November 11th 2016
Gotham City
Frost Bite Night Club
11:00PM East Coast Time
Damien paced the VIP room at Frost Bite's. Ninja never called him. Something about her lack of communication made him crazy and he couldn't wait to see her again and demand an explanation. Then, once he received a total briefing, he'd spend the rest of the night making out with his first ever "girlfriend." It amazed Damien how attracted he was to the girl after only one night. More than that how infatuated he became after she completely ignored him.
"Chill out Romeo, She's only 35 seconds late." Oz said already buzzing after pounding 3 shots of Parton and 2 beers. Oz took a long drag from a joint and held it in. With the air still held in his lungs, Oz analyzed Damien. "Uh-oh, have I lost my bestie to the "L" word?"
Damien didn't answer, just threw an empty beer bottle at Oz, which was blocked by one of the decorative pillows that adorned the nightclub couches. "That's a yes!" Oz shouted from under the ballistic protection of a polyester pillow.
As Oz peeked over the pillow's edge he glanced at the entry way and saw Jen. "Hey! There's Goldie Lox! Snow White shouldn't be far behind."
Damien's heart started to pound but as Jen got closer he felt disappointment, Ninja was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey Kids!" Jen greeted trying to sound coquettish. But Damien noticed she looked weary. Her eyes were a little too red and there were bags under them. Damien started to worry.
"Where's Ninja? She never called me."
Jen hesitated but recovered "My sista from another mista was called away. But I'm here with a small candy story within my possession. Who's ready to get this party started?" She waived a baggie of coke in Damien's direction before tossing it at him. He caught it but wasn't going to drop the topic so easily. He grabbed Jens arm pulling her close and talking so only she could hear him.
"Define called away."
Jen looked serious. "Trust me Richie Rich, let it go. You don't wanna go down that rabbit hole." She shrugged Damien off and went for Oz "Hey love! Miss me?" She asked sitting down on his lap.
Oz held her greedily, "Every second of every day beautiful! You bring me a present?" He asked.
Damien blocked out the rest of what they said and just stood there. He analyzed what Jen had said, noting the faintest hint of an accent as she said 'rabbit hole.' He wanted to leave. Wanted to run out into the streets and beat to a bloody pulp anyone who had any information on his girl. But he realized how irrational that was in the long run because Ninja wasn't actually his girl. He didn't even know her. They had a few hours of awesome ass kicking fun and one mind-blowing kiss. That was it.
His father was right, women like her were nothing but trouble and here he was was ready and willing to go to war over a street girl who dealt drugs for Crow. Girls like her had a short life expectancy and Damien had to come to terms with the fact that Ninja was most likely dead and he had a mission to complete. So he caught the bouncer's eye and gave him a signal. The bouncer nodded and in less that a minute, a pretty young girl with red hair sauntered over. Damien took her hand and sat down pulling the red head onto his lap.
Oz looked at his friend and chuckled. "You're moving on nicely old boy!"
"Light bulb policy: if one burns out, just screw in another one."
Oz laughed a little louder and held out his fist to Damien, "Ya baby! That's my boy!"
Damien bumped his fist with Oz's and went back to the red head. She smelled like maraschino cherries. So sweet it gave him a headache. In a bit he'd take her to one of the private bathrooms and pay her not to blow him but to say she blew. He'd tell her he had an STD he was clearing up and didn't want to give it to her or have it leaked to the media. The girl would take the cash and be glad she got free money. If it did leak to the media, Damien would be playing up the playboy lifestyle; if it didn't even better. But tonight, he'd relieve himself like he'd been doing since he hit puberty thinking of the mystery woman called Ninja. Oz was wrong, Ninja hadn't been Snow White, she was Cinderella, and it was almost an absolute that prince charming would never see her again.
"Oh! I almost forgot! Crow sent these for you both." Jen handed Oz and Damien black envelopes sealed with gold sealing wax with SC imprinted on it. "It's an invite to the man's Thanksgiving party. Congrats on the entry.
Oz grinded his hips on Jen "Any chance you'll be my Plus 1?"
Jen grinded back, "No Plus 1's allowed and I'm already going."
"Great! Than you'll be my date!" Oz exclaimed.
This was the break he'd been waiting for. The place would be crawling with the who's who of Gotham's criminals. And maybe, just maybe, he'd find out what happened to Ninja. His father needed to know about this ASAP.
