Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

*Authors note*
In case it was unclear, the writing in italics is kind of like Anna’s inner voice. Just in case you were confused. Or is it a demon she picked up from an Ouija board, who knows?
I did have it coloured but AO3 won't let me use that. So, sorry if it's confusing. Blame the AO3 God's not me. 

Chapter One
One Bad Day.

Today is not a good day. It’s the very worst kind of day. One of those days when if it can go wrong, it will go wrong.

I woke up 20 minutes late as my alarm clock ran out of batteries.
Because you kept forgetting to buy any

I didn’t have time to shower and barely had enough time to run a brush through my messy hair. And even when I did make it in time for the bus, it drove straight past me. I had my hand out and everything, but the bus driver just went right past me and the other bus passengers.

Do you blame him, I would drive past you too. You look sketchy.
So not helpful. Can you shut up?

Which meant I had to walk my ass to work. I’m an avid and passionate supporter of not exerting physical energy when it isn’t needed. So, walking uphill for 20 minutes really didn’t sit well with me, especially this early in the morning. It was unnecessary.

“Anna, there you are! Antonio has been going crazy!” Claire came out from behind the counter and dragged me in the back.

“I don’t doubt it, my alarm and the bus.” I waved away the explanation, she was too frazzled to listen to me. I slapped her hand away when she went to chew her nails.

“Ouch, oh thanks. He said he is going to fire you this time, for real.” She told me worried, throwing fearful glances around the kitchen. I rolled my eyes, Antonio wouldn’t fire me, just yell a lot, swear in Italian and then go about his day. This isn’t the first I’ve been late and it won’t be the last.

It’s thanks to him we have such a wide variety of Italian cursing.
He should teach a course.

“ANNA!” I heard Antonio before I saw him. He burst through the kitchen door, with a stormy look on his face. I quickly slapped Claire’s hand again as it went to her mouth to chew her nails again.

“Thanks.” She whispered before hiding behind me.

“Antonio, good morning.” I greeted cheerfully. Trying to ignore the look of thunder on his face. I smiled widely as he tapped his ugly knock-off shoes on the floor.

“What time do you call this?” I could hear the anger in his voice, evident especially as he began to grind his teeth, a terrible habit.

I quickly checked my watch.
 “I call it 8:15, Antonio.” I answered, still smiling.

“You should have been here at 8:00! I’m going to fire you!” He threw up his hands and stormed out of the kitchen. I sighed and followed him out into the quiet café.

“Are you going to fire me before or after my shift?” I asked mildly.

He hesitated, not thinking his dismissal of me fully through.
“You may have your job back. But I’m docking your pay.” Antonio tossed his head back and stormed back into the kitchen, not being able to stay in one place. Or maybe just not in a place that I followed him to.

“Sure, you will.” I mumbled, he wouldn’t dock my pay, his wife handles the salaries and she loves me. He has zero sway with her, she does whatever she wants, and I love her for that.
We could get him into trouble, and tell Rosa he is being mean. She might chase him around the kitchen with the ladle again.

I had to stop the grin on my face remembering that particular incident. He had made Claire cry by shouting at her for dropping a meal. Rosa came down the stairs quicker than a shot and began smacking him with a metal ladle. He is lucky she didn’t pick up a hot pan. I hushed the voice in my head, I think she’s a demon I picked up somewhere.

Claire scurried out of the kitchen as Antonio began banging pans around, getting ready a little too aggressively for the breakfast-goers. Even though most of them only ordered a coffee.

Antonio’s was a little Italian café just off into a small alley of Gotham. It had a steady flow of customers, mostly regulars who liked how quiet it was during the day, but it was quite popular for late-night Italian food too. But it was the back room that the mob frequently used as a safe space that really kept the place afloat.

I just ignored them and pretended I didn’t see them come in the front door and leave through the back. Head down, no questions, the best way.

I’m stupid but not suicidal.
Well at least not most days.
The best way to survive in Gotham, keep your head down, don’t get involved, and don’t be stupid. Simple. I leaned against the counter taking out my phone from my back pocket.

Claire came up next to me.
“I did text you this morning.” She popped her gum right next to my ear.

“I didn’t hear it.” I told her truthfully. I had been dead to the world this morning, but I could see two texts from her.

‘Good morning’ accompanied by an array of sweet emojis and a heart eyes face. I raised an eyebrow at her and she smiled sweetly. She sent me a version of that text every morning, she just changed the emojis. And another text.

‘You’re late OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG Antonio is going crazy.’ With all the shocked and scared faces there was. I dismissed the texts and bumped her hip with mine.

“How crazy was he this morning?” I asked.

She put her hands on her hips and began imitating Antonio, quietly though. Unless she wanted to face the head chef and owner’s wrath. However, if he fired Claire, she would probably cry until he re-hired her. Half because he couldn’t keep a waitress and half because Rosa would hang him with his own entrails.

“Fuck!” I half yelled, quickly slapping a hand over my mouth.

“That’s exactly what he said, but in Italian. Fanculo!” She giggled, but then she could see I wasn’t looking at her but my phone screen. She came to my side and angled my hand, so she could see the screen.

“You spent all your money?” She asked, looking at my $0.00 balance.

“No, my bank account has been emptied.” That was my rent, my food budget and my in-case I do get fired back up savings. Which wasn’t very much. But it was everything I had.

Claire gasped and hugged me from the side.
“Oh no, Anna. What are you going to do?” She asked sympathetically.

“I’ll have to go to the bank.” I groaned, having to interact with a total stranger annoyed me. Why couldn’t I just have a robot fix this?

“Will you give me a lift after work?”  I asked Claire who nodded hastily.

“Of course!” She grabbed a hand and looked me solemnly in the eye.
“Would you like me to come in and cry? It usually makes people help me more because they get uncomfortable.” The look on her face and the seriousness of which she asked, made me smile.

“I’ll be ok, but thanks for the offer.” I put my phone in my back pocket and was about to go over to the old couple who had settled into a booth.
“I’ll keep myself busy for now, keep my mind occupied.” 

Claire nodded and handed me my apron. I quickly tied it around me and got my little notepad out. I schooled my features and plastered on a smile.

I took their order and got Claire to make the coffee, she was better at it than me. As I went into the kitchen.

