Adriana sat at her kitchen table in her robe, holding and looking at the Joker card. If she looked closely enough she could see the outline of numbers. There was a phone number etched into the card. The reflection of her face in the glass of her top double oven caught her attention. She looked terrified. And angry at the same time.
Who did he think he was? Did he really think he could control her and tell her what to do? There was no way she would work for him. All she could do was be relieved that she was still alive and had about 5 hours until she was supposed to call the number. Time to think. Time to plan. She needed to be strategic.
Planning would be easy...if she knew what to expect. But she didn't. Could she kill him?
She thought about it seriously. Even last night, she struggled with the thought of pushing him through the hole in the floor. The thought of the sound of a body hitting the ground, the final thoughts as the person slipped away was too much. But what about a distance kill?
Perhaps, just maybe, she could poison him. She stood quickly and walked over to the drawer by her counter top and pulled out the vial. The vile of acid the she had stolen from Club Core on her first night out as Shade. She still had it. She held it in her fist and contemplated the power of it, and how many lives it could save. Something deadly could become a miracle. If she was strong enough and smart enough to actually find a way to use it.
Her head began to hurt so she walked over to her couch and laid down,still clutching the vial. Before she knew it, she was asleep.
Her dreams to her to another world. A calm, peaceful, beautiful one. Her sister handing the ice cream to the little boy, looking down at him lovingly, as he walked over to the table to eat it. The inside of her mouth cooled as her sister fed her a spoonful of ice cream and she smiled. Her gaze drifted over the boy and she felt overwhelming love, unlike anything else she had ever known. She felt incredibly protective. As she looked at him, happily eating, she knew that she would kill for him. Her waking thoughts began to intrude the dream, as she felt herself waking up.
She didn't want to wake up to reality, all she wanted was to stay here. Drifting out of sleep, she felt herself shaking with anger and sadness. The Joker's words in her memory...You look like the type of person that would sentimental towards..children. How about them? ...Every day there will be a dead child strung up in Gotham. The sound of her crying infiltrated the dream as she watched the little boy spill a bit of the melted ice cream on his spoon. If anyone hurt him, even though she didn't know him..and didn't even know if he was real...if anyone hurt him it would break her.
She wouldn't allow children to suffer.
Adriana continued to dream. Harri walked over and wiped up the small drops of ice cream in front of him and he happily tried to take the cloth from her to wipe it himself. Adriana felt herself smiling through tears as she finally woke up.
The glass vial was warm from being clutched in her hand the entire time. She looked at the liquid before sitting up. She would have to work for the Joker but only for as long as it took for her to find the perfect moment. The moment when he was having a drink, the moment she was able to sneak this poison into it.
If she didn't at least show up, and attempt to look like she was cooperating with his demands, she knew that he wouldn't hesitate to kill a child.
.
.
It was 11 o'clock. Time to make the call. Her finger's dialed the first three digits for the fourth time before her hands began to shake.
She didn't want to do this! It took a great deal of restraint not to throw her phone at the wall. How long would he wait? Was he already in pursuit of the first child he would kill? Her eyes filled with tears and she dialed the first three numbers again with blurring vision before exiting the keypad screen again. And then she thought of the boy in her dreams. She pressed her lips together, tears fell as she became more protective. Not calling was not an option. She dialed the number and waited for an answer. There was none.
She became clueless about whether to feel relieved or panicked.
Maybe she was too late, and had missed her window. She felt a panic attack coming on as her breathing became faster and she stood up.
The phone was ringing. She exhaled loudly and answered it immediately.
"Hello?" she said.
"441 Peizer Street. One hour," the Joker said immediately, but clearly, and hung up.
Peizer Street was 15 minutes away. She tried to stop her own thoughts as she went to get dressed. No thinking. Thinking would make her change her mind about going and would make her call the police with the location. If the police showed up but he wasn't there and had sent someone to survail, he would know she had betrayed him.
She couldn't take that chance. A chance of him getting away and killing a child. The vial fit easily into the pocket of her black jeans, and the dark color seemed to conceal the outline of it in her side pocket. She thought of throwing on a baggy black hoodie and no makeup. She was not trying to impress anyone.
But then she looked in the mirror. She looked like she had been crying. She looked emotional...and weak. No. She couldn't have this. Strong and fearless was how she needed to appear. She pulled on a very fitted long sleeved red top and put on a wide black belt.
In her bathroom, she decided that she needed to change her appearance. She didn't want anyone to recognize any of her distinguishing features. Working for the Joker, or at least pretending to, would be the most shameful thing she had ever done. Adriana refused to go looking like herself. She needed to become someone else.
