"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life."-Charles Darwin
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I sat at my desk, tapping a pen on my papers. Truth be told, I was bored. The heist last week was already old news. I had to do something again, something to get my name out there. I had read a couple of reports Sabrina her way in retrieving, and saw that the biggest criminal in Gotham city was definitely The Joker.
The Joker, a man with a permanent Chelsea smile who wore thick makeup, had green raggedy hair, and wore a fancy purple suit. He was a pretty interesting character, seeing all his records. He was in Arkham around the time I was, escaped before I could ever meet him, which I remembered, of course. He was a pretty sinister fellow, and had done more terrible things than I could even think of. He wasn't afraid to get his hands bloody.
I stood up, knowing I shouldn't particularly provoke him, but I was already probably getting on his nerves. If he knew who I was.
I could take him.
I got into my costume and walked downstairs to the main room. "Frank, Markus. Come with me through town." I ordered as they nodded obediently, putting on their masks.
Markus was a more quiet henchman I hadn't tested out yet, but he was one of the silent kids that made a malicious plan that no one expected. He seemed like good backup in case anything happened to my other henchmen, but not entirely just a last resort. He was quite muscular, his strength impressively surpassing that of Frank. He always kept to himself, being the most compliant house henchmen I had.
"What are we doing, boss?" Frank asked, cracking his knuckles as I led them through the mansion doors.
"Oh, just taking a stroll through town. If you see anything you want, take it." Frank and Markus walked behind me, but Markus walked a little more behind Frank. Normally, I would have encouraged him to walk next to Frank, but it made no real difference to me right now. I'd get my message across.
The moment we set foot in town, everyone around me parted like the red sea, my henchmen psyching people out by jumping around, cackling in their faces, overjoyed by the fearful responses of the crowd. Some of them flinched, some of them audibly screamed and fell backwards into the people behind them, passing out. People were such babies, some mad man jumps in front of them and their bodies simply couldn't handle it. Hm, shame.
Our fun was interrupted by a loud crash, and I turned to see Batman soaring through the sky in my direction, I moved out of his way smoothly and giggled when he slammed into the jewelry shop window next to me, completely shattering their front window. I picked up a long, diamond necklace.
"Why, you shouldn't have!" I crooned, placing it against my neck and gasping happily before throwing it to Markus to hold. He shoved it into his back pocket without his eyes leaving Batman, even for a moment.
Batman stood up, his wordless smolder directed towards me as if he expected me to reply to his wordless behavior. Fine, I'd play along. "What?" I questioned, tempted to roll my eyes to the moon right now.
"Get out of here and stop harassing everyone." he spoke in his low growl, his feet changing positions as if he was readying up for a fight. His voice was so garbled together, I decided to make fun of it.
I blinked. "Excuse me, Chewbacca? I only speak English, not Wookie."
His look intensified, the hair on the back of my neck stood up, but I didn't let him see it. I didn't take a step back, didn't flinch, just stared back at him plainly.
"I said, get out of here and stop harassing everyone." he growled now, taking a step forward. I didn't move.
"Oh, my my! Me? Harassing people? Oh! Did you see me doing anything before you crash landed? Which, by the way, I give a seven on." I pointed at the shards of glass barely hanging in there at the top of the frame, snickering at the shop owner's face, which I just realized as they had walked to the front of the store at the huge crashing sound. Their jaws were dropped, staring at Batman and I as if unsure of how to proceed.
Batman reached for something in his utility belt silently, my henchmen starting to circle around him and stand on either side of me protectively as they removed their weapons from their holsters, taking the safety off of their guns.
"Aw, come on! If you added a little more grace to your performance, I'm pretty sure you would have gotten an eight and a half!" I smirked, I just loved teasing him.
He walked towards me, but I didn't move. He got as close as possible to me.
"What, are you holding back because I'm a girl?" I smirked, I loved messing with his head, and although I kept cool as a cucumber, my henchmen were starting to ready up just as much as Batman was, ready to lift their guns at Batman.
He hesitated, pushing me back, but Frank caught me quickly, I stepped forward without laying a finger on Batman, wanting him to do more. Tempting him to fight me. Come on, Bats. I didn't have all fucking day to make a scene. Making a scene was from 12:00-3:00, with 'maniacal laughter for an hour' right on schedule at 3:05.
"Ooh, a deadly strike!" I sarcastically spoke, rolling my eyes.
