*_{BatJoke}_*

Chapter 24 Place of Hiding

Bruce drove behind the vans, watching as the view turned from bright to dark.. almost saturated. "You're sure they won't be able to find us here?" Bruce asked, turning to the masked man sitting next to him, holding a box. He turned his head, giving a thumbs up, smiling under the mask. Bruce gave a perplexed look before turning back to face forward. They had entered an off-limit area, 'I remember this place.. this is one of my projects I planned on working on, ironically before Joker swooped in and made my life a mess.' Bruce felt his eye almost twitching, the problems just kept piling up. They drove on the grass towards the circus, it was run down an old, giving a very distorted but nostalgic feeling. "Arkham Circus..." Bruce said under his breath. 'My dad took me here.' Bruce forced any emotions out, putting on a serious face. They drove inside the garage area, it was littered with what used to be bright colorful decorations, turned old and saturated. "There they are!" Joker said happily, going down to help them carry boxes in. Joker turned to see Bruce, causing his eyes to widen. "What is the bat doing here?" Joker said, his expression turned angry. Harley poked her head out of the van, nervously laughing. "Whoops! Guess we weren't paying attention to who was on our tail!" Harley said, nervously rubbing the back of her neck. Joker turned to her with a very threatening look, causing her to gulp. "Your one job was to make sure no one was following us.." Joker said, Harley could see he was beginning to lose his patience. "Uhh.." Harley was sweating bullets; she could almost feel the rage emanating off of him. "It's not her fault." Bruce said, walking over with a box. "I offered to help carry stuff over, they needed extra room." Bruce said, causing Joker to slightly laugh. "Help? Help from you is the last thing we need.." Joker said coldly, seeing Bruce's stern expression. 

"I gave you a place to keep your things, in return my house got wrecked.. you owe me one." Bruce said as he began walking past Joker, their faces inches apart. Joker felt his nails digging into his hand as he walked towards where everyone was putting the equipment. Joker began groaning, suddenly punching the van. "That traitorous little-!" Joker began yelling before Harley cut him off. "He's right boss.. we kinda gutted his place." Harley said, leaning on the van. "That was Waller! He's the one who gave away our location to her anyways." Joker said with frustration. Harley looked over at Bruce, thinking. "I don't think he could.. even if he wanted to... he was worried about you, y'know?" Harley said, Joker held his same frustrated look, except now his face was beginning to turn red. "I doubt he can even feel anything other than a drive for power.." Joker looked over at him, annoyed that any feelings for him were still there. "Get Josh to start looking for any other secluded areas just in case. There's bound to be hundreds of them in this city." Joker said walking away as Harley proudly saluted. "Sir yes sir!" She said, making her way to Josh. "I don't get it.. you're finally getting your chance of escape and you still decided to follow us? You do realize you're digging your own grave.. right?" Catwoman said with an impassive look, taking wires out of the boxes. "I told him I wouldn't side with Ms. Waller." Bruce said as Catwoman began setting up the devices. "Yeah but.. she gave you the chance to give the most powerful villain in Gotham up. Why give up something like that?" Catwoman said, causing Bruce to freeze, unable to give an explanation. Catwoman eye him, beginning to smile. "You really are crazy." She said under her breath, causing Bruce to look up to her. "What?" Bruce watched as she began laughing. "You've really fallen in love with the Joker?" Catwoman said, causing Bruce's eyes to slightly widen. "What are you talking about?" Bruce said, looking slightly mad. "Well yeah, it's kinda obvious. The banging, the shared looks, you're obviously putting yourself through all of this for a reason." Catwoman said, causing Bruce's brow to furrow. "I'm doing it because we made a deal, if I don't do what he wants he'll just end up killing me." Bruce said, helping move stuff out of the boxes. "Right.. because Bruce Wayne has no say over who's in charge of him." She said crossing her arms, slightly snickering. Bruce felt his jaw clenching as he tried convincing himself she was wrong; he knew deep down she wasn't. "Looks great! You know I think this environment really suits your aesthetic, boss!" Josh said enthusiastically, looking over at Joker who had a dark ominous look. Josh nervously cleared his throat. "So, luckily I've had a good spot in mind for our backup to the backup place. Your 'devotees' are setting up the track detector interference panels now so no worries about them finding us." Josh said, pulling up an abandoned warehouse on one of the screens. 

"Good.. so we'll have a place to go when Bruce informs Wallers adherents about our new location." Joker said in a condescending tone. "Ms. Waller is dead because of you, I doubt we'll have to worry about them finding us considering I never told her to begin with." Bruce said sternly, Harley bounced her head back and forth as they bickered. "You're right, you just told her we were working together. Then she was able to put two and two together and find out where we were!" Joker said with a sarcastic smile. "Why would I admit to something like that? I would have gained nothing from telling her-" Bruce said, his impatience rising. "Oh please, I doubt you WOULDN'T have something to gain from her, she's practically your boss." Joker said with an annoyed look, Harley felt her brow furrowing from impatience. "You're so full of yourself-" Bruce started before Harley stood up. "Will you two can it?!" Harley said, causing everyone to look at her, Catwoman looked unbothered but somewhat impressed. "We need to be addressing the problem at hand, not arguing like old married couples!" Harley said, causing Josh and Jasper to look at each other nervously. "Ms. Waller could still be alive for all we know, and if she is, she's going to be madder than ever. We need to start building up a way to get her men on our side. Surely, she's got some dirt on her that we could use. In the meantime, Jasper, start working on some weapons that can get someone down, but not kill." Harley said, pointing to Jasper. "Uh.. but I thought-" Jasper put his hand up to interject. 

"We're going by Batman's motto now!" Harley said, causing Joker's eyes to widen. "No, we are not! We are not sparing people who deserve to be ripped apa-" Joker said before Harley turned to him, leaning in close. "Bruce is a part of the team! He's stood by us even when he shouldn't have. I don't agree with the whole mercy thing either considering its a hassle and less fun- BUT.. he's stood by us.. and you." Harley eyed Joker, noticing his body was tensing up. "So, you don't have to like it.. but right now, we need to do what's best for the team, that includes Bruce. Got it?" Harley said, causing Joker to look at her with a somewhat nervous look. He groaned, walking away. "I'll take that as a yes!" Harley said happily, secretly fearing for her life. "Josh, you do your little hacky stuff and see if you can get anything juicy on Waller." Harley said as Josh nodded. "On it." Josh said, beginning to type. "Phew! I kinda like being in charge." Harley said crossing her arms, smiling at Bruce and Catwoman. Bruce looked over at Catwoman, seeing her face was somewhat red under the mask. "Bruce, you're the strength of the team besides Jasper and Mr. J, I can see if he'll upgrade any of your stuff if you want." Harley said happily. "Uh.. yeah, sure." Bruce said, not used to the change in leadership. He watched as she happily walked off, turning to Catwoman who had drool on her chin. "Catwoman." Bruce said, causing her to aim her eyes over at him, seeing him pointing to his chin with a smile. She wiped her chin with an annoyed look. "Shut up." She said, walking away. Bruce faintly laughed, looking over at the entrance, seeing Jokers "fans" guarding it. After looking around, he realized how many there were. 'All these people support him? Gotham really has gone downhill.' Bruce thought, looking down at his hand, seeing a scar from when he first met Catwoman. He rubbed his thumb over it, the feeling of Jokers hand still lingered on his. Bruce sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. 'She's right.' Bruce thought shamefully. 'I've fallen for that psycho.'