Geeze, when it rains it pours! I pumped this one out in about an hour, which is why it's so short. i almost cried when I wrote this one and then I remembered it's only a fic, and a bad fic at that! So, maybe a little sappy, but not as bad as the last chapter. And I'm proud of how I captured the conversations between Alfred and Bruce. Other than that...
Pirate Gyrl: well, I'm glad you like the "good kind of sappy." Carm's past is being revealed in small hints, I never intend to falt out tell her story. However, if I finish this fic, I might add a bonus chapter about Carm's worst day ever.
Savitri: Umm, what does my last chapter of my VH fic being sappy have to do with this one?
Nightshade0020: Tell your aunt I said congrats. Glad you like those frustraiting cliff hangers, even though I didn't think I was using them. Waiting for my fic? I feel special!
Maid of the Mer: Hah! So you CAN type more than Cool. Muffin! Update soon. Maid of the Mer I knew it!

Now, here comes my twist! Can you handle it?

Devastation

K.C. paused, unsure if she'd heard her cell phone go off. Muttering a curse, she sprinted back to her room, leaving her latest boyfriend elbow deep in shaving cream. Panting she answered her phone, unaware that shaving cream can damage electronics. "Hello?"

"K.C.? This is Jack."

K.C. froze. "Jack? As in Jack Napier? As in the Jack Napier who fell into a vat of chemical waste?"

He just laughed. "Yes, the same one."

"Why aren't you dead?" K.C. was too shocked for manners.

Laughter again. "Guess they just don't make chemical waste like they used to, baby." Why was he being nice? He hated her. "So, you haven't been coming to work lately."

Uh-oh, that's what he wanted. "Valintino's dead. I assumed that I was out of a job."

"No, of course not, but you will be if you don't show up tomorrow!" Click, and the conversation was over.

K.C. paused, took a deep breath, and shouted, "CARMINE ANGELA ALEXANDRIA ZORRA LORDLY!" A few seconds later Carm came skidding into the room, still in a bathrobe with soap running down her legs.

"What? Why'd you call me from the shower? No bleeding wounds, not leaking bodily fluids, and you're skull isn't smashed in; at least not yet."

K.C. took another deep breath. "JackNapierisn'tdeadandhewasntsmetocometoworkandIbethewantsmedeadandthiscan'tbegoodandon'tknowwhatthismeansHELPME!"

Sadly, Carm understood the whole thing. "WHAT? WHY ISN'T HE DEAD?"

K.C. just shook her head. "I don't know. What do I do? He'll kill me, I know he will."

Carm paced back and forth. Finally she said, "You'll go to work, and I'll come with. If anything happens, you'll be okay." Carm put her hand on K.C.'s shoulder in a rare show affection. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

After twelve solid hours of tracking the Joker and then studying any clues he could, Bruce's head hurt. He could have beaten his cranium against a wall and gotten better results than he had procured. Ever a savior, Alfred came in with an aspirin and a glass of water.

Bruce flopped on floor. "It's no good, Alfred, he just hasn't left me enough of a trail. I don't know anything about him or what he's going to do next."

Alfred pulled Bruce's cell phone from a shelf. "But I know someone who does, Master Wayne. Listen to this."

Alfred pressed several buttons and K.C.'s voice came into Bruce's ear. "Bruce? This K.C. Listen, I know that you're after the Joker right now, and I don't know if this will do you any good, but I think you should know anyway. Jack Napier, the one who fell into the vat several nights ago, survived. He's taken control of Valintino's gang, and I'm guessing he was the one who dispatched Gerodi and his brother. Oh, Carm doesn't know I called you, so only tell her if you have to. Or if I don't survive." The was a click and the message was done.

Bruce leaped up to the computer and began typing rapidly. Alfred watched before asking, "So what do you make of that message."

Not looking away from the screen, Bruce replied, "I think that the Joker and Napier are connected somehow, but I'm not sure." He paused. "What did she mean, 'if I don't survive?'"

"I don't know. There's several possibilities. Napier could dislike her and seek her out for the purpose of her murder, he could dislike Miss Lordly and she might be collateral damage, she might be unsure of her position in the gang, or she might be afraid that Miss Lordly's alter ego will bring in retaliation from Napier."

Bruce nodded. "All of which are very possible. I suppose I could trail Carm…"

Alfred shook his head. "Miss Lordly is not the one you should be worried about, Master Wayne. As she has demonstrated before, she can look after herself. It's is Miss K.C. you should be worried about. Besides, if I may comment on your personal life, further irritating Miss Lordly with unnecessary surveillance is not the best way of winning her forgiveness."

