Hello Readers! I am so very sorry for the long delay for chapter 14. I was hell bent on finishing one of my other stories so I could focus my energy on this one. Chapter 15 will be up by the end of the week and it will contain my months of Alice in Wonderland research. I hope you all enjoy it and please, please review? Even if it's just to curse me out for taking so long!

On the plane ride from Paris to England Anna, like any other angst riddled teen, listened to her headphones and played games on her new iPad. She was feeling slightly buzzed from the champagne Harley served them all before takeoff but for a moment she thought about how she totally lucked out. Less than a month ago she was a foster kid who didn't matter to anyone. The only reason she mattered in the lives of the many foster families she'd stayed with was for the government issued check they received every week. Now she had a family, all be it a fucked up one. But that didn't matter. She had a family and she'd do anything for them. Switching channels, she returned to her game.

"Fucking birds, I'll show you angry." She said to the screen.

From across the plane the Joker observed his daughter without blinking. She scrunched herself on two seats, with her back to the window and her feet on the armrest. He could easily picture her in that same position asleep on a subway bench, cold and alone. Unsure of when her next meal would come from or what revolting act she'd have to commit to get it. He had to shake himself from the thought and remind himself that she was with him now, and he would never let that happen to her. Anna's future was with him and her new mother.

"Penny for your thoughts puddin?" Harley asked.

"Save yourself the cent." He responded

"You know you'd save yourself a lot of airtime if you just sat down and talked to her. Instead'a just ya know, staring when you think she's not paying attention."

He said nothing back. Harley was right, but what could he say to Anna? He had no idea how to start conversations with his daughter. She was a foreign species to him that spoke a language he didn't, a real feat since he's taught himself many. But teenage girl was a dialect no father had cracked yet, and those were normal fathers.

Harley uncrossed her legs and stood up from her seat, downing her glass of champagne before putting it down and taking a step behind him. He felt her put her hands on his shoulder blades and give him a gentle shove in Anna's direction.

Seeing her father approach from her periphery, Anna pulled out one of her earbuds and sat up.

"Hey dad." She greeted him.

"What are you up to?"

"Killing pigs."

"My favorite pastime." He said cocking an eyebrow and smirking.

It took Anna a second to get his joke but when she did she laughed. It amazed him how mature his daughter's sense of humor was. Must be an inherent trait, he thought to himself.

"Mind making some room for your old man?" he asked eyeing her boots that were still up on the second seat.

"Oh, ya sure! Sorry, you don't usually do the sitting and talking thing." She said in earnest.

He sat and did his best to have a conversation with her, "It's not you kid, I'm not usually in the position to chit chat. I'm more the, do what I say or I kill you, kind of conversator."

"Probably the I'll still kill you afterwards kind too."

That made him laugh. "I need to know, how the hell are you able to make jokes like that knowing who I am? I mean, have your previous 15 years and X weeks been spent raised by Jack the Ripper?"

"You really wanna know?" She asked amused he was taking such a personal interest in her.

"No, I'm asking for my health. What do you think?"

"Well, it's kind of my generation."

"What does that mean?" He asked a bit lost at her answer.

"Allow me to give you a crash course in the first of the useless: I am a Millennial. Generation Y. Born between the birth of AIDS and 9/11, give or take. The call us the global generation. We are known for our entitlement and narcissism. Some say it's because we were the first generation where every kid gets a trophy just for showing up. Other's think it's because social media allows us to post every time we fart or have a sandwich for all the world to see. But our one defining trait is a numbness to the world and an indifference to suffering."

The Joker was stunned. A very hard thing to do to a man like him. "Wow, that was brilliant."

Anna nodded "American Horror Story: Coven, episode 7"

Realizing the marvelous assessment Anna had given to her generation was TV knowledge and not her own had him chuckling "Punk," he put his arm around her and hugged her, slightly surprised at how easy it was to show her casual affection. She rested her head on his shoulder and he, going a step farther kissed her hair and rested his chin on her crown.

"Dad?" She asked

"Yes princess?"

"I like talking to you."

"Ya, I like it too,"

"We are beginning our final decent into Fuck Nut Airfield Boss." Frost said over the intercom.

"Fuck Nut airfield?" Anna asked.

The Joker smiled, "It's my nickname for the man we're going to see's landing zone."

"I'm catching the impression that you really don't like this guy."

"Oh I loathe this guy princess but he is the best at what he does."

"And what exactly is it that he does?"

"He's an inventor and a… quasi visionary I suppose. We had some business a while back but he betrayed me and I got sent to Arkhem. It was all for the best in the end since that was how I met Harley."

Anna smiled, "You really love her, don't you?"

"I do,"

"More than you loved my birth mother?"

