Chapter 8
"Move on over baby, fifteen's over-rated
It's getting kinda crazy
I can see the future and I'mma tell ya honestly
There's no loyals when you're fronting like royalty"
Royalty - Alexi Blue
There was a new rumor circulating in Gotham's underworld, and this one revolved about nothing less than the Joker. It had spread like wildfire over the last months, and everyone who were said to have found out what it was all about, had been found dead.
Gambol, high-ranked mobster boss, would rather not meet with his business partner during those circumstances, but he had his reputation to protect and money to make, and he would have them all know he wasn't some pussy needing witness protection every time the white-skinned lunatic tried to pull some stunt. Thus, he ended up sitting across from the Joker at the Grin and Bare It. The clown prince was his usual self, sporting expensive clothes and jewelries.
"We're just waiting for our main guests," Joker told him as he leaned back in the plush VIP seat.
Gambol tried to make sense of it, knowing he always held his meetings one-on-one. His own bodyguards had been left outside the booth. "Who's that?"
"Ohh…" The Joker grinned, giving him a look. "You haven't met Jay yet…"
So that was what it was about. The Joker had a new bitch, Gambol figured. He had heard a lot of how he used to flaunt the last one around. His own business partner Monster T was rumored to have looked at her wrong before his death but Gambol prided himself on being smarter.
The Joker gestured at the golden drapes that isolated them from the rest of the club on the top floor. "The one and only, Gotham's next little monster."
If he was going to be introduced to something, at least that indicated he'd be allowed to keep his place in the hierarchy, Gambol decided. It was one step closer to overtake him. He downed his drink and wondered what the hell was coming.
The drapes were pulled aside by a thin hand and no one than Harley Quinn passed through, dressed in gold, shining with her forbidden allure. She smiled brightly at the Joker. "Ready, Puddin'?"
He purred at her. "Come over here, baby."
Gambol noticed the child in Harley Quinn's arms. He tried not to stare, but it was impossible to ignore. Harley gave him a deceivingly sweet smile when she noticed. She put the little girl down on the ground.
He tried to cover up his surprise as he processed the absurd situation. The clowns had kidnapped someone's kid and dressed it up in their own image. He was not sure if it could get any more morbid than that, considering the child's parents most likely were floating in Gotham's sewer system. However, he knew to keep his mouth shut.
The girl smiled sweetly at him.
"This is Jaylie," Harley said, and he was forced to look at her.
Their stolen kid surely had been adapted to their way of living. She was dressed up just as extravagantly as the clowns. She wore her light blonde hair in two miniature ponytails and wore face paint: small ink hearts, clubs and diamonds decorating her temples.
Harley tapped her shoulder like a mother encouraging her child to speak to her new friends. The girl skipped over to Gambol's seat and smiled widely at him. "Hello, Mistah."
Her eyes looked strikingly similar to the man who sat across from him, and her resemblance to Quinn could not be denied either. It felt like he had been splashed with cold water when the realization struck him. Those two psychopaths had not only managed to conceive a kid and keep it alive, they also felt the need to bring it to the most infamous club in the city and flaunt it around.
Gambol looked back at the Joker's wolf-toothed smile and forced himself to keep his cool. That little brat with her ballerina tutu was the secret that many of his business partners had been killed for.
The little girl tilted her head to the side, looking up at him with wide, innocent eyes.
"What are ya waiting for?" Harley interrupted. "How do you treat a lady?"
Well-acquainted with the stories, Gambol reluctantly bowed his head before her. Harley snapped her fingers impatiently, glaring at him. It took him a moment to understand, but he decided he better do as they said, and turned towards the kid. He was filled with fury of the humiliation of having to pay his respects to a little girl, when the girl reached out a manicured hand towards his face.
He kissed the top of her hand lightly; head bowed, well aware of the clown's stares. Harley smirked as her hand pulled away from his face.
A mischievous look appeared on Jaylie's face. She turned around to look at her parents. "Can I play with him?"
"Of course you can," Harley cooed.
Gambol was unnerved by the little girl climbing up and sitting next to him, as if she was totally unaware of who he was.
