Life and Death: Chapter 18
"I won't ever play the game by your rules
We will never be afraid of these fools
I would rather lose the game by my rules"
- Wild West, Elli Ingram
Gotham hovered around them, this strange and dark place that was their home, riddled by events that took place long before their lifetimes. The black water underneath the bridge reflected the streetlamps, bright dots lighting up the surface.
"Aren't they gonna come looking for you?" Zoe asked.
Jaylie turned her head up to glance at the dark sky, then smiled. She turned to look at Zoe, her frizzy hair shining almost green. There was Lucy, careless and bold, and Jay, focused and silent. For a moment Zoe saw them both, the twins, in front of her. It didn't scare her anymore.
"I'll do what I want. Are you in?"
Jaylie walked down the bridge, her hands in the pockets of her sparkling coat. For the first time since they took away her father, Zoe was not afraid. If she could feel safe with anyone, it would be with her. She followed the girl into the dark streets of the Narrows, with the hyena-like dog trailing behind them.
.
.
The week before that decision, things were more chaotic than usual. After a close encounter with Batman, the Joker ended up with an injury and which left him focusing violently on drawing his nemesis out. Harley tended to her partner while trying to track down Ivy's whereabouts. Gotham was churning, on the edge of turning into a lawless zone, much to Jaylie's fascination and frustration. The underworld had new players and more often than not, the Joker and Harley left her at home.
She spent a lot of time with Zoe, keeping her company on the boring days.
Zoe had bruises on her arms and face. Sometimes they started fading before new ones appeared, days later. Jaylie noticed after a while, initially not paying attention to it; it was a natural part of their lifestyle. But Zoe was normal; she wasn't like them.
She didn't ask, and Zoe said nothing about it. At first, she had eyed Jaylie's own scars and marks but Jaylie told her the stories of she had attained them, by training with her parents or falling during heists and encountering people who didn't like her. It had taken Zoe a while to get used to the fact that Jaylie didn't go to school at all, but it gave them more time together on the days when Zoe didn't go either.
One afternoon when they were at Zoe's mother's apartment, lounging in her room and eating candy, something changed.
Zoe perked up when they heard the front door open. Someone entered and the door slammed shut. She started fiddling with a pencil, arranging her school bag and all the finished homework inside, hiding the bag of candy they had shared behind some pillows.
Jaylie sat on her bed with her legs crossed. "Whatcha doin', Zoey?"
Her friend sat down on her desk chair again, staring at the bedroom door. "Mom and Darnell's home," she said quietly.
Jaylie picked up another piece of sour candy worms. She chewed it slowly, studying the door while she listened. Lucifer had perked up from his place on the floor.
There was a fuss outside the room, and Zoe heard her mother's tired, drunken voice and the shouting of her boyfriend. They were fighting again, and something thumped into the wall. She was stiff, unable to move. She looked over at Jaylie, seeing her eyes glint in the dull light.
"You should go home."
"Why?" Jaylie turned her head to the side. "What's –"
The door opened abruptly, sending light and the smell of smoke into the room. A large man stumbled into the room, reeking of alcohol.
"What are you sitting around here for? Go help your mother, you little –"
He spotted Jaylie first and it took him a few moments to notice that she wasn't the one he was looking for. He walked halfway over to her, then turned to look for Zoe who instinctively backed away to the opposite wall, holding her hands in front of her. Lucifer stood by her side, growling.
"Please, go." Zoe spoke to both of them.
"What's this goddamn mutt doing here?" Darnell held something in his fist, approaching Zoe with quick steps. She moved further away into the back of the room until her back was pressed against the window.
Jaylie stood in his way, facing him with an almost bored expression.
"Back off, Mistah."
"Shut up!" He grabbed her shoulder and threw her to the side, making her fall and hit the bed. Zoe looked at her with wide eyes, frozen in shock. Jaylie rose to her feet as he took a step towards Zoe.
"Sic him, Lou!"
