Thanks to jamcneill680 for the review. Hope you enjoy this chapter too.

Chapter 2: The Birth of The Jester

~1 year earlier~

Scarlett pulled on her helmet and started up her bike and headed to work. The roads were quite this early in the morning most people weren't even up yet, but this month Scarlett was working the early shift 4 am – 4 pm. At Gotham General hospital, she was a nurse on the wards there and worked with a variety of patients. She loved her job she loved to feel she had a propose and made an impact on the world in some way, she would hate to be forgotten when she was dead. Since the fire Scarlett's life had been completely normal almost boring and although she was offered counselling, which she attended she was given a clean bill of mental health very quickly after. She grieved and she moved on.

Her hideous childhood was never spoken about after her father had taken her back to England and she felt she had a happy, standard childhood. She didn't remember the events of the container, but she was aware of what had taken place. She knew her mother had died there.

"Morning" she called happily to another nurse as she checked in at the nurse's station and picked up her mornings patient files. Her days had become routine and somewhat irksome.

"Morning" the head nurse Lydia said and smiled happily at Scarlett.

She made her way around to the patients she had been given and completed her tasks with ease and a cheerful manner. Patients always seemed to like her as she was always so happy.

Around 9 her mobile buzzed and she pulled it from her pocket.

Bruce:

It's your birthday tomorrow, fancy dinner?

She smiled at the text, she had met Bruce Wayne when she was at school he was two years above her at the expensive private school her father had sent her too when they had moved here from England. She replied a yes and pushed her phone back in her pocket. Tomorrow was Thursday it was her one day off a week and dinner with Bruce sounded like a brilliant way to spend it.

Her phone buzzed again but she left it alone and continued with her rounds.

Her lunch hour came quickly and she headed out to the Café she always went to, it was small and placed on a busy road opposite Gotham National Bank. In this part of the city no one stopped and talked to anyone, everyone was in such a rush. Scarlett like it, this way no one would talk to her, as she could relax and eat her food.

She ordered the same toasted panini she always had and a pot of earl grey tea. The weather was sunny and summer was coming in so she sat out the front and watched the world rush by, she loved to watch the uniformity of it all and sometimes wondered what would happened if one of the many people rushing by texting on there phones were to step out in front of the car, she wondered about the reactions of all the other people around, what they would do if a little chaos was introduced into their measured little worlds. She shook the disturbing thought from her head and sipped her tea. After all she was a victim of the rat race just like the rest of them.

Her sandwich was brought out and she thanked the server, she looked up as a string of police cars raced past and towards the entrance side to Gotham's National Bank. She hadn't even taken her first bite as the windows to the Café were blown in by the shock wave of the explosion inside the bank. Scarlett had been knocked off her chair and there was glass in her hair, her head spun as she tried to look up, but she had a head injury and the blood was running into her eyes. She struggled to her feet as the sound finally reached her.

Across the road she could hear the screams of the survivors of the explosion inside the bank. There was a hole that had been blown into the wall of the bank opposite the Café, she knew she needed to go and help any casualties but she couldn't focus and she lost her balance again. Crawling on her hands and knees she looked back into the Café. In the future, Scarlett would look back at this moment as the birth of Jester.

There was so much blood, the girl who had just served her had a large piece of glass protruding from her leg, Scarlett watched for a second as the exposed artery spurted blood like a fountain. Pulling herself together she rushed over to the girl and applied pressure to the wound, but the artery was still pumping through her hands and she looked around for something better, she knew help would be coming, it had to be coming.

She grabbed a nearby tea towel and applied it to the wound, before looking for something she could turn into a tourniquet. But there was nothing and blood was draining from the girl fast, she looked down at her and told her to hold on, the owner to the Café was unconscious and so of little help. Scarlett had had patients die on her before but something about today broke her more than usual. She kept the pressure on but there was no sign of help and her head was spinning again, she willed herself not to let go. She checked the girls pulse it was weak, she was maybe 17 years old, and she was going to die. Finally, the artery stopped pumping and Scarlett screamed at the unconscious owner. She released the pressure, the girl was dead and there was little she could do, CPR was futile when the body had no blood left.

She stood and spotted her face in the mirror and that is when Jester was born again. Her face looked back at her covered in her own blood, her hands covered in the girls and somewhere in the back of her mind she could hear a woman screaming and chainsaws motor revving, and she laughed.

She laughed as tears rolled down her face. The Cheshire style grin spread further as she made her way back out the front of the broken Café, she wiped her face with her bloody hands and laughed again.

