Angels & Demons

"If you're going to kill me, I could do without the dramatics" Quinn said a moment later, regaining most of her confidence. The Joker sized her up for a minute before saying anything else. By the way he was looking at her, she wouldn't have been surprised if he jumped across to her and actually ate her alive.

"I'm not going to kill you, pet. You see, I'd like to hire you," he said, looking at her again and flashing his metal-capped teeth at her in some version of a snarl.

"Hire me?" she asked, caught completely off-guard again. Apparently he had a way of doing that to her.

"Well, of course. You think I'm going to let you steal millions of dollars from patrons in my clubs and just let it go?" he asked her, leaning towards her just slightly. Even though he was across the room she couldn't help but involuntarily recoil a little bit.

"I haven't stolen anything," she tried, knowing that he wasn't going to buy it but also not knowing what else to say.

"I'd bet there's at least a few wallets belonging to unsuspecting assholes in that little purse of yours right now," he purred at her, eyeing her bag hungrily. She clutched it a little tighter. "Come on, gimme a look," he said to her, and before she even realized he'd gotten up, he was standing in front of her with his hand out, wiggling his fingers.

Looking into his eyes, it was clear that if she didn't give it to him, he'd take it either way. She extended it to him and he snatched it quickly. He opened it and dug through, pulling her own personal wallet out first and looking inside. Realizing it was hers, he tossed it back into the bag and pulled out another, and then another. He opened the other two and quickly started shaking his head and wagging his finger at her.

"Shame, girl. You shouldn't lie. It's unbecoming, you know," he purred, sitting beside her and laying the wallets out beside them. He dug all of the cash and cards out and fanned it all out in one of his hands.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked, figuring that if she was going to try and run, she probably should know what his final intentions were first.

"You're not the best listener, are you?" he asked, and she could tell that he was getting annoyed. "I mean you no harm. I want to employ you," he repeated his earlier sentiment and she shook her head.

"And if I refuse?" she asked and he gave her that toothy snarl again.

"If you refuse, then I suppose I would probably mean you some harm," he said simply, giving her a short but loud chuckle.

"What... what would I be doing? I'm not a stripper and I've gotten fired from three bar-tending jobs," she told him, and the glint in his eye told her he was amused by her.

"I don't need anyone in either of those positions, thankfully. What I do need is for you to keep doing exactly what you've been doing all these years, but you give me the profits. You'll still get a sizable paycheck, rest assured," he said, adding the last sentence when she looked at him like he was an idiot.

"If you've really been watching me all this time, why didn't you confront me earlier?" she asked him, suddenly much less afraid and much more intrigued by him and his offer.

"I had to make sure you were actually going to do well with it. It wasn't until I had one of my men follow you and tell me you didn't have an regular day job that I knew how good you were. Then I saw you with that little Lamborghini of yours tonight and that cemented it the rest of the way," he told her in much more detail than she'd expected him to. She nodded slowly as she thought over his words.

"Promise you won't make me do any weird sex stuff or anything like that? Just stealing wallets and purses and stuff?" she asked him a moment later, knowing exactly what his reputation was. To her surprise, he nodded solemnly and placed a hand over his heart.

"Promise, kitten," he said, and for some reason she was sure he was being honest. She thought about it for another minute and then nodded.

"How sizable will the paycheck be?" she asked and he smiled at her again.

"I knew you were a shark. I don't have a number right now, but I assure you it will be enough for you to live more than comfortably," he told her, looking at her with eyes that were much softer than she would have expected them to be. For a moment she couldn't help but get the feeling that he was about to kiss her, and she wasn't sure what she'd do if he did. But then he shook his head as if to shake a certain thought out of it and looked away.

"What about my partner?" she asked him after the moment passed, genuinely curious. To be completely honest, she didn't have a super strong connection with Abigail at all. Sure, they were friends and they did pretty well running the con together, but Quinn wasn't really overly attached to her in any way. But at the same time, she wanted to make sure that Abigail wasn't going to end up dead in an alley or anything like that.

"I'll employ her with a more over-the-table job at one of the clubs if you'd like. We're always looking for decent waitstaff," he said, and she nodded.

"Yeah. That sounds good," she said and he nodded back at her.

"Your answer then, little one," he said and she hesitated.

"I... I don't really know," she told him, and he rolled his eyes dramatically.

"It's not every day you get an offer you can't refuse, girl. We need each other. I think that's becoming more and more obvious to both of us," he said to her, surprising her a little bit.

"Do we need each other?" she asked, and he seemed to take a moment to think the words over.

"Yes. You need me so that you don't end up dead, murdered by one of your marks who got a little over-excited when he realized his wallet was gone, or maybe even murdered by myself because of the boiling rage I would feel if you denied my more than generous offer. I need you to bring me the boat-loads of money you've been keeping mostly to yourself. It's coming out of my clubs; I deserve a cut," he explained calmly, even though she could tell he was getting more and more annoyed with her.

"Fine. I'll do it," she said a minute later, hoping she wouldn't regret it instantly.