Little Miss Gotham

Chapter Eleven

A gold hue reflected off of every surface. It was like I was in a dream: a golden bubble. The lights, the beads, the music, the jewelry, the clothes, the alcohol...the craziness. My head swirled and it was bittersweet. The memories were pleasant but my hangover wasn't. I laid in my own bed, staring up at the ceiling as it slightly started moving. 

I was drained but I have never felt more alive than I did last night. 

Sitting up in my silky covers, I realized that my duffel bag holding all of my "costumes" was open and letting its contents scatter my floor. Those contents were my other identity and no hangover could have stopped me from jumping off my bag and hiding them away. 

I relaxed on my floor, needed to take a break before I got sick.  Checking my phone, I was scared to see what was waiting for me on the lock screen...

3 texts. Each one from Kayla, Jared (my nickname for Joker), and my dad followed by a few missed calls from him.
Kayla's simply read that she was grateful for the gift basket and hoped I feel better. That's one fraction of a weight off my shoulders.
Joker needed me to call him when I woke up. No problem.
But my father's message left a bigger impression of fear than I thought. We needed to talk and given that it was almost noon, I had a feeling that he wasn't home and expected me to visit City Hall. 

I quickly showered before changing into my black skater skirt and an auburn sweater the color of my hair and a light, beige scarf to match my ankle booties. Black sheer stockings were always a must. Hangovers never stopped me from looking my best. But it didn't help my deteriorating mental state as I thought in fear of what my father could possibly want. 
I walked out into my living room, greeted with a white sky and it's gloomy imprint on not only the city but my home as well. Olivia and Luke were finally back at school. This was there third week back actually. As for my mother, she was sitting in her mini office off to the side of the living room, right near the window. 

"Morning." I said.

"It's 12:04" she sighed, looking up at me. I shrugged and tried to smile.

"Sorry. Kayla and I had a late night."

"I can tell. You two must have quite some fun running from club to club even when Arkham's most dangerous have escaped. The situation itself is stressful enough and now your father and I have to make sure our children don't get more involved with these criminals." she sighed. More involved? As far as anyone else is concerned, I was never involved to begin with. But I was more confused on why she assumed Kayla and I went anywhere else together.

"I'm sorry, what do you mean by 'club to club'?"I asked. My mother finally looked up at me and sighed. 
"Don't you think people are gonna recognize the Mayor's daughter? Don't worry, I was young once too. But you're lucky I got all those pictures before the press could post any of them. Kayla didn't make much of an appearance in the second place but that's the last time I'm doing this." 

I had no idea what she's talking about but as long as it had nothing to do with Princess Gotham's identity, then I had nothing to worry about. While I was in the kitchen, grabbing some left over breakfast, she reminded me that my father wanted me to meet him at City Hall. I wonder what was so urgent that he couldn't wait until he came home. But I mine as well get it over with and pick Luke up from school. 

Once in the back seat of the limo with my personal driver, I shut the window between us and called up the Joker.

"Hiya Little Missy Gotham." the Joker greeted, his deep, raspy voice sounding oddly pleasant.
"Hey, so um, let's skip to the part where you tell me why you wanted to call me. Running on a short schedule here." I said, knowing I'd be at City Hall in ten minutes depending on traffic. 

"Aww, you don't wanna hear about last night?" 
I froze.
"All your new clothes and how lovely you looked without them? Or when you showed off at the strip club and sat in that little booth with me?" 
Memories flooded back in. Yes, we made out in his closet as I got changed and nothing more. But I smiled, remembering how it was a moment I enjoyed. But as for the strip club, I can promise that I trust my memories and myself enough to know that I didn't do anything too provocative. 
"I don't need to hear anything. I already remember." I giggled. Something about the Joker drove my mind crazy. It was like an addicting drug. When you're not on it, you feel nothing. But when you're on it, it hits you and you feel it all at once. His dark voice replayed through my head and I grinned. 

"I think we should have more nights like those." I added.
"I  couldn't agree more." he replied. 
"But I need to get back on track here. A little too much pleasure and not enough work. Pleasure and work. Work and Pleasure. Two very, very, very separate things. I need to make a bit of a balance and to be quite honest, dollface, I need to catch up on a lot. So you're gonna do something a little special tonight for daddy."

Turn on? Yes. Expected that to be a turn on? No. My heart was trembling at his words. 

"I'm almost at City Hall. Make it quick." I said, turning the last corner. 

"You're gonna be on your own for this one. But I know you can handle it." Joker said. The asylum is a lost cause with it's most dangerous criminals out. Soo, using that big brain of yours, I need a specific drug from their labs. So you have two options." 

"Two minutes." I anxiously said, knowing this plan wasn't going to be so good.

"Go in there like the little princess you are and find a way to steal it or you cause a distraction big enough to cause the Asylum to go into chaos and give me enough time to get it myself." Doing it myself would take a lot and I don't have enough skills to sneak away a random drug in a high security lab. But causing a distraction for the Joker could also leave to me getting thrown into the Asylum myself. 
"I'll let you know after my meeting." 

I hung up and exited the car, weighing out my options as I walked up the steps. As if I didn't already have enough on my hidden agenda, my public agenda was building up too. Everyone greeted me casually, but there was something somber about the atmosphere today. I wasn't sure why but I took myself up to my father's office anyway. I knocked twice and entered the doors only to come to a heart shattering sight.

Standing beside my father's desk was Bruce Wayne himself.

I was in deep trouble and everything I feared most seemed to creep up on me in that very moment. It was so abrupt that I could feel the color drain from my face. I was overwhelmed. Why? Well, I looked into Bruce Wayne's eyes only to be reminded of all the times I've briefly encountered him with the Joker. I felt like he could see right through everything. But my father's expression held nothing that I should be worried about. He didn't seem like there was something wrong.

I tried to convince myself that these circumstances would be much worse if they knew of my alliance with the Joker but nothing was working. 

"Hi, hunny. Just sit down and we'll all talk." my father calmly said.

"Of course." I struggled to reply as I sat down in the chair across from my desk.

I had no idea what to expect.