Not All Jokes Are Funny [TDK Joker]

The six of us squeezed into Matt's SUV. Matt, in the driver's seat, fiddled with his iPod to provide the ride with some uplifting tunes. Luka sat next to him in the passenger seat, punching in the address in the GPS system; his hands were shaking slightly. Emilion, Jasper and I were squeezed in the back seat, with me in the middle of the two buffest guys in the band. Breathing should be fun. Atticussat in the back with all the band equiptment, to keep it from rolling around and to keep the heavy stuff from crushing other expensive things.
After settling on the rhythmic beats of Datarock, Matt pulled out of the parking space and followed the first direction given by the robotic woman of the GPS.
"Turn Left on Fifth Avenue. One Fourth Mile."
I began to hum along to the sounds of the music, Matt sang along mocking the out of tune background vocals.
"Seen as supremus. You better know she’s a genus and a Venus! Tell me more, was it loveat first sight? That's right this was god giving grace with a face you could praise."
Luka kept his eyes strictly on the clock. By the end of the song we were already there withten minutes to spare.
The car was parked in front ofa granitebuilding. The strange thing was, there was no sign on the front,andit wasonly one floor. A burly man in dressed in all black stood infront of the door, facing us.
Underneath his mirrored aviators, I could feel his intense stare. The sketchy location further intensed the uneasy feeling we all had. Jasper exchanged a worried glance with me, then nudged Luka by accident, making Luka stumble slightly.
A few weeks earlier, after one of our shows in downtown Gotham,we were approached by a man named Carmine Falcone. We all knew who he was, what with his name being on the news every so often. The mobster wanted us to play at his club, told us to come by to check the place out and finalize some details. He offered us a fair amount of money, and we told him we'd stop by. Jasper didn't like the way he smiled; there was a glint of maliciousness in every movement.
Once we reached the burly man, he stopped us.
"Whaddya want?"
His breath reeked of garlic. Oh my god, grossgrossgross. Struggling to keep my facial expression from looking disgusted, I stepped forward.
"We're the band, My Red Mourning, here to meet with theowner of this club. This is TheBlack PantherBar....isn't it?" I asked shifting my eyes from his face, to the door of the building, and back.
I could see my reflection in his sunglasses.
The man looked over his sunglasses at us. His eyes were a dull brown that matched the color of his thick eyebrows. He took a step forward, leaning in. Jasper put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me back slightly.
The man snorted and retracted, "You guys is early. Tha boss said three o'clock. It's 2:55."
Jasper maneuvered himself so as to be mostly in front of me, to be pretty much in the guy's face.
"Can you tell your boss that we're here atleast?"
The man shifted on the balls of his feet and whipped out a cell phone.
He dialed in a number and a faint rining was heard, after a few seconds, the ringing was replaced by a faint, deep voice.
The man listened to what the other side of the line was saying, nodding his head and inserting "mhmm"s and "yes,boss"es at varied intervals. After a minute, the man snapped the device shut and instructed us to go inside, following the stairs to the left at the end of the hallway.
He opened the door and we all filed in, with Jasper in the lead. At the end of the line, Emilio thanked the man curtly, and was followed by the shutting of the door. Once the door was closed, we could only see our way thanks to the variously colored flourescent lights that decorated the walls and cieling. Our clothes glowed ultraviolet colors.
"This isn't creepy or anything," Atticus said grasping onto my arm.
I giggled and nudged him with my hip, "I dunno, it kind of makes me want to rave."
"Matt, you shoulda brought your iPod. We could bedancing down these stairs to our death,and atleast we'd have some sweet music," Emilio brightened our spirits with his comment.
"Dude. Look at your teeth! They glow!" Matt started cracking up, causing the rest of us to turn around and look at where Emilio was, at the back of the line.
All that could be seen of Emilio was his white t-shirt with a black outline of his vest, and his teeth, which were in fact glowing a bright, purplish-white. Laughter filled the staircase immediately and all the small fears we had were evaporated and replaced with the warm feeling of family. The rest of the way down the long staircase was filled with jokes and snickering.
At the end of a staircase stood a man, whom we recognized as Falcone. Next to his leg, sat a quiet rottweiler.
"Ah! You made it! So glad you didn't get lost," Falcone said with a sleek smile on his face,"come into my office, kids".
He greeted us one by one, allowing admittance to his office behind him. WhenI took his hand, I noticed it was moist and soft. I recoiled my hand as fast as I could without seeming rude. After letting go, I looked at his face and he gave me a wink as I began walking. This better be quick.

The room was well lit, in contrast to the dark hallway and stairs. The walls were plain cement blocks, a few pictures of celebrities and newspaper clippings hung in frames. The floor was a plush deep red carpet, a few darker red splotches stained the floor. Even the mostoblivious of person could figure what those were from, judging from the company that Falcone was with. There were chairs set out in front of the large, modern, mahogany desk that Falcone now took a seat in.
I took a glance at the digital clock on the wall, behind the desk. It read 3:00. With all going smoothly, the meeting last a mere half hour.With Mattbehaving himself, Emilio'sgood humor, Luka's intelligent planning, and my womanly charm, a deal was made. My Red Mourning was to play at The Black Panther Bar this upcoming Friday nightat 9:00 pm. An incredible pay was established after I innocently flirted a bit, just asking for the 100 dollar increase. To everyone's surprise, Falcone was so generous he said he'd increase the first said amount by $600. Each member was going to recieve $900.
We exited the room with grins on our faces, each thinking up ways to spend our large future paychecks.
One reaching the top of the stairs, I heard voices from the outside. The door swung open infront of us, letting in the extreme bright light of the sun. I had to close my eyes, blinking to get accustomed to the new lightsource. Everyone else pushed in front of me. By the time I reached the door everyone was taking their places in the car, staringtowards my directionawkwardly. When I stepped outside I realized why.
Several people brushed past me, all wearing strange clown masks. Another group of people surrounded the burly man that stood in front of the door before.A few of them whispered to someone in a purple trench coat as I walked by. Quickly, I put my head down and looked at the ground in front of my feet. I really need to stop staring at people.

"Hey! You! Girl walking, turn around," I heard a nasal voice call. I stopped walking and raised my head to face the direction from which the voice was coming from.
Holy shit...
"You... what were you doing down there with your friends?"
Holy shit, I'm going to die. Relax. Calm down. Answer him.
"Just some music-related business,hun," I said with whatever smile I could muster. I stood there for a second, taking in short shallow breaths, looking at a man who was feared throughout the city. His face was a clean sheet of white paint, around his eyes were clean black circles, on his mouth was a painted red smile that was marred by obvious scarring. The Joker. Okay. It's the Joker. Turn around now. Walk to the car. Walk back to the fucking car.His clothes were crisp looking, hair was clean and neatly placed. I turned back around and started walking the very short distance that separated me from the safe haven of Matt's car.
"I'll be seeing you around, Sweetheart," he said and I started laughing out of sheer anxiety. The slamming of the building's door was the last thing I heard before I closed the car door.
I didn't dare look back at the building. My eyes stayed focused on my shaking hands, and even over the loud music, all I could hear was my heart pounding in my ears.

rate.comment.message!
tell me what you think!
next installment will be up either Thursday or Friday! :D