((as usual, i own none of this c: not even lonnie.))
Her assignment was relatively simple. She stood awkwardly in the parking garage, looking around nervously. Gotham City was usually not the best place to stand around in a dark parking garage. The slutty clothes didn't help her paranoia. Her skirt was not shorter than she was usual, but without the watchful eye of someone, she was definitely nervous. But she had to prove that she was worth it, even to this day.
They'd pinpointed a certain male from the developers' office, and stalked him for nearly three months. He was exactly what the Joker liked in a lacky; he was sallow and pale, with greasy black hair that usually hung in his dark eyes. Lost. She looked around and waited around where she knew his car was, though she was obviously waiting very impatiently. She was waiting for him to come by so she could play a crucial role in any plan—the damsel in distress.
As she saw his lanky body walking to his car, she began to look around frantically, chewing on her lip and gulping. Her eyes went wide and scared, and she only hoped he wasn't the dangerous guy he seemed. As he got closer she felt his eyes on him, and the plan was put into motion. She let out a very shaky sigh, loud enough for him to hear.
He approached with cautious, frowning a little. "Are you…err, okay?" he asked.
She looked up from her purse, and she sighed. "You haven't seen keys lying around somewhere, have you? I lost them, and I don't know where they are…ooh, my dad's going to kill me," Duela mumbled, still looking down. She wasn't ready to show him her scarred face just yet, it would seem.
"I'm sorry, I haven't," he mumbled awkwardly, and he frowned. "Maybe they're at the lost and found…?"
Duela looked up, and smiled. "That's an excellent idea, uhh…sorry, I, err, didn't catch your name," she said, and wet her lips.
"Lonnie, my name's Lonnie…yeah, there's a lost and found down that way, at the security guard's station," Lonnie said with a small nod, towards a rather dark and foreboding area of the parking garage. He sighed and looked back down to her. "I can walk you, if you want," he offered, dutifully.
Duela smiled. This poor sap never had a chance, did he? "I would appreciate that so much," she said, and she saw his eyes go over the left side of her face. Of course they did…why would she expect any different from these sorts of people? "I had a bad run-in with the notorious Joker," she explained, hoping it would add a little to her sap story.
It seemed to. His expression softened, and he began towards the security guard's station. "I'm sorry to hear that. He's getting more and more dangerous every day…I just hope Batman does something soon. I mean, he's here for a reason, isn't he? So why isn't he helping out with the Joker?"
"Maybe the Joker is too good," she said softly, and she shrugged. They walked a few more feet before Duela spoke up. "So do you work here, at Wayne Enterprises?" she asked, turning her eyes up to see him as she continued to find the keys in her purse.
"I do, yeah. I'm in Weapons' Development," he said proudly, not having a clue about who he was talking to. "Lots of top secret stuff…can't really go into a lot, but we're making some amazing stuff," Lonnie said, and he seemed to have a bit more pep in his step. "What about you, what do you do…ahhh, sorry, I didn't catch your name either."
"My name is Duela. I know, weird name, but dad named me it and then he ran off," she said with a small shrug. "I work…for a small business, and I work directly under the owner. We deal a lot with…public relations, and…well, it's a little complicated. I don't really have an official job title," she said with a little shrug.
"Like a management company?"
"Something like that," she said, and she looked down at her feet. "So, Lonnie…tell me about yourself. You obviously love your job." She grinned up at him. "I mean, most people don't leave their job at eleven o'clock at night if they hate it," Duela said with a knowing wink.
"I like to stay after and…tinker, a little bit. Play with the toys." He grinned, and finally they reached the security station.
Duela dug through the lost and found box, knowing she wouldn't find any keys…none of hers, anyway. She came back up from the box, gave one more dig in her purse, until finally she pulled out a ring of keys. "I am a moron," she said with a little smile, looking up at him. He seemed vaguely interested in her, but that wasn't good enough. He had to be really interested in her.
Casually she moved her hand and went to hold his, putting on a pouty little smile, and fluttering her eyelashes. "I really appreciate you taking time out of your life to help me out. I haven't seen a perfect stranger like you in Gotham since…well, never," she grinned. "You must be some kind of special. I better go to try and find my car."
As she moved away, she counted down the seconds. Three. Two. One. "Ooh, wait!" Called Lonnie, and he ran over to her. He started hesitantly before finally letting it go. "I know you probably get this all the time, and how could you not, but…would you like to get something to drink? Not…tonight, obviously, but maybe sometime soon?" he asked, and he smiled awkwardly down at her. She wrote his number down on her hand and kissed him goodbye.
