress you've made with the warehouse."

"Everything is set up just as you wanted it." Vincent reported. "Though it was hard to get everything done in such short time."

"But it wasn't impossible." She pointed out. "And you've had a week."

"Still, even a week almost wasn't enough time." He pointed out. "Your specifications were quite complex."

"I know." She acknowledged her complexity. But she had a very specific plan and needed everything to be absolutely perfect. One misstep and everything could blow up in her face.

The Joker stood outside Bruce's penthouse. For the past few days he had his men canvassing the penthouse, looking for any way inside. He wasn't surprised that Wayne had increased security. After all, he had gotten in here quite easily a few years ago during the Harvey Dent fundraiser. Now it was slightly more difficult--but not impossible. Nothing was impossible for him.

Within minutes he and his men had fought their way inside to the building and were now in the elevator on the way up to Bruce's penthouse. No one in the city had been able to tell him where Lacy was or had any clue as to if she was even in the city.

He doubted that she could be so invisible. Someone had to know where she was. He had questioned the bartender at the dive bar that Harley had been seen meeting with Lacy, but the bartender had no clue about Lacy's whereabouts.

There had been several leads that came in but each one turned out to be a dead end. So with no other clues to her whereabouts, he decided to go to the one person in the city who would know where Lacy was. Bruce Wayne. He had thought about going to see him first, but decided to give the criminal information circuit a try first. When that didn't work out he knew he had no other choice but to go see his wife's boyfriend.

He realized that Bruce and his alter ego Batman hadn't been seen out in public for a couple of weeks. The last time he was seen was the night that Will shot him in the back. The next day he had issued a press release saying he was going on an extended vacation and had no idea when he would be back. It was a clever rouse to dissuade the press and his investors from wondering why he wasn't at work or at the numerous parties he normally attended.

Too bad the Joker knew that truth. He must have been hurt pretty badly in order to go to all this trouble to get peace from the press while he recovered. He smiled at the thought and couldn't wait to see first hand what damage Will's bullet had done to his enemy.

The doors to the penthouse opened and he exited calmly, motioning for his men to head off and find Bruce as well as that butler of his. A few moments later, Alfred was brought to him by one of his men. "Well, well well. Looks like we get to meet again. How are you doing?"

Alfred didn't say a thing, just looked at the Joker with distaste and hatred.

"That's not very polite." The Joker shook his head disapprovingly. "But whatever. Where's Bruce?" Still, Alfred didn't say a word. "Doesn't matter. I'll find him anyway."

"Boss?" Will asked hesitantly as he came back into the foyer.

"What?" The Joker hissed.

"I found him." Will replied.

"So bring him here." He commanded impatiently.

"It might be easier for you to go to him." Will explained.

The Joker sighed and motioned for his other guy to bring Alfred along as they followed Will to Bruce's room. He laughed at the sight of Bruce lying in the hospital bed. Then he looked over at Will. "You know, when you shoot someone you sure do know how to do a lot of damage."

Will looked proud as he received the first ever genuine compliment from his boss. "Thanks."

"Don't get cocky." He chastised. He then turned his attention to Bruce. "So what's wrong with you?" His question was met with silence. He was beginning to be annoyed by that. First Alfred gave him the silent treatment and now Bruce.

Will went over and picked up Bruce's medical chart, which hadn't been updated to show his recent progress. "Looks like the bullet nicked the spine and he's paralyzed."

"Ouch." The Joker winced. "That sounds like it would hurt. But I guess you wouldn't be able to feel it anyway." He laughed at his inappropriate joke. "But look, I didn't come here to pay you a visit and chit chat. I came to find out where Lacy is."

"She's dead." Bruce laughed. "You killed her two years ago. Or did you forget that?"

"Ha ha." The Joker fake laughed. "Very funny, but you and I both know that she's really still alive and in Gotham. So what I need from you is a location. Where is she?"

