Chapter One

Lily's violet eyes flashed open at the sound of her alarm clock radio. "…Crash with a total of four fatalities. That is the fifth car crash this week caused by a man that calls himself the Ri-" Her fist came down onto the clock, nearly smashing it again. That would have made seventeen in the past month, almost an accidental record. 'Alert Guinness' Lily stood up and stretched as she yawned sleepily. She had been up most of the night, not for the reasons most people her age would be doing, she wasn't out partying or sleeping over her boyfriend's house (if she even had one), she was running around town fighting crime. She was the Dark Masque and boy did it take a lot out of her.

The Dark Masque, a fierce defender of Gotham. Lily had been training for eight years, fighting on the streets for three but no one ever noticed her. They all noticed the Batman but never noticed the red and black cladded girl. Extremely sexist huh? Lily didn't mind but the Dark Masque did.

Lily let her body stiffly drop down to the ground and she instantly pushed herself to do her usual round of morning push ups, she had to stay in shape, the criminals of Gotham were becoming tougher as each day passed. After she had finished, she walked over to her dressing table and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her midnight escapades were beginning to show, dark circles around her violet eyes were forming, her dark brown almost black hair a mop of tangled mess and then there was the many bruises and shallow cuts all over her body under her grey sweatpants and pale pink tank top.

Grimacing, Lily picked up her brush and pulled it threw her tangles. After several minutes of tears and grunts, she finally tamed her curly mass of hair.

"LILY!" her mother screamed from down stairs. "ARE YOU AWAKE?"

Lily chuckled. "Yeah ma, even if I was, I think your screams would have woken up the dead!" she shouted back light-heartedly. She loved her mother dearly and she knew she was only trying to look out for her but she was still excited about finally leaving the nest. The only reason she had stayed for as long as she had is because her mother had grown sick and she could bearly afford her studies at Gotham University. But that was all over, her mother was much better and Lily was a fully qualified nurse.

"YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR WORK!" Her mother shouted back after a loud snort. Lily rolled her eyes, she had two and a half hours and it only took thirty-five minutes to get to work.

"Ok ma!" she quickly ran into the bathroom connected to her room for a quick shower. Lily massaged her sore muscles as she cleaned herself, her hand moved down her side and gasped. 'I really have to invest in some armour in my costume' she thought as she gently washed off the dried up blood on her slight stab wound. The knife had just missed it's target last night but it had struck something alright. Once she had finished, she reached out to the bench for a towel and found empty air. 'Huh?' she thought to herself. slowly she opened the bathroom door and poked her head into her empty room and saw her towel on her bed with a folded piece of paper. 'Odd.' Lily bolted over to her towel and wrapped it around her wet body. She picked up the folded note and swallowed dryly.

To my dearest Lily

You bring life to my willy

Be prepared for tonight

Cause daddy loves to bite

- Ross

'Oh god not again.' She thought feeling defeated. Ross was her stepfather and since she was a little girl, he had been paying her 'night-only visits'. At first she didn't know what was going on, and he coaxed her, telling her it was her duty and if she didn't do it, she would be a bad girl. As she grew older, she thought about turning him in but then she would lose everything. Who would believe her? They would think of her as a common slut for letting him do such things to her. Lily had learned how to put him off, a couple bottles of liquor would put him out like a light. She would disappear into the night (unknown to him her secret identity) and now she was finally leaving. Things are about to change.

'No more nightmares. No more Ross. No more pain.' Lily smiled as she scrunched up the extremely bad poem and dried herself and pulled on her work clothes. A white nurse dress with her name badge above the pocket on her left breast, a violet belt that matched her eyes and sensible white and black sneakers. Her hair was already mostly dried and had sprung back into its curly mess, she pinned the sides back and fixed up her bangs. 'One last touch…' she looked into the mirror and stared at her flawless pale skin, well, almost flawless. She quickly opened her foundation and covered up her raccoon eyes and stopped with her brush millimetres away from her eyebrow.

