Chapter Text
The dawn peaked through the small opening in Punity's ebon-hued curtains, spilling onto the pale peach skin of her shoulders where the blanket didn't quite cover. Over the next hour or so, as the sun continued to rise in the sky, the beam of light that trickled across her shoulders, crawled higher and higher up her sleeping form until it reached her face and pierced the darkness of her sleep.
Punity's eyelids twitched as they begun to react to the overwhelming and sudden light of the morning sun. Instinctively she raised her arm to cover her eyes from the continued assault.
"Ugh." She groaned as she sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
Gripping the heavy gray blanket she was currently tucked under she lifted it off. Turning she sat up and put her feet onto the soft plush carpeting; it looked like tiny skulls, and she had begged her dad forever for it. As she raised her hands above her head she yawned.
"Damn it, morning already..?"
She wiggled her toes gratefully against the soft white surface and stood. Turning back she looked at the curtains next to her bed. It was probably her dad who had left her curtains open. She'd never understand how a man could be both so aggressive and passive aggressive. Looking around her room there were so many things that just made it, made it hers. What really made her room feel like the center of her universe..? It could be that lamp, the one with the real human skull base she had found at that odd hobby shop downtown, or maybe, it was the tan walls covered in her poems, songs, raps, lymerics, Quotes etc. All written in her favorite brand of "Tainted Love" black nail polish of course.
"Night kills death thrills spinning on a rollercoaster" over here, "Im kind of dark for a ray of sunshine" over there. Once, on a day she was feeling particularly inspired, she wrote so much, and for so long.. She nearly passed out from the fumes. There were, of course.. Huge patches of black nail polish, where she covered up the more embarrassing sappy poems, and anything she deemed not good enough anymore. There was a lot she deemed not good enough anymore.
Making her way to her closet she stopped briefly in front of the mirror, pinching the round cheeks on her baby face, tracing her finger up and down her pixie nose, and staring deep into her almond shaped chocolate brown eyes. "Well I'll never be beautiful, but at least I'm cute right?" She thought to herself licking the slight cupid’s bow of her upper lip as she smiled.
She looked down at herself, her hands trailing wherever her eyes went. She wasn't what one would ever call, skinny. She hated her curvy, chubby body. The wide hips, the big butt... And just once she'd like to walk into a room BEFORE, her ample chest did, but such is life and we must deal with the cards we’re dealt.
She walked away from the mirror and opened the door to her closet. "Hmm, ok what do I feel like wearing today?" She asked herself out loud in a brief bout of cheerful insanity. She thumbed through the clothing hung in front of her. "No, that's no good." She muttered as she looked through every piece of clothing, twice, before finally picking something.
Garments in hand, she slipped out of her nightgown. Pulled on her favorite pair of faded black skinny jeans, and a gray t-shirt that read "I'm not as think as you drunk I am", with music notes around it. Grabbing the collar of the shirt, she pulled her long blonde hair out from it and let it drape around her. She looked at her hair from every angle. A Rubber band in each hand, she grabbed a brush and pulled it through her unruly tresses. "That'll work." she thought when she finished brushing. She took her hair and pulled it into two pigtail buns high on her head as neatly as she could.
As she strode across the room she thought about the day ahead and how dreary it was going be. She plopped down next to her pile of shoes, reaching in and pulling out a pair of black knee high boots with silver buckles all up the front of them and a three inch platform that made her feel better about her substandard five foot four; five foot five on a good day. She pulled them on over the old tight and faded jeans.
As she got back up she stretched and stared at herself in the mirror, thinking that it would have to do. Lastly she put a relatively thick band of black eyeliner along her bottom lid, then painted her lips with black lipstick. Ready for the day she finally left her room. This was one of the things her father had told her about time and time again. She was indecisive and took forever to get ready.
"PUNITY HEKLUR IT IS 12 NOON, GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED!!" Came the scream from somewhere deeper into the house.
Strolling into the living room as cheerfully as she could, she waved him off smiling. "Hey I'm up you don't gotta yell…" Her father just stood there tapping his foot impatiently. He was a harsh man with harsher looks, a big broom mustache and not quite as fair as her, his skin tanned from years of hard labor, his nose was also just wrong somehow, crooked even. It puzzled her why they didn't look alike at all.
"YOU LAZY USELESS CHILD!" He roared, his face still a nasty red blotchy color. There it was the first insult of the day, the first twinge of hurt deep in her heart.
