Inevitable (-joker,harley-)

[Jim Gordon]

Wind lashed at the trees, lightning ripped across the cracked sky, thunder roared, making the Gotham Police Station tremble in submission, and the world's tears pounding against the roof of the station. Only a few lights remained on, flickering slightly in the fury of the storm, since it was late in the night, nearly midnight. Commissioner James Gordon was still pouring away at the mountain of paperwork sitting on his desk, accompanied by his ever present savoir - coffee, steaming in a mug beside him.

He leaned back with a sigh, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. He let his eyelids slid down over his eyes for a brief moment before forcing them open once more. Despite the caffeine the coffee provided, he was still dead tired. It had been two days since he'd last slept. He couldn't sleep, not after witnessing the death of Officer Adrian "Ren" Vincent Asher, Amelia's screams echoing through his head. He thought of the fiance Ren was leaving behind...the little boy not even born yet. It made everything so much worse. He couldn't imagine what Rebecca Travis was going through, he'd already sent both Amelia and John over to make sure she didn't need anything and was planning on visiting himself.

Dark bags of sleepless nights hung beneath his eyes, his hair was disheveled and he was worn mentally and physically. There was a constant ache in his back and knees that even the pills he took, the ones that Babs, Harley and Amelia constantly reminded him to take, couldn't cure. His hair seemed to be getting greyer by the day and to tell the truth he looked old. He tried to avoid looking in the mirror every morning now, he didn't want to think about retirement. He wanted to believe that he'd be able to do his job as Commissioner of Gotham City for many more years while in truth the choice to retire loomed over him like the moon over Gotham.

Ever since he'd had his heart attack, Babs had been trying to get him to retire, but he wouldn't have it. He knew that she was just worried that she'd loose him, but that wasn't going to happen if Jim had any say in what happened - and to tell the honest truth he had hardly any say. There was one thing that bothered him about his mounting in years and the fact that he'd had a heart attack despite his normal activity with the force, he wondered if he'd be alive to walk his daughter down the aisle when she was married. That was every parent's dream, and possibly nightmare. Jim knew that it if he wasn't there Babs would hardly let anyone else do it, if she even agreed to get married if he died. He hated (and loved) that he meant so much to her. When he died he didn't want her to just stop living, no parent wanted that, Jim especially. He didn't want her to be sad, but that was inevitable just as it was inevitable that there was always an impending doom lingering in the stormy air of Gotham.

However, Jim knew how Babs would feel when he was gone. He had often faced that same feeling as she lingered in a world between the living and the dead. He didn't want her to be broken when he died and he trusted Richard Greyson to be there for her when he was gone. He trusted that the boy would make sure that she was never allowed to grieve too much. Now that he thought about it, the commissioner needed to pay the boy a visit. He would make sure that Richard knew that Jim was counting on him to be there for his daughter and never leave her, especially when Jim himself was dead.

The lights flickered once more and Jim glanced up at the ceiling, praying that the lights wouldn't blink off. He didn't need that right now, what he did need was to go home and hug his daughter, but before he could do that he needed to finish the damned paperwork...there was too damn much of it. But it was his duty to finish it, and finish it he would if it took him all God forsaken night. However, he was so involved with the paperwork he didn't sense the doom in the air, carrying with it what had been bound to happen since Jim first ran into Harleen Quinzel on the streets of Gotham City.

Because you can't stop the inevitable.

[Notes - okay, less then I thought! Only 762 words of rambling (and probably making no sense whatsoever) like a boss! Truth be told, I'm not sorry. XD]

[Joker]

The storm raged. Dark clouds rolled over the skies of Gotham city. Buildings, cars and anyone unlucky enough to be out at this time were bombarded with water droplets. Most people had found somewhere to hide. The pavements and roads were empty of movement with the exception of one road. A white van rolled down the street. The darkness covering the white face. The lightening giving non-existent people the only chance of seeing who it was behind the driving wheel. The van stopped and the driver sighed as his dark gaze turned to his target building. A grin pulled at his painted lips, revealing yellowing teeth as the storm picked up.