"Get us somethin' to drink, doll." At the Joker's gesture, Harley moved over and sloppily poured whisky in their glasses, showing off her behind to the Joker. She gave Jaylie a glass of juice with an umbrella inside, and she started sipping from the straw.
"By the way, you owe me three months of protection," Joker commented idly, leaning back and folding his arms behind his neck. Gambol was growing increasingly annoyed at how the kid sat so close to him, without seeming the slightest bit uncomfortable, but kept his attention on his host.
"What for?" he retorted. "I don't need no protection, they need from me."
Harley giggled and Joker peered at her, still looking bored.
"It's protection from Mistah J," she informed him with a vicious smile.
Gambol picked up his whisky glass, distracting himself from having to answer that. Deranged clown. He was in no position to deny him that right now.
He suddenly noticed that the girl was holding a golden bracelet in her small hands – his own chain.
"Hey! Give it back," he hissed, resisting the urge to backhand the brat. Straight across from him the Joker was watching, daring him.
Jaylie smirked, her eyes sparkling with mischief. She put the bracelet on her own wrist.
"Now, what did you come here for?" Joker asked, still acting bored.
Gambol suppressed his anger. "We got another big coke delivery yesterday. Everything's going according to plan."
He felt a movement close to him and turned to see the girl's hand in his suit pocket, looking for something else to steal. Gambol looked back to see if Joker was going to discipline his damn brat, but the man seemed completely uninterested in their behavior. Harley was sitting close to him with one knee in his lap, sipping her drink and gazing at the dance floor. He ran his hand possessively over her waist.
Gambol took a look at himself and saw that the folded silk napkin in his suit was gone as well. He tensed up. Psycho brat. Time to teach you some manners.
"Don't touch my stuff," he to the kid sternly, staring at her and hoping to scare her to obedience. She withdrew her hand with a giggle.
"I'm sorry, Mistah," she said with wide, childish eyes, pulling out a small basket from behind her. She held it up to him, offering something that looked like pastel-colored pieces of candy. "Do you want to have a tea party with me?"
"No," he hissed.
The Joker caught onto his reaction and grinned deviously. "Go on, don't be rude to the Princess."
"She made them herself," Harley added proudly, before placing a trail of kisses down the Joker's neck, completely turning his attention to her. He growled as Harley leaned closer to him, and they were caught up in each other.
Gambol was left dealing with Jaylie, who shoved the basket into his face. "Have some candy, Mistah! I didn't mean to make you mad!"
Angrily defeated, he took one piece from the basket. She watched him intensely as he put it in his mouth. A thick, sugary taste filled his mouth. It was disgustingly sweet, but he forced himself to swallow a bit.
"When I give candy to people, they go to sleep for a veery long time," she giggled.
Gambol spat it out, glaring daggers at her. "What?" he hissed through clenched teeth. "You damn little –"
"You didn't eat it!" Her face scrunched up and she reached out the basket to him again. He pushed her away, but she reached up on her knees to get better access to him. She held a piece of candy in her hand as she tried to feed him.
When Gambol roughly moved his arm to get her off him, she lost her balance and fell straight into his lap. The basket fell onto the floor and its content spilled all over.
A sudden silence alerted him to his mistake.
His hand had instinctively wrapped around her wrist, and when he let go of it, his fingerprints were visible on her small arm. Jaylie whined in pain and pulled away from him.
At the same time Harley Quinn approached him like an angry lioness, at the sight of her daughter sprawled across the mobster's lap. She grabbed a glass from the drink table and slammed it into Gambol's head, sending a flood of whisky over the seat. "Don't you touch my kid!"
The Joker's expression alarmed him more than Quinn's. When Harley had dealt the blow with the drink glass, she backed off on his wordless command. She sank down next to the Joker, glaring at the mobster. Jaylie retreated to the safety of her lap, eagerly watching the scene in front of her.
The poisoned candy crunched underneath Joker's shoes as he stood up and smoothed his hair back.
