Trick or Trick

"Would you let me go already?"

"And you're sure you're alright?" He said again.

"Yes! God, you're like my mother."

Bruce squeezed her shoulders in reassurance.

"And you have the phone I gave you?"

Casey took it out of her bag and showed it to him.

"And if anything happens you call me."

"I know."

"I'll only be an hour at the most. And I know you'll send the FBI to come get me if I take any longer."

He smiled. "That's right."

"I do remember how to go shopping you know."

"Yeah, but this time it's without the guns and the drinking and the... other stuff." He glanced down, a hint of uneasiness on his face.

Casey's smile twitched a little and her relaxed, amused air dissipated slightly.

"I'd come with you, except I have to go to this god awful meeting about the company, and organize the arrangements for tonight and it's just-"

"I know, I know!" She repeated, catching his hands in her own and looking at him sincerely. "I'll be okay."

"I hope so." He said, nothing short of adoration in his voice and eyes when he leaned in.

Alfred interrupted them, the car keys rattling loudly in his hand.

As Casey was driven into town and around the various costume shops to find something she liked, Bruce ignored the disapproving glares and sighs of the other people in the meeting of Wayne Enterprises and put off ordering around the catering staff and the decorators, instead choosing to repeatedly text Casey to make sure she was alright.

When she did eventually find a costume that was suitable, she came out of the shop triumphant with her bag. She'd told Alfred to circle around for a bit in case she took a while, so she decided to stand and wait for him to return, filling the time by replying to Bruce's latest text.

She barely even recognized herself as she checked in the reflective window of the shop, new hair, new clothes, new woman, she hoped. But then all of that froze when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw what seemed to be a familiar face in the crowds of people walking past.

Instantly a name was being screamed repeatedly in her mind; one name over and over again. Panicking, she organised her bags and set off after the man. His hair was about an inch off of shoulder length and a dark blonde and brown color, the color she had always suspected Jack's hair would be if he'd let the green dye fade completely. He was walking with his hands in his pockets, looking down. Casey followed at a few meters distance, keeping her eyes locked on his back, ignoring everything else.

Eventually the loud blaring of a car horn brought her out of her trance. She covered up a scream as a car sped towards her and jumped out of the way, with the power and speed she'd forgotten she had. When she reached the other side of the road, and people had stopped staring at her, she looked around but the man had disappeared.

Then she caught a glimpse of someone down a side street and marched off after them. She was closer to them now, and tried to attract their attention with loud fake coughing but to no avail.

When she reached a street corner she stopped to see where the man was heading, and the phone Bruce had given her buzzed. She fished it out of her new bag and tapped out a quick reply.

Suddenly the siren of a police car blared loudly and the man, who had now crossed the road, stopped and turned back around, clearly trying to make this look natural.

As the cop car spun around the corner, the man abandoned all pretence and started to run. The car skidded to a halt close to Casey at the intersection and two cops jumped out. She watched as they both chased down the man and tackled him.

He was eventually thrown against the side of the car and handcuffed, and as his rights were read to him he looked up and around to where Casey was standing and with a horrific shock she recognized him. The long hair was shorter but the tattoos still showed out of the collar of his denim jacket.

He gave her a charming smile and as he was being pushed into the back seat of the car, he called out, "Hey Jane!"

Casey stood in horrified silence while he was driven away, winking at her out of the window as he went past. Her hands shook violently as she fumbled for her phone and found Bruce's number.

He answered almost instantly.

"Case?! What is it? What's happened? Where are you!? Alfred's been driving around for an hour looking-"

He stopped speaking when he heard her sobs coming from the other end of the line.

"Case, baby. What happened?" Bruce said very gently.

In a shuddering voice she explained, and explained who Kris was, if that even was his real name, and what she's taken with him, and many months ago, how the other people had watched in horror as she'd filled the syringe twice as full as any of them ever dared.

It didn't take long for Bruce to find her, and she decided to try and distract herself by getting all dressed up in her new costume and helping out with the decorations for the Halloween Party.

Before long, the rich and beautiful started to file in. Casey was overwhelmed so she slipped on the mask that came with her costume, and kept mostly to the back rooms, with Bruce coming to check on her every few minutes.

"You look like an angel, walk like an angel, talk like an angel." He clicked a round into his shotgun, and slung his semi-automatic over his shoulder. "But I got wise..."

He sang quietly to himself, pushing his green hair back with his one free hand, "You're the devil in disguise... Oh yes you are! The devil in disguise."

He walked along through the grounds, through the dark, following the lights and the sounds of music.

"You fooled me with your kisses. You cheated and you schemed. Heaven knows how you lied to me. You're not the way you seemed. You're the devil in disguise..."

