To understand what is going on in this chapter I recommend reading the first chapter, The last act, before this one (Unless you recently read it).

Disclaimer: Mature content

The Joker walked up to the room where Lilie was sleeping but stopped in front of the door and hesitated. Bob, who was guarding the door, looked curiously at him.

"Are you going somewhere, boss?"

"No?"

".. You have the makeup on."

"Don't you worry about it, Bob." The Joker muttered and Bob perceived the warning in his voice.

"I'm sorry." he nervously mumbled, the Joker gave him a sour look and walked to the kitchen table. Evan had spread out their loot over the table and was thoroughly going through it, he had a good grasp of the black market.

"Brilliant move, boss. We got stuff worth a fortune!"

"Fantastic." The Joker mumbled without interest and opened the laptop.

"Why don't we use that hacker more often?"

"He's very expensive and busy. Also, using his services comes with great risks."

"What risks?"

".. Where is your brain at, uh, Evan?" The Joker mocked and gave Evan a derogatory look, Evan got quiet and the Joker smacked his lips."If anybody offers him enough money for information on me, he will spill aaaall of the beans. He is completely driven by money."

"Oh shit.." Evan mumbled.

"You couldn't figure that out by yourself? You have a big head there Evan, ya need to use it." he said with acidity and Evan fidgeted.

"..We owe him money right?"

"I will get the bill once he has given me information on the princess. If he finds a lot it's going to get expensive. I'm guessing about 100-150k." the Joker said and Evan's jaw dropped.

"Fuck me."

"No thanks."

"Okay I understand why we don't use him more, but we should be able to cover that with this stuff."

"Good."

"..Can't we just not pay him?"

"You think it is a good idea to make him our enemy, do ya?"

"Maybe not.. But those computer geeks are usually real pussies." Evan said and the Joker slammed his forehead hard on the table and roared frustratingly.

"You're geniuses! All of you!" he exclaimed sarcastically and looked around at all of his goons, none of them had anything to say. He picked up the laptop and walked over to the bedroom where Lilie was. He opened the door and saw her sitting with her back against the headboard, a bored expression plastered over her face. She smiled happily as she saw him.

"Hi!" she said as he sat down on the edge of the bed next to her.

"Hi. Did you, uh.. sleep well?"

"Yes, my back feels much better. Did you sleep?"

"Hmm? Oh no, I haven't slept. It's, uh.. not for me. I have visited your friend Mark Tyler, actually." he said and smirked, her eyes widened.

"What? You met that asshole?" She asked and looked at him with big eyes.

"Nah. We were in his apartment. Did you know.. he had cameras there?" he asked and grinned as he saw her eyes widen in surprise.

"Oh.. No, I didn't know. But, in hindsight I should have guessed that." she mumbled and he laughed.

"I haven't seen anything yet, but the videos are on this computer."

"Oh, how fun for you." she said sarcastically and he giggled.

"What am I going to see, huh?"

"Don't let me ruin that surprise for you."

"I want you to watch with me."

"Uhm..Why?"

"I thought it might be cosy, don't you?" he answered and smirked, she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's why." She said and he scoffed, he got up on the bed and sat down with his back against the headboard. He patted with his hand next to him on the mattress and wiggled his eyebrows at her. She laughed and looked at him with a big smile.

"You're actually quite charming." she said sincerely and he smiled. "Psychopaths often are, aren't they?" she asked and smirked, he jokingly made an offended grimace. She shuffled closer to him and removed all of the gap between them, he giggled.

"How cosy, I told ya." he mumbled and smacked his lips, she looked at the screen and immediately recognized Mark's apartment.

"Yeah, that's his place, the nasty little swine." she said with distaste and he chuckled.

"From what I understand he's only there at times."

"Yeah, only when he's sleeping with whores." she said and he raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

"So what were you doing there?"

"I'm not a whore!"

"We'll see, won't we?" he muttered sourly and looked through different files on the computer. "Hmm.. There are several videos, each of them are only a few hours and they are filmed weeks apart."

"He probably only turns the camera on when he has a girl there." she said with disgust and he nodded. He started a video and fast forwarded until they could see two people enter the screen, it was Mark and an attractive, blonde woman wearing a revealing outfit.