"IT IS TWELVE NOON AND YOU'RE JUST GETTING UP!" Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself for the continued onslaught of his words. It was practically routine at this point.
"And what in God's name are you wearing? You look like a freak!"
It took another deep breath to keep her from replying the way she really wanted to. Instead choosing to face everything with humor, she turned on her heel to face him, her hands on her hips and simply stated. "Really? Well shoot, freak was supposed to be yesterday’s look. Today I was going for understated!"
Shifting from one foot to the other, she pretended to dust herself off. Her father shook his head, praying his daughter never wanted to become a comedian, he thought her the least funny person he had ever known. He chose to ignore her and sat on the couch. "Did you find a job yet?" He asked crossing his arms. This was going be one of THOSE days, she could already tell. But she had no choice but to answer him. "Not yet dad… I'm, I'm looking.." The cold feeling of his judging gaze hit her and she instinctively clasped her hands together.
"Maybe if SOMEONE dressed like a normal person, instead of trying SO hard to be different.. I mean, God Punity just grow up! Be normal! I don't know what to do with someone so stupid, you just don't get it." He said shaking his head in disappointment.
"Neither do you! I'm not TRYING to be different I just am!" She screamed internally.
She had heard enough and started walking towards the front door. As her fingers stretched around the handle feeling the cold metal in her palm, she looked over her shoulder ready to tell him off.. But of course chickened out and just left, pulling the door closed behind her.
Pressing her back to the door, she collapsed against it. These mornings with her father always left her thinking something was wrong with her. And wasn't she immune to his words, his insults by now, after 22 years.. Then again this was her father.. The man who raised her, the one former and future boyfriend's were supposed to aspire to. The man who was supposed to protect her; to never let anything hurt her ever. Sometimes life's funny that way.. Not ha ha funny and well.. She definitely preferred ha ha funny..
It was a bright sunny day, she normally loved days like this. There was a slight breeze caressing the tops of the trees, she took joy in watching as they waved slightly. "I thought trees only waved goodbye because they only ever leaf." She spoke the joke quietly into the mid-afternoon air fighting back the tears her father caused. The tears her father would always cause.
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Inside the stone gray exterior of the abandoned factory, things could be heard crashing against the walls as Joker paced his room, searching in desperation for a certain knife he'd misplaced.
"Rocko!"
Joker shouted for his lackey into the empty room, as he broke the now empty drawer off its hinges and threw it against the wall behind him. It shattered into splinters on impact. A well-built man with a neatly trimmed beard and a custom fit black suit, strode into the room.
"You called boss?" Joker snapped his fingers repeatedly at Rocko
"Where is, is the knife..? The one with the sharp little hook on the end.." He asked impatiently as he dug through another drawer.
Rocko just stood there thinking for a moment, before shouting for someone to get in there and help joker find his knife. An unremarkable man walked in and asked Rocko what knife he was looking for. Turning towards the other man, Rocko explained exactly which knife they were searching for. The man leaned up onto his toes and whispered something into Rocko’s ear.
"What what what?!" Joker barked impatiently in the prolonged silence. Rocko gave the other man a gentle shove in Joker's direction.
"W-well ya see boss… You left it in Tony's sternum, and we buried him out back of the old bowling alley already."
This revelation caused a sudden pause in the wanton destruction of the small room. Smiling only to himself, Joker picked up a little switch blade and turned it over and over in his fingers. He chuckled before throwing the knife straight into the smaller man's chest, as Rocko side stepped out of the way.
"Just GREAT! Now I need TWO new knives." He mocked in a tone as he held up two fingers.
The man next to Rocko grunted once before collapsing on the ground dead, covering the floor beneath him in blood. Rocko cleared his throat before speaking up. "Just get dressed and I'll bring the van around."
Joker shook his head slowly as he held up a finger. "I'm going to the shops by myself, bring around my Audi… I don't wanna be seen." He was in a different drawer searching for something else now.
"Yeah not be seen, in a fuckin Audi!" Thought Rocko.
He paused, calling out over his shoulder at his retreating body guard. "Oh and Rocko clean up the mess would ya."
It was a command, not a request. Rocko knew that, had survived long enough to know. So without hesitation, grabbed the dead man by his ankles and dragged him from the room, leaving a large blood stain on the carpet.
