Lewis wanted to strike a deal with the new Joker. From what he'd gathered, and pieced together from rumors, they were rather similar. Well aside from the Black Ops army training. But he wanted to affiliate her gang with his Empire. However the offer had gone awry and one of her top henchclowns ended up dead. He was strung up above the entrance to one of her believed hide outs. He was wearing a top hat with his tongue stuck in the brim like a feather. Meanwhile his throat was slit and the edge of the cut was a dark green almost black. A sign hung around his neck reading simply '2:00 AM tomorrow.' Sure he could've gone for a witty Wonderland reference but he was still so angry he went straight to the point.

Now it was almost 2 in the morning and Lewis sat on what would be the dance floor of the Wonderland Lounge or nightclub, or bar and grill, he hadn't decided yet. The front door was unlocked but knew it and a few other doors were likely to be broken when Joker came calling. There was a large table set out on the floor and sitting at the head of it was the new Mad hatter. He wore a top hat and simply black coat with high collar, red frilled shirt and red pants. He and a few of his Cards were, well playing cards.

'Gin!'

'Gin? I thought we were playing poker?'

"Poker, I was playing Go Fish."

'Maybe you should stop drinking so much boss.'

The Cards sitting beside the one making the suggestion began to slide their chairs away. They suddenly found anything else insane more interesting. But instead Lewis began to laugh, letting the others laugh.

'You had me worried boss.'

"Good."

Before he could react though Lewis drove his knife into the Card's hand pinning him to the table. He began to scream in pain before Lewis pulled Tweedle Dee from his coat and put a bullet in his head.

"Shh, I believe our guest of honor has arrived. Bring out the good tea set!"

With that the rest of the Cards began to scramble to set the table. The dead Card however was left where he'd ended up.

"Remind me to invest in cheaper table cloths. Well that or stop stabbing people."

'Cheaper table cloth seems like a better idea.'

"I like the way you think."

The Card nodded his head and began to pour something in Lewis' tea cup while the rest of the Cards, aside from the dead one pinned to the table, took off to the shadows. They left Lewis, mostly alone, as he sat at the table, sipping from his cup.

Josephine liked to think of herself as a person who was easy to get along with. If someone wanted to see her, she would happily oblige! Business was business after all and being someone who had finally stepped out of the shadows after eight long years of hiding, she was very much for making allies. However, one thing she didn't quite care for was people messing with her things.

She stood outside of the dilapidated warehouse, a cigarette between her lips as she stared up at the body. She had to admit, she did like the artistic flair of how the body was positioned, the way he had done the hate was, mwuah, priceless. But that didn't change the fact that the loon thought himself lucky to kill one of her men, set him up like this, and think he would live. Blowing out smoke as she moved closer to the body, she crouched down to investigate the face. Guy was lucky that she didn't care much for him. She took the cigarette and pushed the cherry into his eye before flicking the bud. "I always told ya, Bud, you needed to watch your tongue," she said with a tsk, grabbing the hat off of his head and dumping the tongue onto his lap.

So, someone wanted to see her, that was fine, she would show. Two am sharp. She made sure that she was wearing her Joker outfit, make up and all. On top of her head was the hat she had found on her clown. She had a pistol on her, hidden in her jacket, with bullets she had actually taken the time to etch the word 'Hatter' into. Other little hidden pockets had knives in them, something she had to have, after all. She brought just a few of her men, who drove her to the meet up spot and she ordered to stay outside. At her sides, however, were her precious darlings, Baby Firefly and Otis.

Josie stood outside of the building for a few moments, listening. The sounds of a scream tearing through the air made her lips twitch up into a smile. How wonderful! She adjusted the top hat before pushing the doors open roughly, the hyenas charging in first as she strutted through the doors.

"Well played, kid," she said with a laugh, grinning as she practically skipped over to the table. "Killing one of my own to send a message. Usually, i would just shoot you. I don't take too kindly to people messing with my things." She kept her tone cool, even now as she grabbed a seat and twisted it around. The hyenas had their tongues lolling out of their mouths as they stopped by the table as well. "But i liked your style. It brought a smile to my face!" she brought her fingers to her lips pulled up lately at the corners of it. "So I'll tell ya what, how about we talk. And if you aren't wasting my time, I won't put a bullet between your pretty little eyes." She took a seat, leaning back in it as she adjusted the hat again. "I gotta say, though. I do love the hat. Have any in my colors?"

