The Joker's Private Jet
On Route back to Paris
Anna didn't say a word on the plane ride back to Paris. She just sat in a chair and looked out the window humming the Disney song she'd heard Jeanie singing. When Harley asked if she wanted anything, all Anna did was shake her head and curl deeper into the blanket she'd taken from the overhead storage compartment.
"I'm worried about her pudding" Harley spoke quietly as not to disturb Anna.
"She just took a spin on the TMI teacup ride, what not to be worried about?" Joker said taking a large gulp of his scotch.
"Ya, think there's anything we can do?"
"All we can do now Harls is wait for her to snap out of it.
The Joker's Paris Apartment
November 13th
1am Paris Time
Anna couldn't sleep. She just kept seeing and feeling all those new memories. Giving up, she got out of bed and went to her closet. She needed to get out with or without her father's say so. She pulled on a pair of tight black jeans, Doc Martins, red t-shirt and a hoodie/leather jacket combo. She also took a backpack and stuffed it with some cash, her nunchakus, a pair of butterfly knives, a lighter and the fake ID her father'd given her to use. In the hallway, she heard the frightening sounds of her father and stepmother having some alone time. From the sounds of it, they were either banging or killing each other. Neither would have surprised Anna in the least. She crept towards the front door, unlocked it as quietly as she could and stepped out.
"And where do you think you're going?" A man asked from behind her.
Anna turned to see Frost, her father's #2. Not caring what his reaction would be Anna looked Frost in the eye defiantly, tilter her head and told him exactly where she was going, "Out."
"Look kid, your dad gave me strict orders here, no one goes in or out without his permission." Frost said contritely.
"Well it just so happens he gave me permission." Anna said not missing a beat.
"Really?" frost asked not believing her for a second.
"Yep, he and my mom need some grown up time together and they don't want me scarred by the nature of their private games. I'd go and ask them to come out and prove it to you but they'd already started round 1. Hear it for yourself," Anna opened the door letting the sounds of vehement lovemaking out into the hall. Anna closed the door "I'll be on my way then, don't wait up Frosty."
"Hold on kid. If you're lying to me and I let you out, your dad will literally have my head."
"And if I'm not and you don't let me out then… same ending. You really wanna take that chance?" Anna said nothing after that. Just stared Frost in the eye and let the gravity of the choice he had sink in.
"Alright fine, but I'm coming with you." He said realizing a teenager might have just duped him.
"I don't need a babysitter."
"Oh trust me, I realize that. But if you are lying, I'll have kept you safe. Hopefully that'll at least earn me some points. So, where we going?"
Anna rolled her eyes and started walking away with Frost on her tail. "Drugstore."
Anna sat in the back of a black Rolls Royce while Frost drove them to a nearby 24-hour drugstore. He pulled up in front of the door and turned to Anna, "What are we getting?"
"I am getting some personal items, you are staying in the car."
"Fat chance kid." Frost said reaching for his door.
Anna had to think fast. "Hey Frost?" she asked nicely. When he turned around Anna lifted her top and flashed him her breasts.
"What the fuck Anna?!" he turned away like his eyes were on fire.
"Great, now that that's over with, I'm going to go in the store and get what I need and you will wait here or I'll tell my dad you asked to see them. And even if he doesn't believe that you asked, he'll still know you saw plenty when he look's at your face. Oh, and give me your wallet."
Frost's nostrils flared and how easily this little kid conned him. He took out his wallet and handed it to her without looking. "That was fucked up Anna." He said as she exited.
"Please, you liked it." She said and closed the car door behind her. In the store Anna grabbed a shopping cart and slowly walked through the rows. She stopped at the hair care section and grabbed some hair dye and a man's electric razor. She needed a new start, a new look. It was time to reinvent herself. She also grabbed some makeup, white shoelaces, a bag of chips, a bottle of red wine (go figure a drug store that sold wine) and a pack of French cigarettes. Done with getting her supplies Anna went to the counter and paid like a good upstanding citizen thinking this may be the last time she would ever behave as one. The clerk wished her a good night in French and she thanked him with a "Merci!" before turning towards the exit. Frost was still in the car but he wasn't looking at her, he was on his phone with who Anna guessed was her father. Frost looked like he was being screamed at to high hell.
"Busted," Anna said. She turned to the clerk and asked in French id there was a back exit.
"Y at-il une sortie arrière?" Her French was nowhere near as good as her father's but she'd been learning from a book Harley gave her when they first arrived.
The clerk smiled nodded his head and pointed at another set of glass doors on the other side of the store. She thanked him again and went for the doors at a run. Through the glass she could see Frost run into the store looking for her. She wanted to feel bad for screwing Frost over so royally but the truth was she was on the verge of a transformation and it needed to happen on its own. She tucked the merchandise into her bag and helped herself to one of the smokes. They were stronger than American cigarettes and they made Anna a little light headed.
As she walked through the streets she recognized that she'd wondered off into some kind of red light district. Women in slutty clothing leaned against doorways as sleazy men groped their bodies asking how much. A red neon sign that said MOTEL caught Anna's eye. She walked over to it, went inside and asked how much for 3 hours. The woman behind the desk was old and tough as nails with too much makeup and whiskers growing out of the corner of her chin. She quoted Anna 60 euro's. Anna handed over the cash and the woman gave her a key but not before tucking the bills into her zero-support bra.
