"Mornin', sunshine."
Claire strained to open her eyes against a throbbing headache when she finally came to enough to register the sound of a voice - a strange voice, almost cartoonish in its tone in that it had a misplaced, deranged lilt of laughter behind it. It took only moments for her to realize who this voice belonged to, even before she opened her eyes.
Next, she realized that she was seated in a chair, her wrists bound by rope.
Rope.
She realized that this meant her captors were unaware of her ability to get free - and the element of surprise was a valuable commodity, a card she would keep up her sleeve until it would be of most use. Instead of freeing herself, she finally forced her eyes open and looked up into the unsettling grin of the one they called the Joker.
"How did I get here?" she asked automatically. She quickly realized, however, that if they'd meant to kill her, it would've been done by now. That ruled out one motive. "Where am I? Where is-"
"Is it storytime?" the clown said with an almost shrill chuckle, grabbing hold of another chair and turning it around backwards so that he sat in front of Claire, straddling the back of the seat. "I love storytime. Once upon a time," he began, leaning over so that his face was dangerously near hers. "There was a prince. The Clown Prince of Crime, they called him. And the Prince had a friendly rivalry with a certain... Dark Knight."
He shifted quickly and slapped his hands down on the back of the chair and swiped it aside erratically, sliding it aside and starting to pace back and forth in front of Claire, tapping his chin in exaggerated thought. "This friendly rivalry brought balance to the kingdom of Gotham until one day, a wealthy baron from the neighboring kingdom of Metropolis decided to meddle in affairs that weren't his to meddle in. And this Richie Rich baron from Metropolis always sent his precocious yet very mousy little baroness-" he made a dramatic gesture in Claire's direction, "- to do his dirty work for him. Well, here's the thing about mice, sweetheart."
The Joker stopped pacing and stopped square in front of Claire and leaned over her, bracing his weight on either side of the chair back behind her. "They get caught in traps. So, here we are."
Claire was spared the obligation to somehow respond by the sound of clapping drawing nearer and the sight of a woman with blonde, dip-dyed pigtails and a painted face drawing nearer. "You tell the best stories, puddin'," she laughed, meandering over and wrapping her arms around the man's waist, nuzzling into the side of his neck.
"Harley Quinn," she said with a wide, toothy grin. "Nice to meetcha."
"So what am I here for?" Claire asked, shifting her bound wrists and very gently testing the strength of the rope - she could get free easily, she surmised, and just needed the right opening.
"I need a message delivered to your little boyfriend," the Joker said. "I've tried doing it myself but..." his voice trailed off and he chuckled dryly. "You know how men can be. I have a feeling you can be much more convincing."
"I'm not in a position to tell him to do much of anything," Claire replied flatly, unblinking and unhesitating. Her pair of captors studied her for a moment before the Joker clicked his tongue, stepping away from his companion to circle Claire's chair again.
"Am I sensing a little trouble in paradise?" he asked with feigned pity. "I shouldn't be surprised. You've been missing in action for quite some time. How about you tell Mista J just what's the matter?"
Claire looked away without an answer, only to find her head yanked back by the hair by the woman, who gave a shrill laugh of her own. "Oh, come on!" she said, leaning her face close to Claire's. "You're no fun!"
"I've got nothin'."
"Oh, really?" he said, leaning close to Claire's face while Harley backed off and continued to pull her head back. "You don't have the dirt on that fun little kitchen appliance your boyfriend's been collecting parts for?"
No, Claire wanted to snarl. She didn't know anything anymore - even if a part of her felt that she should know what was happening, even that maybe she had a right to know, she knew nothing and it ate away at her whether she wanted to say so or not. She did, however, make a mental note to remember that Lex was collecting parts for something.
"If you're trying to get anything out of Lex Luthor, it won't be through me," Claire continued, clenching her teeth in pain - the self control it took not to use her abilities was growing by the second, but the need to be strategic about her secret prevailed. "That ship has sailed."
Upon hearing this, the woman released her hold on Claire's hair - the sudden release caused Claire's head to briefly to droop forward before she recovered and looked up at her captors. The man, however, looked at her with an exaggerated pout of a frown.
"Am I sensing trouble in paradise?" he said, leaning over again to hover over Claire. "Sounds like the little lady needs a shoulder to cry on. How about you tell Mistah J all about it?"
"Nothing to tell."
"Well, in that case," the Joker said, straightening up and briefly turning his back on Claire. He took a few paces before suddenly turning around and brandishing a gun, pointing it straight at Claire's forehead.
Reflexively, Claire immediately dropped her pretense of actually being restrained, pulling her arms free and flinging the chair in defense, so hard that it lodged itself high up in the wall where it made impact. The Joker, in turn, had also pulled the trigger, only to reveal that instead of a bullet firing, it extended a small flag emblazoned with the word 'bang!'
