Just Paint Your Face

We sped off the moment I slid the van door shut.

If you haven't figured out by now, The Joker was crazy, in every respect, and this did not exclude his driving. He swerved through the streets, giggling at every bump and turn we rounded. He had one hand placed haphazardly on the steering wheel, the other waved around a gun. I saw Daisy flinch with each movement it made.

"Put that thing away, you're scaring Daisy." I growled, throwing my cap to the ground. My hair stayed obediently down and over my shoulders, as it usually did when I was relaxed.

"Uh, I'm sorry? Who?"

"The girl. You're scaring the girl."

"Oh. Oh, ah. So you've named it, now?"

"Yes. Her."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved the gun dismissively through the air.

"Ivy...?" Daisy began apprehensively, warily watching the gun, "...my Dad will be out looking for me..."

"Hm? Speak up!"

Daisy jumped at the Joker's sudden want to be in on the conversation. We swerved into some abandoned alley.

"I-I know my Dad will be looking for me." Daisy said a little louder.

"You, uh, wanna go back?" The Joker suddenly stopped, sending us all forward in our seats.

"No!" Daisy said quickly.

"Good. Cause there's no going back."

I saw Daisy shudder beside me and I suddenly wondered if I'd done the right thing.

"...what about school..?" I heard her mutter.

"I can teach you some things," I responded comfortingly, "I went to college."

"Oh, did you hear that Goofy?" The Joker cackled, "She went to college! Oh ho ho that's rich. Tell us another one, Ivy! Hoho, gotta tell Grumpy that one."

I rolled my eyes and saw a ghost of a smile form on Daisy's lips.

"Shut up and drive."

"Already there."

We'd parked in another one of the networks of alleyways. The Joker braked hard and we climbed out. Goofy and The Joker were ahead. The Joker was gesturing wildly with his gun and making fun of some "Italien" he'd talked to at that little meeting of his.

The girl and I walked together in silence. She was too paranoid to talk at that moment. Her large brown eyes shot from every point around her and her lips moved in silent calculation. She must've been paranoid her father was crouched behind a dumpster or something.

We walked through a maze of different abandoned buildings. I recognized the route I always took and soon enough the warehouse came into view. I grasped the girl's hand as we walked down the hall, The Joker still muttering with the man he called Goofy laughing in the distance. I carefully led her down the stairs, advising her to let her eyes adjust to the lights in the basement. She stood for a moment, blinking repeatedly.

"IVY!" I heard The Joker bark.

I glanced at him. He was standing at his office door, now cocking his head expectantly.

"I don't want to leave her alone just yet." I called back.

He rolled his eyes and puckered his lips, "Then bring her. I don't care. I just want to talk to you. Something little."

"Daisy, follow me." I commanded and she followed, running her fingers along the dirty walls of the narrow hall. She glanced curiously in the room where all the clowns usually hung out, then caught up. She was visibly nervous as I held the door open for her. Her eyes traveled from the stacked boxes to the crates of water, to the chair and finally The Joker. He sat atop his desk. She stared at him with awe and fear. He ignored her.

"I need your help tomorrow." He said simply, drumming his fingers on the desk again.

"Oh really? With what?"

"Gambi wants us dead."

"Bambi what?"

"Some mob boss, I don't know... Anyway, that's not the point. He wants us dead.. and we're gonna give him what he wants."

I scowled at him. He really had lost all his marbles.

"You, uh, you can play dead?"

Oh. Okay.

"Yeah." I nodded, "It can't be that hard."

"That's my girl." He smirked. His attention suddenly turned to Daisy, who jumped.

"Now... about this Daddy Dearest of yours..." He pulled out his knife, juggling it from hand to hand. His eyes focused on it in fascination, "He nice?"

"Not as nice as you." Daisy spoke softly, starting bleakly at the floor.

"Hm. Got competition. Can't have that..." He stared off into space, "Ivy and me... we'll uh, get rid of this little uh, 'nice guy'. You're with us from now on kid, you got that?"

"Y-Yes sir."

"Don't call me sir." He spat, mocking her.

"Sorry." She mumbled.

"Don't say sorry, either. If I said sorry for half the things I did I.. I uh, wouldn't be talking for the rest of my life."

She smiled then. It was a very small smile, but a smile nonetheless. He grinned his creepy, crooked grin.

"There's a... a uh... TV room down there... the guys won't bother you. They know you're Ivy's." He gestured and blinked as if he was trying to remember where the 'TV room' was again.

She nodded, in disbelief that he was speaking so nicely to her. She stared at us for a few minutes, then slowly walked out of the office, as if it were all just a dream.

"You see the bruises on her legs?" He snapped, taking off his shoes and throwing them behind his shoulder. I looked back at where she stood and nodded, remembering.

Remembered waking up some mornings in my bed, cold and alone, knowing of the bruises that would form later on my legs, my thighs, my shoulders. My fists clenched and unclenched. I remembered trying to lock my room, with my parents objecting that if a fire started while I was asleep I'd be dead. I remembered not caring about that, wanting it even. Wanting death more than seeing the dirty bastard slink silently into my room in the dead of night.

"We are going to have some fun with him. But we wait a few days. Get him angry first." He stared contemplatively down at his horribly clashing socks. I still stared off, into everything and nothing.

His head snapped up and he tugged at my arm. I was still staring off at nothing as he drew me close, looking at me with a confused and sorry expression. His insanity stopped for a moment as his arms wrapped around me. I shuddered, suddenly realizing the tears were escaping again. I became afraid again, for what had happened the last time I'd cried. But he did nothing. We only sat frozen for a while. I breathed in his gasoline scent, pacifying myself. I could feel his nose in my lank hair. A plant he'd placed on his desk reached out and rested on my shoulder.

"We're a better class of criminal, Ivy. We'll show this town. You'll see."