You're My Medication

“Boss, what’s in the box?” Ruff asked from behind The Joker. The Joker had taken the box inside and now it was sitting on the kitchen table; he was staring at the contents inside it.

“Bastard…” He swore and smacked the box off the table. Ruff and the other goons watched as Nikki’s blonde hair tumbled out of the box and onto the kitchen tile.

“Is that Nikki’s?” Ruff asked softly. He knew that Nikki loved her long hair and even The Joker enjoyed running his gloved fingers through it to calm him down.

“Of course it is,” The Joker hissed and exited the room. Hulk pushed past Ruff and kneeled down to sweep the blonde locks back into the box before he left the room as well.

Ruff sighed and pushed a hand through his brown curls. Looking at the newer men behind him, he felt the need to warn him.

“Don’t talk to The Joker right now. If you do, I can't guarantee that you’ll live,” he mumbled and followed Hulk out and into another room.

“What do we do?” Ruff asked and glanced to the side to see Skid and Dot join them.

“There’s another note in here under Nikki’s hair,” Hulk said and pulled it out. He handed it to Ruff who then read it aloud.

Hey Jacky Boy,

Don’t worry too much about Nikki. She’s going through some life changes right now and the first thing to go was her hair. Maybe her eyes will be next, or a few fingers! The possibilities are endless! But if you want your slut back in one piece, meet me at the docks at mid-night. We can negotiate something, if I haven’t grown bored of Nikki by then.

Papa

Ruff cursed silently before leaving the room and standing outside The Joker’s room that he shared with Nikki. He could hear things being thrown around and breaking. Taking a deep breath, he knocked twice before slowly opening the door.

The Joker was sitting on the end of the bed frame because the mattress had been thrown off along with the covers. The nightstands were in pieces on the other side of the room and the mirror was shattered; littering the carpet with glass.

“Boss, this was in the box,” Ruff said handing it to The Joker. He read it quickly before ripping it up and letting the scraps fall from his fingers. Ruff gently shut the door and leaned against it still looking at the clown.

“Nikki is as good as dead. George wouldn’t keep her alive until tonight; he knows she’s my weakness…” The Joker mumbled. This wasn’t the first time he had confided in his right hand man. The Joker trusted him the most and Ruff liked to think of The Joker as somewhat of a friend even if the latter didn’t see it that way.

“Boss, you can't just give up and sit here while he kills her. Nikki needs you; you told her you would protect her,” Ruff argued. He didn’t know about Jack playing as The Joker for Nikki, but he did know that The Joker did almost everything with Nikki’s welfare in mind.

“Ruff, George is my father. If you think I’m bad, then you’re wrong. He’s ten times worse and he has Nikki!” he snapped growing agitated. Ruff nodded and pushed himself off the door.

“Boss, I know you care about her, but I do too. She’s my friend, and I’m going to look for her. You can come too, but Hulk, Skid, Dot and I are going with or without you,” he added and walked out the door.

The Joker glared down at the ripped up note on the floor before standing up. Ruff was right, like usual. He wasn’t just going to sit and mope around while the only girl he has ever cared about get kills.

Checking to make sure his favorite knife was still in his coat pocket, The Joker walked out the bedroom door to head down to the docks with his men to find Nikki.

~*~

I groaned and slowly looked around trying to place where I was, but it was no use. I’ve never seen this room before and my head was killing me. Flashes of the wreck appeared in my mind and I felt like crying again.

The Cat hit me and now George is going to kill me… I knew she couldn’t be trusted… I looked around again and saw that I was laying in a bed. At least George was kind enough to make me comfortable before I died. I moved to stand up, but was stopped by my ankle.

I yanked the covers back and saw that my ankle was cuffed to the end of the bed with a metal chain. Great…

“Nikkiiiii,” a voice called from behind a door. Shivers ran down my spine and I laid back down with the covers over me to pretend like I was still asleep. The door creaked open and George’s heavy footsteps entered the room.

“No more acting, Dear. I’m having this room monitored; I saw you wake up,” he said. I slowly sat up and moved as far away from him as I could before the chain made me stop moving all together.

“Why so distant? It’s not like we’re strangers or anything. You are the tramp who made Jack run away from me,” he said like it was no big deal. I was going to say something, but stopped when I saw The Cat walk into the room.

“You bitch,” I hissed, and then I felt George backhand me across the face. Biting my cheek to keep from crying out, I brought my hand up to caress my reddening cheek. I wanted to wipe the stupid grin off The Cat’s face, but then George would only hurt me again.

“I did what you said; I got you Nikki. Can I go now and have The Joker?” she asked turning to face my captor. I felt sick to my stomach… She ran me into the side of the highway and helped George just so I would be out of the picture and she could sleep with J?!

“That was the deal, wasn’t it?” he asked glancing at her from the corner of his eye. She nodded happily.

“But then again, I never was very good with keeping up with deals and promises,” he chided. The Cat and I both looked confused, but then George pulled a gun out from his jacket and pointed it at her.

“Only the blind would think that my son would want to sleep with a flea bag like you. I’ll put you out of your misery before you have any more illusions about him,” he said and cocked the gun. The Cat panicked and turned to run, but George was already firing.

The Cat felt to the ground, bullets in her back with blood running down her sides and soaking into the carpet under her. Her dark eyes were lifeless and then I finally screamed.

Turning away I laid face down on the bed and tried to get the images of her dying out of my head. J always tried to kill someone when I wasn’t around but there were times when I have witnessed him kill someone… But I hate seeing it!

George walked over to me and rested a hand on my head before gripping me by my hair and yanking my head up to look at him.

“If you don’t want to cooperate with me, you can join that stray on the floor. Are we clear?” he growled at me, the gun close to my face. I nodded my head frantically.

“Crystal.”