Angels & Demons

Sure enough, there was a knock on Quinn's door less than an hour later. She opened it to find three blank white box trucks and probably ten of the Joker's henchmen standing outside, waiting for direction from her. She told them what was hers in the house and what wasn't, and one of them handed her a note that was penned in the same handwriting as the one on her contract had been. It had an address and nothing more.

Sighing and packing a small bag, she got in her car and shot a final glance at the house she was leaving. She couldn't help but have a bit of a heavy heart as she drove away; she felt like she was leaving her entire life. She hoped, though, that a better one was in store.

She'd been driving for quite a while before his enormous house finally came into her vision. She wasn't totally surprised that it was a bit out of the way; he'd need it to not be in the center of Gotham for a lot of reasons, she was sure. She parked in the driveway and got out of the car, heading to the front door to ring the doorbell. A man she didn't recognize answered the door and looked her over hungrily.

"Who're you?" he asked her, his voice sounding less like a voice and more like a series of grunts.

"My name is Quinn. Mister J is expecting me," she told him, trying her best to be polite.

"Ah. You're the new pet," he said, looking her over again.

"No, actually. I'm not a fucking pet. Can you stop looking at me like that and either let me inside to find him or call him or something?" she asked roughly, and before the man could say anything else, they both heard a series of low, over-exaggerated laughs coming from inside the house. The man's face faded from whatever emotion she'd made him feel with her words and clouded over to something much more compliant. Quin glanced into the house and saw the Joker coming down the stairs slowly, obviously amused by the conversation he'd just heard.

"You heard her, you buffoon! Let her in the fucking house!" J yelled a moment later, all trace of the laughter falling off his face. The man who had answered the door stepped aside at once and Quinn couldn't help but smile at him sarcastically as she pushed past.

"Glad you could make it," J said, coming down the stairs the rest of the way.

"Yeah," she said shortly, momentarily distracted by how absolutely huge the house actually was. It looked big from the outside, but as it turned out it was even bigger inside. "I don't think I've ever been inside a house this big," she told him without really meaning to and he shrugged lazily.

"Come. I'll show you to your apartment," he said, walking through the house and leading her to the kitchen. A door that looked like it might have been the pantry was opened to reveal what was actually a narrow staircase. "There's also an outside entrance from the back of the house," he informed her, and she nodded slowly as she followed him up the stairs. "It's a fully functioning standalone apartment. There's a bathroom, a bedroom area, and small but functional kitchen. Of course you're welcome to use anything in the main house as well if you'd like," he said, and for a moment she could almost have forgotten who was talking to her. He didn't sound like the Joker she'd always heard about; the murderous, heartless, psychopathic villain. For a moment he just sounded like a regular guy showing someone an apartment. She couldn't help but feel just slightly weird about it.

Once they reached the top of the stairs, she almost couldn't hold in a gasp at the sight of the apartment. It was huge. She felt like it might've been bigger than the entire house she'd come from, and it was beautiful. She instantly loved it.

"I've got to ask you. Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked him after she'd explored the entire place and come back to the entryway where he was standing leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Like I've told you, I think you and I are going to do wonderful things together. I've been watching you for a long time and you're good, Quinn. You're one of the best I've ever seen. You mesmerize them with that pretty face and then they don't even care when they realize you've stolen their most valuable things. You're... magic," he said, surprising her again with his demeanor. If anyone else had said those things to her, she probably would have laughed in their face, but for some reason from him it just seemed so... oddly genuine.

"Thank you," she said simply when she couldn't really think of anything else.

"I'll leave you to settle in," he said quietly, turning on a heel and going back down the stairs.