Chapter 13

The Joker stared at the blank TV screen with rage in his eyes and a snarl on his lips. He was seated on a large wood crate of sorts that served as a make shift couch. His henchmen were close by but they had put themselves at a comfortable distance after witnessing the newest GCN report. They knew the boss would not be happy when he watched it and they were right.

The Joker's arms tensed and his fists were clenched tightly making his knuckles turn white. His whole body was boiling with animosity and the snarl on his lips twitched in response. He was furious, no; furious did not describe what he was feeling. Words for that matter wouldn't even begin to describe his new found anger.

He replayed the news cast in his head giving himself a moment to really process the new information while completely ignoring the men around him.

Of course he heard word that a new criminal was making their mark on Gotham, and at first he wasn't worried, at least not until now. He was sure that it was just another petty crime group attempting to follow in his footsteps, but the news report showed that they were actually one step ahead. They had successfully killed the mayor, which he had failed at year ago, and they pulled it off without a hitch.

This angered him deeply, this "new gang" was stealing his spotlight and he would not just sit back and let it happen. Now that he was out of Arkham it was time to play, Gotham was his playground and he did not take lightly to new kids on the block, especially ones that had the balls to blow up town hall. Only someone as crazy as him would have the nerve to do that.

He let the thought ponder in his head as he mumbled aimless incoherent words out loud. To his men he sounded as if he was speaking a different language, maybe Russian, they couldn't really tell, it was all mangled and muttered. But the men knew well enough to understand that he was angry and furiously concocting a plan.

After a brief moment of self confliction the Joker settled on the simple decision to just kill this "new criminal". It was the easiest way to eliminate the growing competition and he would get a chance to ease the painful boredom that was creeping up on him. But then again having competition, other than Batman, might be fun. He would just have to wait and see.

"Boys!" The Joker barked breaking the silence; all his men looked to him in response.

He licked his lips fast and took a large breath before speaking. It was clear that he was still very angry but he had an odd control over it, "I eh need to meet this Diamond Gang leader. Find them and set up a little get together, I want to introduce myself." He said darkly putting emphasis on his S's.

"Okay boss, we can do that. When and where?" asked a henchman, Billy Boy, who obviously was a little slow in the mental department and didn't quite understand that asking the Joker questions was a bad idea.

The Joker smacked his lips together and disregarded Billy Boy's stupidity. He made a mock look of contemplation by tapping his temple, "Tonight. At their hideout."

"You got it boss. But If you don't mind me askin' are we gonna kill em?"

The Joker shot Billy a dangerous glare, clearly conveying that he was pushing it. But suddenly he broke into a fit of giggles slightly startling the henchman who took a cautious step back. His tone was high pitched and lively, completely contrasting his previous way of speaking.

"Why of course Billy Boy, ya see they think they can do whatever they want" he motioned with his hands wildly as if trying to catch the phrase in the air around him, "and ah that's a no no." he shook his index finger back and forth to clarify his point.

Billy Boy nodded his head in understanding and left the room with the other men following. The Joker remained on the crate and slumped over a little letting his tainted hair fall in his face. He started to mutter again, this time with a more vicious tone. He let the Slavic sounding words roll off his tongue in a rapid manner and he shook his head and tapped his fingers while carrying on the conversation with himself, the threat of murder dripping at every word. After all he was sure that whoever was the leader of the Diamond Gang had a death wish and he might have to be the magic genie that granted it.

Alice stirred in her bed as the light from the setting sun bled into her room. Her stomach churned and her head was still spinning, her mouth was as dry as a desert and she was already trying to put the vague memories of the previous night together. Her hair reeked of cigarettes and she noticed that she was still wearing the clothes from yesterday with tiny specks of the mayors blood crusted on her top.

Her current state of being was the result of partying a little too hard last night. At the time it seemed like a good idea to celebrate their success but as her head started pounding she deeply regretted it. She rolled over on her back and tried to ignore the painful bliss of her hangover and focus on falling back to sleep.

