The Funland [Open]

[The Joker]

They knew, of course they did, everyone knew that the Amusement Park was Joker's funland, it was his territory, but...he needed to protect it. Sure, people were afraid of him and tended to stay away from him, however this place wasn't full of people, this place was full of psychos just like him. Okay, no one was like the Joker at least that was what the egomaniac clown thought about himself.

Joker could have decided to stay out of this mess, he could have just gone away...but instead he had decided to stay and it was too late to escape now. It wasn't impossible, but it wasn't a simple task either. Good, troubles always meant fun, surely troubles never were boring. The Joker looked around his hideout, everything was as he had left it or at least it seemed so. There were cameras that he needed to disable and it meant that he was going to destroy them. Joker liked the attention, but only if he sought it. Being spied on...that he didn't like.

Finally, the clown noticed that some people used the Amusement Park as their temporary house when the clown didn't use it, temporary because Joker was going to kick them out or maybe just kick their heads. Joker walked over the Amusement Park's gate and looked outside, he didn't know if there were going to be problems already, but it just meant that he was going to have happy fun times. Surely, he was going to have happy fun times alone because his henchmen were still a Blackgate, but that didn't make the psycho clown less dangerous.

The Joker liked being alone for now, he could have a freaking amusement park by all himself, his hideout and he could defend it because he liked killing people so yeah if someone came to annoy him, well, they were just doing him a favour. Also, he liked the power that he had, the power that his insanity gave him.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Everything about being Arkham City makes Heather nervous. Even just being in Arkham City makes Heather nervous - Jon has repeatedly told her just how big and dangerous the place is supposed to be. On the other hand, now that it's here and she's been locked inside for a bit it doesn't seem so bad so far. Which is probably because it's still rather empty and the people she's run into don't seem to be so bad. Most of them seem to be pretty ordinary people who ended up in here for one reason or another and now they're just trying to survive. Of course, ordinary people who are just trying to survive can end up being quite dangerous if they want to be, but they're usually willing to leave you alone if you leave them alone.

Which is good - Heather isn't looking for trouble. She's looking for a lot of other things instead. And since the backpack on her shoulders isn't empty, she's obviously found some of what she's looking for. Though the government went through the whole of Arkham City and took all of the 'good stuff' like computers and generators and such, that doesn't mean that there isn't a whole lot of other stuff that's just lying around for the taking. Looting has therefore become one of her biggest hobbies. And she's not alone - there are more and more people being put into the City every day, and the worst ones are yet to be brought in. Anyone already in the city knows that it will be more difficult and dangerous to try to grab anything later, so it's a good idea to get yourself all set now while it's easier.

Of course, just because it's less dangerous now doesn't mean that it isn't dangerous. She knows that Jon worries about her when she goes out alone, but she tries really hard to be careful. Amusement Mile is a tricky place to be careful in, though - some of the pumps or something must have been broken because much of the area is flooded. It's hard to find a place with electricity here - but that's a good thing because having electricity and water is usually a pretty dangerous combination. But it's not that far from where she and Jon are hiding and there's a lot of good stuff to find, so she's just extra careful as she makes her way through the area.

But there's some dangers that you can really anticipate, and whether or not you run into them is simply a matter of luck. Like right now, for instance. A while ago she'd noticed a place in the fence around the amusement park that was damaged, and now it has a good sized hole in it. The hole isn't big enough for most people to care about, but Heather is not a very big person - she's quite petite, actually - and she noticed that the hole was just big enough for her to squeeze through. And as far as she knows the place is still abandoned, so she figures that she'll check the place out. First she has to take off her backpack, sets it next to the hole, and then she very carefully maneuvers her way through it. Then she reaches back through the hole and retrieves her backpack.

It's only after she's put it back on that she looks up to see that she's not alone - there's a man in here. One that she recognizes instantly, even though she doesn't really know him. And she's so surprised to see him that she freezes in place - her eyes wide and her mouth hanging slightly open. Oh, crap! This is not good!

[The Joker]

Joker had rolled up his sleeves and he wasn't wearing his purple coat, his green hair were a little bit messy and a piece of white cloth was in his pants' pocket. He seemed a busy worker and in fact he was, but the clown was going to be a lot busier now "I spy with my little eye..." that was Scary's girlfriend and if she was here then it meant that he was here too. Oh...things were already getting interesting. Joker couldn't help but smile.

The Scarecrow and the clown didn't meet so much, maybe it was because Scarecrow's toxin didn't work with Joker's insane mind where every little ounce of sanity was gone. Surely, Joker's toxin could work with Scary's girlfriend, but trying anyway couldn't hurt...oh, wait. Let's try to put a friendly act first, he wanted to play a little bit.

