Endless Epitaph

The Players : Lois and Clark
Where : Metropolis, KS
When : February 3rd, 2009
Rating : Its Clark.
Notes : A talk. Its needed right?

Clark was focused on the police blog as Lois was on the phone, but that didnt mean he couldn't hear what she was saying. He wasn't eavesdropping because he'd never use his powers like that. But on this end of the conversation the guy she met in Chicago was asking her to come back to help her with something.

And it involved the Joker. Which made him worry about Lois.

The last time she was in the vacinity of the Joker, Clark had to blur his way over to Chicago to save her. Odds are he'd have to do that again. He didnt want anything bad to happen to Lois. But her suddenly leaving put thier already delayed talk on hold.

They were supposed to meet the night before but Lois got called out on a story and Clark had to do some rescues. So, they both agreed to wait until after work tonight. But with her leaving, Clark decided to take some initiative. He still had no clue what he felt or was going to say. But he knew he wanted to talk to her before she left.

Clark gave her time to get home before going over to her place. He just hoped they could talk before she had to get to the airport.

Taking a deep breath Clark knocked on Lois' apartment door.

The Players : Xander
Where : Chicago, IL
When : February 3rd, 2009.
Rating : PG-13, but could go higher. Depends on what goes down.
Notes : Forget notes, just give me some cowbell.

The day started out fine.

Xander had a good breakfast, worked out for a bit. He was starting his new job at The Tool Box, a local hardware store and home decour place, in a few days.

After the death of his boss from the bar, it was closed by his family who had no interest in owning a bar. So he and his friends were out of a job. It was just as well, Xander mostly worked there for a lack of anything else available at the time.

But when he got home from the grocery store, that’s when things took a turn.

He placed the bags on the counter and turned the police scanner on, he often listened to it, just in case anything sounded supernatural.

Wished it were this time. But it wasn’t.

The scanner went off with a loud siren sound. And it only took one sentence to give him pause.

“Attention all units, attention all units. We have a 187 at Hailey’s Comics. Suspect is a male, green hair. Believed to be the Joker and his accomplice Harley Quinn. All units be advised…suspect is armed and very dangerous. Proceed with caution”

187…Xander raced through some of the police codes he had written down so he’d recogonize them. He stopped cold when he realized 187 was a murder.

“Alli…” Xander whispered to no one but with fear in his voice.

He dropped the eggs he had been holding to the ground as he raced out of the apartment and headed to the comic book shop. It was about a mile away from his place. No way would he get near that place fast with all the commotion that would be surrounding the place.

It took about ten minutes, but he got there. Crowds were gathered around the barricades trying to see what was going on. Whispering to each other what they heard.

( Read more... )

The Players : Harley Quinn (open)
Where : Metropolis, Kansas. Lois's apartment.
When : February 3rd, 2009.
Rating : PG13.
Notes : Harley hears that the Joker has a new playmate.


Harley sat inside Lois’s apartment and watched television. After getting back from her midnight visit to her mother and sister’s graves, Harley had thought long and hard about what she wanted to do with her life now. And… She was no closer to making a decision that she was when she started.
Days passed and life continued with Lois leaving to do her job and Harley was left behind in the apartment to think and regret.

She had committed crimes while with the Joker and even though she had been heavily drugged and programmed by him she couldn’t just so easily dismiss what she had done. She needed to pay for those crimes but how? Going back to Arkham would be a death sentence for her and even if she were to survive she would probably end up more insane than they already thought she was.

“They call themselves doctors in that place? How come not a single damn one ever noticed I had drugs in my system or recognize the signs of brain washing the Joker put me through?” Harley suddenly said out loud.

Getting up Harley started to pace. “I could go to prison for the crimes but then no one gets helped, I’m locked up for what I did but wasn’t really responsible for.”

Letting out a frustrated groan, Harley sunk to a chair in front of the T.V. “What I need is some way to make amends for what was done by me but things done when I was not in control.” Looking up at the ceiling Harley made a half hearted appeal to God. “How about some kind of sign on what I should do?”

Hearing no grand voice from above or seeing any of the plants in Lois’s apartment burst into flames, Harley sighed and turned her attention to the television.