The dog pounced, fangs embedding in the meaty arm of the man and jaws closing around bones. Jaylie picked up her hammer.
"You shouldn't have done that, Dar-nell."
.
Afterward, Jaylie took her home. It had been easy to leave the apartment unnoticed; Zoe's mother had left. Zoe didn't say a word, flinching at any sudden sounds. Lucifer stayed close by her side, growling at anyone they encountered on their way to Jaylie's room. The henchmen stayed clear of them, and while the Joker had been enforcing his no-visitor policy harder than usual recently, no one cared to stop them.
Zoe sat down on her large bed, watching her with gloomy eyes as she cleaned off her hammer and the small knife she always carried in her pocket. It had the words JL engraved in purple and red, a gift for her birthday two years ago. It had been replaced once when she lost the original at the bottom of the harbor.
"Is he dead?" Zoe asked flatly.
"No." Jaylie tiled her head to the side, looking at her. "Do ya want me to kill him?"
Zoe wrapped her arms around her knees. "No! You can't do that. Mom would never get over it."
The Lucy part of Jaylie giggled, as she pulled her bloodied t-shirt over her head and threw it onto a pile in the corner of the room. She opened her wardrobe and picked out a sparkling blue one instead. "He's just gotten a nice little gift from us."
Zoe thought of Darnell's raw open palms, split open, the warnings scribbled all over his face and body with a red marker Jaylie found, the sound of the hammer striking his bones, methodically, at every joint. He wouldn't be able to move for a while. For some strange reason, the image didn't make her feel sick any longer.
"Don't look so scared," Jaylie said, skipping over and jumping on top of the bed, making it sag under her sudden weight. She fell back onto the purple cover with a sigh, then glanced at Zoe. "I bet he's scared shitless now, not only 'cause of me. Frosty said that your daddy is out on the streets again."
"He is?" Zoe stared at her, hope brimming in her chest. "Where?"
Jaylie reached out to poke her cheek softly. "I don't know. Wanna watch a movie?"
Zoe's eyes filled with tears. "I thought he was dead."
For a moment none of them said anything.
Jaylie broke the silence. "My brother died. I thought he was gone too, but he really isn't."
Zoe turned on the bed and looked into her eyes. She calmly looked back, and for a moment only the two of them existed in the world.
"Can I touch you?" Zoe whispered. She nodded, and Zoe hugged her.
Jaylie put a hand on top of her hair, and they stayed like that for a while.
.
.
"Everyone's talking about a goat-man," Jaylie mused. She had removed her cast barely a week earlier and enjoyed flexing her wrist again, mindful of the drying black paint on her nails. "It's going around town and scaring everyone. The kids ain't allowed outside."
"It can't be our goat man." Harley stuck her head out from the kitchen area, along with a slightly burned smell.
"It looks like our goat man." Jaylie glanced at the hysterics on GCN on the flat screen, while carefully petting Lucifer's fur. "I wanna go with him."
"No way I'm letting you go with those morons on your own again." Harley waved warningly with a frying pan.
The last time she went with the Joker's goons had turned out to be a messy ordeal, resulting in a permanent scar on her face, but it had been funny. Jaylie laid back on the purple carpet, as Lucifer sleepily rolled into her side.
"I wanna go to the amusement park. I'm bored."
Harley bit her lip. "Daddy's planning something big, honeypie. You just be good and stay put for a little while."
A large creature with white fur appeared in the door opening, carrying a rifle. It wore a priest cloak and a large cross on its chest. Jaylie turned her head. "Goatie?"
Goatman didn't give any indication that he'd heard her, his shiny eyes looking avidly into the room. He moved to the side to let the Joker pass by. Both Jaylie and Lucifer perked up at the thick, familiar smell surrounding his person.
"Harls," he drawled. "Where's my butcher knife?"
"Um, I think it's here somewhere – one moment, Puddin'…" Harley started rummaging through the kitchen utensils and the Joker sighed dramatically. "I ain't got all day."
