The Gotham Queen

Chapter 23

Joker leans back in his seat, watching my every move with that calculating gaze of his. I stare right back at him, challenging him. What's the next game?

"Here's the deal, dollface." Joker says to me as he carelessly motions to the guards around the room. "I won't tell you anything unless you can make these brainless brutes disappear."

I don't immediately rush at the chance to get the guards out of the room because even though I like playing games with Joker, I know that if he lost it, I wouldn't be able to win that fight. Joker would kill me no matter how hard I fight back against him. Plus, the fact that his smile doesn't match the look in his eyes makes me know that he's definitely up to something.

"Why should I trust that you won't hurt me the minute they leave the room, J? Why should I just trust you, Mistah J?" I say to him, my old Brooklyn accent slipping out a bit. I grit my teeth because I had worked so hard to hide that because it's not ladylike, and Kyle hated it. I hadn't realized that I'd gotten so comfortable in the games that I let my wall down nearly all the way.

Not to mention you just gave him a nickname without meaning to, but we just won't talk about that.

"You shouldn't." He tells me, his response is quick and to the point. He's no longer curious or playful anymore, his eyes going cold and hard in a matter of seconds. It's like there's suddenly a wall of ice between us, and I flinch at just how cold he's become. Instead of the happy, playful mood I had been in, now I have the sudden instinct to run away and hide. It takes all my willpower to not cower in my chair.

It terrifies me by how quickly a person's who demeanor can change. I could never see it coming when Kyle used to hit me because one minute, he'd be content and the next, he'd be angry. It's terrifying how quickly one's mood can change.

I wonder what's going through Joker's head as I watch his every move, tensed and ready to defend myself at the first sign of danger. Like I said, I'm tired of always running, and even though deep down I want to run and cower, I won't do that anymore. Even if I'm shaking to death from sheer terror, I'll still fight to the best I can.

I don't say anything as I throw all my walls back up, not giving anything away. I sort of have an idea of what Joker is capable of, but no one really knows just how far he can go. He's able to kill four men with his bare hands in a matter of minutes, and those men were guards here at the Asylum.

Yes, Joker may be a skinny man, but looks can be very deceiving. I had to learn that the hard way, and I won't make the same mistake again. Clearly, Joker must be strong if he can kill groups of people without a single weapon in his hand. I don't even want to know what he could do if he did have one.

"What could possibly be running through that pretty little head of yours, doc?" Joker's voice snaps me out of my thoughts, and I can see that the playful look is back. I don't let my guard down as much as I did, but I do smile playfully at him.

"J, I'm wondering the same thing, but are either of us really going to answer that question?" I ask him, and he smirks at me. He doesn't say anything to me, so I don't say anything more to him. We're just sitting here studying each other. It's almost like we're trying to see who lets their walls down first, and I grin at the new game.

I watch as he tilts his head a little as he studies me with his pretty eyes that only show the madness within, but I can see the brilliance behind them. He's a lot smarter than he lets on, which makes him interesting and dangerous all at once. He makes everyone think he's insane, which he is, but he makes them think he has no plan.

I know very well that even though everything around him looks like chaos, it's controlled chaos. He actually plans for everything, but he makes it so outrageous that everyone just sees the insanity. This makes him dangerous because he sees and registers everything that goes on around him. That means that he's always in the loop and he manages to pick up a decent amount of blackmail on his own alone. Add in his goons...well, you have one hell of an information gathering system.