“This just in from our Chicago affiliate. It would seem the clown menace of Gotham has decided to make the windy city his newest plaything along with his criminal sidekick of Harley Quinn. A series of brutal murders this last week was thought to be the work of the Joker as the victims were found with their faces twisted in a gruesome parody of a smile but police officials were not completely convinced.”

Harley winced remembering those people in the alley she had helped to kill before shaking her head violently. “I was under the Joker’s control. It wasn’t my fault… Entirely.”

Then came security footage from a museum showing the Joker not even attempting to hide his face. Eyewitness reports state that at that time his sidekick Harley Quinn had helped a newspaper reporter to escape from the Joker’s grasp.”

Harley smiled remembering that moment as being the beginning of her breaking the Joker’s control over her.

“But whatever change of heart the murderous partisan of the Joker had must have been short lived because we now have footage of a comic book store massacre that Harley Quinn participated in.”

Harley’s face turned white. She didn’t help kill anyone at a comic book store did she? Sure her memories were a little scattered from the drugs Joker had kept her on but Harley loved comic books, surely she would have remembered having been in one.

“Here is the footage from the security camera that was shot just last night. You can see Harley Quinn has modified her costume and makeup, perhaps in a badly conceived notion of throwing off the authorities? In any case you can clearly see the Joker taking from her several packages and thanking her for suggesting ways of killing innocent patrons of the store. The packages later exploded killing several emergency workers and firemen called to the scene…”

Harley feeling the intense need to throw up turned off the T.V. and stared at the now blank screen.

“That was not me!” She yelled at the off set. “Mr. J. replaced me so quickly?” Harley shook her head. “So not the point! The point is, I’ve stopped being his punching bag and crime accessory and I’m still getting blamed for it.” Harley’s face turned pure white as the implications of the newscast fully set in.

“It also means some poor probably innocent girl is being force feed drugs and brainwashing and is being molded into being the Joker’s newest plaything. I… I… Can’t let that happen. Not again, not to someone else.”

But what could she do? She couldn’t go to the police and tell that that. They would lock her up on sight.

Suddenly Harley remembered that the Joker had kept a ‘safe’ house in Metropolis. He kept such safe places to hide in many major cities in case things got too hot in Gotham and Harley just remembered where the one in Metropolis was located. There she could find some of her old costumes to wear when she confronted him and a cache of money she could use to get back to Chicago.

But first she would need to seek out some of Metropolis’s more criminal members and purchase one last thing. A high powered hand gun. Whatever it took Harley vowed to herself that she wouldn’t let another person suffer at the hands of the Joker like she had. It was time that the clown went down.

Harley paused as she started to rush out of Lois’s apartment and for a brief moment she thought about writing a letter to Lois explaining where she was going and what she had to do and how much Harley appreciated everything the woman reporter had done for her. But Harley knew the letter would be too much like a suicide note because Harley fully expected she probably wouldn’t survive her confrontation with the Joker, but as long as she stopped him permanently that was all that mattered.

“If I leave a letter Lois is bound to come after me to stop me, and I can’t have that.” Harley finally said out loud to herself. Walking to the door she turned to look back at the room. “So I guess this is goodbye. With luck you’ll think I just took off and won’t know where I went till everything is settled.” With a tear in her eye Harley told the empty room. “Goodbye L.L. You were the closest I ever had to having a best friend.”

Quietly Harley turned the knob that would lock the door behind her and leaving the apartment she shut the door.

The Players : Lois Lane & Clark Kent.
Where : The Daily Planet, Metropolis, Kansas.
When : February 2st, 2009.
Rating : PG13 – R just in case.
Notes : Oh look, Lois.

The bustle and noise around the Daily Planet barely registered with Lois as she sat staring at her computer, her morning coffee already cold and long forgotten. She had just finished working on a story about the most recent murder in Metropolis and it was a little worrying. After everything she’d found out in Chicago thanks to Xander, Lois was starting to look at all of the strange crimes in Metropolis with a new point of view. Just how many of them over the years were really solved and not some kind of cover up or undiscovered preternatural incident? Were the string of brutal hack and slashes she’d written over the past few months due to vampires or a demon? After all, not everything had to be done by human hands or a meteor infected psycho. How did a person manage to tell the difference in this day and age?

