AN: Omg 81 reviews?? -faints--someone wakes DeadlyElegance up- I love you guys sooooo much! Well...this chapter is a bit long, and I'm sorry about it. Batman is gonna come next chapter...I promise. Here's Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven: The Schemers and the Freaks

Lola changed the station. She had to get Harvey's words out of her head. With or without Batman? What was that supposed to mean? Honestly, Lola believed in Batman and his cause. There was also the fact that Harvey's words actually seemed...real..

Lola could tell he didn't write a speech prior to the conference, by the way he spoke. He, for once, genuinely cared about Gotham city, and her.

Right now, Lola wanted to listen to her favorite radio station, 109.8 FM. It was Gotham City's best hit music station. "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry was playing. She hated that song. She hated it with a burning passion. She wasn't against people who were attracted to the same sex, but she believed that the song needed to get it's own room! Lola turned it off immediately.

"Stupid press conference. Stupid party. Stupid hot Bruce Wayne. Stupid good kissing Joker." she muttered to herself. She looked around the room. There was nothing but her and silence.

Lola breathed, and tried to clear her head of all the current events and faces. Especially the faces. Lola then began to think of all the simple things. She thought her sanity was already fading. Suddenly, an idea sparked in Lola's head. She retrieved her song book, and returned to her spot near the radio. Lola looked for anything to give her something to verbalize on paper.

Lola looked at the walls. They were white, along with the red vandalism. Maybe being confined was what the Joker hated, and he was taking out his revenge on the city. And one of those methods of revenge was making her confined like he was. Lola had grabbed a pen out of her bag along with her book.

I’m sitting in a room,
Made up of only big white walls and in the hall
There are people looking through
The window in the door
they know exactly what we’re here for.

Lola could almost hear the tune that could go along with her lyrics. It made her smile a little, and only a little. She was afraid that if she smiled too much, that the Joker would come in, much to her dismay, and notice it. That would only boost his never failing confidence.

Don’t look up
Just let them think
There’s no place else
You’d rather be.

Lola also thought of the song as how society looks down on those who don't fit in, like herself compared to her politically active family. The Joker was also in the outcast category. She heard he had spent some time in Arkham Asylum before his current reign of terror in Gotham began.

You’re always on display
For everyone to watch and learn from,
Don’t you know by now,
You can’t turn back
Because this road is all you’ll ever have.

And it’s obvious that you’re dying, dying.
Just living proof that the camera’s lying

Suddenly, she heard footsteps from the hallways. The echo rippled from the floor to the walls. She could make out other muffled voices, and the Joker's.

'Shit." she muttered. Lola wasn't just upset that the Joker was back. She was stuck on what to write next.

And...

The door was being unlocked. Lola could hear him turning the key in the doorknob. Lola slowly closed the notebook, pen marking where she left off.

Slowly, the door creaked open. The Joker's makeup was a bit smudged on his forehead. He licked the corner of his mouth, his tongue attempting to tap his scar. "Greetings, Lo-la." he grinned.

Lola only stared back him.

He looked around her, and saw the radio connected to the outlet. He knelt down to her level, taking out his knife. "You went through my things to find that, didn't you doll face?" He grabbed her, pulling her closer to the knife. She dropped her notebook and pen in the process.

"Never go through my thing again, you got it??" he growled. His breath landed on her neck, which sent chills down her spine.

"It's not like you can call someone with a radio!" she struggled against him. "You expect me to sit here and do nothing all day and wait for you to come back?!"

"Actually, I do." he giggled. His eyes then were focused on the notebook by her side. "What's this?" he let go of her and took the notebook.

"Oh you don't wanna go through that..." she said, trying to discourage him from reading it. The Joker stood up, and so did Lola.

The Joker flipped open the book. His eyes analyzed the words, turning each page. He could sense a truth to the calligraphy. There were also some crossed out sections, and even drawings on the pages.

"Um...some of those aren't finished...Thery're songs...for my band. I write them and sing them..."

