Chapter 12: The Last Pale Light
"Check her for weapons," the African American woman demanded of the man that had sat in her passenger seat. Bagheera ignored them as she looked over to the Joker who eyed her with a wide grin of amusement. She felt the man's hands move over her and into the pockets of the jacket where he found William Barba's gun hidden.
"This is it," the man informed the Joker and tossed him the pistol.
"Thanks Lyle," the Joker answered with a roll of his dark eyes. He smiled at Bagheera as the two walked away, leaving them to stand at the gas station alone. He lowered the shot gun as he eyed her up and down in the borrowed clothes.
Bagheera lowered her arms as she gazed at him and asked bravely, fear was no longer coursing through her body as she stared at him, "So what do you want now?"
"Well you don't look too scared to see me," the Joker said in mock sadness as he noted how confident she looked standing in front of him in his jacket. He smiled as she held her head eye and kept eye contact with him.
"Oh and I'm goin' to need that jacket back," he informed her as he pointed to the jacket, "Well not right now of course," he shook his hands about as he eyed her, "But I am pretty nipped."
"Where's Harvey," Bagheera asked, ignoring his demand over his jacket that he had left her with.
"Ya mean Dent," the Joker asked in slight confusion, "Last I saw him was with you. What did you do with him. hmm?"
"You're lying," she said, her voice was emotionless as she watched him walk towards Barba's car. The back doors were unlocked and he threw the shot gun inside, he placed the pistol in his pocket and smiled at Bagheera as he gestured for her to get into the vehicle.
Bagheera looked around to see if anyone could see what was going on, but there was no one. The teenage girl in the store was probably hiding again. She was all alone with the Joker in the vacant parking lot. She opened the car door and slowly sat in the driver's seat. She winced as a pain from the stitched wound radiated through her momentarily. She leaned her head against the steering wheel in an attempt to subside the burning pain.
"Hey, hey," the Joker asked as he sat in the back seat so he could see everything that was going on, "What's wrong Bags?"
"Hmm," Bagheera said as she slowly forced herself away from the steering wheel and into an upright seated position, "You stabbed me in the stomach, remember?"
The Joker smiled at her and said simply, "Oh yeah. Right, I did do that," he pointed to the steering wheel and ordered, "Now start the car and let's go."
"Where," Bagheera asked as she did as she was told.
"Just go where I tell ya to," he informed her with a smile as he fiddled with something in the backseat, "Take a right here and just keep going straight."
"Ya know this is a nice care ya got here," he observed as he jumped on the leather seats.
"It's not mine," she answered, her voice still lacked emotion as she looked into the rearview mirror to see him smiling at her.
"So you stole it?"
"I wouldn't call it stealing," she answered.
"Oh so just borrowing," he cleared with a nod, "Yeah, I borrow things all the time."
As they drove down the lonely stretch of highway that led into the Gotham city limits, the only sound that passed by the two of them was the Joker's out of tune humming and the sound of the tires moving on the road. Red and blue lights began to flash in the distance and she watched as the Joker perked to attention as they drove closer and closer.
"What's goin' on here," the Joker asked as he stuck his head between the seats and looked to the many flashing lights then to Bagheera for an answer.
"They're looking for you," she said casually as she pushed his head away from her. She dug into the dash compartment and grabbed the small flashers that came with every police vehicle. She flipped on the switch and the blue and reds flashed within the car as they slowly passed the vehicles.
"Don't say a word," the Joker's voice whispered darkly in her ear as he sunk low into the backseat, he hid the mouth of the pistol against her ribs as the uniformed officer slowed her to a stop, "You feel that?"
"Don't worry. You've said enough already," she said in annoyance as she rolled the window down and ignored the clown hiding in her backseat.
Bagheera gave the trooper a sweet smile as he peered into her car. She hoped that he would recognize her from the news because she had no identification on her.
"Detective Lewis," the man asked to her satisfaction.
"Yes," she answered as she looked to the officer.
"Gordon told us that you were off the case for right now," the man informed her.
Bagheera closed her eyes and replied, "Well some things have come up. I'm assuming that you know of what?"
"Yes mam," he answered with a nod.
"Have you found him yet?"
"No mam," he answered, "But we are doing our best. There's officers up and down all of these streets looking for the Joker and Dr. Crane."
Bagheera nodded and offered him another kind smile as she began to move forward.
"Say," the officer asked and she pressed lightly on the brakes once again, "you have any idea where the Joker could be hiding?"
She shook her head as she eyed the officer that was risking his life with each question he asked her. She knew the Joker wasn't a very patient man and she had to find a way to get the man to shut u.
"I have no idea," she answered, "He's a complicated character," she lowered her gaze and added softly, "Let's just hope that the worst is behind us."
She closed her eyes as the Joker pushed the gun into her side in an attempt to shut her up.
