His Outlaw

Chapter 1

Alison Tozier rubs the hand down the side of her face before she looks out the window. It was a typical day at Double T's diner, which is to say it was around the busiest time of the day, and she couldn't wait to go on her lunch break. It was almost time for it too, she just had to finish this table. Out of the corner of her eye she was watching the man, waiting for him to be done with his food so she could get some air and check on her brother.

She had only been working at the diner for about six months, it wasn't her ideal job, but the people were nice, and it paid decently, not to mention the tips she could get just by having a little sway in her hips that drove the pervy older men customers crazy. Not like she had a choice anyway, she had to have some stable income in between gigs at Gotham cafe, she needed money to look after bills, food, and of course her brother. She wouldn't have pictured herself here before she started, but the fucking Joker...shattering dreams and tearing families apart left and right.

It's always angered her to her core thinking of what happened that night, she just couldn't let it linger for too long. She found no point in trying to think about it for extended periods of time as that anger would always shift to sadness and grief. She shook the thought out of her head, not wanting to dwell on it any longer, as if the memory hasn't haunted her every night since it happened. It was a miracle she could sleep at all now, the start of it was so rough on both her and Richie. She gets shaken out of her thoughts by someone else coming in, the bell on the door loudly chiming.

Soon enough the man finishes his meal and left her a decent tip as well. Ali thanks the man, then smiles to herself, tucking away the tip in her apron.

"Hey Sweetie, this just came in for ya, Evelyn says. She was a sweet older waitress, unlike the rest of the diner workers she didn't look at Ali with pity, just empathy. She took the younger woman under her wing to an extent, giving her all the tips and tricks she had picked up from her years of service at the place at her orientation.

Ali observes the seemingly ominous envelope, while it was addressed to her it wasn't in any kind of handwriting she'd recognize.

"Do you know who left this for me?"

"Nope, must've came in as fast as they left Hon, I just saw it on the counter and snatched it up for ya,"

"Did you see what it said?"

She raises an eyebrow at Ali, "Sweetheart if I wanted to snoop I would've done it by now, but no, even if I wanted to I didn't have the time with how quick you whipped your head around," she tells her with a laugh.

Ali nods, "Well whatever is in there should be an interesting lunch break read I'll see you in a bit."

Ali goes behind the counter to grab her bag, she needed an excuse to leave on her break, while they could leave whenever needed, they first had to report to their boss.

"Hey Marty, can I run home real quick for my break?"

"Everything okay,?" he asks.

"Oh yeah, it's just Richie texted so I wanna check in on him ya know?"

"Of course, just-"

"I know I know, get back within an hour," Ali smiles at him before clocking out.

She exhales as she gets into her car, opening the envelope, taking a peek inside it seemed that there was a lot to it, almost like different pieces. She was now thankful she had her laptop in her bag at the moment, ultimately deciding to go to the coffee shop a few blocks over to investigate.

When she gets a little table and everything set up to her surprise in the envelope was what seemed to be a set of clues, She checks the time and then gets to work on them. Some parts were easier than others, her laptop coming in handy on the encrypted bits, she even needed to do some scribbles and deciphering on a napkin. She was sure she looked like a mad woman, but she needed to crack the code.