He had decided that it would be too risky taking her into the joint. Instead Joker had the car taken around the back and the orders were placed a lot more, discreetly.

With a waitress at his window he ordered himself a small lemonade and the child an adults combo. He didn't bother asking the Driver what he wanted.
The woman nodded as he finished, tucking away a notepad she wrote on into the stuffy aprons front and ushered them both from the car. She lead them through the large kitchen of the new restaurant as the kid 'ooh'd behind Joker and took them into a back room that held one leather booth, a staff bulletin board and a separate bathroom that was a little too close to them for his liking. The two sat at opposite sides.

"I will be back shortly with your meal."

As she turned to leave he watched the woman eye the child curiously. Of course she knew who he was, why else would he be given a separate space? And he was with a child nonetheless? It caused a deep giggle to tickle his throat as he imagined her questions. She jumped at the noise and walked out quietly.

"Where awe we?" The little thing suddenly piped up. Joker looked over at the child with a smile as her answer.

He reached deep into his pocket for his phone and tapped in the passcode, making a phone call to a deep voiced man she could hear every now and again through the speaker.

A little rustled from being ignored the redhead looked around at the slackly decorated room. It was stuffy, small, an ugly yellow washed the walls, there were no windows and only one door in or out. It was a strange place to eat in. The Joker let out a sudden laugh that caught her off guard and she instead diverted her eyes to the knife and fork in her hands while she waited.

The woman came back as he ended the odd call with a tray of food the kid eyed up intently, forgotten was the question she had asked the Clown as the waitress set out the items in front of her, the Joker snatched his drink from the tray and hooted.

"Thanks toots." Breathily, the woman composed herself all too fast from his outburst. She stood rigid toward the criminal and smiled tightly.

"I'll be back when you've finished your meals sir." The waitress didn't come back.

The child was oblivious to the tension as she greedily unwrapped the hamburger. She took a tentative bite, sighing outwardly after she swallowed. Her hair fell over her face as she took the next bite and Joker wondered how she could get a mouthful of anything but the unruly bush growing out of her scalp.

"Fanks for my burgah," she beamed brightly over the small table to the Clown, his jaw flexed as he watched her go back to eating the food with polite bites despite her hunger, hiding behind the little curtain she had built. She was starving. And she was shy.

"Eat faster, and move the hair kiddo', that's manners."

The order seemed odd for the child but regardless of the demand she decided to willingly accept it. Putting down the burger she wiped her dainty hands on the front of her dress and took her hair with two hands- forcing it to sit on the back of her head. Finished, she quickly picked the burger back up and happily continued to nibble on the free treat. He noticed her little red locks grudgingly begin to fall back over her shoulder without remorse.

The meal carried on a little like that.

The girl didn't ask many questions while her hair crept back onto her face and Joker looked over her lazily while imagining what crazy scenario he could charm the Bat with using her.

This was new ground for him.

He had never spent time with children, but he wasn't dumb to the idea of what they needed. Just like his dogs they needed food, water, somewhere to sleep and a pat on the head when they were good. But she could be the best weapon he could use.

He could turn her into a child prodigy? A contract killer? Maybe he could send her waltzing down to Gotham's Hospital with a bomb wrapped up beautifully in her bag without anyone noticing? No. That had already been done.. But still.. The idea of a child being the bomb for something seemed like an idea that was heading in the right direction.. Plus he had everything he needed.

Dynamite? Check.
A child? Check.
Somewhere to blow up? Easily done.

The Subway could be a good place to target? The D.A's office? Gotham's Police Department?
No. It needed to be bigger.. If he wanted to do something as terrible as detonating a child then he had to blow up some place equally as shocking.. Like possibly strapping her to the bottom of the city's only bridge and watching the Batty try to save her? Plus it would be the only escape route from the City which he would then quickly poison with-.

With what?

He sighed and slammed down the drink in his hand causing the her to jump. That wasn't an idea going anywhere.. He glanced over at the kid with a dismissive look.

