The Joker And The Fool

8(.2) the beginning of an end

8.2

Diana did not seek him out, nor planned to seek him out for the rest of her own time. But he did not contact her either for at least a month. For after one month Harleen Quinzell finally had the courage to leave him. And during that month she had caused him nothing but trouble. In fact, the things she had done to sabotage him had been so terrible, that by the end of the month it felt as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders. He did not care for the fact that she had set a fire to Ace Chemicals. Something which was wildly brought to public attention due to the toxic fumes that were released because of it. An entire part of the Narrows had to be evacuated because of it. Diana knew that it had happened, in a time where she was known to execute some of her own means, she used Ace Chemicals as a place to hide the bodies of her victims and the tools she had used to kill them. She remembered that Roman Sionis's body was there as well, at least that what was left of it when she had severed it. She did not know if the bodies would be discovered, though she imagined that they would. But the fact was that she cared not much for it. On the other hand, she did not know that it was Harleen who had set a fire to the complex. Diana would not know this; she was no more occupied with the Joker than she was before his little visit. She was much too occupied with her own life's struggles. Not that her life was any more exciting, it became just another routine. She tried her absolute best to avoid the thought of him, to avoid his manipulations. For she was well aware that he had attempted only to manipulate her, nothing less nothing more. But she sometimes wondered what exactly he wanted to say about that night that he had seen her with Penguin, Warren, and Francesco.

She did not go out very often, when she did, she did it simply to keep an eye on her business associates. It had been a terribly long time since she could have found herself sitting in the Blackspot, in the presence of roaring music, junks and drunks. She was not fond of such places anymore; she never could honestly say she had ever been fond of it. She used to hide in it. Perhaps it had been her way of being included with the rest of society; behaving like the low life she thought of them. The Blackspot belonged to Francesco nowadays, she had made sure of it. He was the only one she thought had the wits to run multiple operations in a fashion similar to herself. Even she did not indulge in such type of things. It was not the kind of 'busy' she wanted to experience. Besides, she was busy enough as it was; she did not look to take care of bars and clubs and other idiotic accomplishments.

Now she was not often found in bars nor clubs, but when she was, there would always be men to keep company. That night, she had quite swiftly been invited to sit with a few gentlemen in a lounge. She had been introduced by none other than Francesco himself when she had been visiting him. Businessmen, not criminals, but one could consider them crooks. Even though she did enjoy their company, did she not look for anything intimate, she had long not been intimate or had any needs to have sex. Unlike many people; who consider that sort of place a hunting ground. She was there only to see how well Paris could take care of the things inside and outside the club. She was simply sitting along with them as she watched how people were served and whether or not she could judge from scenery if Francesco had his business aligned. He was aware that she was there that evening, he had even shared a conversation with her for an hour or two. She remained one of his favourite board members, she was highly intelligent, and it showed in conversation. He flourished off of her success. He would thank her for her process one day, as he had hoped to take over her role. It was not as if she did not know this, she did know it. But if anything, she found him a well successor. But until that time, they were somewhat of friends. One of the businessmen had shown the slightest jealousy towards him but had wisely not acted out of it.

It took Diana almost half of the time of the evening to realise that quite in the opposite lounge there sat Harleen with both men and women. It took her that long because they had just started getting loud. All he time before that, they had not drawn any attention to themselves whatsoever. Diana did not like loud people. But she was very quick to notice that there was no Joker around, though she was unaware that he was out on a reckless killing spree, for such things he did when he experienced large change in his life. He was trying to have control over other people's lives instead of his. And she imagined that the loss of Ace Chemicals had opted quite the change. She did not know how he inherited that property, she had never asked him for it. But somewhere she could vaguely remember that it had belonged to a Carl Grissom, whom John had worked for during his younger years. But the absence of Harleen had equal impact on him. Though he had wanted for her to leave him, it was still an unusual change. In fact, it merely underlined the fact that he was trying to pursue Diana. It underlined that he was somewhat lonely. Besides, when Harleen had finally decided that she would leave him, she had done so by attempting to betray him, like Diana did. However, her attempt had failed greatly. Mainly because she had aspired not to lock him up in Arkham, like Diana had, but she had aspired to kill him.