The night was quiet and nothing seemed wrong, instead this was a prison where the insane was trapped inside to let live the sanity in peace. The insane clown walked towards Heather and smiled to her "Welcome!" Joker couldn't really wait to hurt her because of how much fun Scarecrow's reaction was gonna be, but his insanity had learned that things could be even more fun if done in the right moment.

Troubles were funny too. Very funny. This was going to bring so much trouble and during his first day! Ah! How ironic! Joker tilted his head a little bit and kept smiling, it was becoming creepy and the clown was well aware of that detail. Mhhh...let's think this over...what he knew about Heather aside of the basic stuff? She was Scary's Harley, but she also liked the masked man...mhh...also, she seemed to have two personalities...but something was sure...the girl here wasn't sane. Joker could always tell.     

"Thank you for pointing out that this needs to be repaired!" Joker pointed with his head at the hole from where Heather came from. Suddenly, Joker grabbed her hand and helped her get up. It could seem a nice gesture, but even the kindest of gestures were evil if Joker was behind such kindness. Kill them with kindness...and bury them with a smile.

In fact, Joker kept his strong grip on Heather even after she was up so that she couldn't just run away, although that would be fun too. The clown glanced her backpack for a moment then looked up at Heather "So...Heather..." Joker took a pause and looked carefully at her face to see her reaction to this name "...how are you? And your boyfriend?" the clown laughed a little at the last part "What brings you here?" the small talk changed tone when Joker's smile disappeared. Of course he knew why she was here and he would even have the right to hurt her because she was stealing from him...the clown had to keep himself from laughing.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

What the Joker doesn't know is that Heather is actually completely immune to his toxin. Or at least, Poison Ivy said that she's immune to it - it's not like she's ever been exposed to the Joker's toxin to test that out for sure. But she has been exposed to Jon's toxin since the woman offered to make her immune to it, and it certainly works - even Jon has to wear a mask to avoid getting exposed to it, but she was just fine. Of course, when she agreed to let Poison Ivy inject her with whatever that stuff was, she'd been focused on the idea of being immune to fear toxin, not the list of other things that the woman had told her it would also make her immune to.

But even though she trusts that she's just as immune to the Joker's toxin as Poison Ivy said she is, that's only really a small fraction of the reason why Heather is terrified of the clown. She'd had a radio show for several years, and she'd had plenty of opportunity to not just hear about the Joker's doings but to report on them. Not that she knows him personally, of course, but she's more aware of just how... bad the Joker can be than your average Gothamite. Which is why the moment that she recognizes that she's in a situation she can't easily escape from, she looks even more terrified than most people would be.

There are three general responses to fear: fight, flight, and freeze. Fighting is out of the question - Jon's been teaching her some basic self-defense, but she's not the best student of that in the world and even if she knows how to punch and kick that doesn't change the fact that she's a scrawny, 5'2" young woman who isn't very fast. Speaking of speed, fleeing is also out of the question - between her slow running speed and the many obstacles present, she knows that she wouldn't be able to make it very far.

Which leaves the last resort of the terrified: freezing. Now, the idea of freezing is that maybe if you don't move then whatever is scaring you might not notice you or decide that you're not very interesting, and then you can get away when they're bored. That doesn't seem to be working very well, however. But it seems like she's trying very hard to get the freezing thing to work. In fact, she looks like she's trying a bit too hard - the Joker might notice that she's stopped breathing. And there's nothing but raw terror in her eyes when he grabs her arm - she doesn't even try to get away. Everything he says to her doesn't seem to cause much of a reaction - probably because it's impossible to be more than 100% scared and she's already that scared.

---

However, just when her lips start to turn blue and it looks like she's about to faint, she suddenly takes a deep gasp, as just as suddenly it's as if everything about her aside from her appearance has changed. The Joker may know quite a bit about Heather if he cared to - before Jon kidnapped her she was a shock jock who claimed that Batman was the worst thing about Gotham, and her file in Arkham Asylum speaks of an anxious and traumatized young woman who is nevertheless quite obsessed with the man who is most to blame for it.

But when it comes to VerMillion, her second personality, it didn't have very much to say - and what it did say was rather generic psychological babble about coping mechanisms. And there's a good reason for that - Dr. Arkham had to write something in the file about her, but he'd been too busy getting to know VerMillion in the biblical sense to get to know her otherwise in more than the broadest sense. And with that being the best information about VerMillion that one can get their hands on without actually meeting her, the Joker probably doesn't really know much about this half of the young woman he's grabbed.

