'Til Death Do Us Part
J. M. Hooks
Please RR and I promise to try and update soon! Git-R-Done! That's right! Git-R-Done! ;-P
Chapter Four
Locations
Jester stared at the people passing beneath her as she crouched down on the top of a five story building. She was about a mile away from the murder scene and the police were after her, so Jester had to lay low, now.
'I was real smart to do that!' She thought, sarcastically.
Jester spied her quary, a man named Phil, in an alley to the right of her and she straightened up and walked over to the fire escape. Once more, she was on the ground and the sick jester leaned back against a wall as a man in a black hooded jacket stepped forward, watching her, closely.
"He escaped, Miss Jester. Fear Gas was involved, as you might already know." A man's voice said and Jester nodded, crossing her arms.
"What of his whereabouts, Phil?" Jester asked, impatiently.
"That is not known, as of yet, Miss Jester." The man replied, backing up a step.
"Then, what of Antonio?" Jester asked, getting bored rather quickly.
Phil pulled out a piece of folded yellow paper and held it out to Jester. Jester took the piece of paper between two fingers and looked at it, then, raised an eyebrow at Phil.
"He figured you would ask of his whereabouts if you could not find your quary through me." Phil said, smiling, lightly.
"We'll meet again, my friend." Jester stated and she went back up the fire escape and opened the piece of folded yellow paper.
She looked back up, a determined look crossing her face. The long ears of the coxcomb bounced a little and she was off.
The Scarecrow was dressed in his usual scarecrow garb, in an abandoned building, trying to come up with a plan and figure out where his lover may be hiding.
"She can't be with her mother after the whole 'you-stay-away-from-my-baby-girl!' thing." Scarecrow muttered to himself.
?Flashback?
Crane sat at his desk looking over one of his lover's, Jesse Henson, reports. He was smiling while he read it, word-for-word, not skipping anything.
"Her research on fear is extraodinary! She must have done this for me. Seems Jess knows exactly which buttons to push." Crane muttered, completely intrigued by the paper. "Also, it seems that I have a little competition in the fear department."
Suddenly, the door burst open and a woman with long blonde hair and flashing brown eyes came rushing in. She was holding, what looked like, a blue hardback book.
'That looks like Jess's journal.' Crane mused, then, realization hit him. 'Uh-oh!'
Crane stood when the woman stopped by his desk. He noticed Jesse run in after the woman.
"Mrs. Henson. Jesse." He greeted, pretending not to know what was going on.
"Don't you dare 'Mrs. Henson' me! I know exactly what you and Jesse have been doing!" The blonde said, showing him the book and slamming it down on the desk. "How dare you touch my little girl!" She screamed.
"Haven't you realized, Mrs. Henson, that your daughter is an adult, now?" Crane asked, matter-of-factly.
Mrs. Henson was at a loss for words at that, but she was still angry. Jesse was mouthing words to Crane behind her mother, looking upset.
"You stay away from my baby girl or I will report you and have you fired!" Mrs. Henson hissed, threateningly.
Jesse's eyes widened and she just about ran to Crane's side. Jesse's arm slipped around his waist and she glared at the woman across from them as Crane's arm draped over her shoulders.
"So be it." Mrs. Henson said, turning and walking out of the room.
As soon as the woman left the room, Jesse turned and looked at Crane and he looked down at her.
"I'm scared, Jonathan." She whispered, a tear falling down her cheek.
"Don't be, Jess. It'll be alright." Crane replied, softly, wiping the tear away with his his finger, before brushing a strand of hair from her face.
"I hope so." Jesse told him, hugging him to her, tightly.
?End Flahsback?
Scarecrow paced, growing more and more agitated the more he thought of the people who kept them apart.
"Mr. Scarecrow?" A man's voice asked, standing a distance away from The Scarecrow for fear of being gased.
It was the very same man that had spoken with Jester not long before, telling her he didn't know where Scarecrow was; Phil, I believe, was his name.
"What is it?" Scarecrow replied, harshly, stopping his pacing to look at the other man.
"Jesse Henson has been located, but. . ." Phil trailed off.
"'But', what?" Scarecrow asked, getting a little frustrated.
"She moves around too much. Jesse has never been known to stay in one place for too long, unless there's something important that she wants in that area. Considering the circumstances, she's more than likely, moved on by now, because there's not much of importance left for her here." The informant replied, quickly, and Scarecrow frowned at this.
