Hang on tight for this one!

Chapter Thirteen: BOOM

Nora stared straight ahead out of the windshield in front of her, silent and barely blinking. What the fuck just happened? It was like reality had been ripped out from beneath her and then came crashing back down like icy water. Then panic set in. She looked to Joker to see him concentrated on the road, speeding to weave in and out of traffic. She had just been seen in public with the Joker. What were they going to do now? It wouldn't be hard for the cops to find out who she was. And Q. Poor Q. She looked down at the blood stains on her clothes. What if he didn't live through this? Nora's panicked feelings were quickly joined by those of crushing guilt. Q and Enigma were watching her apartment for any more men Maroni might have sent. If she hadn't gotten involved, none of this would have ever happened. Q wouldn't have gotten hurt. She stared back out of the windshield with wide eyes and began to breathe in and out rapidly, each breath feeling like the air was searing her lungs.

Joker heard her hyperventilating and reached over to tap her face, "Hey, hey, heyy. No, no stop that!"

All Nora could do was let out a little squeak.

Suddenly, he turned the wheel to pull the car into a tight alley and parked it. Then he grabbed Nora's face and turned it toward his own. "HEY! Look at me!" he shouted.

Her gaze remained distant as her eyes welled up with tears.

"I sai-d, LOOK AT ME!" he barked even louder.

Nora's ears rang and her eyes promptly came to life, focused directly on his. Her breaths were becoming longer and deeper.

His tongue swiped over his lip and he said, "Remember what I told you? Hm? Don't. Fall. To pieces. You didn't back there, did you? Hm?"

She blinked and kept her eyes focused in him. "How? How am I supposed to do that?" she asked in a small voice.

"I think you know the an-swer to that one, doll face," Joker replied.

She furrowed her brow and shook her head.

Joker nodded, "Ohhh yes ya do."

She continued to stare at him.

"Loosen u-p, doc," he said, keeping his eyes on hers. "Don't for-get what you're capable of."

Nora swallowed and continued to stare into his deep brown eyes, surrounded by smudged black greasepaint. She felt hypnotized. Just like the first time he caught her in his gaze except this time she felt a calming sensation running through her. Images of everything that happened in the last twenty four hours ran through her mind. She couldn't do anything to change them now. She could only keep moving forward. She did everything she could for Q and they got him to the right place for help. Panicking did her no good.

Her cheeks burned hot and she said, "I-I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry, doll," Joker replied, letting go of her face.

Then it was incredibly silent. Nora realized that she couldn't hear sirens anymore. They had made it to an alley on the edge of the Narrows. Joker rolled down all of the windows before popping the trunk, then he opened his door and got out of the car. She climbed out to follow and saw him getting a canister of gas out of the trunk.

"Watch your step, doll face," he said, beginning to dowse the interior of the car with gasoline.

She stepped to the side and asked, "Wait, what are you doing?"

He casually tossed the canister aside and pulled a book of matches from his front pocket. "Gotta ditch the car," he said as he lit a match and flicked it through the open passenger window.

The car burst into flames in front of them and heat from the intense fire washed over Nora. She jumped back with a yell and watched the car become engulfed by the blaze in mere seconds, burning away any trace of evidence. Joker took her hand to run to the end of the alley, away from the rapidly burning car.

He took a cell phone out from another pocket and said as he dialed it, "We have to prepare for a date with our Italian friend tonigh-t."

After slipping into a car driven by one of his men, they made it back to the warehouse undetected. Joker's ability to think ahead of everyone always impressed Nora. He left them in the dust to chase after him, but they never caught up. He had already sent Nick to track down and kill the men Maroni sent to her apartment, the men that shot Q. Then he forged a message from them to Maroni that the plan was still on track. On the floor of the loading dock were the bodies of two men with their throats cut and smiles carved into their faces.

Joker stood in front of them and bent down to retrieve the handgun from one of their belts. He held it up to inspect it and said, "Put 'em in the truck," before tucking the gun into his own waistband.

His men lifted the bodies to carry them to the truck they had filled with the explosives that morning and shoved them in the front passenger's side so that they were sitting upright. Then Nora noticed another body sitting in the driver's seat. It was Matt, his pale face coated with enough dried blood that he was almost unrecognizable and his cheeks slashed to match the others. She stared at it for a moment as she scowled. They both unknowingly got involved with rival criminals and now here they were, he was dead and she was alive. But as far as she was concerned, he deserved what he got. Spineless prick.