November 12th 2016
The Joker's Paris Apartment
9:00AM Paris Time
"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" Harley shouted spewing coffee all over the kitchen counter narrowly missing the issue of French Vogue She had been reading. The Joker had just unveiled his plan to bring Anna to Jervis Tech and allow him to pry her mind open. The hope was that Anna would address the barricades that block her from remembering things.
"According to my last psyche evaluation, very much so." The Joker responded smiling.
"Ok, let me rephrase. You cannot seriously be considering taking our little girl to that pint sized brain butcher!"
"Oh, I'm more than considering it. Frost is reading the plane as we speak, we have an appointment for this afternoon."
"What on earth made you think this is a good idea?" Harley asked, already exhausted with her husband.
The Joker spoke soberly "You saw for yourself last night when Anna watched the video we made. The girl is holding on to some deeply rooted trauma that is holding her back from who she truly is, who she could be. Now we can go about this in two ways: 1, we can hand her over to your more than capable hands, and over the next 10 years maybe she will be able to accept her issues and become a somewhat stable though obscenely medicated member of society. Or, #2, we take her to the imp and see for ourselves exactly what happened to her, Anna will have the opportunity to bulldoze through her blockage and take her rightful place in this family as a member of our public team or…" He brought his fore finger to his lips and dropped his voice to a whisper "…as part of our privet sector." He smiled with pride looking off into an imaginary future for his daughter. "She could be the next District Attorney of Gotham City! Or she could be the coming generation's worst nightmare. What more could a father want for his little angel?"
"Ya, or option #3, she totally implodes and becomes a vegetable!"
"Sounds like 10 to 1 odds to me."
Harley was about to rebut when Anna walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning princess!" Joker greeted.
"I'm becoming a vegetable?" she asked looking between her parents.
"Busted," Harley said into her coffee cup.
Realizing he was in fact busted, the Joker chose his words carefully "Anna, darling. After what happened last night with the video, Daddy made an appointment with an old acquaintance who specializes in… shall we say minds that are colorfully intricate."
"Mmhmm, and his aftercare treatment is beyond compare." Harley said sarcastically.
Joker shot her an I'll fucking kill you look before looking back at Anna.
"You're taking me to a shrink?" Anna asked confused.
"Not exactly. He's more like an head un-shrinker."
"Ok, when?"
Both the Joker and Harley paused at how easily Anna agreed to see this mystery healer.
"That's it? Just 'ok'?" He asked more than a little surprised at how easy that went.
"If you think it will help me then I'll do it. I know you guys aren't the most conventional parents ever but so far everything that's happened between us has been the most positive parental experience I've had so, I trust you. Is there any coffee left?"
"On the counter honey." Harley told her.
Anna helped herself to a cup and grabbed the sugar dispenser. Holding it upside-down she poured a nauseating amount of sugar into her cup of black coffee. Harley and Joker eyed each other knowingly then at Anna.
"Got a bit of a sweet tooth Anna honey?" Harley asked.
Anna shrugged. "I'm not happy till the spoon stands straight up."
"Oh ya, that's all you." Harley said to the Joker turning the page on her French Vogue.
"So when do I see this dude?" Anna asked.
"This afternoon at 3, he's in London and they are an hour behind Paris so we'll be flying out at 1. We'll probably need to stay the night so pack a bag."
"Cool," Anna chugged her coffee and dropped the mug in the sink. "I'm gonna jump in the shower and get packing." She went to Harley and kissed her cheek then her father's before skipping out of the kitchen and to her section of the apartment.
"You hear that? Cool." Joker said to Harley.
"I reserve the right to celebrate till after she comes out still functional."
"No one likes a party pooper mon cher." The Joker spanked Harley's ass and walked away.
November 11th 2016
Gotham City
Wayne Manor
3:00AM East Cost Time
Damien arrived home and tossed his leather jacket on the nearest chair. The fireplace in the drawing room was still burning. As he entered he saw his father was sitting in one of the velvet wingback chairs gazing into the blaze.
"You're home earlier than usual." Bruce said to his son.
"Told them you sent a get home now text." Damien replied sitting in the matching chair next to his father. He noticed a folder sitting on the small table between them, papers unevenly peeking out of the edges as though they'd been read through more than once.
"Anything good?' Damien asked referring to the folder. His father still hadn't made eye contact with him. A sure sign that something was troubling him.
"Good? No, not at all. There's been some new developments and they are disconcerting to say the least. Here," Bruce handed the folder over to Damien. "You never knew about this because I hoped it was something I had put to an end years ago but it's looking like the past isn't quite yet done with me."
