**This chapter is both graphic and NSFW!**

It's a bit of a rollercoaster ride ;) Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Twelve: The Rat

The sun was getting lower in the sky as Nora was putting her clothes away in a dresser that Joker had acquired for her. It looked like an antique. It was old, but beautiful. She was alone while he was having a meeting with some men who also had a score to settle with Maroni. Surprisingly, Joker was good at networking. Just not in the traditional setting. After getting her things in order and leaving Bowie's food bowl out for when she was finished roaming the warehouse, Nora sat on the edge of the bed and sighed. They had spent the majority of the afternoon shooting various types of guns at the walls of the personal firing range. At one point, the kick back from a particularly large gun pushed Nora backwards into Joker where she sat on the floor between his legs, sending them both into a fit of laughter. Joker certainly took the opportunity to shamelessly show off his skills as well, hitting the center of the bullseye on six targets in a row along the wall, followed by a smile and a wink directed at her. She smiled as she thought about the fun they had and laid back on the bed. Joker undoubtedly knew how to show her a good time. After all of her adrenaline from shooting guns drained away, Nora began to feel drowsy and her eyelids blinked shut.

She awoke when she felt a weight on her body and opened her eyes to see Joker's face leaning directly over hers as he knelt on top of her, dressed to the nines with his purple coat and gloves. "Time to wake u-p, sleeping beauty," he purred. Nora smiled and sleepily closed her eyes again before unsuccessfully holding back a small yawn. "Nooo, c'mon. Get up, get up, get up," he said impatiently, pushing down to bounce the mattress beneath them. "I have somethin' to show you."

Nora then opened her eyes again before asking in a groggy voice, "Oh? What is it?"

"Welll I wouldn't want to, uh, ruin the sur-prise," he answered. Then he hopped off of her and tugged at Nora's arms to sit her up on the edge of the bed. "C'mon, time is a factor here, doll," he told her as he patted the side of her face with his hand.

"Ok ok, I'm up," said Nora, standing up to stretch her arms over her head. Damn, how does he always have so much energy?

Joker took her hand and hurriedly lead her out the door to head down the stairs and across the warehouse. He stopped in front of the door to the small room on the other side. "It seems we had a little rat on our tail," Joker growled in a deep voice.

He opened the door to reveal a man sitting in a chair in the middle of the room with his hands tied behind his back and ankles tied to the chair legs. His head of brown hair was hanging down with his chin on his chest, hiding his face. Joker's crew member, who she'd previously helped with a gunshot wound in that same room, stood to the side. Nora blinked a few times to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. The man raised his head with great effort in response to the sound of the door opening.

"Matt?" exclaimed Nora.

He licked his split lip that was steadily bleeding before saying, "Hi, doctor Hawthorne."

After getting over the shock of seeing her coworker tied up in front of her, Nora turned to Joker and asked, "What is this?"

Joker took in a breath and answered, "Your, uh, friend here has been spying on you for mister Maro-ni."

Her mouth dropped open and she turned to face Matt with a look of disbelief. "You what?" she asked, with heat rising into her cheeks.

"Our informant, Nick here, observed this man as he watched your apartment last nigh-t. He then proceeded to follow us here this morning," Joker said as Nora stared at Matt.

She kept her eyes on him and calmly asked, "Is this true?"

He stared back at her and spoke, "I started working for Maroni about six months ago. My salary wasn't enough for my gambling habit. He found out I work with you. I was supposed to offer you a ride home when we worked night shift and watch your apartment... rough you up if I got the chance."

"That's why you offered me a ride?" she asked him.

He lowered his chin back to his chest and answered plainly, "Yes."

"And that's why you were being so forward about walking me up to my apartment? You would have hurt me?" she continued.

"Yes," he replied again, after a pause.

Nora not only felt disappointed, she was angry. Even though she wasn't close to him, Matt betrayed her trust and planned to harm her. She turned to address Joker, "What do we do with him?"

"Mmm, well what do you think we should do with him?" he asked back.