She was starting to drift off when Saul burst though her closed bedroom door and slammed it back shut, "Diamond!" he whispered harshly as he made his way to her mattress. She groaned in response and rolled over to face the other way. "Diamond, kid you need to get up now. Someone is here for you." His tone was slightly panicked and even through her dazed state Alice could tell that he was being serious.

"Whatttt Saul, who the hell is here?" She growled into her pillow.

Saul sighed in response knowing that she was not going to like his answer. "The Joker. He wants to see you."

Alice immediately shot up with her eyes wide. She ripped the covers off of her body and stood up abruptly, blinking her eyes rapidly trying to grasp what Saul had just said.

"What?! What do you mean he wants to see me?! How does he know where I am?!" She started to breath heavily and gripped her head in pain as the pounding grew more intense. The not so distant memories of her time spent with him came flooding back, the he threw her around and the way he toyed with her mind made her hangover seem painless.

"Hey kid calm down." Saul spoke softy, "I'm pretty sure he doesn't know it's you. He said he wanted to meet the Diamond Gang leader kept referring to you as a him, so he'll be just as shocked as you are."

This didn't help Alice's panic stricken state. "But why does he want to meet me? I don't understand!"

"Beats me kiddo, why don't you go and ask him yourself?"

"He's out there, right now? Just waiting for me?!" Alice said slightly raising her voice.

"Yeah he's sitting on the couch right now."

"Fuck. Okay go out there and keep him waiting. I can't have him see me like this!"

With that Saul left the room in a hurry and Alice ran to the bathroom to observe herself in the mirror. Her makeup was faded, her hair was a nest, and she had deep blue bags under her eyes that seemed to compliment the tiny bruises she had all scattered over her arms. She was a mess, but a fixable mess.

She quickly touched up her makeup making the smudges of eyeliner look like they were there on purpose. She added some foundation under her eyes and then added a touch of lip gloss to compliment her full lips. She calmed down her dark locks and rushed out of the bathroom to change her stale blood stained clothes.

Thoughts of the Joker and her dream swirled in her dazed head; she would be lying if she said she didn't still feel a little drunk. She tried to push the dream out of her clouded mind but she could feel her cheeks redden and her palms turn sweaty at the mere thought of him. If she was feeling this way just thinking about him in her dream then she wondered how she would react when he was standing right in front of her. She needed to stay focused and not let her petty subconscious attraction get in the way of whatever was about to happen.

She changed into a fresh pair of ripped jeans and threw on a loose fitting black V-neck tee shirt. She contemplated going out bare foot but then deemed it as unprofessional, reluctantly she put on her Joker provided combat boots.

Although she was physically ready her mind was still in shambles, she couldn't push the thought of her dream out of her mind. It was unsettling that she was feeling this way, that the mere mention of his name made her feel dizzy and sent heat waves through her body, all because of that meaningless dream.

She grunted and pushed the door open with a huff trying to shove the annoying thoughts as far back as possible. She walked down the hallway and made her way into the living room where he was allegedly waiting.

She turned the corner and there he was, sitting on the couch by himself with Saul and another henchman standing guard, guns in hand. The back of the couch was facing her so her presences wasn't made known yet, she used this to her advantage and took a deep breath before walking around the couch and standing directly in front of him.

He sat there with his back straight. He drummed his fingers rapidly against his crossed legs while his eyes darted back and forth examining the make shift living room. He was dressed in his usual purple ensemble but his great coat lay neatly folded on the couch arm. This left him in his pine green waist coat, lavender pattered shirt, and grey paisley tie. This was accompanied by his orange and green argyle suspenders and rolled up sleeves, giving the whole look a casual but sophisticated feel. He was sporting a fresh coat of grease paint and his hair was the usual green tangled mess but it was pushed back making his grisly features stand out. Alice drank in his appearance, he was utterly iconic.

She really couldn't believe that he was in front of her. She thought she would never see him again, only in her dreams.

The Joker's eyes widened and a grin slid on his face after taking account of who was standing in front of him. Over the past couple of weeks he had completely forgotten about Alice and moved on, not giving her whereabouts or well being a second thought. For all he knew she could have been hanging from a beam with a noose around her neck or she could have been sitting in a tub of blood and water with her wrists slit open. Both ways he didn't care and he knew that without a doubt she was dead.