As this new Joker, accompanied by her hyenas stepped into his place he tipped his hat to her. He went back to sipping from his cup and gave a light sigh. He wasn't going for anything too complicated. He laughed lightly as she threatened him but wasn't too concerned. Whether it was the fact he'd been shot in the head before or he was so drunk he simply didn't know, or really care. He was enjoying himself and she really didn't disappoint him. She made a hell of an entrance, just as he hoped she would.

"I'd expected more property damage. But I suppose the night is just starting."

He said with a laugh. He leaned back in his chair, rocking half way and placing his feet on the dead Card's hands.

"Thirsty?"

He asked nodding to the tea cup before her and the bottles of alcohol on the table. He placed a cigarette in his lips and lit it, sighing lightly.

"I'm gonna be honest, not regretting killing your clown. Ya see I'd intended to send just a peaceful message, but he made fun of my hat. Not sure if he apologized between the fifth and sixth punches but everything went sort of...hazy."

He said with a laugh. He certainly didn't regret killing the clown and would've done it again and again, if not more times.

"Well we can discuss hat colors and how you find my eyes pretty later. In the meantime, I invited you here to talk business."

"Oh yes, the night is still so young. There is still plenty of time for me to burn the place down, you know. Oh, i love watching the Gotham Skyline when fireworks go up,"

Josie looked at the tea cup. She was almost disappointed. There was all this alcohol and not a lick of tea. Being this was the Mad Hatter, she had expected more. "Throw me a tea party and leave out the tea and scones? What a shame, i always did love a good earl grey." She grabbed one of the bottles, though, and filled up her cup with whatever liquid was in it. She didn't quite care what she was drinking. She probably wouldn't even actually drink much if it. She would question the notion he might try to poison her but, well, no one can actually poison her. One of the only good things her Daddy ever did for her.

She reached down to gently scratch at the top of Otis's head, the little sweetie sitting beside her. Baby Firefly had her eyes on Lewis the entire time, her teeth bared at him but didn't make a noise. She was so good. She would have to give her a nice treat later if she remained so decent. Josie listened to Lewis and almost laughed. "Bud was never too good with his words. I would say you would have to forgive him of that, but, well." She wrinkled her nose and made a throat slitting motion. "Of course you already know that."

Josie reached across the table and took the knife out of the dead cards hand, examining it. Nice work, though she preferred her own blades. "Business? With me? Curiouser and curiouser," she joked, leaning back again with his knife in her hands. "And what business would this be, Hatter?"

"Well it seems you have your mind already set on it. I do enjoy a challenge. But I know you're not like your predecessor. Should I instead kill you I'm guessing your men will burn the place down, ensuring I stay inside with as many people as possible. So perhaps we need to find a more peaceful route first."

He could tell by the way she carried herself. She wasn't the crazed nut job that the other Joker was. Sure Lewis never truly met him but encountered him a time or two when working with his father. Sure Joker had intelligence, but he never seemed to think a step or two in advance. He was guessing she had plans in place otherwise she never would've come in alone. Not to mention if her people never returned another group was likely ready to attack. Of course he himself had a few tricks up his sleeve. As she made a comment about the spread he shook his head.

"Food should be along shortly. It seems some of my men didn't expect you right on time. I personally expected you five minutes early, but still, that's another matter. As for tea, well I do not allow tea. You see between my father and another certain individual I've had bad experiences with tea drinkers."

He hated his father. His stupid, weak, small minded father. Plus his primary torturer enjoyed tea as well, something he remembered vividly. He rubbed his knee self consciously before downing what was in his cup. Two Cards came forward with trays. One held sandwiches and the other held scones. One Card refilled Lewis cup and motioned towards the dead card.

"No, leave him, my guest's pups look hungry."

He said before motioning towards the dead Card.

"Please, eat up. It'll be less for my men to clean up. Plus what better way to begin paying you back for being down a minion than by feeding all three of you?"

He asked with a smile. The Cards excused themselves and left the two of them alone. Lewis sipped from his cup and decided to think carefully before speaking.

"The business is quite simple Joker. You see from what I've heard you and I are very similar in certain ways, not just both of us looking great in a bikini."

He said with a laugh.

"But both were basically created to be heirs for our fathers, while being superior in many ways. Now you know if we each go our own way only one thing will happen. We might steer clear of each other, each going our own way, but then we'll fight. What happens when we fight? The damn Bat swoops in and arrests us, causing us to have to start all over."