Her head played images she had not seen in years and her eyes hazed over as tears filled them. But all the while she giggled like a mad woman.

Scarlett scrambled over the broken glass, onto the pavement outside, she could hear sirens but it was far too late and again she laughed.

"What a beautiful laugh you have," said a voice and Scarlett turned to find the source, he stood in the alleyway between the Café and its neighbour, his face hidden in shadow.

"I shouldn't have come back really, just sometimes it hard to resist, I do love watching the madness unfold" he laughed motioning to the bank across the street where the police buzzed around in panic.

"You know it was just thinking this day could use a little chaos" Scarlett admitted she wasn't sure if she had passed out and this was all a figment of a head injury-induced coma.

"Really? Well I'm an agent of chaos" the man said and she laughed.

"Now that sounds like a fun job" she laughed and so did he, it was high and manic, but something about it made her smile even more. Her head spun again and she stumbled.

"Careful" he laughed as he finally stepped out of the shadows. He was spectacular to behold. He was at least a head taller than Scarlett, he wore a creased slate blue suit and light blue pattern shirt. But Scarlett wasn't looking at his clothes his handsome face was what had her attention.

His skin was painted a bright white with smudged black around his eyes and a Glasgow smile was painted in red across his lips, his cheeks were badly scarred into curves from the corners of his mouth creating the image of a violent smile and something inside of Scarlett purred at it. His dark blonde hair hung lankly around his shoulders with a tint of green to it.

He smiled at her widely showing her a set of yellow stained teeth.

"Hi," he said still smiling and maybe it was her head injury but Scarlett blushed.

"Hi," said Scarlett in returned her words coming out as barely more than a whisper.

"What's your name," he asked and Scarlett's head spun again and she collapsed to the floor. The clown erupted into to hysterical laughter and looked down at her, he bent over her and she tried to focus, he reached down to her chest and pulled her name tag from her scrubs.

"Nurse Scarlett Jesterson," said the man trying her name out in his mouth.

"I like it," he said grinning again and she smiled weakly as her vision blurred.

"Well, Nurse Jester it was a pleasure to meet such a beauty. I leave you my card, in case you wanna see some more chaos" he said and he pushed a card into her top pocket but she could no longer make out details so could not see what was written nor what it was.

"I'm sorry if my fun ruined your day," he said nodding his head towards the smoking bank across the street and Scarlett only nodded. There was a shout from somewhere and the man looked up before he stood to his feet again.

"Well I gotta run, but I hope to see you soon gorgeous," said the man before he was gone from her sight, her head swam again and finally she blacked out.

When she woke up she was back in the hospital, but this time she was a patient. She blinked the crust out of her eyes and looked over at the man sitting by her bed, Bruce stood and called a nurse in.

"Oh god I'm so glad you are okay," he said reaching over to Scarlett and holding her hand, she pulled it away in disgust but then her brain scolded her and she smiled an apology.

"Sorry I'm a little confused," she said looking at Bruce who simply nodded and took her hand in his again.

The nurse entered and smiled at the pair. "Now Scarlett, you have a cracked skull and a concussion, as you probably know we will be keeping you for a while for observation but your fractured skull has been scanned and does not need surgery to correct and your scalp has been stapled. You will, however, need antibiotics for the next week to prevent any infection" said Natalie a nurse Scarlett had worked with for a year now.

"What kind of fracture do I have?" Scarlett asked and Natalie smiled.

"A compound fracture," she said "But it is linear"

Scarlett simply nodded as Natalie began to take obs and Scarlett turned to Bruce.

"How did you know I was hurt?" she asked him.

"When you didn't text back the second time, I called to asked what time you wanted to be picked up tomorrow and a nurse in the emergency department picked up and told me what had happened so I came down," he explained.

"Well thanks for coming," she said honestly and Bruce smiled, though she and Bruce were not exactly close, he was her friend and had been for a long time, and now that Scarlett had no family left, if Bruce had not come, she would have been alone right now.

"I still want to go out tomorrow night," she said after a moment of silence and Bruce laughed.

"I think you should wait to see what the doctor says" he smiled.

"Bruce I've been a qualified nurse for just under 5 years now, I know a linear fracture like this, open or not, I'll be released by 9oClock tonight. And it's my birthday I only have one every year, so I don't wanna miss it" she said lacing her words with mock misery and Bruce chuckled.

"Okay if you are out by tomorrow morning we can go," he said with a smile and she grinned and for a second his smile faded, she laughed and he joined in nervously. He had never seen her smile like that before.