Eventually, Harley dashed over to him with the desired object. He grabbed her around the waist and she wound her arms and legs around him, mindless of the knife in her hand, giggling.
"Prepare the oven," he purred against her neck. "We've got steak for dinner."
"Oh, really?" A grin lit up her face. "Should we have some Maroni and Cheese with that?"
He rolled his eyes, before leaning in to nibble at her throat. "That bird is already baked."
"I wanna come too." Jaylie got to her feet, leaving Lucifer to snooze on the floor.
"You can tag along, Pumpkin." Joker detached himself from Harley as best as he could. "If you behave, you can come to the club tonight."
"Oh, that's gonna be fun!" Harley beamed.
He ran his hand through her hair, pulling slightly at the tips. "Harls, whatever you're making... is on fire."
.
In their interrogation room at the bottom of the building, Jaylie walked over to Frost. As always, he looked completely clean and proper in his suit. He stood by the side as the Joker was busy dealing with his hostages.
She grinned at him. "Let's go out with Goatman tonight."
He gave her a tired look. "Lucy, my job is not to do the rough work."
"I know, you're the Butler." She smiled tantalizingly back at him. "Pouring whiskey and cleaning, and babysitting me. But you killed someone last week."
"J hires brawn for a reason. I haven't roughed someone up in your lifetime."
"Aw, are you getting old? Maybe it's time to retire?"
However cheerful she was, the Lucy side of her was vexing, testing Boss' patience every other day. Frost missed the silent and contemplating Jay part of her. Deciding to ignore her, he waited for the Joker to address him so he could share his new information with him.
She wasn't giving up, no, she was her mother's daughter.
"Come on, Frosty. Do I have to ask Fleshie?"
He sighed. "Ask J first."
"Do ya know where Deadshot is?"
"No, I haven't heard anything more than what I told you."
She turned her head to the side, peering at him. "Tell me what's going on."
He wasn't supposed to share any information with her, the reason why her parents had not let her come to the clubs for months and kept her out of the spotlight of the underworld. As far as she knew it was still punishment for getting drunk, but if she knew, would she be afraid? He doubted it. She had grown up surrounded by that world, after all.
The Yakuza moving into the game wasn't something that concerned Boss in the slightest, but Batman was on the prowl and the human trafficking had nestled itself into a permanent spot. Women had disappeared, he'd heard of it. It really wasn't a place for a twelve-year-old to be playing in, but he figured that J thought she needed to learn the game now, so she could have a chance of surviving it.
He braced himself against her prying gaze. "Goatman's the one who's been going around and scarin' the kids. It's a distractin' move."
.
.
"We had an agreement, Mr. J." The man adjusted his dark sunglasses, his voice restrained. "This isn't your turf."
The Joker leaned back in his seat, his eyes focused and clear. "Don't be so dra-ma-tic. You can have your turf."
The private room was soundproof, but the bass from the club could still be heard in the background. The five men stood at the opposite end of the small room, the bodyguards surrounding their leader, a representative for the Yakuza. He spoke quietly, hissing the words. "Do you think this is a game?"
The Joker grinned slowly.
"The area is yours, as per our agreement, but the club is not included," Frost explained, standing in the corner next to him.
Jaylie rose from her seat, the image of innocence in a fluorescent dress that shifted color underneath the spotlights in the ceiling. Frost stayed alert, watching her movements. She stepped closer to the assembled Yakuza men and they turned to look at her.
A hiss from the far end of the room reminded them of Harley Quinn's presence, standing behind her partner's seat. Jaylie leaned against the wall, unbothered by the looks as she smiled widely at them.
"Mr. J, leave the area and your business will not be affected. The contract remains intact."
The Joker stood up slowly, tapping his cane against the marble floor. The suited men tensed up, all their attention focused back on him.