While she might not like it, he knew it was true. One of them would also likely kill the other but in the end they'd be screwed. Bats had a tendency to just show up at the worst possible moment and would screw everything up.

"So I say we team up. Think of it like a truce, but better. Because you see truces also never seem to fully work in the grand scheme. Say what you will but we're the low men on the totem pole, I don't like it. So instead of some stupid truce I suggest a partnership."

He said putting the chair back down. He took a drag of his cigarette, ashing onto the floor and turning his attention back to the Josie.

"Ya see Joker, it's quite simple. Gang vs Gang I'm gonna lose. Sure I might screw up your plans a bit but at the end of the day we're gonna lose people and that won't work. Ya see I have bigger plans. I'm simply not big enough to go the big criminal route, but I can pull off a criminal Empire."

Now that was a laugh, find a peaceful route? Who did he think he was talking to? There was no such thing as peace in this world, just unrelenting chaos and someday the whole world would see it! But she didn't say that, not outloud. Rather, she just pressed the tip of what she thought was a combat knife into her index finger lightly. "If peaceful had been your plan, I'm sure i wouldn't be down a clown. But, you know, details, right?"

Josie's green eyes stayed on the knife in her hand rather than the Mad Hatter. He certainly was Mad for a Hatter. Not liking tea, that would be like her not liking jokes or laughter. It seemed like an almost necessity to her. Then again, they weren't exactly their father's, now were they? "Me? Come early?" She broke off into a crazy little laugh before her words cut it right back off. "Why, I would much rather be fashionably late. A theatrical entrance is so much better than appearing early." It was cute, he thought he knew her. So far, this entire meeting was amusing to her. She hoped that it stayed this way, almost. It would be a shame to get blood on her clothes.

As, what were they called, Cards? came with trays and to clear away the body, Hatter said something that honestly had her surprised. Leave the body? Oh that was sweet. She looked away from the knife to look down at her darling pups. "Baby, Otis, you heard the man, eat up," she cooed, motioning with Hatter's knife towards the dead body. They didn't seem to need to be told twice as they cackled and went to grab the body by it's ankles and drag it off. "They'll certainly appreciate the snack," she chuckled, watching them dig in.

On hand went absently towards the trays to pick up a sandwich and take a small bites out of it while she listened to him speak. Though, when he said something about them being similar, she looked back at him, a brow quirked curiously. However, as he continued, a bit of anger started to bubble up in her. "What do you know about my life?" she growled. Created to be an heir? Yeah, that might have been true but he knew nothing of her life and she didn't like how he seemed to think he did. Still, she took a deep breathe and recomposed herself, grabbing another of the small sandwichs with her free hand.

The rest of what he said did make some semblence of sense, however. Over the years, it was because of loose team ups that ended in fights that had always foiled the plans of their predecessors. And, in the end, it was always the damned bat locking them up, throwing away the key. Her fingers tightened around the hilt of the blade just thinking about the bat. It was his fault he was dead, Joker should have been hers to take out and yet he had died for that god. Damned. Batman.

Her anger didn't last long and for that, they could probably all be thankful of. She was trying to focus on happy thoughts, keep this a pleasant thing. After all, Hatter hadn't given her a reason to really be mad just yet. "A partnership, eh? You know what, why not. I'm feeling pretty good tonight. And we both know that if you did try to, oh, i don't know, poison my tea, so to speak, you and your entire operation would go up in flames," she laughed before finishing off her second small sandwich. "But a partnership only works if we understand how it works. Since this is your little 'plan', i assume there is more to this partnership than us having an unspoken truce."

He should've known better, she was right. She, like her father had a sense for the dramatic, similar to him. While he was nowhere near her level he enjoyed the level of drama. What fun was it if you couldn't make a grand entrance? But he really should've expected more of a show. Then again she hadn't left yet so the chance for a grand show was still present. He watched as the hyenas dragged the dead Card away and shrugged. He'd seen worse, of course how much of that was in his mind he wasn't entirely sure.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son. The jaws that bite, the claws that catch."

He said with an almost crazed laugh. Sure it was nowhere hear a Joker laugh but it was still clearly not the kind of laugh a sane man said. He smirked lightly as she seemed to take offense to what he'd said.