At the sight of what Claire had been able to do, however, his eyebrows leapt in surprise, as did Harley's who moved over to stand by the Joker's side.
"Hey, puddin'," Harley said, again slinging an arm over the Joker's shoulder. "I think we found ourselves a collector's item."
"I think so too," the Joker chuckled. "What say we keep this one somewhere safe?"
"'Fraid the lady's got work tomorrow," a voice spoke up, and in a bright red blur, both Harley and the Joker were knocked backwards and dragged across the room. Instead, Barry Allen stood in front of Claire, clad in his red suit, a mask, and a smug grin. "Sorry it took so long, buddy. Didn't know where you wandered off to."
"Not so fast," the Joker snarled.
"'Fraid 'not so fast' is... not in my vocabulary," Barry said with a lazy salute. "Get it? Because - because I'm the Flash -"
"Ruining the joke," Claire interrupted in a sing-song voice. "Can we move things along?"
"Right!" Barry spoke up. "Got distracted! Time to take out the trash - Mister Wayne sends his love! You'll have to catch up sometime."
And in another whirl of scarlet, a long, snaking wire was yanked from the wall and used to bind both Harley and the Joker tightly enough to render them temporarily incapacitated.
Instead of being angry, however, the Joker threw his head back and laughed. "Well played," he howled. "Until next time."
"Give Batsy our love, wouldja?" Harley added with a broad grin. It was clear that they didn't plan on staying trapped long and had simply grown bored.
"I think," Claire said as she and Barry made their way out of the building, "He was seriously just playing games this time." Everyone knew, after all, that the Joker and Harley Quinn were capable of much, much worse than what had just happened. Once they had gotten outside, Barry led Claire around the back of the unfamiliar condemned building they'd exited, off to an alley on the side where, like clockwork, the telltale black vehicle pulled up, barely visible except for its headlights. Judging by the darkness outside, it was still the wee hours of the morning with no one to see them.
"Our chariot, milady," Barry said with a bow, jokingly reaching over and pulling open the door for her. Once they had both gotten into the back and shut the doors behind them, Barry pulled the mask down from his head and revealed his face, beaming broadly. "That was fun, Mister Wayne. You missed out."
"I think he's had his fill of dealing with that guy," Claire piped in matter-of-factly before reaching over and patting the back of the driver's seat where Bruce Wayne, dressed and ready as the Bat with the cowl over his head, was seated. "Thanks for the lift, Mister Wayne. Took you guys long enough."
"I've been dealing with the Joker long enough to know when he means business and when he's just in it for a laugh," Bruce supplied shortly, which made Claire bristle slightly, though she thought better than to address it at this point in time. "Did you expect something good to come of running off with Lex Luthor this time around?"
"He needed my help."
"Old habits die hard," Bruce shrugged. It was no use, he had surmised a good while ago, trying to disentangle Claire Branigan from Lex Luthor's grasp. Even when she was their ally, even when she was their friend, there was no severing certain ties. Claire crossed her arms over herself and leaned back in her seat. Her expression shifted, however, when Bruce reached into the center console and tossed something in Claire's direction - nearly missing, she caught the silver key that he'd thrown back over his shoulder. "Figured you'd need a spare, unless you had the presence of mind to hold onto your car keys while you were unconscious."
Claire grudgingly mumbled her thanks, tucking the key into her pocket. She glanced outside, and realized they were on their way towards LexCorp, where she had left her car. "Do what you need to do," he said as he pulled up in an alleyway parallel to LexCorp's headquarters. Claire's jaw clenched slightly before speaking up. "Thanks," she said, managing a little more enthusiasm than before. "To you too, Barry."
"No worries," Barry grinned. "Least I could do, considering I just finished the pizza in your fridge.
"Nice. I truly value your friendship, Barry. Truly."
Claire chuckled and shook her head as she got out of the car, checking her surroundings before running off to the her car and sitting inside, alone. It was now, before starting the engine, that she let out a heavy breath and rested her head against the top of the steering wheel. Do what you need to do, Bruce had said. He'd known that she was going to look for Lex now, that she was going to seek him out, and he let it happen. Claire had to admit that something had changed - that maybe she had now earned the respect of the Bat.
That did not change the fact, however, that she had put herself in danger for Lex Luthor, and when the time came that she needed help, he had been nowhere to be found. While Claire couldn't say that it surprised her, she also couldn't say that it didn't disappoint her a little bit. She found herself driving much more quickly than she needed to down the streets of Metropolis, up the winding hillside road to Luthor mansion. She didn't give a damn that it was now only two in the morning. She didn't care what state she found him in. She wanted an explanation.
Her tires skidded to a halt in the ornate driveway of the mansion, only to find another unfamiliar car already parked there. A gaudy white Rolls Royce, decked out with custom gold trim. Claire's jaw clenched when she realized that it was very likely that this car belonged to a woman. Getting out of her car, she stormed towards the front door, which was slightly ajar, and walked to the foyer, waiting just around the corner from the receiving room, out of sight but just barely able to see Lex sitting in the armchair, a blonde-haired woman with a cheetah-printed dress sitting on the arm with her forearm draped over his shoulders.