And where was the Blur? How did that murder get by him? Not that she saw him as some supreme omnipotent being, but he’d managed to save her in Chicago but couldn’t save a life in what seemed to be his base of operations? Too many questions and not enough answers.

She picked up her phone and checked her messages with a sigh. Things had been a little busy since returning to Metropolis but Lois was still insisting that Harley stay with her until they got her free of the Joker and hopefully any legal matters. She was already on the search for a lawyer who would be willing to work on their behalf. God knew who exactly she could trust for this kind of delicate matter, but she wanted all of her options covered.

Lois looked up from her phone as she sat it back down with a slight frown on her face as she heard the familiar squeak of the chair across from hers. She looked over at Clark doing whatever it was he was doing at his desk and resisted the urge to speak up about his squeaky chair again. Oh no, she wasn’t going to play that game today. She was still feeling snubbed and unimportant since coming back home and playing the banter game, which she’d normally enjoy, would just remind her about how up in the air things were. One of these days they were going to have to actually have ‘The Talk’, the question was, who would bring it up first?

Screw it. She was Lois Lane. She didn’t cower before a challenge. She charged head on into situations and this was no different. It couldn’t be, otherwise she’d turn into one of those pining romance heroines and Lois would rather die than let that happen. So she steeled herself for the ‘faceoff’ and stared straight at Clark. “So.. Clark." The fact she wasn't calling him Smallville was a hopefully an attention grabber. "We need to talk.”

Straight to the point? Blunt? Demanding? Eh, it would work.

The Players : Lois Lane, Harley Quinn, Clark Kent...
Where : Metropolis, Kansas.
When : January 29, 2009.
Rating : PG13 – R for language.
Notes : Lois has been on a train with Harley Quinn for ten hours... and those hours may remain a mystery. HA.

It was wet and rainy morning in Metropolis. The heavy rain was only matched by the bitter cold that came with it and the mood of one Lois Lane. Lois sat on a bench as she tried to wake herself up with a second cup of coffee. She was extremely cranky and unhappy… Though it was surprisingly not caused by a ten hour train ride with one Harley Quinn. No, her mood was caused by the absentee known as Clark Kent. Before they’d boarded the train, she’d texted him and gotten his confirmation that he’d pick them up. Of course, they’d been waiting for a half hour now.

Lois grunted from behind her drink. It figured she couldn’t rely on Clark to follow through. It was as if everything just started to fall apart around the time of Chloe’s wedding. Before then, everyone had been fine. But what should have been a happy time just seemed to be the final warning signal that it was time to take that ride to hell in a hand basket.

She cast a look at Harley who was exploring their little niche in the station with wide eyes, much like a tourist. She’d woken Lois up from her nap when they’d almost hit Metropolis. She’d pointed out some of the landmarks and asked questions about some of the newer buildings she didn’t recognize, all while commenting that the city was still brighter than Gotham. Lois sighed and grabbed her bag and stood up from her seat. “Smallville is obviously going to be a no show.” She tried not to sound as disappointed as she suddenly felt. “We’d better go fetch a cab.”

Lois tried to ignore that sinking sensation she felt when she gave up on Clark as she waited for Harley to join her in the trek to the station exit. She hated that even despite her common sense to the situation, she wanted to trust him and give him the benefit of the doubt. And when her doubt was proven, she somehow still felt bad about it, as if it was something she had done. How the hell did he manage to do that to her?

She shook those thoughts off as best she could. They had to get to her apartment and then she’d deal with Clark and whatever he may have found. At least she could count on him for anything that didn’t concern her specifically. Maybe it was just a sign of how things should work…

The Players : Harley Quinn
Where : Lois's hotel room, Chicago, Illinois.
When : January 28, 2009.
Rating : PG13 – R for possible language.
Notes : Harley may seem a little confused, she is dealing with her issues.

