Chapter Text
It wasn't often that you had the privilege of helping someone as famous, or infamous as Batman. He really wasn't the type to reach out for help and if something needed to be done, some danger taken care of, he generally flew solo.
Every now and then though, he would appear almost magically to seek out your 'expertise'. After all, there really weren’t too many people in town with your particular set of skills. There were plenty of hackers, but not very many that could take down the kind of security that you specialized in. There wasn’t a system in all of Gotham that could keep you out.
The very first time he showed up you had been scared to death that he was going to throw you in jail. While you did not consider yourself insidious or black hat by any means, what you were doing was not technically legal. You often fell into the gray area of ethics on your own time to test your skills and keep them sharp. Yet, rather than turning you into the authorities he did something much more surprising. He offered you an interesting little challenge instead.
After that, you were always on the look out for Gotham’s dark knight, constantly hoping to see him again. Life was just so dull when you were a little too smart for normal work and whenever he was around it meant he had brought yet another deliciously difficult puzzle to solve.
So when he called that evening out of the blue, you were ready and willing to drop everything to help. When you met him at the arranged location however, he had a friend with him.
A very notorious and dangerous friend.
~~*~*~*~~
The three of you were walking down the hall of an old building on the outskirts of Gotham. It hadn’t looked particularly large nor impressive from the outside and was even less so inside. It might have been interesting at one point, but it had fallen into a terrible state of disrepair and neglect.
Batman his usual silent and brooding self while the Joker chattered away. It was your first time meeting someone like him and he was far from what you’d expected. On sight you had known exactly who he was and that you should keep your distance even with Batman at your side. However, he was much more interesting than you would have thought and had a tendency to say very amusing things. Sadly, your amusement was just a little too hard to keep under wraps, as he really was quite a character.
That one little smile you unintentionally let slip did not go unnoticed by him either. Apparently he was either very observant or simply more interested in you than his surroundings. Which was a strangely flattering thought in itself, regardless of how droll the building was. It would have made more sense for him to wonder at where he was being led rather than to note that he was amusing you. Though, ‘sensible’ really wasn’t a word that fit when it came to the Joker.
"I think she likes me~" He chortled to the Batman and you rolled your eyes at his remark while fighting yet another smile.
"What's to like?" Your somewhat amused question redirected his attention right back to you.
"Perhaps it's my charming sense of humor~" He laughed loudly at this before his voice became more serious and, to be honest, a little thrilling. "Or maybe my dashing good looks."
"Keep walking." Batman forced him onward as he slowed to get a bit closer to you.
"Bah! Such a buzzkill, Bats! Can't you see we're having a conversation here!?" His exasperation was honestly hilarious, which was what caused you to slip and giggle.
This made the Joker very pleased indeed and he cackled with glee, sending Batman a look that was almost smug. "As I said: she likes me."
You snickered as Batman shoved him into the elevator. "Sorry, he really is amusing."
Naturally, the dark knight did not respond to this—he rarely spoke much even when it was just the two of you. Though the Joker was more than willing to keep up the entertainment on this little venture as you followed in behind them.
"So, what brings you to such a romantic spot?" His sarcasm was oddly endearing. The dark elevator of this dingy abandoned building was so far from 'romantic' that you almost slipped up and laughed again.
"I'm tempted to yank your chain a bit with my answer; but, I'll be honest... I get bored easily." You were leaning back against the rusty steel wall feeling grateful to have someone distracting you during the ride. The noise the elevator was making did not sit well with you at all. "I'm looking for a thrill."
"My, my," Something about his sly tone gave you chills and so did the fact that he was leaning towards you. Not that he had much leeway on his 'leash'. Still though, there wasn't much space in the elevator and it put you quite close. "We have so much in common." He looked back at Batman who was still holding tight to the shackles, but he seemed to be paying you both little mind. "How about you dump the Bat and play for my team instead? I'll show you a real good time."
You looked between him and Batman for a moment before leaning forward to whisper. "I think he can hear us!"
This made the Joker laugh and you grinned at the response. "Where, oh where, did you find this little gem, Bats?"
What an interesting night this was turning out to be. You never would have considered spending your time chatting with a mass-murderer or that you would end up enjoying such a thing. He should have scared you into silence, but he was so… odd. Not exactly in a bad way either as he tickled at your curiosity and interest with every word and gesture. He was the type of man you shouldn’t have even wanted to be near and yet his personality was practically magnetic.
