Life is short.
Life is fragile.
Gotta love those corny sayings huh?
Heh, but really after the shit I've seen and done? I repeat this to myself every night before I sleep, ready for it all to end. Hoping to god my daughter will be fine. Hoping it would all work out for everyone else in the fam...
Life... is... fragile.
Especially when it's my bullets that is shattering it all to pieces for sure.
Shit, I can't even count the amount of lives I've ended at this point. Scumbags, cheaters... business men. Innocent people sprinkled here and there too? ... Yea probably a few. I'm not going to lie. I've lived one fucked up life. A fucked up life that is just as fragile as anyone else's really.
Killed or be killed bitch.
Correction. Life is a bitch... and fragile. It's not the being dead as a door nail part that you gotta be concerned about. It's the 'living' part of it. I mean really... you got one shot at this life to not mess up and I'm allegedly the guy that doesn't miss... ever right?
But I guess being in this cell... and being away from... 'her'... well that's the biggest miss a father could ever make.
Damn it. Just wanted to be a good father and give her everything she wanted...
Where did it go wrong?
Uh, probably I learned I had a talent to put bullets through people's brains. Yep, that's where it all started I guess. Yeah... that's where it went.. 'wrong'.
Don't get me wrong. I don't want forgiveness. I did what I had to do and you can't rewind time. I may want my daughter to not think I'm a piece of shit? But news flash... I am a piece of shit.
I'm Dennis Rodman on the 1996 Chicago Bulls... Metta World Peace circa 2009... Draymond Green for you little kids out there... A bad brotha that will get the job done no matter the cost. This is what I'm good at and I'll burn for it probably. In Hell or by the hands of some crazy maniac in Gotham City at least.
I know what I am...
So... I guess that's why this girl Harley bugs me.
Daddy's little monster herself. My new pal around these parts since Task Force X came together... one of a few. What makes this crazy girl tick? Does she know who she is? What she is? She's a walking... contradiction.
Little scantily dressed she-devil clown waving a giant mallet... with a heart?
She's killed just as many as me and with no sense of remorse that I can see. Rumor is she's the one who killed the Bat's little partner laughing the whole time... yet she cared for the little squad we had going... losing Diablo crushed her. Even Flag getting the girl at the end made her weepy eyed.
She saved us. Stuck her neck out for us and cried at our pain and suffering.
Ah well... an espresso machine fixes all the emotional turmoil right?
Back to crazy clown mode.
Confusing as shit. She's sweet through and through... a fucked up maniac through and through. Innocent, evil, yet caring... The rules don't apply to her. She doesn't think her life is fragile.
When I jump off buildings? I make sure my harness is secure...
"Fuck harnesses you little pussy." Is what she'd say probably... Hell, she'd go skydiving without the chute.
Have I ever been in love? She asked out of the blue and she said it like someone who wasn't messed up. She sounded like a normal person. She sounded weak just and vulnerable just like the rest of us.
I gave her an answer to the question... I gave her a lie.
Shit, who am I to be asking anything really?
Looking at this pale faced dude with the chrome grill staring at me gave me way more answers than I needed...
Jokes on me... never a dull moment being Deadshot.
"So Deadshot, my girl says you spared her life. That you saved her life..."
"Probably did... it's kinda been a crazy few months..." I played the know nothin' card. "Can't remember clearly."
"Modest there aren't you? ... That's always somethin' I'm lookin for in a business partner... hehehe..."
I couldn't even look this make up wearing son of a bitch in the face. Those shiny teeth were almost blinding me. Then again even a blind Stevie Wonder could probably see this dude's lime green hair... those ridiculous tattoos. His appearance... it was that... loud. Louder than my orange jail overalls that's for sure. I feel so under dressed...
So this was the Joker himself. I remember the early beginnings rumors of a clown terrorizing and gobbling up the underbelly of Gotham as I was growing my own reputation as a sniper for hire. Small bank robberies became bigger fast. Assaults and terrorism on government growing exponentially as his reputation grew. As the Bat cleaned the streets... this guy only grew stronger. The Clown Prince had turn into the King in the blink of an eye.
Joker. The baddest dude in Gotham City. The guy who ran things... the guy who made even the worst men around these parts tremble.
His little swat army of clowns could attest to his power.
"Your friend is quiet Harley... I thought you said he was a little motor mouth."
"He usually is... Ugh!" I heard Harley huff in disappointment. "Yo 'Shot... my puddin' has the decency to free you. Isn't this amazing?"
Dressed in a similar orange of course his confusing queen was right beside him, clinging onto that neck to dear life. Harley was whipped... beyond whipped.
"You're apparently one heck of a shot and you could've blew my baby's brains apart but you didn't." Joker tilted his head totally amused, analyzing me like a little pet of some kind. "I'm interested in your services."
"You want me to work for you...?" I sounded as unimpressed as I could. I tried to be as blank as I could. He could see right through me...
"Obviously Sherlock..."
I hesitated. Sure, this may have been the Joker. A dude with connections and no conscience. Saying no could be a death sentence but I've been down this road way too many times. I've served the worst of the worst. But then again this guy was worse than all of them combined. The old me would say fuck it and be asking 'how much you got?'... the new me?