Harley stood in the doorway of Lois's hotel room and peeked in. She was a little reluctant to walk into someone else's room when they weren't around. Finally blowing a huge bubble with her bubble gum she crossed the threshold of the room and shut and locked the door behind her.
She did as Lois had told her to do and quickly found Lois's bags and prepared everything so they could make a fast getaway if they had to. After all, the Joker was still out there somewhere and was now gunning for the both of them.

Having gotten Lois's stuff ready, and resisting the urge to prowl in Lois's private stuff. Harley found herself...Bored.

"Okay, what can I do now?" Harley asked herself before spying the room's phone.
"I could call....Um, who can I call? I could call Puddin and try to explain everything so he won't be so upset?"
Harley quickly realized that idea was stupid. Not only did the Joker not carry a cell phone but the idea was to get away from him. Not call him.

"I could call Arkham and see if they'll let me talk to Ivy?"

Once again Harley realized that was a stupid idea. Having been a shrink working there herself she knew that Arkham wasn't in the habit of letting their patients take calls and even if they did, they would recognize her voice and trace the phone call back to the room and Harley would find herself talking to Ivy in person as in being confined to Arkham again. Not something she wanted at the moment. Also there was the very real probability that Ivy had escaped from Arkham by now and wouldn't be to take her call, if Arkham was in the habit of letting patients take calls, which they didn't.

"Okay that's out. Maybe I could call my family."

The temptation to do so was incredibly strong but after a moment Harley realized it also was a bad idea. For one, the Joker told her if she tried to contact her family he would punish them for it, and some how the Joker always seemed to know what Harley did. And two, The police might have her family's phone monitored, since Arkham and the police knew her real name and history, and that once again would lead them to Lois's hotel room and Harley going back to Arkham not to mention possibly getting Lois in trouble too.

"Argh!" Harley cried as she flopped down on Lois's bed. "A phone and all the time in the world to talk and I can't use it."

Lying on the bed on her back with her head hanging over the edge, Harley watched the hotel's tv upside down for a bit before getting bored again. She was always a action kind of gal and hanging around was grating on her nerves.

Harley frowned, as lying on her back on the bed she spotted a envelope lying in front of the room's door. Somehow she had missed that when she came in. Getting up off the bed she walked over and picked it up and noticed it was addressed to Lois. And more importantly, it was in Harley's own handwriting. Ripping the envelope open she quickly scanned the page inside confirming it was indeed her own letter she had sent to warn Lois about the Joker hunting her.

Harley was an intelligent woman, really she was, but finding a letter she had lost clear across town in the room she had meant for it to go to startled her so bad she dropped the letter and spent the next ten minutes checking the closets, under the bed and even in the shower to make sure she was alone in the hotel room.

"Okay, that is just creepy. How did a letter I lose in the night get here?"

Having no answers to her mystery, Harley eventually became bored again and finally decided to take a nice long hot shower. Something else she didn't get a chance to do very often.

As the hot water cascaded down her body, Harley began to wonder how her life might have turned out if she had never met the Joker.

"I lost so much." Harley muttered to herself. "Contact with my family, friends, going on dates. I really don't make good decisions when I am left on my own."

Blowing a bubble again she climbed out of the shower and wrapped herself in a hotel robe before going back to sitting on the bed watching soap operas on tv.

Deftly moving the gum around with her tongue, she blew her hair out of her eyes and then blew another bubble. "Damn I hate being alone." She finally declared out loud.

The Players : Lois Lane, the Joker, Harley Quinn.
Where : The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.
When : January 27, 2009.
Rating : PG13 – R.
Notes : Oh Lois, she just can’t stay out of trouble these days.

Lois stood in the Field Museum of Natural History’s Egyptian exhibit with a frown. She had an appointment with a curator, and yet he was at least fifteen minutes late. Her patience was wearing thin as she pulled out her cell phone. If she was going to be forced to wait she could at least kill some time. She dialed Chloe’s number but when she received her voice mail, she hung up. What was going on with her cousin? She tried the number to the Talon apartment, hoping that maybe she could catch her there. She was pretty sure Jimmy was on the mend enough to be moved back to Metropolis but now, so maybe they were in the process of doing that. Unfortunately, Lois got the answering machine. She sighed and almost hung up, but decided against it. “Chloe? Hey, it’s Lois. Just called to check in and find out how you were doing.” She frowned at how it sounded too simple. She was starting to worry about Chloe. Was she having some PTS from the wedding incident? Had Jimmy gotten worse? "Is there something wrong? ..Just call me back when you can, alright?"

