The Joker's Daughter

Chapter 20 ~ Taken

"What? I didn't!" I assured him. Mister J whipped out his favorite knife and came towards me threateningly. This was it, he was going to kill me. I closed my eyes and awaited the hit.

"Mistah J..." Harley said uneasily as she noticed he was moving towards me with his knife. I opened one of my eyes just as he approached me, but instead of stabbing me in the gut he walked right past me, heading outside. As if he was going to take out the Batman and Robin with a knife.

"Harley, wake the babies," Joker cackled and motioned for the three goons that were hanging out in the warehouse to follow him outside.

"BABIES!" Harley screamed, not ten seconds later did her large, snarling hyenas run through the warehouse, following her outside to accompany the Joker. By this time I was pissed, how could Jason be so stupid to follow me here again?! And he brought Bruce?!

I followed them outside, not bothering to put on my suit or my makeup. By the time I got out there, the three goons were already down and Joker was swinging his knife stupidly at the Batman, Harley was trying to assist him by ordering the hyenas to attack the big black bat. Where was Jason...? I would personally take him out. That was... if I could move well enough, he did know where my weak spots were.

"Hey!" Harley shouted as she noticed the boy wonder creeping along the rooftop of the warehouse. She looked as if she was about to run after him with her hyenas.

"Robin's mine!" I shouted before she could take all of her attention off of Batman and Mister J. I made my way to the rooftop, tensing my entire body so I wouldn't stress the pain in my legs, arm, and head too much. If I cartwheeled I only used my good arm to hold me up, or I didn't use either of them. This wasn't easy, but it was definitely doable. "You're an idiot." I hissed as I stood in front of Jason, meeting him on the rooftop. He stood still for a moment, it was odd knowing who was behind the mask.

"I wanted to make sure you were going to be okay."

"Leave my home. Now!" I shrieked and pounced towards him in an attempt to tackle him. I was slower than I normally was, obviously, so Jason dodged my attack and grabbed me by my good arm. "You cannot control my entire life just because you think I need to be saved."

"No... but I can arrest two criminals and save you in the process." He faced me towards the Batman and my... 'parents'. The Joker was laying on the ground, unconscious, and Harley darted towards the Batman.

"Harley, no!" I shouted, there was no way she could take the Batman by herself, and without her I'd have to break the Joker and her out by myself, and that was something I'd never done or even attempted before. My shout was too late, Harley already made her move towards Batman, who grabbed her wrists and hit what looked like a small button on the wrist of his uniform, Harley instantly fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Sleeping gas." Jason said. "Come with us, Trixie."

"And end up in Arkham? No thanks." I backed away from him, if he moved closer to me I'd push him off of the roof myself.

"You wouldn't go to Arkham, you don't belong there."

"What do you mean...?"

"You're not a killer, Trixie, you told me yourself." He said. Oh crap, what had I let escape my mouth while I was inattentive because of the morphine? "Come with us, you're not like them."

"Stay away from me." I warned. "You've really crossed a line after I risked everything to get your stupid ass out alive! I am not bluffing, if you take another step closer I'll break you in half."

"See you in school." He said as he started backing away, as if I was going back to that useless place! As Jason joined the Batman, I made my escape. How dare he use my information against me! I didn't tell his secrets and I stupidly expected the same!

I didn't bother going to the front door as I approached Lila's apartment. I went up to the fire escape and knocked on her window, still pretty sore but my anger outgrew my phsyical pain at the moment.

"Lila I've got to tell you something," I said as she let me into her room.

"Are you alright?" She said, examining the wound on my head.

"Yes I'm phsyically freaking fantastic."

"And mentally?"

"I'm pissed." I began to explain to Lila everything, like I should have done in the first place when she let me clean myself up here the other night. I told her how I had figured out who Robin was--though I avoided telling her it was Jason Todd, and I avoided telling her that Bruce Wayne was Batman; it wasn't that I didn't trust her, it was just that it was not my secret to tell. And who knew what would happen when she was in one of her plant rages? She might use Jason's secret to her advantage. Lila respected my wish to keep his identity a secret and I continued talking about everything. How I had helped Jason escape, how the Joker had beaten me because I'd lost him, how he'd brought me to his house and helped me, how I didn't remember what I'd said to him while I was under the influence of the morphine except for when I'd said he had pretty eyes--Lila laughed at me for that. Then I told her about my dilemma and not knowing what to tell the Joker, and how he'd attacked us and dragged my parents away.

She understood why I was not happy Joker and Harley were taken from me, it wasn't that I loved them or cared much for them, it was that I had lived with them for my entire life. I felt the need to constantly impress the Joker, I had been letting him down recently and the need for him to accept me became greater. I could have dealt with the Joker's anger issues and Harley's taunting if Jason hadn't intruded once again. So Lila wasn't stupid enough to ask me why I was angry.

"He needs to stop messing with my life." I said as I stood up and started pacing. Being angry was good, it distracted me from the phsyical pain I was feeling.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to bust out Harley and the Joker."

"Are you sure that's what you want?"

"I can't imagine there's another option. Mister J is practically my boss, I have nothing else to do. There really are no other options for me."

"There is one. Fall in love with Robin and let him whisk you away and become a superhero," Lila said dreamily and fell over on her bed, laughing.

"Because that is surely a plausible option..." I rolled my eyes.

"When are you going to spring them out?"

"I can't do it this weekend, I don't have enough energy. My legs and my head are killing me. Monday will be the day. Robin will be in school, and I will regain my strength. Monday will be the day."