----
Duela walked into their home, smelling a nice dinner being cooked up. The Joker was a chef…who knew. "Flawless!" she called from the living room, where she kicked off her shoes and yawned. She walked to the kitchen and plopped on the counter he was not using, trying to peer into the large pot he was cooking in.
"Excellent…and when is the occasion?" he asked, adding some pepper to his concoction. It smelled like some sort of spicy stew, but Duela's nose didn't really smell specific food, just good food.
"It's in three days, this Friday. I don't know where yet." She shrugged, and bit her lip. "What's that?"
"Dinner," he said quickly, stirring it gingerly. "I'm assuming you have appropriate attire for whatever sort of date you're going on? You're representing me," he said with an absent sigh, stirring a little more before he clicked off the stove. "So please, don't mess this up."
"Knowing him, he's going to drag me to a video game convention of some kind. He's not exactly my ideal guy…but he is nice, I'll give him that," Duela mumbled, as if thinking this over. As she slipped into another world revolving around her and Lonnie, the Joker came forward with a spoon full of his mystery stew. He shoved the spoonful into her mouth and she drank it, happily. She gave the thumbs-up, but after a moment, she turned pale.
She saw the Joker's face become distorted, and little tiny spiders crawling out of his nose, mouth, and eyes. She let out a little scream and fell off the counter, crawling into a corner to escape the Joker. He walked closer, though, peering down at her very curiously. The spiders turned into huge cockroaches, which began to crawl aimlessly around her. He snickered, grabbed her arm, and dragged her to the couch in the living room.
As Duela began to hyperventilate, watching the walls morph and faces appearing in them, she felt a stabbing in her arm. When she looked down she thought she saw a large butter knife, but as she blinked a few times, what was a butter knife was now a rather large syringe. She put her hand on her chest, feeling her heart race as she glared at him.
"Hm…he was right, that was a strong dose. But it'll be great for the soup kitchen tomorrow. Thank you for being my little test rodent," the Joker said as he grinned, and he ruffled her hair. He got up, sing-songy, and began to go into the kitchen to put the tainted stew into a large container, which would no doubt make it's way into the delivery route for the soup kitchen.
When she finally caught her breath, she rose and walked in to hear him humming Christmas jingles. "Your welcome," she finally said with a little smile. He was mildly surprised that she wasn't livid…but he wasn't complaining.
Maybe she would work out for him after all.
----
Months of planning had finally come to an end as Duela sat in Lonnie's home. It'd been nearly a year since she began the Freak business, now, and she knew she was in very deep. Not too deep…just deep enough. She'd changed since she first found poor Harvey Dent in his sad little Arkham cell, talking to himself. She'd grown darker, and had lost a part of herself. Maybe she was insane…the Joker didn't think so, and so neither did she.
She smiled as she looked up to him, kissing him a little roughly at first. He pulled back to look at her, brushing back some of her hair. "You look like something's on your mind…" Lonnie noticed, frowning a little. She had a wicked little grin on her lips.
He said this was the right time. Execution, Duela, is key. She heard his voice ringing through her head, and it sounded beautiful, every word of it. She smiled a little as she pecked his lips once more, secretly pretending they were red, and that his smile extended beyond those red lips. She blinked and sighed a little, holding his hand between her two cold hands.
"Remember those…those plans we talked about? Remember how you wanted to do something big, something…that would shake Gotham up?" she asked softly, her voice sultry. She noticed that the prospect of doing something big seemed to excite him even more as her arms hung on his shoulders, her hooded eyes gazing at his bright green ones. "'Member, babe?"
"I remember, of course…I've had these plans for a long time now," he continued, and he gazed into those eyes of hers that had deadened since they first met. "What's on your mind, hm?" he asked, liking the dead in her eyes more than he should. Lonnie thought he was the reason behind those dead eyes, and that perhaps she was blindly following him into what they were going to do.
"I wanna show you something. Someone. Someone who can help you, help us achieve what we want," she mumbled, her eyes going wide as she rose up, her skirt bouncing with her. "I think you'll like it. Just don't get scared, okay?" she asked, and as he rose, she put a hand on his cheek, looking into him. "You have to promise you won't freak out and abandon ship, because what…who, I'm gonna show you…" she grinned devilishly again, but didn't finish her sentence.
Lonnie had to admit. As she drove him to a rather nice area outside of Gotham, where the houses had acres of land around them, he was scared. He sat nervously in the passenger's seat while Duela hummed to an unknown song. Finally they arrived at an old shack outside of the big city. She got out of the car and shut it off before running to the other side of the car, holding his hand. He gulped, looking up to the shack and squeezing her hand. Whatever it was, she wasn't scared. So why should he be?