He'd been planning it for at least two weeks. Since the day he found out that his Harley Quinn had gone soft towards the commissioner. If it had been any of his regular goons, they would have been killed around a minute after Joker found out that they didn't want to hurt the commissioner. It was Harley, though. Despite the fact that he would never admit it to her face, Joker knew he wouldn't be able to kill her. Even in his most terrible moods, even when he could barely think for anger... He wouldn't be able to do to her what he did to countless goons. Especially not now. The idea of a mini-clown didn't fill Joker with excitement, but that didn't mean he'd ever be able to do something to kill it. That would destroy Harley, and she was no good to him broken. He'd already done that. He'd already broken her mental stability and rebuilt her as his little monster - another thing he'd never say to her face.

But even as he sat in the van, watching the Gotham City Police Station with dark eyes which only showed any sign of lighting up when lightning flashed across the sky, Joker was thinking. He really should have had a clear head, but he couldn't rid his mind of thoughts. He'd never been able to. Thoughts, broken memories that he wasn't too sure as to whether they were real or fake, plans and schemes... They all floated around his mind almost constantly. Right now was no different. One plan was more obvious than any others, though. Just one. The one he was here to actually do. The one that anyone could have seen if they'd looked into the one room of the current 'home' that Joker had told everyone to stay out of. The one that had been taped to the walls of that room on various sheets of paper once he'd filled them up with scribbled writings. The one that required an E.M.P Pulse - or technology that could do the same thing - and an amplifier just for the right atmosphere... And for an easy way into his target building: through the front door.

Turning said amplified technology - which was hidden in the sewers under the police station - on, Joker got out of the van with a handgun and snuck to the front doors. He watched as the lights flickered from the outside and swiftly opened the door in order to enter before hiding in the darkness of the entrance, one place that wasn't obviously seen from the rest of the inside. Even from the matter of seconds outside, Joker's hair was dripping. Water was dribbling down his face slowly, some of it causing trails to appear in the white and the black to run. The red began to seep down his bottom jaw, giving his already gruesome scars a more horrific look.

Joker had no idea where Harley was, he realised while he was in hiding, though he thought she'd be here. He hoped she'd be here. This was all being done as a message to her, after all, and it was better to see it live. It would make more of an impact, certainly. It may even be clearer to her. The message. It was for both of them really. Harley and her beloved commissioner. There may have been a hint of jealousy lurking in Joker's thoughts whenever he thought of them both. At least three goons had been killed in the last week because of the resulting anger from that jealousy...

Joker's hand moved to the remote in his pocket and he frowned. This was supposed to have killed the lights. His face screwed up and he stared at it with a frown before beginning to hit the button on it against his hand that was holding the gun repeatedly without noticing whether it had worked on the first hit or not. Damn technology. Damn it to hell!

((Notes: Sorry about the crappy last paragraph to this post. Didn't want to go too far but couldn't leave him in the van. XD 758 words though.))

[Harleen Quinzel]

What was she going to do? She was failing at every turn and she needed help. Harley ran quickly into the station though the employee door, god, how could she have let this happen? It was a slow night, most of the police cars were on the streets, there might have been only a couple people inside. She knew that Joker was waiting for her, that she was waiting to hurt Jim. No she couldn’t let this happen she wouldn’t. Jim was her father, he loved her and she loved him. She couldn’t allow the man of her dreams to hurt him! The young woman ran though the station, the soft pattering of her bare feet. She had been in the shower when everything was put together, that she knew that Jim was going to be a target. As a result the woman wasn’t exactly completely dressed.

She ran past several of her friends, that took pause. Harley’s hair was dripping wet, her skin still shimmering in the light. She never put on shoes, and only wore a dress and perhaps underwear that clung to her body. The young woman ran into Jim’s office panting. “Jim.” She said with a soft whine, why was he here? Didn’t he understand the pending danger he was putting himself in by staying? Didn’t he realize that the Joker was right outside?

