In Another Life XII

Jack Napier glared at the clown face staring back at him in the mirror, and wondered how it had come to this.

He sighed, picking up a tin of greasepaint and smearing more white onto his face. Then he applied the bright red lipstick to his oversized smile, beneath which lay his actual grimace of disappointment as to how his life had turned out.

Not so long ago, he had been an up and coming criminal, a hitman whose accuracy and ruthlessness would have made any mob boss lucky to have him. But he had crossed the wrong guy. A few months ago, during a bank heist, he had gotten a little too trigger happy and ended up killing a few civilians. When the gang returned to the hideout, his boss had cussed him out for drawing unnecessary heat onto them, Jack had responded with a few choice words of his own, and frankly was lucky to get out of the situation alive. Bullets were exchanged, and Jack eventually fled out onto the streets of Gotham City, suddenly unemployed and wanted by the mob.

So he had done what many a man before him had done – he had left Gotham and adopted a disguise. A disguise that would hide his identity, and earn him a little money. But he had to admit, it was still humiliating for a guy like him to be a clown every night.

There was a knock on the door to his trailer. "J, ten minutes!"

"Yeah, yeah," muttered Jack. "Be right there."

But sadly, aside from killing people, this was the only employable skill he had, he thought with a sigh, turning away from the mirror and picking up his juggling pins. As a boy, he had learned how to juggle and used to play at improvising slapstick. He had always managed to make people laugh. So the only job he considered himself qualified for, aside from hitman, was a circus clown. Which was pretty pathetic, but at least it was a job, and at least he was alive. But honestly, that was pretty much all he could say in terms of positives for his life at the moment.

He left his trailer and crossed the circus camp toward the big top, set up in the center. It was full of blazing lights and crowds of people, oohing and ahhing at the feats of daring being performed inside. As he entered the backstage area, he heard Mr. Haly, the ringmaster, announcing, "And now for a real treat, ladies and gentlemen, a man who laughs in the face of danger, the one and only Leo the Lion Tamer!"

"Hurry up, Dick, we're on next!" hissed a voice, as a man suddenly shoved past Jack, pulling a child behind him. "Let's get your harness on."

"John, can you help me with mine?" asked a woman, following them.

"In a second, Mary, I'm just helping Dick!" snapped the man.

The woman glared at him, and then noticed Jack. She beamed. "J, can you be a dear and help me put my harness on?" she asked him.

"Uh…sure," said Jack.

"It just kinda goes around the waist here," said the woman, taking his hands and sliding them onto the harness, and then around her waist. "The buckle's in the back there, and don't be afraid to pull it tight," she said with a grin, as she pulled herself into his arms, pushing his hands down toward her bottom.

"I'll do it," snapped the man, shoving Jack away from the woman suddenly. He buckled her in and then snapped, "Take Dick up – I'll be with you in a second."

The woman shrugged, taking the child's hand, and glanced back to grin at Jack, winking at him. Jack was suddenly seized by the man, who slammed him back into the tent pole.

"Listen, you pathetic clown, stay the hell away from my wife!" he hissed.

"Hey, she came on to me!" snapped Jack. "I'm sorry if you ain't man enough for her, leotard boy!"

The man raised his fist to hit Jack, but was pulled away by another circus performer who said, "John, you're on!"

"This ain't over, J!" shouted the man, over the thunderous applause of the audience. "You'd better watch your back!"

Jack spat on the ground. "Hope your harness breaks," he muttered, practicing his juggling as he watched Mr. Haly announce the next act.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, the jewel in our circus's crown – not one, not two, but three acrobats, and they're all one family! Ladies and gentlemen, the Flying Graysons!"

There was wild cheering from the audience as the lights came up on the trapeze to reveal the man, woman, and child from earlier, all smiles as they performed their acrobat routine. Unfortunately for Jack, the man's harness didn't break, which he supposed was good in the long run, or he'd have had to do more work. They always sent in the clowns when a circus act turned tragic.

Jack was on the moment the act finished, with the announcement, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, prepare to laugh yourselves silly as Haly's Circus presents the King of Comedy, the Joker!"

That was the only name he had given the circus when he had joined – the stage name he had thought up for himself. It would be stupid for a wanted man in hiding to give his real name, and most of the folks around the circus either called him J or Joker.

Tonight the Joker performed a juggling routine, followed by some improvised comedy with a seltzer bottle, and lastly a slapstick act where his pants dropped and he kept tripping over them. What a way to earn a living, he thought grimly behind the smile, as the audience cheered. Still, as least they were laughing.

His routine over, he returned to his trailer to wait until the curtain call at the end. He was fixing the makeup that had run under the heat of the lights when there was a knock on his trailer door.

"Come in," he called.

The woman from earlier entered. "J, I just wanted to apologize for John earlier," she said. "He's been in a bad mood all day, and he had no right to take it out on you."

"Forget about it," said Jack, shrugging. "I already have."

"I don't like him acting that way in front of Dick," she said. "It sets a bad example for a kid."

"Well, he'd probably do worse if he knew what was really going on between us," said Jack, casually.

The woman grinned. "He could try," she agreed, approaching him. "But he really ain't that much of a man compared to you."

"I kinda suspected that," said Jack, nodding. "The leotard's a dead giveaway. Also, never trust a man in tights."

"I guess it was wrong of me to blatantly flirt with you like that, but I just couldn't help it," she continued. "You know what you do to me. And I know John's gonna figure out what's going on if I keep being that obvious, but when he acts like that, I almost want him to."

"You're saying you want us to get caught?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"I'm just saying the thought kinda turns me on," she said, sliding her arms around his neck. "It's what bad things do to me. It's what bad people do to me, as you well know."

She kissed him deeply, and he pulled her into his arms. She straddled his lap, unbuttoning his shirt. "You're gonna get my makeup all over you, and it's gonna be obvious at the curtain call," he murmured, drawing away and glancing at the red lipstick and white paint smeared across her face.

"Then you'd better be quick, so I have time to clean up," she whispered, grinning as she bit down on his lip. "But if you think I can see you drop your pants for an audience, and not want you to do that for me, you're crazy."

He kissed her, pulling her leotard down as she unbuckled his pants…

Well, there were perks to the nightly humiliation, he thought, as he pulled his pants back up and watched Mary Grayson hurrying back to her trailer. After all, everybody loved a clown. And Jack Napier had to admit, he made a damn good one.