The Joker hesitated, considering how he would word his answer, "Yes, I was a different man then princess. Let's say that none of this ever happened, that your birth mother never died and I never became the man you see before you right now. That we three stayed together in that slum and you grew up with the two of us as parents. Now let's say Jeanie got mugged on her way home from work and was killed. I would have been able to let her go and raise you as best I could."

Anna nodded.

"if something were to happen to Harley, I'd move heaven and earth to get her back. The last 16 years molded me into a beast Anna. Harley has been part of my soul for just over 3 years. She saw me at my darkest, knows all the pain I harbor. She has been the only woman to quell what lurks beneath. A different man could move on if he loses the ones he loves, this man will sell his soul to get them back and when the devil says no to the offer, this man will shoot him in the face and take them back anyway. Now you are part of that equation. I will kill anyone who has ever or will ever hurt you and I will kill anyone who tries to take you from me again."

"I know dad. I'd do the same for you and Harley." What Anna couldn't tell her father is just how many people had hurt her all her life. She feared if she did, he would totally loose it and maybe even loose his love for her.

Jervis Tech's Mansion

When they landed a black car that looked very British, per what Anna had seen on TV, was waiting for them. Frost and the rest of the Joker's men stayed behind. Before he, Harley and Anna got into the car the joker turned to frost and gave him a slight nod. Frost returned the look and Anna realized her father had enacted some sort of plan with his right-hand man. The three then climbed into the car and drove off to the "house" of their host.

The home of Jervis Tech looked like something that would make Guillermo Del Toro wet himself and most children run in fear. It was a gothic style palace complete with sweeping windows, pointed arches and flying buttresses. The monstrosity of a building sat atop a jagged mountain face overlooking a scary body of water.

"So… this guy is a member of the Adams family?" Anna asked.

Before anyone could respond with a comeback, the grand doors to the mansion opened and out strode a… rather undersized man. He wore a full grey and pink tuxedo and an oversized grey top hat.

"Ah, my honored guests have arrived just on time." From his pocket the man pulled out a pocket watch to confirm their promptness. "For you all I've prepared some lovely cheese and wine. But first…" The man eyes Anna like she was a juicy steak. "I do believe introductions are customary, and while I know these two are quite contrary, I shall take the liberty," He completely dismissed both the Joker and Harley and went straight for Anna taking her hand. "Who, my lovely, might you be?"

"Um, I'm Anna."

"Dead oh dear a palindrome how dreary, we must get you another name my dearie."

"Well it's the only one I've got, why are you talking like that?" Anna asked annoyed and a little skived out.

"It is my way lovely Ann, what is your connection to this…" he waived at the Joker who was a hair away from losing whatever patience he had. "…Colorful man."

"He's my dad." Anna said with pride.

"What?" Tech asked dropping his grandeur.

"You heard her stumpy, I'm her dad."

"You reproduced?" Tech asked somewhat disgusted.

"Ya, and if you don't let go of her hand I'll be all too motivated to snap yours off."

Tech dropped Anna's hand like it was on fire. While he may have been an evil genius comparable to the green haired man before him, Tech was smart enough not to piss off the Joker too badly.

"Well then, this is a strange and unexpected situation, one I do believe calls for strong libation."

"Agreed, where do you keep the booze in this crypt?" Harley asked inviting herself in the mansion. Tech ran after her fearful she would disrupt the perfect order in which he kept his home and possibly break something accidentally/on purpose if left unattended.

"Dad, this guy creeps me out."

"He should, he's a kiddie rapist."

Anna's eyes bugged out of her head. "And you brought me here why?"

"Because as repulsive as he is, he can help you get past your memory blocks. I don't buy into that psychobabble bullshit. You can't remember because something triggered you to not remember and he has the tools we need to break down the walls."

"I don't have a good feeling about this."

The Joker took his daughter's face in his hands. "Daddy is going to be with you every second. I will not leave you alone with him even if I must pee. I'll piss on one of his plants right in front of him if I have too."

"Serious over share but good to know. Alright let's get this over with."

They followed the echo's of a panicked Jervis Tech as Harley made herself familiar with the bar and the parlor where the bar was located.

"Do be careful Harleen, that vase is over 200 years old! It cost more than you can imagine!"

"Boy did they see you coming! My nanna in Scottsdale has the same one, she got it at Target for $20 bucks." She tossed the antique vase behind her only for Tech to catch it and reposition it where it belonged.

"Would you please get you mistress under control?" Tech shouted at the Joker

"Wife short pants. Get used to it." He retorted

Harley took a seat and Tech calmed down a notch. "Well, married with a child, aren't you a Rockwell sight. But there's an observation made I'd like to question if I might?"

"You may not but it's not like that'll stop you." The Joker poured himself 2 fingers of whiskey and turned to face Tech. Anna had taken a seat beside Harley who handed the girl a glass of the same amber liquid.

"The girl is of juvenile age, and Harleen of 29?"

"27 and a half fuck face." Harley said to Tech's guess of her age.

