Professor Fear III

Chapter 63

After what Daria perceived as eight hours of tinkering and following Jonathan and Edward's instruction, she was invited to stop her working. The first batch would be ready after it was dehydrated. They spent two hours longer waiting for a machine to do the hard work and then Jonathan put it all into multiple sealable vials, shoved neatly into a hard case.

They all headed back to the car.

The streets were livelier after the helicopter crash. The sounds had stirred the cowering Gothamites into defensive wars on one-another.

The library door rested against the back of a dead person wearing army garb. They had a Joker smile etching on their face and their gas mask lay beside them.

"Glad to see my rowan berries are being used." Ivy gestured to the red smudge. "They make such a lovely color, don't they?"
She kicked aside the body and opened the library doors by using her vines on the inside.

A grand entrance.

The door shut behind them and Daria took of her mask. The pressure of it on her face had been irritating her intensely in the last few hours. She had no doubt her face had red lines from where the mask's weight had pressed against her. Daria had been incredibly impressed in how the hardly toxin affected skin. Jonathan had done well to create it for its exact purpose. The only effects Daria had noticed was that she was sweating more, but that could have been due to how warm it was in Gotham.

"Oh Ives! You're back! I missed you!" Harley Quinn launched herself onto Ivy. Daria felt herself glance over to Jonathan, wanting him to show affection too now that their masks were off.
She remembered then that he would probably be too focused on discussing the Justice league.

"Why the sullen face, darling?" He was suddenly right beside her. She placed a hand on his check and pushed his hair over the top of his ear. Jonathan had stubble on his face. Daria preferred him without a beard, but he was always incredibly beautiful with or without one.

"Nothing," She sighed. He gave her a gentle kiss. "Nothing anymore." She added. After all they'd experienced, she wanted to make sure to convey more of how she felt about him in public. She didn't want their relationship to ever wither down into dust.

Jonathan stepped forward to address the room, "As I'm sure you're aware already, the justice league is apparently on the way to Gotham."
A giggle from the Joker danced around the room. He was hanging upside-down on a Mountain Ash which had fruited lots of red berries.
I suppose those are the rowan berries Ivy mentioned.

"Shall I use my delightful tools, to control of the mind of these fools?" Jervis asked, rising from where he sat on the floor. He too was grinning. He had been dismayed when Ivy had taken Alice away from him. The new focus would distract him.

"Of course,"

"We don't know if all of them are coming," Ivy pointed out. "You said 'some of the justice league' on the text."

"It looks like it's just superman and wonder-woman right now, at least overground." Edward was on his phone that Ivy had borrowed hours earlier.

"How can you tell?" Daria asked.

"I can access all of Gotham's cameras, Daria, don't question my massive capacity again." He said it firmly but with a playful smile.
That's the Eddy I know.

"Harley, honey, shall we go great them?"
"Sure, Red!" Harley grabbed her gas mask and baseball bat and headed for the door. Ivy scooped her up and shot into the air through growing a large tree a few feet in front of the door.

"I miss my goons!" Joker declared to the group. "They got all the boring work done – well, they got all the work done. They're probably carving each other's faces now in my image in some decrepit sewage pit."
Daria raised an eyebrow as The Joker seemed to sound genuinely proud and wistful towards the end of his sentence.

"They'd probably still happily go after the justice league. I'm sure they fear them." Daria mused aloud. She imagined a bunch of hero-hating zombies charging in numbers. "You'd have to use their fear of failure as a way of directing them towards Superman and Wonder woman."

"Clever, clever," The Joker swung down from the tree. "Mr Mad Hatter would you like to accompany me to play with Batman's friends?"

"oh yes, but what of my Alice? Will she stay here in this jungle palace?" Jervis gathered his hat and cloak from the floor.

Does he rhyme out of necessity or compulsion? This is hardly a jungle. Daria wondered. She was sure that previously she'd heard him not talk in rhyme. Perhaps it was when he was excited or getting into his Mad Hatter role.

Lucy was fast asleep on the moss bed Daria had last seen her in. The exhaustion of being abused and underfed for weeks would take a long time to be replenished.

"Yes, she stays here." Daria spoke firmly, earning a giggle from the Joker. Jervis whined and slumped away towards his pile of things, to find his mind-control tools.

"Care to join us, Daria?" The Joker rolled the 'r' in her name.
"If I'm not needed with Scarecrow or Riddler," Daria found herself saying. She was curious of what would happen, and she had become less and less afraid of The Joker.

She saw Jonathan's surprise at her response. This expression faded to being pleased. Daria was sure he was proud of her growth and confidence. Jonathan leaned into her, held around her waist, and swivelled her face away form Joker and Jervis.
"Are you sure, darling?" He whispered. His soft lips grazed hers. "They are both incredibly unstable types to be around."
"Yes. I can leave if I don't like it. Where will you be?"
In answer to her question, Jonathan presented her with a phone which she slid into her pocket.
"I've got a phone as well with the number of the one I've given you." He explained. "You call or text if you move and I will update you on my position."
Daria nodded.
They kissed, from which Joker made excited 'ooh' noises. Then Daria pulled away, returned to kiss him gently and then turn to face Joker and Jervis, ready for the next task. Daria was hoping to go past a clothing store on the way to change into something new and less matted in sweat.