Joker sidestepped in front of the mirror, licking his red lips and pulling a beanie over his slicked back green hair. He pulled a long sleeve shirt over his head, the end of the sleeves reached past his palms, hiding the laughing mouth tattoo on the back of the left one, one of his most recognizable tattoos. Reaching into his drawer, he pulled out a realistic looking pair of green framed glasses and put them on before brushing himself down with the back of his hands.
"Who's that handsome fella?" He asked rhetorically snapping at the mirror, then throwing his head back, he laughed aloud. AH HA HA HA HA!
Before long Rocko stepped back into the room, wiping the blood from off of his hands. Looking up, he saw his boss in disguise and crossed the room to Joker's side. As Joker pulled his hat down a bit more to cover the tattoo on his forehead that said ‘Damaged’, Rocko cleared his throat.
"Cars out front boss."
Joker merely nodded in acknowledgement and patted Rocko’s shoulder as he headed for the door. As he rounded the corner and disappeared out the building Rocko was left there alone in the doorway of the boss's room, staring at the destruction his boss left behind. Sighing, he picked up a broom and got to work.
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The outdoor mall was unusually busy for a Wednesday afternoon, even one this warm and bright. The hustle and bustle of shoppers under the bright blue sky could be heard from the sidewalk, as they went about their day rushing to buy one thing or another. Finally arriving at the mall entrance, a decrepit sign practically falling to pieces; Punity stormed past practically stewing.
"Mother fucking jerk faced fuck!" She muttered angrily about the guy that nearly ran her down in his mat black Audi R8.
"It's not even a real sports car! It's a piece of junk!" She huffed, crossing her arms and kicking a rock; sending it skidding across the cracked sidewalk.
She crossed the threshold into the open walkways, taking in the sight of the shops of every shape and size. Not that she hadn't been there a hundred times before. But confidence, was what she needed now, and to not let her hyper activity get the best of her. It was never easy for her to be calm cool and collected, but through trial and error, she learned how to fake it over the years.
Pulling out her phone, she opened her notes and began reading from the list of places in the mall that were hiring. She had to squint as the sun made it difficult to read the phone screen
"Ok. First up is…" She paused. "Kitty's pet shop… Oh how purrrrfect" Giggling to herself at her own bad joke.
She almost didn't notice as a pair of feet stopped right in front of hers. When she finally looked past her phone and saw them, she scrambled to move over.
"Sorry!" The word left her lips before she even looked up; just in time to see half of his face as he passed. Her heart leapt in her chest, beating hard against her ribcage. Green, she saw them; his eyes were a green so toxic, and mesmerizing and... terrifying
"He looks so familiar somehow." She thought, watching his retreating form. Swallowing hard and forcing herself to shake it off, she tried to recenter herself. "Focus..! Job hunting..!" She headed back down the walkway and went on, making her way to the pet shop.
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How long had Joker been walking around this maze of a mall? Too long! Too long for his tastes. One thing he knew for sure, he was lost. No matter which way he went, he kept ending up in front of that damn tea shop, again! The madness and absurdity of it all, brought on the urge of violence. He knew he had to calm himself.
He reached into the right pocket of his jeans for his stress squeezer, feeling nothing he reached into the left one. Coming up empty, a feeling of panic and white rage overcame him. "How could I have left it?!" He bellowed.
He blamed Rocko entirely for introducing that thing to him.. He relied on it now! And he hated that! Walking forward aimlessly, he tried to suppress the urge to lash out, calming himself with the thought about where he was gonna shove that thing when he got home.
Then like lightning something hit him. Who was that he saw up ahead, a head of golden hair in two cute little buns. He saw that hair, somewhere.. Recently somewhere wasn't it? Without thinking, he found himself walking towards the girl staring into her phone, stopping right in front of her.
Before he could even speak, she shrieked sorry and scrambled to move out of his way, he took the opportunity she had so graciously offered him and walked past her, without having to interact. God forbid she should recognize him as the infamous king of Gotham city's underworld. He'd have to kill her if she had. And as delightful as the thought of violence was, he wasn't interested in bloodying his hands right now, for some reason.
Still.. It disturbed him that he couldn't help taking notice of the bright warm chocolate eyes that looked into his for a moment. That wicked smile stretched across his face, and he could feel something strange as his form retreated from hers. His fire, his rage was suddenly replaced with twisted amusement, and delightful curiosity.
