Just Paint Your Face

Batman

"Where's the Joker?" I held Maroni by the front of his shirt, dangling him over the balcony of an apartment near the night club I'd found him milling about.

Things were getting out of hand. The Joker was making good on his promise, killing each night. No one had found him still, we'd been close, but not close enough, and with Gordon gone...

Gordon was gone.

The psycho.

I repeated my question, this time with more conviction.

"One professional to another: if you'se gonna scare me, pick a better spot. The height won't kill me."

"I'm counting on it." I dropped him to the ground, cringing inwardly at the sounds of his legs breaking beneath him and his tortured scream. But I had to. I had to do it for Gordon. For all the other people out there who'd died.

I swept down to his level quickly and grabbed him up again.

"Where is he?"

He gasped painfully, "I don't know. He found us."

"He has to have friends!"

"Friends? Have you met this guy? When the mobsters wanna scare each other, they tell Joker stories. The only friends he got is the Poison Ivy and that little kid of hers. And he keeps them close."

Poison Ivy and The Mime. We knew their identities, at least, but we had not tracked them down. The only clue I had on the Joker was the name he called Rachel--Jeannie. It didn't make sense. I felt sickened and enranged, especially by the fact that I had actually gone on a date with the woman, who they all called his woman, even wanted to kiss her.

We were lucky she wasn't nearly as mad as him. She was something alien and if anyone crossed her, we'd have one big pile of shit on our hands.

"Somebody knows where he is!" I spat.

"Nobody's gonna come to your side. They're wise to you: you got rules. The Joker and his woman, they got no rules. They don't care about nothin, cept maybe the girl, and the the girl is always with em. If you want him, you got one way, and you know what that is. Or are ya gonna let more people die while ya make up your freakin mind?"

Ivy

I was having the most wonderful dream. It was just him, Daisy, and me. We were sitting around a fireplace, talking and laughing like normal people. He was telling jokes. His face was clear and unscratched. Daisy was smiling and talking again. And I, I was pregnant.

"Pssst. Hey. Hey. Ivvvvvy. Wake up!"

I opened my eyes, disappointed at having to leave the lovely vision in my head. His face was close to mine, and he was smiling excitedly. He kissed my forehead so tenderly that I thought I was still dreaming. I saw the scars, realizing I wasn't, and blinked in surprise.

"What... what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" He leaned and giggled, as if nothing in the whole wide world could ever be wrong, "Dent just admitted to being batman!" He tweaked my cheek.

"Get dressed," He straightened, "in your disguise."

"It's not Dent." I objected. I was sure it wasn't.

"I know, I know." He waved his hand. I stared at him, surprised.

"...How?"

He huffed, "It's simple. Look, I know. Nobody's that stupid, except for everyone in this city. I do my, my uh... research. How do you think I got you?

"Wait.. what do you mean?"

"I didn't just pluck some random bitch walking down the street. I saw you one night, that's right. Saw you beating the shit out of one of those harmless muggers. So I did a little searching... a little following... and TA DAH. I found another one for our, uh, operation."

"You followed me?" I asked, mortified.

"Hey, that's not important. Talking about Batty, remember? I just want to play a little game, that's all. It's no fun to know everything."

I smirked. So he wouldn't kill Dent. Just play games. I could handle that.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" He laughed hysterically and pulled my hair. He was in a good mood. He bounded out of the room, yelling to all the men that this was an all hands on deck deal.

I couldn't help but chuckle at his 5-year-old kid at christmas demeanor as he returned.

"Wait..."

He stopped.

"Were you looking for a woman? A person at all, even?" I didn't add up. If he wanted a fuck buddy, he could've gotten one of the mob chicks. If he wanted another man, he could've picked someone stronger and less intelligent.

"You wanna know the truth?" He raised his eyebrows, hands fiddling in his pockets.

I nodded.

He stared into my green eyes.

"No. Just... uh, couldn't stop thinking about..."

He seemed to fumble with the words. He waved his hands oddly and then turned, muttering without another word to me.

I left it alone, continuing to get ready. It didn't matter.

Tonight was going to be fun.