“Antonio? Two croissants.” I called into the kitchen; I went to stand next to Claire as I checked my phone banking again. Just to make sure I hadn’t made a mistake.

No, definitely all gone. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.
We’re screwed.
Yeah, thanks for the input.

If they couldn’t get my money back, I would be royally fucked. If I can’t make rent my landlord would happily kick me out, I would have to move in with Claire. And her unicorn-covered apartment. I shuddered at the thought of all that pink. She had offered last year when my apartment's pipes had all frozen over and we had no running water. I accepted her shower every couple of days, but gladly just brought some bottles of water at home.

I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon keeping busy. Even sweeping when we had a lull in customers. But when I wasn’t distracted, I kept running through scenarios in my head of what would happen if my money was untraceable.

I would lose my apartment, my shitty apartment. Claire might not be able to take me in, I might lose my job, and become homeless. Die in a fight over a sleeping bag. It was rough out in the streets.

Finally, the evening came and as soon as the other waitresses came in, Claire and I rushed out. I wanted to get to the bank as soon as I could. Claire giving me a ride helped me out, it would have taken me 20 minutes to get here on foot, but even with Gotham rush hour, it only took us five minutes. I hopped out and thanked Claire. Waving her off as she joined the rush hour crowd once more.

I usually kept a pretty cool head, but I was pissed. Having to remind myself I’ll catch more bees with honey than vinegar. Don’t bite off anyone’s head, unless I don’t get my money, then all bets are off. I usually did my best to avoid conflict. But I could throw it down if needed. I’m scrappy.

And with impending homelessness hovering over my head like a noose, I was a little more open to the idea of using violence to solve this problem. Especially with my landlord, in the seven years I’ve lived there, I’ve been a day or two late with rent, twice. TWICE in seven long years. But the asshole seems to have the memory of an elephant when it comes to missed rent and reminds me of it every time, he sees me. He would happily kick my ass out; he is just waiting for an excuse.

As I walked into the bank, I was taken aback by its beautiful design. I usually didn’t come in here; I did all my banking online. But it was a beautiful building. The tall columns, the perfectly polished marble floor, the sparkling chandeliers and the beautiful clear huge windows that let in the late day sunshine.

Not only could I never dream of affording this lavishness, but I probably couldn’t even begin to guess how much it cost. But I guess when you're funded by the mob you can afford to be extravagant and show off.

Maybe I should look into a career change, seems like crime does pay. Life expectancy is short sure but being a civilian in Gotham wasn’t much better. And if the mob didn’t get you, you’d probably run into some dirty cops. It would be naïve to think all of Gotham’s police force were shinning members of their community, and if they were, they were usually the first ones dead. Good people don’t last long in Gotham.

Thankfully the line for the tellers was short and I stepped behind an older gentleman, he turned halfway around and smiled at me.

“Good afternoon.” He greeted me, and I smiled in return.

“Getting into the evening now,” I replied as I looked out of the huge windows. The street lamps were beginning to softly start glowing.

He followed my gaze and then turned to his wrist.
“My watch much stopped again, must have forgotten to wind it this morning. Do you have the time?” He asked.

“Sure.” I lifted my wrist to glance at my watch. “It’s 4:56,” I answered.
If you had to wind your watch every morning it would only be telling the time right twice a day.

“Thank you very much, miss?” He smiled warmly, making my usually prickly self a little more polite.

“My name is Anna, Anna Jones.” I held out my hand and he shook it.

“Robert Taylor.” He smiled again but started to sigh when the line moved forward no more than an inch or so. He was third in line but not very happy about it.

“Back in my day, banks were small and run by someone you knew. Now I couldn’t even tell you if a man or monkey runs this place.” He huffed, clearly becoming impatient.

“I would put money on the monkey.” I joked with him, and he chuckled in return.

“Now I have to wait damn near 20 minutes just to get some money out. My granddaughter's birthday you see.” The smile returned to his face when he mentioned his family.

“She’s five.” He beamed, reaching into his pocket he took out his wallet and showed me a picture.
“She’s called Adrianne. Isn’t she the prettiest little darling you’ve ever seen?”

“She’s adorable.” I agreed. She had the same blonde hair and blue eyes as her grandfather. The stark opposite of me with my long red hair that only served to get in my way and green eyes. Robert flicked to a picture of her as a baby and I wondered if I would see her whole development through pictures. I did feel a small stab of sadness seeing her at what could have only been a couple of days old.

“You know you can take money out of the machines outside?” I asked, changing the subject. I didn’t know whether he knew or thought he had to wait in line.

"I don't trust machines; I would rather have a real person to deal with. Also, can't charm a machine either." He winked. Flirty old Robert, an old charmer it seems, the female tellers didn't stand a chance.

“Oh, I don’t know, I think you could do it.” I laughed as the line began to move.

“Are you sure we haven’t met before?” He asked and before I could respond, there was a call over the murmur of other people talking.

"Next in line please." As Robert looked behind him to the teller, he quickly tipped his hat and gave me another smile before walking away. Funny how a three-minute conversation can brighten your mood, it was almost like the bad events of today never happened.

"Who is next please?" I quickly remembered my empty bank account and walked to the window next to Robert.

"Good evening, madam and welcome to 'The Bank of Gotham'. How may I assist you today?" I was nearly blinded by the overly whitened teeth. Of all the bank tellers I get the preppy, bleached, and jumped-up human Chihuahua. I inwardly groaned and took my bank card out of my purse.

"Hi, I'm here because it seems my bank account has been emptied, and it wasn't by me. It had all my rent money in there and I need it back as soon as possible." I handed over my bank card.

"Well, okie dokie Miss…. Jones. I will have a quick lookie look and see what the problem is as quick as a flash. " She practically sang at me and nearly blinded me again with her shiny whitened pearls. Damn, I need sunglasses; she should wear a notice around her neck.
'Caution overly happy and keep vigilant for my smile, it may blind.'

As I heard her clicking her long fingernails across her keyboard, I resisted the urge to sigh and start tapping my foot impatiently. But as I looked at her neon pink nails, I couldn’t help but think how jealous Claire would be. Although I would wager Claire would want pink glitter too.

"EVERYONE DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW!" I had barely turned around before I heard a gunshot echo through the building and the screams began.

As I looked toward the door there was a swarm of men, about ten or so invading the bank. Carrying big guns and wearing disturbing clown masks that looked like they belonged in a horror movie instead of a bank robbery. I guess it served to add more fear to the victims. And it was highly effective.