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"About damn time!" Joker thought to himself as he entered the Hunting goods store.
The sight of the place nearly made him gag. The walls were covered top to bottom in shiny pine boards, forest evergreen paint, and antlers of every kind absolutely everywhere.. Kerosene and a match, that's what this place needed.
Adjusting his hat, he stepped further into the building. He was surprised the floorboards didn't squeak in the musty run down old place, you could look and see that every beam of sunlight held a universe of floating dust. It made him cringe internally.
Suddenly he felt it, the undeniable sensation. His finger, his left pointer finger was twitching. "Oh no…" He silently cursed in a glimmer of dismay. But if he just stayed calm it wouldn't get any worse. If he could keep the twitch from getting worse, everything would be fine.
He looked around for someone to help navigate him, so he could be free of this nauseating place as quickly as possible. He approached an average looking clerk as he took a deep breath, the boy couldn't have been older than eighteen or nineteen.
"Excuse me kid?" It had never been hard for him to be polite. The young man turned to face him, an obviously forced smile on his face, as he met the cold, and toxic looking green eyes of the man in front of him.
But as luck would have it, he didn't recognize who he was really speaking to. That the man he was face to face with, was the clown prince himself. The young man said oh rolling his eyes
"Can I help you sir?.." The young man scoffed the words, in an obviously annoyed tone in Jokers direction.
Joker was taken aback a little by his blatant rudeness. Before he could try to resist he reached for the kids neck, but stopped himself halfway up and instead forcibly took the kids hand, and shook it.
"Yes, yes you can. Kid!" He spat the word at the clerk like it was poison in his mouth.
Then suddenly and without warning, he pulled the kid in close, putting his arm around the kid’s shoulders, then went on to tell him in excruciating detail what kind of knife he needed. He made sure to look deep into the young man's eyes, the entire time he described zipping open the flesh with the delightful little hook on the end and pulling it cleanly off of the bloody dripping carcass.
The kid stood frozen in fear, doing his best not to let his face show it. He swallowed quietly, before slowly lifting his hand and pointing towards a glass counter filled with different kinds of knives, and a bearded man in plaid and overalls standing behind it.
Slowly Joker released the kids shoulders and made his way towards the cases. He cursed under his breath chuckling softly, as he could now feel three fingers on his left hand twitching. As soon as he started walking away, the terrified sales clerk pulled off his apron and sprinted for the door.
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Punity looked down at the list on her phone screen one more time, then back up at the entrance of the store again. She read the name of the store ‘Pro Hunters Inc.’. It sounded like something that a small town store owner would name his store, if he wanted to sound like a big shot.
She stepped on to the welcome mat and leaned forward to peer through the glass door. Her eyes widened and she jumped out of the way just in time, as she was almost hit with the glass door, as a young man with shaggy brunette hair sprinted out the door and past her. She called out angrily after him.
"Excuse you!" But he didn't even look back, just kept running. Grumbling to herself about all the jerks today, she jerked opened the door and stepped into the store.
She didn't care for the gaudy decor, but the store was small and quaint. Deciding to check out what they had before she went to find someone to ask about a job, she headed for the aisles, walking into aisle one. As she entered she was taken aback, they had guns just there out on display in the aisle. She walked up one side of the aisle then down the other, reading models, makes, and numbers. Seeing how much pressure each gun produced, and how much force the bullets were fired with.
After a few minutes of searching the aisle she picked up a hand gun, a small 38 caliber pistol. She took a couple pretend shots while making sound effects "Pop, pop pop!"
When she was bored of pretend shooting, she spun the gun around her thumb by the trigger guard. "Well, guess I'll rifle through the other aisles for a bit. He he he..!"
She quickly looked around to make sure no one heard her before rounding the corner for aisle two, still spinning the gun. She walked briskly through the store, not really paying attention. Then suddenly her body slammed into contact with something soft but solid. While nearly knocking the wind from her lungs, it did succeed in knocking the gun from her hand, sending it skittering across the laminated hard wood floor. Looking up she was shocked, their they were again those toxic green eyes!
He made note of the gun now behind him on the floor. And then he noticed it, that golden hair, those cute hair buns, and those warm chocolate brown eyes.
"Sorry, I know shopping’s NOT a contact sport." She remarked trying to diffuse the situation. But he just stared at her studying her.
