The Last Laugh

Chapter 19. | Taken

The Batcave was turning into a circus. Colorful artifacts hung all around, loud guns were constantly tested by the clown, even one of Batman's vehicles had been wildly decorated by J; bright purple with green stripes. He was pleased, Bruce was pissed.

But deep inside, the millionaire was actually having fun. Deep, deep, deep inside.

Harley was finally allowed to join them as long as the Joker wasn't testing with the chemicals or something potentially dangerous for the baby or her. She added more craziness to the place with her giggles and cheers. It was a cute scene to watch, even for the bitter dark knight, to see how much support the bubbly girl gave her boyfriend, how fascinated she was with his inventions. Bruce could picture a bright future for the couple– for the future clown family.

"Joker, not these!" Bruce groaned as he picked up a batarang from a large pile. They were no longer bat shaped, they were now smiley faces, sharp smiley faces.

"I call them 'smileyrangs' or 'clownrangs'. You really needed an upgrade on those boring things, Bats. They are not just a lot more fun but they are sharper and impregnated with paralizing syrup." said the Joker as he stroked Harley's hair, as she had fallen asleep on his lap while the Joker worked on the computer. "You really need to put a smile on that face once in a while. Did you know that the more you smile, the less wrinkles you'll have on your face?"

"So tell me why you look so ugly, Joker?" said Bruce with a smirk. "I hope that kid looks like Quinn, for the baby's own sake."

J chuckled as he looked down at Harley's sleeping face, his fingers brushing her cheek. "Then my kid will be blessed with the face of an angel."

Bruce rolled his eyes and looked down at his watch, sighing worriedly. He picked up the intercom but there was no answer from Alfred who was out for the weekly grocery shopping and he hadn't returned.

"I'm going out." said Bruce, running a hand across his tired face, "You should go back to the manor. It's enough for today. You can continue decorating the rest of my vehicles tomorrow."

The Joker laughed and carried a sleeping Harley back into their room, oblivious of Bruce's distress, caused by the butler's absence. It wasn't until his stomach rumbled that he walked down to the kitchen, finding it empty and quiet. It was dark outside and the sudden ringing of the phone startled him.

"Oh, what's your favorite scary movie, Joker?" he mumbled to himself, a light chuckle escaping from his lips.

The phone stopped ringing and was replaced by the loud doorbell. His hand grabbed a kitchen knife with a swift experienced move and headed toward the main entrance, keeping his steps quiet and calculated.

Just as he was about to peek through the peephole, J was grabbed by the shoulder and harshly turned by Bruce, who looked oddly shaken. They stared at each other for a second as the doorbell rang once more, reluctant to even take a look.

"Bats, it's probably the old man. Maybe he just forgot the keys, for the devil's sake." said J as he finally walked towards the door and opened it, ignoring Bruce's warnings, but when he looked around, there was nothing but a black envelope laying on the doorstep.

"My vast experience as a villain tells me that this is not a bomb, but it's still suspicious. So–" he said as he handed the item to Bruce who frowned and opened it slowly, sliding a pair of spectacles from the envelope. The Joker watched him turn paler than himself and it took him a few seconds to get the message. "Are those–"

"Alfred's." said Bruce, his voice hoarse and choked, "Go get Quinn and I'll meet you at the cave. I've got a feeling this might be more serious than it seems."

The Joker hurried to the room where Harley was sleeping, his heart pounding with a bad feeling. As he entered, J sighed with relief when he saw the figure of his harlequin laying quietly on the bed, totally covered from head to toe by the sheets, the windows fully opened. He closed them quietly and looked down at Harley with a frown, he hated waking her up. 

"Baby, we need to go back to the cave. Something happened." J whispered gently as he approached her, but stopped just a few inches from her when a few strands of brown hair fell from between the pillows. It took the clown seconds to get his pistol from the drawer and pulled the covers away from the foreign body. A foggy rage blurred his mind as he grabbed the woman by the neck, the gun's muzzle pressed against her temple as his face got contorted with a lethal sneer.

"Baby? Is that what you call her? What are you? Teenagers?" Jeannie mocked him despite the lack of air as he pressed her tightly against the pillows.

"Where is she?!" screamed J, his eyes turning dangerously dark with madness, ready to pull the trigger. "Tell me where is she or I swear–"

"What? Are you gonna kill me, my love? Your own wife?" she gasped, her lips turning blue due the lack of oxygen. "If you kill me you'll never know where your blondie and your filthy fetus were taken!"

The Joker gritted his silver teeth and growled dangerously, letting her go with one last harsh push making Jeannie cough loudly. He ran his fingers through his green hair desperately and looked around the place, trying to decipher which his next move would be until a pair of arms circled his waist.

"I'll take you with her under one condition." she whispered and kissed his back, J's breathing erratic as he controlled his anger, "As soon as she's out of danger, you're staying with me."

His laughter filled the room and he turned slowly to face her, his tattooed hand covering her mouth. He leaned down until their noses touched, "Just take me where she is, you bloody crazy bitch and then we'll talk. She'd better be unharmed or I'll make your fucking existence a living hell." 

♠︎ ♣︎ ♥︎ ♦︎

Hi there!

So, for the ones that already hate Jeannie, this chapter is for you to hate her even more. 😱

I'll update faster this time since my work load is getting lower. Hopefully. I'm sorry, adulthood sucks.

What do you think is gonna happen? *dramatic music*

-xoxo