HA! I got no reviews but I'm updating it. I would just like to say that the more reviews I have the more I will update. But here you go anyway. I don't own anything. Last time was a bit aggressive but I promise this chapter fits the story better. I realized how rediculous this is getting so I decided to change the genra a bit.
Chapter 9
Artemis, Joey, and Damian had not heard from the Joker in several days now. They had seen Dr. Quinnzel again already and the sessions were uneventful except in one session where she had them do a word game using each other.
Two days ago:
Harley watched as the three sat together on the couch wonder what she had in mind. "Now," she said, taking off her glasses, "how about each of you tell me how your week has gone?"
"Well," said Joey first, "do you remember seeing all that craziness on the news about Gordon being the Jokers next target and how someone had distoryed a store not far from here? Well that wasn't the Joker." Artemis and Damian both covered his mouth as quick as they could.
"And, why, may I ask, do you say that," asked Dr. Quinnzel in a very serious tone. Artemis and Damian exchanged glances. Harleen nodded, that was all she needed. Fortunately for them she could not give such information out. Doctor Patient Confidentiality. It always seemed to kill her when she got patients like these. "Did you think it was funny or something?"
"Actually, yes, I did," said Artemis defiantly.
"So you find the pain of others funny?"
"Of course not!"
"Do you realize that doing what you did was putting others in pain and you laugh at it?"
"Well, I didn't do it to harm anyone," she argued. Dr. Quinnzel pinched the bridge of her nose. That was not a good sign and Artemis knew it. She looked down at the ground with the feeling of guilt washing over her. Harleen looked at her and gave her a small smile.
"Guilt. That's a good sign. But I'm afraid the only way to cure this is to apologize to those you have hurt."
"What," shotued Damian, "if we do that we will get caught! We'll go to jail!"
"Yes, that is a problem, isn't it," said Harleen, "an annonimous apology letter then. I suggest you all write one and deliver it by night, that way you can explane things and not go to jail for it. Just don't put your names on it okay? JOEY!?" Joey jumped a bit and laughed nervously. "Good, now today I have you all together to try a bit of word games. Let's let go of all of the feelings you have starting with each other. If we do that we can get past all trust problems, be totally honest with each other, so you can grow stronger as friends and it will help pull all of you out safely."
The others looked at each other nervously. What where their opinions on me rang through their heads. "This excersize does tend to cause tention, but the point is to get tention out of the way. Now Joey I wan't you to give me one word that discribes Artemis about the thing that irritates you the most." Joey thought for a moment.
"Um, one word? That's kind of hard, can I use more then one word?"
"Sorry, Joey, one word."
"Okay, you are a bit to…um….bitchy," he said.
"Bitchy," she asked taken aback.
"Well, you have this tendency to scare the shit out of people when you are mad and as far as humor you are a tad bit ruthless. That, and when you complane, you tend to make sure no body has happy either. I'm sorry but you're bitchy."
"Very good," said Harleen, "now Damian, one word to discribe when get's on your nerves about Artemis."
"Artemis is unpredictable," he said, "she is easily rialed up but you never know if she is going to get mad or find it funny. It's kind of hard not to offend you sometimes and you get a bit bitchy about it."
Artemis took a deap breath, this was going to be a long session.
"Now, Artemis, what is it about Joey that get's on your nerves in one word?"
"Joey is childish," she said, "I feel like I babysit you half the time and that I have to keep an eye on you before you do something really stupid."
"Well, you didn't seem to hesitate for a response their," spat Joey.
"Okay, kids, settle down, Damian, you're turn."
"Um Joey is a bit irresponsible," said Damian, "he is forgetful and has his head up in the sky most of the time. He seems to put weed before everything else and has a habit of forgetting important stuff a bit to easy."
"Man, can't get a break," said Joey crossing his arms.
"Well Joey, tell me about Damian in one word," said Harleen.