"What I know I know from observations and rumors. It's not hard to find someone in Gotham willing to talk out of fear. Accuracy can be hit and miss but the trick is to look for consistency. A second Harley Quinn, a man who really shouldn't be allowed around children let alone a father. Then again there's my father's hobbies so I am certainly not one to talk."

He said with a laugh. His father was known to be fond of children. Whether he ever did anything with them was open for debate. Lewis himself liked to not think about it, let alone how old his own mother might've been.

"While I am a fan of poison would never poison you. If I were to kill you in order to usurp your power I'd make it very much known and very bloody. Although speaking of poison be careful with that knife. It's a WASP knife that holds aerosolized cyanide."

He warned before taking a small sandwich and eating it. He sipped from his cup and took his hat off. He dusted it off before replacing it.

"As for the plan, well it's simple. You see I'm opening clubs like this in numerous cities. Now out of these clubs I'l also run a variety of businesses. Drugs, weapons, people, probably illegal fighting and gambling as well. Now in each city I'm allying with the top unaffiliated gang. As far as I'm concerned in Gotham that gang is Joker's. You'd help me out, running some protection and procuring items. In return you'd get a cut of the profits plus the ability to use a mostly legitimate business as a legal shelter."

Now that was a laugh and it left her with a small case of manic giggles. He at least had one single redeeming factor about though she didn't comment on it. She assumed he had been talking to his dead henchman, something she did a bit too often, when she had come to think about it. Well even in death, she had wise words to give the bafoons. Maybe they could take it to their graves or into the afterlife, if there was such a thing. "They can be pretty messy and vicious eaters. I would advise your men to stay clear of them." Almost as if to illustrate her point, or more likely, she just had great time, the animals managed to tear one of the arms off and snapped at each other to try and get the other to back off of it. Ah, weren't children the greatest?

Her fingers twitched at the mention of a second Harley Quinn and, for the sake of keeping her hands busy, she started poking the knife into her index finger again, uncaring of whether or not the thing managed to cut her. She almost wanted to pull out her locket but no, she kept that hidden inside of her buttoned up blouse. She kept her eyes on him now and she couldn't help the twisted smile that tainted her lips at the images in her head. She could see herself getting close to him, leaning against the table slightly with a smile on her face. Man, could she make that face look lovely, carve it up so nicely with a large, pretty smile. Remove that tongue of his like he had removed her Clowns. So many things she could do to him. All of which kept her happy as he spoke and her mind off of her mother. "Don't pretend you know my life, Hatter," she warned in the sweetest tone she could seemingly muster.

Josie pulled the knife away from her fingers, feigning a look a shook in her eyes. "What? You mean I'm playing with poison?" she gasped before laughing, twirling the knife in her hand so she could stab it into the table. "Nice touch to a blade. Seems a bit Ivy but hey, poison can be anyone's game, right?" She didn't worry about the knicks on her finger. Poisoned or no, it would have no effect on her. Not that he needed to know that.

"Oh, i don't care about the money. If you thought i did, ha, you're an idiot. No, my goals in life are a lot more... simple." She paused. "But, you know? It could be fun. Imagine the look on peoples faces if they ever learned the hottest club in Gotham was being run by me, the Joker!" she started to laugh and ended up leaning back in her chair. The manical laughter didn't die as quick as the previous ones. The idea was insanely amusing to her, even if she misinterpreted what he had said. "But why open nightclubs? Seems a bit like Ossy, don't you think?" she asked when her laugh died away.

He simply waved off her threat about knowing her. He wasn't about to take threats with her laying down. She was at his tea party and he was in charge, regardless of what she might think. But he liked her thinking she was in charge, it was adorable. But he would work with her, she was useful. Not to mention her with him as opposed to against him would be more useful in the long run. Joker wasn't the king of person you made an enemy of, if you were smart.

"Poison was very useful in my younger days. I was a small weak child. Someone like that doesn't last on the streets of Gotham long, especially with a joke of a father like me. After killing several goons with one punch it put people in the right frame of mind. Plus I love the look on their face as poison takes over. Fear and suffocation as their body can't get any oxygen. Maybe their body goes stiff with paralysis, then the true terror on the face of others as I drink from the same cup. Of course I have other ways to inflict harm now."

As she seemed to step in line with him he smiled. He was glad she began to understand just how useful this partnership could truly be. He knew they'd be unstoppable and crush anyone who opposed them.

