The sunlight streamed in through a gap in the curtains. Casey stirred, and rolled over. A groan made her open her eyes.

It was Jack, coming out of a deep sleep. She was lying on his chest. She blinked slowly, then noticed something red out of the corner of her eye. She flinched and sprang off of the bed.

"What the fuck?!" She stared at herself critically in the mirror, turning her head from side to side.

"What is it, sugar?" Jack asked with a groan, sitting up slowly, one hand on his aching head. Then he looked up at her and saw.

"...Oh."

"It's red!"

"It is red."

"My hair is red!"

"It is." He stood up, stretching.

"I don't know how I feel about it... It's so bright..." She touched her hair tentatively.

"Well, I think it looks gorgeous." Jack smiled charmingly.

"That would come across as way less creepy if you were wearing a shirt." Casey glanced him up and down with a smirk.

He pouted mockingly and walked to the balcony.

He leant against the metal railings, a cigarette in one hand.

Casey slowly walked out and stood beside him, her back to the city.

"What's the name of this hotel again?"

"Something Italian, I think." He took a long drag on his cigarette.

"I didn't know you smoked."

"Only in times of stress." He said with a bitter chuckle.

"What're you stressed about, Jack?" Casey asked in a jokingly soothing voice.

"Just mob stuff, y'know. Those civilised bastards've got smart friends sometimes." He lied, looking down at the streets below.

She nodded, noticing the lie but deciding not to persist. She stretched, running her hands through her crimson hair.

"What day is it?" She asked slowly.

"Um... I have no idea."

She chuckled. "Great."

The door was opened again and she walked back into the room. She searched around for something that might tell her the date until she eventually found her phone.

Thursday.

60 missed calls.

Oh no.

"So you're telling me we've been fucking around this city for two weeks straight?"

"You told me you wanted to drink... That's the last thing I can really remember." Jack said into a cup of coffee.

"It's not quite my record but still it's pretty high up there."

"Your record?"

"6 months." Casey poured more sugar into her own cup.

"Wow. That's impressive."

"Yeah. I did almost die though, but it was fun. I think."

He smiled a little, pulling his scarf a little higher over his scars.

"So are you gonna keep the hair?" He reached out and wound a strand around his finger.

Casey leaned her head to the side instinctively, so her cheek brushed against his hand. "I don't know... maybe. Do you like it?"

His hand froze against her cheek. "I do."

He looked at her and their eyes locked for a couple of seconds then she moved away. Jack hastily returned his hand to his coffee cup.

"Remind me how we ended up here?" Casey asked.

They were standing at the bar of a nightclub in the Narrows. It was packed with sweaty drunk people jumping up and down to electronic music.

"Someone wanted to dance their hangover away. Because loud repetitive music is gonna make us feel miles better." Jack said sarcastically,

"Okay shut up, it's my fault."

"You wanna go?"

"What am I even wearing?" She looked down at her outfit in disgust.

"You went shopping. By shopping I mean you raided an department store and a security guard lost his eye."

She sniggered. "Oh yeah, that was fun."

"I think we should go."

They eventually pushed their way through the crowds of people and out onto the street. Casey inspected her clothes under the orange glow of a streetlight.

Jack looked at the neon pink tank top, tiny denim shorts and stiletto heels. "Your place?"

Jack and Casey stood side by side in the elevator on the way up to the second floor. The elevator was so ancient and slow it was taking quite a long time.

She leaned against the metal wall, beer bottle in hand.

"Do you remember," she cleared her throat, giggling. "Do you remember that one time when we kissed?"

"I do remember that. That was pretty fun." Jack slurred.

"You wanna do it again?" She took an unsteady step closer.

He looked her up and down. "Definitely."

Casey put the beer bottle down and slowly placed her hands on his broad shoulders.

The door crashed open. Sobering up quickly, Casey pushed Jack's shirt off his shoulders while he pulled down the zip of her dress.

"Beautiful." He whispered as it fell to the floor.

Suddenly they were pulled apart. Jack watched as Casey sank to the ground, a tissue soaked in chloroform over her mouth and nose. He tried to grab her, to fight back, but soon everything went black for him as well.

"You're just too good to be true..."

Darkness. Everywhere.

"I can't take my eyes off of you..."

Pain. All she felt was pain.

"You'd be like heaven to touch..."

Someone's hot breath against her face.

"I wanna hold you so much..."

Was she dead? Was this real?

Casey's eyes opened slowly. The fluorescent lights blinded her for a few seconds and she blinked, looking around her. Her shoulder and chest felt damp but she didn't look down at them, she knew if she did the numbness would stop and be replaced by pain. She was distracted by a white coated man backing away from her with a blood covered knife.

A choked gasp escaped her lips and she screwed her eyes shut tight. What had he done to her?! She felt drops falling from her face to her collar, dripping down her chest onto the chair she was tied to. It must be my own blood, she thought.

A door opened somewhere nearby and someone walked in. The door clanged shut loudly, it sounded heavy, as if made of metal or thick wood. Footsteps approached, slowly coming closer.

"Is she awake now?" A voice asked.

Her head felt so heavy. She couldn't recognise the voice over the others whispering in her mind. She only recognised the voice as that of a man.

Was it the Joker?

Her thoughts ran wild.

Had he done this to her? Did he care about her at all? Was he really just as crazy as the Mob said? Maybe he'd gotten to know and befriended her just to torture and kill her.

All of a sudden, a pair of lips were pressed against her own. She did the only thing she could think of and responded. A hand held the back of her head and kissed her for a few seconds. Then, pain. A sharp slap across her face. She winced. It hurt more than it should, why?

Her eyes shot open and blinked furiously. It wasn't Jack. It wasn't the Joker.

It was far worse than that.

"You've been kissing him, haven't you? You're probably thinking about him right now... God, I can't believe you could just betray me like this, after all I've done for you? After what I helped you become?! And this is how you repay me?!" He raged.

"I'm sorry, Max."

"You're not. Not yet." He said threateningly.

Her mouth went dry.

Max leaned his hands on Casey's knees, his thin handsome face close to hers. "Listen to me."

She dropped her eyes to the floor.

"Listen to me!" He growled furiously. "That man doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about anything or anyone, okay? He's insane. The only person he looks out for is himself. He can't take care of you like I can. He doesn't know you like I do."

Max straightened up, and paced around her chair, still twitching with rage. Casey watched him, fear in her eyes.

"It's like you want me to punish you. That musician was the reason we put the cameras in your room in the first place. Also because I wanted to see you but honey, you can't be trusted. Maybe we should send you back to the Mob..." Max said bitterly.

"No! Please, no." She begged. "I'll be good. I'll do whatever you want me to."

"Well you didn't, did you? We make a simple phone call and give you very clear instructions and what do you do?!" He stormed around the small room. "You run off with that *freak* for days on end, doing God knows what! What if you had gotten hurt? Or gone off the rails again? What would you do without me to help you? Go back to the way you were when you got out of Arkham? Hmm?" He held her face roughly with one hand. "You wanna go back to fucking for money, do you?" He whispered.

"No..." A single tear fell down her cheek.

"So then you do what I tell you. No more disappearances or cheating. I'll always find out. Always. The only man for you is...?"

"You." She said in something barely over a whisper.

"That's right. Good girl." He kissed her and smiled. "My little Destroya, so beautiful."