You Ought to Smile More

The wall phone began to vibrate. I stumbled over to it and answered the phone with shaking hands.

“Hello?”

“Relax Doll Face.” The sound of the Joker’s voice soothed me like no other, When did I begin to depend on him so much?

“He’s in the freaking room,” I grumbled.
“I know. I'm watching him. I think he’s about to leave.” I made sure all the TV screens showed the bedroom. The Batman was looking through everything. He began to turn to leave, but stopped suddenly.

My heart dropped into my stomach…

The Batman walked to the fake wall and looked at it closely. He began tapping along it. I could hear it right next to me.

“Joker,” I whispered feeling scared and panicky.

“Relax. I have a plan,” he hissed over the phone. I listened to him and watched The Batman pull back the fake wall to reveal the safe door.

“Caprice! Are you in there?” he yelled on the other side. I jumped a little at his husky voice.

“Just do what I said,” The Joker told me.

“O-Okay.” I used my elbow to keep the phone to my ear while I went through a box of supplies. I glanced up at the TVs and saw The Batman trying to figure out the code on the safe door.

“Hang on, Caprice. I’ll get you out!” he called. My hands shook more as I rummaged through the box and finally found the can of mace the Joker told me to look for.

“I found it!” I said into the phone.

“Good job, Doll Face. Now just do what I told you. He’s about to open the door.” I jerked up and saw The Batman using this laser like gadget to cut through the lock.

I hung up the phone and faced the door. My adrenaline has never spread this fast through me. It felt exciting yet terrifying at the same time.

The Batman punched the lock out and brutally pulled the door open. I stood face to face with him. He looked me up and down for injuries.

“I finally found you. Everyone thinks you're dead.”

“I know.” He reached a hand out for me, but I ignored it.

“Let’s go. Where’s The Joker? Did he just leave you locked up?” he asked. I took a few steps forward and shook my head.

“He’s far enough away from you,” I said and watched The Batman’s face turned to a confused expression.

“What—“ I quickly sprayed him in the eyes with the mace. He groaned and gripped at his face. I took off running out of the room and to the stairs. The Joker stood at the bottom of them waiting for me.

I had given him and his men enough time to load the essentials into trucks and leave. He was just waiting for me now. I ran down the stairs two at a time.

“Let’s go!” The Joker grabbed my hand and began to pull me toward the garage. There was a loud thump behind us where the Batman had jumped from the second floor railing to the first floor. His eyes were bloodshot and he was glaring heavily at The Joker.

“Later Batsy. Caprice and I have somewhere else to be!” he laughed and continued to pull me. The Batman was right behind us, but we managed to run into the garage and deadbolt the door. Not a second later we could hear Batman trying to kick the door down.

The Joker and I got into his truck and as we were backing out, Batman kicked the door in. He ran after us, but The Joker began speeding. On the way out, I saw that The Joker’s men had slashed the tires on the batmobile.

“Oh my God…” I mumbled and relaxed in the front seat once we got on the highway.

“I didn’t think he would actually notice the wall,” The Joker said as he picked up the speed even move and swerved in and out of traffic.

“I can't believe I actually attacked The Batman…” I said in awe. The Joker began to laugh.

“I knew you had it in ya Doll Face!” he was smiling widely at me.

“Where exactly are we going now?” I asked realizing we had no hideout.

“Do you have so little expectations of me? I'm always prepared Doll Face. We’re going to another one of my hideouts.” I sat in silence for the rest of the car ride until we reached an older part of Gotham where few people still lived.

The Joker parked his truck in the alley and we walked into the apartment building through the back. When we walked in, his men were already setting things up.

“Boss, you might want to see this,” Doc said once we were in the living room. The Joker and I took a seat on the couch and Doc turned the volume up on the TV.

“This morning, we received a very peculiar message and we are being threatened if we don’t read it now. It says:

She is alive and strong,
The girl you once thought was dead.
When the Clown Prince came along,
She was taken by him instead.

We have shown this message to the police and they have confirmed that they believe this message is about none other than The Joker. There have been rumors going around that the girl in question is Caprice Mateo, founder of Vintage magazine, but none of this has been confirmed yet.

The message was signed by –R, but this also has not yet been pinned on anyone. The police are trying their hardest to find out if this message is legitimate or not—“

The Joker turned off the TV and began laughing. He sat back into the couch and crossed his arms.

“He thinks he can come in and try to one up me? Not a chance,” he grumbled the last part and disappeared from the room.

I looked up at Doc in question. He just shrugged his shoulders and went to finish unpacking. He handed me my bag of clothes so I took them and went to find the room I was sharing with the Joker.

I was walking down the hall when I saw The Joker through a slightly ajar door. He was pacing the floor. So even he can be worried at times…

I slowly walked in and set my bag down next to the closet. I faced The Joker and watched him pace. He was mumbling things to himself about riddles.

“Joker? You okay?” I asked in a whisper. He stopped walking and faced me. Taking large steps, he pinned me to the wall.

“I’m more than okay,” he said, a huge smile on his face. His scars were stretched and his makeup was smeared everywhere.

“I’m fine,” he assured himself before grabbing the back of my neck with his hand and shoving our lips together. I gasped slightly which allowed him to slip his tongue into my mouth.

I brought my hands up and lost them in his fading green hair. My eyes slowly closed as I kissed him back just a fiercely as he was kissing me. My lips are definitely going to be bruised.

The Joker’s arm wrapped around my waist while his other hand still held my neck in place. He pulled back a little to breathe.

“Don’t leave my sight from now on.”