"Exactly. Imagine the look on the cowl of the Bat. Trying to arrest you, an innocent business owner. Of course all the while you're running who knows what out the back door. But no matter what it never comes back to you. Perhaps an over zealous manager. Imagine the reaction when you, the beautiful Joker, turns them in."

He said with a laugh. The laugh got a bit maniacal, as it tended to do. Of course it was no Joker laugh, but not any more balanced or sane.

"Together we will run this city with an iron fist. Should a gang operate without our permission we would be forced to make an example of them. Imagine the truly horrific things our minds could do when put together. Of course, betray me and you'll learn I'm far from my father. Perhaps carve your face into a permanent frown that I would ensure you survived, only you. Your pets would make lovely hats however."

His crazed side was coming out. Whether it was her aggression or simply just being in her presence was having an odd effect. But his days, weeks, months, he didn't really know, of torture had given him so many fun ideas.

"As for clubs, well, the Penguin isn't the bird brain he always came off as. Or maybe that was just me calling him that, yeah probably that. But you see a club brings in a lot of money to an area, something cities like. Not to mention all the people who cut loose and perhaps shouldn't. Hell I've even heard about a club in New York that uses psychic dancers, not a bad idea really."

She looked down at her tea cup for a moment, her nose wrinkling again when she remembered what was in it. Alcohol. Freaking alcohol. She seriously hated that. She still wanted a cup of tea. Just one damn cup of tea. Was that so hard to ask for? She didn't give a damn about this little Hatter wannabes fears. Although the knowledge would be quite useful. New images suddenly flashed through her head. Oooh, explodinf tea! Wouldn't that be just delightful. The right chemical combination, once it reaches the stomach, a reaction is created that quite literally makes there stomach explode! She almost giggled at the thought, because of course all she could see was her darling Harley holding this beast down and stabbing pretty pretty daggers in hands, feet, ankles, wrists, making sure he feels every bit of it before forcing a gallon or so of tea into him. Of he didn't drown, of course, the image of the rain of guts and blood was enough to make her giddy.

"You? A weak kid? Oh deary me, i would never believe such a thing." Her previous look of absolute amusement dissolved into a serious one, though her tone was laced with a small bit of sarcasm. However, she did have to admit, she did agree with his views on poison. However, that being said, she was almost certain that he wasn't actually immune to it. No, if she slipped a bit if smilex into that precious drink of his, he would still be laughing and smiling by the time she left. Something else she would have to keep in mind.

Josie didn't completely care for the notion of having to work with this alcohol swilling idiot but the prospective of being able to keep the Bat on his toes about her running a nightclub was just far to delectable. That smug bastard under the cowl wouldn't even know what was coming. And, let's be honest, it would be the perfect hunting ground for guinea pigs when she didn't quite feel like testing her new concoctions on her clowns. Really, the pros out weighed the cons a surprising amount. So why not? Besides, why not keep the enemy as close as possible? She could destroy this Hatter from the inside out. No, she honestly wouldn't care enough to do that. Though it did sound like a fun saturday night if she was ever bored enough.

She already had ideas for managers. One would end up being Melody, no doubt. If only to keep the little minx's trap shut and keep her out of her way. And if worse came to worse, she was sure Melody would understand if she turned her over to the Bat! Why wouldn't she? "Imbecile that he is, that Batman wouldn't even know what hit him! Suspect a thing! It's beautiful!"

She didn't really care much for what he said next. However is petty threats certainly did stir her heart. She smiled slightly, placing both hands over her heart. "Oh my, a man nearly after my own heart!" she said with a laugh. "But alas, i never looked too great with a frown on my lips. Unless that frown was turned upside down, that is. But you, such big threats, i would love to see you try." She leaned forward across the table as far as she could, get as close as she could. "But let us have a moment to be serious. Don't think you would be safe with threats like that. I might not be my father, hell, might not even be what he had always wanted, but i assure you, Hatter, i can be a thousand times worse than him. And i don't really care for threats from a Hatter too scared to drink tea." She snatched a scone from the platter and went back to grinning as she leaned back in her seat. She took a bite of the scone, as if she had said nothing, simply listening again. She could hear her little hyena's still tearing sloppily into the card given to them.

Josie snickered. Bird brain. How punny! "Alright, alright. I get it. When does this new 'club' of mine open?" she asked between bites from the scone.

"Yup, weak and sickly. People thought I'd be an easy target for bullies. Poor fools. I think after the second one ended up foaming at the mouth and turning green they realized that maybe they shouldn't come after me."