Joker had asked Harley, no told her that they were not going to keep the child. Well, she was. She was going to keep the child and he was going to like it. It was that simple. She loved this baby and she was not going to give it up for anything. However now, now that the anger had settled deep within her love, well She didn’t know what to do. Her hand slowly went over her chest and she tried her best to take deep breaths. She had noticed the anger. The bodies of the goons had been piling up and now. Now she was afraid for her father, erm, Jim’s life.

“You need to get out of here! He’s here!” Now, most of the time in real life situations, nothing amazing happens. You say something amazing, or you see something about to happen and nothing happens. You are just standing there looking at the other person with tears in your eyes. However, she knew that Joker was a man of theater. He liked the grand entrances the over the top ideas and plans. “Hurry!” She knew there was a good chance that no matter what she did, this wasn’t going to end well and it was going to look beautiful but no, not with Jim. Just as she reached for him, the lights flickered a second time and went out completely. That was a new trick.

Now, instead of pulling Jim to her, she moved into him wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes in fear. Her body, chilled from the night air and water, shivered against the tall man. They were going to die. No, no they weren’t her Puddin would never hurt her! The soft blue orbs opened and scanned the area. He was coming, she could always feel when he was near. It was a tingle that took over her body. A lightning strike that set her soul on fire. “No, no no no no no.” the woman whispered as the back up lights flickered into place. One of the goons must have cut the generator.

[Jim Gordon]

Jim swore when the lights flickered again, and when they dimmed close to blinking out he pushed his chair back, ready to make sure the generator came on in case he needed it to, but they brightened and he returned to his paperwork, sighing down at it and falling into the warmth of the coffee in the mug beside him. His head rose when he heard his name and was surprised to see Harley, the slight whine in her voice setting him on edge. "Harleen?"

He rose from the chair. He wondered what had happened since the last time they talked, the time Harley told him she was having a child. He wondered what the Joker had to say about that and most of all what the white faced freak had told her to do with it. Jim was worried for not only Harley's sake but the child's.

The commissioner pushed the chair back from the desk. He didn't need to ask who, he knew very well whom Harley was talking about and it didn't take long for the uneasiness to settle in his bones. He had the feeling that no matter what happened this night wasn't going to end well. Just as Harley was reaching for him the lights blinked out.

Jim grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her, moving slightly so that his body protected hers. If anyone was going to get hurt he'd make sure it was him and not Harley. He rubbed her arms when she began to shiver, trying to get the warmth back into her. "It's alright..." he muttered, "He won't hurt you."

That much Gordon was certain off. He was almost positive that the Joker wouldn't lay a finger on Harley, just the commissioner himself. Jim bit his lip when the back up lights slowly came to life. The generator had been cut. That wasn't a good sign. His arms tightened around Harleen Quinzel, his eyes flickering about in the dim light. Where was he?

[Joker]

As the lights went out a second time, Joker looked up from the device in his hands sharply. He was about to move when the lights came back on, forcing him to stay where he was. He growled, ground his teeth, and leaned back against the wall behind him, his gaze moving around the small area he was in. He could remember the last time he'd been in custody. That had been fun. Very fun indeed. This would be fun too. It would be a bit of show, hopefully. He could see a couple of confused looking officers. This would be fun. So very fun. He glanced around before the lights went out again. Moving from where he was, Joker moved as quietly as he could, almost gliding swiftly through the station.

As the emergency lights flicked on, Joker was revealed to be stood in the doorway of Jim's office. His painted lips were pulled into a grin. A demented grin which hid his anger. His hair damp. Nothing moving as he stared at them with black smothered eyes. The grin grew and he giggled softly from the doorway. With a laugh, Joker darted away as lightening flashed, the tails of his long, purple coat flicking out of sight.

