Chapter 9 – Acceptance and Hope

Harley stirred from her slumber to find herself lying on top of her Puddin on their couch, his arms curled around her as he snored deeply. She had never indulged in cannabis before and she had expected some kind of hangover the following day. She felt a little groggy but was pleasantly surprised to discover that she otherwise felt great. She scanned the living room. The TV's screensaver bounced lazily around the screen and the DVD player was still on. They had fallen asleep watching a marathon of The Three Stooges. The coffee table was littered with half eaten bowls of popcorn, empty chip bags, bowls containing remnants of melted ice cream, candy wrappers and a mostly empty container of Oreo's. She moaned inwardly as she realized not only how much they had eaten but how much of a mess they made.

Ugh, I'm going to have to work out for four hours today to make up for all the junk food last night. It was fun, I laughed my ass off with Puddin, but it's probably not something I'd do again. My waistline can't take that kind of abuse on a regular basis. It was nice to have Mistah J actually being nice to me for a change though.

She realized her bladder was screaming for relief and as she tried to slip out of J's arms she accidentally roused him. He snorted, opened one eye and once he realized his human blanket was trying to take his warmth away, wrapped his arms around Harley and held her tightly against his chest.

"Don't go yet. It's cold." She smiled, happy he was being affectionate but she really needed to get up.

"Pud, ya gotta let me go or you'll be warm and wet."

He sighed but let her go. He watched her pad down the hallway to the bathroom. He surveyed the room and couldn't help but chuckle. Harley still managed to surprise him, even after all this time. He never in a million years thought she'd be devious enough to dose him with street drugs. Now that he was sober it also occurred to him what a complete shit he had been to her over the past few weeks. He supposed he should probably do something nice to make it up to her. She had stuck by him through this whole Batman thing even though he was completely unhinged in his grief and she somehow managed to get him through it.

He was feeling more optimistic than he had in weeks. Maybe there was life after the Bat after all. He had a solid plan for the sit down, a plan to expand his holdings and he had Harley by his side. He was still the Clown Prince of Crime and the most powerful and dangerous criminal in the Gotham underworld. He had business to take care of and smiles to share. So what if he gets stuck dealing with the first Boy Blunder wearing the cape and cowl. It won't be the same, but maybe in time he'd be able to adapt. Joker stretched, his spine crackling and popping as he did so. The sit down was in three days and he had work he needed to get done. First and foremost he supposed he better hire some new henchmen since he had killed a good portion of them off back at the lair in Chinatown. He stood, yawned and decided to get his ass in gear. He had a lot to accomplish in the next three days.

Beneath Wayne Manor, Alfred, Dick and Damian were in the Batcave filling Bruce in on what had been happening in Gotham since he lost his memory. Dick currently had the floor.

"So my contact within the Falcone family told me Joker has called a sit down of all of the families. It's supposed to go down this Friday night at a warehouse in Rogers Yacht Basin and I have a feeling Joker has something big planned. He has to have heard by now that the Maroni's and Falcone's have joined forces to take him out and I know he isn't going to go down without a fight. We need to get there and take care of it before the carnage starts." Bruce held his chin in his hand as he took in the information.

"I agree, Dick. I think we should start at the Stacked Deck. If the rumors are true, Joker killed a good portion of his help and he'll be looking for replacements. I think it may be time for Matches Malone to return to Gotham looking for a little work. While I case the Stacked Deck I'd like you and Damian to seek out Joker's known associates and get any information you can on his plan."

Matches Malone was one of Batman's alter egos. With the addition of a brown wig and mustache, a prosthetic nose, a pair of dark sunglasses, a tacky plaid suit, a match in the corner of his mouth and a flat, nasal Northern Jersey accent he was transformed into one of Gotham's criminal lowlifes. Matches had a criminal record and rap sheet in the police database in case anyone decided to check out his credibility.

"You got it, Bruce. Dami and I will see what we can dig up. You sure you're up to jumping back in the saddle so soon?"

"I'll be fine Dick. It's time to take my city back."

That evening Joker, Harley and Lewis showed up to the Stacked Deck, taking a darkened corner booth in the rear of the bar. The Stacked Deck was well known as a recruiting spot for Gotham's costumed villains. If a thug in Gotham were looking for work, it was the best place in the city to find it. Joker leaned back, his arms spread across the back of the bench seat.