"Not you." he mumbled and kept fast forwarding. A bit further into the video they started having sex, and even though the video was playing in twice the speed they could see it was violent. Lilie's stomach twisted as she saw how frightened the woman was and she had to look away.

"Do we have to watch this?" she asked and he closed the video. He started the next to last video instead and Lilie swallowed hard as she suspected what was on it. After some fast forwarding she saw that she was right, it was Brittany in this video, the 15 year old trafficking victim. Lilie immediately looked away from the screen.

"Uh-oh.." she heard the Joker say and he stopped fast forwarding. The sound came back and even though Lilie looked away she could see what was happening in her head as she heard Brittany scream for her life.

"He's pretty twisted, huh?" The Joker said and she could sense that he was looking at her.

"Please turn it off." she pleaded in a shaky voice and he paused the video.

"Do you know her? Violence hasn't bothered you before." he asked and she felt her eyes tear up. He grabbed her chin and turned her head to face him. "Hmm?"

"I've.. met her."

"Did she survive?"

"She survived the torture but she died later because of it." She said and he nodded. He turned off the video and started the latest one. Once again he fast forwarded until he saw two people enter the screen.

"There you are!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Look at ya, all dolled up for this guy. You never make this much effort for me." he said jokingly and pouted.

"Just turn it on, I really want to see this right now." she growled quietly and looked at the screen with narrow eyes. He made a surprised face and turned the video on again. They watched as Mark showed her around, bragging about all of his expensive things.

"Hmm.. Where, uhm, do you keep that dress?"

"Do you like it?"

"Very much. Purple suits ya. You couldn't find a tighter one?" he asked and smirked, she scoffed. "Mark likes it as well I see, he's acting like an i-di-ot." He said and Lilie agreed. Mark kept yapping away and Lilie in the video smiled and did her best to look impressed.

"Disgusting piece of shit." Lilie hissed to herself and the Joker giggled. They reached the point in the video when Mark got them some champagne and Lilie knew this was when the fun was about to start.

"Uh-oh!" he exclaimed excitedly and watched with big eyes as Lilie smashed the glass to pieces against the table and confronted Mark about Brittany. "Oh he does not like that.." he mumbled and his jaw dropped as he saw her punch Mark in the stomach. When they got to the moment in the video when she played with her knife between her fingers, enjoying Mark's fear, he paused the video and turned to look at her with big eyes.

"You are.. sinister!" he said breathlessly and looked at her in awe. She smiled, revealing her pearly teeth, he grabbed her jaw and pulled her face close to his.

"I don't know what I want to do more right now, kiss you or keep watching." he mumbled in a husky voice. His grip hardened and he planted a kiss on her lips before he let her go and eagerly turned back to the screen. He grabbed her thigh and watched the rest of the video, he barely blinked. He furrowed his brows when he saw her fall off of Mark and started screaming hysterically.

"What is happening to you?" he asked her, she swallowed and didn't answer him. They watched her state of panic in silence and the Joker leaned forward to the screen when the Chechen and Dwayne entered the frame. Lilie had never seen or heard herself in this state and it looked as horrible as it felt. Once they got to the end of the video, the Joker closed the laptop and looked at her.

"So.. You're a killer?"

"Yeah."

"How many?"

"I don't know, at least 20." she said absentmindedly and he raised his eyebrows.

"..Whatever I thought I was going to see in that video, that wasn't it."

"What did you expect? Sex?"

"I was afraid of that."

"Oh? It doesn't interest you?"

"I can definitely live without the image of you and the.. Uh, what did you call him? Nasty little swine?" he said with distaste and she smiled smugly at him.

"Why? Would you get jealous?" she asked teasingly and wiggled her eyebrows, he scoffed.

"Don't flatter yourself. What happened to you at the end of the video?" he asked and she thoughtfully bit her chapped bottom lip.

"It's complicated."

"We have time, sweetcheeks."

"..To put it simply, I have been exposed to a panic inducing toxin. It was an unfinished product and I got a concentrated dose, I should have died. I survived but my brain has been.. Kind of fucked up since then."

