Sequel To Taking The Blade For You
_____ Napier kept a steady aim on the clown before her. Her hands shook violently as she locked her sight on him.
Her husband.
He shook her to the core as he laughed, swinging upside down from the construction building and reciting to himself just how funny this situation was. He knew she would have found out eventually but he hadn't pictured how priceless her face would be at this exact moment.
He'd admit that he was disappointment in her for not figuring it out sooner.
Had all the events before not line up until now?
She was suppose to be a detective-- someone who was suppose to figure this sort of thing out. And especially after he had set out hints so easily for her.
She hadn't realized it.
Or perhaps she didn't want to. Perhaps she knew and denied the truth because of who her husband really was.
The Joker.
The Clown Prince who made Gotham shutter.
And now here he was, at the mercy of his woman.
"What an awkward situation." Jack laughed to himself, swaying back and forth by the wire attached to him. "What you plan to do now, I wonder.." His ebony eyes board into _____, seeing just how uneasy she was. "I can see it in your eyes.. There's a part of you that wants to cut me loose.. either to set me free or to let me fall.."
"Is there a difference?"
Another chuckle came from The Joker. Jack grinned, his eyes gazing around.
So far, it was just the two of them, but her team would soon be here and they would decide what to do with him. He wanted her fate to be up to her, the one person he deemed worthy of his life. Only she could be the one to make this decision.
She would decide if he lived or died.
"You know that, uh, only you can make what happens next.." He licked the side of his lips, the dirty habit he picked up all those years ago. After being shipped out, captured and tortured. The habit she warned him about but didn't listen to.
She was only trying to look out for him.
"Why me..?" _____ tightened the grip on her pistol, her finger tempted to pull the trigger.
He didn't support the idea of her joining the law system. Becoming a detective and doing what she believed was 'good' for Gotham. He didn't support it, but he wasn't going to hold her back. She was his world and if it made her happy... he'd let her do it. Though her injuries slowed her down a bit, she never once let it get to her. She became the best she could be-- even in hard times when The Joker rose up and made Gotham his bitch. Even as the crippling thought that her beloved husband was the clown all along... she kept going.
"Why do I all of a sudden have control on what happens next? Huh?" She lowered her gun for the moment, bringing down the badge that stood between her job and her domestic life. "You have been in control this entire time! You decided what happened. You decided who lived and who died. You wouldn't have let Harvey die.. You wouldn't have let anything happen to your god damn plans.." Her jaw clenched as she felt pricks of tears sting her eyes. "You knew when I'd find out. You knew what would happen until now... And now, it's up to me?" She shook her head, her sight breaking from her husband. "Why all of a sudden am I the one in control? Because you fucked up and need me to do it for you?" Once the tears started to run down her face, Jack felt his smile falter. " You knew I wanted this job, this life.. Help protect others when I could, because I couldn't return to the military.. I was made to protect this city... and you.." She shook her head and smirked. "You destroyed this city." She thought her legs would give way at any moment. However, even though weak in one leg already, she stood. "You destroyed me."
"You didn't need this job, doll. You didn't need Gotham. I had to show you that in the only way you'd see it."
"No, don't you dare blame all that you've done on making me 'open my eyes'!" She shouted at him, for the first time in her life. She rose her voice at him. "This had nothing to do with me and you know that!" She pointed the gun at him as if to threaten him. He was silent. "You did this for God knows why!" She once against lowered her weapon. "I don't know why you did all of this... I don't think I'll ever know."
She knew she didn't have much time with him. Once the rest of her team showed up, they'd take The Joker away and she'd see him never again.
And that's what broke her most.
"What am I suppose to tell Rosie?"
Jack furrowed his brows and looked away.
"How am I suppose to tell our daughter that her father was an evil man who hurt and killed a lot of people?" _____ wiped her face, doing her best to seem strong against the devastation of her husband's actions. "How can I tell her that she'll never see you again?"
"Evil.. is that what you think I am?"
______ looked longingly at her husband, looking into his eyes, trying to find an ounce of the man she fell in love with. For a moment, she thought she found him. But it wasn't him. It was just Joker.
Just The Joker.
Jack blinked and continued to stare at her for a moment.
Evil. Was that what she thought of him? Evil? Did she not understand what all this was for?
To make Gotham better? Gotham might as well have been the scum of the earth. A dark place that deserved nothing more than to burn and to become ash.
So that's what he was doing.
Making it better-- wiping the slate clean so that it may start a new. How could she not see that?
They had been through Hell and they did so together. He knew she would never forget the sacrifices he made for her. And now for Rosie.
He knew that this may be the end of the line for him, that at the end of the night--
He wouldn't ever see his daughter again.
His sweet Rosie. His baby girl. The day she was born was the day he felt most human.