I instantly dropped down to the ground and pressed myself against the wood bank desk behind me. I inched closer to Robert, the man I had met before. I was desperate to find some security, thankfully he held my hand as we sat on the marble floor I had earlier been admiring. Watching on in terror as the men started waving guns in people's faces and tying their hands behind their backs.

Nothing like terror and fear to bring strangers together.

"Fuck." I swore as I realised, they were making their way towards us. We were at the place in the bank with all the money. They were tying and yelling at people as they went.

"Hello, citizens of Gotham. I'm so very sorry to interrupt you as you go about your… Busi-nesssss. But I need to make a withdrawal and I'm in a bit of a hurry. I hope you don't mind if I skip the queue, do you? Ha-ha-ha"

I stole a glance towards the voice and it was another clown, only this one didn't wear a mask like the others. But his painted face looked even more frightening. Also, the long scars along his cheeks I could see from over here, covered in red, appearing as if he had a huge Cheshire smile. Thanks for the nightmares I will no doubt be having now.

"That's the Joker." I heard a hushed whisper and for a minute couldn't place it until I felt my hand squeeze.
"Don't worry, we'll be alright," Robert told me, unfortunately for both of us, he didn't whisper the last part.

"Old man, don't make promises you can't keep." One of the masked clowns made his way toward us and grabbed Robert's hands tying his hands with a zip tie.
"Now shut the fuck up." He ordered.

As the clown came to me to tie my hands Robert interrupted him. 
"I'm not scared of young thugs like you. Nothing but scum!" The man dropped my hands and went back to Robert.
"Oh, old man, you should be scared, you really should." He stomped his foot on the floor like a child when throwing a tantrum and delivered a sharp kick to Robert's ribs. I only noticed the small knife sticking out when he retracted his foot and kicked him again.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" I screamed.
"What the fuck is wrong with you!" I took my scarf off, quickly folding it and pressing it against the wounds in Roberts's stomach. It was already soaking up blood as Robert groaned in pain.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? Talking to me like that. Sounds like the bitch needs to be taught some manners." He raised his gun in front of my face and without warning there was a gunshot and the masked clown suddenly fell in front of me. I gasped and tried to scuttle back before realising there was nowhere for me to go.

His head made a sickening thud as he hit the floor. I turned away, seeing blood seep out from beneath his clown mask. He was most certainly dead.

"It appears you were the one in need of manners yourself." For a second I was filled with relief at the prospect of being saved until it was replaced with horror.
"Sorry about my err, associate here. He always did have a short fuse." He pulled up the dead clown's head by his hair, his mask slipping down a little to reveal eyes looking at nothing.

"You always seemed like a, ah, a bad egg. I'm going to have to let you go ha-ha." He laughed as he dropped his head back on the floor. Making the blood pool spray slightly. I flinched back to avoid it and focused on Robert.

"Now kiddies, daddy needs to talk business with the nice lady." He stood to the side of me leaning against the teller window, a little too close for comfort but I wasn’t about to bite the ankle of the one, who technically saved me. Technically.

"Why hello there, I'm going to need to make a withdrawal." Miss Preppy seemed to have lost her pep and whimpered as she stood up slowly.

"NOW!" He barked making her squeal and sob loudly. I heard her heels tapping as she practically ran to open the door leading to the vaults. He waved his hand at the other clowns as they picked up duffel bags and disappeared.

"You, man under the desk. Yeah hi. I'm going to need you to go help your associate and step away from the silent alarm. Before things get really, shall we say err, bloody."

I tried to ignore the mad clown right next to me. Robert's face had grown pale, but the bleeding seemed to have slowed a little. He groaned loudly as he tried to shift on the floor.

"Excuse me I'm, I'm trying to discuss my finances up here. If you don't mind." I could hear the Joker, as Robert called him, sucking on his cheeks and tried not to shudder thinking about the scars.

"This man needs a doctor; he has lost a lot of blood. Thanks to your friend." I mumbled the last part, not able to stop myself and my big mouth.

The Joker crouched next to me looking at Robert.
"Ouch. Don't worry it's barely a scratch, dear old Dad here will be fine.” He told me, but he didn’t look fine to me.

"He isn't my father and no he won't. Not without medical attention." I chanced a glance at the Joker and he was looking at me amused.

"Granddad? Uncle? He seems a little old to be your husband. Please tell me he isn't your lover.” He laughed at his joke and I tried not to roll my eyes, settling for a sigh.

"Jesus Christ, I don't know him ok, but please, he needs help. Can you not see how much pain he is in?" I looked up into his blackened eyes trying to find some sort of human emotion behind the purple suit and paint. But what I found wasn't promising; if anything, it made me even more afraid. He stared straight back at me, looking amused.

"If you’re that bothered that he’s suffering, I can put him out of his misery right now." He pulled out a switchblade and swung the knife out of its cover.

"Don't you dare!" I answered quickly, shaking my head as he dropped the blade back in his pocket. Keeping the pressure on Robert's chest I stared straight into the Joker's eyes. I was scared as fuck, but I wasn't about to let him know that.

"Oh, I think the kitten is angry. A little fight in you, I like that. Hey, you want to know how I got these scars?" He leaned in towards me and all of my internal alarms were screaming that we certainly did not want to know how he got those scars.

"Boss we got the money we're good to go." The Joker dropped his head down and sighed.

"I’m trying to talk to the pretty lady, you are so rude--" Before he could finish his sentence sirens sounded outside and police burst through the door.

"Hey, Robert let's go for a, uh a little ride." I stared dumbly as the Joker leaned over me, and grabbed Robert's arm. How did he know his name? That wasn’t important, focus Anna.

"No!" I pulled the Joker’s arms away and I must have surprised him as he stared me down but I didn’t let go of him. If he took Robert he would die, if someone moved him without medical knowledge he might die, he was barely holding on as it was.

"Take me instead, a live hostage is better than a dead one, right?" I offered. Instantly regretting my words. What happened to keeping your head down, and not getting involved, don’t be stupid. Simple rules to live by.

Not for you.
Really? That’s your input, are you fucking with me?
You’re the one offering yourself as a human sacrifice. For a stranger you don’t know, might I add.