She looked up to the ceiling for a moment before taking a deep breath in and out. "I guess no good deed should go unpunished," she said, directed at Matt. Nora stepped forward to stand in front of him, bound to the chair, and knelt down to bring her face to his level. "I trusted you."

He lifted his head to meet Nora's gaze with his own. "That was your mistake. I made my own. Now let me go," Matt said with a scowl, his face glistening with sweat.

Nora frowned back at him and said, "How about you rectify that mistake of yours?"

"If you think I'm gonna tell you anything else, you're wrong. Maroni would do way worse to me than this," he answered.

Joker giggled from behind her and Nora turned around to see a dark smile forming on his face. Then she turned back to Matt and asked, "Are you sure about that?" before stepping back.

He swallowed and shifted his gaze to Joker who pulled a switchblade from his pocket and flicked it open, keeping his eyes fixed on Matt's as he attempted to resist the fearful expression twitching at his face. Joker strolled forward and bent down to lean in so that their noses almost touched, his hands on his knees with the blade handle tucked into his palm. "Hellooo, Matt," he said in a phony gentle voice. "It is Matt, isn't i-t?"

He began to tremble and gave no answer. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Joker said turning his ear toward him. Suddenly he stuck the knife into the muscle of Matt's thigh, making him scream loudly as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Oh, so it is Matt!" exclaimed Joker. "You see uh, Matt, I don't take too kindly to rats." His body shook violently as Matt breathed heavily through his clenched teeth and turned his head away. Joker grabbed his face with his free hand and jerked it back toward his. "Youu are a ra-t, Ma-tt," Joker growled.

The bound man began to pull desperately against his restraints with no success, a small defeated whimper escaping his throat. Joker tilted his head and snarled, "Or would you prefer to be a little pig and squeal instead?" He twisted the knife in Matt's leg, making him wail in pain as Joker laughed.

"FUCK YOU," Matt shouted, spitting blood from his lip in Joker's face.

Joker smirked and said, "Ohhh I only let Nora do that," before pulling the knife from Matt's leg to sit facing him on his lap as he groaned. Then Joker held the back of his neck firmly in place and slid the blade into his mouth. Matt's eyes went wide. Nora stood aside watching, fighting a smile at his joke and her mouth went dry. She knew this was wrong. But she was tired of being a target and Joker was making her feel empowered to turn that around. She remained frozen in place.

Still holding the knife in his captive's mouth, Joker lazily turned his head to look at Nora and raised his eyebrows. She gazed back for a moment, the flicker of hesitation in her mind was extinguished, and she nodded at him. He grinned and turned back to Matt. "Ya know what, Matt? Let's play a game," he said, putting slight pressure on the knife in the corner of his mouth. "You may be familiar with it, it's called twenty questions. I ask you a question and you answer, uh, yes or no. If I can guess what you're thinking in twenty questions or less, I win. Are you ready?" Matt was trembling uncontrollably by then but otherwise remained frozen, staring into Joker's face.

"Question number one, let's seee. Is it a place?" he asked casually. Matt didn't move and just started straight ahead. "Ohhh there's a penalty for not answering the questions," Joker grumbled leaning into the knife, cutting a small slit into the corner of Matt's mouth. Matt cried out as blood began to drip down his chin. "Question number two! Does it involve an event taking place in roughly twen-ty four hours? Hm?" No answer. He pulled on the knife once again and Matt screamed louder. Joker continued, yelling over his cries of pain, "Question three! Might it be a trap set for our dear Nora?" He didn't wait for an answer and gripped the knife tighter, tearing it deeper into Matt's cheek.

"AHHHHH! OK! WAIT!" Matt panted. He squeezed his eyes shut before continuing to talk with the other side of his mouth, "Maroni figured if he got the girl alone again he could use her to lure you out! I was supposed to make sure she was there!"

Joker feigned an expression of astonishment and said, "Ah! I win," before hopping off of Matt's lap. Matt continued to grunt, blood from his lacerated cheek saturating his shirt collar. Joker left him there and walked back toward the door where Nora stood, licking at his scars.

