Chapter Two

Everyone at Gotham General Hospital loved Lily, she was polite, friendly, always on time and loved to look after her charges. As she walked through the corridors, doctors would congratulate her successes, nurses would try to engage her into mindless chit-chat and patients would ask her if she was visiting them today. Lily breezed through her usual routine of talk to the more... permanent residential side of the hospital. The place where they held people who were most likely going to leave this hospital unless in a hearse.

She paused outside room 173 and quickly fixed up her uniform before knocking on the door softly. "Come in!" called out a weak voice. Lily pulled on her cheeriest smile and walked into the slightly dim room. Visiting this room was always a double edged blade, she loved visiting but it hurt to see someone fallen so far.

There was only one bed in this room, situated about three feet away from the window with thick blue drapes drawn shut. Laying on the bed was a fragile old man, withered by age but not completely ready to give up on life. His stormy blue eyes filled with life and still held a spark that only appeared when Lily was around. The room was faintly humming and Lily's eyes flickered to the machines that kept him alive.

It saddened her seeing a once lively man relying on a hunk of metal, the calluses on his hands showed the hard work he had overcome, his wrinkles represented each year of laughter he had enjoyed but the humming was a reminder of what he had now... nothing. His life was as hollow as the droning machines next to him. "Hello Mr Crane, how are you today?" The man looked up at the young nurse and his eyes widened.

"Jonathan?" he asked hopefully, reaching out to Lily. She sighed and took his hand gently.

"No Mr Crane, it's Nurse Lily." She said calmly. She watched as his face turn from hopeful to crestfallen. Lily had to injure this every time she talked with this man, he always called her Jonathan and then asked her if he was here.

"He's... Is he here?" He asked so innocently, looking up at Lily who shook her head and gave his hand a comforting squeeze. "Maybe he's just too busy... He works at that Arkham Asylum you know, such a clever boy. Just wish he would come by once in a while..." Lily couldn't look at the broken down man in the eyes, she didn't want to tell him that his 'clever boy' was actually a villain of Gotham and had caused his heart attack that placed him in the hospital. "No one visits... son wont visit, wife ran off with another man, missing father and mother's dead..."

He stopped and looked up at Lily with penetrating eyes that Lily could not look away from. "You look like her you know, violet eyes... dark hair..." He shook his head and laughed bitterly. "Ah well, I'll be joining her soon." Lily frowned and stood there for a minute thinking to herself.

Mr Peter Crane, her father? Ha! Imagine her mother with a man of his age while he was with his wife! Lily tried to picture her mother, Peter, Jonathan and herself sitting around an armchair by the fire reading a book like a happy family. She could imagine herself with pigtails and Jonathan pulling one of her tuffs of hair and her screaming out in pain. Lily bursted into laughter, bringing the elder man out of his trance.

Seeing his confused expression she quickly explained what she had envisioned and soon he was laughing along with her. "I would have loved to have you as a daughter my dear, you've taken such good care of me for the past couple of days..."

"Um, eight months..."

"Oh..."

Suddenly the door was thrown open and the nurse named Kathy came crashing in looking awestruck.

"Kathy, what is it?" Lily asked worriedly, her mind spinning off into scenarios that involved her family and other patients.

"A-I-He-B-Bruce Wayne just called and asked for you, he said something like 'Tell Lily to turn on her damn phone and call me back' and-" Lily held up her hand to stop her friend from more rambling.

"Thanks Kathy." Lily said letting go of Peter's hand. "See you later Mr Crane." She said as she walked out into the corridor with Kathy hot on her heels. 'And here we go'

"Do you know the famous playboy Bruce Wayne?"

"Yes."

"How long? Were you to fuck buddies? Oh my god is he as hot as they say in the magazines? How come you didn't tell me?"

Lily sighed, Bruce had always caused this for her. "I've known him since we were little, no we were not 'fuck buddies' nor will we ever be, he is good looking but he's not my type and I didn't tell you cause then you might use me to get close to him." Lily ended lightheartedly, smiling in triumph as Kathy's face grew slightly pink.

"I-I di- I mean,"

Lily laughed and hugged the other girl. "It's okay, I was only teasing at the last part, sort of. I know you wouldn't do that but I didn't always know that." Kathy smiled shyly and babbled on about how she needed to go and do something. Lily giggled as she watched her friend quickly run off in the other direction, clearly embarrassed by her own behavior. It happened every time someone found out about her being best friends with Bruce Wayne.

She walked into the locker room where all the staff kept their belongings safe while they worked and quickly moved to her own. Lily unlocked her locker in a quick flash and fished out her mobile and turned it on. Seventeen missed calls from Bruce and two voice messages.

"Lily it's Bruce, I know you like it at the hospital but I have a job opening seeing as my secretary doesn't understand simplest things-"

Delete.

"Knowing that you would have delete my message before listening to it fully, I left this message. Come on Lily! Better pay, better hours for half the work! I have a bad feeling about you working there Lily, please call me?" Lily sighed as the message ended. She punched in Bruce's number and it rang twice before he answered. "Hel-"

"No."