Especially since, even though Dr. Arkham probably noted it down somewhere, it's one thing to hear about someone being fearless, it's another thing to see it. Because VerMillion is not merely very brave or very foolish - she doesn't ignore fear, she doesn't feel it to begin with. The number of people who can look at the Joker, knowing who he is, without even the slightest hint of fear is very small, and they're usually very big, dangerous people themselves - and even then the Joker could probably scare them a little if he tried hard enough. VerMillion, on the other hand, is the same rather small young woman that Heather is, but the Joker couldn't make her even a tiny bit nervous even if his life depended on it.

Instead, once she's caught her breath, she looks slightly annoyed. "Um, ouch," she says, looking at the hand on her arm - her not-very-polite way of indicating that his grip is a bit strong and that she'd prefer it if he would let her go. And that's all she says - she heard what he said to Heather, but he'd not been speaking to her. She might have answered him anyway, but she'd prefer to wait until he's rectified the problem that she'd brought up before she does any such thing.

[The Joker]

Joker smiled, he was amused by Heather's reaction. She was really scared by him...and how blame her? But, his victims didn't just freeze like that. No, they screamed in terror, begging him to let them live. Of course though, the girlfriend of Scary had to react differently, after all she was the girlfriend of the man who believed to master fear. This was going to be interesting. Joker wasn't scared of Heather's boyfriend, his toxin didn't work with him and besides, facing fears sounded fun for a psycho clown "Holding your breath won't me make buy you a present" Joker joked referring to when kids held their breaths to have their tantrums, their five minutes of fame, to convince their parents to do something that they wouldn't do. 

Then, everything changed. Joker could observe the change in Heather's features...or was it VerMillion now? She had started breathing again. Joker tilted his head a little and kept observing like those Doctors who observed animals in cages. Especially, Joker was observing the woman's eyes...he had seen that type of look only in Batman and because the Dark Knight was the only person in Gotham to not fear him. Apparently, there were two now. Joker let her go with a smile "Good girl started breathing again" he took a step closer towards Scary's girlfriend "Or are you the bad one?" Joker rose a brow, pretending to be confused.

"Ho can he like you?" the clown shook his head "You aren't someone who gets scared, well, you were scared two seconds ago, but now...puff!" he moved his hands like a magician "It seems a magic trick!" Joker applauded "You know what I can do to you. I don't care who your boyfriend is...Scarecrow or Black Mask" Joker himself had seen her having fun with the masked man and his tone had changed from amused to a matter-of-factly-kind-of-tone.

Wasn't the clown appearing too serious? Just one joke and smiles, nothing much, not even laughs. Well, Joker wasn't in the mood. His henchmen weren't here yet and the place was a mess....and now...Scarecrow's girlfriend to deal with. Maybe, he could decorate Harley's room with Heather's blood. Oh, well. He should appreciate that an unexpected guest had come through, it could be a good distraction for a while.

Joker put a arm around VerMillion's shoulders in a friend gesture "I'm so happy that you are here! We could get a tour of the Funland, I'm sure Scar...ecrow..." he didn't want to call him Scary in front of her at the moment "...will want to know!" this time he let out a small laugh, intel was always useful especially if enemies. Joker coughed and put on his best Cicerone persona "This is where Tom Enderson died, his throat was torn apart, but it seems that he died happily because he had a big smile on his face!" this time Joker really laughed "Remember? Of course you do, you talked about it on the radio" Joker passed a finger under his eyes to wipe the tears drops that were there because of the laughing "Although, it was Heather, but still, you are like her evil twin!" Joker looked at her and for a moment he hoped that she would try to escape so that he could have so much more fun.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

When the Joker let go of her arm, VerMillion rubbed the spot he'd grabbed with her hand with an annoyed expression on her face. She's not sure how to respond to him referring to her as 'the bad one', so she simply says, "I'm VerMillion."

As he speaks, her expression gets more and more annoyed. Scoffing, she says, "You wouldn't understand. Your girlfriend is completely nuts. And yeah, I know what you can do to me - I just don't care!" She throws her arms up a little to emphasize her total lack of concern. Though a part of her is a bit confused by the reference to Black Mask - she doesn't know what he would have to do with anything. But she doesn't care enough to either ask the Joker questions or to attempt to correct him.

When he starts to suggest a tour, she glances over at the hole that she crawled through and says, "Actually, I'd rather go home." Unlike most people who would say that in this situation, she's not saying it out of a half-hearted attempt to get out of it because she's scared or anything like that. She just literally would rather go home than take a tour of a broken down amusement park. It sounds pretty boring to her, actually - some people would find a tour of such a place to be interesting (though the Joker wouldn't be their first choice in tour guides) simply because old, broken down thing are interesting. But much of the interest is because it makes them think about the passage of time, and there's a certain fun creepiness to it. However, since she can't feel fear she tends to be more in the present and can't appreciate any creepy vibes that the aged amusement park might be throwing off.

