Body Count

Odie, the goon that had been sent out with orders to buy Shane new clothes, returned some time later with bright pink shopping bags clutched under one arm, and a dark gray one under the other. He was out of costume, as a man wearing the mark of a criminal clown could hardly walk into a store and ask where their slacks were.

The warehouse had remained deserted all day, with just Shane and The Joker to keep each other company, which she preferred. The men struck something a little less than fear into her heart, but nonetheless, she'd rather not risk being murdered while the boss wasn't looking.

The Joker had spent most of their time alone listing off the names of his henchmen - the ones whose names he could remember, anyway - and giving short descriptions of each. Shane learned quite a lot.

"Odie - his real name's Odysseus," The Joker had said mockingly, waving his hand in the air. "The one out shopping. He's the jealous type. Probably doesn't like that you take up a lot of my time." This had sent excited thrills down Shane's spine, but her exulted expression was hidden, luckily, by her mask.

"And Ronnie ... he's a user. Be careful of him. He knows how to lie. Ty, he's hard to ... control. He's got a lot of bruises from when he says 'No,' to me. Daemyn, he's probably the biggest kiss-ass you'll ever meet. He's been asking to bandage you up since he heard you were here. Trying to get on my good side."

The list went on and on, from Odysseus down to Ricky, who was the closest thing The Joker had to a right hand man. Shane made mental notes in her head as the names were listed off to her, and she was confident in her ability to pick them out of a crowd by the time he was finished.

When Odie tramped in that afternoon, carrying his bags and packages, he did not seem pleased to find Shane and The Joker seated casually in two chairs by the office doors. There was no need to feel that, though, as Shane was petrified she'd be struck again if she dared to even shift her position.

"New clothes," he grunted, placing the pink bags at The Joker's feet. "And accessories." He said the last part sarcastically, but quietly, so The Joker wouldn't hear over his rummaging through the bags.

"Hmm ... good," said The Joker, pushing the bundle of clothes back into the bags. "Go put these on in that office over there," He pushed the parcels into her arms and gestured toward the office doors. "And don't take too long!" he added.

Shane took up the bags, being careful to keep most of the weight off of her right hand, which still hurt a lot. It felt as though the bones were shifting further and further out of place, instead of healing. Looking down at it now, she noticed with dismay that her fingers were bent in toward her palm and she couldn't move them.

The door to the offices creaked open, and she made her way to the nearest one, shouldering her way into the dusty space. It was sparsely furnished, containing nothing more than an old writing desk and a wooden filing cabinet that looked as though it would crumble into dust if she touched it.

Se placed the bags on the desk, and peered into the first one. It was one of two bright pink monstrosities, holding her new pants. She pulled them out, and looked at them apprehensively. They were sleek and black, creased all along the length. Work pants. Slacks. With furtive movements, so as not to hurt herself further, she tugged her old denims off and pulled the new ones on. They were a bit tight, but they did up well enough at the top and they were the right length.

Next item out of the bag was a new shirt, which was identical to her old one, but with functioning buttons. She pulled off her old one, along with the one The Joker had lent her, and pulled this one on. It took some persuasion to get her ill-working hand to button it up, but she managed it in good time.

The second pink bag was much smaller, and she wondered what could be in it. She pulled a long, bright green tie out of it and laughed. At least Odie had proper taste. She wrapped it around her neck and, while she tried to convince it to tie correctly with her increasingly bothersome hand, she looked into the bag to see what else could be there.

Her heart leaped. There was a pair of gloves inside. She finished off knotting the tie hastily, reaching in for the gloves eagerly. They were fingerless, leather, and purple. She pulled them on with fascination ... they at least hid the fact that her right hand was deformed.

The last bag contained several bottles of hair dye and face paint, in various hues of purple and green. Nearly half of the bottles were red and green. There was one container of black face paint hidden near the bottom. She left all of these in the bag.

Shoving her old clothes into a pink bag and throwing the smaller pink bag into the larger, she grabbed up the parcels once again and headed out into the main room.

"Christ," said Odie, forgetting to shut himself up in the presence of the boss. "She looks just like you." He was looking up at The Joker.

"Doesn't she?" he said quietly, looking her up and down. "Not done. Odie, take her to the washroom and dye her hair for me. And while you're at it, paint her face." When neither Shane nor Odie made any move to leave, he said, "Now!"

The two shuffled angrily back into the office space. Shane knew that Odie disliked her, and she felt that the feeling was strongly mutual. He led her along the gray hallways, none of them lit up at all, throwing them into a confusing darkness.

"In here," Odie grunted, opening a door and standing aside to let her in.

She walked into a small, dimly lit washroom, containing a standing shower, a sink hanging off of the wall worryingly, and a cracked toilet.

"Sit," he said, pointing at the toilet.

She did so, crossing her hands in her lap and staring dolefully at the wall across from her. The mirror over the sink was facing her, but was blocked when Odie took up the gray bag and crouched down in front of her. The first thing he did was pull out a small white bottle, a pair of flimsy plastic gloves, and a comb. The gloves he slipped on with a sickening snap, spraying the contents of the white bottle into his covered hands. His hands began working it into her hair, and they both remained silent.

It took half an hour for Odie to dye her hair. They sat in a tense silence while they waited for the dye to set, and then he bent her over the sink and ran unnecessarily hot water over her scalp. He didn't let her catch a glimpse of herself in the mirror, sitting her instead on the toilet and grabbing a container of white face paint.

His rough, newly unprotected hands rubbed the think paste onto her cheeks and forehead, and she frowned down at him. He was being rather touchy. Once the paint covering her entire face had dried sufficiently - thankfully fast - he grabbed the red and smeared it carelessly along her mouth and cheeks. She kept her lips firmly closed. The final bit of paint was black. Instead of dipping his fingers into the paint, as he had done before, he clenched both of his fists and dipped the knuckles, in turn, into the substance.

"Close your eyes," Without waiting for her to obey, he pressed his knuckles into her eye sockets and turned them once. "There, Princess," he spat, rising to his feet and brushing imaginary dust away from his shirt. "All done." He stalked from the room in a huff.

Her eyes watering a little, Shane stood up and moved closer to the mirror.

'Odie was right,' she thought, staring in awe at the girl standing in front of her. 'I do look just like him.'

Her clothes matched The Joker's almost to a tee, excluding his green vest. Her make-up had been done just like his, but she felt oddly deflated, because she had no scars to plump up the ruby smile on her lips. Odie had done her hair in an odd way, half of it purple and half of it green. Two strands of hair, that hung about her face balefully, were switched so that a purple strand fronted the green and green fronted the purple.

She smiled.

Her mood as she walked back towards the main floor was happy, in a depressed sort of way. She was being remodeled as a hostage, or a prisoner. But she looked like him. Her smile flickered.

She walked into the warehouse to find it brightly lit, with Odie and The Joker standing a few feet away from her and talking in low voices. The boss stopped mid-sentence and stared at Shane as she walked into the room.

"Oh, my ..." he said, walking towards her slowly. "You look much better like this, Princess."