Damien was confused but he opened the folder and looked through the enclosed documents. They were transfer papers for a little girl named Anna Kerr that named the Wayne Foundation as the child's legal guardian from November 2000 to January 2001. Then there was other paperwork naming the child a ward of the state as the Wayne Foundation turned the girl over to social services as of January 17th 2001 but her name had been changed Anna Kerry. Along with it were hospital bills and doctor notes on the child's health and progress. The paperwork had been signed by…
"Why is your signature on every one of the documents dad? And who is this girl?" Damien asked. He did the math in his head and calculated that Anna Kerry would be 16 years old by now.
"The girl in those files is the child of a very dangerous man. When she was born her criminal father wasn't aware she was alive so to protect her I had the Wayne foundation falsify her records before she entered the system."
"What's with all the doctor bills?"
"She was born with a ton of medical problems I couldn't just send her into the system without making sure she was alright first. So I paid for her medical treatment until she was deemed healthy."
"That's admirable of you dad but what's this got to do with anything?"
"Waller…" When Bruce said that name there was a clear note of hatred. "Somehow she learned about what I had done and is threatening to expose the girl and what I did unless I help recruit her for Waller's pet project."
"I though Task Force X was scrapped."
"Only on paper. Her Suicide Squad is still very much alive and active. They just squashed what would have been a huge terror attack in Metropolis."
"I still don't get why you're so against them. If criminals can be used to do some good what's the harm?"
"The harm is they don't really care about the greater good. They're just earning brownie points for prison perks and eventually hope to be let back out onto the streets again. Waller doesn't have it in her to take on evil herself so she organized Task Force X as a way to feel like a super hero. It's a joke."
"Ok, well it looks like she's set on this girl but why?"
"Because of who her father is."
"So, who is he?"
"The Joker."
"Ho-ly shit." Damien sat back in his chair stunned. "Waller doesn't care about the girl at all does she? She wants to recruit the Joker."
"It's the most likely reason for trying to blackmail me. She'd get The Joker, Harley and the girl in one fowl swoop. If this goes public it wont take a genius to figure out Bruce Wayne would only bend over backwards to hide the Joker's child if he had a vested interest in saving her."
"Which is a very Batman thing to do. But the Joker is in hiding with Harley Quinn and he doesn't even know if his daughter is alive. Nothing in the guys history says he'd even care about her."
"Oh he'll care and I think he's already found her."
"Any idea what she looks like?"
"The most recent photo on file is on the last page."
Damien turned to the back of the folder and almost fainted. It was her, his mystery kind-of girlfriend. "No fucking way…" he said out loud and covered his mouth.
"What was that?"
"Nothing… it's nothing." How could Damien tell his father the girl he's encountered and had sort of started developing feelings for was the Joker's daughter? Bruce was right the Joker was looking for her, That must have been why Ninja (who he now knew was really named Anna) was asking for help with a passport. She knew he was after her and she was running. Damien needed to find her now, more than because it was what he and his family did, but because he cared about her.
For now however, he'd keep that to himself. "I got an invitation to the Scarecrow's Thanksgiving shindig. I doubt the Joker would miss that for the world. Every high-ranking criminal will be there as well as the top buyers and suppliers. If I go scope the place out the group of us can take them all down."
"I'm guessing you mean more than just your brother and I."
"I do. Barbra, Katherine, maybe even the new League you've been working on with Diana."
"It's far too soon for that but I'll consider the former. This is good son. Your party boy persona is paying off better than mine ever did. Dick is on patrol tonight so you should get some rest."
"Ya, I'm going. Mind if I take the picture with me? I can scan through my club photo's and see if she's ever been around."
"That would be great. Good night son." Bruce showed no sign of leaving his chair as Damien took Anna's picture and left the drawing room.
Damien should have been consumed by the fact that his tong had played tonsil hockey with the child of a man who was pure evil but all he could think of was he had her picture and that he finally knew her real name. "Anna, her name is Anna and she needs me." He thought to himself and went to his room; touching her two-dimensional face the whole way.
Hope you all enjoyed this one! If it feels like a prelude to something big then you're right! It is!
I'm currently doing a ton of research on Alice and Wonderland to prepare for the next chapter. I have a whole lot of amazing things planned and am chomping at the bit to get it off the ground.
Also check out my One Shot titled "Joker, Day 1" that attaches to this story and let me know what you think.
Please, please, please review!
Thanks!
~SL