"So it's done then?" Lex asked the woman. If they had noticed Claire's arrival neither of them acknowledged it. The woman traced the manicured tip of her index finger over Lex's chest and grinned.
"A done deal, Mister Luthor. It's just a matter of time before Miss Prince gets what's coming to her."
"And I suppose this... pleases you?" Lex asked with a wry smirk, tilting his head to one side.
"Absolutely, Mister Luthor. You never fail to please."
"Well, then, Miss Rich - the pleasure is all mine."
Claire found her stomach lurching when the woman began leaning closer to Lex, slowly but very intently, touching the tip of her finger to his cheek. At the last possible second, just before Claire was about to look away at the risk of getting sick to her stomach, Lex stood up from his seat and extricated himself from the near-kiss, instead wrapping an arm around the woman's waist and beginning to lead her to the door - towards the foyer. It had all happened so quickly that Claire did not have time to hide.
Lex, for a split second, wore an unreadable expression of surprise before regaining his composure, gently pushing the woman towards the door.
"All yours, dear," the blonde woman said with a saccharine, artificial grin, reaching over and patting Claire's cheek condescendingly. "I'm finished with him for now."
The woman, Miss Rich as Lex had called her, strolled off with a dainty wave of her fingers out the door, driving away with a rev of her engine. Claire watched her leave, initially unable to even look at Lex until he broke the silence first.
"What a surprise, Claire," he chuckled. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company at -" he gave a flick of his wrist and checked his Rolex watch, "- two-thirty-seven in the morning?
"I went in there for you, and you sat back here and did nothing," Claire said in a voice that was uncharacteristically shrill, flinging her arms out to her sides. Lex, however, simply shrugged nonchalantly in response.
"I know you have friends in high places these days. What can I say?" Lex replied. "I have important things to address -"
"Important things named Miss Rich with her tits pushed up to her chin?" Claire supplied before she could help herself, immediately going red in the face as she realized she had made herself very obvious indeed. Lex, never one to give up the upper hand, took a few steps closer and reached forward, brushing a hand through Claire's hair which she quickly swatted away in annoyance. Lex smirked, tucking his hand into his pocket.
"Priscilla and I are all business... but what business is that of yours?" he asked, cocking his head to one side. He circled her a little bit, and even when he was behind her, he could tell she was clenching her teeth in frustration. "It kills you, doesn't it?" he asked, looking up as he took a few more steps so that he stood indirectly in front of her again. "Just say the word, and I can put you right back in your rightful place, Claire. It doesn't need to be difficult."
"Yeah, Lex, it kinda does," Claire said with a huff, crossing her arms over herself. "Everything that's happening now is bigger than us."
And Claire, in typical Claire fashion, stormed off out the door before she could allow herself to be convinced otherwise. As she let the front door close behind her, Lex allowed his shoulders to slump slightly, settling down back into the armchair and fishing back into his pocket for an object the size of a small bead with short legs almost like a spider - he inwardly congratulated himself for having found the opening to pluck it out of Claire's hair during their brief conversation. He'd managed to tuck the miniature tracking device into the depths of her brown locks tucked back into a ponytail the night at the gala, and he took silent pride in the fact that Bruce Wayne and his band of merry misfits would likely have never tracked Claire down in time without him tipping them off as to her whereabouts.
It was, perhaps, an important detail - but allowing it to evade Claire's knowledge made the game all the more fun. He would get her back into her rightful place in time, but he would do it on his terms, and in the way he found the most amusing.
Now, however, there were indeed important details to attend to, and they did indeed have to do with Priscilla Rich. Making sure that Claire had in fact left the property altogether, he turned and headed into the sub-level control center in Luthor Mansion. Lex Luthor had been keeping tabs on Diana Prince for a few years now, and thanks to the ever so willing help of Priscilla Rich in bringing down the person whom she loathed more than any other, Lex knew that he was finally close to taking down one of these so-called heroes - to restoring the proper order of things, and to ridding their city of one of its newly acquired false gods. He had to be.
A/N
Yes, I know that after Justice League has come out, this whole thing is technically AU, but I hope you all continue to stick with me! It's still a struggle for me to carve out time for my writing, but I am slowly and surely getting better at doing that. I want to thank everyone for reviewing, checking in on me, and keeping me on task. I especially want to say a special thank you to Aurora Nightstar, for always reaching out to me! I know I am awful at replying to messages sometimes, but I hope you all know that I read each and every single one and think of all of you when I'm writing.
In the next chapter, we see what shenanigans Miss Rich has up her sleeve for Diana, and Barry gets a visitor from Central City while crashing at Claire's condo. Until next time, cheers!