"Harley, Lewis. Get out there and mingle. If you find anyone worthwhile bring them to me."

The bar was bustling for a Wednesday night. It seemed like every lowlife thug, gunman and hooligan were out looking for work, which was fortunate for Joker. He could weed through the 'applicants' to find the best men for the job. As a plainclothes Harley walked through the room she spotted a tall guy in the most hideous suit she'd ever seen. He looked like a door to door salesman from the seventies, but he was huge. The bigger guys upped Joker's intimidation factor and she thought he may just be what Mistah J was looking for.

"Hey you!" Matches turned to the high pitched, squeaky voice. "Yeah you, big guy. You looking for a job?"

"Maybe. Depends on the job and the pay." Harley scrutinized his face. He looked kind of familiar but she couldn't put her finger on where she'd seen him before.

"What's your name?"

"Name's Matches. Matches Malone." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" She raised her hand, blocking out the top half of his face. "There's something about that chin." She shrugged her shoulders. "So what kinda experience you got, Matches?"

"Well, arson is kinda my specialty but I been known to do a little of dis and a little of dat. Body guarding, protection rackets, armed muscle. Done a few bank jobs, a little grand theft auto."

"You man enough to go up against the Italians, tough guy?"

"I ain't scared of the Italians sweetheart. I'm your guy if the price is right." Harley looked him over again. That feeling of familiarity was haunting her. She shrugged it off.

"Well then step into the boss's office so he can greenlight ya." Harley led Matches to Joker's booth.

"Hey boss, I think I got a live one here." Joker leaned forward into the light to look the guy over.

"Well, you're a rather large fellow. You have experience?"

"Experience? Fuhgettaboutit. I got more experience than five of these other mooks combined." Joker raised a verdant brow.

"Really, now? Who have you worked for?"

"Me and my brother Carver, God rest his soul, ran an insurance fraud racket for years. After Carver died I worked with the Sullivan family for a while. After that I moved around, did a little work for Penguin, Black Mask and Scarface just to name a few."

Joker sized the guy up. He seemed pretty sure of himself, he had the size and from his musculature he had strength behind it too. The suit was horrendous, but otherwise he seemed like he could be an asset. Joker shouted over to his girlfriend.

"Harley!"

"Yes Mistah J?"

"Call Billy, have him run a check on Mr. Malone and get back to me."

"A-okay Mistah J!" Joker chatted with Matches for a few minutes while he waited for Harley to get back. She returned moments later.

"Hey boss, his story checks out. Arrests in Hoboken for arson and insurance fraud, served a stint in Blackgate for racketeering and Gotham Penitentiary for embezzlement. Malone is on the up and up." A wide smile spread across Joker's face.

"Wonderful. So would you like to join our little organization?"

"What's the job and how much is my cut?"

"We're up against the Italian mob, Mr. Malone, and the cut is ten grand."

"You gonna give me any specifics?"

"Just what you need to know, and what you need to know is that there's a hit list I need executed in the next two nights. Your job is to take out a little Capo pain in the ass named Mario Falcone." Matches eyes widened under the dark glasses.

"You're knocking off the Don's son?"

"No. You're knocking off the Don's son." Joker grabbed the gun he had on the seat next to him and pointed it at Matches under the table. If Malone backed out now, he'd have to kill him or risk word of his plan getting out. "You have a problem with that?"

"For ten grand I do! Fifteen and I'm on board."

Joker chuckled, he low-balled the guy on purpose. He was happy to see this guy had the stones to ask for more money.

"Well, Mr. Malone, I do believe we have a deal! Welcome to my little circus!" They shook on it and Joker handed Malone a manila envelope that contained everything Matches needed to know about Mario Falcone in order to find him and kill him. "Oh and Mr. Malone, one more teensy little detail before you head off."

"Yeah boss?"

"I'll need you to bring me back his head before Friday night. Kay?" Matches noticeably shuddered.

"That's kinda creepy, but it's your dime. How do I reach you?" Joker threw him a prepaid burner phone.

"Call the only contact in the list. You'll be given further instructions. Now, off you go, times a wastin'." He said as he casually waved his new henchman away.

Matches left the Stacked Deck as Joker and Harley continued their recruitment effort. Once he was several blocks away he ducked into an alley and removed the Matches costume, changing into his Batsuit. He touched the communicator in his ear

"Nightwing, come in."

