Twelve

"Ow! Ouch! Stop, please, it hurts!"

Maddie shrieked and squealed loudly, shouting at her tormentor. She couldn't believe that someone she trusted so much had so clearly and cruelly betrayed her. She twisted and thrashed in his unrelenting grip, ruining the art he was striving (more like struggling) to create with her.

"Madeline, would you quit being so dramatic? All I'm doing is combing out your hair. It's not my fault you let it become a rat's nest," Andy sighed, exasperated with her behavior.

"But it hurts!" She protested.

"Well it wouldn't if you'd just stay still!" Andy cried.

"Fine," Maddie huffed, pouting that she didn't get her way.

"Thank you," he mumbled, continuing to brush out her tangled hair and pull it back into two pigtails.

"Why do I have to look so nice if I'm just going to the fair with Daddy?" Maddie asked, confusion lacing her voice. Andy tensed for a moment.

"Well, he wants to show you off to everybody. He wants to send the message that you're his and other people should envy you, so he wants you to look nice to make people jealous," Andy replied carefully.

"That's nice I guess," Madeline said finally, still not entirely sure what Andy meant.

"Okay, I picked up the outfit he wants her to wear," Tommy announced as he entered the bathroom.

"Where is it?" Andy asked, eyebrows furrowed as he looked at his boyfriend through the mirror.

"I left it back in the bedroom," he explained.

Andy focused back in on his task and carefully pulled Madeline's hair back into pristine pig tails. He took a moment to ensure that they were level before he released her with a smile.

"Alright, pumpkin. Let's get you dressed," Tommy said as he helped Madeline down from the stool she'd been on and led her back into her room.

"Try not to mess up her hair!" Andy called after them.

Maddie ignored him completely and dashed back to her room with glee. Laying on her bed was an outfit that she had never seen before. It almost resembled a leotard in that it was a stretchy, full body suit, but it had sleeves and pant legs attached to it as well. There was a massive purple heart on the chest, as well as one green one on each shoulder. The suit was a combination of the colors purple, green, black, and white. Purple and green were the focal colors, whereas the other two were mainly used to accent purple or green, respectively.

"Woah," Maddie exhaled.

Tommy smiled. Then he frowned.

"Woah is right. Now let's get you into this thing," he muttered.

Tommy unzipped the zipper located on the back of the suit and held it out to his charge.

"All you need to do is pull it on and I'll help you zip it up," he elaborated.

Maddie nodded in agreement and stepped into her outfit, shoving her feet through their leg holes and carefully putting her arms through the sleeves.

"Ok, babe, hold your pigtails out of the way so I can zip you up," Tommy instructed, moving forward.

She took a pigtail in each hand and pulled them forward while Tommy quickly zipped her up. Maddie immediately darted off to the bathroom, eager to see how she looked. Andy stepped out of the way and moved the stool. Madeline wasn't tall enough to see all of herself when standing directly in front of the mirror, so she stopped in the doorway, where she could see her entire body's reflection in the glass.

"Okay honey, you're all set to go. Wait here for your daddy—he'll tell you what to do next," Andy told her. "Don't mess up your hair!"

The two men left Maddie's room and almost immediately Andy tried to speak up. Tommy quickly hushed him, pointing discreetly to one of the cameras lining the hallway. Andrew nodded and led the way back to their room, where there were no cameras. Andy snorted, remembering why this was.

"I don't want to see you guys doing it late at night. That's some gay porn shit."

Once the door was securely shut, the pair sat down on their bed and began to talk.

"I don't like this, Tom, not one bit," Andy whispered.

"And you think I do? You and I both know that this isn't some innocent trip to the fair. This is the villain's equivalent of a debutante ball," Tommy whispered back.

"We can't let him go through with this," Andy replied.

"What choice do we have? If we protest we're dead," Tommy argued.

"We could run away with her," Andy suggested.

"Where would we go? Any place that we'd go to he would find us, you know that. Then he'd have Maddie back and we'd both be dead and unable to protect her. If we keep cool and go along with it we can be there to protect her," Tom protested.

"We owe it to Maddie to get her away," Andy asserted.

"And what? Have her watch us get murdered? Because that's what's gonna happen the instant we try anything. She wouldn't understand why we're leaving anyway. She likes Joker," Tommy replied.

"But we have to do something," Andy said.

"All we can do is keep her safe. We can't do anything else but be there to protect her," Tommy answered.

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Pop music played loudly over the speakers set up all across the fairgrounds. Closer to the main stage area there were even more so that people could hear announcements made from the stage. Announcements almost like the one Joker was about to make.

"Daddy, can we go ride some rides now?" Maddie pestered.

"No. We aren't going to ride rides today Madeline. Today we are on a mission. You are going to listen to what I say and use what I've taught you," Joker growled in response.

"So we can we ride rides tomorrow then?" She continued.

