Fallen Future

"My dear, this is beginning to sound like a bad joke, us bumping into each other all the time!"

I was woken by raucous laughter. After blinking blearily for a few seconds, I struggled to sit up; take in my surroundings. I was pinned to the ground by two burly men holding me, which was strange as I'd fallen asleep after scaling a tree. The ground was hard and digging into my bag, but I was distracted by the man approaching me. I knew him.

"You, again?" My voice was rough and thick with sleep; heavy with accusation as well. "What do you want from me?"

"It amazes me that you're still alive," he grinned down at me, face smeared white with startlingly red scars stretching his mouth into a psychotic smile. His hair was even more wild than last time, but his purple suit was clean. "This world is my world now. A world with a blanket of darkness and pain, it keeps me nice and warm. You little freaks are the only thing keeping me from helping the world keep it's sanity- my kind of sanity that is. Ahead of the curve. You give my people a flicker of hope, but trust me. I can blow it out. And I'll laugh. Because all of this," he gestured to the wastes that surround us. Burnt trees and smoke. The remains of the fallout smog still drifting. "Is all one big joke. And I'm the world's biggest joker!"

The two men he had pinning me down let me go, and the Joker strode over himself, swinging a cane from one hand. I tried to stand, but he swung the tip of his cane until it rested on my throat and then he pressed down until I was struggling to breath.

"Crazy doesn't always mean bad," he nodded at me. "There was these three men in an insane asylum, and to be released they were set a test. They were each stood on a diving board above an empty swimming pool and told to jump in. The first guy jumps and breaks both his arms. The second guy jumps and breaks both his legs. The last guy doesn't jump at all and he's allowed to walk free. Just as he's leaving, one of the doctors asked him why he didn't jump. 'Well, that's easy Doc,' he said. 'I can't swim!'"

He laughed hysterically and loudly, but didn't move his cane except to press down harder. I gasped for air, kicking out at the Joker wildly. My boots made contact with him several times but he appeared not to care. He just laughed harder, like he didn't care about his own pain.

"Get off!"

I finally snapped, my mind focusing and I found myself crouched on one of the branches that I had been staring at just a moment ago. I took in a lungful of air, grateful for managing to escape.

"Aha! The punchline!" He literally jumped with glee, grinning madly still, the scars making him look even more crazy than he was. "The big joke! The finale! Just what I wanted to see!"

"What do you want?" I called down from where I was perched, furious at him. Every time we crossed paths it was the same. The Joker trapped me in some way, I was forced to use my powers to get away and he found it hilarious. Then I'd either hide, ignore him until he left or find somewhere far away from him so I could get some peace. That was all my life consisted of, running and hiding and simply existing.

"Come on down here and I'll tell you," he went from hysterical to completely lucid, smoothing down his suit and holding out a hand towards me. His eyes were wide, and with his make-up smearing and fading away, he looked almost human. I swung myself onto a lower branch, but didn't reach out to him. "I don't bite," he grinned, his eyes sliding past to look behind me. I turned a split second too late and caught a tiny glimpse of something huge barreling out of the trees and launching itself this way.

Panic seized me and I had a moment of trying to get away but something hit me in the middle of my chest and I was sent crashing back to the ground. The Joker let out a strangled noise and I turned on to my stomach, trying to see what was going on. A huge, hulking creature had slit the throats of the two men from earlier and had now caught the Joker by the throat, claws poised ready to gut him. I bit back a scream, focused my mind and then I was hidden in the leaves that still clung to the huge Oak, too high for anyone to catch me. The fragile branches up here were already creaking with protest at my frail weight.

"Touch her again and you'll have me to answer to," the creature snarled and I realized it was a man. His hair was shaggy and wilder than mine, and his clothes were tattered and dirty. What disturbed me the most were the huge, curving metal claws sticking out of his knuckles.

"Hey, it's not my fault," the Joker chuckled, not bothered. "It's her following me. She's a curse, a pox on my head. A jinx! That's what she is, who she is. The Jinx and the Joker," he laughed, his head tossed back. "She interests me, Wolfy. Let me have her and I won't touch any more of your freaks."

"I told you last time, and I'll tell you again," the huge man dragged one claw down a cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. "None of us are into cutting any deals with you. So give up trying."

"Jinx will show up one day again," the Joker winked, pulling out of the grip and brushing some dirt off his suit. "She's a joke, and you won't keep her long. Even good jokes get tiring."

He laughed once, and the stranger just watched as he walked away. He curled his hands into fists, the blades slowly sinking back into his flesh as I watched in horror. When the Joker was out of sight, the man turned and called out. His eyes were searching the trees, looking for something. Me.

"Kid, I'm not going to hurt you," the anger had gone from his voice, just leaving it husky and tired. "Just come out of hiding and I can help you." I didn't move. "I was sent here by somebody who's just like you. Hell, I'm just like you. Professor X, the guy who sent me, he knew your parents. He met you when you were a baby."

I'd heard that name before. Professor X. My parents discussed him when I was younger and they thought I was asleep. I let myself appear on the lowest branch, so I was almost at face level with him.

"You could have just come onto the ground," the guy sent me a look, seemingly unfazed by my sudden appearance. Even the Joker had been taken aback when I first did it, and he seemed to know everything. Or liked to pretend he did. "Look, my name's Logan. What's yours?"

"Your tag says Wolverine," I nodded towards the chain dangling around his neck. He raised an eyebrow. "I have good eyesight."

"Right. Of course," Logan nodded as if that explained everything. "Well, it's like a nickname. Everyone in our group has one."

"Group?" I eyed him suspiciously. "What group? And why is the Joker so afraid of you? And why did you protect me?"

"One question at a time," he grumbled, reaching into his pocket and pulling a cigar out of a metal tin. He lit it and clamped it between his teeth, speaking around it. "We're a group of survivors, but we're not regular humans. Just like you're not regular. There's loads of us scattered everywhere, trying to find people like you. And I know an old friend, so to speak, of Joker's. He's not desperate for a reunion just yet, so he knows if he leaves us alone, we won't hurt him."

"This still doesn't explain why you helped me," I swung my legs over the edge of the branch and stared hard at Logan, trying to figure if it was worth trusting him or not.

"I helped you 'cause you're a mutant, like me," he sniffed, running a hand through his hair. "I know that much. Professor X said your name was Eve, you're in your early twenties and you seemed pretty powerful," with this, he eyed me up and down and I blushed. Years living rough had left me frail, my hair was thick and matted and I was wearing a ripped male shirt and tattered jeans I'd found in a run-down house a few months ago. I probably smelled pretty bad as well. "So, Eve, are you coming or not?"

I hesitated for a second, then grabbed my pack from where I'd stowed it. Logan and I looked at each other for a long moment, then I nodded.

"I think, yes."