On the other hand, when he mentions Tom Enderson and the fact that she reported on him, that actually gets some of her attention. While it's true that she's not Heather, she does share most of Heather's memories from before her personality split off from Heather's. So when she pauses to think about it, she does remember Tom Enderson. "Oh yeah!" she says, stepping away from him to look around more carefully at the spot, "I've never actually been here before, but I remember the pictures - he was slumped down over here when they found him." She points at the place. "Of course, it wasn't a big mystery because they knew what your toxin does, but it was noteworthy anyway - wasn't he the CEO of some stationary company or something?" she pauses, trying to remember, "Yeah - the police were suspecting that you killed him by tearing out his throat with a pencil."

Most people, if recollecting such a thing in the presence of the very man who did it in the very spot where it happened would be at least a little bit worried. Of course, VerMillion isn't most people. Instead she's simply slightly surprised to be reminded of the random incident here and now. Though she then pauses to frown at the Joker, "But how do you get off calling me evil? I've never hurt anyone like that."

[The Joker]

"I know who you are, sweetheart, do you though?" Joker smiled to her and of course calling her sweetheart was sarcastic. At some point, Joker rolled his eyes "I just don't care!" he copied her like little kids did "But, Scary would care and that's enough" he shrugged then he laughed hard at VerMillion's comment about his girlfriend being nuts, talking about hypocrisy, VerMillion/Heather was nuts too...but she couldn't know it, could she? Nah, people with double personalities never knew for sure, ask Hatty!

"At least, my girlfriend is only mine and she doesn't have double personalities...and...." Joker managed to say after finishing to laugh "...the other personality doesn't go around kissing men with a Black Mask on" Joker looked at her with a clinic eye, she seemed confused, interesting. It was interesting. However, Joker was just teasing her. Why not? It was funny...for him.

"Oh, but you are already home: mine! You are here uninvited so you should be thankful for my hospitality" others weren't so lucky. However, it wasn't a normal tour with the clown, he wouldn't talk about the Amusement Park itself, although he could have done it because he knew this Park like the white palm of his hand, but he was crazy so of course he was gonna talk about the people dying in here instead of the Park itself. Joker smiled when he noticed that he had caught the girl's attention, he liked attention.

VerMillion said something about the victim being slumped down"I was in a hurry...." Joker said when VerMillion remembered what he was talking about, nice, then she could remember things that Heather experienced, Joker was sure that the one on the radio was Heather and not VerMillion, the evil twin seemed liking homicides, Heather not so much instead.

Joker had his reasons why he had mentioned this, he was testing her and...because this was a tour! Joker liked these kind of tours. Joker observed VerMillion, she wasn't so worried being near a psycho serial killer "I'm comparing you to Heather, not myself, you can't be compared to myself darling" he explained while prising himself of course "Besides..." Joker moved his face down a little but kept staring at VerMillion, he made a smile but with his face down like that it seemed a grimace or an evil smile "...There is no good and evil, there is only power...and those too weak to seek it." he had just quoted Lord Voldemort with a threatening voice, yep. He thought this was funny, the quote was on point after all "Although, in our case, it's not power, but madness...although you could say that madness is our power? Mhhh...HahahHAHAHha!!" he laughed and you could always knew when Joker laughed because he had a distinct laugh, he was proud of it, but it could be annoying to others.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

When asked if she knows who she is, VerMillion scoffs and says, "Um, yes." She's herself, duh. And when told that Jon would care she just shrugs and says, "If you say so." But contrary to what he might think, she actually does know that she has multiple personalities and that she's crazy. How could she not know about Heather? Their lives are quite a bit intertwined, after all. It's that she doesn't really care about the fact that she's crazy either. Still, she seems to be as confused by the mention of Black Mask as she was before, though this time she does attempt a comment. "Well, my other personality doesn't go around kissing anyone but Jon, and not often enough, I might add," she states, looking at him like she's sure he has a screw loose. Which is a look that he's probably used to getting, actually.

When he mentions his hospitality, her eyebrow raises skeptically. "Um, thanks?" she says, sounding like she just might happen to have a rather poor opinion of his hospitality so far. After all, what has he done besides hurt her arm and talk at her? And the amenities here are rather lacking...

Though it's true that trying to remember Tom Enderson catches her interest. It's not that she likes homicides, it's that she doesn't dislike them - and most people definitely do dislike them. She doesn't see them as a problem, so long as the person isn't someone that she liked or something of that nature makes it actually a problem for her. What's more interesting is attempting to retrieve Heather's memories - that's a fun thing to do, when it works. Some memories are easier than others.

