A/N Hey everyone, yeah I know its been a while. Longer than I ever intended and it took this long to get a new computer and well... its not been the easiest thing getting back into writing after so long. So I apologize to everyone for that.

This will be the last chapter in the format its been in, that's just because we're entering into the movie territory and that will be more straight forward, hopefully it'll be enjoyable. Anyway, we've waited long enough, lets go.

Chapter 26 – The jokes on you

Johnny stopped the car in front of the old warehouse but kept the motor running a few moments longer.

J looked up at the hideout with no real feelings towards it. It was one of the oldest ones he had but he hadn't really found need for it in a long time. Years.

Harley sat next to him with a slight frown on her face. She looked unnerved by the place.

"Not good enough princess?" He asked with a snicker.

She blinked up at him, holding Bud's leash tightly in her hand.

"No, it ain't that." She frowned, looking around. "It's so close to Arkham."

J nodded thoughtfully but grinned at her, lightly tapping her nose. "They won't find us here."

It was true, This place had yet to be found, it was close to Arkham, dangerously close but even the bat hadn't figure it out and why should he?

The place was condemned, the bricks were falling apart and the windows were all broken. It wasn't really fit for anyone to live in.

That' what made it perfect.

Besides, we won't be here long." He promised, he smiled at her look of confusion but didn't give her any more information.

They walked down tot he alley entrance with bot Lou and bud in tow and Johnny pushed the large metal door open.

There was a stale smell to the place, layers of dust caked all over the boxes, cobwebs clinging to every corner and dangling from the roof. Lou noticed a ran running across the floor and struggled against Harley's grasp and ran after it excitedly.

The sound of Bud's laugh echoed as Harley let him follow his brother to hunt the small rodents.

"w

ell, they like it." she mused as she tested the structure of the floor with the tip of her foot. "where are we going?"

things had gone impressively bad, their escape from Arkham had been messier than usual. More people-had died, not that they actually cared about that but it hadn't just been security or the good men and women of Gotham police department.

Bystanders, innocent people had died this time and nothing roweled up the bat more than that.

It hadn't all been their fault though, a lot of the blame could be held on hat little brat Batman called a sidekick.

Robin, the little twerp had been reckless, what had he expected? If you just acted without consequences chaos was bound to ensue.

Joker's kind of kid actually but not good for a superhero.

Super hero, the term was laughable.

J grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the back o the warehouse, Johnny followed behind with a briefcase in his hand. The warehouse was more structurally sound in the back. There were no holes in the roof and the floors were less likely to cave in under them.

"Puddin'? Where are we going?" Harley's voice sounded impatient and almost petulant. A flash of annoyance hit him and he spun around, his hand hitting her smooth cheek with a loud smack.

It had been a long time since he'd laid a hand on her but it had also been a long time since she'd acted so childish.

There was a sense of satisfaction at the sound of her yelp, how quickly her skin hued pink and the brim of a tear in her eyes. He knew it was the fact he'd done it that startled her, not the actual hit. She could take more than that.

Instantly his mood changed and he placed the same hand that had struck her on the offended cheek to sooth it.

"Patience pumpkin, just show daddy a little patience."

She nodded solemnly and he wondered if Arkham had managed to give her the nights medication before they'd escaped. She seemed, a little off.

She's been of since.... He growled at the annoying thought and let her go, turning around and striding tot he back room.

There was a table set up in the room, brand new and completely out of place in this old relic. A large executive chair sat at the head of the table with a large J embroidered onto the leather.

He sat down with a sigh and whistled for the boys. He head them padding towards the door and in seconds they were at his side, Lou predictably nudging his hand to be pet. Bud sitting down patiently, staring at Harley expectantly.

"Well?" He looked at her with the same expectation. "The hyena gets it."

She giggled and ran to sit in his lap She adjusted herself with ease and Frost placed the briefcase in front of them with a click.

"Oh, pretty." Harley cooed as she stared at a small blood red stone. "What is that, Ruby?"

"No, definitely not ruby." He didn't pick it up and when Harley reached to touch it, he smacked her hand away. "No touching, not unless you'd like your skin to peel."