"Stop me if you've heard this one!" Joker called out, now hiding again. If these damn lights didn't cut out for good, he'd have one of his goons' heads. The goons in question seemed to have heard his thoughts, because a moment passed before the lights were killed again - permanently. Hide and seek it would be. A good game of hide and seek. He was glad. He had felt that this would be a game tonight. A game of hide and seek, it seemed...

"A man walks into a bar..." Joker began, moving towards an officer quickly. He moved past a window as lightening flashed outside, his shadow drifting along the floor as the real clown moved swiftly.

"Joker's here."

"Joker?!"

"Commi-" The voice of one officer was cut off with a sickening crack. Laughter sounded as Joker felt the body collapse to the floor, lifeless and cooling. Joker didn't move from where he now stood, next to a body and near another officer. He'd get Jim out here, out of his office, and into the more open area of the station. Harley too, if he could manage it. They weren't allowed to hide! This was an interactive show, damn it! That meant the audience - Jim Gordon and Harley Quinn - would be a part of it. He'd been planning this. It was everywhere in that one room no one was allowed in at their 'home'. Paper scraps with scribbles of what would happen, of what would happen to Gordon, of what would happen to Harley, of what would happen to Joker, of what would happen to him (should he turn up). It had all been planned and written down...

"You've heard that one? Better use some new material." He said, almost snarling the last two words before he laughed again and began moving across the station, still trying to keep his footsteps silent while he giggled and laughed, allowing the disturbing and insane laughter to float around the station, bouncing off of the walls and furniture as he moved.

((Notes: Sorry if this is really bad and sorry for the amount of things that's happening in this one. It would be about two paragraphs otherwise and I'd be unhappy with posting such a short post. 552 words, though. Hope it was good.))

[Harleen Quinzel]

Harley slowly looked up at Jim. She couldn’t help but take some comfort in his words. He was like a father to her, a protective man that would make sure everything was ok. God, she wanted everything to be ok. The young woman gripped his shirt her head hidden on his chest. Please, let her be wrong, let it not be Joker, just a paranoid woman thinking that something was going to happen. Please, make it safe for her and the child to survive.

The woman had been told they were not going to have baby, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. She was having this child, it was most likely her only chance. If she wasn’t pregnant now, he’d make her get fixed. He’d make sure she’d never have another baby. No, this was it for her, it was either this child or no child. Her hands gripped a little harder on Jim’s shirt a tremble pushing it’s way though her as Joker’s words strike though the air.

It wasn’t his words that scared her, it was the sudden thwack and she knew Steven had died. Steve had been a good man, strong, loyal, hit on Harley often. He use to talk about how he liked her costumes, how he was glad she was around. He even threatened to kiss her cheek once. He was one of the few that accepted her, well, as long as no one was looking. She in that moment wished the baby had been his, and she never told the Joker. But her lover’s feet drew closer. “Puddin’.” She called out and stepped away from Jim putting herself in the door way so that, she hoped, Jim would have been safe the Joker’s insane thoughts, his desire to kill Gordon. She hoped.

“We could go home and work on some new jokes, Mr. J. Come back later.” She had that soft squeak in her voice, many wouldn’t have noticed it but she was almost sure Joker had. The soft sound of her cowering in fear. Scared he might hurt her, that she had done something wrong. It was the same sound she always got when she was nervous about him. Did she had anything to worry about? That all depended on how you looked at things she supposed. Though her eyes moved back to Jim and she whispered. “You need to leave. Please.” She wanted him safe, her scared eyes looked back towards the Joker’s laugh trying to catch a glimpse of him.

[Jim Gordon]

Jim looked down at her, trying to form a reassuring smile but found that he was unable. He wanted to be wrong about everything, he wanted to be wrong about the Joker being there and he wanted to be wrong that the Joker was back at all, but that was all true and he couldn't change any of it. He knew that this stormy night wasn't going to end well. Something was going to happen...something that would leave him wounded both psychically and mentally.