There on the end of her left eyebrow was a thin scar she had won one day when she was first mugged. She had a really bad day at school and finally stood up for herself and put up a fight and he took a swipe at her with his knife. Lily shook her head of those memories and continued to cover it up as much as possible. She wasn't ashamed of it or anything; it was when the 'Dark Masque' had finally come out in her. People knew her as a sweet innocent girl with unsual eyes who would never hurt a fly and took pity on her after her mugging. She just didn't like people pitying her.

That night, she swore she would help Gotham, she would unleash a powerful force and wipe out criminal activity in the god-forsaken city.

Grabbing her black side bag, she grabbed the door handle, looking back at her room which was a freeze frame of a little girl's room. The walls were a soft pink, her furniture white trimmed with pink and posters of local bands no one outside of Gotham had ever heard of.

'I will leave this place' Lily thought as she closed the door.

xXx

The Joker stood at the open window with his arms opened wide and his eyes shut. The soft breeze weaved through his greasy green hair. Everything was quiet and still. Except of course the elderly couple that were bound and gagged in the corner stained with their own blood. The Joker sighed mockingly and turned to the couple with his signature twisted smile making them scream and plead. He walked right up to them until he was almost nose to nose with the grey-haired woman.

"Hi." He said simply, grinning toothily. She screamed even louder. "Ah-ta-ta-ta-ta!" he said pulling out his favoured razor and pressing it against the woman's cheek. "Nice place you got here, so far away from people… from the police or anyone that could help!" he chuckled and they both whimpered. "Oh now, don't you wanna know how I got these scars?" he asked, pouting childishly. Neither of them moved, their eyes fixed on the razor. No one ever dared to look at him in the eyes, the scars yes but no one could stand the cold black pits that were his eyes. "I had a pretty bad up-bringing… my father huh, he killed my mother and abandoned me before I even started school. My grandparents…" he smirked and closed his eyes eyes in enjoyment. He loved to play with his food. "…We're just as bad as him. I was bullied relentlessly, and I never smiled. Always a frown. One day, they had enough of my frown and pinned me down…"

'Huh, made a rhyme' he randomly thought as he trailed his beloved razor across her old wrinkly skin. "…And suck a razor in my mouth and gave me a nice. Big. Smile." The woman whimpered as he forcefully shoved the razor into her mouth. "You need to smile more granny. You're much to uh, serious." She screamed as he carved up her face. The Joker watched as the woman passed out from the pain and slowly bled out onto the floor. Her husband was shaking with fear, sobbing madly and staring at his beloved wife slowly bleed out at his feet. "Come on Gramps…" The Joker said moving to the newly widowed man. "Why so serious?" he hissed in the elder man's ear.

The razor slid across the wrinkly throat, sentencing the man to death. The Joker watched in a childish glee as the old man grasped his neck to stop the bleeding as he choked on his own blood. He was all riled up. The kill had gotten him all excited and now he had to sit here and wait for the opportune moment. He had to wait again and he was no patient man.

Without warning, the Joker turned around to the two dead bodies and kicked them viciously, taking out his anger on the bleeding carcases.

"Uh boss…" said Pat, the Joker's longest living henchmen. He stood in the doorway, gripping the edge prepared to fling himself out of the way if need be. The Joker stopped, hunched over his latest victims, he turned around looking passive at Pat, who tried not to flinch at the calm expression on his face. It was like the calm before the storm, extremely frightening.

"What is it Patty boy?" he sung as he cleaned his knife on the slightly dusty lounge next to him.

Pat swallowed nervously and ran a beefy hand through his short red locks. "We uh, got the "transport" you wanted, and the newbies are set to kill each other off during the heist."

The Joker smiled his trademarked grin, his eyes fuelled with glee and insanity. "I think it's about time we take out a uh, deposit don't you Patty cake?" Pat cringed at the horrible nickname the Joker had just used but still nodded his head solemnly in agreement. His boss was brilliant. A few screws loose but brilliant. And he was going to change Gotham forever.