She glared at Matt for a moment as the ringing in her ears faded. Nora knew she wasn't the one who tortured him but she did stand by and let it happen. But Matt said it himself, he made his own mistakes. Then he paid for his own mistakes.

Joker turned to face Matt as Nick approached with a gun in his hand and said, "Now be a good little pig and squeal some more for my friend here. Hm?" Then he opened the door and looked to Nora.

She left the room with him and asked, "Are you gonna kill him? Put him out of his misery?"

"Oh sure, that's Nick's job," he replied, nonchalantly. After a few minutes, Nora heard a gunshot from behind the closed door.

Joker and Nora spent the next hour sitting on the roof of the warehouse, drinking their liquor of choice. Nora had his coat draped over her shoulders to shield her from the cool night air. She took a sip from her glass and looked out at the Gotham skyline. The tall buildings downtown twinkled in the distance. Everything seemed very still and she felt calm despite everything that happened that day, the alcohol in her blood warming her face.

"Are you from Gotham, doll?" Joker asked.

She kept her gaze on the horizon and answered, "Yeah, I am actually." After a pause she looked at him and asked, "Are you?"

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded his head. Nora wasn't expecting an answer, she didn't know what to say. Joker never shared anything about his life. She knew it was best not to put too much attention on it and said, "This city is insane but I still love it. I've never called anywhere else home."

Joker giggled and said, "An accurate assessment." They were silent for a moment with the breeze blowing through their hair, carrying with it the distant sounds of the city. The air smelled like it was going to rain soon. Suddenly, Joker stood and offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet to face him, his coat falling to the ground. Then he put her other hand on his shoulder and they stepped side to side to a silent rhythm with his hand at her waist before he extended his arm to twirl her around. Nora chuckled as she spun back into him and they continued to dance.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" he asked her.

She looked him in the eyes and said, "No." At first, Nora did think he was crazy. But now she was telling the truth. "I think you like to keep everybody guessing."

He laughed and then a hungry growl came from his throat before picking Nora up and slinging her over his shoulder. She screamed and giggled loudly along with him as she gripped his back to steady herself. He carried her to the door back into the warehouse and kicked it open. He managed to keep her on his shoulder all the way down the stairs and back to the landing in front his office. He stopped in front of the door and turned Nora toward it.

"Open that for me would ya, doll?" he purred. She grinned to herself and turned the knob. A few of the men below looked up to see the laughing couple disappear behind the slamming door.

Joker let Nora drop off of his shoulder for her to land flat on the bed in front of him. She gave him a flirtatious smile and he responded with another rumble from his throat before jumping on top of her, straddling her lap on his knees as he pulled his leather gloves off his hands. She reached up and grabbed his face to pull it to hers, smashing his lips against hers and inhaling through her nose to take in his musky scent. He kissed her back eagerly, locking his mouth to hers as she ran her thumbs over his scars, making him shiver. They began to pant together as their hands wandered over each other. It started to rain, the sound of the water tapping against the windows.

"May I?" he asked, sliding his hands under the hem of her shirt.

She gazed at him with heavy lids and answered in a soft voice, "You may."

A small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth as he looked back at her. Then his hands made contact with the warm skin on her sides and he slowly slid them up, lifting her shirt and kissing her body as he went. Nora closed her eyes and sighed. His touch gave her tingles all over. He gently pulled the t-shirt over her head and tossed it behind him as she quickly removed her bra, then he sat back on his heels and looked at her with fiery eyes. She gazed back with her arms over her head, naked from the waist up as she laid beneath him.

"Youu are a feast, doll" he said, his voice deep and husky. "And I'm hungryyy."

A sinful smile came over Nora's face, her bottom lip between her teeth, before she reached up to unbutton his shirt and loosen his tie as he growled.