She felt Joker's arm around her waist and she turned to look at him. He had a soft expression on his face behind the smeared make up. Her heart fluttered as she recognized the same look in his eyes that she saw last night. The look that said he cared for her. Even if it might end in heart break, she cared for him too. They stood there for a moment, silently communicating their feelings with their eyes until Nora realized that they were doing so right in front of his goons. She blinked and shifted her gaze toward the truck to see if they were watching. They certainly were. Then Joker took her chin between his thumb and forefinger to turn her face back toward his before bringing his lips to hers for a deep kiss. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning into his embrace as his mouth enveloped hers and their noses pressed together. For a kiss like that, she didn't care who saw it. Clearly, Joker didn't either.

The two of them eventually separated and Nora opened her eyes to see him grinning at her. He licked his lips before swiping his thumb over her mouth and they chuckled at the red paint left behind. Then he turned to look at his men, who were all staring at them, and raised his eyebrows. "What are you lookin' at? Hm?" he said.

They all quickly looked away and went back to work as he laughed. Nora smiled, feeling relieved. If his men already hadn't guessed what was going on between her and J, they undoubtedly knew it now. They knew and he didn't care one bit.

"C'mon, doll," said, Joker as he put his arm around her and led her into the warehouse. The day had already been an unending torrent of emotions but Nora couldn't help but feel happy. She knew he'd just done that on purpose. He wanted his men to see them. It wasn't spoken out loud, but in some way their relationship had become official. It wasn't a secret.

Once they got inside, one of his crew approached them with a phone in his hand. Nora had never seen him before, he had red hair and looked quite young. He cleared his throat and said, "Um. 'scuse me, boss. Enigma is callin'."

Joker quickly took the phone and brought it to his ear. "Enigma," he said.

He stood still for a moment, listening to the voice on the other end, with a blank look on his face. "Alright, you know what to do," he said before ending the call.

Nora looked at him, unable to hide the concern showing in her eyes. He prodded at his scars with his tongue and said, "Not surprising-lyy, Enigma is now in police custody. Q was alive when he left. Didn't take long for the, uh, boys in blue to show up."

"What do we do?" she asked. She wanted to know how Q was doing so badly but there was no way of knowing.

"Mmm well Enigma won't talk, he'll buy us some time. Can't have mister Maroni missing out on our date! In fac-t, it'll serve as an excellent, uh, distraction," Joker replied.

Nora wished he would just tell her what he was thinking but she figured he was just making it up as he went along. "Distraction for what?" she asked him.

He grinned and answered, "Nothin' like a good old fashioned jail break, doll."

"Citizens outside of Gotham General Hospital were shocked by a surprise visit by none other than the Joker to the emergency department late this morning. About a dozen witnesses report seeing the criminal carrying an unknown wounded man from a car he arrived in with the help of another man, identified as Randal Eden, who has been incarcerated in the past on drug possession charges. Eden has been since taken into Gotham PD custody for questioning and the condition of the unknown man has not been disclosed. If that wasn't alarming enough, the men were also joined by a woman. The Joker and the woman escaped the scene in the same car they arrived in and police are still searching for the vehicle. The identity of the woman has not yet been discovered and it is unclear whether her participation was voluntary. If you recognize this woman, please call the tip line listed at the bottom of your screen," a news reporter's voice echoed from the old television as a blurry picture of Nora from the hospital security camera came up on the screen.

Nora sighed and closed her eyes. This just kept getting more complicated. Someone she knew was bound to recognize her. The interesting thing about Joker was that it really didn't seem to bother him at all. If anything, it excited him. One more puzzle for him to solve and as a bonus, he got to stir things up. She couldn't stop coming up with scenarios where everything went wrong. But she had to be optimistic. He's gotten out of worse situations. Gotta loosen up.

The sun was getting lower in the sky as they prepared for the first phase of the plan they had spent the afternoon devising. Nora, Joker, and a handful of his men stood around one of the round tables inside the warehouse while Joker scribbled out a rough map and timeline on the table's surface.