She rolls her eyes slightly when the Joker says that she can't compare to him, and she comments, "Well, I don't think I'm more evil than Heather - I mean, we're so much alike. I bet we're the same evil. And yeah, I guess I'm not like you - I'm way more attractive." If he's paying close enough attention, he'd notice that she's not being fully serious with her last claim - she's teasing him a little. Because yes, she does dare to tease the Joker. Why shouldn't she?

Though like everyone she read and watched Harry Potter at some point, she's not enough of a fan to catch the reference - she hasn't thought about that series for at least a year, even - but either way she has no real reason to react much to the quote. It seems to be a sensible enough statement to her, actually, though she's not sure why he's saying it in a weird voice. As does what he says next - which is why she's a little confused when he laughs. Did she miss a joke? Well, no matter. "I guess so - I mean, I can't feel fear, and that makes it so that I can do a lot of things that Heather can't do. Well, except that Heather says that I usually shouldn't do the things that she wouldn't do. But it also makes me better at doing things that she would do sometimes," she comments in a bit of a rambling fashion.

[The Joker]

Some people were clever enough to be just afraid of him knowing what would happen to them if they acted cocky around the clown. Instead, some less clever people, had to be reminded of how dangerous the Joker could be. Some people showed respected only when they were afraid or threatened...and VerMillion couldn't feel fear. Joker didn't like it, he didn't like when people didn't respect him, but at least he could enjoy teaching them an important lesson about respect...a kind of lesson that couldn't work with VerMillion. Sure, Joker could just kill her and be done with it, but where was the fun in that? Mhhh...dealing with Scary's wrath could be fun...but just for a little while, then what? Joker wanted a show! He wanted to be entertained! And this girl wasn't very entertaining. Kind of boring, really.

Joker listened to everything that she said, his hands behind his back in a very diligent posture, however he was ready to hit her if she tried to hit him first. He rose a brow at VerMillion last sentence when she explained to him how it was like to not feel fear. VerMillion shouldn't explain things to the clown, Joker could use what she said against her in the courthouse...or madhouse...whatever. But, it was interesting, Joker was a lot of things, but he wasn't fearless. More than once he had experienced fear for a reason or another. He had even feared that Batman had died, once. Sure, it wasn't because he cared about the Batman, it was for a selfish reason, if Batman really died then what would happen to him? There was no fun without the Batsy. So, Joker could actually feel various kind of fears, but Scary's toxin didn't work with him for some reason...maybe because of the changes that his body had gone through after the acid bath...or maybe it worked, but Joker was so crazy that facing his fears was just some kind of sport for the clown.

"You know, you would really get along with Jervis" maybe it was a compliment or maybe not, hard to tell from Joker's tone. Then he leaned down towards VerMillion, grabbing her chin so that he could push her face up towards his face. A smile appeared on Joker's clownish face "You are...aren't you?" he whispered against her lips about VerMillion being more attractive. Of course, all of this was Joker's sarcastic response, he wasn't really going to kiss her, although it seemed otherwise. Joker just wanted to give VerMillion the creeps after her statement, just a reminder that Joker could play the sarcastic-teasing game too and that if you wanted to play against him then you had to be a worthy opponent.

However, Joker let go of VerMillion's chin suddenly. Noises of men yelling were coming from just outside the gates. Joker frowned for a moment and then smiled remembering that few henchmen had just arrived in Arkham City. Henchmen that he wanted to hire, so to speak. Joker grabbed VerMillion's arm and dragged her towards the gate where the men were waiting. But, Joker didn't open the gate, instead he stood behind it with VerMillion beside him "JOKER!" the henchmen screamed to greet their soon-to-be boss, Joker bowed a little with a smile on his face "The auditions..." he said as if he was talking about a theatre play instead of recruiting killers "...start now!" the henchmen ran to the right and Joker dragged VerMillion in front of a big hole.

The hole was deep enough to let people jump in it, but it was impossible to get out of there without help from someone outside the hole. The henchmen were waiting in front of the hole, who knows from where they had entered from, well Joker knew since he was the one who had told them about the secret passage. The henchmen were looking at the pretty young woman beside Joker and he noticed "No, this isn't your price because your price is working for me!" the henchmen applauded and yelled "Yes, yes..." Joker nodded "...but, you can play with her!" Joker pushed VerMillion into the hole "You and...." the clown observed the henchmen "...you!" he pointed at two henchmen and these two jumped into the hole.

One of them was big and strong, the other one was skinny but agile. The two henchmen were walking around VerMillion like predators hunting a prey "Kill her" Joker ordered and started laughing. Ohhh...the clown wanted entertainment and a show he received! Like a present! Joker didn't know how VerMillion was in combat, she could be a worthy opponent thanks to her fearless nature. Or maybe, the show wasn't going to last long. Joker was standing near the edge of the hole and was looking down at VerMillion with a wicked smile on his face "Don't ruin her pretty face!" Joker laughed, the clown was the only one who could put a smile on her face.   

