No Place in My Heart for a Criminal Like You

After awhile of just driving around aimlessly we drove out to the Narrows. The rough side of Gotham. The Joker had pulled up outside a building which resembled an old-fashioned theatre mixed with a trashy apartment block, except it had the typical Narrows touch to it, looking more dilapidated than anything else.

After asking why we were here and he had responded with the protocol, he strapped a wire onto my thigh so it wasn’t visible under the dress and then he forced me to wear a dark wig, which I wasn’t very happy about. He didn’t want me to be recognised as the girl who was kidnapped by The Joker. After much persuading and threatening, I left the van, but not before I was handed a bag containing, explosives, a gun and a knife in the form of a lipstick tube.

It was time for step one of the mission I was set and that was entering the building. Surrounding the building in and out, were The Joker’s new henchmen. They were guarding all exits, just in case I tried anything funny and attempted an escape. This didn’t help my nerves at all. This time with this task, I was really going to give it my best. I didn’t feel as if I was capable of doing it, but it only made me try harder whenever I thought about what the punishment would be if I did fail. I was determined to do this to impress The Joker. Why I wanted to impress him, I didn’t know.

The inside of the building wasn’t as dilapidated as the outside. I was told that I had to go to the “ballroom” of the building, where I’d have to find a Tony Carillo and then somehow persuade him to take me up to his apartment. I would have thought this as a hard task until, I actually entered the room. Whores and strippers, paraded around scantily clad as men of all ages drooled and ogled them like pigs. It was like a ballroom for scum. In fact it wasn’t even that, it was more like a brothel of some kind. Judging by the amount of people in the room, it looked as if it was going to be impossible to find an insignificant person.

“Hey, are you working?” a fat, hairy man asked. I hadn’t even stepped foot in the room for a minute and already I was having men hounding me.

“No, I’m walking,” I replied smarmily and then walked off uneasily, feeling everybody’s eyes on me. “Excuse me; do you know a Tony Carillo?” I asked a woman wearing very little clothing. She shook her in head ‘no’ in response and carried on walking. “Tony Carillo? Do you know him?” “Have you seen a Tony Carillo?” “Can you tell me where Tony Carillo is?” Everyone I had asked didn’t know who he was or where he was. I was just about to give up until a man made his way over to me. I rolled my eyes, assuming that it was another sexual offer, but I was wrong.

“Did I hear you say you were looking for a Tony Carillo?” He asked, unsurely. I nodded in reply. “He’s over there at the bar. I think he’s waiting for you,” he informed as he pointed towards a man leaning against the bar casually, before walking off. The Joker had failed to mention that he was expecting someone, but it made the task a little easier I suppose.

As I neared closer to who was apparently Tony, I made him out to be a lot younger than I expected. He was nice looking, with tanned skin and dark hair to boot. He kind of looked like a younger version of Robert Downey Jr. I wouldn’t have expecting him to be in a place like this, to be honest. He stopped leaning against the bar when he noticed me starting towards him.

“Are you Tony Carillo?” I asked, uncertain. He merely nodded in response.

“So, where do you wanna do it?” He asked boldly. I forced myself to hold back a grimace at the audacity of the question. I wasn’t used to being treated like this, the impact was a tad hard hitting.

“Take me up to your room.” Instantly, he slung an arm over my shoulders pulling me towards the direction to his room. No words were exchanged, only the clicking of my heels on the flooring could be heard.

Once inside his room, he took off his tie and jacket as I locked the door.

“Nice place,” I mumbled sarcastically. As he shifted a newspaper from off the bed, I noticed that there was an article on The Joker and me on the front, so I took this as my chance to mention him. “The Joker again? He seems to be everywhere. I can’t believe what he’s done with that poor girl and I can’t believe he still has her.”

“Yeah, funny world,” Tony grumbled uninterested and then even quieter he muttered, “I didn’t think I was paying you to talk.” I ignored him, however, and continued.

“He’s one crazy man, I think. What do you think?” I asked continuing to stare at the newspaper.

“Hmm...I don’t know. He’s not as crazy as he looks.”

“How’d you know?”

