The Joker's Daughter

Chapter 9 ~ You are not the Joker

She didn't try to go after me, she knew better. We were friends, that did not mean she had the right to tell me who I was or who I was not.

So I wasn't the Joker... but I definitely wasn't Harley. I was better than her. That much I was sure of. I was more like my father than my mother... was I not?

The next morning I woke up particularly early, no clown make up and no black jumpsuit. I was dressed in my school uniform with a pack of cigarettes in my pocket and a lighter stuffed in my bra. I was still thinking about what Lila had said to me.

"Wow, I've never seen you down here before." A raspy, cigarette-stained voice said from behind me as I was slowly making my way to school, notebook, pencil, math book and all. School didn't start for another hour or two at least, but I hadn't slept much last night and I wanted to think about what I would do to destroy the Batman. Well, destroy Robin in anyway I could at school. First I had to locate him. I turned around slowly, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I am not in the mood this morning, and I am giving you a warning to back off." I said between my teeth. The man, he was at least in his thirties, dressed in multiple over-sized coats and jeans that were too big for him; it must have been Jemal. A well known pimp around this area. Oh he'd seen me before, just behind my face paint. I had given him a warning then, breaking three of his fingers in the process and he'd learned to stay away from me. Did I really have to teach him again this early in the morning?

"Ha, you're warning me?" Jemal laughed and started approaching me. I tensed my knuckles and waited for his quickened approach. He lifted the braid up from my shoulder and sniffed it by my head. "Pretty and clean, that's a rare mix."

"Don't touch me." I hissed and slammed my foot down on Jemal's expensive-looking shoe, jetted my elbow into his stomach as hard as I could, and wrapped my hand around his throat as I lifted him up to look me in the eye--he had crouched when I hit him in the stomach. "Listen here and listen good. You will not mess with me, or I will snap you in half. When someone tells you to back off--specifically me--you'd better step back." I said threateningly, his face not inches from mine. I tightened my grip around his throat as he lifted up his hands to shove me away from him. He got himself away for a split second before I released my fist and hit him in the nose, perhaps even breaking it. When he looked up blood was dripping at a fast rate from his left nostril.

"You'll pay for this one, bitch." He warned. If I truly wanted to I could have killed him right then and there, held him down and stomped on his throat, but I wasn't in the mood for it. I let him crawl away from me and then pick himself off the ground and start running.

"Pathetic." I muttered to myself and once again began my ascend to school. Jemal had forced me to drop my things, that sex crazed fool. I was not at all scared of what he meant by I'd pay for what I'd done to him. He might come after me later with a few more guys, nothing I couldn't handle. His disgusting paws had touched me, I shouldn't have even let him go that far.

"Well you're up early."

"I thought I told you to leave me alone!" I snapped and whipped around, expecting to see Jemal again. I was too aggrivated to pay attention to the tone of the voice, so all voices around me sounded familiar. It wasn't Jemal standing behind me. "Oh, it's you."

"Surprise!" Jason taunted and started walking beside me. I hadn't even hit northern Gotham yet--where did he come from? Had he been following me the entire way? No, impossible. I would have realized he had been following me before hand. But... I didn't even sense he was behind me then. It was extremely abnormal when someone could surprise me. "Who were you expecting?"

"Definitely not you. What are you even doing here?"

"I was around, saw a blondie in a Gotham Academy uniform and could only assume it was you." Jason shrugged and offered to carry my things for me, I tightened my grip on my notebook and refused his offer.