"Of course, gentlemen. Business will go on as usual." His eyes glinted, and the men turned around to see two of Joker's rifle-carrying goons blocking the exit behind them. "But I need to make sure my associates are my friends. Ya see, I like having friends."
He looked them up and down, pacing a few steps. "Which one of you would like to start?"
Jaylie took a step backward, but on cue from the leader, one of the bodyguards swiftly caught her. She tried to bite him but was rendered unmovable when he took hold around her neck and shoulders and locked her in place. The leader took a step forward, flanked by two guards.
"Let's make a deal, Joker. We're not playing around."
Harley Quinn advanced on him a moment later, bringing up a dagger that she used to chop her way between the men and into the responsible guard's shoulder, tearing a wide cut in his back. Behind her, the Joker watched intently. Frost moved forward as well, drawing his gun.
The guard restraining Jaylie felt a searing pain in his gut. He looked down to see that the girl had thrust a small knife into his stomach. He lifted his hand to grab her again when Harley snatched her away and pushed her back into the corner, before bringing up her gun and firing into his face. The blood splattered across the entire glass wall behind him.
"Oh, I love this game." the Joker sing-sang as he walked over the corpse. "Jonny, bring in the special guest - we've kept her waiting long enough."
Frost made a gesture to another henchman. Through the main exit, a bound woman was dragged into the room on her knees. She wore a business suit as well, her bare knees scraping against the floor. The Yakuza leader gasped.
Joker looked up again, his grin widening. "Now," he said, smoothing his hair and turning to the pleading woman. "Let's make a deal."
"This is Mistah J's territory," Harley smirked, pulling Jaylie tight to her side, her gun still aimed at the guards. Frost did the same.
"Please, don't hurt her." The leader had his gun in his hand, but now he lowered it. "We'll accept your conditions, Mr. J."
The woman stared back at the Joker from her place on the floor, her eyes filled with fury.
"You're not human," she spat. "I don't know if you're the devil himself, but you are not human! And that girl - how can you bring her into this?"
The Joker approached her, but then thought for a moment and spun around on his heels.
Without warning, he struck out and bashed the leader's head against the wall, making the woman scream. His aggressiveness grew with every blow. On the brink of the mobster's death, the Joker suddenly stopped. He opened his hand and the man fell to the floor, unconscious but breathing, blood covering his head. His terrified bodyguards stood by his side. The woman's face was tear-streaked.
"I must say," Joker drawled, looking friendly at her as if they were talking about the weather. "That's bold coming from you. Aren't kids your specialty?"
The bodyguards stayed put, clearly aware of their disadvantage, and everyone in the room waited for his next move. He glanced at the youngest Yakuza member, who had posed as one of the bodyguards.
The woman gasped. "No, please, he has nothing to do -"
"I have children too, Mr. Joker!" The young member let go of his weapon.
Joker sneered, then looked over to Harley. His face took a mocking pitiful expression. "Did ya hear that, sweets? He has children."
Harley hesitated for a moment. Something shifted in her face, as she looked between the pleading young man and the woman on the floor.
The Joker brought her back with a low snarl. She followed his gaze to Jaylie, who had backed off into the corner. Her pale arms and neck were still red, and by the sight of her, Harley's face split into a grimace.
"So you have kids, Mistah?" She mocked him too, picking up her bat and slamming it home across his face. "SO DO I!"
Joker's laughter mixed with the sound of metal hitting flesh. When Harley drew back to catch her breath, after many times more than needed to make someone stop moving, the woman was still crouched on the floor.
J turned towards Panda Man. "Get rid of her."
.
Jaylie followed them out to the other room while Frost brought the car. When they had entered the lounge, Jaylie picked up her bag.
"I'm gonna see Zoe."
"You're not going anywhere," the Joker growled, turning to her. "This is on you. You got in my way again."
She stared back at him. "I haven't seen her in a week. I'm gonna find her."