He said with a laugh. He was enjoying this small talk. Of course their small talk came down to threats of the not so very idle kind. Which was fine with him, he was used to dealing with threats and so forth. Hell he'd been spewing threats for years and been on the receiving end of so many threats, half not even in English. As she leaned in, in response to his threat he smirked lightly.

"Oh Joker my dear, that right there is why I chose to work with you. Beautiful, brilliant and as deadly as you are fun. Of course my definition of fun is the same definition some have for insane, but that's simply semantics."

He said laughing lightly. He wasn't concerned about her threats, and if anything had been hoping for it in return. If she'd have crumbled he likely would've ended the negotiations. He had enough minions, he was looking more for a partner. Someone he could leave to their own devices and not have the business crumble, which seemed like Joker.

"Well the look and so forth of the club is up to you. Well, just as long as it's profitable. I mean a shell for drugs, gun running and whatever else only works if on paper it's successful. I will happily fund the design and so forth. Just think of me as a mostly silent partner. I get a cut of the profits from the club and you get a cut of all the other businesses being run out of your club. I suggest you implement a manager of some sort as a fall guy. Ideally someone you can't be traced to. As for the location, well, right here. We can even package you as someone trying to fix her community. It's easy. Employ some people from the area, hide your criminal activities behind a shield of volunteerism and other philanthropist bull. The trick is to drum up enough good press so that if the DA tries to investigate you they get hit with a massive blow back in public opinion."

If he didn't shut up and get to the point, they were going to think that he was weak and sickly still, but more so before she would have stuffed him full of his precious scones and alcohol, drip a bit of smilex into it and watch as he chokes on his tea party while he tries to laugh and laugh and laugh himself to death. She didn't even care that if she did that, he likely wouldn't smile. The smile didn't really matter anymore. She took a small breath, no don't think like that, Joker. She knew she was better than that. There were better ways to take care of a pest like this one.There always were, after all. Besides, she didn't really care for choking unless it was her own fingers squeezing the life out of the person. Oh, she certainly wasn't her father, but maybe that was what made her all the more deadly. "Oh you poor thing, tormented by daddy's lackeys." She rolled her eyes before nibbling on the scone. How boring.

However, at least the schlub had some form of intelligence with the next works he used. While she could care less if he thought that she was 'Brilliant' or 'Deadly' (who was she kidding, she loved hearing that said), it was at least some small indicator that he wasn't as moronic as she thought he must be. Good, because as most of her clowns knew, she hated having to deal with morons for too long, especially ones who tried to get in the way of her plans. But she hoped he wasn't that stupid, although she did want any reason to be able to cut his tongue out like he'd done to her precious clown. "Oh please, flattery is the last thing that is going to get you anywhere in this deal, Hatter," she said with a smirk.

Joker listened to him go on and on about the club and the like while she finished up her scone. She had to admit, while she disliked the choice of beverage, the food was at least decent. She flicked the crumbs from her fingers out towards Hatter, her eyes turning towards her precious pets for a moment. They seemed to have had their fill of the man, very little left to him as they chewed on the deceased Card's femurs, soft satisfied what seemed like growls coming from the mutts. How beautiful they were. She could never understand what it was about hyenas that her father couldn't understand. No matter how many he had, they never seemed to like him. But her? Oh, they loved her just fine! However, she knew why her dad had kept them around, a remembrance of his Harley Quinn, his original one. He said that they had always loved her, no matter how disgusted it had made him. Funny, since they didn't always seem to be overly fond of her own Harley.

Melody was always her fall guy, however, she might have to keep her management of the place a secret, or make her believe that she is a manager while she gives the job to someone else. She would love to be able to frame someone else up as the Joker, or a copycat if she needed to to get them thrown away and keep people off of her trail. She wasn't too keen on 'volunteerism' or acting like a 'philanthropist' but damn would it be wonderful cover. She would have to do her make up often, though, keep her skin looking normal rather than the sickly pale color it was. "Leaving it all up to me? Hmm... I could have such fun with this! But I must ask, were there any ideas you have for things such as design or a name?"

It soon became obvious that their little meeting was done. Which was fine with him after all. He had other pressing matters to deal with, namely a few uppity gangs in Metropolis. But it seemed obvious that she also had better things to do. He personally didn't care though. Their business relationship would work just fine, for now. Of course they all knew eventually they'd end up killing each other, or destroying Gotham in the process. But at the end of the day they'd actually work together, as long as they both benefited.