"Amen to that," the man answered and nodded at her, "Gordon was last seen at PD if that's who you are looking for."
"Thank you," she said with a curt nod as she pulled slowly away from him and rolled the windows up.
"That was a close one Baggy," he informed her as he came back into view, "but ya know the best is yet to come."
"Can you," she started to say as she watched the Joker crawling over the seats to get into the passenger seat beside her. She eyed him and watched as his video camera zoomed in on her, "What the hell is that?"
The Joker chuckled at her and replied simply, "It's a camera. What's it look like Baggy?"
"I mean what are you doing with it," she asked in annoyance as she side eyed him as she passed by the posted officers.
"Say does this car have a siren," he asked as he fiddled with the many nobs on the car.
"No," she answered with a roll of her eyes as she continued to drive on for the Joker.
"I've never driven shot gun in a police car," he admitted as he looked at her with a large, unnerving smile. "Ya know most cops just want to shove me violently into the backseat. Hey," the Joker said with a sly grin, "How 'bout we both share the backseat?"
Bagheera watched him out of the corner of his eye as he fiddled with his camera and turned it to face him. She watched as he licked at his scars and smiled into the camera. She felt disgust trickle over her at the suggestion of the backseat echoed in her mind.
"Yeah this is a tough beat to work," the Joker announced as he looked out the window at the flashing lights, "I mean in Gotham you don't have your typical mad men running around. I mean there are even some mad ladies in this town. These are some hard times for Gothamites."
"What are you doing," Bagheera asked with a strange smile as she felt herself becoming more comfortable with the Joker's weird, ever changing behavior. One moment he could be downright frightening and the next moment he could be the clown that he dressed up as.
"And this is my partner Officer Giggles," he said to the camera and turned it off of him and back onto her, "She's a beautiful one ain't she? You know most of the female cops are actually ugly," he said casually as he zoomed in on Bagheera, "but Officer Giggles is not…even when she's wearing another man's shirt."
She rolled her eyes at his observation and continued driving, attempting to ignore his chuckles of happiness.
"And how is life as a Gotham detective under Jim Gordon," he asked of her.
Bagheera smiled in an effort to play along with his childish game as she said, "It's a stressful job," she turned to him momentarily and grinned, "A lot more stressful when you have a man dressed as a clown trying to destroy everything and holding you hostage in a car that you had to borrow."
The Joker laughed at her reply and the camera shook erratically in his hand. He enjoyed her moment of comedy. Most of his victims never could crack a smile for him and here was Bagheera joking with him while he held her hostage. She was different.
"And what is your favorite thing about being the detective that was tasked to capture him?"
"Not dying," she answered sarcastically, "The Joker has yet to kill me. I'd say that's my favorite thing of this job so far."
The Joker hummed at her reply and chuckled lightly as he watched the unease brush away from her eyes.
"What do you think of the name Lyle?"
"What," Bagheera asked in slight confusion as she turned to look at the Joker.
"Do you like the name Lyle," the Joker asked as if trying to make small take.
"It's alright, I guess," she answered, "Why?"
"I think it's a girl name," he replied bluntly, "I imagine if you and I had a daughter, we'd call her uh," he licked his lips as he thought of a pretty girl name, "Clarice Lyle Lewis. She'd take your last name of course. Clarice Lyle Joker sounds a little strange, even to a guy like me!"
She rolled her eyes and replied, "Well that's never going to happen."
"Never say never," he informed her with a wag of his finger.
"So tell us Officer Giggles," he asked, his voice was low and almost predatory, "Do you think the Joker is crazy," he rolled his eyes and licked his lips as he added, "Everyone else seems to think so."
Bagheera ignored his question and her smile faded.
"Baggy," the Joker commanded, but she did not answer. He watched as she continued driving as his anger at her cold shoulder treatment bubbled inside of him. No one ever ignored him. This had been the first time that she had ignored him, and he didn't like it one bit. He jerked his free hand forward and pulled on the wheel violently.
Bagheera gasped in sudden fear as the car veered towards the ditch. She slammed on the brakes as hard as she could and the car came to a screeching halt in the middle of the road. She took a deep breath as the Joker placed the car in park. She looked over to him with only the slightest hint of fear in her eyes as he laughed loudly at her.
"No," she screamed in anger, "No! No! No," her words were harsh as she glared at him, "I don't think you're crazy!"
The Joker's laughter stopped as her anger vibrated through her voice. He watched her with bright eyes and listened to her answer.
"Then what am I, Baggy?"
"You're very, very smart," she answered honestly as she took a deep breath to calm herself down, "You're a better class of criminal and you have shown this city, and me, that very fact."
"Hmmm," the Joker said as he tried to find the appropriate reply to her admission, he smiled as he signaled her to put the gar in drive again, "Let's go."