He didn't know what had happened between Harleen and the Joker concerning the child. He didn't know that Joker had forbid Harleen to have it. But judging by her size, without knowing any of this, Jim guessed that no matter what she was going to have it. He hoped so. He really did. Jim bit his lip as the Joker's word cut through the air smoothly like a knife through butter. His arms tightened around Harleen.

The commissioner winced, another one of his officers was dead. Steven Marks had been a good man, he had accepted Harley and stood up for her before, Jim had respected him for that alone. It made his blood boil that he had , had to die in this way. It saddened him that Steven had to die at all. He hadn't deserved it. Not even in the slightest. Jim tried to grab her arm when she stepped away from him but she was already gone. Worry etched into his face and he moved his hand to the gun in his belt, his hand tightening around it.

The Commissioner didn't know if Joker heard it but he did, the fear in Harley's voice. He knew that she was probably scared for herself, for her child, the exact reasons why Jim was scared. For Harley. For the child. For his officers. Why were they still there? They should have gone home. He met Harley's eyes and he shook his head. "I can't leave my team," he whispered back, sighing, his body going rigid at the Joker's laugh and he reached for a flashlight.

[Joker]

Joker could hear her fear. He could hear the squeak. Good. She should be afraid. Almost. That's where this had all started. Her and her almost. An obsessive and slightly paranoid man like Joker would over think that word. That little word. That little almost. She should be afraid. Not for herself, though. No. No. Joker wouldn't kill her. He just wouldn't. She was his little Harley Quinn. His Clown Princess of Crime. He wouldn't kill her. He could beat her and shove her out of windows and yell at her, but kill her?

No. No.

Gordon? Oh he could. He wouldn't, but he could. It could be so easy... But he wouldn't. It would be more fun...

"Harley, Harley, Harley..." He sighed, not moving as lightening struck again outside in the continuing storm. "I almost want to do that..." He taunted, walking towards her after the lightening had died and plunged the police station into darkness. "Almost isn't enough, Harley." He growled, drawing her name out. His attention wasn't on Gordon. It was entirely on Harley. Entirely on the blonde woman who used to be his...

He lurked near her, though not close enough to touch her. He could understand why he stayed in the darkness. Why he didn't move in the light. It was dramatic, theatrical, fear inducing. It was exactly what Joker liked.

"Did you notice, Commish?" Joker asked, drawing out the 'ish' of the name in a hiss. "Did you even notice?" He asked before laughing again as he moved off again, walking around the station.

"A clown walks into a police station..." He began as though there hadn't been half a conversation between the last joke and this one. He moved through the darkness, ignoring anyone other than Harley and Gordon. Any others were play things. They were collateral damage to Joker. Nothing to be bothered by. Nothing for him to care about. The Commissioner and Harley Quinn were something for him to care about, though. His target and his clown...

((Notes: Sorry if this is really bad and sorry for the size. Gosh I thought my muse was better...))

[Harleen Quinzel]

Harley just looked back at Jim. He couldn’t leave, he wouldn’t leave. He could, he should he had to. Her eyes locked onto him for a moment. She would protect him at all costs. She had to keep him safe, she had to keep the baby safe. There was no way the joker would hurt her right? So, she could only hope. With her eyes closed and her lower lip trembling she tried again. “Please Jim, please…” She whispered softly, she was going to say more she had to say more. She could hear the gun, she knew the sound of a man holding onto his piece. She just, well, what could she say about this situation?

This all began because she said almost that word shouldn’t mean anything it was just one word. Almost was a word, and he shouldn’t have taken such offence. She just didn’t want Gordon hurt, was that so bad? No, to her it wasn’t but it was to Joker. He didn’t want her to have feelings like that. But why? Was it a threat for her to have feelings for someone other than him? Perhaps it was, but she was more concerned with what was happening now. Her fingers ran over the wood of the door frame as Joker spoke her name.