"Whatever, doll," Joker replied. He was annoyed with her already. Being back in attack mode really put him in his element.

They'd snuck into the fair piled into the back of a fake food truck. The truck had been wittily adjusted to say 'We put the scream in ice cream!'

No citizens suspected anything as of yet. The operation was still very much so under wraps.

"Start to drive towards the stage. Play the music so no one gets suspicious," Joker ordered.

Parents tugged their children out of the truck's path even as eager children tugged their parents towards the truck.

The truck didn't stop to serve the children.

That was most likely the moment when people started to get suspicious. After all, why would an ice cream truck not stop for all the business the screaming children promised?

But people shook it off. Maybe it was just going to a new designated spot and was trying to draw customers' attention as they went. What reason did they have to fear an ice cream truck?

The truck kept slowly creeping along, honking occasionally at slow-moving people in its way.

The truck reached the stage. It stopped, turned off the music, and that was when all hell broke loose.

The back doors were flung open, and almost immediately Joker jumped out and fired a round into the air as Frosty followed him out. Maddie flinched from her place between Andy and Tommy in the truck.

People began shrieking and running in terror, but they were too late. Joker's goons had already taken over the exits and stood ready with guns. The few who tried to get through were shot mercilessly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good evening to you all and welcome to Joker's Funhouse!" J announced sinisterly. He had reached the stage during the pandemonium and was now using the microphone to project his message across the fair.

"We're going to have so much fun together," he cooed over the screams and shouts of Gotham's citizens.

Eventually people stopped screaming when they realized that help wasn't coming, not soon and maybe not ever.

"But before we get down to business, I'd like to introduce you all to a special someone. I'm sure you'll absolutely love her. She's just to die for," Joker announced.

"That's your cue, Maddie. When he says your name, he wants you to flip out of the truck and run up to the stage," Tommy instructed in a light whisper. Andy remained silent. "Act like you're putting on a show, sweetheart."

"It's the one, the only, Mad Doll!" J snarled into the mic.

Maddie hesitantly moved forward and leaped out of the van, flipping onto her feet. She then jumped and skipped up to the stage, gaining energy and confidence as she went. It really is like putting on a show. There's a stage, an audience, and everything!

The people murmured and gasped as they saw who Joker had revealed, expecting anything and anyone but Madeline. No one clapped, which is when Maddie first started feeling iffy about the plan.

But Joker was smiling at her as she approached, so she giggled and smiled back. Clearly she was doing well if Joker was happy with her.

J's head snapped towards the audience, outraged.

"Well clap!" He shouted at them. Panicked, they immediately obeyed. "Some people have no manners, doll."

It was around that time that a man near the front noticed how close the sun was to setting. With the hope of the Bat clouding his mind, he grew braver.

"You sick madman. That's a fucking little girl! How old is she, five? And you've got her trussed up like she's some sidekick of yours?" He shouted.

The rest of the crowd froze as men with guns immediately moved to grab the man.

"Doll, one thing you'll often find is that bravery and stupidity are the same thing," Joke spoke to Madeline, ignoring the man that his goons were now dragging up onto the stage.

Maddie was frozen. What that man said... Is he right? Why would he talk to Daddy that way?

Then a revelation that arrived too late. I don't think that this is a show after all.

Maddie was right to be worried, but wrong in thinking that her father wasn't putting on a show, because he was. All Joker ever does is put on a show. It just wasn't Maddie's type of show.

Maddie watched in horror as the man that had spoken up got pulled onto the stage and shoved to his knees in front of Joker. The man's hands were raised above his head in the universal sign for 'Don't shoot!'

Sadly, the occurrence was rare that Joker ever listened to signs.

He smiled widely as he whipped out his favorite gun and put it to the man's forehead.

"No! No, please! I have a family," the man pleaded.

"Then I guess I know who to find next," Joker grinned. The moron shouldn't have mentioned them.

Or he should have thought about them before he opened his fucking mouth.

Kill him.

No. Wait.

What?

We don't need to kill him. This is Madeline's chance to prove herself. To prove her loyalty. Let her kill him.

But I don't think that Madeline could—

Then why the fuck are you keeping her around for? Because you care about her?

No. Of course not. I don't care about anyone. Or anything.

Then let her kill him.

Joker turned his head to face Madeline.

"Come here, doll," he beckoned. Maddie hesitantly took a step forward. "I said, come. Here. Now."

A few more quick steps brought her to his side. He stood aside some and took her hand, moving it to replace his on the gun. A collective gasp rocked through the crowd.

Maddie's hand shook on the gun as she made the mistake of looking into the man's terrified eyes.

"Shoot him," J ordered.

"What?" Maddie asked.

"Pull the trigger. The safety's already off. Shoot him," J said again. It felt like she couldn't breathe.

"Kill him for Daddy, babydoll."