She was his world. Her smile light up the night sky. The world was a better place when she laughed. His sweet Rosie... Would she really see him as evil?
"You'll think of something.." Jack smirked at her. "You're quick witted. You're a smart girl-- you always were." He chuckled and let his gaze fall. The blood was rushing to his head and he wasn't sure if he'd pass out or not.
______ didn't say anything when the rest of her team joined by her side. They kept their aim on The Joker. Jack gazed at his wife, wondering what she'd do next. She just stared down at him, collecting herself and regaining her position. She kept her aim on him, her brows pinched into a furrow. He could see that the gears were turning in her head, possibly more than they had ever done before.
"You alright, Napier? Did the clown give you any trouble?" One of the officers, David Wilks, asked. He glanced at her, seeing the look on her face. She looked bothered, sick even. "Hey, _____. If you need to leave, you--"
A single shot to David's neck was enough to take him down.
When the first shot when off, the others turned towards the commotion. They were given the same treatment.
Pamela Foster, shot in the side of the neck-- bled out on the third to top floor of the building that held The Joker.
Bradley Baker, shot in the collarbone-- he would've gotten a clean shot to the head if he hadn't tried to run. Died almost instantly.
David Wilks, shot dead center in the neck-- died while choking on his own blood as he looked his killer in the eye as she shot the rest of the team.
All were silenced.
Jack hung by his ankle, astonished and left speechless for only a minute. When he realized what had happened, he laughed.
He laughed real hard.
_____ walked over to where her husband hung and pulled the knife from her belt band. She put er gun away and wrapped the wire that held her husband around her arm a few times. She then cut the wire, leaning her weight against the wall. When The Joker was cut loose, she held his weight in the one arm that was wrapped in the wire. She struggled at first, but was able to drag him onto the platform with her. All while he cackled at her actions.
"In the end, she chooses to turn on the corrected system.. and uh, save her beloved." Jack rose to his feet, prying The Batman's wire from his shoe. _____ let the wire unwrap itself from her, leaving indents and marks of her skin. It hurt, but it was worth it. She gazed at her husband, her stern look never faltering.
"It ends tonight." She spat at him, putting her knife away. "Years ago, you saved my life. When we lay dying on the dirt in Iraq... You didn't let me die. You dragged me out of that hit and you saved me... Now it's my turn to save you." She pushed past him and towards the stairs where her team had just come from. Jack watched her and she paused and looked back at him. "You, will find your own way home. I will say that you somehow escaped and killed these officers..." She shook her head. "They were good people. People who had families... But they were in the way.. and I was selfish. Selfish to keep my daughter's father out of the looney bin.. so they had to die." She looked away. "When you get home, we are packing up and leaving. We're gonna go far away and never look back. Rosie deserves so much more than this...So let's just... Go... Start somewhere new." She glanced at Jack once more. "You owe her that much."
Jack and _____ shared a quiet gaze, one that was heavy. Heavier than all seven seas, Jack might have joked. But he didn't. He said nothing. He stared at his wife, her words sinking into his thoughts.
Tonight didn't go as he had planned and it showed. His wife risked it all so that he may see his daughter once more.
And he was thankful.
He nodded finally and blinked, breaking the stare down.
"Alright. You win." He scoffed. "From now on, what you say, goes. You want to move. We'll move. We'll go where ever you want. You want something? You got it."
"I want my husband back."
_____ felt a tear run down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. Jack saw it, of course and felt that tugging in his heart he had felt years ago. Before Rosie. Before they were married. Back in Iraq.
Jack simply nodded.
Perhaps he had gotten carried away. He had his fun, too much fun. And now it was time to put his toys away and sit in time out for a moment. That was fine.
Jack let himself become blind to his twisted desires. He let that itch control him and he had nearly lost his family for it.
His wife. His daughter. He could have lost them both.
And then what would he have?
Nothing.
Jack looked at where _____ stood, to find that she was no longer there. He smirked and nodded once more.
It was time to go home.
The makeup would rinse away. The coat would be put away. The act would be put in the closet for good.
He wasn't who he use to be. Jack Napier must've died long ago in the hut in the middle of Iraq. The man that stood today was nothing more than a clown that carried the Napier name.
But perhaps it didn't have to stay like that.
If _____ wanted her husband back, she would get it. He owed her that much.
He was never one to agree with fairness.
You saved my life, I save yours always sounded crummy to him. Life wasn't fair. Hell, she could have let him fall and he'd understand why she did it. He wished she had.
She and Rosie would have been better off without him there.
But she wouldn't let him have that. Oh no. She wouldn't allow him to keep his pride. And that was a good thing. He didn't need it.
She would break down his prideful walls like she did many years ago. Shed break them down-- all to have her husband back.
Jack chuckled.
"Alright. You win."