"The truck detonates at one minute to nine. The cops should make it there in rough-ly seven minutes, stay clear until I tell you, then cause as much mayhem as you can," said Joker. "Leave Mar-oni to make a break for it, we'll uh pay him another visit soon."

Dome nodded and said with a grin, "No problem, boss." He still had the staples in his forehead, Nora could see that the gash she repaired was healing nicely as he leaned forward.

Joker giggled and continued, "They'll send as many squad cars as they can along with a SWAT unit and probably Gordon for an explosion like that. Dome and his team will keep 'em busy. With MCU near-ly abandoned, we'll spring Enigma and uh deal with whatever rookie is left there with the help of the love-ly doctor." The group turned to look at Nora and she couldn't help but crack a smile.

Everyone knew their part, the group left the table to round up the crew and get the volatile truck ready for its debut. Nora headed for the side door where a car waited to take her to the clinic to retrieve supplies she needed for her part in the plan. She squared her shoulders and walked with her gaze straight ahead. She felt different. Not in a bad way, though. Confident and determined. Like no one could stop her. Joker met her at the door and held something out for her to take. It was the first gun she shot the day before.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

He licked his lip and nodded, "Safety is on, its loaded." He had a serious look on his face.

Nora nodded back and took it. Then she kissed him on the cheek and stepped out the door. She grinned to herself, she swore she saw a little smirk form on his face.

Nick was driving this time. Nora insisted that Joker didn't drive her to the clinic at the risk of being seen again. Surprisingly, he agreed. He stayed at the warehouse to prep the explosives and watch over everything. She sat in the passenger seat, looking at the gun in her hand. It still felt a bit foreign to her, but she was beginning to like it.

"Looks like boss treats ya right," said Nick. "And thanks for fixing up my leg, by the way. I only limp a little bit."

Nora's trance was broken by the sound of his voice and she replied, "Oh! Um, yeah he does. He really does. I, um, I'm glad I could help. With your leg, I mean."

Nick chuckled and said, "Well it didn't fall off so you know what you're doin', doc!"

The two laughed together before he parked the car a block down the street from the clinic. "Alright, I'll be waiting here with the engine runnin'. Call me if you run into trouble, yeah?" he said.

She nodded and tucked the gun into the waistband of her jeans before climbing out of the car. Then she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head as she walked toward the brick building. The clinic closed for cleaning a half hour ago, she hoped she had timed it right so that the building would be empty, the staff should have left and the cleaning crew shouldn't be there yet. She approached the side door and carefully put her key in the lock. Then she took a deep breath before turning it and opened the door.

The lights were off, that was a good sign. She waited for a moment and listened. It was silent so she cautiously entered the treatment room. She didn't want to turn on the lights just in case so she took the cell phone Joker gave her out of her pocket and turned on its flashlight. Ok, get the drugs and get out. Nora approached her desk and reached for her lock box. Then the lights turned on.

"Dr. Hawthorne?"

It was Jen. She was standing in the doorway from the lobby, staring wide-eyed at Nora with her hand at her chest, like she'd seen a ghost.

Nora quickly put the cell phone back in her pocket and stared back, her heart racing. "Hi Jen," she said.

"What are you doing here? I saw you on the news! I just called the tip line! Are you ok?" Jen babbled.

Fuck. Of course she did. Nora almost cursed under her breath before responding, "Yes, I'm ok. I really don't have time to explain though. I just need to get some things from my desk."

Jen furrowed her brow. "You what? No. What's going on? I just saw you on tv with the damn Joker!" she shouted.

"Please just stay out of this," Nora replied, shaking her head slowly.

"Did he threaten you? Or hurt you? Is that actually how you got that bruise?" she continued to yell.

Nora answered as calmly as she could, "Look, if you want me to be safe, you'll stay out of it. Don't call the cops, don't tell anyone. I'm serious, ok?" Standing there in front of Jen was starting to make her skin crawl and her head buzz with anxiety.

Jen's face reflected a mixture of confusion and anger before she shouted, "I can't let you leave!"

Nora lost her patience and reached for the gun at her waist. She turned off the safety, pointed it up at the ceiling light, and pulled the trigger.

