Smile for Me

Joker slapped me around for a while when I returned. To be honest, I didn’t really care. I was just happy to be inside, where it was warm and dry. It had started raining when I was halfway back to base. My nose started bleeding when Joker pushed my face against the doorframe. Blood mingled with water and dripped into my mouth.
I curled into myself, away from Joker, and wondered idly if Batman was out on patrol, cold and shivering. Or maybe he had a gadget to protect against that. Joker would always go on long rants about Batman and his gadgets. He thought the man was some rich guy with a complex, which I privately thought was stupid.
I didn’t really care what Batman was, as long as he didn’t catch me. “You little bitch,” Joker hissed, long fingers wrapped around my throat. “Don’t run, ha, away like that again or I’ll, ah, carve you a bigger grin.”
“Don’t care,” I mumbled, too many hits to the head making me say dumb things. Joker’s smile widened, eyes lighting up as he spotted the opportunity to cause more pain.
“You don’t care, Quinnie? You don’t care if I make you bleed, haha, make you scream?”
I spat out a shard of tooth and shook my head.
“Sorry, so...so sorry, didn’t mean it.” Joker slashed at me with a knife, opening a large cut across my cheek. I yelped, jumping away, and fell back. The wrist on my burned hand broke with an audible crack. The henchmen around us winced, though they’d been watching dispassionately before that. When I shrieked with pain, Joker laughed and kicked at me.
“Stupid, ha, Quinnie!” He strolled away, tossing his knife into the air. I had a sudden flashback to the days when he called me beautiful, showed me the true Gotham, even rocked me to sleep once. Those days were gone now, gone as soon as he ensnared me. I meant nothing to him. And so he meant nothing to me.
“I hate you,” I said, for the first time actually meaning it. Joker just turned around to wink. It would be the last time I saw his face.
I left once he disappeared from view. I didn’t take anything with me except for the clothes on my back and a knife Joker had given me. I was in shock from the pain as I ran through the streets of Gotham. The Bat Signal was high in the sky, overwhelming the moon. I headed towards it, cradling my broken hand.

It was not difficult to find Batman. I just followed the sound of people yelling. When I found the large, brightly lit street where Batman was fighting Penguin, I sat on the curb and waited. Penguin was defeated, put in handcuffs, and led away squawking. I went up to Batman and tugged on his cape like a small child. The fabric was heavy and rough on my fingertips.
He turned around to watch me with impassive eyes. It had been a long time since he viewed me as the innocent kidnapping victim. I wondered if he considered me one of his failures. I had hoped Batman would save me, once. This was his second chance. “Help me, Batman.” The people around me were ignoring us, unable to see my face.
“What do you want, Quinn?”
“I’m leaving the Joker. I need your help to run before he finds me. I can’t let him find me.” Batman inclined his head, putting a hand on my shoulder and steering me into the Batmobile. When the door closed over our heads and I relaxed into the leather seat, better than anything I’d ever sat on, and realized that for the first time in years the voices were gone.
Batman blindfolded me and drove to a cave filled with technology, where he sat me down in front of a computer monitor. Batman sat across from me, watchful.
“You can’t stay with me,” he said slowly. “I don’t trust you. And you’re insane.”
I nodded, hugging my knees. The cave was cold and I was scared, beginning to realize just what it was I had done.
“I...I don’t want to stay with you. I just want to be safe.” I looked up at him, feeling tears streak my face. “Joker took everything from me! Who I was, what I could have been. I never got a chance to be anything but his. He kept me warped around him until I was nothing.”
Batman’s mouth softened. “I’m sorry, Quinn. I should’ve found you earlier, when he took you.” “It doesn’t matter now.”
I didn’t tell him about the men I killed. We were tense enough as it was. “I can get you away from here, but it’s going to be far, and you’ll have to work hard.” “I will.” “I’ll ask Talia. She’s always got some humanitarian project going on.” I started, surprised that he knew her.
I understood when she answered his call, calling him ‘beloved’ and batting her eyelashes. She was beautiful, but not like Catwoman, who I wished I could say goodbye to. Talia al Ghul started talking to Batman in a foreign language. He turned to me eventually, almost smiling.
“There’s an outpost in Haiti that could use you. I’ve heard that you have some skill in medicine.” I just nodded. The room was blurring at the edges. I collapsed off the stool and into Batman’s arms.
When I woke up I had been bandaged and burn salved and generally fixed. It was obvious Batman wanted me out of the city quickly. He gave me some clothes, let me keep the knife Joker gave me. I was brought to a helicopter and bundled inside.
Talia al Ghul sat across from me. She blew a kiss at Batman. I leaned over to look at him. He was grinning, suddenly a little less scary. Gave me courage. “Tell Catwoman good bye, and thank you?” I asked, and he nodded. The helicopter took off with a whir of blades.
I slept for most of the way there, from a mix of painkillers and relief. Someone would take care of me, really take care of me, for the first time since Dad died. I woke up an hour before we arrived to find Talia staring at me.
She was holding a pistol in her lap. I was suddenly afraid that she’d decided to get rid of me, but I stayed still, trained after so long with the Joker. Yelling would get me nowhere. But she handed the gun over to me, barrel up.
If I pulled the trigger then, the bullet would pierce the roof, possibly causing us to crash and burn. The idea was mildly tempting, but I chased it off, holding the madness at bay. “Take this, Quinn. In case he comes for you.” Her voice was gentle, and I saw kindness in her eyes for the first time. I nodded. “Thank you.”
We touched down near a medium sized town, where I was left with medical supplies and an interpreter. The work was immediate and busy.
The people called me the smiling woman and didn’t bother asking me about my scars. They were just thankful for someone to patch me up. I was happy, content to help people. There was still the gun beside my bed, though, a knife in my pocket, because I know Joker’s gonna come for me one day.
Sometimes I imagine I can hear his laughter, quiet in the darkness. I throw myself into medicine during those times, until I can forget about him. I do good work and I’ve left Gotham behind.
Joker’s POV
I’ve been looking for her. My Quinnie, pretty scarred Quinnie, ha!, she was taken, Quinnie ran, she ran like a scared bunny and I can’t, I can’t have that. I, ha, I look for the woman with the smile, lovely scarred smile on my Quinnie, MINE! She’s been hidden, somewhere poor, empty people with empty smiles, my favorite. Feels, ha, like home. I, ah, ask for the scarred, haha, lady and get answers, leads to Quinnie. She’s, haha, a nursie now, all beloved, my Quinnie is special. Thinks she’s, she’s safe, but I’m gonna find her. And she’ll, ha, never ever leave me again.