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

To say that VerMillion is unintelligent would be failing to give the young woman enough credit. That she doesn't do the 'smart' thing in many situations is not because she's lacking in brainpower, it's because she's lacking in a particular emotion. And an important one at that - fear gives a person a lot of information about the world, which allows them to make better decisions. It's not unlike being deaf or blind, and you can't fault someone for failing to react to something that they can't sense.

When he mentions Jervis, she frowns slightly and comments, "I don't know about that - we met him at the asylum and he seemed kind of boring." Of course, considering how difficult it is to keep VerMillion entertained, that doesn't mean very much.

But she doesn't think about her previous meeting with Jervis for long, because now the Joker is grabbing at her chin. Contrary to what he was expecting, she certainly isn't creeped out by his actions - you can't creep out someone who can't feel fear. She can feel disgust, but that's not quite the same thing - that's how she would have reacted if he'd actually tried to kiss her, because she is not in fact attracted to the man. If she was, she'd have most certainly used this opportunity to kiss him herself. Instead she reacts to his teasing by remaining exactly where she is, letting her lips brush against his as she responds by confidently answering, "Yes, I am."

It's then that they're interrupted by a commotion at the front gates. Ah yes, she remembers that awhile back there was an announcement that the last wave of prisoners were arriving. Which means that they were the worst ones - both the most hardened criminals from Blackgate and the most dangerous inmates from the Asylum. Figures that some of them would want to side with the Joker. When he suddenly grabs her arm, she reacts with surprise. "Hey, let me go, you bastard!" she demands, attempting to struggle out of his grasp - he's hurting her arm again! But since he seems to like to do that, she doesn't bother to protest further, though she does glare at him quite angrily.

Before she can come up with something more effective to do, she's falling into a pretty deep pit - not deep enough to kill her, but deep enough that landing in it on her butt hurt - a lot! It's probably going to bruise... "Ow!" she complains loudly, sounding offended and glaring up at the clown who did it. Great, now she's in pain and she has dirt all over her. Just great! Concerned more with that than the two thugs who jump into the pit with her, she doesn't pay them any attention. She actually missed the fact that the Joker told them to kill her - she wasn't paying attention.

Speaking of attention, what the Joker should have been paying attention to was the group of henchmen still outside of the pit. One of them, Bruno by name, is one of the recently arrived inmates from the Asylum - and the Joker has most likely met him before. He's not very bright - in fact, he's probably here only because he didn't know what to do and so was following someone else - and VerMillion's exclamation of pain instantly pulls his thoughts from whatever confused state it's normally in and to the situation at hand. You see, Bruno's particular brand of psychosis makes him very, very, VERY rule-oriented. And because of this when someone breaks the rules (or, more accurately, the rules that he believes exist), it greatly upsets him. In fact, it upsets him so much that he's known to try to immediately murder anyone who breaks one with his bare hands and, though he's short and thin, he goes into such a berserker style state that much bigger men would rather avoid triggering him.

Later the Joker will have enough time to remember that it's really hard to influence the rules that Bruno believes to exist, at least on purpose. Neither VerMillion nor her alter ego Heather would be able to do it. Right now he's probably too busy to think about it, because when Bruno hears the sound that confirms that VerMillion has been hurt, he goes into a rage. "NOBODY CAN HURT THE NICE GIRL!" he screams as he charges the Joker, his attack knocking them both into the pit. Which is more than enough of a distraction for the two men who were told to kill VerMillion - she suddenly seems less important.

( Relevant link: gotham-cityrpg.proboards.com/post/15388 )

[The Joker]

Joker would have replied to VerMillion that the Mad Hatter's tea parties were pretty funny, he would have reacted in a sarcastic-teasing way to VerMillion not moving at his proximity although he still wouldn't have kissed her because both of them weren't attracted to each other, but it had turned out that VerMillion was a worthy opponent indeed. Also, Joker had Harley, he couldn't go kissing other girls. But, he couldn't do those things because he ended up in the pit.

Joker and his henchmen turned around to see who had just screamed, however the clown's green eyes opened wide when Bruno rushed towards him and pushed him into the pit. There were surprised screams and oooohhh from the audience or henchmen around the pit. The pain was bearable, although Joker's back would appreciate a massage, but Bruno seemed gone berserk something that Joker was quite familiar with.    

The clown here wasn't scared of berserk people, how could he? He was one of them, especially if he was in the right mood for it. Now, there were a lot of ways to deal with these people, but Joker was sure that such options weren't an option at all with Bruno. The clown sit in the middle of the pit, staring at Bruno...he had already seen him somewhere, but where?