She hung up with a concerned frowned. When she got back to Metropolis she going to try and sit Chloe down for a talk. Whatever was going on, she wanted to help. After all, Chloe was her family.

“Miss Lane.” Lois looked up at the cultured sounding voice and slid her phone back into her pocket as an older man in his forties walked over to her. He adjusted her blazer and then offered her a hand to shake, which she did. He gave her a sheepish smile as if embarrassed by his own tardiness. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”

“It’s not a problem, Dr. Jameson.” She replied, forcing herself to play nice and to ignore her own irritability. “So why don’t you get started and tell me about this new addition to your exhibit.”

“It’s a fascinating discovery actually...” He led her toward another spot in the exhibit as she tried not to roll her eyes. Somehow she highly doubted it was as fascinating as he thought.

It was moments like this when she would hope for something more exciting to happen. The sooner she got this over with the sooner she could be doing something useful, like helping Xander and stopping a supernatural psycho. She still wanted to make it to Curious Goods before it got late.

The Players : Chloe; somewhat opened to other SV characters and stuff. See note below.
Where : Chloe's apartment above the Talon
When : Um... In the middle of the day? Nothing specific here.
Rating : PG-13, at most.
Notes : I guess this is really meant to be a narrative, but I thought it might be kind of neat if she checked her answering machine and has messages from her friends or something, wondering if her and Jimmy are okay. So... feel free to comment to this post with a message from your kid to Chloe. :)


( After at least a few weeks, Chloe Sullivan-Olsen was finally home. )

The Players : Lois Lane, Clark Kent
Where : Chicago, Illinois.
When : January 27, 2009.
Rating : PG13 – R for language.
Notes : My dog ate my notes. May I have extra credit anyway?





Lois was curled up in a chair sipping her coffee as she stared at her morning paper. A content smile was on her lips as she looked at The Daily Planet. Her editor had been true to his word, giving her the front page. Her byline was there with an actual photo of the Joker and Harley Quinn standing over their handy work in the alley. It had made last night’s drama worth it. Of course, she realized it possibly made her a target of the Joker now but as a reporter, Lois knew that was bound to happen, one way or another. She could however do her best to keep others out of it. Despite the fact she had planned to mention Xander and his friend Alli by name, Lois had decided against it as she wrote her final draft. She kept them unnamed and hoped they’d understand. She didn’t want them to be targets anymore than they had made themselves last night.

Lois glanced at her now charged and working phone with a frown. She wondered what anyone back home would say about this. She hadn’t called them to let them know what happened. She’d probably be chastised for getting into trouble in the first place... but god had it been worth it. Especially since it had officially removed her from the fluff piece she had originally been assigned. And on an even more bonus level with the bit of info she picked up from the Joker and Harley’s conversation when she was playing Sleeping Beauty, maybe the cops would finally catch the freak.

She took a bite of her bearclaw and debated on calling Xander now. It wasn’t too early, but Lois was still basking in her moment she was sure the Simon situation would bring her back down to whatever constituted as reality these days. Thinking about reality made her wonder how Chloe, Jimmy, and even (or especially) Clark were doing. She set the pastry on its plate and picked up her phone, ready to dial. All she had to do was follow through.

A moment and a sigh later, the phone was back on the table, but instead of making calls, she had settled for sending a few text messages to people to reassure them that she was indeed fine and that no the Joker hadn’t done any permanent damage. That made her thoughts turn to Harley and she set her phone back down. The woman was obviously nuts, but she had one hell of a weird complex going on. Lois couldn’t help but feel somewhat sorry for her. Part of her told her to leave it be, but she had to wonder if there was something more she could. She owed Harley something. Without Harley, she may have been worse than dead by now. She had mentioned her family and the Joker’s threats. Maybe she could at least help with that.