He surged forward and grabbed her healed wrist. His grip was bruising - it would be easy for him to break it again. She met his gaze, ignoring the pain as she saw him contemplating this, his grip hardening further. At last, despite her efforts, a little sound of discomfort escaped her. She hated to lose. His eyes glimmered darkly as he hovered above her.
She tried not to show any more signs of pain as his fist slammed next to her head with enough force to splinter the glass in the mirror behind her, and her head was thrown back. Sharp pieces embedded themselves in her shoulder and hair. With a rough movement he threw her onto the floor. She slowly sat up, grasping her wrist. Harley stood by the side, anxiously watching them.
"Daddy's disappointed in ya. You've crossed the line, little girl."
She stared at him as she slowly got up, her lips drawn back over her teeth, defying him for the first time.
"Have you done something to Zoe?"
"Now that's an idea," he cackled.
Harley intervened: "Zoe's nice! I would never hear the end of it from Deadshot –"
"Why did you kill Robin?" Jaylie looked between the both of them, reflexively grasping the hammer in her dress pocket.
Harley blinked, once, twice.
"Why?" He stared coldly at her, approaching her with a frightening grin. Harley's face tensed up.
"It was supposed to be funny!"
"It was," he assured her. He grabbed the hammer and tore it out of her grip without any effort, holding it out of her reach.
"Kiss all your privileges bye-bye. You're gonna stay in the kiddie's room like the brat you are."
She returned his glare. Her wrist was still aching but not broken, and she ignored the pricks of pain in her skin.
"Puddin'", Harley interfered. Joker turned to her with a growl. "Don't you Puddin' me."
Harley approached him, knowing the risk she took when she wrapped her arms around him. "I just wanted to go home."
"Give it back!"
His face darkened again. He pushed Harley away from him, the weapon still in his hand.
We're really pushing him, Lucy warned in her head.
For just a moment, there was someone else there, next to her. Jaylie had never heard his voice before, a boy.
Cut it out, and no one's going to get hurt.
She stopped, listening for him, her eyes wide.
"Mistah J, let's go home," Harley emphasized, concern lacing her voice. Jaylie knew it was for their sake, her and Lucy. She lowered her gaze, standing still and silent, still waiting for the boy.
"Get your ass into the car," the Joker said, and when she saw the look on his face, she obeyed.
.
Alone in the penthouse, Jaylie waited. As Harley had removed the glass pieces from her skin and patched her up, she was silently seething. Frost was too busy to be watching her tonight; he had gone with the Joker. She knew the drill; she was on house arrest until he decided to end her punishment, and this time it would be weeks, maybe months. Not that she didn't know how to leave, anyway.
She stared at the night sky of Gotham through the window, the forest of buildings. Her fingers were restless, aching for the familiar smoothness of her hammer.
Her phone made a sound of notification and she looked at it - Zoe had finally replied to her messages.
I'm okay. Mom kicked Darnell out. Where are you?
After a moment, she texted a reply.
Pacing through the rooms, she looked over her kingdom. She entered her parents' room, opening the large wardrobe, looking through the drawers. There were knives, bullets, plastic things she didn't know what it was, a stuffed kitten, makeup and loads of clothes. In a box she found a black and a pink little garment.
She stole one of J's favorite shirts, watching the purple satin fabric flow in her hands. She liked the comforting smell of him, the tang of rust and acid that always lingered. Then she picked up one of Harley's red dresses. It smelled like bubblegum and burned sugar, so sweet it made her mouth water, with a metallic stench.
After putting on the sparkling dress, she slipped into the large shirt and buttoned it, staring at herself in the full-body mirror. She pulled her hair out of the ponytails she'd been wearing, seeing the green strands that poked through. Most of it had faded over the months since her acid bath.
Picking up a lipstick from the drawer, she gave herself a bright blush on her cheeks. She found a leather belt and tied it around her middle. She had always been theirs, but they were hers now.
"Come on, Lou," she told the hyena-dog. "Let's go."
TO BE CONTINUED.
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