Who wouldn't want to kill themselves after a couple days with the Joker right?

But there she was standing right in front of him alive as ever with narrowed eyes and unreadable lips.

He uncrossed his legs and placed both hands on his thighs as if preparing to stand up. He leaned forward and dipped his chin low while raising his left eyebrow and baring a sly grin. His gazed burned into Alice's eyes and she equally met his intimidating stare.

"Well eh, hello Alice." He purred deeply dragging out the ce in her name.

"Hello Joker." She said equally as seductive, although she didn't mean it. Her heart was beating fast and she could feel her hands getting clammy but she held her unwavering stare. It amazed though her that the man-or monster in this case-that she had had an intimate dream about was sitting right in front of her.

"So you're ah the Diamond Gang leader hmm, didn't see that one coming." He said in a sardonic tone casting her a look of question.

"Yeah I guess I am, now what do you want." She said straight faced trying to act just as calm and collected as him even though she was freaking out.

"Oh come on Alice don't you want to catch up? It's been soo long, hows the eh boyfriend?"

"Dead." She replied flatly. This made the Joker burst into a fit of laughter, he threw his head back and his manic giggles filled the vast room sending chills up Alice's spine.

She realized that she hadn't even thought about Will since she killed him.

Funny how easily you forget someone when you plunge a knife into their stomach.

"Ohhhh Alice. You, you have changed." He pointed at her directly stressing the 'you'. "If I remember correctly you threw up when I killed that eh random guy, now, now you're ah killing the mayor?" he laughed again,"I have to say I'm impressed. You took my advice after all." Hesaid while leaning back causally against the couch crossing his arms.

He took this chance to look her up and down while slowly licking his lips as if savoring her appearance. This made Alice extremely uncomfortable and she shifted trying to hide the fact that she was blushing.

"and murder looks good on you." he said darkly and almost in a whisper. If Alice wasn't standing so close to him she would have never heard him. The back of her neck burned and she felt the blood rush to her head as a result of his simple comment. It immediately made her think of the way he had spoken to her in her dream, which evidently she kinda liked. But she meant business, so she pushed her unwelcome feelings aside.

"What do you want Joker."

"I want a lot of things Alice." He said in that same seductive tone while running his tongue along his scars, "and ah if you want me to tell you those things I suggest that your eh," he searched for the word in the air with his ungloved hand, "little goons leave."

Alice wasn't sure if he meant it as suggestive but despite her better judgment she looked at both of her men then back at the Joker. She wasn't sure where her boost of confidence came but she took it and ran with it.

She looked into his dark orbs challengingly, "Boys leave." She said harshly without breaking eye contact with the clown.

He flashed Alice sadistic grin showing off his grotesque yellow teeth and stood up abruptly after the front door shut behind the two men. They were completely alone now.

He started to circle her, eyeing her up and down with every step. He paused at her back and she quickly turned around feeling too venerable with her back towards him. He noticed her obvious discomfort and smirked letting out a soft chuckle. Alice on the other had her eyes wide in fear and lips slightly parted as if trying to muster up the strength to say something but her confidence diminished at his close proximity.

"Ya know Alice, I was planning on killing you. But that's before I knew that you were you. Are you following, you look a little confused. Or nervous." His eyes darted across the room and he took a small step forward slightly bending to whisper in her ear, "is it the scars, you wanna know how I got 'em?"

She instinctively took a step back, the vivid words of her dream almost matched the ones he just spoke which sent shivers down her spine. Her head started to spin again when she realized that he just said he was planning on killing her.

But despite the way her subconscious felt, she in that moment felt disgusted with him. The way he eyed her like a piece of meat and the way sarcasm dripped off his every word, it made her sick. She also couldn't help but be reminded of what he did to her, even though now she was thankful for it, it still enraged her that he took her and fucked with her mind then left her in an alley. How rude.

All of a sudden the anger mixed with her slightly clouded state gave her another boost of confidence and she decided that she was going to play the sass card.

