You Ought to Smile More

My jaw literally dropped to the floor in shock and slight confusion.

“How do you expect me to help you catch Batman when I have no idea who he is?” I asked.

“You may not know, but he knows you! Yes, he knows you for sure. That’s why he’s always trying to keep you away from me,” The Joker growled. He slowly stood up and walked over to me.

‘Now, here’s what you’re going to do. You will call Todd and tell him you ran into an old friend and that you’re staying at her house tonight. Understand? Just remember I could kill you as soon as you try to tell him what’s going on. I could get another person to replace you in 5 minutes,” he warned and handed me my cell phone.

I nodded and tried to dial Todd’s number with my hands still duck taped. My hands shook as I held the phone up to my ear.

“Caprice? Where are you? I just got home and saw you weren’t here. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I took a deep breath, “I just ran into an old friend, Jane, and we ended up talking for a while and now I’m staying the night at her house tonight. I’m not sure if I’ll come in for work tomorrow,” I told him even though I was wanting to scream ‘Come save me!’, but The Joker was playing with a gun he had in his hands.

“Really? Well, it’s good that you get to have some girl time. Don’t worry about tomorrow; I can handle things if you don’t feel like coming in. Have fun, Babe,” he said and hung up. I swallowed and gave the phone back to him.

“Good girl, now about tomorrow, you will go to work right before your lunch break and act like none of this happened,” he told me.

I sat quietly and listened to him tell me what the plan was for capturing Batman. I still don’t understand how I can help him, but I kept my mouth shut just wanting to get out of there.

“Now you will stay here tonight and then be gone tomorrow. Any questions?” he asked clapping his hands together. I did have one question though.

“Were you that Jack guy, from the fundraiser?” I asked softly. The Joker turned his head slowly to look at me with a smirk.

“What did you say?” he asked.

“Are you Jack?” I asked louder this time. The Joker bent over laughing and wiped his eyes.

“You are smarter than you look Doll Face,” he commented and left the room. I just sat there in thought. So The Joker was Jack from the fundraiser.

What seemed like hours passed and I grew bored and tired of just sitting there so I crawled further up onto the bed and laid down. My eyelids felt heavy and I fell asleep before I knew it.

I was woken up later by one of the clown guys. I think this one was called Happy. He shook me awake and left a pile of clothes for me on the bed and pointed to another door.

“That’s the bathroom. Boss wants you nice and clean,” he said and took the duck tape off my hands and feet before leaving. I picked up the clothes and noticed that they were out of my closet meaning The Joker broke into Todd’s apartment to get them.

I groaned and walked into the bathroom and started the water. At first it was brown, but then ran clear. When was the last time this thing was used???

I made sure to lock the door before undressing and getting in. The shower was quick because I didn’t want to stay in too long and end up making the Joker mad.

I found a hair dryer under the counter and used it to dry my hair. I got dressed and looked around for any make up, but I could only find The Joker’s face paint.

“You take forever,” The Joker said opening the door. I thought I locked it. The Joker answered my unspoken question by holding up a set of keys and smiling.

“Do you have any makeup?” I asked softly. The Joker raised an eyebrow and turned his head out of the bathroom.

“Doc! Bring her purse!” The Joker yelled. Another clown walked in and handed me my purse. I thought it got left behind… Luckily I had some makeup in there and put it on.

“Let’s go let’s go let’s go!” The Joker happily yelled and pulled me out of the bathroom and bedroom back into the hallway. There weren’t very many men as there were last night, only about 3.

“Grumpy, get her car,” The Joker told him.

“My car?” The Joker gave me an Are-You-Retarded look.

“Do you think I'm stupid enough to leave behind evidence that I kidnapped you?” I shook my head. That made sense. They probably went back and got all my things before anyone else saw them.

“Do you remember everything you need to do?” he asked me and led me to another door. I nodded my head.

“And just like what I said last night, it’s very easy to find someone to replace you,” I nodded quickly.

“Good!” he smiled and shoved me out the door.

“Now be a good girl and go to work! I’ll check up on you later today, Doll Face,” I got into my car after Grumpy gave me the keys and drove to work. I pulled out my phone while driving and called Todd.

“I’m coming into work after all; tell Alice I need an espresso,” I said still feeling tired.

“Okay, see you soon,” Todd didn’t seemed suspicious at all and I guess that is a good and a bad thing. I groaned and parked; walking into the building. Alice met me at the door and gave me my drink.

“What’s my agenda for today?” I spaced out as she read me my schedule. We walked into my office and I sat down at my desk, dismissing Alice. My lunch break was in 30 minutes.

I busied myself by coming up with the next issue’s cover page outfit. Todd came in a while later and helped me out, but I wanted to be by myself so he went back to do whatever it was he was doing before he came in my office.

My desk phone rang and I answered it.

“Yes, Alice,”

“A Mr. Bruce Wayne is here. Do you wish to see him?”

“Sure,” I said not really thing about it, but a few seconds later Bruce was walking into my office.

“Let’s go get something to eat,” he said. I wanted to be alone still, but I remembered that The Joker said he would check up on me and there wouldn’t be many people here during their lunch hour so I went with him in hopes of avoiding The Joker for as long as I could.