"Damian is fatherly," said Joey, "he thinks he should take charge every time something goes wrong. I have opinions to but he just elects himself leader and leads the pack."
"Well, I don't see you or Artemis taking any responsibility. You guys are just to busy chasing each other around and acting like a couple of children."
"Hey, I do NOT act like a child," said Artemis, stomping her foot on the floor. Joey snickered at her. Artemis shouted at him to shut up and he kept on laughing.
"You see, Harleen, this is what I deal with on a daley basis! I'm living with thrill seaking four year olds! That whole thing about Gordon and the store was their idea! They drug me along for the ride!"
"Alright now, everyone, Artemis, what is it that irritates you about Damian?"
"How about know-it-all," she said, "he is so sure that he is always right even when you put the proof in his face. He is just never wrong no matter what. Oh, and another thing, he is controling!"
"Stop it, I am not controlling," he argued.
"Oh, see, he is doing it again," said Artemis now standing, "he says he's not controlling so he must not be!"
"Now, now, let's calm down," instructed Harleen, "now lets talk about it. Artemis you have been told that you are bitchy and unpredictable, how does that make you feel?"
"It hurts my feelings," she said.
"But don't you think it hurts their feelings when you act that way?"
"What way!?"
"You lash out when we are joking around with us," sai d Joey.
"So what do you want me to do about it?"
"Just settle down a bit, the world is not conspiring against you, we certainly aren't," said Damian, "we jumped into a sewer for you and we never really got a thankyou for it." Artemis was shocked. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it, she had nothing to say, it caught her completely off guard. Everyone watched her waiting for her reaction. She took a deep sigh and looked at her two friends.
"I'm sorry," she said softly, "and thank you for trying to save me even though you both failed….I'm sorry…."
"Okay, Joey, you are childish and irresponsible," she said moving on, "what are your feelings on that?"
"I feel like they don't trust me," he said, "no matter what I do I can't win for loosing. I really do try but they just don't give me much of a chance."
"And your response," she said turning to the other two.
"Joey, it's just that you are stoned all the time and not in a right state of mind. When you aren't you can't function. The thought of leaving you alone in such a poor state just scares me," said Artemis, "I really care for you so I took it upon myself to watch over you. I really can't help it I just feel like you wouldn't survive on your own."
"But I can survive on my own, I have been doing it for a really long time, you don't need to worry about that," said Joey.
"But Joey," said Damian, "what if this goes beyond weed? What if you get into some serious stuff. We don't want to lose you, we love you just the way you are, we are scared of you going further."
"I'm sorry I scare you guys but please trust that I would never do something that stupid," said Joey, "I would never intentionally do that to you guys!"
"Damian, you are a fatherly
know-it-all control freak, how do you feel about that?"
"Well,
it's just, neither of these two can be left in control. I let
Artemis lead us and look what we ended up doing. I think they are
both way to wild to not have someone control them. If it weren't
for me, Artemis and Joey would be in jail by now, if not dead. It's
not that I don' t trust them, I just feel the need to protect them
from themselves."
"We appreciate that you keep us out of trouble," said Joey, "but you also have to understand that there is a line. Telling us what to do and complaining at us every time we do what you don't want to do is crossing it. There are things we do for you that we really don't want to."
"Look, Damian, we really do need you around, but you don't need to be the ring leader all the time, let us get a chance to," said Artemis.
"I'm sorry, guys, I will try and work on that. But I don' t want to do anything insane like what we did a couple nights ago. I'm sorry but that just isn't my idea of fun."
"Just don't try and stop us every time we want to and we will be alright buddy," said Artemis.
Harleen sighed; maybe she should see a psychiatrist after all this was over.
END FLASHBACK
Needless to say the next couple of days practicing consideration was a little awkward. Artemis never knew how inconsiderate she was until recently. Harleen had suggested they talk about it when they do things that irritate each other. This was actually not working, it made things weird, they were not considerate people at all.
