Long after Jayde had disappeared into his room to go to bed, the Joker sat at his desk at the far end of his office, leaned back in his comfortable, rolling chair, his chin rested on his knuckles as he stared at the computer screen. It was fortunate that Jayde had gotten comfortable enough to go lay down in his room without him as Joker was slightly anxious to watch the video he had taken of her while she had been having a really bad trip; he was positive she would not want to see it. The original video had been aired on the six and ten o'clock news, but he had seen to it that Jayde had no idea she was already being featured on TV as his 'helpless victim' and had forbidden Tre or Dotcom to tell her. So after searching for only a few minutes, Joker found a copy of the video on the Gotham News 9 website and moved the pointer of the mouse over it, preparing to click. His finger hesitated, however, as he stared at the small thumbnail of Jayde's panicked, weary and yet terrified face, wondering, once again, if he really wanted to watch it. But on second thought, it angered him to think that he had actually let his feelings progress to the point where hurting and scaring her weren't really all that fun to him anymore. So he took a short, determined breath in through his nose before he clicked on the picture, reaching forward to turn up the sound on his speakers so he could hear. A moment later, his stomach gave an unpleasant, unexpected lurch when Jayde's picture began moving, those familiar tears sliding down her cheeks in faint gray trails. The first thing out of her mouth:
"No! Please don't kill me…"
Joker huffed at this, rolling his eyes as he shifted slightly in his chair, watching intently as he noticed Jayde in the video resisting against him as he pulled on her wrist out of frame, trying to keep her close to the camera. This was all familiar to him as it had only happened earlier that same day, but something in the way Dotcom's lights shone on her horrified, petrified face made watching it second-hand a little more intense. His voice sounded gravely and admittedly scary through the speakers on his computer and Joker couldn't help but grin rather proudly; no wonder people were so scared of him.
"Do you know who I am?"
Joker heard himself ask Jayde this and watched as her eyes widened slightly as she stared up at his eyes instead of into the lens of the camera. Even on the video, the blue color there was overwhelming.
"Joker." She had answered in something of a croak, causing his stomach to churn uncomfortably again. He fought through it, continuing to watch as video-Jayde trembled uncontrollably, so forcefully, even the loose bits of her hair around her face shook. Then, as he watched, Joker noticed that even the camera was shaking slightly…Had his hands been trembling and he hadn't noticed? It was obvious, from the way the camera only stilled when he shifted it from one hand to the other, that he had indeed been shaking a bit but upon thinking back, he could not remember noticing it. Perhaps it had been that usual, primal energy that flowed through him when his mind went into 'kill-mode', maybe it had truly been the fact that he couldn't stand to watch Jayde hurting and scared anymore. The latter of the two ideas seemed a bit ridiculous as the thought of hurting Jayde usually made him fairly excited, even though he subdued it greatly, most of the time. Either way, he felt he had seen enough and was done watching the video, slightly annoyed with himself now as he let out an audible sigh, leaning forward on the desk to rest his face in his hands, closing his eyes behind them.
It was mildly surprising to him how easy it had been to smooth over Jayde's angry, hurt attitude earlier upon returning to the house and how it had really only taken one solid kiss in front of their roommates for her to sigh and smile up at him as though he had done no wrong. But now, as Joker sat there, staring at the inside of his hands over his eyes, he realized that forcing her into a bad trip had been somewhat mild compared to things he had done in the past involving Jayde, things he had done to hurt her. He supposed there was much worse he could have done…Perhaps Jayde had understood this as well. Rising from his desk chair, Joker turned off the monitor but did not bother with the rest of the computer, figuring as he left the room that if he was unable to fall asleep within an hour, he would come back and bore himself for a while.
Surprisingly, the rest of the house was dark, indicating that Dotcom and Tre had seemingly both turned in for the night so Joker continued down the hall to his bedroom, wondering if Jayde would still be awake. Part of him hoped she was, but a greater part of him hoped she was already asleep and breathing deeply. As quietly as he could, upon arriving at the door, he reached out, wrapping his fingers around the handle to turn it slowly and silently to the right, pushing it open to slip inside and shut it behind him.