"A panic inducing toxin? When were you exposed to it?"

"About three years ago."

"What happened to your brain? You got cuckoo?"

"Sometimes I enter a state of paralyzing fear."

"It comes from nowhere? Or is there a trigger?"

"I haven't found a trigger."

"How long does it last?"

"Every time is different, sometimes it lasts for a minute, sometimes it lasts for days."

"Strange.. Are you hallucinating? It looked like it."

"Yeah. It's extremely real." she said and swallowed hard.

"Who gave you this drug, and why?"

"I'm not telling you."

"And why is that?" he asked annoyedly.

"I don't trust you." she said, he responded with a sour look.

"What would I do with that information?"

"I don't know. Evil clown-stuff. Why do you want to know?"

"This evil clown wants to know everything." he said with a smirk, she shrugged and kept quiet.

"So.. You're a killer, and you've killed customers to Dwayne and the Chechen. And Gambol?"

"Yes."

"Why? To avenge the women they have hurt?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? What they have been put through is so goddamn horrible." she exclaimed angrily and he shrugged.

"There are many horrible things going on in the world, but you are focusing on this. There is something deeper behind it."

"As if I would tell you."

"I have seen the scars on your back. A man hurt you, right?" he asked her and gave her a mock look of concern, she stared at him with a grim look on her face and didn't say a word. "Come on. A man hurt you very badly. Later you got drugs and it made you cuckoo, and you could finally live out your fantasy of getting revenge on every man who reminds you of the one who hurt you." he said and she couldn't help but smile.

"You're not that far from the truth."

"Ah, the big mystery Lilie Maddison is finally starting to unravel. But now I have more questions than before." he said and sighed, although he looked fairly pleased. She didn't say anything, the last hour had been tough and so was this conversation. She had a heavy stomach and it kept getting heavier by the second. She was thirsty and weak, and her head just wouldn't stop pounding.

"I knew you were a wounded little bird, I just didn't know by which weapon." he said and smirked. She lowered her gaze and looked at the mattress with sorrowful eyes. He leaned in to her and lifted her head up by pressing his index finger under her chin.

"Hey.. I'm not judging you." he said in a soft voice and she met his gaze with teary eyes. "I for one know that it doesn't take more than one truly horrible day to make you lose your mind and never be able to get back to who you used to be. It's not your fault that you have become a monster." he said with a comforting voice and she gave a short and empty laughter, a couple of tears fell.

"Is that what I am? A monster?" she whispered, he brushed away the tears from her face and let his hand linger on her cheek.

"Not to me, I wouldn't change a thing about you." he said with his soft voice. She understood how twisted it was to hear that from this psycho, but his words eased the heavy feeling in her stomach. She leaned into his hand and wept.

"Hey.. Come here." he said in a low voice and she felt him grab her hand and tug at it. She moved forward and leaned into his arms, she rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes. He chuckled and put his arms around her, smiling triumphantly.

"Don't think for a second that I don't understand that you are manipulating me." she mumbled into his chest, he laughed.

"Is that what you think, hmm? Yet here you are, in my arms."

"I don't have the energy to care right now."

"Why would I want to manipulate you?" he asked innocently and she laughed.

"I think you have realised that the usual stuff doesn't work on me. Now you're trying a different strategy, trying to make me fall for you."

".. I wouldn't even dream that you could fall for me."

"I'm not one of your goons, don't talk to me like I'm an idiot." she snapped and he giggled.

"Ain't that the truth.." he said in a low voice and started stroking her hair.

"You are a little too cuddly, for an evil clown." she said and shivered in delight.

"And you are enjoying it too much, for a man hater."

".. A certain type of man triggers me, you're not one of them."

"Interesting, so you admit that you're enjoying my touch?"

"Very much, it's very frustrating." she said and snuggled into his chest. "You've showered."

"Someone told me that I should."

"It's a good thing to do." she said and he laughed, he was about to answer but was cut off by his phone.

"This is important." he said and she immediately jumped off of him, she looked curiously at him but he just grabbed the laptop and hurried out of the room without looking at her. She sighed disappointedly as she looked at the closed door.

Thank you for reading! If you like it, please vote /review :) It means the world to me