Henchman (JOKER X READER) ✅

chapter 6: arkham

something chronic, bit demonic, i've been on the late shift

author's note: this chapter contains death and a gunfight.

---

Four days passed.

In those four days, you went down to the basement with Frost and blasted the hell out of a lot of targets, lost to Panda, Sharkey, and Fox at poker (but mostly Panda, Fox let you win out of pity), and tried to get another glimpse of the Joker in vain. You didn't see him at all.

The fifth day was when everything changed, because you were woken up by someone banging on your door.

Fox was on the other side when you opened it, and he shoved an oversized, black leather jacket and a bulletproof vest at you as soon as the door was open enough to allow it.

"Get ready," he said, eyes wide with some mix of fear and excitement, "The boss says we're going out."

This was it, this was what Frost was talking about on your first day here. You slammed the door in his face and got dressed quickly, ruffling a hand through your hair in lieu of actually styling it. You were out the door and in the elevator with Panda before you knew it- the same manic energy Fox had had at your door was the same as what you felt now.

Panda put your gun in your hand when you saw him. "Frost told me to get this to you," he said. "He says you know how to use it."

"I know enough," you said, slipping the gun in the waistband of your jeans.

"Well, that's a relief," he muttered, checking his own gun.

It turned out that Joker's test was pretty much walking into Arkham Asylum and freeing a bunch of crazy people. You and Fox exchanged wide-eyed looks in the van as Frost (with occasional commentary from Joker) outlined this plan to you.

"We've got some guys already there who're gonna blow up the gates," Frost said. He was driving, Joker was in the passenger seat, and everyone else was crammed in the back. "Then we go in, straight through the front doors, and take out anybody who tries to stop us. You let as many people out of those cells as you can, and when I give the signal over the PA, you run like hell. Got it?"

"Got it," Sharkey nodded, and the clink of the barrel of his machine gun clicking into position sounded too loud in the quiet of the van.

The gates blew just as you rolled up. Frost drove right through the smoke up to the huge double doors, and you all jumped out as soon as he stopped the van. There were two security guards near the doors- Sharkey shot them both before they could pull out their guns. Frost used their access passes to unlock the doors, and you were in.

The place was badly lit, with flickering, harsh, white lights, and it smelled like formaldehyde. You wrinkled your nose against the stench as you stepped over the threshold and fully into the asylum.

Joker strutted in first, as you'd imagined he would. The girl behind the receptionist desk screamed but was cut short when Frost shot her. Joker leaned over and pulled the fire alarm. He was already laughing, the sound bouncing off the walls and ringing in your ears.

More security guards were flooding the main entrance, and a full-blown shootout began. Frost tugged you behind a desk as a bullet whizzed over your head.

"Pay attention, L/N," he hissed, "Or you won't make it out of here alive."

You nodded and leaned around the desk. A guard turned around just in time for you to shoot him, and it all happened so quickly you couldn't even register it. Just a loud bang and the recoil of your gun, and he was dead on the floor with a bullet in his chest.

"Good work. Now keep moving," Frost ordered. So you did. You ran.