*Bang!*

Glass rained down from the ceiling and Nora grabbed her lock box before running toward the door as Jen shielded herself from the falling shards. Her ears rang and she panted as she continued to run down the block. She flung the car door open and jumped in.

"Go go go!" she yelled to Nick, as he stepped on the gas.

"Jesus! What happened?" he asked, looking at the little pieces of glass on her sweatshirt.

Nora laid her head back and caught her breath, "Someone was there. One of the staff. She saw me," she huffed.

Nick sighed out of his nose and asked, "You know her name?"

She thought for a moment before answering, "I don't want her hurt." Jen might be annoying but she didn't deserve to get mixed up with this.

He nodded and said, "Ok, she won't be. I promise."

"What are you gonna do?" Nora asked, tossing her hood off of her head.

"Oh I'm gonna bribe her," he said with a smirk.

They pulled up to the warehouse and Joker was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. Nora smiled when she saw him waiting for her. She got out of the car with her lock box in her hand and took long strides toward him. He grinned excitedly and flung his arms around her middle to pick her up and spin her around.

"Haa ha ha! And she returns victorious!" he laughed.

She giggled uncontrollably as he sprinted inside with her still squeezed in his arms. He set her down once they reached the table scrawled with plans and said with a smile, "Alright doc, show me what ya got!"

Nora's giggles died down and she unlocked the metal box to reveal a collection of glass vials of various sizes, then she picked up a small clear one with a green label. "Well, I figured I'd use Midazolam. It causes heavy sedation with anterograde amnesia so they won't remember the injection or anything after it for at least twenty minutes. Ten milligrams of this into the thigh muscle and lights out," she said.

Joker laughed loudly before putting his hands on her cheeks and he said, "You! You are brilliant, doll."

She grinned back at him and replied softly, "Thanks, J."

Dome called to them from the back of the warehouse, "K, boss! We're ready!"

Nora looked at the clock. 8:13 pm.

"Time to send a message," said Joker.

She matched his devious smile and nodded.

They walked out onto the loading dock to meet a group of over twenty men wearing various clown masks and loaded up with weapons. The truck full of explosives had been loaded onto a tow truck with a tarp stretched over the windshield to hide the bodies inside. Six old cars also waited there, ready to carry the group of criminals to the location of intended chaos. Nora would be lying if she said the sight didn't make her feel nervous. But standing there next to Joker looking down at it all, that made her excited.

Joker's lips pulled into a crooked smile before he addressed the crew, "Let's go, boys."

Such a simple statement sent the crowd of men into shouts of delight as Joker turned to Nora and led her down the stairs to one of the awaiting cars. The sun had just made it below the horizon, casting deep blue light over Gotham as the night closed in. Nora and Joker sat in the back seat of one of the cars where she bounced her leg anxiously.

He put his hand on her knee and said, "No need to be nervous, doll."

She sighed a little and replied, "I know. I can't help it though."

"Mmm well maybe this'll help," he said in a deep voice before brushing her hair to the side and bringing his lips to the skin at the base of her neck.

Her eyes closed as tingles ran down her spine and into her core. She gasped quietly and breathed deeply as he gently made his way up her neck. He let go just below her ear and Nora felt her muscles relax as she sank into the seat beneath her.

He popped his lips and asked, "Better?"

She chuckled softly and blinked her eyes open. "Better," she answered.

The car stopped in front of a large building on the west side of the Narrows. "Gotham Freight Shipping" was painted in large letters on the sign in front. It wasn't a busy street but a few nearby businesses and apartment buildings were occupied. The street lights on all sides of the building had been disabled, leaving the building hidden in shadow. Dome and his group pulled the tow truck inside after cutting the bolts on the sliding doors while Joker, Nora, and Nick entered the abandoned office building across the street and behind a large dirt lot, headed for the roof.

Dome's voice came over the static on the radio Joker held in his hand as they climbed the stairs, "Detonator's in place, we're taking our positions."

"Ahhh, excellen-t," he growled back into the radio.

The three of them made it to the roof and Joker approached the edge where a pile of sandbags had been placed. He flopped down on his belly to prop himself up on his elbows and looked out toward the freight building through a pair of binoculars. Nora giggled and followed him to make herself comfortable next to him. Nick stood guard at the door to the roof with a rifle in his hands. Joker handed Nora the binoculars and she lifted them to her eyes to see the tow truck leaving as the crew in clown masks exited the old cars that were parked along both sides of the street, in a surprisingly choreographed manner, before they scattered into alleys and behind neighboring buildings.