"Eat." Once again she obliged.

It wasn't that he cared whether he killed the thing with his plan- it was neglected already, and he could easily convince himself that it would have been for the greater good while tucking himself into bed comfortably that same night. No. He just didn't want to be so- so, repetitive.
It needed to be bigger that blowing up the bridge, it needed to be something.. more. He wanted shock value. He wanted fireworks and a parade for tonight's main event. He was already becoming a different person by picking up a child. Why waste the progress just on an explosion. A one off. One nobody will even see. No. No he knew what he needed to do. He needed to cause chaos.

The girl threw her wrapper in a wad in front of her and took a large slurp from the only other drink on the table that ended with an 'ahh'. The burp that erupted nosily from her mouth straight afterward earned a loud laugh from the Clown as he rose from his seat while the child reddened at her slip.

"Let's go kiddo. I wanna.. uh, see a pal. A buddy if you would call it. He's f-f-fun sweetcheeks. He loves kiddies. Trust me. Imagine all the great things we could do. You can't say no. I bought you that food.."

His words had already proven to be too cryptic and guilt-driven for the child to follow closely, so instead of reading into them for what they were- which was a lack of information from a mass murderer, she chose to wipe her hands and mouth onto the corner of her remaining napkin and followed closely after the Clown through the bustling kitchen with her full belly and the sudden sensation of a sugar rush closing in.

A common misconception the general public had for the Joker was that he was a bad man. A bad guy. He wasn't of course. He was just judged by the actions people were shown. You see, what you need to realise is that there has to be good and bad. People need to see the difference, or they start to fall out of the lines society has built for them. So when the guy who everyone see's as the baddest of the bad guys does a good thing, they won't show you that. Because he's the face of it all. He's the boss. The head honcho. They want people to think that bad is bad and good is good. You can't be both. And the good guy will always be good.
Oh how he would turn that on its head.

'The Batman kills a Child Gone Rampant.'

He could already see the headlines. It made him giddy to imagine the pain he would cause the whole City and he sniggered mischievously about that as he slid into the car. It would be different.

The Driver quietly helped the child in while Joker pulled the phone once more from his pocket with a look of childish glee as his plan set in motion. Oh how the tables would turn.. He would call for back up on this immediately.

Suddenly there was a noise that he was taken aback by. The sound of a click that came from beside him.

To his right the little girl looked back up at him with what looked almost close to a smirk, her seat belt was now fastened around her tiny form and it was currently being readjusted by his Driver before his very eyes.

"I asked w-eally nice Mistah J."

He was impressed. But he was also being undermined. And he didn't like to feel undermined.

She eyed him back easily so he instead chose to award his attention to the other offender. His Driver seemed to feel the intensity of his Boss's stare a lot differently, looking toward him he pulled his hands back and let out a soft cough to clear his throat. Joker began to shake his head.

"I said you needed to do things- uh, things for yourself kiddo.." And although his tone was flat that didn't falter her look, the other man however, seemed to cower at the words as if they were physical blows. Pleased by the reaction Joker looked back at that girl for her reply.

"I did Mistah J. I asked mw-yself."

His face tightened for quite a time before it fell into a softer form and the Joker chuckled slowly, his eyes falling back over to the screen of his phone. What an in-n-teresting loophole, he thought quietly to himself. She was already trying to outsmart him after getting a free meal- he laughed aloud at that. Oh how this plan would work so well…

Her door was closed timidly by the Driver and the night continued on after Joker directed them toward a clothing store he was sure would have something of her size on the other side of Gotham.

He couldn't let her freeze to death. He had already fed her, and in his mind he may as well carry on the caretaking so she didn't die of pneumonia or something preventable. Admittedly he didn't want her dead before he chose the time at least.

"Hannah."

Her voice was low but he heard it. He heard everything- it was a genuine talent of his.

He turned his head toward the girl and cocked it to the side.

"I don't like it."

