Okay, so a few years ago I started a Joker/Harley kid series….and lost all interest. This is the re-write of that series, with better writing, storyline and characterisation. :)
Please read and review :)
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"I don't wanna go to a stupid meeting…" Jesse whined as the Joker dragged him into the building, "… I wanna stay home!"
"I don't give a shit. With your Mommy still in Arkham, there's no-one I trust to look after you…. So now you've gotta be bored!"
Jesse whined even harder at this, desperately trying to plant his feet into the ground and stop himself from being dragged forwards.
Snarling in anger, Joker yanked harder on his son's hand until he was finally inside the building. Striding through the dusty, deserted warehouse, Jesse soon stopped struggling, letting himself be led through the building until they came to a door at the other end.
"Right…" Joker grunted, lifting his son into the air and dumping him on a chair next to the door, "… stay."
"Why can't I come?!"
"Because I said so."
Silence.
In suspicion. Joker glanced over to his son…. Only to sigh wearily. Jesse looked as though he was seconds from crying, and despite wanting to kill the brat every other day, Joker hated seeing him cry.
"Fine, fine, fine…" he muttered, reaching into his suit jacket pocket and pulling out his personal watch, practically throwing it at the child, "…. Play with that until I get back."
"When are you going to get back?"
Striding over, Joker tapped the glass of the watch. "Big hand at the twelve. Little hand at the six. That's when."
"But that's forever!"
"…. If you're good, I'll teach you how to make bombs. How about that?"
As Jesse nodded eagerly, Joker patted him on the cheek and strode into the meeting room. Before entering, he pointed a stern finger at his son, "No exploring!"
As the door slammed shut behind his Father, Jesse found that he was already bored. Swinging his legs, the four-year-old huffed and sighed… until he heard someone chuckling.
Glancing around frantically, Jesse focused on a pile of boxes near the opposite wall. As he continued to stare, eventually, another boy around his own age peeked around the boxes. Upon being noticing that he was being watched, the boy stuck his tongue out at Jesse and ran in the opposite direction.
Cautiously, Jesse clambered off the chair, keeping his eyes on where the other boy was. After not moving for a few moments, the boy returned and laughed. "Are you just going to stay there? C'mon!"
As he raced away again, Jesse followed, barely avoiding knocking a large pile of boxes over as he attempted to keep up.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!" called the other boy.
Eventually, they entered an adjourning courtyard, which was shared by the warehouse next door. As it was used by a legitimate business (and not for criminal meetings like so many like it), the courtyard was filled with crates of various fruits, ready for shipping to various supermarkets.
As Jesse caught up to the other boy, the boy glanced back at, smirked and gestured towards a crate of apples near the centre of the courtyard. "Bet you can't steal one of those."
Recognising the challenge for what it was, Jesse nodded in determination, creeping over to the crates. There were quite a few workers milling around the area, so Jesse was careful to keep a low profile.
Stealing the apple was easy… doing it without being seen was a little harder.
"Hey!" yelled one of the workers, "Put that back!"
Alarmed, Jesse sprinted away, twisting and turning around the piles of boxes and crates in an attempt to get away.
"Over here!"
Before Jesse could react to the cry, his arm was grabbed and he was dragged back into the warehouse, the metal doors slamming shut and locking the workers out.
The other boy laughed at this, spinning around and beaming at Jesse. "Did you see their faces when we stole those apples?!"
"We?"
"Fine, when you stole those apples… while I helped."
Jesse couldn't help but return the smile. "I'm Jesse!"
"Jeremiah! But you can call me Jerry!"
"Are you here with your Dad to?"
"Yeah! Both! They have a very important meeting."
"Mine too!"
There was a brief silence, before Jesse glanced around. "What should we do now?"
Before Jerry could answer, there were the sounds of yelling and glass smashing from the meeting room as someone was thrown into the door, head crashing through the glass window.
"BASTARD!" snarled Two-Face, pushing back against whoever had him pinned against the wall, "Let me go, I'll kill you!"
"Now, now, now Facey!" laughed the Joker, "Let's not break this friendship between us!"
"FUCKING CLOWN!"
"Language!"
Furiously, Two-Face pushed himself back, managing to get his bleeding face out of the window space. Cautiously, Jerry and Jesse made their way over to the door and, working together, managed to open it.
Peering into the room, they saw Two-Face and Joker scrambling for dominance on the floor as several other villains cheered them on. Standing near the corner of the room, Penguin and the Riddler stood together and watched the fight with sneers on their faces.
As the more sophisticated members of the criminal group, this was of very little interest to them… unless one killed the other and the power balance shifted.
Now that would have been interesting.
As Two-Face began to strike Joker in the face again, and again, and again, the clown cackled in glee, whooping even as his nose was broken.
Upon seeing the children in the doorway, Penguin waved them over, encouraging them to stand close in order to avoid being dragged into the fray.
"I'm sure I told you to wait in the warehouse…" he scolded Jerry, lightly bopping the four-year-old on his head, "… in fact, I clearly remembered saying it."
"We just wanted to see what was going on!"
Beside the Penguin, the Riddler smirked. "Curiosity killed the cat… or the small child." He then turned his attention to Jesse. "You must be Clown junior?"
Jesse nodded shyly, shuffling from side to side as the sounds of fighting increased in volume. "Yeah… what are they fighting over?"
"Who gets to the kill the Bat…. This usually happens."
"Oh…. I- "
Suddenly, Jesse felt an arm around his waist as he was pulled up into the air.
"I getta kill the Bat…" announced Joker, swinging his son around, "… because I gotta a kid! Everyone whose gotta kid, gets everything! Not that you'd understand Facey!"
The rest of the villains groaned at this.
"Just because you knocked up Harley, it doesn't mean Jesse is now your little pawn." Sighed Poison Ivy, examining her fingernails and smiling as Jesse began to struggle in excitement.
"Aunty Ivy, Aunty Ivy!" he giggled, holding out his arms towards her, despite Joker's frown, "Aunty Ivy!"
"Knock it off brat…" Joker muttered, shaking his son until Jesse finally managed to wriggle free, running over to Poison Ivy.
To the rest of the group's shock, Ivy didn't turn the muddy child away, instead, lifting the child into her arms and giving him a small smile." How have you been?" she asked, scanning the child up and down, clearly looking for signs of abuse.
Despite finding nothing obvious, she still glared at the Joker, who glared right back.
"I'm fine Aunty Ivy…" Jesse laughed, unaware of the tension, "… Daddy said he was gonna teach me how ta make bombs!"
"If you were good and stayed put brat!" snarled Joker, "Which you didn't!"
In response to this, Jesse twisted around to face his Father, making his eyes as big as possible as they filled up with tears and his bottom lip wobbled. "B-but you promised!"
Now Joker never claimed to adore his son to pieces and he certainly didn't adore Harley…. But they both shared the same puppy dog eyes technique… which Joker knew he was weak to.
Partially because of the cuteness…. And partially because he couldn't tear the eyes out of their skulls.
"Fine…" he grunted, "… we can make bombs."
As Jesse whooped in glee, Joker heard the sound of a whip behind him, causing him to spin around and glare at Catwoman.
"You're whipped honey…" she crooned, smirking at the clown, "… look at you being a good, domestic Daddy."
"BITCH!"
As the Joker leapt at the thief, Jesse turned to Ivy and frowned. "Does Daddy always do this?"
"Don't worry… you'll get used to it."