"Your chances for surviving aren't too good either, but who am I to deny a lady's sincere last request?" He seized one of my arms and dragged me up from the floor.

I could see Robert try to grasp at my hand, but the Joker was quicker and I was up on my feet before he could.

The Joker swung out his gun from the inside of his jacket and put it to my temple. The cold of the metal shocked me but not as much as when he pulled my back against his chest. Just as a man I recognised off the television appeared at the bank door. Commissioner something, he looked older in person.

"Commissioner Gordon! How nice to see you, tell me, how's the wife and kids?" The Joker laughed and backed away a couple of steps, taking me with him. My hands instantly went to his arm around my chest trying to keep my balance.

"Let the girl go Joker!" The commissioner yelled angrily. I could feel the gun being pressed harder into my head making me wince.

"Now why would I do that Jimbo? So, your little buddies can pump me full of lead? Tsk, tsk, tsk. How stupid do you think I am? Ha-ha-ha. No, me and the uh, little lady need to get going you see. We have a date!" He yelled before he took his gun and shot out one of the bigger windows behind us. His maniacal laughter filled my ears and echoed through the bank as the glass crashed to the ground.

"Boys let's get going!" He shouted. I looked toward the officers who raised their guns. I know they weren’t aiming for me, but they were aiming for what was directly behind me.

"No! Don't shoot!" While the commissioner raised his arms as a signal to lower their weapons, the Joker dragged me back and I looked over to Robert who lifted his hand, trying in vain to reach me again. Tears began to roll down my face as I suddenly realised.

The Joker didn’t seem the type to keep his victims alive. He was going to kill me.
Maybe we’re more suicidal today than we realised.

"Move it doll." He mumbled against my ear as I was forced back through the window and thrown into one of the large black cars parked up on the curb. I stumbled in and pressed myself up against the door while the joker slid in next to me.

"GO." He bellowed to the driver. Who immediately stepped on the gas and turned into the street followed closely by the van filled with masked clowns and stolen mob money.

The last thought that went through my mind before we set off was, I still don't have the money to pay my rent but I didn’t assume that would be an issue for me soon…

Chapter Two
Is this a date?

I pushed myself as far as I could against the door, desperate to put some distance between me and the Joker. He jumped in the car and threw his gun to the floor and for an insane second, I thought about diving to grab it.

I quickly snapped out of it when he swung his arm across the back of the seats. He kicked his foot out, hitting the driver’s seat.

“Go Happy!” He screamed in mostly glee as the car tyres squealed on the tarmac. He looked over at me, his tongue licking the scars inside his cheeks. I shuddered as I tried to not look at them. But everywhere you look at the Joker is terrifying. His cheeks, his lips, his eyes, even his skin was painted bone white.

"So, what should I call you?" He asked. I stared back in silence not trusting my voice to not shake. He lowered his head and stared at me with his blackened eyes.

"When I ah, when I ask you a question doll. You answer it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the switchblade he had threatened to use on Robert only minutes ago. I turned my eyes away not liking the way the blade glistened in the low light of the car.

"It’s Anna." I mumbled, trying to see where the hell I was in Gotham.

"Sorry doll you'll have to speak up. I didn't uh, didn't catch that." He shuffled across the seats, closer to me.

"Anna. My name is Anna." I sighed, not recognizing any of the buildings. And I don't like the Joker moving closer to me either. 

"Ahh, a pretty name for a pretty face." He chuckled.

"Thanks, I got it for my birthday." My eyes widened as I suddenly realised what I just said, stupid smart-ass answers were not wise in this situation! There was silence in the car and I thought, are those going to be my famous last words? Pretty shit last words.

But suddenly his manic laughter filled the car and I finally remembered to breathe.
Breathing, breathing is good. I hope we can continue to do this for many years to come. Maybe we can if you watch your mouth!

"I knew, I just knew you were going to be laugh riot." He dropped his arm across my shoulder and let his knife hang right next to my face.

I tried to move away, shocked by the blade, but only managed to lean in closer to him. Smart idea Anna, let's snuggle the psychotic clown who took you hostage at gunpoint after you tried to be a hero. If only Mum and Dad were alive and here to see how well those 3 years of expensive college were paying off now.

"Oh, make yourself cosy there." The Joker mumbled as a sharp turn in the road pushed me further into his chest than I had intended to. I tried to push myself away again, but he pulled me back.

"Now, now kitten, sit still, or you might ah, cut yourself." He chuckled waving his knife dangerously close to my cheek. Letting the tip scrape down my cheek, making me wince.

"We don't want that now, do we?" He was still snickering but thankfully not waving the knife around. I tried to relax a little, as much as I could when sitting next to an unpredictable murderer who apparently wanted to cuddle. I couldn’t help but smell the scent coming off him, which was overpowering gasoline and smoke. Which wasn’t fully unexpected.

His jacket was open and I could feel his chest through the thin material of his shirt. He had more muscle than I thought, with the baggy suit it was hard to tell. But I guess running away from Batman and murdering indiscriminately must be great for your abs.

I mentally shook myself. Those were unwelcome thoughts.
Yeah Anna, instead of trying to figure a way out of this mess, let's drool over the killer clown.
Shut up. I wasn’t drooling I was merely making an observation.
Well try to ‘observe’ an escape route, our day has been crappy enough without adding dead to the list.

I know, I know. Seems like the door is the only option we have.
You're full of great ideas today, aren't you? Try to be a hero, cuddle with a murdering clown and now jump out of a speeding vehicle. Not only will it hurt like a bitch and probably break something but if you had stopped your snuggle session to look out the window we are in the heart of the narrows.

I quickly looked out the window, and sure enough, the car was speeding through the deepest part of the narrows now. The part of Gotham where everyone's been stabbed or shot at, at least once. The sunlight had also long gone but thankfully some of the street lights still worked. Flickering counts as working, right?

We are so fucked.
Finally, something we agree on. We are fucked.

“So, you err, sacrifice yourself for strangers a lot?” The Joker asked me, was this his attempt at small talk? Really?

“I don’t intend to make a habit of it.” I replied, apparently my smart-ass filter was on the fritz.

“You might not live long enough to get another chance.” He chuckled darkly, I had to get out here, now. If that’s not a threat, I don’t know what is.