It made her nervous, having someone she found quite attractive staring at her for so long, and so intently. Looking down Punity saw a knife in his hands, and began tapping her fingers nervously against her thigh. She tried to bring up his cool knife how the little hook on the end looked neat. He just looked at the knife, then back at her; she did not like that.. Not one bit.
Pointing over her shoulder behind her, she managed "Well, it was knife to run into you again, but I gotta cut out."
She turned and started back up the isle slapping her palm to her face, trying to figure out why in the hell she felt the need to pun at that EXACT moment, in front of a guy THAT captivatingly handsome. Then again, she was always socially awkward.
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As soon as she walked away from him, he finally noticed it. He lifted his hand, staring at it quizzically. It stopped twitching, no one ever made him calm down without trying, Well not since, but he wouldn't even think that name. Before he knew it, he was quietly following her from aisle to aisle. Trying to stick to the shadows, staying far away enough that she didn't notice as he ran his fingers up and down the blade of the knife.
"What's so special about you little missy?" He asked himself as he watched her walk up to the tall bearded man, the one who had handed him the knife from the display, and began speaking with him. He watched as she laughed politely at something he said and suddenly he was once again filled with rage. The urge for blood filling him. He overheard her say thank you to the man and watched as she walked out, scrambling he stuck the knife he was holding into his pocket and followed her out the door, not noticing the managers eyes on him, glaring at him as he picked up a phone.
He stayed close on her heels, following as she visited fifteen other stores, staring down at her phone before walking into each one. Once or twice he stormed up behind her and almost stopped her to ask if she was finally done with her list, stopping himself each time before he reached for her hand.
"Last place." He overheard her say as she walked into a store so God awful pink and filled with sparkles and rainbow colored things it made him want to burn the place to the ground.
But before he could even sneer, he was inside. He quickly hid behind the wrack of sunglasses, pretending to try them on. He watched as she made her way to the middle of the store and spoke to the clerk behind the counter. He couldn't make out what the conversation was this time, but he assumed it was the same as all the other places. His eyes bore into her as she turned around and started back the same way
Suddenly she paused, looking to her left at the other side of the store. She turned and made her way towards something, his eyes never left her. He watched her, as she looked through a few things on the display she stopped in front of. And for some reason she kept looking up subtly at the clerk. What is she doing, he wondered.
Then just like that it hit him! She was trying to steal something! Would she really?! Could she?! He kept watching, then suddenly, when the clerk turned her back she reached out and stuck, a pair of sparkly butterfly earrings into her bag, then a black choker made of leather roses, after that she moved practically across the store to a different display, and he had to crouch down So she wouldn't spot him.
It was a small plush panda next! And then a sparkly black notebook, with a skull on the cover. One by one things made their way into her bag. He had been so, so wrong. She wasn't stealing something, she was stealing lots of somethings. He saw that even with the clerk watching she was stealing everything she wanted and doing so in such a way that the clerk was never the wiser.
A thrilling feeling was gripping his abdomen at this point. He watched with anticipation as she made her way to the door, and then successfully out of the store with… At least 20 items by his count.
He thought to himself "Well well well! You ARE INTERESTING, aren't you, my corruptible little baby doll?" He almost liked the sound of that.
He chuckled softly to himself and headed for the door, opening it. He smiled in surprise as an armed security guard was standing in front of him, blocking his way. The guard’s radio crackled to life and the man lifted it to his lips pressing the button on the side.
"Yes we have the suspect here, stand by." He shook his head knowing after this, he wouldn't be able wear this particular disguise again.
"Sir, would you please come with me?" The man said sternly as he reached for Jokers arm.
"This just isn't your day is it?" Joker chuckled as he gripped the stolen knife in his pocket.
The guard had just taken hold of his arm and Jokers smile grew wider. As soon as it did the guard looked on in shock, like he recognized who he had just grabbed. But before he could say anything Joker pulled the blade from his pocket and rammed it into the guard’s stomach. The man’s eyes widened in shock and pain.
"Lucky for you, I don't have time to play. I NEED to follow her." Joker chuckled as he withdrew the knife, nicking the guards rib with the hook on the end, causing the guard to cry out again. He shoved it back into his pocket before running away, as the guard collapsed on the ground.
As he sprinted up the street he found her again. Creeping up closer as quickly as he could, he saw a man come out from an alley way just in time to hide himself behind a tree that conveniently happened to be just to his left.