The henchmen all around the pit were asking who the hell was that little guy and how they could help Joker out of the pit. The henchmen seemed a little bit concerned seeing that this Bruno was quite crazy, but Joker was calm instead...he was sitting in the pit, trying to remember. Then, slowly, a little smile appeared on Joker's clownish face when it finally came to his mind "Bruno..." Joker kept sitting, legs stretched in front of him and hands at his sides to keep his posture up while still sitting.

Joker liked the little fella, he was lots of fun, especially if someone broke his precious rules...something that apparently Joker had just done. The clown moved his gaze towards VerMillion for a second and then looked back at Bruno "BOSS!" one of the henchmen yelled "Do you..." but Joker didn't let him finish the sentence because the clown talked to the berserk fella, also Joker hoped that Bruno would become his new pet, so much better than the hyenas "...Well, you see, she came here uninvited, that's breaking one of my rules, another one of my rules is: don't push the clown in the pit" and after saying this, Joker stood up quickly and grabbed VerMillion.

Joker looked at her neck for a moment and thought to just snap it, he could do it in less than a second. But, the clown wanted to have fun with the berserk guy sooo, the nice girl was gonna live at least for a little more, but VerMillion better know that every second of her life was Joker's gift.

The two henchmen in the pit didn't know what to do and they were standing one beside the other, as far away as possible from the berserk fella "You know Bruno..." an evil smile "...I wasn't the one who was going to hurt the nice girl...nonono..." Joker made a denial sound with his tongue "...those two mean men want to hurt her" the henchmen looked at their boss and then at Bruno.

The henchmen couldn't talk their way out of this, mostly because there wasn't enough grey material in their heads, but also because it was true that they were gonna kill VerMillion. Well, not anymore, they had to deal with Bruno's berserk wrath now. Joker laughed ready for the entertainment, or maybe Bruno was going to react in another way, Joker couldn't be sure, it was always a surprise when dealing with berserks, but Joker liked it. Bruno could hit Joker again instead of hitting the henchmen because the clown was grabbing VerMillion and of course Joker had thought about that, he wanted to play after all! The crazy clown wanted to tame the berserk beast.    

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Now standing and brushing the dirt off of her clothes (nevermind the fact that they were already quite dirty because she's been running around looting things), VerMillion glances up in surprise when two men suddenly land in the dirt near her. One is the Joker, and the other she recognises too. "Bruno?" she asks in surprise, as he's one of the last people she expected to run into - she hasn't seen him since she was locked up in the asylum. Then again, since they recently emptied the asylum into here, she would have realized that it was a possibility if she'd thought about it.

Also hearing the commotion of the men around her, VerMillion glances up at them but sees that what they're doing has nothing to do with her at the moment. She's just about to decide that all of this is very uninteresting and start to try to work out how to get out of this pit when the Joker suddenly grabs her again.

"Hey!" she says, this time with an edge that wasn't there before. You see, ever since she began to exist, life has been hard and unpleasant. So she expects it to be, and doesn't get surprised or offended when those expectations prove true. However, there comes a point where enough is enough and she gets mad. And the Joker has now pushed her to that point - it was probably literally pushing her into a pit that did it.

Though she doesn't have enough time to do anything about it before Bruno does. He neither managed to hang onto the Joker while they were falling or landed very well. In fact, it takes him a couple of moments to get back to his feet, but when he does he immediately turns toward the Joker without hesitation. Yes, he heard what the Joker said, but it doesn't matter to him very much. He doesn't care about the Joker's rules, he cares about the real rules - and he knows the difference! Everyone's always trying to trick him and tell him that there are new rules or that the rules have changed and things like that, but he knows better!

He also hears what the Joker says about the other men, but that's not important either. Wanting to kill someone isn't against the rules, after all. On the other hand, the Joker actually did hurt the nice girl, and that's against the rules, and in fact he's STILL hurting the nice girl RIGHT NOW! "STOP IT!" he screams as he charges again, though this time it isn't a flat out attack - instead his goal is to forcibly pull the nice girl out of the Joker's grasp, putting himself between them and then using all of his strength to try to separate the two. Which will more than likely hurt the nice girl, ironically enough, but it will get her away from the guy who keeps breaking the rules and that's important!

And, seeing what Bruno is doing, VerMillion decides to capitalize on the situation by attacking the Joker's arm. He wanted to know how she fights? Well, now he can get a direct taste. She's not very strong, so she can only strike with so much force, and she also doesn't have much skill. However, Jon has taught her a few things about self-defense and in fact the Joker would probably see the man's influence in the way that she doesn't fight his grip directly but instead tries to grab his arm with her hands (not forgetting to use her nails) and kick it with her feet.