Gambol was bleeding from the head, alcohol and fragments of glass burning in his scalp, but he was sure the injury was not fatal. In any case he knew that he needed to backtrack immediately. This had already gotten out of hand, and he valued his life more than his pride. Crossing the Joker never ended too well.
"I'm sorry," he said as he picked up a napkin and held it against his head. He looked pleadingly at the psychopaths. "I didn't mean no disrespect to the kid, really. It was an accident."
"Reeally?" The Joker smiled at him like an hyena, deadly, metal teeth flashing. "You're sorry?" he mocked. "Really sorry?"
"Yeah - we can settle this, alright. I'll pay whatever you want, let's just -."
"Don't ask me. Maybe you're getting dementia, old man. Who's she again?"
Gambol tried to focus through the pain. "She's your kid, Joker …"
"That's right." His grin became wider.
Before Gambol had time to reply, Joker shot him in both kneecaps. He doubled over, feeling blood drip into his lap as the pain hit him. The bullets lodged deep enough to permanently shatter the bone. A moment later, two other bullets struck his hands. He collapsed on the floor.
Joker turned away, shrugging as he called for Frost who waited outside.
"Get his boys in here to pick him up." Gambol's henchmen moved in to pick up their boss who had now passed out from blood loss.
Frost knew why the Joker did not let Gambol die with the experience. Instead, for every day of the rest of his life, the now crippled mobster boss would remember what the Joker did to him because of that little girl.
x
When the body was gone, Harley slipped away to the dance cage to entertain herself. The club went on as usual no matter what transpired in the booths.
Joker turned to Jaylie, growling. He put his face only inches away from hers. "Daddy doesn't like you getting in the way of his business and making a mess all the time."
"I was just trying to poison him, Daddy," she innocently said.
He grimaced at her. "You've killed six of them already. I don't have time for this. If you ruin another deal for me, you can stay in your tower for good."
"I don't want to!"
His fist collided with the wall next to her head. She didn't even flinch. She kept the same confident and almost bored expression Harley had when he took his anger out on her - as if she knew he would never cause her any real harm. Her confidence was not the only thing Harley had given her and it fueled his frustration.
He stared her down, and she calmly met his gaze.
"What was that again?"
"Yes Daddy." She gave a small smile, apparently trying to charm him.
He turned away from her, snarling. "Harley!" he called, and she danced over. "We're leaving."
"How about we go out for some pizza, Puddin'?" Harley looked eagerly at him. Jaylie's face lit up.
He thought for a moment, the mental wheel spinning in his head changing his mood. A slow grin crept onto his face.
"It's been a while since we took a restaurant hostage, hasn't it?"
x
As the rode the Lamborghini, Jaylie sat in Harley's lap and gazed at the surroundings with wide eyes. This was the place her Mommy and Daddy went when they left her at home, she had figured. It was the funniest thing she could ever imagine, and she laughed along with her parents as they zigzagged through the streets in a deadly pace. The city was bigger than she had ever imagined from their stories. Despite having been allowed to play in the club for months, she had never before been outside.
Joker pulled up at one of his favorite restaurants and the four-year-old jumped out of the car. She eagerly looked around in all directions. Tall buildings with glowing windows in the dark hovered above them, streets leading in every direction… she wanted to follow them all. Excitement was running through her, knowing it was her own playground.
"Come on Puddin' Pie, this way!" Harley waved at her.
"Mommy, can I go look around? I wanna go to the ice-cream shop!"
"It's closed right now baby. But we can always break in…" Harley giggled, her daughter's excitement affecting her. "What do ya say, Puddin'?"
"I want ice-cream." Jaylie pouted.
"We'll get you some tomorrow!"
"Quit taking your time with the sightseeing!" Joker grumbled, before drawing his weapon and walking into the restaurant. Harley followed, and Jaylie took a hold of her hand.
"Good evening, ladies and gents!" He grinned as the guests started scattering in a panic. The well-dressed woman behind the counter stared at them in recognition and horror.
"Don't break your legs, I won't bite!" Harley shouted after an elderly couple that almost fell over their own feet in an attempt to get away. Almost everyone gathered at the second exit, running for their lives. Joker fired a few rounds into the crowd for the hell of it, then leaned over the counter with a wide maniac grin. "The usual please."