She pulled her hair back into a sleek low bun and grabbed the can of temporary hair color spray that she knew she had from two Halloweens ago. She sprayed it everywhere, covering most of her dark blonde color in bright and quite artificial looking red, and then took gel and a brush to smooth and sleek the sides of her hair. Her eye color was also distinctive..she put in the dark brown contacts sitting in solution by the sink. She then lined her lips and put on deep red lipstick, eyeliner with a small wing and two coats of mascara. The gold necklace in her jewelry box went well with the overall look. After she put it on, she drew a fake beauty mark on her right cheek with the liquid eyeliner. She darkened her eyebrows with eyeliner and extended them out further.
She was done. She was a different woman.
.
.
.
The building looked like an abandoned row house in a very rough area of town. There was a black van in front that was running even though no one was inside. Adriana walked over the front door..which was missing entirely. She looked up and saw that a light was on in the 2nd floor, and the window was covered with newspaper.
She took a step into the entry way which was pitch black. Someone was there to her left, she sensed him before he spoke.
"Sorry, sis," the man there said. "I think you got the wrong house."
"This is 441?" she asked as he moved into the stream of almost useless light coming through the doorway. He was tall with skin the color of deep mohagany and wore a black hat which cast a shadow over the top half of his face. All Adriana could see was smooth skin and very full lips.
"Yes," he said. "You lost?"
"No, I..." she said carefully. "I'm supposed to be here."
"I doubt that, sweetheart," he said. "You got the wrong address."
"It's the right address," she said a bit more firmly. "I was told to come here."
"Who told you come here?" he asked and tilted his head back a bit and she could finally see his eyes.
"Your uh..." she started talking, trying to disregard how handsome this man was. "Boss..or whatever."
He looked at her quietly, and she could hear in his thoughts that he was doing the same. He found her striking.
"The Joker," she said quietly.
She watched him take an inhale.
"Aight," he said, sounding somewhat disappointed. He was hoping she was lost. "Come on..follow me."
She followed the sound of his footsteps into the dark house but eventually she couldn't see anything and stopped walking and felt the air with her hands. It was pitch black.
"You can't see?" he asked after a moment.
"No.." she answered him. "Sorry..my eyes aren't adjusted yet."
"Want me to help you?" he asked.
"Please," she said, not wanting to waste any more time. She wanted to get this over with.
"Yo, I'm about to touch you," he said.
"Okay," she responded and he took her hand and kept walking. After a few more seconds her eyes adjusted and she saw they were at a set of stairs against a wall and there was a door at the top, immediately behind the top step.
"Watch it, steps here," he told her.
"I can see them now," she said and he released her hand.
"Ok, just knock on that door there before you open it," he said. She could hear thoughts of four people in the room behind the door..the Joker was paying three men for a delivery of weapons.
"Actually I-" she said, suddenly feeling incredibly nervous. She didn't want to go alone. "I don't think I can see the steps that well."
He looked at her and could see the nervousness and fear.
"Sweetheart," he said and tilted his head as he walked closer to her. "Whatever you do, don't let them see weakness. Hear me?"
This man was kind, Adriana thought, even though he worked for a madman.
"Yes," she said and stood a bit straighter.
He took her hand again and started to walk up the steps. When they reached the top he knocked on the door and opened it after a couple seconds.
They walked in at the Joker was looking down at a few sniper rifles and other guns with silencers attached on the table. The three men, who Adriana knew from their thoughts as she immediately scanned the room, were Italian. They were talking before Adriana came in but were silent once they saw her. They stared shamelessly. The Joker glanced in her direction and then back at the three men, before clearing his throat, breaking their trance.
Everyone in the room had a serious and focused stance. They were there for a transaction that they took seriously. Everyone but the Joker. His face was smeared with black, red and white paint. His demeanor looked like he was an excited child looking over his Christmas presents. His posture was slightly slumped and loose. He was having fun with this.
"All satisfactory?" the one who Adriana knew was the weapons dealer the Joker had paid said and reached up to loosen his tie. The other men were his backup. He was their boss.
"Quite," the Joker responded and lifted the rifle, looking pleased.
"I'm Brake," the man who led Adriana up the steps said to her while they stood waiting.
His name wasn't Brake, she could see it in his thoughts. His name was Wyatt.
"I'm...Sheena," she said back with a small smile, unsure of where she even got the made up name from.
Adriana and Brake looked at each other quietly as the Joker spoke with the man who had sold him the weapons.
"Pleasure...doing business," the Joker said in such a way that the three men knew that he was ready for them to leave.
They all smiled and nodded at Adriana as they went out the door.
"Good evening, beautiful," the dealer said before he went out. Adriana was quiet.