"But-"

"No!" Lily could hear him sigh and could picture him rubbing his brow in frustration.

xXx

Bruce was rubbing his brow in frustration. 'God she was annoying!' Here he was trying to help her and she flatly shot him down again. "Why?" there was a pause on the other end. "Why stay there Lily? You know better than anyone the types of people that walk through that door!"

"Not everyone that walks through here is a criminal Bruce!" He heard her sigh. "Look, I know you're just trying to protect me but momma I'm a big girl now and-" she stopped mid-sentence and he heard her press a few buttons. "Damn!"

"What is it Lily?"

"The bank's calling me, I got to go-"

"Call me as soon as you get home!"

"Yes dad." And with that she hung up. Bruce groaned and lazily chucked his phone on the lounge where Alfred quickly picked it up and put it on the coffee table.

"Everything okay with Miss Carter?" Alfred asked already knowing the answer.

Bruce ran his fingers through his filthy hair and sighed. "She's fine, I just have a bad feeling Alfred, she's... Lily."

Alfred sighed and picked up a photo frame "Master Wayne, I know you feel responsible for Lily, as do I, but there comes a time where you have to realise, she isn't a little girl anymore. She doesn't need her big brother watching over her like... well, big brother." He handed Bruce the photo. "She's a grown woman now, in charge of her own life, just like Miss Dawes." Alfred strode out leaving Bruce to wallow in his thoughts. Bruce looked down at the photo to see Lily looking straight at him whilst she held up her certificate and smiled lovingly at the sight.

She may not have been his sister but it sure felt like it. His baby sister. And it was going to stay like that no matter what. Bruce smirked, she was only a few years younger than him but the years seemed to multiply in his eyes every time he saw her or even thought of her. 'Little Lily'

That's always how it was going to be.

xXx

'Oh god, why me?' Lily thought as she jumped out of the cab outside Gotham City's bank. Her shift at the hospital had just finished when she got the call from the bank to give her the terrible news. The bank manager's voice echoing through her mind.

'...Sorry Miss Carter...'

'...Mistake with your loan...'

'...Declined.'

What did she expect? It was well known that that particular bank was harbouring some of the mobs money. It was a mob bank but did she really have a choice? Most banks in Gotham are either controlled by the dangerous men or hold "small" sums of their riches. Others were shot up every second day.

"Ugh!" Lily growled as she made her way up the main stairs of the bank. Lily wanted to just go home and get changed into her Dark Masque costume and beat up a criminal. For justice of course. 'Always for justice.' She opened the door and walked over to one of the tellers. "Hi, I'm Lily Carter and I'm here about my loan-"

"Ah Miss Carter!" boomed a rather ratty looking bank manager. Lily smiled and walked over to him and held out her hand.

"Hello Mr Finick how are you?" Lily asked politely as he led her to his office.

"Good Ma'am but you didn't have to come down, the bank is closing in an hour." Finick said looking slightly frustrated.

Lily frowned. "Why so early? It's only Four..."

"Yes well, we have particular clients... coming in soon." He said hintingly. Lily's mouth formed an 'O' shape and she nervously played with her skirt and looked up at the mirror behind him. 'Vanity alert.' she thought when she spotted the mirror. But then she saw three figures walk through the doors, raising their guns.

"Where is the nearest closet?" Lily blurted out. Finick looked at her confused and then saw the men. He looked down at the nervous girl and quickly opened a secret doggy door behind his desk. Lily mimed a thank you and quickly crawled through the small tunnel, dragging her bag behind her. 'Looks like the Dark Masque was coming out to play sooner than she planned.'

xXx

The Joker sat in the van with the two other guys, Grumpy and Chuckles, ignoring their conversation about how much money they were each going to get. 'Pathetic.' He thought as he loaded his gun. He grimaced underneath the frowning clown mask, he hated guns, sure they were fun but knives... were so much... more. Little flickers of emotion showed themselves as they slowly bled out and the smell of the blood stained on the blade never leaves, no matter how much you wash it.

His favorite blade was tucked neatly in the inside pocket of his old grey suit jacket. Most insane criminals name their favorite weapons but he never named his, it was almost as bad as having a young child, it was a sign of human weakness; a thing he, the Joker, does not have.

"...No wonder they call him the Joker!" the one called Grumpy said. The Joker held his finger over the trigger and tried to control the urge to shoot the idiot opposite of him. "Come on, lets get this over and done with." Grumpy said when they pulled up outside the Bank.

xXx

Lily crawled out of the small door into an empty corridor. 'Thank god!' She opened up her bag and pulled out her costume. "You guys picked the worst day to rob this bank." She murmured as she quickly got changed and ready for a fight.

xXx

'I am sooo close to freaking shooting him!' the Joker thought angrily as Grumpy barked out commands to both the hostages and clowns alike. A gun shot filled the air and the clown called Chuckles flew through the air and came crashing down. One clown down and if his plan was working, the second killing was happening up on the roof as they spoke. The surviving clowns dove behind a counter as the bank manager stormed over to them and shot at their hiding spot.