There wasn't much of a choice here, either jump and possibly die, or go with the Joker and most definitely die. I'm pretty fucked either way but jumping gives me a chance at survival. That’s if he doesn’t stop the car and stab me on the roadside.

I just hope he would see that as more of an inconvenience and not bother to do so. I looked to see if the doors were locked and they weren't, the little tabs were up.
Some luck today, finally. 

I decided sooner was better than later, I don't know how long the narrows go on for, but I don't want to find out. I steeled myself and tried to calm my nerves and muscles. They weren't too happy at the prospect of jumping out of a speeding car, weirdly.

I could hear the Joker humming to himself. I moved my hand slowly to the handle, moving slowly enough so he wouldn't notice. As soon as my hand made contact with the cold metal, I threw myself against the door and pulled the handle.

Trying my best to launch onto the pavement I used my feet and jumped. As I landed the adrenaline stopped me feeling the immediate pain as I rolled. Finally coming to a stop, I fought the dizziness as best I could. I quickly rose to my feet and felt a surge of hot pain flash through my leg which made them buckle and I sank to the floor again.

No time for pain, I have to move. I looked up, hoping to see the car bumper getting smaller and smaller away from me, but the car had stopped a little way up the road.

Fucccckkkkk.
Fucccckkkkk.

The joker leaned out of his window and looked down the road at me. What the hell, was he was, smiling?

"That sure was ballsy." He yelled. I realised he wasn't going to get out of the car. Thank God and the sweet baby Jesus.

"I'll be seeing you, ha-ha- real soon doll. You're a hoot!" He laughed loudly as he got back in the window and the car once again sped off with the van still following behind.

The adrenaline was starting to wear off now, I was starting to get the full effect of my pain. And FUCK it hurt. I had to get to a pay phone before I passed out. Thankfully I spotted one close, just across the road.

I tried to run, but it was more of an amble, dragging my injured leg behind me. I fell on the phone when I finally reached it. It was only across the road but it felt like I had just traversed a mountain. Feeling about for some change in my pocket I couldn’t find any but dialled 911, hoping they were free to call. Thankfully the phone began to ring.

"Hello 911 how can we direct your call?" A woman answered, sounding a little too chipper for an emergency responder.

"I need an ambulance." I managed to bite out. The pain started to take over all of my thoughts.

"Alright, ma'am where is your location?" She asked, now sounding more serious. Oh, shit. Where the fuck was I?

"I don't know I was kidnapped; I jumped out of the car. It’s a long story but I have no idea where I am." Bet she didn’t hear that every day.

"Try to keep calm ma'am. We have tracked your location now; I'm sending an ambulance your way." I could hear her pushing buttons on her end.

"Thank you." I hung up the phone, I know they liked you to stay on the phone but I wasn't up for chit-chat right now. And I also wasn’t sure how much longer my legs would keep me standing.

Everywhere hurt like nothing I had ever felt before, I immediately regretted my decision to jump out of a car. I mean really who does that?!
Your stupid ass does.

I could feel the grit from the pavement all over my face, my arms, my legs. I was too terrified to look and see the damage. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the reassuring scream of sirens. The pain was shooting through my body, I felt like nowhere was unscathed. 

But my knee was the worst. Pain radiated off it and my whole leg was in agony. Wearing only a skirt hadn’t offered me much protection from the road, maybe should have taken that into account.
Little late for that now.

I slumped to the floor making my knee scream in pain. Making me scream too. But I couldn’t stay standing up, it was too much effort.
My vision was beginning to blur and darken, as I tried to even out my breathing.

I hope these aren’t my last moments. I do not want to die, alone, on the side of a road, in the narrows.
You’re not alone. I’m here.
That’s… weirdly, reassuring.

Still, this ranks pretty high on the dumb ways to die list.
A fucked-up end to a fucked-up day, I guess.

Story of my life.
However long was left of it.

Chapter Three
A painful awakening

Fuck. That was my first thought.
Fuck was also my second thought.
Fuck was pretty much all of my thoughts.

My head felt like it was filled with fog. I only know two things right now; one my name is Anna Jones. And two, which I felt with much more certainty, I was in a stupid amount of pain.

I feel like I have been hit by a truck, then crushed under a pile of bricks, then fed to a shark and then finally stuck into a blender and made into a smoothie full of pain.
Which then did the dumbest thing it’s ever done and jumped out of a speeding car.

What the hell happened? And where the hell am I? If I’m dead, I’m gonna be so pissed.
I blinked my eyes open and then closed them immediately as my eyes burned from the harsh light above me. Squinting I brought my arm to my face to shield my eyes.

They grew accustomed to the asshole lights, and then the smell hit me. The smell of bleach, anti-septic and that weird air spray they say smells of berries, but it actually smells like a sweaty man’s armpit.

I guess I'm in hospital then. I thought they were supposed to help me feel better not assault my senses. I groaned and tried to drag my arm further across my face but was stopped by something. As I looked to my right, I could see the IV connected to my arm and had the sudden desire to pull it out like they do in movies.

But that felt like a dumb idea. And I had made enough of them today.

As I lifted my eyes I could see out of the window as it looked out upon Gotham. Wow from here you can hardly even see the narrows. Must be nice, could even pretend it didn’t exist… If, fucking, only.

I pushed myself up and looked around suddenly feeling very naked due to the lack of my clothes and only a hospital gown covering me. Every part of my body ached like a bitch. Was the IV giving me drugs for the pain? Could they give me more, not be so stingy?

I closed my eyes and held my head in my hands as I remembered the events of the past day.

The bank, the dashingly charming Robert, the robbery, volunteering as a hostage, the Joker… God the Joker.

His nightmarish face flashed in my mind. His green-tinted hair, the thick mask of white face paint, the black coal eyes, his cruel manic smile and the scars stretching across his cheeks. And that laugh was truly nightmare-inducing. And his smell, the strong scent of gasoline and maybe smoke? Which I got a nose full of after our close encounter in the car.

Oh, not forgetting my little ‘date’ with the Joker, our jaunty car ride. And the grand finale, my magnificent escape plan. Which I won’t be forgetting for a while, especially with these nifty reminders covering my skin.

I felt over my body to assess the damage. There was bruising across my left side and some cuts on my right, they’ll heal in their own time. By some ill judgment I poked about and felt the sharp pain of bruises on my face, bet those make me look hot. My modelling career was ruined before it even began.