The room was almost completely pitch dark, save for the glow from his tv that apparently Jayde had turned on before she fell asleep. It cast flickering, changing shadows across the room onto his bed where he could see the curvy outline of Jayde's side as it rose and fell gently as she slept with her back to the room. Joker sighed in relief as he stepped silently into the room, tugging on the loosened knot of his tie until it came undone and he could drop it carelessly onto the floor somewhere, followed closely by his vest. His shirt was next and after undoing the buttons, he tossed it behind him as he stepped into his dark bathroom, making sure to close the door behind him before turning on the light, hoping to keep Jayde asleep while he washed his face and brushed his teeth.
Several minutes later, feeling like he'd shed a layer of skin from his face from the acidic, abrasive yet powerful soap he used to remove the greasepaint, and after he felt his mouth was clean and cool enough to freeze water, Joker stepped back into his bedroom, stepping out of his pants to leave them in a heap on the floor next to his bed. He then stood there, staring at the back of Jayde, at her curved side where his purple sheets ended, exposing several inches of her skin where the bottom of her shirt had risen. Either he could do this very slowly and lay down without disturbing her or he could do it quickly and smoothly and waste no further time. A second later, a large, sleepy yawn split his face, making his decision for him.
Of course, the moment he lay down, Jayde took a deep breath in before she whimpered sleepily, turning slightly to blink rather dazedly over her shoulder at him. Honestly, Joker was a little glad she had woken, giving him a perfect opportunity to scoot close enough so her warm body fell into the curve of his like a puzzle piece. His arm had just snaked around her waist when she smiled in content, sliding her hand along his forearm.
"Hey," she murmured, her voice higher pitched than normal, quiet and a little hoarse from her previous, unconscious state. Joker closed his eyes as his lips, nose and chin rested against the back of her shoulder.
"Shh, go back to sleep," he instructed quietly, grateful when she chose obey him and as she relaxed into his bed again, he pursed his lips to leave one goodnight kiss against her skin.
When Jayde rolled over to find herself alone in the bed, she exhaled sleepily but was a little surprised to notice that she wasn't really irritated by the Joker's absence. It seemed she had almost gotten used to his somewhat regular routine of waking up earlier than she could ever want to and she honestly didn't really mind anymore. If he wasn't blowing air horns or rocking the bed, or biting her then Jayde was perfectly content to let him do his own thing in the mornings. And chances were, he was probably doing something fairly entertaining and random when she eventually found him. So after wasting no further time, Jayde slid to the edge of his bed to leave the room and go find out what was supposed to be happening that day.
Out on the landing, judging by the painfully bright sunlight, Jayde figured it was around ten 'clock and she was just squinting her way to the stairs when she heard a muffled, somewhat familiar female voice. Forcing her eyes open, she glanced around at the bottom floor, first spotting Dotcom on the phone in the kitchen before her search finally found a short, rather squat woman out on the patio, standing with her back to the glass door. Jayde frowned as she descended the stairs, noticing Tre as well now, just a moment before she gasped. Who she now recognized as Maggie, moved to the side, revealing a pair of shiny silver shears and a comb clutched in one hand while the other flicked through the Joker's hair. She walked over quickly, passing Dotcom as her eyes fell to a small pool of fallen green hair on the patio floor.
Completely ignoring the fact that she was still in her pajamas, Jayde stepped out onto the porch after sliding the glass open, smiling as Maggie turned to look, her magenta colored eyebrows raising from behind her glasses. She gasped a little, pausing for one moment to glance behind her at the back of Joker's half-cut head in obvious surprise before she turned back to Jayde, throwing an arm out.
"Hiiii, honey, how ah you?" she asked in her friendly, New York accent, leaning forward for one of those 'barely there' lady hugs.
"I'm good, thanks…" she answered politely, but distractedly, taking another few steps forward to see the front-half of the Joker, sitting there comfortably with most of his hair combed into his face, looking a little like a green sheepdog. She grinned, leaning down slightly to see around his hair to his eyes which unfortunately were both closed. "Haircut?" she asked, her grin expanding when one of his eyes opened slowly.
"Obviously?…" he answered in the same tone, his voice deep but still laced with that hint of clowniness. Jayde rolled her eyes as she stood up, walking over to sit in the chair next to Tre, joining him as he watched, somewhat mesmerized as Maggie snipped through Joker's hair with ease. After a few seconds, she blinked.
"Why though?" she asked, looking to Joker when he crossed his arms over his stomach, slouched slightly in the chair to be more at his hair dresser's level.