Batman, for the most part, continued to ignore the two of you. Though he did pull Joker back when he started leaning too close to you again, which caused the clown to roll his eyes in what seemed to be in exasperation. Even such a small gesture from him was humorous. If he wasn’t such a monster he would be fairly irresistible—a thought that was nearly as amusing as he was.
“You are just the life of the party tonight, Bats!” He chided before giving you a look. “A woman like you should have better taste.” The remark came out on the deeper end of his range of tones, but then he sighed almost wistfully. “Good girls always do seem to fall for the would-be hero type.”
This made you laugh again; he really was good at that.
"Who says I'm a good girl?" You winked playfully and he looked positively thrilled.
"Ah, you little minx~" His gleeful tone made you positively giddy—this was just too much fun. “You really are my type of woman.”
The elevator came to a screeching stop causing you to stagger forward right into Joker's chest. In fact you had to go so far as to grip the front of his suit to keep yourself from toppling over. The notion that you were pressed up against the most dangerous man in Gotham wasn’t even the most horrifying or embarrassing thing about the situation though. It fell short compared to your worry that the elevator was going to crash and the shock of realizing that you liked the feel of him. Even through the suit you could tell that he was fit, however you did your very best to banish that fact to the depths of your mind. It was bad enough that you liked talking to him, it would be quite terrible if you developed some sort of crush.
Apparently having drawn the same conclusion about just why the elevator had come to such a sudden stop, you and Batman both glanced at the Joker.
"Well, it certainly wasn't me." Somehow you doubted that statement was entirely true, though he very well could have been smirking like that because you were still pressed against his chest. Maybe he could even tell that you enjoyed being there.
That thought made you want to slam your head against something—hard.
The lights flickered a few times and it only served to make you even more edgy. You backed up to the wall and held the railing with a death grip as Batman locked the Joker to the adjacent rail and climbed up on top of the elevator. You watched him until he was out of sight and then your eyes fell back to Joker as if drawn to that spot. Really, you should have looked anywhere else, especially since your face felt more than a little warm.
He looked just as calm as could be, but that wasn't what unsettled you. It was the fact that he was looking right at you.
The elevator dropped just a little suddenly and the lights went out longer than usual. Neither of which helped your nerves. You gripped the rails tightly on either side and bit back the urge to scream and swear. Of all the ways to die, an elevator was certainly one of the worst that you could think of. The Joker grinned a devious little smile, amused at seeing you suddenly so rattled.
"So how's it going up there?" You called and felt a smidge of relief when your voice came out fairly normal.
Batman didn't answer but he did slip back inside just in time for the elevator to start moving again. You sighed with relief. "Thank goodness. I've never really fancied the idea of being a human pancake."
Joker snorted at your remark and Batman actually looked like he was about to say something, but then the doors opened and suddenly everything went to Hell.
You hardly had a chance to see anything outside the elevator before the path ahead became a wall of bodies pressing in and blocking any chance of escape. A split second of indecision had you torn between kicking the close door button to try and keep them out or getting behind Batman so he could handle things. Sadly both options were promptly squashed. You hadn't even noticed that they had thrown something until Batman collapsed beside you.
There were darts sticking out of his costume, having been thrown hard enough to apparently pierce it. You had only a moment of stunned horror to realize that at least one of those darts had been meant for you before the elevator got just a little fuller.
So the Batman was unconscious, you were surrounded by goons, and a quick glance over showed the Joker was being set free. You were a smart girl, but you were no fighter. Without the Batman there didn’t seem to be a way out that didn’t involve getting killed or captured, though you still tried to think of one regardless. You were just calculating your chances in a fight with these guys when someone threw their arm around your shoulders, pulling you into their chest. It only took a matter of seconds to realize who it was—the cackle was a dead giveaway.
"Looks like you're all mine now." His tone was dark and made you very wary of his intentions. Regardless of how you felt about his personality—or his body for that matter—being unprotected and in his clutches changed the game entirely. It was no longer an even playing field, because now he held all the cards.
There was no choice but to let him lead you away as his men took off the unconscious Batman. As he said, he had you all to himself now and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Suddenly all that playful banter seemed very foolish indeed.