He snuck in through a back door. There were staff milling around but most of them were far too busy carrying trays of food and drink to notice him. He walked further along the corridor, armed to teeth, six foot something in his cheap purple suit and long coat.

He stood for a minute, adrenaline rushing through him, then looked around and someone caught his eye.

A girl standing in a white nurses outfit, and as she bent down to pick up a tray of champagne glasses, he couldn't help but stare. Then he felt guilty, quickly followed by another rush of anger.

"Why the fuck should I feel guilty when she was the one who left?" He muttered under his breath.

As he watched, the girl straightened up and a man came over to her, and put his hand on her shoulder in a protective kind of way. The Joker recognized him. He'd seen his face in the papers.

His hands twitched over his weapons.

"Blow 'em up... blow 'em all to hell."

He was distracted briefly when he noticed the woman looking straight at him, her eyes wide. She started to walk towards him.

"Oh great, a hostage. Here we go."

When she reached him, he cocked whichever gun was closest to hand, and held it up. Before she could do or say anything, he put a hand under her mask and over her mouth, and pulled her back along the corridor, into a cupboard under the stairs.

It was a tiny space, so there was very little distance between them. She seemed surprisingly calm, no screams.

"Now, here's how this is going to go down." He put the gun to her head. "I kill you..." He made a gunshot noise and she flinched. She was so close he could feel her shaking. "Then everyone else hears it and gets allll scared. Then they run around for the pathetic little lives, and I go in with the big guns, hmm? How does that sound, sweetie?"

Her speech was muffled against his hand.

"What was that?" He removed his hand partially, the gun still against her head.

"Jack!"

His eyebrows knitted together, "How do you know my- ...Casey?"

He pulled off the mask and held her face in his two hands, the gun falling to the ground.

"Wha- what?!" His voice sounded almost hoarse. "Where did you go?"

"Here."

"The whole time?"

"Most of it."

He was about to ask another question when a voice interrupted him.

"Casey?"

"Who the hell's that?"

"Bruce." She whispered.

Jack remembered the man who'd had his hand on her shoulder. His throat tightened as he imagined him kissing her the way he'd been longing to, and touching her where he'd been dreaming about for months.

Bruce kept calling her name and they heard footsteps going upstairs above them.

"He cares about you." Jack said eventually.

"Yeah."

He looked down. "Is he the reason you stayed here?"

"What?"

"Are you and him, like, together?"

"No! We're not." She stepped closer and touched his cheek in reassurance and he flinched. "He's in love with someone else."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. He told me so himself."

"Okay..."

He ran his hands through his unwashed hair, all of the angry voices in his head slowly fading away, his remaining pulses of adrenaline making his hands shake.

"Jack..." Casey said quietly. "Why were you going to kill those people?"

She glanced at his heavily armed form, and in that second he wanted to fire and detonate everything he had.

"I don't know, I was pissed..."

"At who?"

"You, mostly."

She couldn't look him in the eye. "I'm sorry."

"That doesn't really-"

Suddenly the door burst open.

"Case- oh!"

It was Bruce.

"I didn't realize you had company."

It took all of Jack's willpower not to just shoot him right then and there.

"I'm gonna go." He squeezed past Casey, past Bruce, and started for the back door.

"Jack, wait!" She ran after him.

"For what?!" He wheeled around, waving his gun in the air. Bruce looked nervous. "I've waited long enough for you, Casey. I can't do it anymore!"

"Please, I can't do it without you!"

"You seemed to manage just fine without me for a whole year." He looked accusingly at Bruce. "I think you two will be alright on your own."

Casey watched Jack walk away.

"Was that the Jack you talked about?" Bruce asked quietly.

She bit her lip. "Yeah."

"Go after him, then."

"What?"

"Go on. Run after him."

She smiled. "As long as you go talk to Rachel."

"Can't make any promises." Bruce mumbled as Casey ran along the corridor and out into the garden after Jack.

She yelled his name after him a couple of times and, after a minute, caught up with him.

"Do you not have a toast to give or something?" He said bitterly.

"Can I not come with you?"

He stopped walking and turned to face her slowly.

"Are you kidding me?"

"What?"

"You just think it can go back to the way it was, just like that? You left me! For him!"

"Not for him..." Casey trailed off when she saw his dangerous expression, and took a step closer. "But you know I don't feel the same way about Bruce as I do about you."

His gaze rose up to meet her own and the rage that burned in his eyes shot right through her. In a moment, she was against the cold wall of a shed in the middle of the grounds.

The impact made her gasp a little.

Jack remembered his weapons and his hand twitched but he stopped himself. She tried to lean in but he moved away, turning his back on her.

"Alright." He said eventually. "You can come with me."

She looked delighted.

"But keep those hands to yourself."