"Honey! I'm home!" Duela joked as she walked in, and out walked the Joker himself, his arms wide. At first Lonnie stood stunned, and almost ran out, but Duela did her job and closed the door behind him, locking it securely so they wouldn't be interrupted. "Meet the Joker. You've heard of him, haven't you?"
"But…Duela, this…he's…your face!" Lonnie stumbled, as the Joker walked up, inspecting him.
"Mmm, yes, this is my masterpiece," he growled, touching the side of her face. She looked as if she might have melted, but he didn't seem to notice. Or care. "It's nice to finally meet you, Lonnie. Come in! Duela…be a dear, and fetch some refreshments," he said with a little smirk before grabbing Lonnie by the arm and dragging him into the shabby living room.
He sat in his purple suit, eyeing the skinny kid sitting across from him. "Duela tells me you have some…unique, ideas. You'll be needing some funding for those ideas, won't you?"
"Well, yeah, but, I mean…I'm not going to do anything…"
"Anything…what? Illegal?" he asked, and he even laughed. The Joker straightened himself up and cleared his throat. "No, no, no one's asking anything like that of you. I just…I'm not mistaken, am I? You do want to do something…big? And you have a mind for it. No one can deny that, and no one should." He frowned at the kitchen, wondering what was taking her so long.
"I did have an idea for…well, see, it's a little…" Lonnie was nervous, but the Joker was patient. "Bullets, you place in a gun, or maybe even missiles or something at one point. They have DNA in them, a hair or some skin, and the bullets seek out that particular DNA pattern for about…I'd say, a few hundred feet? Maybe more?" he said, awkwardly. "It wouldn't make much of a difference if you were just shooting randomly, but I—."
"Duela!" the Joker growled, in a way Lonnie had never heard. She came in and set down the drinks before sitting herself down. "Duela, dear, don't you have…something, anything, to attend to? We're having a private conversation," he said, and immediately gauged her reaction. It was precisely what he expected, too. At first she looked heartbroken, but then she glared daggers at Lonnie, who didn't seem to notice. Or care. Upset she was not important at the moment Duela rose and left, going to wash some dishes as loudly as she could.
"You were saying?" the Joker asked, sipping some of the amber liquid.
Lonnie followed suit, sipping and wincing. "Well, what I was saying was that it wouldn't be useful unless you were looking for specific targets, but I am in the middle of developing heat-seeking bullets as well. They wouldn't lock on specific targets, but it would take the hassle away from trying to aim perfectly, when, you know, if you can just get it in the vicinity…" he mumbled.
For hours the two boys talked, and Duela cleaned. She was livid. After nearly four hours she left to drop him off, and when she returned, she came back in and began to clean the counters for the eighth time while the Joker sat on their kitchen table, studying something. "Little perfect little boy, honestly, thinking he can just waltz in and steal his…heart…" she glared at a little stain, which was probably a knot in the wood.
He sighed. "You look good in red, and you look good in blue, and sometimes purple when you're not all huffy like you are now. But…Duela, green does not suit you." She glared at him while he shook his head.
"Well, it's obvious you couldn't like him better. You've only just met him, he's expendable, minds like that pop up all the time."
"Nonsense. Daddy loves both of you the same," the Joker cooed, sarcastically, looking up. "But speaking of blue, maybe this will keep you from seeing red. Follow me." He rose and she followed obediently.
"In light of you doing very well, I've decided I want to make you as permanent as anything can be permanent." He led her into his bedroom, and went through a drawer. "This is your present, for doing so well with Lonnie. For finding him, and leading him right into our little trap," he mumbled, and finally, he pulled out a little blue dress. "You are now officially my little--!"
"Harlequin," she said with a wide smile, looking at the dress. It was…gorgeous. She eyed it up and down. The dress was made mostly with blue silk. The sleeves were poofed and gathered, causing them to look almost a bit like blue puffballs. On the dress itself were pieces of black lace, at random, save for the lace trim at the bottom. She grinned, and looked up to him, simply beaming. Which was definitely a nice turnaround from seething.
"Well, try it on…I'd like to see my full masterpiece," he mumbled, and watched as she undressed to slip it on. And to him, Duela was a masterpiece, a piece of scrapped canvas that Two Face had almost ruined, but he took her and made her delightfully horrible. He saw her standing there, in the dress. It fit loosely on her, which was exactly what he had desired in the first place.
"I love it," Duela said, looking down with nothing but joy in her. She moved to look at herself in the full-length mirror as the Joker left. As she stood there, she looked at the clown outfit and the scars on her face. She frowned a little, and went back to her jean pocket, taking out the coin. She stared at the coin, the dress, and her scars. Coin. Dress. Scars.