A crackling, low laughter cut the silence as Batman and I both looked around to see where that laugh was coming from, my body shivering in response. "Well sweetheart, it's because I'm the usual punching bag. Go back to whatever cave you crawled out of before you ruin that pretty face of yours." The person spoke, and once I caught eyes with him, my heart stopped. Holy shit, The Joker. He walked slowly towards us, calmly flipping a strand of dyed green hair out of his face, his lips pressing together as he licked the insides of his mouth, and I realized now how intense his facial scars looked like in person. His gloved hands fell back at their sides as he didn't quicken his pace, his intense, dark eyes locked on mine as he approached. A normal person would run at the sight of him, but I was locked in my stance, keeping my composure as well as I possibly could. It was nearly impossible with the face of madness approaching.
Nonetheless, I kept my composure, and responded boldly. "Excuse me, but we're kinda busy here. Shoo." I grumbled, then looked back at Batman. Wrong move. I could feel my henchmen tense at my sides, powerless as Joker stood directly in front of me, examining my face, his back towards Batman. He meant business, and he wasn't afraid of this interaction at all. No, he was a skilled agent of chaos, and he was going to send his message and squash mine.
"Ooh, feisty. I like that," he chuckled darkly, his arm quickly flashing out as he grabbed my torso, spinning me around, placing a knife to my throat. Batman took a step back, confused as to what to do.
"Let her go, Joker."
"Let us be, Batsy, it's my turn to put baby in time out," Joker grinned at Batman, who just silently watched and took a few steps back, calculating Joker's move. I know he didn't want Joker to off me, but I also knew he believed if anyone would send me a message to stop creating problems, it was The Joker, the most feared villain in Gotham City. We were going to have to slug it out.
In an instant, he was gone, presumably watching from a building rooftop as Joker held me in a death grip. If Batman wasn't afraid Joker would drain me of blood right now, I shouldn't be either, but still, fear trickled down my spine. Joker's body was pressed against mine, his hand clasped on my ribcage, other hand gripping a blade to my throat, his head so close to mine I could hear his breathing, and smell the gasoline and gunpowder on him. An odd, yet soothing scent for a fire starter such as I.
I wriggled to get free, but his grip tightened, causing me to go frigid, his lips touching my ear now, his breath causing me to shiver. I sent a glare towards Frank, as he was the only henchmen I could look at in this angle. Thanks for nothing.
"I don't like you here...This here, this is my city. My city. Not yours, mine. Now get out of my path, or I will kill you. And I won't hesitate." his blade pressed closer to my neck.
I sighed. He underestimated me. Hell, I underestimated me. If I wanted to make a statement, I had to push all of my scaredy-cat feelings aside and show him I was a worthy opponent, or my career as a Gotham Villain would be over before it even truly started. I shoved his arm forward and bumped my hips into his body, pushing him back. I turned and shoved him against the wall with my mind, the blade falling from his hand, clattering on the ground.
Confused, he looked at his body and mine, realizing I wasn't even touching him.
"Got a few tricks up your sleeve?" he was confused, cackling through his anger and confusion, his eyes darkening by the second in anger and wild surprise all at the same time. Although the look was truly chilling, I giggled, my eyes flickering color as an intimidation tactic. I could see the confusion deepen in his stature.
"I have a strong mind, clown." I sneered, I felt a knife whiz past me and graze my arm. I cursed softly, losing the concentration I had on The Joker as I turned to see where the hell Batman was so I could knock him off of the building he was perched on, but Joker took the opportunity and lunged at me, spinning me and throwing me me against the wall, then onto the floor. He stepped on my chest and kept me there, I tried fighting him off, but my mind was in panic, and I couldn't grasp anything. Fuck, how did he figure out my power flaw?
"Last warning, sweetheart." he dropped a card next to me, it landed next to my face, utop my spread out hair. "Get out of my city." he took off his foot, and by the time I got up, he was gone. I looked around for Frank and Markus, seeing they had been knocked out, two batarangs by them. Batman had managed to knock them out, but not me.
I shouted angrily, windows shattering for local businesses, light posts bending, cracks forming in the ground as I bust open a fire hydrant, directing the powerful streams of water at their bodies. They woke up as the force of water basically catapulted them a few feet away and questioned what happened, but I didn't answer. I didn't want to answer. I just walked back the way we came, murder on my mind. I growled again, throwing a marble pillar from its building and into the ground as warning for Batman to not swoop in and attack me when I was already livid. I wasn't playing games anymore.
The Joker was messing with the wrong lady.