In no time, his torso was bare and he leaned down to press his nose into the crook of her neck before kissing her skin. Then he slowed himself down, moving his lips down to her chest, leaving a wonderful prickling sensation behind as he went. She felt his breath warming her skin and moaned softly as he took her nipple in his mouth. He sucked lightly and Nora bucked her hips before moving her hand to feel the long bulge pushing against his pants, making him groan softly against her. She needed more. She swiftly unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down while Joker trailed his mouth down her abdomen. A gasp escaped her open mouth when he pulled her panties down and ran his tongue between her legs. She panted faster and squirmed with pleasure as his mouth worked it's magic on her. Licking, kissing, sucking. She got closer and closer to the edge, then he suddenly stopped and she felt his weight lift off of her. Her eyes snapped open and she looked at him as he stood up from the bed, licking his lips.

"You tease!" she said in an exasperated tone, but still with a smile on her face.

He grinned while she fidgeted impatiently with the sheets as he slowly unbuttoned his pants and said in a low voice, "Mmm, well it's worth the wai-t."

He slowly ran his warm hands up and down her thighs, getting very close to her pelvis but never touching it. After that he moved his hands to her abdomen, then her chest, leaving a trail of goose bumps as he went. Nora began to feel an aching between her legs, as if it was begging to be touched. She almost couldn't take it anymore. He could see the anticipation on her face and put up a finger. "Ah ah ah, paaatience," he said.

Then he guided her further up onto the bed leaned over her to kiss the soft skin at her jaw before trailing down her neck while she breathed heavily and he positioned himself on top of her. He pressed his nose against the side of her face and teased her entrance with the tip of his cock before suddenly slipping into her, the sound of his breath hitching against her ear. She gasped and started panting again as he went deeper and tighter against her walls. Then he pushed himself up and took her calf in his hand to lift it and lay her ankle over his shoulder. Her jaw dropped and she moaned loudly as he went even deeper into her, putting pressure on just the right spot. He rolled his hips to trust so that his pelvis rubbed against her clit. It was like fireworks were going off in her brain. Nothing in the world mattered except the carnal satisfaction they shared. Her long-awaited release began to swell up within her and Nora threw her head back into the pillows before a burst of pleasure ran through her. She cried out, squeezing her eyes shut, and took his hair into her fists tightly while Joker groaned and his body shuttered as he released inside her. While she caught her breath, he lowered her leg to lean in and kiss her softly. Then he brushed the hair out of her face, careful not to touch her bruise, and she smiled. She opened her eyes and they stared at each other. The look in his eyes said everything. He did care about her.

Nora woke up when a beam of bright morning sunlight hit her face. She rubbed her eyes and sat up to see that she was alone. Tossing the covers off of herself, she noticed a hand written note where Joker had been lying next to her. It read, "Weapons lesson number 2! Meet me downstairs - J". She smiled and got out of bed to get ready.

She opened the door to the warehouse and walked onto the landing, peering out into the seemingly empty building. "Down here, doll face," she heard Joker's voice call from below her.

Nora descended the stairs and found him in the improvised kitchen, his sleeves pushed up to his elbows as he stirred a pan of eggs on a hot plate. She grinned at the sight of the Clown Prince of Crime making her breakfast.

"She's awake!" he practically shouted. "How'd ya sleep, my dear?"

She chuckled and answered, "Quite well. I actually don't know how long I was asleep."

He raised his arm to look at his watch-less wrist and said, "Hmm, about an eternity," earning a wholehearted laugh from Nora. He grinned back at her and placed a plate of steaming scrambled eggs with a fluffy slice of buttered bread in front of her.

"This looks great, J. Thank you," she said, her stomach growling at the sight of the food.

"Don't mention it, doll," he replied through a mouthful of bread.

He watched her as she blinked away her sleep and began to eat. She raised her eyebrows and nodded at him as she chewed. It tasted amazing, like she'd never eaten eggs before. Joker smirked with satisfaction and pushed a cup of coffee toward her.

"It's like you can read my mind," she chuckled.

Joker laughed and said, "Ohhh but I can!" Then he leaned in and squinted his eyes at her. "Mmm well if I knew about that last night I would have tried i-t," he said in a low rumble before laughing again when Nora's mouth dropped open with surprise as a smile still pulled at her cheeks.

