That night, Jack dropped Harley off at the diner. He was reluctant to leave her pleasant company to go spend time with gang leaders, but it had to be done. But Harley didn't make it easy – the windows of his car were tinted, and so their goodbye kiss turned into several goodbye kisses, and a lot of fooling around, and would have escalated into something more if Jack hadn't forced himself to draw away. "I'll pick you up after work, and we'll finish this at my place," he said with a smile.
She fixed her clothes, and then leaned forward to peck him on the lips once more. "Don't forget to zip up your fly before you meet the gangsters," she said, smiling back at him as she opened the door. "See you soon, Mr. J."
His smile fell as the door shut, and he sighed deeply, checking his clothing in the mirror and then driving off into the streets of Gotham. With Harley around, it seemed like his life went from one extreme to the other – complete happiness and total joy when he was with her, but also constant fear and worry that her involvement with him might be found out, and what the consequences of that might be for both of them.
Nevertheless, he forced a smile as he arrived at the door to Carmine Falcone's hideout, and knocked. As before, the men who let him in searched him thoroughly for weapons and removed the ones they found. As he entered the long meeting room again, he saw that Buzz and Chuckie and the rest of the Valestra gang were already gathered, along with Falcone's and Maroni's gangs. He sat down, smiling at all of them.
"Sorry to keep everyone waiting," he said.
"Where were you?" demanded Falcone.
"Seeing to business," retorted Jack. "Sal left a lot of loose ends by his sudden death, and there's a lot of people who haven't heard the sad news yet."
"The cops think we did it," growled Maroni. "They think we're starting up another gang war. I told 'em I couldn't promise that we weren't," he added, glaring at Jack.
"I hope you told 'em the truce holds until we kill the Bat," retorted Jack. "Sal's death is no reason to change the plan."
"You're gonna kill the Bat like you killed Sal?" demanded Maroni. "Why don't you just admit it, you freak?"
"Sal said you weren't an ambitious guy, that he'd have nothing to worry about from you," agreed Falcone. "Guess he was wrong."
"Guess he was," agreed Jack, nodding calmly. "He probably shouldn't have underestimated me. You guys probably shouldn't either."
He looked around from his gang to his rivals, all of whom looked equally murderous. "Maybe I misunderstood the kinda game we're playing here, but I thought this was war," he said. "Where the strongest survives. Sal wasn't the strongest – he underestimated me, and he underestimated the Bat. He thought he could outsmart him, and he got all his guys except me arrested. He made several strategic blunders, and that's deadly in a war. When a leader is incapable of leading, he's replaced by someone better and stronger. Now maybe you guys don't think I'm better and stronger, but I do know how to kill the Bat, and I will. Sal refused to let me do that while he was alive – he said the truce was great for him since the Bat was only a pain for Falcone and Maroni. It was here where he toasted on killing the Bat, and then he backed out of that obligation. He was a loser who was defeated at his first encounter with Batman, who would have been arrested himself if I hadn't got him outta there. And if you think the coward wouldn't have sung like a bird and implicated everyone in this room to get outta jail, then you didn't know him. His death was the best thing for everyone in order to preserve our business. And I understand you might not think that I'm the best guy to replace him, but I can't help but notice that the Bat is still alive, despite everyone in this room's best efforts. Well, you ain't got a chance to see mine yet – Sal held me back. But he's not holding me back anymore."
Falcone glared at him, but nodded slowly. "How long do you need?" he asked. "I can't leave my business on hold much longer."
"Yeah, they might find those kids in cages if you don't move 'em along," retorted Jack. "I'm going to set a trap for him on Friday night. He'll be dead before the weekend."
He shrugged. "Or you can kill me now, but good luck with the Bat is all I can say. You need a lunatic to catch a lunatic because I know how he thinks. If he's not dead by Friday, you're welcome to come after me to your heart's content. But I'm a man of my word – either the Bat dies, or I do."
Jack looked calm and collected, but inwardly he was tensed like a wire waiting to snap, watching the gangsters' faces closely as they shared looks. At last, both Falcone and Maroni nodded. "Deal," said Falcone, gesturing for wine again. "Shall we toast on that?"
"What, my death?" chuckled Jack. "Or the Bat's?"
"Either is fine with me," retorted Falcone. "But the businessman in me prefers the Bat. Nothing personal though."
Jack smiled, and went over to go join Buzz and Chuckie in a drink – they weren't any friendlier toward him, but they voiced his concern when Chuckie muttered, "The moment you take out the Bat, the other two families are gonna hit us hard. We can't fight a war on two fronts."
"Sal couldn't, but I can," replied Jack. "You think you can, Chuckie?"
Chuckie didn't reply. "You're acting like the fact that you're nuts is some kinda superpower, Jack, but it ain't," said Buzz. "It's just dangerous."
"Superpowers are dangerous," agreed Jack. "But you ain't seen the full extent of mine yet. It did bust you outta jail under the cops' noses though, which I hate to keep having to remind you of, but the ingratitude kinda hurts, I'm not gonna lie. You'd think you'd appreciate being free to attend this meeting in Carmine's fancy digs drinking fine wine, rather than being stuck in a tiny cell with Chuckie eating prison slop. I know my plan involved you getting a little dirty, but it's a small price to pay for your freedom, isn't it?"
"I guess so," agreed Buzz. "But being in jail wasn't so bad. At least we got some eye candy that last day."
"Oh yeah?" asked Falcone, who had come over to join them. "Do tell."
"Hot little college girl stopped by to check out the jail," said Buzz. "Petite and blonde, just how I like 'em. If Chuckie had been a little friendlier to her, she might have been a little friendlier to us."
Chuckie snorted. "I doubt it. College girls don't go slumming with guys like us."
"Don't be so sure," replied Falcone. "She was obviously there because she was interested in your situation, and had some sympathy for it. It doesn't take much skill to play with naïve girls like that. They're so impressed by a dangerous man, and then if you lie and say you're a victim of society, and that only they can reform you, you'd be surprised what compassionate women will do with guys like us. Trust me, a lot of high class dames fall for that act."
"I doubt a girl who's majoring in criminal psychology would though," replied Jack. "I think she'd be wise to the kinda tricks criminals use."
"How do you know she's majoring in criminal psychology?" asked Chuckie. "I don't think she told us that."
"Well…I just…assumed," said Jack. "If she was visiting a jail, I mean. What other major would be interested in that? Maybe architecture, I guess, but the architecture in that place didn't particularly impress me. But then it was dark when I was there, so I didn't get a good look."
"Yeah, you were too busy throwing us all into garbage bags," retorted Buzz. "I'm just saying, I ain't a huge fan of your superpower so far."
"Well, stick around and see how I handle the Bat," replied Jack. "I guarantee you'll be impressed."
"You'd better hope I am," said Buzz.
Jack sighed. "Ingratitude and veiled threats," he muttered. "Well, if that's how you feel, I'll just be on my way."
It wouldn't do any good to stay – it would only turn people against him more, if that were even possible, and Jack wanted out. He wanted his gun back, and he wanted to return to Harley, who made him feel like everything was gonna work out, albeit temporarily. In the back of his mind was always his fear for her, his fear that he was going to be responsible for her being hurt, and he would never forgive himself. He had almost blown it earlier by knowing she was a criminal psychology major. And yet he just couldn't give up the only good thing about his life. It was a dangerous game he was playing, a dangerous game they were both playing. But it was too much fun to stop.