She frowned and registered the implications. "chemical?"

"Something like that, valuable and is going to cause a lot of damage."

"So who are we selling it to?" She asked, the cogs working in her head. "I don't see who'd want it here."

"Exactly, it's valuable here but lets face it the bat will get to it before it can cause any real fireworks but there are other places where we can really see this stuff shine."

"Where did you get it?"

"You know business men, they think the safest places for this stuff is in their vaults, child's play really."

From the corner of his eye he noticed Frost leave the room, probably to grab the laptop from the car. Good they'd need it very soon.

"So..." Harley reached out and stroked Bud's coarse fur. "Who's the buyer?"

"Have no clue." He was being honest too. There was no buyer, well not yet. There were prospects but nothing solid yet.

They sat in silence, Bud and Lou's occasional laugh the only sound in the room.

"Puddin'? This isn't about the money is it?" Harley turned to face him. It was a fair question, very little was about the money when it came to him. He had enough of it, true that all the accounts were frozen for right now but that just meant starting a new one from scratch.

He didn't answer.

"You're bored." She calculated. H arched an 'eyebrow'

"O, you think?"

Harley adjusted again and suddenly he got a glimpse of Harleen again. "Puddin', you're going to sell a little rock that somehow does something more than look pretty, you don't want to sell it here in Gotham. Which means that it would probably blow us all up or the damage you want to do is much more than a single city, which means you have an interest in a country."

"Oh, and tell me Dr Quinzel. Does your in depth profile of my personality tell you what I want with a country?"

She wrinkled her nose at the way he said the title of Dr, he knew it bothered her sometimes when he made fun of what she'd been before.

"I can." She took a deep breath and gave him her best professional expression. "You wouldn't just give a country this and say here rule everything. That's not your style, you want fireworks after all. Someone holding this in a collection or a threat wouldn't be enough, you want something bigger... you want a war."

He tapped his finger against his nose and she stared at him in surprise.

J opened his eyes when he felt his ears pop, they'd started to descend and the short nap had refreshed him. Harley was still fast asleep and he saw no point in waking her until they'd landed at the air strip.

They'd traveled 6,426 miles from Gotham to this place He hadn't actually worked that out, he'd googled it earlier when he was bored.

That was the big thing about him, smoke and mirrors. Illusions that made people think he was something he wasn't.

Except.

There were things that you could consider magic about him. Things he himself didn't understand fully. He wished he remembered how he'd survived the trip in the acid vat. He wished he remembered anything from before that moment, so he could piece together how he was who he was.

He was a creature of grudges, he held onto them like precious memories because they were. Holding onto an emotion as strong as hate, anger and resentment kept those memories alive, even through the worst torture.

The softer things though, they were harder to retain. It was true that his brain had lost so much of it, faded washed out images of places that still felt significant. The underwater sound of a voice he could swear he knew and that it'd meant something.

They were so jumbled now, he couldn't even be sure he'd ever felt those things, love, kindness, compassion. They seemed like they belonged to a different universe, to a different person.

They had. He thought as he adjusted himself in his seat. That boy, whoever he was had died in a vat of toxic liquids and the Joker had been born from it.

That was all there was to it and dwelling on that little fact wasn't going to help.

Revenge helped, didn't matter who or what. It just helped.

For what love he had for his city of Gotham he had just as much hate.

Someone in that city had tainted him once, taken it all from him and declared that he should be something else. That wasn't his right, or hers for all he knew.

It had been his choice to make and he knew without a doubt that falling into that vat hadn't been his choice. He just knew.

Revenge is harder when you're not sure who did it but not impossible. Throwing the city into maddening chaos worked in a pinch.

J closed his eyes and relaxed. Soon a whole new place would learn his revenge for something they hadn't done.

57 Hours later

He stood in the middle of the warehouse. The only sounds were the rapid thumping of hearts, heavy breathing and the sickening sound of groans of pain.

Harley sat on one of the crates watching him as he circled the boy again.