Nora finished her breakfast while Joker watched her with half-lidded eyes. She didn't mind. He liked to watch her do the simplest things, like she did them differently than anyone else. She thought it was sweet.

"Ready, doll?" he asked, as she put down her fork, and she nodded her head.

He led her to the small room on the other end of the warehouse, where Matt's blood was still on the floor, and through another door out to a loading dock. Nora's nose was met with a sharp chemical smell that burned her nostrils and made her eyes water. She blinked her eyes a few times and saw tall stacks of large white bags atop several palates along the edge of the dock where a truck was waiting. The bags were each labeled with an orange diamond and the letters "ANFO".

Joker approached the palates and leaned on one of them to face Nora. "This beautiful chemical is known as an-fo," he explained. "A mixture of nine-ty four percent ammonium nitrate and six percent diesel fuel. This match made in heaven produces a delightful high velocity explosion with a little encourage-ment from a couple of sticks of dynamite. Just set the dynamite off with a blasting cap aaaand BOOM!" he finished, putting his hands up and spreading his fingers out to mimic an explosion.

Nora widened her eyes and stared at the palates. There were hundreds of pounds of the stuff sitting on the dock with them. Her stomach dropped and she asked, "Um. Is it safe to be out here?" Not surprisingly, she'd never been around explosives before.

He raised his eyebrows and said, "Hmm, that depends. Do you, uh, have any dynamite on ya?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "No. I don't have any dynamite," she said with a little grin. What a smart ass.

"Oh good! Then yes, it's safe," he giggled. "Nabbed it from a shipment going to the mines early this morning."

"So what's it for then?" she asked.

A devilish smile made its way across Joker's face. "Ahhh well it's another love-ly gift for our friend Maroni," he growled. Nora couldn't help but smile too. His enthusiasm for mischief was contagious.

A door opened on the other end of the loading dock for Nick to walk through it and approach them. "The rat only knew when, where, and how many. Pretty low in the ranks so he didn't know much. A dozen armed guys, minus our friend of course, are gonna be there at ten minutes to nine," said Nick.

Joker nodded and said, "Good. And Maroni?"

Nick nodded back and replied, "Got out on bail this morning. He'll be waiting in a car outside the place at nine."

"Get it ready," Joker said with a grin. Nick hurried off with a cell phone he had dialed at his ear.

Joker turned to Nora and said, "You might be a little late for your meeting with Sal to-night."

Nora sat on the edge of the loading dock for the next hour, fidgeting with a pebble from the ground, watching Joker and his men stack the bags of stolen chemicals inside the truck. They were going to drive it to Gotham Freight Shipping that night. Did this make her an accomplice? Hm. I guess it does. At this point she realized she was actually an accessory to quite a few crimes. What would happen if they got caught? She would go to prison, probably for a long time. But it didn't matter, she couldn't back out now, even if she wanted to. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a man moaning in pain from inside the warehouse. She jumped to her feet and ran inside.

She came rushing in followed shortly by Joker to find Q laying on a table in the middle of the large room, bleeding from his abdomen, with Enigma by his side staring at them.

"Care to explain?" yelled Joker.

Enigma was panting almost has much as Q and swallowed before saying, "We were at our post, watchin' for anybody comin' around Nora's place. We saw a couple guys goin' up the fire escape and went after 'em. They shot Q."

Nora looked at Q lying flat on his back with his hands over the right side of his belly, covered in blood that was rushing out between his fingers. "Get my kit from the office" she quickly told Enigma as she tried to move Q's hands away, then Enigma ran toward the stairs to the office as Joker stood close by.

"I need to see it, Q," she said calmly. He looked at her with a terrified expression on his face, drenched in sweat. "It's ok, I've got you. Let me see," she reassured him, maintaining her composure as her pulse soared.