Her wide eyes suddenly bulged at his words in an almost comedic way, he refrained from laughing about that in front of her.

"Well it's m-wine not yours." She hissed, her little pink arms crossing firmly across her chest as her head turned to face the window. Joker snorted at the pathetic sight he was witnessing.

Oh how she reminded him fleetingly of Harley during one of their own arguments.

Of course those ended with quite a different conclusion than he would ever have in this situation and instead he decided that if worst came to worst and she wouldn't talk to him within the next fifteen minutes, he would exchange the child for another lemonade. Surely that would give him less backtalk.

Minutes passed.

"I w-ike Hannah.." She uselessly muttered to the glass.

Deciding that was the closest he would get to a conversation, Joker carefully chose his next words while he assessed her.

"Well kiddo.. You need a- a codename."

At those words they came to a halt in the traffic as pedestrians crossed ahead of the car, Hannah turned her head slowly toward him. "-like The Kid, or somethin' more ad-aptable like Joker's Little Hunter. Hmm.. I like the H, don't you? Hmm.. What abouttt," he clicked his tongue loudly against the roof of his mouth, "Hellfire."

"How-fwire?" She tried the name in her small mouth miserably and at it the Joker rolled his eyes.

"No. Okay.. That's fine.. Something easier. Okay.. Hmm.." The car fell silent as he thought. Hannah observed the way he spoke out random words while he looked up at the roof, smiling dumbly to himself. He was very strange. "Hmm.. Okay. I know it... Hen."

Hen.

It seemed like a silly name to Hannah. She liked her name and that was that. But despite her age, she had quickly realised that working with the man covered in pretty jewels and make up was a lot easier than working against him. He made a big fuss every time she said something he didn't like. And he was buying her a lot of things too.

"Hen.." She said clearly. He slapped his hands together and smiled toothily at the girl who shuddered slightly at the vision, he didn't notice and continued his celebration.

"Oh fun- fun- fun. Yes, fun-nnn. Okay, let's get you clothes and then we can go do fun things. Like.. Hmm.. Let's teach you how to shoot targets. That's a fun, that's what my Daddy did with uh, with me sweets. Targets likeee.."

He went quiet. Toying with ideas in his own head. It was a moment before he began speaking again and Hannah almost wondered if he had forgotten what they were talking about with that big brain of his.

"-your good ol' pal, Mr. Marvin over here."

His gaze turned darkly over to the small mirror that the Driver looked into with a paling face. Almost playfully Jokers top lip pulled back to reveal his shiny teeth, and Hannah looked uneasily between the both of them.

She had no idea what he had even said but she felt the mood change.

How could she know what was being threatened by the unstable man? He knew she fed off of the feelings of a situation but not the lead up to it, she was a kid.. and that was why he called her Hen.

She was blind. Senseless. She followed him thoughtlessly and like a hen she sat quietly in the corner of the barn while the farmer protected her. But the wolves would come.. They always did. They know where the Hen's are you see. They're sitting stupidly in the corner without a reason to be afraid, in a room with only one way in or out- he just had to time everything well. He had to make sure he looked like the farmer.

You see the Joker isn't a bad guy, but he is a guy who has to make bad choices sometimes.

And what he wanted at that moment was very clear.

Right now he wanted to see how far he could push a person who hadn't yet formed ethical morals, maybe he wanted to see if he could form some for her instead- and he wanted to teach his Driver a lesson about helping people he shouldn't help.

"Well I wanna twa-get Mistah Mwarvin." Hannah offered with a smile that crunched the front of her small nose, Joker cackled as the child sat there happily with him- blissfully unaware of the connotations her words held.

"Excellent."

Side note:

Wow, so that was quite the break from this story.. But jokes aside thank you so much to those of you who have taken the time from your days to review, follow and favourite this. Even to mail me some ammo that I need to get myself back into writing. I'm so nervous to post now but if I keep over-reading it I'll only delete this and try again in 2019, so enjoy if you can and no problems if you don't. Have a great time on the Internet!