Looking down my arms there were only a couple of cuts, but they were mostly grazed, which stung as the air hit them. I lifted the blanket to see my legs and they looked like hell, especially my right knee. It was bandaged up, but I could still see the purple skin beneath poking out.

I felt a tug in my side as I bent over surveying my legs. I sat up and began to carefully feel around. But the bandages made it impossible to feel anything under them. I could feel a pain though in my right side, it didn’t feel good.

I hope they didn’t steal my organs while I slept… Just as I was ready to go demand my kidneys back a kindly-looking nurse stepped in the room.  

“Oh darling, you’re awake, that’s fantastic.” An older lady came over to my bed; she looked really sweet in her nurse’s uniform. And had one of those faces that put you at ease. She bent over to retrieve my chart and gave it a look over; making some notes with a pen she lifted from her pocket.

“Let’s see Anna Jones, yes, you came in a couple of days ago. Quite the state too, the police have been waiting to talk to you, but you had to recover from your surgery—" She had only just begun speaking but I quickly interrupted her.

“Days? No, wait…My what?!” So, they did steal my kidneys! Kidney stealers! Give me back my poorly looked-after organs!

“Surgery darling. You had somehow got a massive shard of glass embedded in your side. We had to remove it and stitch you back up, but luckily for you, it didn’t cut anything too bad. But you’ll have a nasty scar.” She cooed at me as she looked at my side.

Lucky? We differed in our definitions of luck. Lucky would have been never walking into that bank in the first place. Or maybe not having to offer myself up as a sacrificial lamb.

You would have still found a way to try and kill yourself.
So, you’re still here then…
No surgery can remove me, baby.

“Darling, I was looking through your records and we didn’t have an emergency contact down, do you want me to call someone for you? Your parents? Any family or friends?” She enquired placing the chart back at the foot of my bed.

“No. There’s… no one to call.” My eyes stung, and I quickly took a deep breath in an attempt to stop the tears, that were only a result of the bleach. Stupid bleach. Thankfully she understood and placed her hand over mine.

“Okay, darling. I’ll go tell the doctor you’re awake.” She gave my hand one last squeeze and left, giving me some privacy. But I pushed down any pesky emotions that were threatening to spill over.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed as soon as she left. There was no way I was going to stay here for longer than was necessary and I felt fine...Mostly. Except for the pain that is, apart from that I was dandy. Give me a couple of pain meds and I’ll be right as rain. I had shit to do.

I took the IV out of my arm, seeing as the bag hooked up looked empty and brushed my fingers through my hair. What I needed was a hot shower and a bottle of whiskey. After I talked to the doctor I was out of here. Didn’t want to rack up a hospital bill that’ll leave me in debt for the rest of my life.

Which it would, America land of the free and the deeply in debt.

I was already dead broke, any more broke and I’ll have to go dumpster diving for my meals. And if I leave now… they won’t have the right address to mail my bills to. I could always sneak out disguised as a nurse. When it came to dodging bills demanding money, my morals were extremely flexible.

As I waited my eyes drifted back to the window, if it was anyone else looking over Gotham, they might not think it was so bad. I would like to have that optimism they must have. But I know better, I have seen the worst of this city and have yet to see the best. Maybe one day it’ll surprise me and prove me wrong. But almost certainly not. 

“Miss Jones?” A deep voice sounded from behind me, scaring the hell out of me. I slightly jumped and turned around; relieved it was just the doctor. Or I assumed so by the white coat.

“Sorry, I was in a world of my own.” I answered, he nodded and looked down at his clipboard.

“Well, it seems like you had quite the night.” He raised his eyebrows and I inwardly sighed. It wasn’t like it was much fun for me, or optional. Was I being sensitive, or was he an ass?

“We will need to keep you in for a couple of days, for observation and to keep an eye on your injuries, make sure they heal properly and don’t get infected. Although the glass didn’t damage any organs you lost quite a bit of blood and the risk of infection is high should you choose to leave.” He looked extremely bored.

“How high of a risk? Sorry, doctor but I can’t afford to stay here and no offence, but I would rather be at home.” I liked the nurse from before but this guy rubbed me the wrong way. Rubbed me with sandpaper kind of the wrong way.

“Miss Jones your hospital expenses have already been taken care of, so please remain until we discharge you.” He gave me a fake smile, that looked more like a grimace and turned to leave. But he didn’t turn quickly enough, because I could see him rolling his eyes.

Well, his bedside manner left room for improvement, a football stadium size of improvement. I would have rather had Dr Crane, at least from what I heard he was charming, crazy but charming. I could move past the fear gas and terrorizing Gotham.

I made a face at Dr. Attitude’s back as he left my room. Stay here my ass, I'm out. Paid for or not, I don’t want to stay here longer than necessary. I have to go back to the bank, get my money, pay my rent, and go to work. Poor people have shit to do.

I'm sure I could acquire some scrubs and sneak home before they even noticed I was gone. I hopped off the bed and began to shuffle towards the door. I paused as I heard voices just outside.

“--just another one from the narrows, would have been better if the ambulance had taken its time if you ask me. Yeah, Mr. Taylor’s new charity project, paid all her bills. What a waste, she’ll just end up in the morgue in a few weeks, maybe even days.” I could recognise my doctor's voice.

“News said she was taken by the Joker.” A small female voice chimed in. “What would the Joker want with a nobody like her anyway?”

“Who knows Nancy? Mark my words someone like her won’t last long. Now, how about you go into the supply closet and wait for me--” I didn’t let him finish his proposition and I pushed open the door forcefully, sending dear doctor flying to the ground.

“You deserved that.” I said simply as I crouched down next to him.
“And unless you want that stethoscope wrapped around your neck a little tighter than you’d like. You better learn to mind your own business and keep this nobody's name out of your goddamn mouth.”

I stood back up and looked from the doctor's hand, then to Nancy’s. He had a wedding band, but she did not. I raised my voice a little higher as a crowd began to watch us.
“You’re having an affair with a married man? He isn’t going to leave his wife for you Nancy.”

Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped open a little before she scurried off. And then I walked away in the opposite direction, leaving the doctor on his ass. With my head held as high as I could.

Should have forced that clipboard up his ass. Sideways.
We have bigger problems right now than some arrogant Dr. Remember the Joker, he’ll ‘see me soon’? That doesn’t sound like an empty threat, and I don’t think he is in the business of making them either.