How long had he been tortured now? Six, seven hours? He'd held out longer than any boy his age but still he was a boy.

A boy who'd just been betrayed by his own flesh and blood.

It was a fascinating story. One for the TV doctors no doubt. He could imagine it on Dr Phil maybe. 'My mother abandoned me and when I found her she sold me out to a psychotic clown to save her own life.'

Catchy.

He was broken and he was bleeding. There had been the delicious sound of cracking bones, unforgiving rips of his skin as the crowbar attacked the abused flesh under his suit.

He was a boy but J couldn't see him as that. Not because it made it easier to beat him senseless but because he belonged to the bat. Because he'd helped him over and over again that in defeating him.

Because it was so easy to take out all his revenge and somehow it feel like justice.

He wondered if he'd get the same satisfaction from the Batman sitting in this spot but something told him it wasn't going to be the same.

The bat was more fun alive, grieving like the true parent of this lost little boy. Let him feel what it was like to loose a part of himself and not get a choice in the matter.

Because Batman was a symbol of Gotham just like he was.

He was that symbol of a city united, of the people who believed they were good and lived under the eyes of the law.

They both lived in the same world and yet one protected that lie and the other exposed it. So with each hit of metal on flesh there was vindication. Not just pleasure.

This in some sick perverted way, was justice.

Justice by the judge and jury. The Joker.

This boy who declared himself a hero, a Robin was tested, judged and had been found wanting. In the court room of the Joker there was only one sentence worthy of such a crime.

J stopped and turned to Harley who had been staring at Sheila Haywood, the mother of the year.

"Harley girl, bring the hammer." He instructed. Catching her attention. She piced up the tool, one of many he'd brought with them and tried to hand it to him but he shook his head.

"Puddin?" She quirked her head to the side.

He put down the bloody crowbar and pulled her up against his chest, turning to face their victims.

He placed a hand on her wrist and held out he arm towards the two.

"Eeny." He said pointing at Robin.

"Meeny." Harley continued, pointing the hammer at Sheila. "Miny."

"Moe." J laughed as the hammer landed back on the woman. Her eyes had gone wide and she shook her head vigorously.

She was scared, she had every reason to be. J hadn't touched her yet but he hadn't forgotten about her. She was a prop on the stage but that didn't mean you couldn't have at it just for the fun of it.

J didn't let go of Harley as the hammer came down on the woman's left knee.

Robin, no sorry, Jason squirmed. Such a loyal little boy to a pathetic excuse of a mother. He fought with what little strength he had left to try and free himself as the hammer fell again and again on her.

Harley started to laugh as she lost herself in the act. J let her go and watched from the side as Harley smashed harder and harder onto every joint, her chest, her arms, her face.

Not enough to kill her but enough to make it unbearable.

He walked over to Jason and tutted sympathetically.

"It's a favor boy. She left you, she didn't love you. What mother hands her baby over to a man like me? She did it to save herself, she never even thought of you."

Something broke in him, J watched what sliver of hope he'd had crack into millions of pieces. He knew, how could he not have figured it all out but there is always something about hearing it out loud that brings it all home.

Sheila Haywood screamed, even gagged her screams echoed through the warehouse. She was no warrior and pain was not her friend.

"Think of this boy, you're doing better than your mother. Your daddy taught you well. Well, your bat daddy."

Jason shifted in his chair but the pain was too much for him.

A collapsed lung he was sure, for good measure J hit him again in the chest.

All he got was a grunt for his efforts but he hadn't expected any screaming from the boy.

Maybe tears but he wasn't getting any of those.

He didn't count blood droplets as tears.

"Harley, enough." he ordered but Harley didn't listen. She kept going, beating the woman with no mercy. For a crime only Harley knew.

"Ah, why not." J shrugged and the crowbar made new contact with the boy wonder.

Four hours later Harley sat exhausted on a clean part of the floor, she was covered in blood and sweat and she had a pleased smile on her face.

Sheila wasn't moving much, she'd stopped screaming a while ago and was moaning pitifully in her chair.

Robin lay on his side, gasping for breath, his eyes so full of hate.