Bagheera did as she was told and continued to drive straight until the lights of the city came into view. They were only a few miles out and she felt her heart beat in worry as she recalled the Joker's promise to Gotham.
"What are you going to do with that video," she asked after the sudden silence that had enveloped them. She looked away from the road momentarily to look at the Joker and his camera, "Are you going to send it to the news to show how you once again captured the detective that was supposed to capture you?"
"Uh," he paused thinking it over, "no," the Joker said as he looked at the camera, "I was going to keep this in my own personal files."
"Can you turn it off," she asked softly as she moved her attention from the camera and to his dark eyes, "We need to have a little chat."
The Joker considered her offer and shrugged his shoulders as he closed the camera and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. He watched as Bagheera ignored his proximity to her and he smiled as he lingered for moments afterward in an attempt to unnerve her.
"Why am I so important to you," she asked, her voice was soft yet nervous, as her eyes lingered on him moments longer before looking back to the empty highway, "I'm not special."
"Oh I think you're very special," the Joker informed her with the same words that he had previously told her the last time she told him that she wasn't special, his voice lowered as he added, "Very special indeed."
"Why," she said as she shifted her gaze back to his dark eyes.
"Because you are the last pale light in the West," he informed her in a casual tone as he sat back in the seat allowing her to soak in his cryptic answer.
Bagheera watched him as the words rattled around in her busy mind. She had no idea what he was referring to. She allowed her eyes to linger across his entire face to see if she could see a telling sign as to what he meant, but she could not read his poker face.
"You're not crazy," she informed him in an attempt to change the subject as she turned to look at the highway, "but you won't go to Black Gate."
"Why not," he asked as he popped his T.
She shook her head and replied casually as she turned to look at him with burning blue eyes, "Because you've convinced so many people that you are crazy. You'll go to Arkham and live nicely for a long time. I have to congratulate you on some level because you did an amazing job at convincing a whole city. You killed a commissioner and countless cops. You'd be getting the needle if it wasn't for your," she paused as she searched for the right word, "for your magic trick."
The Joker smiled as if he were proud of her. His brown eyes sparkled.
"But, uh, Baggy," he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "the death penalty was outlawed in this state."
"No," she answered, "It just hasn't been needed in the last fifty years. I'm sure they will make an exception with you."
"That expensive education of yours wasn't a, uh, total waste," he said casually as he flicked his wrists about in the car, "So if I were ugh captured, you'd suggest Black Gate and death row?"
"In a heartbeat."
The Joker chuckled once again at her reply, "You are just too fun, Baggy!"
She continued forward as they came into the city. Helicopters buzzed in the air with bright lights searching the alley ways.
"What made you become a cop," the Joker asked, he pointed to a side road, "Here, go that away."
"This road goes to the docks," she informed him as she turned, "You know there will be officers all over them ships."
"Just keep driving and answer my question," he demanded of her darkly, "What made you want to become a cop?"
"I wanted to help people," she answered casually.
"No," he answered, "Everyone says that. What's your reason?"
She looked over to him and shook her head as she replied honestly, "That's my reason. I had thought about not being a cop anymore after my first major case," she looked back to the road as she recalled it, "Virgins were being raped and the rapist would leave voicemails to the mothers. He strangled one, but there were over seven victims that we knew of in our area," she shook her head as the terrible experience crossed her mind, "The rapist was a cop. I'll never forget what he told me when I interviewed him."
The Joker watched her with interest. He watched her facial features as she recalled her first case. He could see the hint of dismay and sadness on her face.
"What did he say, Baggy?"
"I asked him why he chose virgins," she answered, "He looked me deadpan in the eyes and told me he loved the looks on their faces. He said they were like beautiful paintings. Shock, confusion, panic, fear, and a simple bit of pain," she shook her head, "He looked at them like they were objects. He thrived on the looks on their faces when he was raping them. His favorite was the last girl, the one he strangled to death. He got off on those last moments of their lives," she turned to him with dark eyes and shook her head, "What makes you any better than him, Joker? I knew you were exactly the same when he shoved that blade in my gut. I could see it in your eyes. Tell me what makes you better because I don't see it."
The Joker smiled at her daring question. She was throwing the sickest criminal she had ever encountered in his face and asking him what made him better.
He giggled softly and admitted, "The fun part is knowing that I am better than that and having the world believe otherwise! It's a funny world we live in!"
So just a chapter between Bagheera and Joker. I hoped you liked it.
LOL I have readers that message me that want Bagheera with the Joker, others tell me Crane, some have said Batman, and others say Barba. I love those! I hope that I don't disappoint anyone with this story because I have had a blast writing it! I can't wait for Chapter 14 to get here because that's when the big twist happens and half of you are going to hate my guts. Ahh I can't wait, I'm so excited to write it and excited for you to read it.