"Al-most show tiiime," Joker rumbled as she watched through the lenses.

Seconds later, she heard the sound of cars coming down the road. Right on time, 8:50 pm. Two black SUVs pulled up to the freight building and almost a dozen men in back jackets stepped out, talking to each other outside.

A voice over the radio said, "They wonderin' where Matt is with the doc."

"Give it time," Joker replied, looking through the binoculars.

He waited and watched until they entered the building. Once the door closed, he lifted the radio back to his lips and said, "Bolt 'em in."

A few members of Joker's crew came out of the shadows and silently secured thick beams of rebar in place over the exits as well as lines of sandbags along the bottom of the garage door to weigh it down as Joker and Nora continued watching from their vantage point, with anticipation growing.

The men inside chatted loudly and lit cigarettes while they waited for their boss to arrive. Until one of them finally looked over at the trucked parked by the door. He froze and stood staring at the bodies of his fellow gang members slumped against each other in the front seat with smiles sliced into their cheeks. The rest of the men saw him staring and looked over as well. Spray painted on the hood of the truck in red letters was, "BOOM!" along with a large smiley face. They panicked and ran for the door but were unable to open it. Some of them tried other exits and attempted to operate the garage door but nothing budged. With nothing else to do, they started beating on the doors with their fists. One of the men called Maroni, screaming into the phone to tell him what was happening. 8:58 pm.

The sound of the banging rang out across the street and Joker pulled out a small rectangular device from his pocket. It was yellow and the metal surface had been so scratched up that a warning label was barely legible. At the top were two switches, one labeled "CHARGE" and the other, "DETONATE". He brought the device up between them and flicked the charge switch. A red light blinked on. Nora's heart began to pound in her chest and a smile creeped its way onto her face.

"Take cover, gentlemen!" he laughed into the radio.

Then he placed Nora's thumb on the detonator switch, next to his own and she grinned back at him, biting her lip.

They looked out toward the building in front of them and Joker growled in a deep voice, "Boom," before they pressed the switch.

It was like an earthquake. The shockwave vibrated every bone in Nora's body and her ears echoed with the sound of the blast. The ground shook and glass had blown out from windows down the block. A plume of smoke bellowed out from the half demolished building as flames began to consume it. With adrenaline pumping through her veins, Nora got to her feet to watch what was left of the building burn with incredible intensity as she caught her breath. Joker stood watching the blaze with a smug look of satisfaction before taking Nora's face in his hands and pulling her in to eagerly bring her lips to his. The two then stood in front of the massive cloud of smoke wrapped in a passionate kiss as debris rained down around them. On the street below, a black town car pulled up and Sal Maroni stepped out, staring slack jawed at the destruction in front of him.

Joker parted his lips from Nora's and they grinned as he touched his forehead to hers. "Ready, my dear?" he asked.

She looked him in the eyes and nodded before he said into the radio, "Alll clear."

Then he handed Nora the radio and she smirked, holding it up to speak into it. "Fuck the place up, boys!" she yelled.

A roar of shouts and whistles resonated from the alleys and buildings as a swarm of clown masked men ran through the street. They began to set their cars ablaze and smashing things with crowbars as the building continued to burn. People came rushing from down the street to see what had happened only to turn and run back as sirens went off in the distance.

Joker cackled and Nora looked with astonishment at the bedlam below. She'd never seen anything like it. Her hands prickled and it felt like all of her senses were heightened. It was only a moment until she was laughing too. Then he grabbed her hand and they ran for the door as they continued to laugh. Out on the street, a surreal feeling came over Nora as Joker led her through the haze of firing guns and smoke bombs with an implicit immunity as men continued to cause mayhem around them. Through the smoke, she could see Maroni's town car speeding away. Then the car they had hidden in an alley came into view. They quickly climbed in and Nick took off down the road toward Gotham PD's MCU.

Song for this chapter: Ghosts 'n' Stuff by Deadmau5

Woohooo! All hell is breaking loose, y'all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Comments are always welcome! Let me know what you think :)