His words, he had to speak of the almost that she used. Harley whimpered softly at the sound. No, no don’t be scared. Her eyes kept scanning the area, she wanted Joker to leave, leave with her. She shivered in the chilled air as she tried her best to see him. She could hear his foot steps she could hear his voice. And could almost feel his breath, well at least in her own mind she thought it was his breath. Her Puddin’s breath. She wanted nothing more than to kiss him and run away with him. The darkness lit up his beat, scariest features, and she wanted him. Wait no! She’s scared, scared remember? Scared…

“… Looking for his face…” She said softly and took a step into the darkened room. “Puddin…” She said just as softly looking for him, still trying to stay between him and Gordon, it was Jim’s only chance. At least in her mind.

((sorry so short and that it took so long))

[Jim Gordon]

Jim sighed, shaking his head. He wouldn't abandon his men. He was the Commissioner and he would lay down his life for any one of the brave men and women that made up the Gotham City Police District. It was just who he was, selfless. "I can't...I'm sorry," he told Harley, his eyes flickering around the darkened room, his hand once more tightening around his gun. Where was the Joker? He wouldn't hurt Harley...would he?

The Joker's voice echoed around that station, chilling the blood in Jim's veins. He bit his lip. "There's nothing for you to gain here!" he called, raising his voice to be heard over the sudden boom of thunder. His eyes darted around the darkened room. Where was he? "Harleen has done nothing wrong, your quarrel is with me, leave her out of it.[/color']" He touched Harley's wrist and whispered, "Get out of here while you still can."

He didn't know how much longer the Joker would lie hidden in the shadows like a snake, coiled to strike.

Jim frowned, trying to pinpoint the Joker's location in the blackness. A flash of lightning illuminated the room for a brief second before all went dark again, leaving the older man's eyes slightly discombobulated and it took a moment for them to get used to the dark once again. He bit his lip. Why did Harley have to be there? He wouldn't let her get hurt. He'd be dammed if the Joker hurt her...or the baby. Jim wondered how much the Joker knew about the child. What would become of Harley and the baby?

Jim stepped forward, grabbing her wrist, closing his fingers gently around it. "Harleen..." his voice was soft, concerned, "Stay back...I don't want you hurt.." He only glanced at her as he spoke, his eyes still pealed for the Joker.

(notes - hate. this. post. it. sucks. ass.)

[Joker]

Joker heard her whimper as he spoke about the almost. The whimper of fear. She still feared him? He couldn't help the hint of laughter that slipped from him. The insane, somewhat angry laughter that whispered through the air momentarily, slipping through the darkness to them. At Jim's words, though, the whisper of laughter was joined by more. Loud, heavy laughter that jumped from him, the 'ha's bouncing through the darkness as Joker moved through the black space around the pair, his footsteps nearly silent. Nothing for him to gain? Gordon didn't understand. He couldn't. He wasn't like them - like him. He couldn't understand... Did she? He had to wonder...

"You don't understand. She doesn't, either. I thought she did..." He trailed off with a sigh before he laughed again manically. "Do you, Harlssss? You could inform our dear Commish if you did..." He stated, moving to one of the others. They meant nothing to him, but they did to Gordon. They did to them... "My 'quarrel'," He began, licking at the corners of his lips. "is with him, you... Her..." He growled and laughed again as he reached one of the others. Though he had a gun handy, he didn't use it. Why would he? They were nothing...

Another sickening crack filled the air - much like the others, the ones from before - and he practically coughed out another harsh, insanity filled laugh as the body dropped to the ground with a thud. Music to his ears...

"She won't leave... And she shouldn't! That would make this whole thing..." He paused and sighed, looking for the right word. Unproductive? No. He had something better. He licked at the corners of his lips again and grinned in the darkness. "One bad joke." He finished.

"You know, it only takes one bad day. Just one. One bad day..." He growled. "What would yours be?"

((Notes: Sorry this took so long. I hope this makes up for it.))