"'Cause I gotta stay lookin' like a rock star, right, Maggie-may?" he asked, smirking with a nod of his head when she answered distractedly, "Right, baby."
As incredibly interesting as it seemed to stick around and watch Maggie cut his hair, Jayde remembered eventually that she was still wearing her pajamas so she left the patio, hoping secretly to herself that his hair would still be somewhat long when she was done. She had really grown to enjoy pulling on it. Dotcom was unsurprisingly still in the kitchen but even less shockingly, still on the phone, so Jayde simply smiled at him with a nod of her head as she stopped by for a cup of coffee before she went upstairs.
After a quick shower, after brushing her teeth and after rifling through her clothes, Jayde had decided on a small, older t-shirt that just barely came to the line of her jeans and was just stepping out onto the landing to walk to the stairs when she noticed Joker just leaning forward in the chair as Maggie stepped back. An unavoidable grin jumped to her face when he stood up, shaking his head back and forth vigorously to shake any loose hair out before he combed his fingers into it, clearly enjoying how different it felt. Finally, as she stepped off of the bottom step, Jayde could see more clearly and she grinned hard when she noticed it was still long enough to just reach the bottom of his neck . It seemed messier than usual yet composed, his waves sticking out more severely from where Maggie had more than likely snuck a few layers in there without him knowing. He was just scowling at his reflection in the sliding glass door when his eyes shifted to Jayde through the glass as she walked up, eyeing his hair. She paused on the threshold of the door once she had slid it open a bit, cocking her head to the side slightly as Joker bounced his eyebrows, holding out his hands.
"Eh? Rock star?" he asked, grinning widely at her until she eventually nodded.
"Yeah, it looks really good." She answered, glancing at Maggie who was staring up at her 'client', eyeing her work with a proud grin.
As Joker walked Maggie out and more than likely paid her, Dotcom came out onto the patio, side-stepping the green hair on the floor the best he could before he sat down across from Jayde and Tre. He offered her a cigarette which she accepted, followed shortly by the lighter and she was just exhaling when Joker returned, opening the glass door only wide enough for him to lean out slightly.
"I'm covered in hair so I'm gonna shower. But Dotcom if you can get me the blue prints for tonight and…" he paused, his eyes falling to the pile of green hair at the base of the chair. "-if one of you guys could just…ya know…" he scrunched his nose jokingly, motioning from the green hair to the patio door. When both Jayde and Tre continued to glare at him blankly, he laughed once. "Terr-ific." He then added as he walked away, like they had readily agreed to sweep his hair up.
During the twenty minutes that it took for Joker to shower and apparently change his clothes, Jayde eventually got up and found a broom but was just leaving the laundry room when she spotted him coming down the stairs, looking clean and smelling great. He looked up from the black notebook in his hand, smirking when he glanced from her face to the broom, his grin expanding when she walked with him over to the glass door, only to hold out the broom to him firmly. For several seconds, Joker stared down at Jayde and Jayde up at him, their eyes narrowed…Jayde sincerely hoped that through her gaze, he understood full well that just because they were 'together' now, did not mean that she was to suddenly become his maid. Joker seemed to catch on, although somewhat reluctantly, and reached out a second later, pulling the broom out of her grip with a scowl before they both stepped outside. Jayde sat and watched him start to sweep, proud of herself.
"Alright, fellas," he addressed Dotcom and Tre, sweeping the hair toward the patio door with long, brisk movements. "James and Icon are meeting us at ten-thirty, yes?" he asked, finally pushing all of the hair outside before he returned to the table, sitting down at the last chair available. Tre and Dotcom said yes so he continued, glancing at Jayde. "You are going to be leaving ten minutes after us in the Escalade and meeting us out at the power plant." he instructed her now, pointing one finger at her along the table. When she did not immediately react and instead stared somewhat blankly at him, Joker's shoulders hunched slightly as he squinted. "Know where it is?" he asked as though speaking to a child and although this normally really aggravated Jayde, she honestly didn't know where it was. She shrugged.
"Noo?" she answered bravely in the exact same tone he had used, glaring at him somewhat playfully as he sighed exasperatedly, glancing across the table at Tre and Dotcom.
"I already put it in the GPS in the Cadillac, so just…follow that." He explained, turning back to face the other two. "Once we get the perimeter wired, we head out, then we go lights out at midnight." As Dotcom and Tre agreed, even though this had to have been the fifth time they'd heard this, Jayde was starting to catch on and turned to look at Joker.