"Nightwing here, go ahead Batman."

"I was able to discover a portion of his plan. He's hitting the Capos of both families. We need to take out his thugs before they get to the targets. I want you and Damian to split up. You keep an eye on the Falcone's and have Damian follow the Maroni's. I'm going to stake out the warehouse. Joker surely has something more lethal planned than a duffel bag full of heads and I plan on putting a stop to it."

"Will do Batman, Nightwing out."

The next two days were a whirlwind of activity for both Joker and his crew and the Bat-brood. So far he had two of the twelve heads he had requested in his possession, which was not nearly enough. He was beginning to get impatient. Joker spent most of his time rigging the warehouse with canisters of Smilex. If the heads of their Capos weren't enough incentive to get Carmine and Salvatore to give up a large portion of their respective territories, the Smilex would take care of the rest.

So far Nightwing and Damian were able to get eight of the twelve mobsters on Joker's hit list into temporary protective custody. Try as they might they couldn't find the final four and they feared the worst. Batman had been staking out the warehouse and observed Joker and his men rigging the building with his toxic gas. Very early Friday morning, after Joker's crew left, he was able to disable the canisters and destroy them so they couldn't do any further harm. With that done Batman returned to the Manor to get a few hours of sleep and prepare to take Joker and Harley down later that night.

Joker was pacing their living space. Harley watched him as he walked back and forth muttering under his breath.

"What's wrong Mistah J?" He stopped, turned and shot Harley a frustrated look.

"What's wrong? What's wrong, Harley, is that there should be twelve heads in this duffel bag, but do you know how many I have?"

"Um, four I think Puddin."

"That's exactly right Harley. My targets have seemingly disappeared over the past few days. Poof, gone. Doesn't that strike you as being a bit suspicious?" She tilted her head to the side as she considered it.

"Well Pud, maybe they got scared and went into hiding?" He released a heavy breath.

"The more likely explanation is that there's a rat in our midst. A yellow bellied stool pigeon! And I suspect I know who it is. I haven't been able to reach Malone since I hired him. I knew there was something off about that guy. I should never have taken him on! God damn it! This is my big return to crime and my plan is falling apart!"

"You still have the Smilex, Puddin." Harley said encouragingly.

"Yes I suppose there is that. It'll have to do. But if I find Matches Malone, I'm going to rip his intestines out through his mouth!" He looked at the clock. "Time for us to get ready Pumpkin, it's almost time."

"Yes sir!" She replied with a salute.

Slowly one by one the members of each family arrived. There were representatives from all of the major families. The Ukrainian Odessa family, the Riley's and Sullivan's representing the Irish mob, the Romanian Ibanescu family, Black Mask and the False Face Society, the Yakuza, La Cosa Nostra: the Sicilian families and of course the Maroni's and Falcone's as well as the bulk of the Rogue gallery were present.

Joker sat at the center of the large table, Harley perched on the arm of his chair waiting to bring their meeting to order. Carmine and Salvatore were glaring daggers at the smiling clown couple. They hated costumed criminals, freaks, the lot of them. Their plan to take out Joker and carve up his territory had so far been thwarted as their best made guys disappeared one by one. They suspected Joker was the culprit. J cleared his throat.

"I'd like to call this meeting to order." He stood and began walking behind the seated gangsters as he talked. "It has come to my attention that while I was under the weather some of you in this room decided to get a little greedy. And we can't have that, now can we? With the Bat gone for good, we have an amazing opportunity here, but we can't just have you all running around willy-nilly fighting one another for scraps. We need to organize, we need to cooperate." He stood behind Maroni and Falcone. "But how can we cooperate when some of us are busy scheming against one another? Take old Sally boy." He clapped Maroni on the shoulder. "He and Carmine here were planning to take advantage of me while I was ill, after the years of generosity I've shown them, and try to carve up my territory for their own! Harley, the bag please."

Harley rushed over with the duffel bag and handed it to Joker, who unzipped it, held it above his head and let the contents roll across the table. Several of the assembled criminals wretched at the sight of the decapitated heads.

"Fellas, this is just a small example of what will happen to anyone who tries to take advantage of the Joker. This is MY city and don't any of you forget it!"

As Joker ranted to the assembled crooks Batman and every associate he could get in contact with were perched in the rafters of the warehouse waiting for the right moment to strike. Below them Joker pulled out the detonator that controlled the gas canisters. He pressed the button and stared as nothing happened. He rapidly pressed the button getting angry as he did so.