He’ll probably be too busy blowing up buildings and fighting Batman. He won’t think of some random hostage from the Narrows, come on.
Hey, we don’t live in the narrows…we just live close. Real close. Outskirts, maybe.

Geography aside, my point is he has bigger fish to fry than you shrimpy. Anyway, we don’t even live there anymore.
What do you mean?
“This is your last chance, one more late rent payment and you’re out.” The nurse said it’s been a couple of days. We are now homeless too.

Surely, he might give us some leeway. Seeing as we were literally kidnapped, held at knifepoint and hospitalized.
HAHAHA. No. He wouldn’t give his own mother an extension, why do you think he would give you one?
Yeah, ok. You have a point.

Fuck. I'm absolutely, irrevocably fucked. Just as I was contemplating jumping off the hospital's roof, I heard a familiar voice in the room just a little bit down the hallway.

Chapter Four
Visiting hours

“I'm sorry I couldn’t be there for your party honey. Did you enjoy it? I’ll make it up to you, I promise. I’ll see you when you visit tomorrow. Grandpappy loves you, goodbye, kisses princess.”
Was that who I thought it was? Was that Robert I heard? I shuffled down the hallway and looked at the little whiteboard next to the door.

Doctor - Dr. Reed
Patient – Mr. Robert Taylor

I’ll be damned. He must be my charming guardian angel. The doctor had said he paid for my hospital bill and I didn’t know any other Mr. Taylors. I peeked sneakily around the corner of the door, wanting to see how he was but not intruding.

He was sitting in a hospital bed surrounded by flowers, balloons and get-well-soon cards. It made my barren room feel more than a little sad. I turned away from the door; the least I could do was leave the man in peace.

I was happy he had got out of the bank okay. I had been worried about him, and it made me feel a bit better about this whole situation that at least he lived through it, my sacrifice wasn’t in vain.

But who needs an unknown from the narrows darkening their doorway?
I thought you said it was the outskirts.
Sure. Now where are the stairs for the roof?

“Are you here to see my father?” I turned around to see a smiling man in a suit standing in the hallway. Damn, Houdini appearing from thin air. He looked exactly like a young Robert, except he had ginger hair, but the same blue eyes. Must be his son.

“No. I was just passing, must be lost.” I tried to go around him, but he stepped in front of me. I could see him taking in all my bruises and injuries.

“Hold on, you’re the girl, the girl from the bank. You are, aren’t you?” He shouted into the room before I could stop him.

“Dad, it’s the girl from the bank, she is here to see you.” He grasped my shoulders and practically pushed me into the room. I was so surprised that I let him. Robert looked up from his phone and smiled as he noticed me being manhandled into his room.

“Anna? Oh, you don’t know how happy I am to see you!” I stood awkwardly, being thrust into the spotlight, I couldn’t exactly walk away now, could I? My swan dive off the roof will have to wait.

I twiddled my thumbs as I tried to smile but it might have come out as more of a grimace.
“Hi.” I waved.

“Come, come sit down.” He gestured to the chair next to his bed. I limped over awkwardly with my sore knee. Even just the short walk from my room had made it hurt.

Lowering myself into the chair I felt a pain in my side, I couldn’t help but scowl at the sudden ache. Robert looked worried when I did and immediately started to worry.

“What’s wrong? Is it your side? Do you need a doctor? George, son, go get a doctor.” Robert urged and I held my hand up to George, stopping him from running off. My luck he would find the doctor I just threatened.

“No, no don’t. I’m fine, really.” George stopped in his tracks and sat back down on the opposite side of Robert’s bed. But both watched me worriedly. It wasn’t a lie; I would be fine. With enough whiskey, anything is fine.

“Are you sure Anna?” Robert asked, I nodded and turned my full attention to him.

“The more important question is, how are you?” I asked to take the conversation off me. But I was also curious.

“Me? I'm good. I'm all stitched up and healing.” He beamed at me.

“Well, that’s not exactly true Dad.” George spoke up for the first time since coming into the room.

“Oh, hush son.” Robert tried but I was intrigued now. I didn’t nearly get murdered for him to die off a few days later.

“What is it?” I asked Robert who was silent, so I turned to George for answers.

“The knife punctured one of his lungs. The doctor said the surgery was successful but because of his age and other medical issues, it’s a very delicate time right now.” George took one of his father's hands and I could see Robert holding it tightly back.

Robert sighed and turned to me again.
“I'm more worried about you Anna, forgive me for saying so, but you look terrible. What did that monster do to you?” I could imagine how terrible I looked right now, with bruises all over one side of my face and bandages everywhere else.

“He didn’t have the chance to do anything, I promise. I escaped… by jumping out of his car. Not my smartest decision but that’s why I look like this. He didn’t lay a finger on me.” Which was the truth, though neither Robert nor George looked like they bought my story and I couldn’t exactly blame them.

After all, I was with one of Gotham’s most vicious and violent villains, the idea that he wouldn’t even at least torture me a little seems unbelievable, even if it was the reality.

“Robert, I forgot to ask, are you the same Mr. Taylor who paid my hospital bills?” I gave him a stern look as he grinned at me. His room did look like a VIP suite, but I knew my hospital stay wasn’t going to be cheap.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He tried innocently, but his wry smile gave it away.

“You’re a terrible liar, just so you know. But in all seriousness, I can’t let you pay for my bills, and even though I’m very grateful you did. I'm not a charity case I'm perfectly capable of paying my bills.” I gave him my hopefully, most convincing smile.

Even though I never had enough money for three meals a day, or two. My pride was priceless. Unless it was 6 figures, then who gives a fuck? Take my pride, take my organs, take whatever you want.

I looked Robert in the eyes trying to convey how serious I was, but was surprised when a voice came from the doorway to the room.

“Nonsense, you saved my father from most certainly death. The least we could do is pay your hospital bills. To be perfectly honest I thought we would be paying for your headstone.”

My head turned to the door as a man sauntered into the room, in a pressed suit just like the other young man, George. But he looked older and not as kind.

“Jesus Christ.” He exclaimed when he could see my bruises as I turned my head. Ok, that was just rude.

“What happened to your face?” He chuckled, and I didn’t conceal rolling my eyes.