Artemis heard a knocking at the door and opened it. The Joker stood in his regular cloths with no clown make up. Artemis closed the door on his face. The door opened again before the Joker busted his way in and Joey was standing at the door. The Joker walked in and Joey closed the door.
"Joey," said Artemis, "what did you go and do that for?"
"Because we are trying to practice consideration," said Joey, "when you slam the door in peoples faces, they find it offensive, especially when you don't contact that person for several days or they don't contact you. You should really learn some manners."
"Oh, shut up," said Artemis.
"Arty you are being bitchy again," said Damian from the kitchen.
"I don't care! I'm tired of us all trying to tip toe around each other because a stupid blond told us to be considerate of each other. We have never been considerate before and I'm tired of being considerate now! This whole thing is a stupid waist of time!"
"Whoa, their, sweatheart," said the Joker, "you should, uh, really listen to your friends, but that's not why I am here. I just came by to tell you all that I need you to get me $5,000 by the end of this week. I don't care how you do it but it's a good start."
"Good start to what," asked Damian.
"You all work for, uh, me now," said the Joker, "welcome to the team." As he said it he opened his arms wide in a welcoming gesture.
"What if I don't want to be part of the team," asked Artemis.
"Uh, you, especially, don't get that option, doll," said the Joker. His eyes were dark and empty. Artemis backed up a bit nervously. The Joker scared her, no doubt, but at the same time her teen estrogen commanded that she rebelled!
"Well, I had other things in my day planner," she said sarcastically. He laughed hysterically.
"Like what, going to tag another building or fuck up another store?" Artemis burned red with anger. She felt her face flush as he just stood there and laughed at her. This clown was getting on her last nerve.
"Go to hell," she mumbled.
"Now, that's no way to treat your dear father doll," he said walking toward her until they were just inches away from each other. Artemis stood strong beside her promise not to give him any of the emotions he craved from her. Fear and Sadness were dead to her now, she had no tears to cry and no more fear for him to feed off. So she thought.
"You are not my father," she hissed. He grabbed both her upper arms and slammed her into the wall. She didn't even flintch.
"Uh, yes, I am," he said menacingly, "and you will do what I say, Doll, god forbid Joey here where to take a swim with an anchor tied to his ankle. A neat little trick I learned from working with the mafia." Behind him Artemis could hear Joey whimper in fear.
"Why bother, put him in the shower, he will drowned himself," she said slyly.
"Artemis, please, this is a really bad time," said Damian.
"Naw," she said, "Damian would order him out of the shower."
"Artemis your doing it again," groaned Joey, "that bitch thing you do." Artemis didn't know what was going through the Joker's head as he stood silently boring his black/brown eyes into her own. He didn't look much amused, that's for sure. Artemis was not all that amused herself.
"Well I'm ordering you to get me what I asked by the end of the week, don't disappoint me, sweetheart, you wouldn't like me to get really mad. Before was just a little taste of what I can do to you. Hmm."
Artemis felt her barriers begin to break the longer he stared at her. She wanted to get away and crawl in a small space. Finally she squirmed under his stare and he seemed satisfied. He let her go and turned to leave. "End of the week, kids," were his final words before leaving.
"How are we suppose to get $5,000 by the end of the week," asked Joey after the door shut.
"I have no idea," said Damian sitting down, "but we better think quick. Joey, do you think we can do it selling pot?"
"By the end of the week? Not a chance, we don't even have big enough names to make half that much."
"We don't get paid enough," continued Damian, "I guess that leaves you to decided Artemis."
"Why me," she asked.
"Well, I'm trying to give everyone a chance," he said. Artemis huffed in frustration and crossed her arms thinking to herself.
"Only two ways I can think of, the lotto or robbery," she said, "and I don't think I want to put my chances on the lottery."
"What if we get arrested," asked Joey.
"Then the Joker will be the least of our worries," she said.
…………………………………………….
Next time, Damian, Artemis, and Joey try and come up with $5,000 dollars by the end of the week!
