Cruel (A Joker Story) [UNDER REVISION]

2: Deal with the Devil [Revised]

He walked towards me and grabbed me by the throat, pulling me up to my feet as I gasped and gagged on his grip. He released my throat and grinned at me, his hand reaching out to grab my chin to inspect me. "Oh, they picked a good one. How much do you charge?"

I gawked at him. "Oh, no, I-I swear I'm not—I don't do that!" I squeaked. "Oh, oh God, I live in the apartment those girls stand in front of, I walked out and one of the strippers, she talked to me, then your men, they uh, they took me, thinking I was one of them."

He stared at me for a moment after I finished my talk. "So you're telling me that my men messed up?"

I hesitated, opening my mouth to speak. "I-. . . Uhm. . .Well. . .I-"

"It's a yes or a no."

"Yes. Y-yes, they did." I spoke in a whisper, my eyes looking up at him as he stared down at me. He folded his arms. He started to cackle with laughter.

"Filly! Gilly! Come out here!"

The two men from earlier pushed open a metal door on the opposite side of the room, I turned to look at them as they approached Joker, their body language told me they were scared of what was going to happen next. Joker was just going to scream at them, right?

"Front and center." Joker spoke, eyes locked at them. "Take off your masks, boys, we're all friends now, right?" he snickered as they stood in front of him, I watched as they ripped their masks from their faces. Gilly, the one who had drugged me in the back, was an older man with greying hair, and dark brown eyes. Filly had orange hair with blue eyes, and he was at least twenty years older than his partner. "Does this girl look like a hooker to you?" he questioned.

"Uhm, sir, she was standing with hookers, sir," Gilly responded, eyeing me. I thought he was the scariest man I'd ever met, but he shivered in the face of The Joker, his voice sounding like a squeak against the Clown Prince of Crime.

"And you thought a girl with black jeans and a blue long-sleeved shirt was a hooker?"

"W-well," Filly started to speak. "U-uhm, what if she was going for an 'average-girl' look?"

Joker stared at Filly for a moment, looking at him as if he was stupid. He turned back to look at me now. "Was that what you were going for?" he asked. "Miss normal-looking-hooker?"

"U-uh, I'm not—I wasn't—" I remember what he said. The yes or no answers. His eyes had already squinted at me in irritation. "No."

Joker smiled at me. He turned to look at his men. "Well, you heard the lady," he took out a flower from his pocket and squeezed it, a liquid spraying on the men who screamed in agony as their flesh started to sizzle off of their face as they collapsed in front of him. I started screaming, covering my eyes. Out of all the years I worked as an Emergency Room nurse, I had never seen anything like that before. I heard more laugher as the men screamed in agony, screaming which was ended by the sound of two loud gunshots. My ears rung, I turned my gaze up to The Joker who was now pointing the gun at me, straight at me.

"Well, time for you to go. You know too much, dear." He was grinning at me. "Pity, you could have done the service and lived. If you were good." He snickered, I put my hands up in defense, feeling myself start to shake in fear.

"W-wait, I can work for you!"

Joker lowered his gun by an inch, he was confused by my offer. "Elaborate."

"I-I'm from Metropolis City, I'm a registered nurse, I have six years of experience. You can check with Metropolis General Hospital, my name is Lucy Anette Wenelli. I worked in the ER. I can fix up you, or your men, if you ever get hurt." I spoke quickly, and confidently. I was confident in my skills as a nurse, and I could do this.

I could do this.

"And why haven't you found a job here?" He questioned, eyes narrowing as he dropped his arm. His finger remained on the trigger, but now that I wasn't staring down the barrel, I felt more comfortable.

"I'm a convicted felon," I spoke.

He eyed me now, a smirk sliding on his face. The one time I could say I was a felon without feeling ashamed, the one time being a felon would help me.

"Deal. You're hired," he spoke, he put his gun away and snickered. "And when you see my henchmen have no hope, no life left, that they're going to die anyways. . . You'll kill them for me."

My jaw dropped. My stomach churned. I had never murdered anyone before, the thought had never crossed my mind. "W-what?"

"You heard me," He spoke. "I'm going to send three henchmen with you to the hospital. I want you to steal any supplies you need so you can do your job," he grinned. "And don't try to run. Because now, you can't escape me." he walked around me, through the door his goons had entered, leaving me with the two bloodied corpses. I collapsed on the floor, my head in my hands as I felt a shiver course through my body.

I felt my heart drop into my stomach as my world began to shake around me. I put my hands on my head. What had I just done?

I was never the best decision maker in the world.