Descent

Chapter 17

They passed very few doctors or inmates on the way to the Joker's cell. Mateo was tense after the message he had to give Dr. Quinzel in front of his boss. Bruce Wayne didn't know he was barking up the wrong tree. Because whether the Joker admitted it or not he felt something for the doc. Mateo thought that much was obvious, maybe Wayne was too stupid to see it too.

"Mateo, get Frost a message for me."

"Sure boss. What'ya need?"

The Joker had only two men he counted on, Frost and Mateo. They never let him down, and were loyal even to death. Of course it was because he had treated them better than most super villains did their henchmen.

Frost had been with the Joker for 10 years. He'd saved him from the Bat one night when Frost had held up a liquor store to get money to feed his baby sister. Ever since Johnny had stayed by the Joker's side through thick and thin.

Mateo was another story all together. Three years ago he had run into him at the docks. The meat packing plant had laid him off. The Joker was hijacking a ship and it had gone south.

With his men down and Frost on the way with the getaway car, the Joker was bleeding out, but Mateo acted fast and made a tourniquet. By the time Frost came to the rescue J was passed out from blood loss. They later told him that Mateo's wife Rosa had stopped the bleeding and stitched him up. And that was how Mateo had joined them.

He wouldn't call them a gang, Joker thought that sounded too childish. And there was no way in hell he would call them a family, because that meant using words like love. No, they were more like a pack, the Joker being the alpha and all the others falling in line.

"Tell Frost that I want to send the doc a gift." The Joker sounded deep in thought.

Mateo stiffened next to him. When his boss was plotting it normally meant trouble in the form of bloodshed.

"Like what boss?"

They had made it to his cell at this point. The Joker gave him a look that said this was going to be fun. Though Mateo wasn't sure exactly who it would be fun for.

"I want Frost to get my burgundy dress shirt, box it up and hand-deliver it to my doll."

Mateo ushered him into the cell and began to unlock his cuffs. With his back to the cameras he asked, "Anything else I should tell Johnny?"

The Joker smiled. "Its needs to be there before 1. And tell him I'm in no hurry to be sprung. That I'm having fun on this little retreat."

Mateo nodded and headed out the door.

"Oh, and Mateo..." He turned to see the Joker smile. "Tell Frost to put a note in for me."

He nodded. "You have anything special to say?"

The Joker smiled, and let loose a deep chuckle bouncing off the stone walls. "As a matter of fact Matty, I do."

&&&

Harleen was just locking the door behind her when a knock resounded. Turning she looked through the peephole and saw a well dressed man in his mid thirties. Dark hair and a pair of aviators hiding his eyes. A sharp dressed man indeed. His look told Harleen that he was either a made man or part of some goon squad.

She opened the door as far as the slide lock would allow. "Can I help you?"

"Dr. Quinzel, I got a package for you."

Hum... she thought, not remembering if she had ordered something. Maybe he worked for a high end delivery service. That would at least explain the way he was dressed. .