The woman glanced over to Harley and Jaylie who stood by her side, grasping her hand.
"K-kids menu?"
Joker rolled his eyes in an exaggerated gesture and looked over his shoulder. "What do ya think, Harls?"
She responded with a toothy grin. "A pepperoni pizza. Oh, and I want a large coke!"
"Me too!" Jaylie chimed in, feeling secure enough to let go of Harley's hand and skip over to the counter. The woman stared at her in undisguised horror and confusion.
Joker waved his gun in her face. "Hurry up, will ya?" She nodded and quickly withdrew into the kitchen area.
They found a spot in the empty restaurant that gave them a good view of the nightly city from above. Jaylie munched on her pizza and tried to keep herself awake, but the long and exciting night out had taken its toll on her. Her eyelids started drooping and after awhile, despite the caffeine from the cola, she fell asleep in Harley's lap.
x
x
x
"Mama?" The sound of small footsteps tip-toeing across the carpet. "Mommy?"
She took faster steps, her little pigtails skipping with every movement of her head. She crawled on top of the enormous bed in the master bedroom."Mommyyyyyy?"
Harley rolled over and smiled sleepily. When Jaylie approached she pulled her into her arms. Her little princess, her mini monster, baby grey eyes staring curiously at her. "Can we go outside today?"
"Where's your Daddy?"
"He said he doesn't have time. He's in the shower." She frowned.
"Alright Puddin' Pie." Harley's face got a mischievous look as she started tickling her. Jaylie squirmed and giggled, trying to get away. She decided to tickle back with fierce determination, causing them both to squirm. Harley buried her face in her hair as her fingers traveled over her stomach.
She pouted. "Can't we go get ice-cream already?"
"Sure!" Harley sat up in the bed and yawned. She stretched her arms above her head and started looking around for her lipstick. "What kind do you want?"
Jaylie huffed. "I only like vanilla, the one Frosty buys!"
We've got vanilla, or strawberry...
My job is to keep you alive until you die.
A bright white room. Harley blinked, one, two, three times. Metallic bars on all sides. The only light source coming from the opening in the ceiling. Something hard in her nose, a heavy breath on her face.
She was frozen in place, unable to move as a thick wave of nausea filled her throat. Her daughter's face faded away when the new image took over. She was lying on the concrete floor again, staring unseeingly at the blinding white in the ceiling. Men were gathered around her cage, her body quickly going numb. She was crooning a lullaby through broken lips and a dry throat. Blood between her legs.
A faint memory of a windshield breaking, the glass cutting through her belly. A quiet sound, filled with more pain than she thought she had, left her mouth.
"Vanilla?" she choked out.
Jaylie stared at her, tilting her head to the left in confusion. "Mommy?"
Harley was completely out of air, her hands pressed to her abdomen. She was falling down, down, throwing herself against the bars with a scream, before electrical currents hit her like a truck, numbing her down, locking her muscles.
A a lifeless baby in her arms, her son - Baby. Baby is gone. They killed Baby – I've got to kill them – Batsy and Waller killed my Baby - She wanted to scream, to numb herself into oblivion again.
Jaylie crawled into her lap, wrapped her small arms around her neck and anxiously whispered: "Mommy, what's wrong?"
Harley blinked slowly, the vibrant images fading, her entire body tense for a fight. The child held onto her tightly, worry in her face.
For a moment only the two of them existed in the universe, two heartbeats in the vast space. She had never truly been alone, not even in the endless days, months, at Belle Reve. It was always her and Baby, her little butterfly that had existed in the back of her mind since she first was conceived, waiting to surface. All a part of him.
Harley blinked the moisture away from her eyes. "Mommy lost her first baby, but Puddin' gave me a new one – that was you," she said with an absent smile, her gaze lost far away.
Jaylie's eyes locked onto hers, forcing her to come back. Her arms tightened around her, as if she tried to protect her from her mind. "I'm sorry Mommy. I promise I won't go."
Harley placed her forehead against hers. "I love you so much." She kissed her cheek. "Now let's go out."
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