Body Count

Shane did not have time to dwell on the morning's events. She was just about to collapse into a confused heap in the middle of the showers when Odie burst in, holding several colorful bottles and wearing his mask. Despite the smile painted on the piece of plastic over his face, his voice was angry and resentful as usual.

"I've been looking for you everywhere!" he said, throwing his arms out wide in exasperation. "Come here, now!"

"What is it?" she asked, unmoving. She wasn't really in the mood to deal with people like Odie just now.

"The Boss wants you painted and dressed in ten minutes, so for the love of Christ, would you get up, please?"

She groaned. Surely having her face painted was a bad sign. As she got to her feet and made her way towards Odie, who was dancing from foot to foot impatiently, she wondered what was going on. Would they be robbing another bank today? Kidnapping a business person? Attending a hockey game? Each one seemed just as frightening as the last.

"Come here," Odie said gruffly, pointing at the partition between showers. "Lean on it, and don't move!"

She obeyed quietly, leaning up against the low wall and staring at Odie as he unscrewed the lid of one of the containers. White paint. Of course.

Odie plunged his entire hand into the thick paint hurriedly. He pulled his hand out so violently paint splattered everywhere, but he took no notice. Instead, he smacked Shane hard across the face and started smearing the stuff over her skin, grinning cruelly.

Shane seethed inwardly, but kept her face straight. If The Joker wanted her to look presentable - as his property, but still - it was best to let Odie get on with it and save any rude comments for later.

Once her face was sufficiently covered in white paint, he put that container down and picked up a much smaller one, which turned out to contain the red paint.

"Interesting smile you got there," he commented lightly, dipping two fingers into the paint. "Should I just paint the one side, then?" Underneath the mocking tone of his voice, the question was genuine, and his hand hovered a few inches in front of her face.

"Probably," she said coolly. "It'll look more realistic, won't it?"

"All right," he said, and slid his fingers along her closed lips. He was none too gentle when he reached her freshly sewn scars, pressing unnecessarily hard as he applied the make-up. He sneered when she winced in pain. "Just a smirk for you, then, eh?" he said, laughing at her. She knew she must look ridiculous, with just one side of her mouth painted red, but she disregarded his remarks.

The red finished, he pulled out the last tub of paint, which was black. Shane noticed that he dipped his knuckles in just as he had last time, and quickly shut her eyes. Sure enough, his knuckles made heavy contact with her eyelids, twisting around to set the paint in, making stars erupt before her eyes.

"All right," he said, stuffing the paint tubs into a bag. "Hurry up."

Following Odie at a trot, Shane blinked back tears of pain. Her scar throbbed badly where Odie had pressed on it so harshly. They were making their quick way to the other end of the warehouse, where a group of clowns stood tapping their feet. They were all dressed in black three piece suits, and, unlike Odie, were not wearing masks. Shane thought it strange to look at a sea of frowning faces, all different shades of brown and beige, with such normal colored hair topping them all off. The absence of purple smiles, blue hair, and white faces disconcerted her.

Joining the sizable group, Odie tore his mask off and threw it into a pile near the door. Shane gaped at him. His resemblance to Daemyn was striking, and now she understood why the latter never took his mask off.

Odie was quite thin compared to his older brother, but the dark brown hair swept to the side in just the same way Daemyn's did. Blood was rising to color his cheeks, apparently from the short jog he'd just gone on. It gave him the same ruddy look Daemyn always had.

But the eyes. The eyes was where she could tell they were related the best. Yes, Odie's eyes were deep brown and Daemyn's blue, but their piercing gaze was exactly the same.

She clamped her jaw shut once she realized she was staring open mouthed at the worthless goon. As she did so, a door to her right burst open and banged off the wall. Everybody turned in unison to face the newcomer.

"All right," said The Joker, carrying a lime green bundle in his arms. "We're going on a little ... day trip. All you need to know is nobody dies tonight," He paused to lick his lips. "Not yet."

Apparently baffled by the lack of murders, the clowns nodded, stealing furtive glances at one another.

"Just make sure I don't die, if anything happens," he said, putting a hand on his chest and leaning forward. "And if one of you gets hurt, deal with it amongst yourselves. Who's driving?" he asked suddenly, staring around at the well dressed men.

Several of them raised their hands.

"Come here ..." They all walked towards him, frowning. The Joker pulled a handful of paper scraps out of his pocket and held them out. "Go to this address. Spread yourselves out in the main house. Go!"

Having each grabbed a slip of paper, the men turned around and started to leave. The paperless men followed them, their determined glares quite ruining the effect of the suits.

"And you," The Joker said, turning now to Shane. "Are coming with me. Put this on."

He threw the green bundle at her, and she realized it was her knee-length jacket. She whipped it around her shoulders, glad of the added warmth.

"Nice make-up," he said, patting Shane's painted scar. She flinched. "Woopsie! Did I hurt you?"

"No," she said hotly.

"No? No?" His voice was high and simpering. "Are you sure?" With one gloved finger, he touched her lips and, cackling, grabbed her arm pulled her out the door.

Numerous tire tracks were dug into the gravel outside, all turning and leading away to the deserted street beyond the warehouses. One sleek, black car remained behind, and it was into this The Joker climbed.

Shane walked to the passenger side and yanked the door open. Sitting down, she couldn't shake the feeling that this car was a dead giveaway. The windows in back were tinted, yes, but the ones in front of them were clear and clean. If the citizens saw two clowns driving through town, the cops would no doubt become involved.

With a roar of the engine rather unbecoming of such a nice car, they were off down the road. The Joker was driving at breakneck speed, swerving around roadkill and bumping once or twice into ditches.

A building sense of curiosity gripped Shane was they swerved sharply to the left, nearly four miles before the turn-off they'd used to get to the bank. Her nosy side overpowered her sensible side, and she asked, "Where are we going?"

He made a giddy face at her, looking away from the road. "To see a show."

"A show?" she said nervously. That didn't sound promising and, worst of all, that sound very public.

"Oh, yes!" He started laughing, great whooping howls ripping out of his throat.

Shane shivered.

They were entering city limits now, screeching through small suburbs, causing chained dogs to bark wildly at them. Luckily, nobody was about to see who was driving by.

It wasn't long after they entered a weirdly swanky part of town, littered with magnificent stone structures, that he slammed his foot on the brakes and parallel parked somewhat haphazardly.

Looking around, Shane felt very under dressed. The Joker was wearing his usual outfit, all purple slacks and deep green vest. His hair was the usual mess of grease and green paint. But he looked comfortable in his clothes. Shane thought her old, dirty clothes must look very out of place as they stepped from the car.

The building they were parked outside of intimidated her greatly. She was used to small movie houses, or overgrown parks. That's where her and her friends used to go. But this place was huge. The buildings around it were all taller, yes, but this building made up for it by being utterly fancy. It was all cream colored stone and red arches, spreading along an entire city block, with glittering glass windows and the occasional stained glass. It made Shane want to talk about the stock market and how mild the weather was.

The Joker was already skipping up the stairs, looking completely at ease. She followed, trying to hide her face form invisible watchers.

'Why are we here?' she wondered desperately.