Clown Princess of Crime

Chapter One

Corpses of men, woman, and children surrounded me with their bleach white faces pulled into unnaturally large grins. They all died laughing, which my father found incredibly funny. Batman, not so much. He was utterly disgusted at us. Joker and Harley. But not me. Everytime the man's gaze landed on me I could sense the pity, the desire to help me. I rolled my eyes at the thought. It was too late to help me.

Us . A voice corrected. I called her Mayhem. She was the imaginary devil on my shoulder. The strong one who could do what I was too weak to. Without her I'd have broken down years ago and been murdered by my father as a child.

My eyes glowed a bright shade of green and a sick grin stretched across my face. This is what I like to call Mayhem mode. The point where I let my sadistic personality take over me, so I'm stronger, faster, deadlier, and crazier than ever.

Robin took a step back before looking momentarily angry at himself for showing the fear he'd tried so desperately to hide. My grin stretched even wider. "It's okay to be scared boy blunder," I said patronizingly. My voice had an odd echo effect that made it sound distorted. At first I was horrified when I first learned the monster I could become. But after my sanity took a turn for the worst I stopped caring all that much.

 "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt a family's day out. We hardly get to spend any time together," said Harley, raising the Ak-47 she had in her hand and pulling the trigger.

Bursts of live rounds came out the gun so fast my eyes could barely track them. Batman and Robin flipped out of the way and then began to charge at my parents. It was amusing really, this little game of ours. Like cat and mouse in a way. Batman tracks us down once we start killing people then attempts to lock us all in Arkham. Then we all break out and start the cycle all over again. Sometimes I just wished Batman or Robin would loose control and put me out of my misery. Then I wouldn't have to endure my dad's abuse or convince myself that the people I'd killed were simply sleeping when Mayhem could no longer keep the guilt from taking root.

Focus. We don't want to disappoint father hmm?  

 "No, no we don't" I shuttered and attempted to focus my mind on the present. Batman and Robin usually left me alone unless I started to fight them or was holding someone hostage. They didn't want to hurt a kid, even if I was their mortal enemy's daughter.

 As Robin flipped into the air with a kick aimed at Harley's stomach I rushed to protect her. I moved so fast I was a blur and grabbed Robin's ankle and flung him unto the concrete. Harley looked down at me with what was supposed to be a grateful smile, but fear she felt because of my Mayhem mode was too obvious. It would have hurt, if I had ever considered Harley a mother in the first place. 

 Batman's muscles tensed when he noticed his partner had been thrown unto the pavement, but he didn't take his attention away from the Joker for one second. Robin used his hands to push down on the grown and propelled himself upward. His eyes were narrowed behind the mask as he looked at us. Harley was completely out of bullets so she pulled the red and black titanium bat from its place on her back. "This is going to be fun little birde and by fun I mean painful!"

 If Robin was afraid he didn't show it when Harley charged forward with her titanium bat pointed toward him. To anyone else it might look like Harley didn't have a plan, but I knew better. Faster than anyone else could process I sped over to Robin and slammed my palms into his back as he was trying to counter Harley's attack.  Half a second later green energy was released from my hands and into Robin. His bloodcurdling scream echoed across the street.

 I took my gun out of the holster on my waist and pointed it at Robin's head. He looked defiantly up at me, refusing to show fear in what might be his final moments. Mayhem wanted to pull the trigger and see his brains splatter across then street. It would utterly destroy Batman to see his partner killed, because he couldn't save him. But I didn't want to kill him. I never wanted to hurt anyone. Fortunately I didn't have to make that choice.

Electric current slammed into my back and I released a scream of my own. My body crashed to the ground and I lay there twitching in agony. Whenever I tried to move excruciating pain radiated from my body.

"That was sloppy Little Wing. You should be more careful." Nightwing stepped into my line of vision with a smug smile on his face. His escrima sticks were alive with electricity.  Fear worked its way onto my face before I remembered that the Bat-Family doesn't kill.

Harley screamed in anger. "No fair! You're supposed to in Bludhaven!"

"What can I say? Gotham just calls to me."

I opened my mouth to curse him out but only a slight groan escaped my lips. So I settled for scowling at Nightwing the best I could with pain pulsing throughout my body. Not that anyone noticed (or cared) for that matter.

Eventually Batman subdued Joker and Harley and was currently loading them into a van directed toward Arkham, which he was happy to get into to. Not that it was surprising. My dad looked forward to going back to Arkham, but he never told me the reason. I wasn't all that pleased. The glow in my eyes hadn't lessened and, even though I couldn't move, I was giving the orderlies a hard time arresting me. Every time one got close green energy sparked across my body. No one dared touch me.

I can't tell you how long this went on for until my dad ordered me to stop. The officers breathed a sigh of relief when I finally let them pick me up, handcuff me, and put me in the van. 

 My father turned toward me with a large grin stretched across his pale face. "Wasn't this a blast?" he said then began laughing that insane laugh of his. My mother eventually joined in and their laughter echoed across the street until the officers closed the doors to the white van headed toward Arkham.