But even more importantly, her fearlessness has an effect on the way that she fights - she's absolutely vicious. Unable to fear that she'll hurt herself or be the least bit intimidated by the thought of hurting someone else no matter who they might be, she doesn't have any sense restraint at all. If she was a bigger person, it would be a bit like trying to hold onto a bear. Instead it's more like trying to hold onto a hamster - an angry hamster.

[The Joker]

VerMillion wasn't afraid of anything so her survival instinct was gone too because she wasn't afraid of dying...something that the clown could use "Can you...PLEASE!" Joker said with an annoyed sigh at the girl's attempt to harm him. Oh, it hurt alright, but it wasn't strong enough to actually make him let her go, it was just annoying "You fight like a girl...worse...like Scary" Joker was gonna say something else to her, but then he saw Bruno charging towards him. So, the clown decided to hold onto Scary's girlfriend and then let Bruno hit him.

Joker didn't dodge so he ended up on the ground, VerMillion wasn't in his grasp anymore, she had probably fallen too because of Bruno "You said to not harm the girl, but you just did it" Joker shook his head "Bad Bruno" he said it in the same tone used when talking to dogs. Joker smiled while getting up "Do you remember that I have rules too? You don't much care for them, I get it, but I do...so you must pay" Joker, quickly and suddenly, grabbed the sand on the ground and threw it directly into Bruno's eyes.

Bruno could have been long dead if Joker just said so, if the clown just ordered his henchmen to kill the poor fella, but Bruno was lucky that Joker liked playing. The clown stepped back looking at Bruno and the nice girl "Why do you know her?" yes, he asked why instead of how. Ok, Bruno wasn't probably gonna answer anyway, but the clown had to try.

The henchmen were all looking into the pit, not knowing what to do. They wanted to help their boss, but at the same time they knew that they had to follow their boss's orders otherwise he would kill them. This could end all so easily, but luckily for Bruno and VerMillion, Joker didn't like easy because it was too boring.
 

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Given how angry she is at the Joker right now, the fact that she's not able to get herself out of his grip is not enough to dissuade VerMillion from her attack. The fact that she's causing him pain is enough - in fact, she gets a certain satisfaction out of it - so when he indicates that he'd like her to stop that only encourages her.

However, she then finds herself being violently torn out of the clown's grasp. Of course this hurts, but she blames the clown for that as well, not Bruno even though he's the one who did it. If he hadn't grabbed her in the first place, then that wouldn't have happened, after all. So when she's finished stumbling and falling, her comment about the general situation is to say, "Ouch!" But she's quick enough to get back to her feet, rubbing the spot on her arm where the Joker's hand was.

Bruno, on the other hand, stumbles when he manages to separate the two, but he doesn't actually fall. However, before he can take advantage of that and try to attack the Joker while he's on the ground, it's suddenly pointed out to him that he's... broken the rules. "NO!" he screams in shock and surprise, though not denial - after all, he heard the girl make that sound that people make when they get hurt. "No, no!" he says to himself, before he suddenly hits himself in the face with his fists - he can't go around breaking the rules himself, of course!

Though the second he's finished with that self-punishment, he turns his attention back to the Joker - the clown also broke the rules and it isn't enough to simply stop him from doing it, after all. Though the distraction of realizing that he'd broken the rules himself has given the clown enough time to get back to his feet. And before he has the chance to go after him, his eyes are suddenly hurting really badly and he can't see. "Agh!" he says, his hands going to his eyes as he tries to clear them, though it's likely that he'll be incapacitated for a few moments at least.

Meanwhile, VerMillion has dusted herself off and she watches this exchange with an angry look on her face. Well, not so much the interaction between the two men but the Joker himself, who she's glaring at with a dirty look on her face. If he tries to grab her again at this point she'll attack him again, but though she's also entertaining the idea of attempting to do something to him in order to get back at him for treating her like this, she can't decide what the best thing to do about that is. Mostly because she doesn't know how to get out of this pit and it never seems to work out for her if she just flat out tries to attack someone, even though she's not afraid to do it. So what else can she do to resolve all these angry feelings that are boiling inside of her now?

Though while she's contemplating, the Joker asks Bruno a question that he's too distracted to answer. And of course VerMillion sees no reason why the question shouldn't be answered, so she gives the answer herself. "Poison Ivy introduced him to me while we were in the asylum," she explains, still rubbing her arm. Which might come as a surprise to the Joker, who probably doesn't know the two women have met, though any of the henchmen standing around who happened to be in the asylum around the same time heard that the Scarecrow's little girlfriend was under her protection - meaning that anyone who harmed the young woman would most definitely be killed. In fact, they might have been worried about that now, except that as far as they know Poison Ivy isn't in Arkham City.