Bruce paused in his typing. "I don't think Carm is likely to forgive me anytime soon, Alfred."

"If I may ask, sir, what did you do to set off Miss Lordly?"

"Scared her. She's never told me how, but she was… emotionally traumatized in the past, and the potential for being hurt again may have made her look for a reason to push away. Batman was all the reason she needed." Bruce fingered the ring box in his pocket. He should return it, or at least put it away, but he couldn't.

K.C. fingered the gun in her pocket. "This won't work, Carm."

"Stop being such a doomster, we're not wanting anything to work, we're just… enforcing our own protection." Carm pulled in, and walked through the front door with such a menacing look at the doorman that he neglected to frisk them.

"Carmine! I was hoping you'd come!" Something came striding toward them. It was human in shape, but the face was all wrong. It was pasty white and twisted. Seriously twisted.

K.C. gasped, but Carm just laughed. Surprisingly, Jack joined her. When she'd mastered her giggles she gasped, "Joker, huh? Well, you certainly look the part." She warmly shook his hand. "Long time no see, Jack."

"Please, I prefer Joker now. I'm glad you came, I've got a new job for you." He motioned towards the Gardening room. K.C. looked pleadingly at Carm, but her friend had no choice.

She mouthed, "I'll be right back," and left.

K.C. was having difficulty breathing when the Joker began to talk. "Like my facelift?"

"You ought to sue," snarled K.C.

"Jealous, you say? You want one to match, you say? Not a problem." The last thing K.C. saw was a stream of yellow liquid rushing toward her.

"I've sunk so low," Carm muttered as she clamored into the Batcave. She should've been doing something else, but everything else reminded her of K.C. Burning her flesh? No, K.C. always dressed the burns. Wrecking the apartment? No, K.C. always cleaned up. So instead she scuffed her knees as she climbed, trying to stifle the gasps.

He wasn't there when she finally reached her destination, but the Batmobile was gone, and he'd have to come back eventually. After an hour or so she heard a roar and several bright lights lit up the cave. The doors of the Batmobile opened and Batman stuck his head out.

He pulled off the cowl, locked the Batmobile, and was tugging off his gauntlets before he heard her sobbing. He froze and looked around. "Carm? What-? What's wrong?"

Carm just shook her head and didn't try to pulled back when he wrapped her in a warm embrace. He detached long enough to pull off the Batsuit and then gentle lifted her up and carried her shaking form to the library. She seemed to have forgotten that she hated him and buried her head in his shoulder and cried. He just let her, selfishly thinking how good she felt, even the growing wet spot on her shoulder.

Finally the waterworks ran out and she pulled back. Alfred, who by that time had come up with a blanket and mug of something warm, handed her the drink. Gratefully she sipped and pulled the blanket closer.

"She's gone," Carm whispered, "and it's all my fault. I shouldn't have made her go, I should have let her stay. But now she's gone."

Bruce pulled her close again. "K.C. told me about Napier. Is he the one who killed her."

Carm sipped her drink. "No, he's not Napier anymore. He's the Joker."

Tenderness momentarily put on hold Bruce asked, "What happened."

Alfred gave Bruce a warning look, but Carm began talking immediately. "The Joker wanted her to come to work, so I went with her. When we got there he met us at the door, and I could tell K.C. was terrified. He's different now, he's albino white, his hair is green, and that smile… His face his so twisted, he can't stop smiling. Well, he said he had a job for me, and I didn't want to leave her but I had to, or it'd look suspicious. Well, when I got down to the room he had a bunch of thugs waiting. I guess they were suppose to kill me to, and I knew that I'd made a terrible mistake. I got as soon as I could, but I was too late. When I ran back up to where I left them, he was just watching her die. She… she looked like him, all pasty and her face was all twisted into a grimace. She was dead by the time I got to the body, it's a big hall. I would have killed him with my own bare hands, but he had too many guards. They would have killed me if the Joker had told them to, but they just threw me out in the street and then I came here." She looked up, a fire in her eyes. "I want him to pay, Bruce, I want him to suffer, and I'll do anything to make sure he never sees sunlight again."

Bruce nodded. "Of course, we'll do our best."

Regaining her sense of reality after telling her story Carm asked, "We?"

"Me, Alfred, -" She sat bolt upright, glaring. He just held up a hand. "- and you."

She leaned back against him as Alfred left the room with her empty mug. "Thank you, Bruce."

He whispered into her hair, "Do you still hate me?" But she was fast asleep.

So, does she still hate him? Are you SURE? And for my own benift, tell me how you think the story ends! REVIEW OR SUFFER THE WRATH OF MY GIRAFFE! oh, rhyme!