"Is it going to cut our power out too?" she asked in reference to the house although the moment the words left her mouth, she felt a stab of regret for interrupting when it was already so rare that he let her in on his plans. Surprisingly, he merely shook his head and continued without further explanation, which was enough of an answer for Jayde. Cold showers were no fun at all.
After nearly an hour of discussing the evening and after Joker had obliged her with a miniature 'Q&A' session, Jayde was following the three guys inside, wondering what she ought to do that afternoon. It was obvious they would more than likely be up fairly late that evening but she wasn't sure if she was feeling tired enough for a nap. But then again, there was not a lot for her to do and it was more than probable that Joker would be spending a good amount of time in his office. At the moment, he was heading out into the garage with Tre, saying something about 'boxes' so Jayde went her way to the stairs, figuring she could just watch a movie for the time being.
The following few hours passed by at an extraordinarily slow crawl as Joker and Tre came in and out of the house continually, their voices growing louder as they walked in then quieting again just before the garage door would shut again. Dotcom seemed to be busy or was of the same mind as Jayde and was napping in his room. Eventually, she had fallen asleep at around five after it became to difficult to keep her eyes open. She had slipped off into a comfortable, cozy nap without much problem but now, seemingly five minutes later, a weight landed on the bed next to her heavily, bouncing the mattress. Her eyes popped open as she gasped quietly, blinking several times until the vague features of the Joker came into focus. She exhaled with a soft groan as he grinned.
"Hi," she murmured, turning onto her back, frowning when she noticed the room was dark. "What time is it?" she asked a moment later, turning just her head to look over at him.
"Just after nine," he answered, sitting up abruptly as Jayde moved to rest her hand on his arm. "I figured I would come wake you up so you had time to get ya wits about ya before we left." With this, he grinned over his shoulder before he left the room, leaving Jayde sitting on the bed feeling slightly dejected. In all fairness, she understood that this was a big deal but honestly, she wished he would stop moving for three seconds, or at least long enough for her to sneak in and kiss him once. She was not about to waste energy worrying about it, however, so she stood up and proceeded to find her freshly laundered camouflage pants and a plain black v-neck t-shirt. Her boots had been left in the Escalade from the other night so after pulling on some socks and making sure her hair did not look horrid, Jayde stepped out onto the landing, only to stop where she stood, her jaw hanging slack.
Downstairs, at the table stood Tre, in his camouflage and black outfit, his boots as shiny as the floor beneath them, but next to him, stood the Joker, wearing the exact same thing. Jayde felt herself drooling a little when she noticed the way the camouflage pants fit him low around his hips, held there in place by a black leather belt. The boots made him look a bit taller than usual and Jayde was about to try and snap herself out of this trance when he turned, scowling up at the second landing.
"Care to join us?" he asked, nodding at the table with his head, but hesitated to watch her over his shoulder as she trotted down the stairs toward them, grinning at him when the tip of her tongue snuck out to just lightly touch the scarred corner of her mouth. Joker's eyes narrowed with a new smirk but Jayde had already reached them and was sitting down to look over the blue prints he had spread out on the table. They made absolutely no sense whatsoever to her, but she looked anyway, hoping to seem like she understood.
"So we'll need a case here," he reached out with a permanent marker, marking an 'X' over what appeared to be a corner of the building before he went on. "-here, here and here. Then we'll leave one in the van next to it just for good measure. James and Icon say they have the stuff, we just need to bring the cable and fuses," he was telling Tre, completely ignoring Jayde at this point. "Dotcom is driving the truck and she has the Escalade." He paused, pointing with his thumb at Jayde. "And she and I are leaving at eleven-thirty so you and Dotcom will have to bring the truck back. If everything goes according to plan, we should be back here by one, smoking a fat one to celebrate, ya feel me?" At this, Tre clapped his hands once, standing up straight from leaned over the table.
"Ready?…Break!" he said enthusiastically as though they had just separated from a huddle, leaving Joker to glare at him, his expression blank with annoyance. Tre laughed to himself as he walked away to the garage door, stepping out and beyond it a few moments later. Joker rolled his eyes as Jayde came around his side, sliding onto the table in front of him and the tips of her fingers tucked behind his belt and into the lining of his pants, swinging her legs a bit as they dangled from the table.
