T R A P P E D

29. Jack Napier

*~Joker~*

Alex was snuggled up against me, rubbing her hands up and down my chest, as I stared at her beautiful face. Just having her back home with me was the best feeling in the world, but I had an eerie feeling that something or someone was lurking in the shadows.

"Joker?" She spoke, her voice sounding all too innocent.

"Yes, kitten." I answered.

"Who were you before you became the Joker?" I slowly closed my eyes, knowing that this conversation was going to come up at some point, but I didn't think it would be this soon.

"Before the world labeled me The Crown Prince of Crime, I was known as Jack Napier." I began slowly sitting up in the bed. "I was a member of Gotham Organized Crime, or as I liked to call it...GOC, working underneath the mayor of Gotham City, Artie DeHaven. I kept a pretty low profile there, but it wasn't until this district attorney blackmailed me into acting as a snitch inside the organization."

"That's pretty fucked up." She spoke.

"It gets worse, baby. There was a private detective in trouble with DeHaven, and to take the attention away off of himself, he sold me out just to save his own ass. Needless to say, when his fellow thugs learned that I was a snitch...my execution was ordered and it was not pretty at all. They beat me within an inch of my life, cut my mouth from ear to ear, and left me for dead in an alley." I told her, bawling up my fist as anger slowly spread throughout my body.

"Oh my God... I'm sorry that happened to you." She sat up and hugged me from behind, placing soft kisses on my back.

"Despite all that happened to me, I survived, although my sanity was no longer intact. I went crazy and became a wild madman murdering indiscriminately, fixating on the one that said sold me out. Our confrontation was in this club called Kitty Kat, ran by Selina Kyle, or as you might know her as...Catwoman."

"I'm familiar with the name." She murmured.

"Well that's where I had taken the man's wife and his daughter hostage. He somehow shot me off of some scaffolding, but I survived that as well. He then ended up jumping in front of his daughter to protect her and was fatally shot by yours truly. By the time Batsy arrived on the scene, I was long gone, but that didn't stop him for coming after me. He followed me to ACE Chemicals and me being the clumsy clown that I am, I fell and before he had a chance to save me...I went down, down, down into the bottom of the vat. You thought I was insane then? You should've seen me when I was pulled out of there. Talk about nuts!" I laughed.

"Wow... that's... that's crazy."

"I know right. Too bad I just made the whole thing up." I fell back on the bed and laughed, feeling a hard smack come to the side of my face.

"You fucking asshole!" She scoffed. "If you didn't want to tell me, then that's all you had to say!" She was about to climb out of the bed, but I grabbed her and pulled her back.

"Okay, okay...relax doll face. You want the real story? Fine. I wasn't lying about my real name being Jack Napier. That part was true and though I don't remember much about my past, I'll always remember her."

"Her?"

"Her as in...my wife. Jeannie." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, remembering bits and pieces of the time before I became the handsome clown everyone knows and loves. "I worked as a lab assistant, making ends meet and bringing in enough money to support both me and my wife, but that's not what I really wanted to do. No, I wanted to be a comedian."

"A comedian?" She questioned.

"Yes, kitten. That was my dream, I think, but I don't think I was as funny back then as I am now. I thought I'd get my big break, doing a couple of gigs down at the comedy club, but it never happened. Jeannie kept the faith though and pushed me to continue going for my dream, but when she came home one day and announced that she was pregnant...I knew then that I had to stop thinking about myself and my dreams, and focus on figuring out a way to make some easy money to support my growing family. One night, I met up with a couple of mobsters and they told me that they could help me out, but I'd have to fill in for one of their men and help with a heist. I accepted the offer without even thinking about it, but I wish I would have." I found myself growing quiet for a minute, looking off into space as I tried to remember what happened after that.

"We can stop talking about this if you want. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Alex said.

"You didn't, sweetheart. I'm just trying to figure out what happened after I accepted their offer." I said. "Ah, yes. So the night of the heist, Jeannie and I got into an argument and she tried to convince me to stay home, but my mind was already made up. This was something that I had to do to ensure that we'd be set, so I left her at home and went to meet up with the guys at the chemical plant. As soon as I arrived, I received a phone call from the police, telling me that there was an accident and that my wife and unborn child didn't make it."

"Oh my God." Alex gasped, covering her mouth. "I am so sorry. I can't even imagine how you felt."

"You know...for the life of me...I didn't understand what went wrong in between those twenty minutes when I left the house, upon arriving at the chemical plant; and all I could think about was if I would've done what she asked and stayed home...would she still be alive? So after finding out the devastating news, I was stricken with shock and grief, attempting to back out of the plan, but the criminals strong-armed me into keeping my promise. As soon as we entered the plant, however, we were immediately caught by security and a shoot-out ensued, in which the two mobsters were killed. As I tried to escape, I was confronted by Batsy, who came by to investigate the disturbance. Jack was terrified of Batman, so without thinking...I leaped over a rail and plummeted into a vat of chemicals. When I surfaced in the nearby reservoir, I saw my reflection: bleached chalk-white skin, ruby-red lips, and green hair. Those events, coupled with my other misfortunes that day, driving me completely insane, and resulted in the birth of the Joker."

Looking back at Alex, I saw the sad look on her face, as tears slowly fell from her eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey... there's no need to cry. That beautiful face shouldn't shed tears for someone like me." I said to her.

"There's something in my eye." She lied, turning her head away from me. I grabbed her face and kissed her, wiping her tears away.

"Smile, princess."

"I can't."

"But you should. I've been given a second chance, which is why I smile. You've also been given a second chance... therefore, you should smile too." She pouted, looking up into my eyes, forming a small smile on her lips. "That's it, doll face. That's my girl."