"What the hell?"

Batman signaled his crew. It was now or never. They descended on the group and the criminals scattered. Nightwing went after the Italians, Robin the Yakuza, Spoiler took out the Romanians, Red Robin pursued the Odessa's, Red Hood handled the Sicilians, the Huntress took care of the Irish while the strangely silent Batgirl subdued Black Mask's crew. Joker stared around the room in bewildered at the sudden attack. A shadow fell across him causing him to look up. He froze in shock. It couldn't be. Batman landed in front of Joker, his mouth a firm line pressed together in pure determination.

"It's over Joker, you're going back to Arkham. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, your choice." He growled in his deep gravelly voice. Joker's eyes widened as tears of joy began to flood them.

"Batsy? It's you! It's really you! You're not dead?"

"It was a close call Joker, but you failed. Again. I'm still alive." Joker's whole face brightened. To Batman's surprise Joker seized him in a giant bear hug.

"Oh Batsy, you have no idea how relieved I am. I mean, at first I was happy but then I realized that if I kill you I'm out of a job." Tears were freely running down Joker's face as he bounced on the balls of his toes in excitement. "You're back! You know you scared me this time Bats. I really thought you were gone for good. You have no idea how happy I am right now!"

It took Batman a few moments to get over his initial shock at Joker's reaction but he had a job to do. He grabbed Joker by the shoulders and pushed him away from himself. Batman pulled his right fist back and punched Joker squarely in the face, breaking his nose. Joker started cackling uncontrollably.

"Ha ha ha! That's it Batsy old boy! That's the loving fist to the face I've been missing! C'mon, sock me again!" Batman obliged him multiple times until Joker lay in a bloody mess on the floor of the warehouse. "Oh Batsy, how I missed you so. I just knew you'd come back to me. You could never resist me."

Batman dragged Joker to the Batmobile as Nightwing dragged a handcuffed Harley Quinn out to join her lover for their ride to Arkham. Joker sighed contentedly as Batman dropped him into the front seat of the Batmobile. Joker prattled on incessantly as they began the drive to Arkham Asylum.

"Batsy you old fooler you. Hiding out for weeks on end, making me think you were really dead. For shame. Oh, but now that you're back I can be my old happy self again! Oh the games we'll play, the times we'll have together. I can't wait to start planning. I won't let you down Bat-breath, I'm going to come up with something super special for you to welcome you back to the land of the living!"

Neither Batman nor Harley could bear to hear any more out of the manic clown. Batman glanced at Harley in the rearview and she nodded almost imperceptivity. Batman grabbed Joker's head and bashed it harshly into the window knocking him out for the rest of the ride.

"Thanks B-man. I heard just about enough outta him. Ya know he really was a mess when he thought you were dead. I thought he was finally gonna go off the deep end for real." Batman met her eyes in the mirror.

"Is that supposed to flatter me?"

"I don't know. If he talked about me the way he talks about you, I know I'd be pretty flattered." She sighed. "Guess I better get used to being the second most important person in Mistah J's life again."

They reached the asylum and Joker came around just as Batman was slamming his cell door closed. Batman turned to leave and Joker jumped up pressing himself to the glass as he watched Batman walk down the hallway.

"Welcome back Batsy! I'll be dreaming up a brand new game for us to play for when I bust out of here! Hey, Batsy call me okay. Batsy? I'll be counting the minutes until I get to see you again!" he yelled as Batman disappeared.

Joker slid down his cell wall and sat on the floor with a euphoric look on his face. Harley glared at him across the hallway from her own cell. That was the same look he had after sex. She couldn't believe it! She had finally gotten Joker over the Bat and he decides to show back up and spoil everything. She crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance as she realized that it was going to be a long lonely winter. She really should have dropped him in that tank of piranhas when she had the chance.

-Fin

A/N – So that's it folks. Batsy's alive and Joker has his real true love back. I know this was a pretty dark story for me but I don't want to be pigeonholed as that writer who only writes a super fluffy Joker. Thanks for taking the journey with me and a huge shout out to all of my wonderful reviewers. You guys helped keep me on track on this one. I almost gave up on it halfway through. So thanks again for poking me to get back on track and finish this one up. I will be working on Legacy part II immediately and will hopefully have something published later in the week.