"You look really sexy," she admitted without hesitation, smirking up at him as his scowl relaxed slightly and his hands came to rest on either side of her.
"Ya think so?" he asked, arching one eyebrow, stretching one of the black rings around his eyes while the other tightened. Jayde nodded, staring up at him, loving the way his new haircut left a few shorter pieces of his green hair to fall into his face and jaw a bit. He grunted a laugh, leaning down slightly as his eyes fell to the ground before he brought them back up, eyeing her slightly parted lips. Jayde felt her stomach turn over as he leaned in a bit more and she closed her eyes in preparation for that wonderful first kiss of the day, only for Joker's quiet, raspy voice to break the silence. "Uh…Where are those boots I got you?" he asked after he had apparently noticed her socked feet, his lips mere inches from hers as Jayde's eyes slid open to meet his.
"In the car," she practically whispered, leaning in slightly to try and catch him before he stood up straight. But Joker caught on and pulled back a few inches, the top corner of his lip raising slightly in a toothy smirk as he eyed her lips teasingly.
"Then you should probably go. get. them."
After scooting from the kitchen and out into the garage, Jayde walked over to the Escalade, noticing Tre in the driver's seat of his massive truck, smoking a cigarette while he waited for the Joker. She glanced over, part of her wanting to ask him if she could have one of his smokes but then again, Joker had seemed in a hurry so she continued with unlocking the SUV to climb into a middle seat and reach for her boots. They were exactly where she had left them previously, sitting on the floor in the very back where she and Joker had had their latest sexual encounter. As she leaned out to slide her feet in and begin tightening the laces, the sound of the garage door swinging open caught her attention and she looked up as Joker walked over, holding something in his hand. He held it out to her once he had made it over.
"Press the start button when we leave," he explained, watching Jayde's face as she looked down at the stopwatch he had just handed to her. "It's already set for ten minutes so when it goes off, leave and follow the GPS to the power plant, understand?" By the time she had agreed, Joker was already walking away toward the truck, leaving Jayde to stare after him blankly, watching the way he still limped ever so slightly from the slowly healing wound in his leg. And before she could even think to ask anything, like how she was supposed to reach him if something happened, the truck was pulling out of the garage and Jayde had just remembered her phone, sitting upstairs on her nightstand.
Once she had been inside and returned to climb into the driver's seat with her phone and the Escalade keys, the stopwatch was sliding closer to all zeros so she started the SUV, wondering vaguely to herself when her man planned on showing her some affection that day. She had seen him briefly, for only a few minutes at a time all day, and although she had sworn to herself she would not smother him, Jayde was feeling a rejected. Then again, she had never expected for the Joker to even consider letting her into his life as anything more than a victim so any time she had around him felt almost like some sort of gift. She could have easily been long since dead by then and counted her blessings that Joker even pretended to like her. She would just have to catch him off-guard later…Finally, the stopwatch had run out so Jayde pulled the massive, heavy Cadillac from the garage, pausing to close the door behind her before the rocks of the driveway began crunching beneath the reinforced tires.
Luckily, it appeared someone, presumably Dotcom, had seemingly put the GPS instructions on 'easy' so finding the power plant did not turn out to be as daunting as she had assumed. Although the further and further Jayde grew from the city, the more a small feeling of apprehension began to work itself up in the pit of her stomach, reminding her that this was the first time she had left the house alone as a part of one of Joker's schemes since her status had been changed from 'victim' to 'accomplice'. Fortunately, the power plant seemed to be on the very outskirts of the city in an industrial area of the landscape. This was closer to the house than the actual city of Gotham which left the large building, towers and wires to stand almost completely alone in a rural area, bordered by the interstate on one side, trees and fields on the other. Off the freeway, there were no streetlights and hardly any cars so Jayde felt a little of that tension in her stomach start to fade away. Of course, her phone began ringing loudly, causing her to jump with a gasp.
"Make a left at the next gate entrance," came a raspy, somewhat quiet voice on the other end. Jayde leaned forward, staring through the windshield into the dark night for any possible places from which Joker could have been watching.
"Where are you?" she asked, her eyes spotting the second entrance to the huge gravel yard outside of the power plant. The wheels of the Escalade had already started to turn to the left when he let out a rather annoyed sigh.