"She said you should be expecting her," Brake told the Joker.
The Joker nodded once, and Brake turned to leave before giving Adriana an encouraging smile once he had his back turned to the Joker. He shut the door behind him as he left.
She watched the Joker, in his deep purple suit, turn over the black military rifle in his gloved hands. He touched his wavy hair briefly before lifting the rifle and aiming it at the wall in front of him. Adriana, while standing in the corner as far away from the Joker as possible, remembered Brake's words..no weakness.
He seemed to be ignoring her.
"So...I'm here," she said and took a step ahead.
He shocked her by turning quickly, pointing the rifle at her, while still looking through the rifle scope.
"Yes," he said. "I can see that."
She remembered Brake's words again and reached up and took the barrel of the rifle in her right hand and pushed it down.
"So...why am I here?" she said and he smiled and raised his eyebrows, which she could barely see, since they were covered in black paint.
"No fear?" he asked her.
"No," she said. "My only fear is for the children you have threatened to kill."
"Well, you don't have to fear that at all," he said and sat the rifle back down on the table. "As long as you understand.."
He walked over very close to her, and she could see his thoughts. He was entirely sure that she would flinch, cringe, gag, if he was close enough. That was to be expected in his experience, whenever he got close to people, especially women. He stood so close that his shoulder touched her as he walked around her in a circle. His intention was to intimidate her.
"You will do everything I ask," he said and leaned down and inwards, close to her neck, speaking into her ear.
Her lack of movement surprised him. He expected her to recoil or flinch or to at least pull her shoulders up to her ears and lean away. But she didn't move at all so his lips nearly touched her ear.
"I won't kill anyone," she said as he finished circling her and stood in front of her, looking at her curiously.
"No, no," he said with false innocence in his tone. "Of course not. Not unless I ask you to."
"No I...I won't do that," she told him.
"You can do..." he started talking slowly in a sing-song voice. "Or not do, whatever you chose. Just remember. I'm a man of my word."
"Please.." she said, trying to not sound like she was pleading. Trying to remain strong all the while thinking about the vial of poison in her pocket. "I'll do anything, just not that. Anything."
He stepped closer so that his chest was almost touching hers.
She was much shorter than him and the top of her head was inches below the height of his chin. He smelled like an attic full of old empty drums of gasoline, she thought.
"Anything?" he asked her.
She saw his thoughts as she looked forward at the green vest he was wearing. He was expecting her to keep looking at his tie or down towards the floor. She didn't. She tilted her head up and looked into his eyes.
"Anything," she said. "But I'm not a killer."
He frowned. Something was strange about her. She was a woman, she was supposed to wince in disgust, look down at the floor in aversion. But she was looking straight at his face, voluntarily. She was supposed to be uncomfortable right now, but instead he was beginning to feel it was the other way around. He stepped back and picked up the rifle again.
"Not a killer," he said and looked through the lens and turned away from her, pointing the weapon at the newspaper on the window. "You have been working with the Batman."
She watched his cheek muscle twitch as his eyes darted around. His ticks were strange and seemed to have started spontaneously after he backed away.
"Well.." she said, not trying to sound like she knew the Batman at all. That would not be a good thing to reveal. "We've crossed paths. And when we do, we..collaborate a bit."
"Well, whatever you two get up to," he said, clearing his throat, still facing away. "It's over now."
"So you...want me to stay away from him?" she asked. It was easy enough. "I can do that."
"Just know that if I hear of you and the Batman working together, seen together,...I'll have no choice but to assume you're conspiring against me. And while I love a good conspiracy.." he said.
"I understand," she said.
"You understand who will suffer if you are caught with the Batman again," he said, implying the children. "Or if you interfere with my...operations."
"Yes," she stammered.
"You will be part of a team I have assembled that is working on a very important task," he said. "You'll be responsible for stealing some things that I need and assembling something very important."
"Okay," she exhaled. She could be a thief..but not an assassin. "I can do that."
Stay away from the Batman. Steal. Build something. It didn't seem like this was going to be as horrendous as she thought it would be. She just needed to cooperate until she saw him with a drink that she could pour the poison into.
"But of course I need proof of loyalty," he explained. "A sign of good faith."
"Like..." she said. "Like what? What do I have to do-"
He fired a series of bullets into a wall. Adriana covered her ears immediately but they rang after the sound of the first fire. It was so unexpected that her heart began to race straight away. She wondered if she would be deaf after this.
"You'll await the assignment," he said.
"Okay..." Adriana said, barely able to hear the sound of her own voice as her ears continued to ring.
"Welcome to the team," he said. "Oh and uh...unlike your team members...you won't be paid."