He slowly moved his hands and put is head back with his eyes squeezed shut as he groaned. His white t-shirt was wet with bright red blood that flowed from a wound on his right side, below his ribs. Nora tried to tear his shirt to remove it, without any success. Then Joker handed her a switchblade, she thanked him with her gaze before using it to cut the shirt from bottom to top and moved it out of her way. "Q, are you hurt anywhere else?" she asked.

He shook his head and managed to say, "I don't think so."

She turned her attention back to the wound. It was a puncture wound with torn edges from the bullet's shockwave. The amount of blood made her worried that it hit an organ in his abdomen. Ok, right upper quadrant. That's liver, gallbladder, kidney, large intestine. Fuck. Enigma came running back to the table with Nora's medical bag. She quickly opened it and pulled out a pair of gloves to slide them on her hands as well as a pack of gauze. Then she tossed a pair to Joker and he put them on without question. Using a handful of gauze, she pressed hard on the wound, making Q wince and hiss through his teeth. His skin was becoming pale. He's already lost a lot of blood. He needs fluids. She looked to Joker and he took her place to press on the wound while she went to her bag to retrieve an IV catheter, tape, and a tourniquet. She tied the rubber tubing around the top his arm and flicked at the skin on the inside of his arm to encourage a vein to pop up. Once she saw the cephalic vein rise, she punctured the catheter into the blood vessel and withdrew the needle to attach a port and tape it securely in place. After untying the tourniquet, she went back into her kit to grab a liter bag of IV fluids and tubing. Nora shoved the items at Enigma and said, "Open the tubing, uncap the spike and push it into the port at the bottom of the fluid bag, let the fluid run through the tubing then pinch it off with the clamp on the line. Think you can manage to attach it to his catheter?"

Enigma stared back at her and nodded, "I'll try."

Nora looked to Joker still holding pressure on the flow of blood escaping from Q's abdomen. It was soaking through the gauze and wasn't showing any sign of slowing down. I gotta find the bleed. She pulled out some more supplies. Hemostat clamps, forceps, a small retractor, and a scalpel blade.

"Is this right?" asked Enigma. He had the bag set up and the tubing line flushed.

"That's great," she said. "Now take the cap off the end of the tubing and carefully push it into the port on his arm there. Then un-pinch the clamp on the tubing and squeeze the bag a bit to push fluids into his vein. Keep the bag above his arm." He nodded and went to follow her instructions.

She turned to speak to Q, "Ok, you're doing great. Q? Can you hear me?" He looked dazed and seemed to be on the brink of tears but nodded slightly. "I have to find what's bleeding and stop it. The wound is too small, I have to open it a bit. It's gonna hurt but you can do this," she said, squeezing his hand.

He laid his head back and uttered, "Ok," a tear running from his eye and along his temple.

Taking the scalpel in her hand, Nora leaned over Q and used it to quickly cut from the edge of the bullet hole, lengthening it by a few inches. Q cried out through his clenched jaw and Enigma took his hand for him to squeeze it as he grunted. Then she gently placed the retractor to hold the skin open and peered into the wound, dabbing away blood with more gauze to try to see better. There was still so much blood, it was hard to see. She grabbed a hemostat and clamped a small vessel bleeding from his torn skin. Then she saw it. Just through the abdominal wall, a lobe of his liver had a jagged hole in it, spouting blood. Shit. The liver is a friable organ that bleeds readily when injured and is difficult to stop bleeding since clamps just do more damage. Gotta improvise. Think, think, think. She stared at the wound for a moment.

As if on cue, Nora remembered a passage from the field medicine chapter of her emergency procedures book. Balloon catheters can be used to inflate inside wounds like bullet holes to put direct pressure and stop bleeding without causing further damage. She hurried to her medical bag and started digging through it until she found a 10 ml Foley urinary catheter. Well that's lucky. Then she filled a 10 ml syringe with fluid from his IV bag and took the urinary catheter out of its package to stand over Q, the supplies readied in her hands.

"Keep breathing Q and hold as still as you can," she said before plunging the tip of the catheter into his abdomen. Q screamed and Joker held him down, she had to keep going. Nora fed the rubber tube into the bullet hole until she felt resistance. Then she attached the syringe to the balloon port to inflate it with saline. Her eyes were focused, unblinking, on the wound as blood flowed from it. She kept pushing in saline. Come on, come on, come on. 6 mls, 7 mls, 8 mls. Then the bleeding stopped.