"I'm inside," he answered; Jayde could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "Dotcom is outside about to-…"
"Open the gate, yeah." She cut across him, pressing her thumb to the red button when she barely noticed Dotcom pulling open a long, horizontal gate on a track stuck between the gravel. The Escalade pulled into the yard and the gate slid shut again promptly behind it before Dotcom walked across to padlock the fence again. Jayde was just climbing out when he trotted up, looking a bit winded.
"They're all inside," he explained, nodding his head at the enormous building behind them, roaring with the sound of giant turbines. Looking over toward the docking bay at the very back of the building, Jayde noticed a beaten up, somewhat familiar-looking white van with no windows…She would have stopped to ask but Dotcom was already leading her over toward a set of metal stairs, which led them up and into one of the biggest rooms Jayde had ever entered in her life. Her eyes grew wide to take in the vast sight just before she jumped when someone shouted her name, their voice echoing and magnified seemingly a hundred times. The Joker was standing on the very opposite side of the huge room, his arms held out to either side and the most ridiculous, excited grin on his face.
"DOESN'T MY VOICE SOUND AWESOME IN HERE?" he shouted playfully, his words nearly indeterminable from the deep echo. Jayde giggled, glancing at Dotcom as he allowed himself a quick eye-roll before he went over to one of the corners where Jayde now noticed two strangers crouched down, looking at something. Fortunately, the Joker and Tre were now walking toward her, and Jayde couldn't stop herself from noting just then how sexy they looked together, both wearing camo and boots…Lemme stop…she thought vaguely, blinking a few times as they walked up. Before Joker could make a comment, Jayde glanced around, her eyebrows arched.
"So you're blowing this place up?" she asked, those eyebrows arching further when Joker snorted a laugh, nudging Tre with his elbow.
"I tell ya, it's so cute when she asks stupid questions…"he murmured to him, rolling his eyes before he looked down to Jayde, raising his eyebrows. "Yes, I am." He answered enthusiastically, once again taking that irritating, child-like tone with her. Jayde's hands met her hips.
"Don't be a dick, I'm just asking…" she growled at him dangerously, keeping her voice low to prevent anyone else from hearing her speak to her 'boss' that way. The black makeup around his eyes began to tighten in his scowl so she carried on, hoping to smooth it over. "So what can I do?" she asked, glancing around. It seemed to be her lucky day when Joker frowned, looking at the distant four corners.
"Uh…" he hesitated, finally glancing at Tre before he shrugged with a small toss of his hands. "Just stand here with me and look cute in your little boots," he eventually instructed, taking a step forward to wrap his arm around her shoulders before he promptly raised his voice. "I CAN'T WAIT TO FUCK YOU LATER!" he practically shouted, his words echoing and bouncing all over the building, just moments before a loud, evil-genius type, 'muahaha' laugh came bubbling out of him. With a gasp, Jayde pushed him away from her, walking to Dotcom while he and Tre laughed.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Jayde, Dotcom and the two strangers, who she had gathered to be 'James' and 'Icon', were standing near the doors of the huge room faking a friendly conversation when she noticed Tre and Joker murmuring between themselves, their voices barely noticeable. Tre glanced over at the back of the two men before he looked back to Joker and muttered something. Joker shook his head with a frown but Jayde was looking back to 'James' as he looked down at his watch.
"Should be about time to get out of here, huh," he commented, glancing at the man next to him as he agreed. Just over his shoulder, Jayde noticed Joker start to approach from behind, his footsteps deliberately quiet, his head lowered and his eyes narrowed. Her stomach lurched like she had missed a step going downstairs when she recognized that stance as the one he used when sneaking up on prey and she swallowed hard, forcing her attention back to James. It seemed Dotcom had caught on as well.
"So where did you guys say you came from? Roswell?" he asked but took a step back as several things happened at the same time: Jayde gasped, Joker and Tre had both closed in, grabbed the two men on either side of the head and in sync, cracked their necks simultaneously with a sickening crunch that echoed slightly in the room. Jayde felt her stomach lurch again when the two men fell to the floor, their faces frozen in mid-surprise. Seeing Joker kill was nothing really new to her, but up until that point, Jayde had never seen Tre actually kill someone and unsurprisingly, he was seemingly just as 'gifted' as his best friend. Joker let out a sigh as he stepped over the body of James nonchalantly.