... Heh... well...
"... I appreciate the offer." I gave my best poker face, "But I'm tired of runnin' away from my problems."
The Joker's smile never broke, the silence following was deafening. People don't say no to someone like him. Well... people that are alive anyway. Don't back down Floyd... don't give him the advantage.
Thank the good lord for Harley's big mouth.
"... Tired of runnin' away?" Harley's seductive smirk suddenly soured. "You're tellin' me you want to rot in this shit hole and deal with that bitch Waller after I had to convince Mistah Jay here to risk both our lives to save you?"
"If you put it that way... I'm sorry... but yep." I shrugged.
It was simple. I wanted to serve my time, play nice and see my daughter again. Running away with these clowns sounded like a way to blow all the good will I had built up saving the world's ass. Not that it was much good will to begin with. Killing people made you work from the bottom rung when it came to favors... who knew?
"Get out of here Harley before they get you back in a cell." I motioned them with a wave, eyeing the fleet of henchman Joker brought and then staring at the man himself again. "I suggest you do the same... J."
Suggestions? Heh... this crazy son of a bitch doesn't look the dude who takes suggestions...
Wait, did I just call him... J?
He didn't seem too angry... I think. Joker's glare never changed the whole time, almost like he was a mannequin with no emotion, eyes just staring back at me dead white. I don't get shaken up really but if anything would do it was this clown's stare. I've never seen anything like it. Even the worst mobsters like Falcone or Angelo didn't give me this feeling. I couldn't tell what he was going to do... I don't back down to anyone but damn it may be the end of me this time.
Oh well. At least dying by the Joker's hand would be a great way out. And for those that know me? I'm always looking for the best way to go out...
"A friend of Harley's... is a friend of mine..." His voice was so cold but it shattered the tension instantly. "I'm a fair man sir... I gave you a chance at freedom remember this." He suddenly reached into his pirated swat gear, making me clench my fist. The tension ratcheted back up just as fast.
"H-hey puddin!" Harley's voice cracked with legit concern. "P-please don't hurt him! He would be-"
"Useful... I know dear." Joker turned to his little vixen calmly, putting a finger to those lips. "Why so nervous darling? ... You think I'd hurt you little friend Floyd here? Hahahahaha... What kind of person do you think I am?" He turned to me with that creepy smile, the cackling going strong. "We're friends right... I can call you Floyd right?"
Only friends called me that I thought quietly, and this guy knew it. Joker had a network. Joker knows who I am... he's as connected as he was crazy.
"... Your silence makes me think you're agreeing Floyd." Joker's chuckles finally slowed, handing me a card with the image of a jester and some inscriptions in the back. "I could use you on my squad Floydy boy. Think about it! I'm sure you'll scurry on out of this shit storm as me and my dearest Harley break out of this joint as noisy as possible. Don't want to run into over sized bats now do we?"
Batman... don't bring him up...
"I know you want revenge on the Bat..." Joker read me again like a book without turning a page. "I can help you... we both owe him a little punishment."
Dancing with the devil was always dangerous but the devil knows what you want. He's counting on it.
"He'll make it worth your while 'Shot! Don't turn this down!" Harley gave a sigh of relief at the recruitment not turning an execution, looking at me with those concerned blue eyes. The eyes of the woman she probably was before this clown stuff. A caring girl...
She's probably seen this recruitment scene play out many times now. You know... where the potential recruit's head would be rolling on the ground and all that 'good' stuff.
"Come on Harley, before you made us go on this little detour. Heh, we were going home weren't we?" Joker motioned for his soldiers to press on. "I want you on that bear rug baby... now!"
"Oh Mistah Jay..." A blushing Harley made me more uncomfortable than even sitting in this isolated box I call a jail cell. Even more uncomfortable than the one time I head Croc sing "Baby" from Justin Beiber.
Awkward...
"Just make the right decision 'Shot..." Harley giggled while kissing Joker on his pale cheek, waving frantically at me as she was swept off her feet by that devil of a clown. "I know you won't miss me... this time. We'll totally be BFF's!"
The image of her in my sniper scope flashed before me. It was obvious I played by rules that these two didn't. I don't kill women and I don't kill children... I don't sell out people. I don't know if these two shared any sort of rules but regardless I felt Harley appreciated me sparing her life and I knew they both did. Joker wasn't a guy who took fondly to anyone who 'friend-ed' Harley I could tell but he was making an exception for me.
"See you soon Floydy!" Joker yelled out as they stormed out.
I watched on like a statue as the King, Queen and their merry crew scurried off through the darkness of the asylum, their chilling laughs echoing through the entire complex. I slowly brought my attention down to the card, looking at it with a tough choice ahead of me like always.
It was always a tough choice before the trigger pull.
Do I pull the trigger and bail... or do I sit and do the right thing?
I knew what I had to do...
"Why aren't you joining them?"
I was about to close my sawed off jail cell until Waller's voice made my skin cringe. She always made my skin... cringe. The group of armed officers didn't help matters.
"What the hell are you talking about? I'm just being a good prisoner."
"That's the thing Lawton... I don't need a good prisoner... I need a good patsy."
Great... just great...
I hated being either.