"You meet with her as well, correct?" Scarecrow asked, coming closer to the man.
"Yes I do, sir." Phil replied, getting a little nervous.
"Get in contact with Jesse. I don't care how. Just do it! Call a meeting. Tell her it's urgent." Scarecrow said, dead-set on getting to see Jesse again.
"I'll only rest when she's in my arms once more." Scarecrow whispered, a tear sliding down his cheek under the sackcloth mask.
"Antonio, Antonio, Antonio, hasn't anyone ever told you that you keep house like a pig?" Jester asked, walking into an apartment.
A man was sitting on a couch in the middle of the room, looking over at her, smiling.
"Jester, come over here and make yourself at home." Antonio said, but Jester put a hand up.
"I'll pass. I'm here for information, not a place, or rat hole, to stay in." Jester replied, smirking as she looked around. "But it does look better than last time."
"Thanks, my deranged little clown." Antonio said and Jester smiled and bowed. "Wow, I made you, of all people, smile. A rare feature that compliments your dark beauty nicely. You should do that more often." Jester chuckled at that.
"Well, you should clean more often, but we all know that'll never happen. Anyway, seen Jonathan Crane lately?" Jester asked, leaning back against the wall.
Antonio jumped up from his spot on the couch in panic and looked at Jester with wild eyes.
"He escaped from Arkham Asylum tonight. He's going to come after you, Jester." The man said, noticeably shaking.
"You're afraid of him, aren't ya, tough guy?" Jester said in a low voice, smirking, as she came closer to the man.
"I'm not afraid to admit it. No one really is. Who could NOT be afraid of The Scarecrow?" Antonio asked, his jaw trembling. "Anyone who isn't afraid is friggin' insane!"
"I'm not afraid of him, Antonio. Actually, I'm practically in love with the man." Jester said, getting in his face, putting her fist in the air, an thwacked him withher finger. "Now, where is he!"
"I don't know." Antonio answered, slowly.
"Okay." Jester said, smiling widly. "We are going to play a little game, then. Close your eyes and count backwards from ten!" She said, pulling her pistol out and pointing it at the middle of Antonio's forehead.
Suddenly, the phone rang and Jester turned her head, sharply, to look at it. She looked back at and, then, back at the phone.
"Pick it up! That thing's gettin' on my friggin' nerves!" Jester said, gesturing toward the phone with the gun.
Antonio picked it up, slowly, and put the receiver to his ear.
"Yeah?" He said into it and there was a short pause. "I got a gun pointed at my head at the moment, Phil." Another pause. "Oh, yeah? Well, that just might get the gun out of my face." Another pause while he writes something down. "Who's pointing the gun at my face? Oh, that would be our dear friend, Jester." Another pause. "Uh-huh. Later." And he hung up at that.
Antonio, slowly, put the receiver back down and looked Jester in the eye.
"They found your lover-boy. He's at this address." Antonio said, handing Jester the piece of paper.
Jester looked at the address and, finally, lowered the gun and smirked.
"Catch ya later, Antonio." She said, putting the gun back in her outfit.
Jester left without another word.
"She should be coming over, now, Mr. Scarecrow." Phil said, back in the presence of the Master of Fear. "Antonio said that she was holding a gun to his head throughout the duration of the call."
"Sounds like my girl." Scarecrow said, smiling under his mask. "Did he say anything else about her?"
"No, but there is one thing you probably should know. She calls herself 'Jester', now." Phil replied, looking at the floor for a minute, swearing that he saw something move before.
"'Jester'? Wear a clown suit?" Scarecrow asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Sort of. Her crystal-like headdress is what makes her stand out from the rest of Gotham's villains, though, when it comes to uniform." Phil said, looking back up at The Scarecrow again.
"Crystal-like headdress, huh? Wonder what it is really made out of. Can't be real crystal." Scarecrow said, his eyes glazing over in thought.
"Mr. Scarecrow, I wouldn't get all 'touchy-feely' on her, because she's a lot more violent than she was before you became the Master of Fear." Phil said, shaking, slightly, and Scarecrow smirked.
"My little girl wouldn't dare hurt me." Scarecrow said, glaring at the man before him for talking that way about his soul-mate. "Actually, I am going to see to it that you get in on the festivities, as well." He said, growling.
"No, no, no, no!" The man screamed as Scarecrow came forward, menacingly, chuckling, when Fear Gas started to engulf Phil, starting at his feet. "NO!"