I had someone ask which Joker I was portraying in this story; to clear that up, I am basing him off of a combination of the Joker from the animated series and from the Dark Knight. The brutal part of his personality may take a while to start showing, but it'll be evident in later chapters.

Chapter Four

"Oh He He Ha Ha Ha."

"Yeah, because that's not annoying at all," Dawna spat sarcastically. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but her head was throbbing even more than it had been before, something she wasn't happy about, and she could feel a hard metal surface below her.

"I thought you could use a wake up call," Joker replied. Judging from the sound of his voice, she assumed he was right above her. "Open your eyes," he commanded.

She didn't comply. This guy really tweaked her off; she wasn't about to do anything he wanted her to do, but that turned out not to be a good choice after all. She felt a sudden pressure on her stomach followed by an irritable shout.

"I said, open you eyes," Joker repeated, his tone raising a bit this time.

The pressure grew, and she grunted in discomfort, opening her eyes to see him sitting cross-legged on her stomach. He smiled as she did, but a frown replaced it when she spoke.

"Shit, you're heavy," she said. "Do yourself a favor and lose a few pounds, fatty."

"That's not," he lowered his face so that it was just above hers. "That's not..." He licked his lips, then wrapped his hand tightly around her throat. "Nice."

"Well, in case you hadn't figure it out, genius," she countered, "I'm not exactly the sweetest person around."

His hand started to tighten, but he let go quickly enough, standing up and letting a laugh echo through the room as he started to walk away. Dawna attempted to get up as well, but layed back against what seemed to be a metal table. She was chained down: just great!

"Hey! How long do you plan on leaving me here?!"

Joker stopped walking and looked back at her thoughtfully before pointing towards the ceiling and turning away again. As he exited the room, a loud bout of laughter followed, which Dawna ignored and looked up where he'd been pointing. She thought her eyes would pop out of their sockets at what she saw. A large blade stood high above her, swinging back and forth, slowly moving towards her.

"Okay, you win!" She pulled violently at her bindings, hoping, even though she knew it would do no good. "Seriously, where the hell does anyone get stuff like this?!"

"Mistah J has his ways." The voice came from her right and Dawna's head shot in that direction to see the girl who'd helped Joker bring her here.

"So you're like Clown Bitch Barbie," Dawna said as she let her body relax against the metal surface. She placed her hands behind her head and relaxed her body, not wanting to show her urgent feelings towards the situation at hand.

Harley sent a glare in her direction. "I'm whateva Mistah J needs me ta be," she stated, waving a knife around in the air.

"You haven't handled that knife much, have you sweetheart?" Dawna raised an eyebrow. "You really should know better than to talk with your hands when holding sharp objects." She paused, but continued after a short silence. "That Mistah J of yours, what makes you think he really cares for you?"

"My puddin loves me," Harley said defensively, trying to keep her strained feelings undercover; she didn't do a very good job.

Dawna suppressed a grin. She'd hit the right chord. "He wouldn't have brought another woman here if he loved you so much," she stated, her expression flat.

"Your crazy if you think my puddin has a thing for you," Harley said defensively as she approached the girl. "You're the one strapped ta the torture device, hunny."

"What can I say?" Dawna sent Harley a grin. "The guy gets off on freaking people out." She paused for a moment, waiting for a reaction, but when none came, she continued. "The star of my story," Dawna said, "is none other than our very own Clown Bitch Barbie." She expression fell into a look of mock sympathy. "The poor, stupid girl who fell in love," she licked her lips and continued. "But the circus freak she fell for didn't love her back."

"Oh, he saw her as a tool though, used her in anyway he could, controlled her by letting her think he loved her too." Dawna tilted her head to the side, a sly smile slipping across her face. "Of course the story's not finished yet, only in the making." She only smiled more as Harley turned and started to storm out of the room. "I wonder who'll be the downfall of who."

Harley grunted in irritation and slammed the door behind her.

Joker was standing just outside the door, listening to their conversation the entire time. He'd suppressed his laughter, but now he let it float through the air freely, and he continued to walk away.

"Oh, she's good! She's real good!"