“Met him a few times,” he answered, slightly awkward. As he sat on the edge of the bed, I made my way around to the other side of the bed.

“You say it as if you’re some kind of friend of his. What do you mean by that?” This was the part of the task that I was dreading. Quietly I unzipped the bag and pulled out the gun, while his back was still turned. Personally, I didn’t think I was scary. I didn’t strike fear at all, so this task may be a little hard to achieve.

“Well...he’s done a few things for me. I’ve given him some money in-”

“That’s not what I’ve been told,” I interrupted as he cocked the gun and aimed it at him. His head turned around confused and as soon as he realised that I had pulled out a gun, he shot up from the bed. “I was told that you still haven’t paid The Joker what you owe. Where’s the money?”

“Who are you? Do you work for him?!”

“That’s irrelevant to you.”

He squinted at me, suspiciously. “Hey, aren’t you that doctor that was raped and kidnapped? Harleen Quinzell or something, right?”

“Partially. Now stop with the questions and tell me where the money is,” I ordered irritated. When he didn’t respond I walked over to him still holding the gun towards his head. “Where’s the money?!” I screamed. He still continued to ignore me, but this time his eyes darted to the left of me for a split second and then returned to stare at me petrified. I made my way behind him and pushed him towards the direction in which he was looking at. I then noticed in the corner of the room was a closet. “Open it.” He did so, revealing a little, black, metal safe. “Is it in there, huh? What’s the combination?”

“I’m not telling you anything.”

“Don’t make this harder for yourself.”

“What are you going to do? You’re not going to shoot me.”

“Well...not right now. I need this combination first. We can either do this hard way or the easy way. I wont shoot you after you open it, if you open it now.” Keeping my arm raised, I reached into my bag and pulled out the lipstick tube.

“What are you doing?” He asked confused.

“I’m sorry, but I was told to do this. Unfortunately, you’re not playing by the rules, so you’re going to have to be penalised. Joker’s rules, not mine,” I explained dryly as I popped the lid off and slid the blade up.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Let’s see,” I joked as I brought the blade to the corner of his lip. I had barely even touched him, when he let out a loud scream. He turned his head to the side, making me cut his cheek slightly. The sight of the blood, made me feel a little queasy as it began to ooze a little. This wasn’t me at all, but it sort of felt good to be the one in control, nevertheless I felt light headed at the sight.

“Fine! I’ll open the safe. Just please don’t shoot me,” he begged, cowering slightly.

“I promise.” As I held the gun closely behind his head, he pressed in the combination to the safe and then opened it. When I was certain, it was the correct combination and he had turned back around to face me, I pulled the trigger of the gun. Tony fell to his knees and that was the end of him. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the experience at all. It was like a guilty pleasure. Not the fact that I had just killed a man, but that I had been able to do it. I thought I would have freaked before pulling the trigger, but I managed to maintain my composure.

After taking all of the money and planting all of the bombs I made my way out of the room. Casually, I entered the main room and darted towards the exit before anyone tried offering me money. When I approached closer to the exit I saw a group of men huddled in the corner and as soon as they saw I was about to exit, they stood up and followed me out of the room. I assumed they were The Joker’s henchmen.

I sighed heavily when I left the building, feeling fulfilled that I had completed the task successfully. The henchmen entered the van at the back, while I entered at the shotgun seat. Immediately I tore the wire off me and handed it over to The Joker along with the bag full of money.

“I thought money wasn’t important to you,” I told him as he started the engine up.

“It’s not about the money. It’s about the reprisal on those who don’t stick to their part of the deal. And also I wanted to see how much you’d do for me. And Harley, I have to admit that I’m proud of you. Good girl.”

“Well...thank you, but did I really need to kill that guy? Was it really necessary?”

“Absolutely. I didn’t wanna take any chances.”

“Fine, but is blowing up this building necessary?”

“Harley, I’m not gonna lie,” he started as he pulled out the detonator from the glove box.

Expecting him to say something else I nodded waiting for the rest of it. “Well?”

“Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m craving destruction right now, so I hope you don’t mind if I blow it up. You’ll understand the addiction soon enough, my little Harley Quinn.”