She watched it for a moment, holding her breath. Nothing. She did it. Nora let her breath go and clamped the end of the rubber tube to keep it closed.

"Well done, doc," Joker stated with a grin.

Q's breathing slowed and he asked, "What? What's happening?"

"Nora saved your life, man," said Enigma as he stared at the opening in Q's belly, looking a bit pale himself.

She snapped back into focus after her victory and said, "We need to get him to a hospital." He still needed help fast, this was only a temporary fix. "He needs a blood transfusion and surgery. There's a bullet in his liver. I stopped the bleeding for now but we're not out of the woods yet."

Enigma and Joker looked at each other and then at Q.

"They rebuilt Gotham General, right?" Enigma asked.

Nora quickly stapled up her incision to close it enough just so the length of the Foley catheter was sticking out of the original wound while Joker backed a car up to the side door. Then they sat Q up on the table as he groaned. Enigma hooked his arms beneath Q's from behind him and Nora leaned in to secure the rubber catheter against his skin with a generous amount of tape. They carefully lifted him off the table with Enigma at his torso and Joker carrying his legs, a bit of blood escaping from his wound.

"It's ok, keep going," she said loudly over Q's shouting, holding under his hips and keeping his IV fluid bag between her jaw and shoulder.

They awkwardly made their way to the waiting car and managed to lay Q in the back seat, all four of them huffing from the effort and covered in blood. With no time to catch their breath, Joker threw the car into drive and hit the gas. The car sped away from the warehouse, skidding on the wet road. No one said a word. Q stared out the car window at the grey sky above him, his vision drifting in and out of focus while Nora squeezed the fluid bag still attached to his arm from the front seat. She noticed the glazed look in his eyes and spoke up, "Q?' He rolled his head to the side to look at her.

"You're gonna have a really cool scar," she said and he smiled faintly back at her.

The black car came to a screeching halt in front of the newly reconstructed Gotham General Hospital. Nora looked to Joker with a worried expression. He knew why. They'd see him.

Nora climbed out of the car to run through the doors to the emergency department. A few people moved out of her way when they saw the blood on her clothes and she called out, "Excuse me! I have a gunshot wound to the abdomen outside! Stable but barely!"

A tall, dark-haired man in green scrubs with a nametag that read "RESIDENT" came jogging toward her with a gurney and she motioned for him to follow her. A muscular man with the nametag "RN" came along with them. The double doors slid open the reveal a crowd staring at Joker and Enigma, carefully lifting Q out of the car as he twisted up his face and hollered. The two men with Nora stopped in their tracks, unsure about what they were seeing.

"He didn't shoot him," Nora told them. The men looked at each other, confused, before cautiously approaching while keeping their distance.

Joker and Enigma heaved Q up onto the gurney and Nora said, "The bullet is in a lobe of his liver, I didn't open it up any more to look for more damage but I inflated that Foley catheter in the entry wound to slow the bleeding."

The resident doctor nodded but was staring at Joker. He stared back with his brow lowered and said, "Didn't your mommy ever teach you it's ruuude to stare? Hm?" The man quickly averted his gaze and grabbed hold of the gurney to push it back toward the doors as the nurse placed an oxygen mask over Q's mouth.

Enigma followed and called behind him, "I'll stay with him! Get outta here!"

The crowd was frozen, not one person made a move. Joker's presence kept everyone silent, like they were stunned. No one ever thought they would run into him but were all always afraid they would. It was like he didn't really exist until they saw him in front of them. Nora remembered when she felt like that the night she met him.

Then he and Nora took off in the car before anyone registered what just happened. The sound of sirens wasn't far behind them as Joker sped through the streets and they caught their breath.

Song for this chapter: all the good girls go to hell by Billie Eilish

Comments/reviews always welcome! I'd love you hear from you!