"Alright, ladies, let's get outta here." he instructed over his shoulder, continuing on his way to the huge docking station as though nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. Jayde swallowed hard on the lump in her throat as she walked with her 'roommates', back out into the yard of small rocks, wondering what they were supposed to do now. Luckily, Joker stopped near the Escalade, holding out his hand to her expectantly for the keys while he looked to Tre and Dotcom.
"You guys head up to that outlook and keep an eye on this place until midnight. She and I are going to Mahaffey Theater to catch a show." He explained plainly, and Jayde was just about to ask 'what?' when he laughed heartily at his own joke. "No, I'm just kidding," he then added as though Dotcom and Tre had actually believed him. "Let's plan to get back to the house by one. Ready? Aaaaand…break!" At his last word, Joker whipped his hand out, smacking Tre on the cheek as punishment for his stupid joke earlier but wheezed with laughter as he bounced away to the driver's side of the Escalade, leaving Tre to stand there glaring murderously after him.
Jayde grinned to herself as she slid into the seat next to Joker, wondering what on earth was putting him in such a ridiculous mood. She wasn't complaining, however; it was always fun to be around him when he was like this. Jayde just sincerely hoped this happy-go-lucky attitude would last until they were back home, alone.
As Joker floored the Escalade in reverse toward the gate, Jayde turned in her seat, her jaw falling open further and further the nearer it grew until she cringed, bracing for an impact when the back end of the SUV went flying through the flimsy chain link fence and out onto the dirt street beside the plant. Joker seemed to have been accurate in his faith in the enhanced vehicle's strength but the scowl on his face remained firmly in place as he turned the wheel, stopping the car momentarily to let Tre and Dotcom go before him in the truck.
Once they had made it down the road a ways, the huge, black pick-up truck pulled off onto a smaller dirt path, leaving nothing but Joker, Jayde, the Escalade and it's headlights as they continued on. The radio was playing quietly enough for conversation but it seemed at this point, Joker had fallen into that intense, anxious-excited mood, bouncing his knee as he stared through the windshield so Jayde stayed silent; he would speak if he found something necessary to say.
The city seemed fairly quiet that evening as they drove through back streets, taking shortcuts here and there until the streetlights became scarce, flickering and yellowed with age and the night seemed to get darker the further into the city they drove. For a few momets, Jayde considered breaking that itchy silence to ask if they were in the fabled section of the city known as 'the Narrows', but from the look of things, she could probably guess pretty accurately that that's exactly where they were. She spared Joker the question.
Finally, after nearly a half hour, Jayde felt her stomach give another uncomfortable lurch when the truck began to slow and pull off to the right, alongside a particularly dark strip of avenue, lined with run-down, abandoned businesses. Turning her head as Joker shut off the car, Jayde noticed the façade of a old, vacant theater, it's brick face cracked in places and overrun by dead ivy. How romantic…she thought rather sourly but turned her head again quickly when she heard the unmistakable noise of a gun being loaded. Her eyes dropped immediately to the semi-automatic handgun in Joker's gloved hand as he put the safety on but he seemed to notice her watching and paused, arching an eyebrow at her.
"Can never be too careful!" he chimed, holding up a finger as he tucked the gun into the black leather, double gun strap that crossed on his back and rested on either side of his ribs. Jayde glanced across at his other side when a flash of silver caught her attention; seems one could never be two careful. With a soft 'tsk', she shook her head slowly, eyeing him up and down.
"You really could not get any sexier if you tried, Joker," she commented honestly but jumped when his hand reached out swiftly to grip her jaw and pull her closer to his face forcefully. His grip slackened as his half-lidded gaze dropped to her puckery lips. Jayde braced for a Joker-style scolding.
"…I know." He growled, his tempting, thin, yet perfectly arched lips just inches from hers, thoroughly teasing her yet again before he released her face with a slight push. "Now stop drooling 'n let's go." He then instructed firmly, moving to get out of the car and Jayde couldn't help but grin to herself as she followed him.
A long, narrow alley ran along the side of the rundown building that Jayde failed to notice until she was following Joker into the mouth of it, stumbling slightly on unseen garbage on the ground. She tried not to think of what she was stepping on and although the thought of reaching out and sliding her finger into Joker's back belt loop seemed tempting, Jayde had a feeling he would turn around and smack her hand away. The quiet, squeaking sound of rats reached Jayde's ears a second later, forcing her forward a few quick steps with an uncomfortable cringe, only to bounce right into Joker's solid figure. She staggered back a step, clearing her throat quietly in slight embarrassment when she felt Joker turn his head to glare down at her in the near pitch blackness.
