The Joker's New Toy { Wattys 2016}

Abandoned?

**

They had entered downtown Gotham. Stacey was staring silently out the window now, watching the tall buildings zoom by above her, and the glow of the building lights seeping out through the thick early morning rain clouds. The rain clouds were hovering so low that Stacey could barely see the tops of the buildings. It had already started to sprinkle, and Stacey could see little droplets of rainwater splattering on the glass.

They weren't on the better side of town that was for sure. It seemed like there was a girly bar on every other corner, their half lit triple X signs flickering through the fog. And it seemed that outside of every girly bar, a bum slept shivering under a ratty old blanket, an empty bottle in a brown bag lying next to his head. "Why are we taking these side streets?" Stacey asked. "I don't like the looks of this area. I never go this route when I drive home. Why aren't we taking the freeway?"

The Joker smacked his lips, still staring vacantly ahead, and he turned on his windshield wipers. "Just like a woman," he spoke in his deep growling voice. "Always trying to drive from the passenger seat."

"Sorry," said Stacey, trying her best to hold herself back. She didn't want to piss him off. She knew him too well by now. "It's just...,"

"Yes, you have good reason not to trust me now. I know," said the Joker, finishing what he assumed Stacey was about to say. "But just remember this Miss Gordon. I kept you alive for a reason. A personal reason. As much as I hate to admit it, you've grown on me. Like a yipping lapdog would grow on its reluctant owner," he turned to Stacey, who had a weird expression on her face. "That's a compliment."

"Thanks?" Said Stacey, feeling rather odd. She really didn't know how to respond to that.

"You're welcome little bunny," said the Joker, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

They didn't speak again after that, until the Joker turned into a dark alley, and abruptly stopped the van. "I'm afraid little Bunny, that this is the end of the road."

Stacey's heart dropped to her stomach. She snapped her head around, her eyes meeting the Joker's dark serious gaze. "W-what? You can't be serious! You said you wouldn't kill..."

"Hey! Shush, shush!" the Joker immediately put a finger up to her lips to quiet her. "That's not what I meant doll. I can't drive you all the way to your apartment myself. If I was that stupid do you really think I'd be in this business for so long?" he snickered. Stacey only glared at him with mystified eyes. "I can't take the risk of there being a bunch of pigs...I'm sorry, cops surrounding your pad. Your little old apartment's a crime scene ya know. That's where I kidnapped you remember? I'm sure they dusted all over for my fingerprints. But they won't find any," he snickered some more. "But I can't go back to, uh, the scene of the crime. A professional criminal never does that...if he's smart."

"What are you going to do then?"

"Well doll, you know your way home from here dontchya?" the Joker licked his lips, and by the look in Stacey's eyes, he knew she had caught on.

"You expect me to walk home from here?" Stacey couldn't help the squeak in her voice.

"Either that, or we turn around and go back to my home, and forget this ever happened," the Joker said with a large psychotic grin. But his grin actually faded when Stacey only looked at him with hate filled eyes, and unlocked her door. She clearly wasn't going to fall for that. It appeared that she would rather walk home by herself in the worst part of Gotham, in the dark, and in the rain, rather than go back to his mansion with him.