After an hour Bruce left and Scarlett was on observation, as she was now awake she was not allowed to fall asleep again.

When Natalie came back for her second round of obs, Scarlett asked about the girl in the Café and Natalie had explained that they understood Scarlett had done everything she could, but as Scarlett suspected the girl had died. Her parents had been informed and a post-mortem would be done at Gotham General. For some reason that girls death was stuck in her mind more than any patient death before, but when she thought back to it the feelings she felt were confusing.

Scarlett was given a magazine to read, to keep her mind busy and she flipped through the pages lazily. She stood to stretch her legs and pulled on the new scrubs she had requested she really hated hospital gowns. Underneath where her old bloodstained scrubs, the top had a tear in it where the named tag's pin had ripped through the fabric when it was removed, she lifted it up to look at and then she stopped. There was something in the pocket, she pulled it out and held it in her fingers, the Joker card was taken from a set of playing cards but printed along the side was a string of numbers. Was that really his phone number? She wondered.

"Thought I'd come and check on you Jester," said a voice in the doorway and Scarlett's head shot up. The joker card slipping from her fingers. There he stood bold as anything his make-up was running but he didn't seem to mind. She rushed to him and pulled him into the room and shut the door behind them.

"Really Jester if you wanted me alone, you only had to ask" he cackled and she looked at him wide-eyed. She had no idea why she had just pulled this man into her room and shut the door, for all she knew he was a murderer, as well as a thief.

"I don't want you to get caught," she said out loud but the thought hadn't even processed in her brain before it was out of her mouth and she was almost shocked by what she was saying. It was as though she no longer controlled her mouth. But then she realised it was the truth for whatever insane reason she didn't want this man in front of her to be caught.

"I wouldn't worry gorgeous, I'm not planning on getting caught, not that I have a plan" he laughed again and she finally cracked a smile.

"Ahh there's that beautiful smile," he said and she felt herself blush again and he shot her another yellow grin.

"So how you feeling, did you break your head?" he asked sitting on the bed and pointing to the bandage on her head.

"Yeah but it's not too bad," she said looking at the stranger in front of her and knowing she should not be smiling and yet she couldn't seem to wipe it from her face.

"So did some of your brains come out, can I look?" he asked, though it wasn't really a question as he reached over to pulled the bandage from her head. She stepped back away from him her smile failing.

So did his and dark look came over his face, and immediately she regretted letting him into the room, she looked at the door but was frozen to the spot.

And then he laughed.

She looked at him confused and he continued to cackle.

"Don't worry Jester, I wouldn't hurt something as beautiful as you, not yet anyway." He said shaking his head slightly and she smiled wearily.

"No, really I came because introductions got cut a bit short last time we met so I thought we could try again," he said before he held his dirty hand out to her.

"Joker," he said simply, nearly every part of her brain was screaming for her to not trust this lunatic but there in the back was the part she had forgotten about a long time ago. That part was giggling like a school girl, and it was that part that made her take his hand.

"Scarlett," she said shaking his hand, it was hot and rough, his fingers calloused and scarred. She couldn't help the smile that came to her face as he lifted her hand and placed a kiss on the back of it. It left a red stain on her the skin of her hand and she looked at him and giggled.

"Right Jester doesn't let me down, I don't give my number to every girl I meet. So keep it safe, and know that if you call the police and tell them anything. I will find you and I will gut you" he said with a smile, and she knew he meant every word.

"I won't I promise," she said swallowing hard, his face lit up again and he stood from the bed.

"Okay ah well I'll be off, gimme a call sometime your bored gorgeous, and I'll see you around," he said before he headed off towards the window and pushed it open and jumped out before hurrying away from his arms hanging by his sides oddly as he ran.

Scarlett dropped to her hands and knees as her heart felt like it was about to pound out of her chest, she tried to make herself think that she would hand the card to the police and that her heart was pounding out of fear but she was lying to herself.

As her fingers found the card she pulled it to her chest and sat on the floor breathing heavily. She was lying, her heart was pounding out of pure exhaustion and it was intoxicating, she wanted to feel like this all the time, and now she had tasted it again, she wanted more. The last time she had felt like this was at the fire and then it had been such a lot of work for such a small payment. But this time he had simply touched her and she was on fire, this was so much more intense than after the fire. She needed to feel like this again.

As she peered down at the card held tightly in her grasp she knew she was going to call that number, and very soon. The police weren't going to know a thing and not because Joker had threatened her, no, she would be damned if she was going to share. He was her high now, and she wasn't going to give him up for anything.

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