He ignored her and continued his query, "I do believe the girl was not born of she and thine."

"No, she wasn't, Anna is my daughter born before I hit bottom. Happy?"

"And why do we know about her only the now? You could not have kept her hidden this long, no way, no how."

The Joker was ready to lose it. Already he was picturizing pealing the hatter's skin from his flesh like a banana. But his daughter needed help and this annoying little terd could help her. But that didn't mean he had to bow down to the damned oompa loopa. The Joker took a moment to throw back his drink, turn slowly to face Tech with a big smile on his face. Then he grabbed the lapels of Tech's tux and toss him against the wall. Joker held Tech off the ground at face level with himself and gave up the information the imp was after with a big smile on his face. The most frightening one he had that displayed his silver teeth.

"Ok short stuff, you want details, here you go. Anna is the daughter of myself and my first wife back when I was a regular struggling sap. The day I was reborn I was told by some ill-informed pig that she and my late wife were killed in an electric shock incident, thank you shitty wiring in shittier tenement buildings. For the last 16 years, I thought I'd lost them both but only recently discovered Anna had lived and OUR. FIREND. THE BAT!.." Joker pulled back and slammed Tech into the wall at each word to for good measure. It was very important that the imp get the point Joker was trying to make. "…kept her hidden away in suburban foster home hell. Are you still with me?"

Tech's feet kicked and struggled unsuccessfully to find the floor. Hi gave no response to the Joker;s question but did have a look of sheer outrage on his twisted mug.

"Good. Now I have her back and she's perfect, beautiful, intelligent and possesses the ability to fit right in with our little family. There's just one hitch in our flawless bubble. She has a problem with her memory. When things get too stressful, she checks out and doesn't remember what she does. I thought I had a handle on it but I don't. So, here's where you come in. We need you to hook her up to your little brain toy and make her face her darkness."

"You demented bastard! Do you really thing I would let you into my home without and security measures in place? I can have you and your precious family killed with one word!"

The Joker faked fear, "Oh no! Security measures? What are we gonna do Harls? Hand me my phone so I can call an Uber to save us!" Harley giggles as handed the Joker his iPhone. Totally switching channels, he turned the screen of the phone to show Tech the image. It was of Frost and the rest of joker's men standing around a group of men dressed as royal guards, their uniforms decorated with red and black hearts. One of the guards was holding a sign that read PLAN B. "You mean these security measures?"

The Hatter's face fell for a moment before he recovered "As if that's my only means of insuring you don't kill me. The whole house is rigged with traps that can end you in the most brutal of ways and only I know where they are and how to avoid them. One step on the wrong marble tile can result in your being electrocuted to death or shot with poisonous darts."

"Promise?" The Joker asked looking like a kid in a candy store.

"I mean it clown. I can kill your precious daughter with the push of one button and you won't even see where the button was.

The Joker got serious now. "Careful midget. Threatening the only two people in this world that mean anything to me and this banter we have going on will stop being so much fun. But since you went there…" The Joker let go of Tech and he fell to the floor. When he sat up the Joker opened his jacket to reveal a silver rectangular device with a few buttons and a posted that read PLAN C."

"What is that?" the Hatter asked

"The control something that makes a really big boom and it happens to be flying over us right now."

Tech's eyes widened. "You wouldn't, you'd kill us all!"

"Then we'd go out like a family and take you with us. Now are you in, or do I have to get button happy with this thing?"

"In,"

"Excellent. Where to you keep that tricked out Xbox by the way?"

Once the Hatter composed himself. "It's downstairs but one thing first. I will do this for your girl but you must help me find mine."

"You don't have any children stumpy"

"No I do not, I'm speaking of my niece Alice."

"I noticed you've dropped the rhyming so I'll hear you out. What niece?"

"She was entrusted into my care when she was a child. She was my world. Then her mind was poisoned and she ran from me."

"Or more likely, you tortured her and she ran from you." Harley said from the couch.

"I loved her! Loved! She was my angel! Years ago, I gave up hope of finding her and so I did my best to replace her. But none could compare to my perfect Alice."

"Any idea where she might be?" Joker asked.

Harley was shocked. There was no way her pudding would agree to helping this twerp find a girl who clearly ran from him. Not after everything he was going through to form a relationship with Anna.

"My last bit of intel said she stowed away on the QE2. An ocean liner and travels back and forth between London and New York but she disappeared in the dregs of Gotham City. Agree to help me find her and I will help your daughter."

"You have yourself a deal short stack. I'll help you find your niece. But first my daughter." The Joker had chosen his words carefully. He agreed to help find the girl but not to help Hatter get her back. Loopholes were basically his thing. He never made a deal he couldn't get out of or that didn't benefit him.

The Hatter composed himself. Knowing the Joker wasn't one for shaking hands he didn't bother holding his own out. With a shake the Hatter was back to his old self. "Then shall we to the cellar my friends?"