The rusty metal side door to the theater gave a not-so-stealthy groan as Joker pushed it open, stepping inside as silently as possible, only to push it shut again and lock it once Jayde had followed him in. She stood next to him closely, afraid to take even one step away from him as he leaned down to reach into the cargo pocket of his pants, only to produce a tiny, metal flashlight a moment later. The beam of light slid along the far wall until it stopped on a very unstable-looking ladder, bolted to the concrete wall at the very back of the old, sunken stage. Apparently, they were supposed to climb that…Before turning off the flashlight, Joker shined it on his watch and immediately took off toward the stage, leaving Jayde to trot after him.
The ancient wooden floors creaked and groaned beneath their boots, the noise following them across the large room to the boarded-up orchestra pit where Joker easily climbed up and onto the stage, once again leaving Jayde to trot over to the small set of stairs, wondering why he hadn't just used them instead. When she caught up, he was already at the bottom of the ladder, scowling up at the ceiling where a square metal hatch stood in their way.
"Wait here," Joker instructed, placing one foot and both hands on the straight rungs of the metal ladder, pulling himself up so he could climb to the very top where he paused, hooking his forearm around one of the bars to hold himself in place so he could reach into his pocket. That small flashlight appeared again, shining its circular beam of light on the hatch to the roof before Joker placed the end of it between his teeth while his free arm reached up to pull hard on the narrow lever. With a great groan and pop, the rusty latch released and the hatch swung open, bringing in a cool, outside breeze and revealing a square of inky black sky, dotted by only one or two stars. "Ok, c'mon." Joker called back to her, climbing up the rest of the ladder until he could pull himself up and out while Jayde followed.
Out on the roof, Joker was just taking a deep breath in, holding his arms out slightly as though hugging the whole city, when Jayde joined him, her eyes wide at the view.
"Wow…" she breathed with something that sounded an awful lot like awe as her gaze took in the sight of the whole of nighttime Gotham, the tall buildings dotted with random, lit windows, the honking of horns and wailing of sirens, still audible, even with the distance. The lights cast shadows on the Joker's face but even in the semi-darkness, Jayde could see the corners of his lips turned up in a grin as he admired the city. A moment later, he seemed to remember something in his pocket and reached down into it, producing a familiar switch. His thumb flipped open a small plastic latch, revealing a blue, blinking button and he glanced up at the city again, his thumb hovering over the button. Jayde jumped instinctually when he pushed down, changing the color of the blinking light from blue to red, but the switch made absolutely no noise…nothing made any noise…except for Joker, who was laughing quietly, watching the horizon to one side.
"And God said, 'Let there be NIGHT!'" he finally exclaimed, holding out his arms to the city as the earth shook slightly with a tremendous rumble, like the loudest thunder she had ever heard. She jumped again, taking a step closer to Joker when off to the side, in the distance, a bright ball of fire and electric sparks lit up the sky and she was almost so distracted by this that she nearly missed the real show. Luckily, Joker's arm wrapped around her shoulders tightly, pulling her attention back to the huge cityscape, where every light had just flickered and gone out completely, extinguishing every single light source in the city, plunging it into complete and total darkness. Joker was using Jayde to brace himself as he doubled over slightly, laughing hard at the roof they were standing on as she continued to stare in shock at the city, honestly a little blown away that Joker had pulled something of this magnitude off.
Earlier, she had said that Joker could not have gotten any sexier if he tried…She had been wrong.
Jayde had just turned to Joker as he stood up, taking a deep breath and was just about to throw her arms around his neck, rise onto her toes and kiss him deeply when a closer, smaller bang cracked the night air, followed quickly by the loud clank of metal on metal just feet from them. A split-second after the gunshot, Joker grabbed Jayde's arm hard enough to bruise and pulled her to the ground with him, behind the waist-height wall that formed a perimeter around the long roof of the theater. Jayde had just looked to Joker with wide, panicked eyes, when he barked an exhilarated laugh.
"Whew!" he exclaimed, just as another shot split the air. "That was close!"
To be continued!
REVIEW OR YOU WILL BE DOOMED TO FOREVER WONDER WHO IS SHOOTING AT JOKER AND JAYDE!...seriously though, guys...Leave some reviews, don't be a bum. I want to hear from the most loyal readers! -QoM = ]