AN: Wow—thanks for all the feedback, folks!! To answer a few questions: Devryn—you're right on both counts. The 'Queen of Hearts' thing refers to both the deck of cards, and the Alice In Wonderland idea. redmisery18—also right, although I'll get to Harvey's role in all this in more detail later. Greetings and thanks for the praise to new reader, OperaCountess—great to have you! Okay then, onward...
8: Now.
I would have much preferred a silent guardian, but as luck would have it, the man stationed to see to it that I did not leave my cell was a chatty type. I answered him in flat monosyllables, but he was not discouraged. His mind was maddeningly obtuse—he was utterly incapable of seeing any point of view beyond his own. He was, in short, the complete opposite of myself.
"You don't really think he loves you, do you?" he sneered. He had directed this question at me already.
"Yes, I do," I answered.
"Be serious. He's a total whack job—he doesn't care about anyone but himself."
"Are you certain, sir, that you are describing another and not yourself?"
"Hey, you can't talk to me like that." He rattled his nightstick against the bars of my cell. "I'm the boss here, and you gotta show me some respect."
I eyed him coldly, gaining a thrill of satisfaction when his bravado trembled. "Respect is something earned," I told him. "Not something written on a badge or a uniform. I promise to give you exactly what you deserve."
"Yeah?" His voice was firm, but his eyes and spirit quailed, and he moved away from the bars. "Well I think I deserve to know your name. Huh? Let's have it."
I said nothing, but a half-smile twitched over my lips at his bull-headed persistence.
"C'mon, missy. What does The Joker call you—can you tell me that?"
I heard ticking; he was close. Time to move. "He calls me his 'little lady,'" I said. "And sometimes the Queen of Hearts." I looked the guard dead in the eye and rose to my feet. "And sometimes, he calls me by my real name." The guard stepped back shakily, every trace of authority vanquished. "Would you like to hear it?"
"N-no, that's—"
"Come closer." I went to the edge of the cell and curled my fingers around the bars; he jumped, but not far. I had him. "Don't be frightened, Nicholas."
"H-how do you know m-my—"
"Shh," I whispered. "Come here." I stretched my hand out through the bars and beckoned him. He came. Seconds later, his spine was severed at the neck, and his keys were in my hand. I unlocked my cage and tiptoed out to the hallway, making my way to the guard's restroom in the next wing. From there I crawled into the air ducts in the ceiling and made my escape. The Joker was waiting for me.