All this time and the bat hadn't arrived yet, it was alright. They'd wasted enough time here anyway. He'd made enough money during their stay to own Gotham twice over and some. There was only one last thing for them to do here.

"Harley, time to go." He ordered, catching her off guard.

"Go? We're not waiting for Batsy?"

"No, no. We've got places to be, people to smooch, all that jazz."

Harley rose stiffly and came over to where he was working, ignoring the grunts and moans of the broken family behind them.

"what cha doin puddin?" She asked in a purr.

It was obvious what he was doing but she was only being coy. She had a lust for blood in her and something had triggered her when she'd dealt with Haywood, something deeper than just killing. For a minute, she'd reminded him of bud and Lou when they got fresh meat.

Terrifying and somehow incredibly sexy.

He didn't answer the question as he turned on the timer. He rose with a smile and walked over to the dying kid with a can of spray paint.

"I can't guarantee that he'll get here in time, not that there's much anyone could do for the two of you. She's as good as dead and maybe, just maybe if we were in America you'd have a chance of survival but we're not kiddo."

He flipped the chair onto its back and undid the chest part of Robins ropes, he was too weak to struggle as he spray painted a message for the big guy on his costume.

Harley watched on with a lost look in her eyes, a mad Alice in Wonderland sort of glazed look.

"A consolation wonder boy, I'm impressed. There are grown men who'd have broken down like little babies and told me every secret they had. Even the big one but not you. I'll make sure they know that in your obituary. Robin the second, was loyal and silent to the end."

Jason spate at him and J hissed in disapproval.

"None of that little boy, manners. Well I can't really blame you for not having them. Look at your role model here."

He threw the can away and walked back over to Harley who was still off in her own little world.

Slap. With a hard smack of the palm of his hand he brought her back into reality.

She blinked at him in confusion and suddenly registered where she was.

"Sorry puddin." She said in a daze. "Moment got the best of me."

"No, those drugs Arkham gave you got the best of you. We get home, we're doing a full detox." J turned to face Jason as he pulled Harley towards the door. "Well kid, be good, make sure you do all your homework and get to bed by nine. Oh and when you see the big guy, tell him I said hi."

Harley laughed and lightly smacked him on the chest. "You're so bad."

With that, he slammed the door and locked them in.

"Puddin?" She asked when they were a safedistance away from the warehouse.

"What?"

"Is batsy going to get here in time?" The sand slowed them down but their car wasn't too far away.

"Oh, no." He scoffed.

"Then why put the message?" She ased as they climbed down a dune.

"Theatrics I guess, I do have a reputation to protect after all sugar."

"Mmm, true."

Suddenly everything shook and the loud unmistakable sound of an explosion filled the night air.

Harley turned and watched as the darkness was lit up by reds, yellows and oranges.

"He won't find anything." She said sadly. "There won't be anything for him to bury."

"that matters?" He quirked a smile.

"Matters a little." She shrugged. "No body, means... I don't know."

"He'll find bodies, that warehouse will protect them a little and I have a feeling there is some fight left in that boy."

He grabbed her and marched them to the borrowed car.

"By the way sugar, why the mother?"

"what do you mean?"

"You went hog wild on her, didn't touch the boy."

"He was your prize, not mine."

He waited for the truth.

With a sigh Harley relented. "Mothers should be good to their babies, she wasn't good to her baby."

He laughed at the idea but it had a shred of truth to it.

J had never hit Batman this hard, well maybe once but that was a long time ago.

There was one guarantee, this was going to boil the dark knight for sure now.

He was ready though, the question was...

Was Harley ready?

A/N So hopefully not bad after such a long run out. Again everyone I'm sorry it took so long, it's been a rough year but I'm here. I will try to get these out as quickly as I can and with as few mistakes as possible.

I woul again like to thank all of you that PM'd me over the months, checking on how I was and all. It was greatly appreciated and sorry I couldn't answer back at the time. Thank you to all who are still reading, thanks to anyone who's come back to read this and I hope it didn't disappoint.

So with all my love, I will catch ya all next time.