The joy disappeared and it was replaced with confusion. She'd almost forgotten who she was for a moment, staring at all three objects. She was Harlequin…right? Or was she Dent, Duela Dent? She touched her scars, her mouth open as she stared, curious. She blinked a bit and continued to star, her mind swimming. She still used the coin. But she killed with a knife. She did what the coin said. Or did she do what the Joker said? Or did she perhaps do both? Duela sat down, taking a little knife he kept by his bed and began to scratch at the burnt side of the coin, adding in herself to the infamous Dent family coin. Still, as she looked at herself in the dress, she was confused. Who was she really? Whose rules did she follow? There was only one way to settle this.
She rose, put her feet together, stood up straight, and flipped. "Heads, the Joker. My Joker. Tails…my dad. The coin. Two Face." She gulped as she reached for it, but she missed it. The coin fell and landed between her feet. All she could see where the ribbed edge of the coin, neither side gazing up at her. Her mouth opened in disbelief—either her question was answered, or the universe thought it didn't need to be answered. Who was she supposed to be?
She looked up to the mirror and heard the yell from the Joker. She sighed, and picked up the coin, changing back into her clothes afterwards. Was she both? Could she be both? After all, what was chaos if not fair? Chaos, it was like the flip of a coin?
"Coming!" she called, and she walked in, sitting down and staring at the coin. Two people. Duela Dent and Harlequin. Two legacies. Could she do it?
----
"Fantastic show everyone, fantastic!" the Joker praised, as he went down the row of clown lackies. In the warehouse was a van full of both money and weapons, which the Joker and his two protégés intended to use to their full advantage. "If you guys will just wait…like that, I'll get your pay…" he turned around, but turned back around again with his automatic weapon, shooting them down without blinking.
"Lonnie," was all he said, and the young man began to drag off the bodies. Duela stood as Harlequin, starting to unload the money. "He did well today, Duela dear. Even you must admit that," the Joker mumbled, watching her lug the bags.
"I don't have to admit anything. He's sloppy, he's…progressed, maybe, but he's still got so far to go."
"As do you," he reminded her wisely, and her throwing only got rougher.
"Not nearly as far," she growled, and she shook her head as the Joker went around to the other side of the van. As he did, though, he heard little Duela moans and he peeked over to see her at knifepoint, in front of Lonnie.
The Joker blinked, surprised, really. He raised his eyebrows and clapped as she struggled, though he knew he was waiting for her signal. "Congratulations, Lon. You managed to make a complete fool out of yourself…what is it that you want?" he asked, almost boredly.
Duela growled. Lonnie pressed the knife a little more deep into her. "Respect. Nothing I'm going to get working for you…I'll be under you forever, at this rate. I've learned enough." He frowned. "Here's what's going to happen. Duela is going to load up what she has unloaded back into the van, and you two are going to let me go."
"Ooh, this is bullshit! Babe, let me at him, please--!"
"I don't know, Duela, he's got you at knifepoint," he said sarcastically, and he sighed a little. "Alright. Just let her go, and she will load up and let you leave. Just know…you will be nothing. Absolutely nothing. And do you know why, Lonnie? Because you know…nothing. Because you are nothing. You don't know what chaos is because you have refused to embrace it, despite how beautiful and everlasting it is. You had potential. But this move…has definitely opened my eyes."
Lonnie stared as he spoke. "My name's not Lonnie. It's Anarky, because that's what I am. I'm not chaos, I'm anarchy. I'm Anarky."
"Chaos and anarchy are synonyms," Duela said absently, and shrugged when he pointed a gun at her.
"Did it make you feel good, putting a knife to her?" Joker asked, walking a little closer, still obviously in control of the situation. "I mean, you used her. You had…relationships, we'll say, many times while you tried to put her down even more. And then you threaten her life. Even for me, that's a little…" What Lonnie failed to realize, is that Duela was still nothing to him.
Duela knew it, and him saying all of this stabbed her in the neck anyway. As she loaded up the last bag, she looked at the Joker, and he shook his head pointedly. She seethed as she felt Lonnie's last kiss, and watched him hop into the van. As he started up, however, Joker casually moved his hand up to the back and unlatched it.
As Lonnie sped off, all of the money and supplies went with him. Duela vaguely remembered the bodies, and how his fingerprints were all over them. "But why did you let him go? Would you really rather the cops get him?" she asked, looking up a little sadly. He did use her…he pleased her and tried to take her spot, for a very long time. And she fell for it. Lesson learned.
"I think watching him getting eaten alive by the city is a lot more fun that watching him rot in a jail cell, yes," the Joker said, and he grabbed her arm, starting to walk off. They had a long walk home, and it was hot.