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Punity didn't see the man coming out of the alley way till he was almost in front of her, startled when she noticed him, she pulled her headphones out of her ears.
"Alright little girly, gimme your purse and empty out your pockets..!"
Swallowing hard her eyes glanced around in panic, looking for some kind of help, when suddenly she saw it, leaning against the fence, a sturdy looking piece of piping. Probably a piece of discarded plumbing equipment.
"Well actually… I know I have a baby face but I'm actually twenty two." The man looked confused.
"I don't care. Empty your pockets and give me your purse!"
He looked antsy and kept tapping his jacket pocket. Punity gripped her purse tighter, knowing she had all those things she took in it. Hadn't she stolen them from the store herself? AND gotten away with it, fair and square? She wasn't losing her loot to this crack head. She knew she had to distract him somehow, and then she got an idea.
"Oh you don't need MY purse, I'm as broke as Gotham's homeless care system! I mean am I right, or am I right?" Her comment confused the man, and only made him angrier.
"What are you talking about lady?! You WANNA get cut!" He said tapping his pocket again. Punity jumped back, slightly to the left towards the fence, and the piece of pipe leaning on it.
"Now, now… Let's not get all cut up about this! I'm sure we can burgle up a solution to this situation." She said using her words to distract him, while she took three more steps to the left.
"Lady, if you value your life shut the fuck up!" He shrieked, finally pulling the knife from his pocket. At this point she was standing right next to the fence, right next to the pipe.
"Please sir, I'm not a good mark, in fact Mark's not even my name!" She said, as she reached out and managed to put a finger on the pipe.
"That's it bitch, this'll teach ya to shut your trap!"
Punity took the pipe in hand, as the man lunged at her with his knife. Punity closed her eyes and swung as hard as she could! When the pipe made contact with something, she heard a sickening crack and a slight crunch. Keeping her eyes shut, she waited with cold anticipation for the knife slicing into her.
When she realized she didn't feel anything, she opened her eyes. Only to gaze down in shock as she saw the man who was trying to mug her lying on the sidewalk, blood pouring from an angry red wound on his head. She could see fragments of skull in the wound. Her shock quickly turned to panic, dropping her makeshift weapon, it rolled away from her and back against the fence.
"Oh God!" She screamed.
"Somebody! Anybody! Please help!" She grabbed the sides of her head and began quickly pacing back and forth.
"Oh God… Oh God I've killed him!" Scrambling, she reached her shaky hand into her pocket, it took four attempts to pull out her phone.
"Th-the cops, call 911..!" She dialed 911.
"Hello- Yes operator? I think, oh God--he was trying to- Please there, there's blood, so much blood! I'm at the corner of cherry drive and Delaney street please hurry!.. Yes ambulance, of course fucking ambulance, didn't you hear me about the blood!" She felt sick to her stomach her head was absolutely spinning, the world seemed to wobble left and right.
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Joker stood there in relative shock. "Well damn, little slugger…" he cracked. He looked up from the man bleeding on the sidewalk and saw her on her phone.
"What is she doing..?" He listened closely "Hello- Yes operator?" Crap she was calling the cops! He had to get her out of there!
Without making any noise, he snuck up behind her as she sobbed into the phone, he carefully picked up the pipe and wiped her finger prints off. Then gripping the pipe, to replace hers with his own. He gently laid the pipe back down, stood up behind her, and gently grabbed her shoulder.
"Are you ok miss?" She turned towards him, shaking from head to toe. There was a wide, fearful, almost vacant, look on her face as he grasped her hand in his and gently pulled her towards him.
"Shhh, it's ok.. Just come with me, I'll take ya home." She nodded, repeating the word home back to him like it was all she heard.
First taking the phone from her and hanging up, Joker began walking as he guided her behind him, making his way all the way back to the mall parking lot, to his car. Once they were in sight of his car, he pulled out his keys and clicked the button, unlocking the doors.
He let go of her hand a moment as he walked up to her door and opened it, gently guiding her inside and sitting her down in the passenger’s seat. He closed her door, and made his way to his side of the car, he quickly got in then hastily shut the door behind him. He cranked the ignition, listening as the engine roared to life. The sound seemed to make her jump a little. He put the car in drive and peeled out of the parking lot, leaving tire marks behind him as he sped away and turned onto the road heading downtown.