She slid her laptop over to her and started her research on everything Harley Quinn. The only way to know if she could help was if she did some research.

*********

Lois stared at her screen with a frown. She’d managed to find quite a bit on Dr. Harleen Quinzel, including were her family lived. It was none other than Metropolis. Unfortunately, they were victims of a brutal murder around two months ago. “Damn.” There was no way it was a coincidence. If she were back home she’d go check out the scene to see if there was anything the police missed. As it was, she couldn’t just abandon Xander and this weird Simon thing.

On instinct and a bit of reluctance she picked up the phone and dialed the first number that came to mind.

The Players : The Joker, Harley Quinn, and happy happy people. (Open to anyone who wishes to play with the Joker)
Where : Chicago, IL
When : January 26th, nighttime
Rating : R (violence)
Notes : The Joker and Harley in this borrows from all their predecessors but bows to none of them. (In other words, they are my take on the characters so don’t be surprised if they are a little different.)

A cold crisp clean wind blew through the night, so one could be understandably confused how such a clean breeze found itself lost in a back alley of the large sprawling city. The alley was as dank, decrepit and despair filled as could be found in any large metropolis. Winos lay sprawled unconscious on crushed down cardboard boxes as drug dealers a few feet away plied their trade on the desperate to escape reality. Near the edges of the alley, hookers tried their luck with the lonely and the desperate, while their pimps watched on from the shadows.

Into this perfect picture of urban decay and despair came the strains of music. Music that sounded suspiciously like it came from some broken music box. The individual notes would speed up, slow down, stop and start in a drunken fashion, so much so that was nearly impossible to determine what the tune had originally been but now had a Frankensteinian existence all its own and the tune wasn’t a pleasant one. Several hookers near the entrance to the alley moved further into its dim recesses, risking glares from their pimps as they attempted to escape the ominous sounds.

As the entrance to the alley cleared of its inhabitants, a man appeared in the middle of the street. At first, the denizens’ of the alley mistook the man for another pimp looking for his hooker. After all, he was dressed in the flamboyant style some pimps favored. The man was wearing a large coat that seemed to be made up of multicolored scraps of cloth sewed together. From the glow of the distant street lights and the full moon in the sky it appeared to the onlookers that his hair was colored in a punk style of green with a few braids of different colored hair mixed in to accent the strange style. A large smile in a too pale face sized them up before the man began to move into the alley towards them.
As the man began to stroll casually down the center of the alley, the other hookers, pimps and drug dealers gave way before him and moved further into the alley to stay ahead of him. He wasn’t a particularly dangerous looking individual but the denizens of the alley gave way to him as animals will when they recognize an ‘Alpha’ individual had entered their territory.

Some of the hookers frowned as they noticed the music they had been hearing didn’t increase as the stranger drew near. It was just naturally assumed that the stranger was the source of the music but it appeared they had been wrong.
The man reached about one quarter of the way into the alley before he stopped and frowning glanced over his shoulder at the entrance to the alley.

“Harley.” The man spoke only the one word but while his voice was commanding it still conveyed an not unpleasant tone.

A woman appeared at the entrance of the alley and just as the male had before, took the center of the alley and began to slowly enter the alley. While the man’s pace and demeanor showed no hesitation or lack of resolve, the woman’s showed timidity, nervousness and a desire to be anywhere but there. As she neared the first interloper into the alley, everyone noticed the music they had been hearing increase in volume showing she was indeed the source of the tune. The woman was wearing a long jacket that covered some kind of black and red one piece suit causing more than one pimp to consider trying to woe her way from her current assumed pimp. Short blond hair framed an almost childlike face but was more than offset by the brief flashes of voluptuous curves that were revealed as her hips swayed as she walked and the edges of the jacket flared open and shut.

The man dressed in the multicolored jacket continued to frown at her over his shoulder and once barked only one word. “Sing.”

The woman pulled the sleeve of her jacket back revealing some kind of gauntlet on her arm and pressed a few spots on it. Instantly the drunken music box tune was replaced by a steady drumming beat and something that sounded like horns playing.