"Yeah, how did you get those ugly things?" she asked challengingly.

His bemused look turned into a dark predatory stare in a second. "Careful Alice, do you forget who you're talking to?" he growled taking another step towards her.

Before she could take another step back he grasped her chin roughly and pulled a blade from out of nowhere and pressed it against her flushed cheek. She struggled for a moment but he teased the knife at her lips and she stilled instantly.

So many thoughts were running rapid in her mind but for some reason she could only focus on the face in front of her, she was almost drawn to it in a sick sense, despite her disgusted feelings. She really did want to know how he got the scars, they deeply intrigued her ever since they met that cold night in the alley.

"You see I was a boy. A teenager. And one night I was walking down the street, someone snatched me up." He gripped her chin harder and shook it a little dramatizing his words "he took me to this place and ah told me that I was his um Cheshire Cat. He told me that I reminded him of his nice, Alice."

The cogs turned in her head and immediately clicked into place. Her heart sank when she realized who he was talking about, her uncle.

The Mad Hatter was notorious for kidnapping children, torturing them, and then killing them. That's why he was so hard to track down, there were no living victims.

"Some might of said he was mad as a hatter." He let out a loud manic laugh, but his face turned deadly in an instance, his mood changing so fast like a shifting shadow, "he told me that he saw himself in me, like he saw himself in you."

He parted her lips with the blade and pressed it against the corner of her mouth, she started to breath more franticly and look around with her eyes, silently screaming for help. Her heart was beating fast and in that moment she couldn't help but believe everything he was saying, it made sense. That's why he kidnapped her, because in turn her uncle did that to him, he took him and maimed him so that he was forever reminded of that night. This sent a pang of guilt through Alice but she was reminded of who she was dealing with when the blade in her mouth tugged at the corner of her lips. The guilty feeling disappeared.

"So, he takes knife, sticks the blade in my mouth, and does this," he turned his face left and right making Alice examine the crimson soaked mutilation. "to me, and ya know what, now, now…" he trailed off and looked around as if searching for the right thing to say, but he didn't find it. He removed the blade from Alice's mouth and let go of her chin but leaned down to her face, so their eyes were even.

"I want to make a deal." Alice's brow furrowed. He had just been telling her the most intriguing story ever, and the fact that she was related to it made it even more interesting. But he just stopped mid sentence and left her hanging. Alice almost dared to ask him to continue but she couldn't give him the satisfaction of her attention, it would diminish the little authority she had.

At this point she was feeling extremely flustered. He had just been so close to her, telling her something that no one else has ever heard, it made her stomach flip. It was so similar to her dream, but she wasn't laughing and having a jolly good time, she was terrified.

"A deal?" Alice asked shakily trying to straighten out the thoughts in her head.

"Do you ever listen hmmm? Yes a deal. If you eh come work for me then I will uhh…" he trailed off again, "I'll give you one million dollars."

Alice couldn't help but scoff at his offer, "are you kidding me? I wouldn't work for you for a trillion dollars! I'm doing perfectly fine on my own, I don't need anyone."

The Joker snarled his lip, "fine, how bout you just think it over and give me a call hm? You have my card." He patted her on the cheek, picked up his great coat and walked to the door.

Alice was so confused, that was it?

"Wait!" she called as he reached for the doorknob. He turned around and glared at her, "that's it? That's all you wanted?"

"Trust me Alice, you'll see me again, and when the eh time is right I'll tell you exactly what I want. I'm a man of my word-h." He cackled loudly and slammed the door shut leaving Alice alone once again.

A/N: Wow okay I know that was a lot but I had to make up for my previous shitty chapter. That being said what did you think? How rude of the Joker to just leave Alice hanging like that, but don't worry he'll be back. I know I keep saying this but this is where things will really start to get moving. I intended for the slow burn approach, I feel like you need to do that when it comes to the Joker and Alice, they are two completely different people but in so many ways they are similar and connected. And it takes time to develop them and show you guys just how opposite and similar they are. Alright well I think that's it, PLEASE REVIEW. I feel so empty when people don't review. Make my day and tell me what you think! Ta ta for now xoxo