His smile grew wider, and Lola stared at it. The pen was still beside her

"Honesty. I like that!" he licked his lips again. He then turned to the last page she had written on. He murmured the words softly, and then stopped. Lola waited for some kind of response.

"What's this? Writing about me, aren't you?"

"Not really." Lola explained. "You see, it's about a bunch of different things, how society views certain people to be.."

"Freaks! Like me!" The Joker's loud laughter filled the air.

"Note to self. Joker will laugh at almost anything...even himself" Lola thought.

"You're to stern, Lola. Lighten up. It will do you good..." he winked.

"Yeah right. As I was saying!" Lola continuted. "Society tends to cast out people who won't be like them, and well...the ones outcasted are the ones who are really normal...I thought about this for a while...just never got to writing it."

"Hmmm...you're starting to sound like myself."

"Don't get your hopes up, Captian Clown-o"

"And now you're stuck on what else to say? I could be of help."

"You? help me? Ha!" Lola hissed. "Now's that's a funny joke!"

"Does it look like I'm joking?" The clown prince of crime really meant what he said. But how was not Lola's only concern.

Lola didn't reply, knowing it would be brutally honest. She would have told him that his whole essence was a joke, which would have meant bad things for her. The Joker promised he wouldn't kill her, but that didn't stop him from hurting her.

"I tend to inspire other frequently, answering all their problems...they just don't know it. You see, Gotham will soon realize I am the answer to get rid of all the schemers in this town."

"The only solutions you have are to blow up things, break into parties unannounced, and to smile more...so how's that..." Lola paused mid sentence. The last Joker suggestion was getting to her. "Well, I'll be damned. That could help. I hate you so much, you know that?."

Lola opened the book to the last song, and crossed out the final thing she had written. She replaced it, looking only at the notebook. She didn't want the Joker to see her smile as she jotted her latest lyrical thoughts down.

And oh oh open wide
Cause this is your night so smile
Cause you'll go out in style
You'll go out in style

"You don't hate me, Lola. In fact, you can't hate me. You and I are more alike than you realize." he whispered, and tilted his head slighty to get a better view of Lola's face. "Your smile is beautiful, by the way."

Lola's grin faded. She looked up at The Joker. "How the hell can you even begin to think that?! That we're alike! You're a deranged killer, and I'm an up and coming musician!"

"No. I'm not deranged, Lola." The man licked his lips before beginning his little speech. "We both hate the schemers. Like I was telling you before. Harvey. The Mayor. Gordon. They're all schemers, controlling their little worlds. And you were in Harvey's world...and he controlled you, casting you aside, like a leper. Until now."

Lola felt warm tears coming down her face. She shook her head. He was dead accurate. She didn't want him to be dead accurate. "Nn-no. You're a liar. Harvey...he meant everything he said at that press conference today..." She looked down again.

The Joker placed a gloved hand on her chin, and gently tilted it upwards. "I need you to look at me, Lola."

"I can't." she breathed. "No. You can't be right. You're a liar! A sadistic monster and a liar!"

"See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve..." he spoke, and then laughed.

"Please! stop it!" she whimpered.

"And now, they have their own plan. They're gonna get all the press they can out of you, until the Batman rescues you. Once they find you, you'll be nothing to them once more. It's a cruel cycle, really..." he let go of her chin.

Lola couldn't look at him anymore. She tried to walk away from him to the other side of the room, but the Joker stopped her. He placed his hands on her upper arms. "Get off me! Leave me alone!" she gritted through her teeth. There was a sadness and rage that lingered in her. She wanted to punch him, kick him, anything to let it all out.

"Lola, Lola, Lola." he sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

She stopped fighting him, seeing that it was useless. He was taller, and much stronger than her. Lola began to cry, putting her head against his chest. The Joker put his arms around her.

"I can stop them for you. Just wait and see."

AN: Well..what do you think? Feel free to review people! Chapter Eight is coming soon