"Well the club is all up to you. I mean I've got the location planned out. According to the paperwork I bought the location, flipped it and then you bought it from me. Or some sort of shell company, your call. Either way it's all your club."

He said with a smile. Of course the primary reason was he wanted there to be some sort of difference between them so the club couldn't be tied back to him. He knew there was a chance she'd flip on him, or her Harley would if it came down to it. Namely he didn't fully trust them, which was why they seemed to actually work well.

"I mean the obvious route is a clown or circus motif. Not sure exactly how well that'd work given people's fear of clowns. Of course you couldn't really blame people in Gotham for being afraid of clowns."

He said with a laugh. He wasn't sure just how well she could pull it off, but hopefully it'd work. The idea of allying with her was a good idea and could only help his Empire. Plus it would keep her where he could mostly watch her.

Then I throw your corpse on top of the pile

All up to her, huh? That would be a whole lot of fun for her to play around with! Oh goodie, that would mean that she would get the opportunity to lock herself away in her 'office' once again and have some fun trying to create the perfect design for a club. The bit of engineering that she had been taught might not have really delved into architectural design, but that didn't mean that she would have an issue trying her hand at it. Already, she had a few ideas. "I'll buy it from you, I think. Make everything a bit easier. I've never really been one for going with the long processes." A lie, a blatant one at that, but at the same time, it was a partial truth. There were definitely times in which she was much more for the slow road if it got the job done just how she wanted it to be. Things took time, after all. Effort. Not everything could be rushed, especially not in this world.

"No no, that would be too obvious! I mean, I might as well make it a comedy club at that rate. At least then I might get a few laughs out of the place before i'm pinned to the wall by the big bad bat. No, clowns would never do." She paused for a moment before a wild grin crossed her lips. "But Wonderland, that's a beautiful place. Imagine the motifs i could throw into there. Cards, queens, graffiti-esque art of the wonderful characters. An homage to you, of course, but no one would really expect someone to be so blatant. Imagine, the Wonderland Lounge." Oh yes, she liked that idea. She liked that idea quite a bit. "Besides, like you said, Gotham's got a terrible case of coulrophobia. It might be very bad for such a business." Her sudden enthusiasm about this whole venture seemed to kill the previous anger and annoyance that had been in her voice. It even made her want to maybe stay back for a little longer to figure it all out. But this meeting was over, she knew that. She just had to make sure that she got all her answers before she made her beautiful exit.

376	@hatter
She will probably make her leave in the next post or two, jsyk. Also, sorry that this is short. There isn't much left for her to do or say at this point xD

Because anything goes on the Joker's Wild

✿

He nodded his head at her suggestion and motioned to the shadows. His Cards and Obsolom would begin drawing up the papers for the purchase of the club.

"Well I hope you have the money for this. Finding our a club with prime real estate sold for a dollar would draw suspicion of everyone, not just the Bats. We're nowhere near that level yet."

Sure, once everything was settled they'd be ready for investigations by numerous people and Bats. But everything was rocky. One inquiry into where this money was coming from and everything could collapse. He didn't come back from the dead and purchase all this real estate to fail at such an early juncture. WHile he did have a few contingencies in place, there weren't enough to properly save him. He'd lose a lot of money, affiliations and clubs. Not to mention all the Cards he'd have to sacrifice in the process. But he pushed that from his mind and listened calmly to her idea.

"Wonderland Lounge, I'm flattered Joker. I almost feel obliged to make a funhouse themed club elsewhere in exchange."

He said with a smile. Of course there'd be a coupe Wonderland-esque clubs. There was no way he could truly escape that influence. He was the Mad Hatter after all. Those who knew him would expect him to have at least one like that. After all, Penguin had the Iceberg Lounge. Naturally of course she had a point. A clown themed nightclub would likely fail. Hell circuses stayed away partially for that reason. Well that and acts ended up dying or injured. It was too risky.

"Yes a funhouse themed club could be fun. Mirrored walls, bartenders and dancers in face paint. Oh there's so many ways it could go. I believe we'll both be very successful Joker. Of course I do like your idea, I am naturally biased after all. Did you know I once met a man who hated Lewis Caroll's works? It was so much fun murdering him. I nearly scrawled lines from the book in his flesh. But hell, even I would investigate me if someone did that."