Anna found the room, let herself in and dumped her backpack on the bed. The room's décor was a combination of French luxury and utter squalor. A perfect setting for what was to happen next. Observing the tools she'd picked up, Anna took the bottle of wine and opened it with the help of one of the butterfly knives she's brought. Lighting another cigarette and taking a large gulp of vino, she rose the bottle to the sky,
"Here lay's Anna Kerry. Daughter to a loving father and mother. Breathtakingly fucked over by a system that was designed to protect children like her. Forever more the world will say she became a monster through the influence of her criminal father. But the truth is she evolved into her truest self because of everyone who failed her and only lived because of the love she discovered when she found her family again. May she rest in peace, or burn in hell. What the fuck ever." She took another gulp and went to work.
The Joker's Paris Apartment
6AM Paris Time
"Frost, you come back with my daughter or else start running for your fucking life!" The Joker screamed into his cell phone and hung up.
"I don't understand, why would she run away?" Harley sobbed from the couch.
"Taking her to the Hatter screwed her up. I bet she doesn't know what she's doing right now. FUCK!" The Joker paced the apartment's great room wearing black silk pajama pants and a purple and gold silk robe. The robe had fallen open hours ago revealing his tattooed torso; he didn't bother closing it again. He was so worried about Anna he wasn't sure what planet he was on.
Harley, in her red satin nighty sat on the couch clutching Anna's pillow. It hadn't been long since Anna came into their lives but in that short time she had become theirs. Harley considered Anna her real daughter and was ready to burn the city down with her man by her side if that's what it took to find their little girl.
Outside the door to the apartment, a commotion arose. Some gunshots were fired but all came to an abrupt halt. The Joker expecting they were under attack retrieved an AK47 from the hall closet and started shooting. Harley grabbed her glock 9mm and positioned herself to the left of the door against the wall.
"Daddy…" Anna's voice called weakly from the other side of the bullet riddled door. Fearing he might have accidentally shot his daughter the Joker dropped the gun and sprinted to the source of the voice. In the hallway outside the apartment door Anna lay in a bloody heap.
"Anna!" He yelled, picking her up and carrying her into the apartment. Completely forsaking the gaggle of dead bodies she's been laying on top of. In the foyer he cradled her in his arms. Harley rushed to their side, brushing back Anna's blood soaked hair.
"I'm sorry daddy…" She spoke weakly.
"Anna where the hell have you been?" He asked.
"I… I just wanted… I needed to…" Anna's voice trailed off, her eyes rolling away, her body going limp.
The Joker froze holding the body of his daughter. Harley cried holding Anna's bloody hand like she had in London. Their little girl was gone.
"And the Academy Award goes to!" Anna screamed in her father's hold and began laughing uncontrollably. It took a moment for Joker and Harley to grasp that Anna had tricked them. The Joker stood up letting Anna fall to the floor with a thud.
"Ow.." she managed to say through her laughter.
"What the fuck was that?" Joker asked beyond pissed off.
"Aw, what's the matter daddy? Can't take it when the joke's on you?" Anna taunted as she got to her feet.
Without thinking the Joker backhanded Anna across her right cheek. The impact spun Anna almost completely around. As she regained her equilibrium she looked at her father and asked him something he did not expect. "Now the left side please?"
He looked at her like she'd grown a third head. "What?" he asked.
"You see I've discovered I'm becoming a little OCD with pain so can you please smack the other side too? Otherwise it's gonna bug me all night." She explained. Without hesitation, he struck her left cheek as well.
"Woo! Now it's a party!" Anna giggled and skipped to the liquor stand helping herself to a glass of brandy. "It's raining out there did you guys know? Burr! That November rain really gets into your bones."
"Anna what the fuck if going on with you?" Harley asked not amused.
"Mom, I know this is a lot to take in but I think you are going to want to sit down for it. You too Daddy." Anna sipped the brandy and pointed to the couch. Unaccustomed to being told what to do by anyone, Joker and Harley awkwardly sat.
"So here's the thing. After that brain scramble, back at the short guy's pad, a lot of things became ultra clear. At first it felt like my brain had become too big for my scull, you know, like those inbred pitbulls that eat people and shit? But then everything found it's own order and it made perfect sense. I have a new purpose, a mission if you will. You see, I was meant to be something great. All the shit, piss and glass I crawled through my whole life led me to find clarity with you two, my family. But the problem is everything that stood in our way all these years. Batman smuggling me into the system, the system sending me to fucked up home after fucked up home, the school system and hired pervert teachers, it's a whole thing. It's a living breathing unholy animal that needs to be hunted, stuffed and mounted on a wall to make sure this bullshit never happens again to anyone! Oh and by the way, we're gonna need some new security cause I kinda shorthanded us a little." Anna said taking another sip and pointing at the front door.
"Anna, honey what are you getting at?" Harley asked confused by her daughter's rambling. She reminded her of… her father. Harley looked at the Joker who was no longer furious but smiling. He totally understood where his daughter was going with this. And thought back to he and Harley's conversation from yesterday morning.
"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?"
Anna was becoming the nightmare, pride swelled in his chest.
"I'm saying we are not the bad guys mom, we are the result of a failing system and I'm going to eradicate it. I'm going to bring it crashing down and make it my bitch. And when I do, I will have freed the world from lies, and manipulation, and abuse, and everything will thrive in blissful…"
"…Anarchy" The Joker finished her sentence. Anna turned to her father who was beaming at her. "Exactly, Anarchy. That's what I am now." Anna brushed her hair off the left side of her head. Joker only now noticed she'd dyed it jet black and once the hair was off her left, she revealed a side shave that covered the left quarter of her head. In the center of the exposed flesh was a tattoo of a capital A, the apex of the letter extending in an X formation, the cross line elongated to form the letter but brake the intersecting lines. Finishing off the letter was a circle that encompassed the core of the jagged A. It was the globally known symbol for Anarchy.
"I'm not Anna anymore. Mommy, Daddy, I am Anarky."