'Manager grew some balls.' The Joker thought as he counted the bullets he fired in their direction.

"He's got three right?" Grumpy asked him. The Joker grinned under his mask and held up two fingers, he just wanted to have a little fun before everything got serious.

Finick fired two more bullets and Grumpy jumped up. The Joker watched as the manager fired his last bullet into Grumpy's shoulder, throwing him onto his backside. Finick fumbled to reload his weapon and the Joker sighed as he jumped up and shot the man in the torso. Finick fell to the ground and grimaced in pain. The Joker picked up the manager's shotgun and stared at the man in pain, tilting his head as he did as if he was studying a strange labrat in a scientific experiment.

"Where'd you learn to count?!" Grumpy asked grumpily. The Joker was grinning again under his mask as he slowly loaded up the shotgun with fresh shells. Grumpy limped off to find the others leaving the Joker alone with the hostages.

Finick looked up at the Joker in disgust. "You have any idea who you're stealing from? You and Your friends are dead!" He shouted at the man hoping he would become fearful. The Joker looked down at him and licked his lips, maybe he should let that one live just to see what he had in store for Gotham, that it didn't matter who he was stealing from, all that mattered was who was stealing from them.

Grumpy came back, dragging several duffel bags of money. Mob money. Blood money. "C'mon, there's a lot to carry." Grumpy grumbled. The Joker strode over and helped the other clown drag the heavy bags into the Centre to form a huge mountain of bags. "If this guy was so smart he would have had us bring a bigger car." The Joker snorted, if only he knew. He felt the hot barrel of the recently used gun touch the back of his neck. "I'm betting the Joker told you to kill me as soon as we loaded the cash." A sense of thrill ran through the Joker's body as he felt the gun against his neck; he loved the idea of life hanging in the balance, leaving everything up to chance, not knowing the next step. It was chaos and he was the agent of chaos, the clown prince of crime. Everyone was going to learn that very soon, starting with this foolish man.

The Joker straightened up as he said this and they slowly began turning, taking one step at a time, lead by the Joker. "No, no, no. I kill the bus driver." The Joker says to the gun wielding man.

"Bus driver? What bus-" A yellow school bus came crashing through the building running Grumpy over, finally killing him. The driver opened up the back door of the bus as the Joker picked up the fallen weapons.

"He's not getting up is he?" The driver clown asked jokingly. They loaded up the bus with the cash while the driver commented on how heavy the money was. "What happened to the rest of the guys?" The Joker didn't even turn around when he fired his gun. 'There's your answer' He gripped the doorway of the bus and took a step in.

"I don't think you can get that large of a withdrawal here." The Joker turned around and smirked. Standing on the staircase was a beautiful red haired girl wearing a red mask with black clown triangles over the eyes of the mask. She was wearing a black and red corset that was short at the front and long at the back, one red boot and one black boot with matching elbow length gloves. He then spotted a pair of handcuffs hanging off her belt among other things and knew she was one of them, different but one of them. "Look buddy, if you somehow even make it out of here, your boss..." She took a few steps closer and dramatically waved her hand around and moved her fingers in an elegant matter. "...he's just gonna kill ya for the money."

"Unless..." He took off his mask and her smile was wiped off.

"Joker."

"Well well well, you know me." The Joker walked up to her and pointed his gun at her. "But who are you?" He traced the gun down her back as he spoke to her. She spun around and knocked the gun out of his hand and twisted his hand behind his back.

"I'm the Dark Masque." she growled into his ear. The Joker scoffed and gripped onto the fabric of the corset and flung her over himself. She gasped in pain when she landed on her back and the Joker grinned in sadistic pleasure. She was not expecting him to have that much strength. Lily spun around and knocked him down as well. She climbed on top of him and sat on his waist to pin him down and then she reached for her handcuffs.

"Kinky." The Joker giggled. He rolled her over so then he was on top. "But we just meet." He began laughing hysterically as he punched the girl until she was close to unconsciousness. The Joker sighed when he saw her state and picked her up and half carried, half dragged her over to a chair. "Let's try something uh, Miss Masque." He yanked her handcuffs off her belt and chained her wrists to the chair. "The pigs will be here in uh, five minutes. I'm willing to bet, they don't know who you are and also you don't want them to know."

He looked at her and he could see her hair wasn't real, it was believable but up close, he could see it was fake. Then he saw her eyes, he couldn't really tell the colour cause of her heavy-liddedness, only that it was a dark colour, possibly dark blue or dark brown like his. He wanted so badly to unmask the Dark Masque but time was running short, he wanted Gotham to burn and she wasn't part of it. 'Not until I'm ready.' She glared at him as he stared. 'She's gonna be fun to break though.' He thought as he stood up.

"See ya soon doll." He let out a bellowing laugh as he walked back over to the bus and drove off into a parade of yellow school buses.

"Damn it!" The Dark Masque gasped. The Joker had done up her handcuffs too tight for her to slip and her lick pick was on the front of her utility belt. "Stupid Joker..."