*J* (the continuation)

Part Thirty-Nine: Chapter 294: Loaded Deck

Once Alfred had excused himself, the Joker showed himself to the room where Frost was. Frost had the door cracked open to better look out during the night. The Joker drums his fingertips on the door and pushes it open wider. Frost was running his hand behind drapes, under furniture, behind paintings, and surveying every object closely. Wire taps, booby traps, you just never know. The Joker's mind momentarily drifts away to a time when he himself had done that very thing.

"Boss?" Frost asks, noting the way his boss was distantly staring with a blank face.

The Joker blinks and snaps himself back to reality. "I need you to do a few things first thing tomorrow morning," the Joker tells him. His eyes drift off as his brain goes into overtime. He thinks like the genius he is. He clearly sees exactly what must be done to assert his dominance to his family.

"Yes sir," Frost nods and awaits the Joker's instructions.

"I want you to disable the electrical system at Ha-Hacienda. Cut and remove all lines from the house to the pole. Then shut off the water and remove the entire meter. After that I want you to change all of the safe combinations and the locations of the safes themselves," he instructs.

"Yes sir," Frost complies. He can already see what the Joker was doing. He was trying to make life difficult for Harley, Jester, and Ivy. He saw his boss's point perfectly clear. But somehow, it just kind of felt like a shitty thing to do.

"I want you to remove the main power fuses to each and every mode of transportation I own," the Joker pauses to think of more as he slowly paced. "I want you to get word to each boss in the crime syndicate."

" And the message you want me to tell them sir?" Frost asks.

"Tell them that they are absolutely forbidden to render any aid or assistance to my wife, brother, or Ivy. I don't care if they're starving, or half frozen in the cold," He tells Frost, his eyes wide and dark.

"Sir...are you sure you want to do that?" Frost timidly asks, knowing that asking the boss too many questions is a recipe for disaster. But was he thinking about this? Or was he doing this out of anger?

The Joker narrows his eyes at his henchman, "By creating an unfavorable series of events, I regain total control of this situation. And through it, my family is going to learn that they need me. They may not like me, but they definitely need me. I created the world in which they live. They will give me the respect due to me. I'm the provider. Me. And their treacherous bullshit will not be tolerated," the Joker growls. He rolls his eyes and twirls his wrist, "Besides, I have Lucy, so it's not as if she'll be subjected to their path to enlightenment. I know exactly how this will play out. Their tunes will change when they realize it's just easier to obey me than it is to defy me."

"Yes boss," Frost agrees.

"Oh, and one more thing," the Joker holds up a finger. A gleam spreads across his face. "I want you to spray paint across the living room wall, "Go Fuck Yourselves." HaHaHa!" He laughs.

"Yes, boss. Anything else?" Frost reluctantly asks.

"I think that should be suffice for now," the Joker says and crosses to the door, "Goodnight Johnny my boy," and he leaves the room and returns to Lucy.

********************

Bruce wanted to get home the second he received Alfred's message that the Joker, Johnny Frost, and little Lucy were at Wayne Manor. Unfortunately, he was tied up with his bat duties, and couldn't run straight home. He had a city that he had vowed to try to protect. It had to wait until the bad guys were caught and turned over to the authorities.

Bruce really wasn't concerned with the Joker's reasons for showing up out of the blue. He knew the Joker was an expert at relocation. He could have gone anywhere, stayed anywhere, but he chose Wayne Manor. Bruce knew that it wasn't a gesture of goodwill just so he could spend time with his niece. And he knew it wasn't because the Joker needed any Batman level protection. He knew that the Joker had a reason, but he's too happy to have him to analyze it fully.