"I don't know." Bruce said, not considering it a lie. He really didn't know where she was staying or what she was doing right now. She had been very secretive about those details.

"Somehow I just don't believe you." He told Bruce. "I know you have to have had some kind of communication with her." He spied Bruce's cell phone and moved quickly to grab it. "Maybe I can find the answers I'm seeking from this."

Vincent had just finished showing Lacy the photos of the warehouse and explaining everything that his men had done to the place when her cell phone rang.

"Excuse me." She told him, pulling out her cell phone and looking at the caller id. She walked to the corner of Vincent's room and answered. "I'm kind of busy right now. Can I call you back later?"

"Of course you can sweetheart but I can't guarantee that your boyfriend and his butler will be alive if you don't talk to me right now." The Joker crooned.

She froze and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. The Joker was on Bruce's cell phone, which meant he had gotten into the penthouse. Damn.

After a few seconds she composed herself. "What do you want?"

"Now is that any way to talk to your husband who hasn't seen you in two years?" He laughed. "I don't get a hello or how are you doing? I find that kind of rude."

"Well I found your attempt at killing me rather rude." She shot back, walking back over to Vincent and writing a note to let him know who was on the phone.

"Fair enough." He chuckled. "I guess we're even then."

"We're not even." She told him. "We're not close to being even."

"So I guess you're still mad about what happened? You really need to let that go. It's water under the bridge." He laughed again. "Oops. Sorry. Didn't mean to bring up water. Is that a sore subject for you too seeing as how you were almost drowned?"

She let that comment go. "You have Bruce's cell phone so you are obviously with him right now. Let me speak to him. I want to know if they are ok."

"Well I normally don't give in to other people's demands, but I guess I can make an exception for you this one time." He shoved the phone into Bruce's face. "Your girlfriend wants to check on you."

"Bruce?" She called out. "Are you and Alfred alright?"

"We're fine." Bruce assured her. "Don't do whatever he wants though…"

"That's enough." The Joker said, yanking the phone away from Bruce. "So now you know that they are ok."

She was relived to hear Bruce say they were fine, but needed to figure out how to keep them that way. "What is it that you want?"

"I just want to see you." He told her. "It's been a long time and I think a family reunion is in order." He explained.

She knew she had no choice but to meet with him. It wasn't part of her plan but sometimes plans needed to be altered. "Where do you want to meet? Should I come there?"

"No." He answered. "Let's meet at the place where we last saw each other—the docks that I took you to two years ago."

She couldn't help but be amused that he apparently still hadn't figured out that she was the one with whom he danced at the Halloween party. She would enjoy telling him about that. "Fine, but only on one condition. You leave Bruce and Alfred alone and don't hurt them."

"You sure do have an affinity for them, don't you?" He wasn't surprised that she would throw that clause into the mix. He had expected it from her. "But what makes you think that you have any power or influence over this? I'm the one that has the hostages, not you."

He laughed. "If you refuse to come see me I will simply kill them both. And I think we both know that poor old Bruce doesn't have the strength to fight back. He might even be easier to kill than the old guy."

"I know you. You wouldn't want to kill him right now. It wouldn't be fun for you if he couldn't fight back." She explained. "Besides, it's me you want, not them. So you'll agree to my terms."

"Alright." He conceded. Truthfully, he hadn't planned on hurting Alfred or Bruce today anyway. His focus was Lacy and he would deal with Bruce later. "I'll agree to your terms and leave them the way I found them."

"Good." She replied, hoping that he was telling the truth and that Bruce and Alfred would be ok. But with the Joker, anything was possible. "And I will meet you at the docks. What time?"

"Eight 'o' clock tonight." He answered. "And be sure to come alone. I don't want the police hanging around."

"There will be no police. I promise." She told him, and she wasn't making a false promise. The police wouldn't be there tonight. But Vincent's men would be.

"Good." He replied. "I'll see you tonight my love. We have so much to catch up on."

"Yes we do." She whispered as she hung up the phone.