“Ah Charles, I wasn’t expecting you.” Robert sighed from his bed, seemingly not too thrilled with his new guest.

I looked toward this Charles, some would say he was handsome, but it was obvious he knew that. His whole persona screamed arrogance and self-importance. Which for me, made him very unattractive to me.

“I couldn’t stand the thought of you being here by yourself, with only George the bore for company. But now I see you have much more pleasing company.” He smiled at me and I could practically feel his eyes undressing me, bandages and all. He came closer and held his hand out to me.

“Charles Taylor, Robert’s eldest and most successful son, and also the acting CEO of Taylor Industries at the moment.” I shook his hand but only because I didn’t want to make the situation any more awkward than it already was.

“Anna Jones, only child not very successful in much, and a waitress at Antonio’s diner,” I replied and he smiled tightly, apparently not as amused as George was. Who chuckled in his chair.

“I forgot you were here George. Are you going to move, or will I be waiting here all day for a seat?” It was plain to see that Charles was a bully to George, and unfortunately, George seemed to just take it.

He got up out of the chair almost immediately and stood awkwardly at the end of Robert's bed as Charles sauntered into his seat. I stood up and looked around the room. I limped over and dragged another chair from the hallway, placing it next to mine.

“Come sit next to me George, I'm getting lonely over here by myself.” I smiled as he took the seat beside me.

“Thank you.” He said as he lowered himself into the chair.

No problem, buddy, I thought. I don’t like bullies, no matter how much gel they put in their hair.

“Hmm yes, well I can't stay for long there is a business to run and all that. Reminding me that we need you back Father, how long do you plan on being an invalid?” Charles's bedside manner was also deplorable; I know a certain Dr he would get on great with.

“Your dad was stabbed twice; his lung was punctured. He is visibly not in a fit state to go anywhere. You should let him rest and not hassle him. I thought you were the most successful son, act like it.” I couldn’t stop myself talking.

Charles gave me an annoyed look; I think insulted that I would dare talk in his presence. But if I was rude to the Joker, I sure as hell wasn’t going to watch my mouth around this jackass in a suit.

“She’s right Charles, I'm in no position to be coming to work for a while. I thought you would be able to handle it until I got back. Unless you can’t, in which case I could ask one of your brothers if you’re not up to the job.” Robert offered.

“I can handle it; I was just wondering how long I got to sit in the boss chair is all.” Charles said with a smirk and then stood up, dusting off his suit.
“Well must dash and get back to business. Some of us have important work to do.” Without another word or a goodbye, he left the room. Charming man.

“That was my eldest son, Charles. Sorry about him, he can be a bit—" Robert began.

“--of an ass.” I finished off for him, ever helpful.

George looked at me wide-eyed, shocked I would say such a thing. But Robert just laughed heartily and nodded.

“That’s one word for him I guess.” I smiled happy I wouldn’t have to hide my disdain for the man. Not many parents will let you openly insult their children.

“I'm trying not to be rude, but is he adopted?” Robert continued laughing, unaware it was a genuine question.

“That’s what I’ve been wondering my whole life.” George chimed in, getting over his shock at me being so candid with my opinion on his brother. I can’t help it; I say what I think.

We laughed and joked for a while longer but then the nurse came in and warned us visiting hours would be over soon.

“I better be heading off too, I'm discharging myself to get some rest at home.” I stood up trying my best not to aggravate the stitches in my side.
“God knows I need it.”

“But the doctor said you needed to stay?” Robert had sat back up and the action looked like it pained him.

“Robert, please lay back down.” I tried but he shook his head.

“I won’t be able to rest and recuperate properly if I don’t know if you're okay.” Oh, a guilt trip? I thought the upside of being an orphan was no more of these.

“Robert, I’m perfectly fine.” I smiled, even though I wasn’t entirely convinced myself.

“Please, just stay a few more days?” He gave me a saddened look. “For me?”
I already saved your bloody life! I thought in my head, but I relented. I couldn’t handle his puppy dog eyes.

“OK. I’ll stay. Goodnight Robert.” I conceded. To which Robert smiled and laid back down, happy in his victory. I left the room with his son following next to me.

“I just wanted to say, Anna, thank you so much for what you did for my father. He would have died if not for you. And you didn’t need to do it, you don’t even know him. But thanks to you. He’s alive and safe. I don’t know what any of us would do without him, we rely on him a lot. If there’s anything you need. Ever. Please don’t hesitate to call.” He took out a business card from his jacket and handed it to me.

Oh, business cards, on actual card. That’s classy. I nodded even though I had no pocket to put this in. So, I held it awkwardly in my hand.

“Sure.” I smiled and shot a thumb down the hall.
“Well, it was really nice to meet you. I’m going back to my room.”

“Which number is it?” He asked, looking down the hall.

“36? Maybe.” I said, not entirely certain. But George nodded and raised a hand in farewell.
I waved back and made my way to my room.

Why did this feel like the calm before the storm?
And why did I feel like I was soon going to be in the centre of it?

Chapter Five
A late night visitor

I returned to my room after talking with Robert and George, it was the better option to stay in the hospital. I didn’t want to leave just to come back in worse shape because my stupid ass got an infection.

But I had so much I needed to do. When I go back to my flat, I don’t even know if it will still be mine. I was more than two days late paying rent and now I couldn’t get there?

My landlord, Todd, would be going batshit crazy.
I could just see his fat face, veins popping out as he tried to kick in my door when I didn’t answer. When he realises, he has the strength of a small Chihuahua, he’ll finally go and get the key.

Just to open the door to realise, I’m not fucking there. I just hope his sick ass wouldn’t go through my underwear drawer. I cringed at the thought, I might need to burn them all.

I just hope to God I'm not jobless too, although I hold no high hopes of my job waiting for me. I was on thin ice as it was, now being a no-show for what two days? My phone is still in my missing bag, lost in the confusion of the bank robbery. Maybe someone thought it was debris and threw it out… that sounded depressingly likely.

But no one knows where I was. I didn’t have anyone's number memorised. MIA as it is. I’ve probably lost my crappy job and my even crappier apartment. I hated them both but hell, they were better than nothing.

We are so boned.
I love your optimism here. A bright light in this dark time.
What? You know we are. We are likely homeless, jobless, and in the next few days probably lifeless. We have never fucked up this badly before
Wrong place, wrong time, just bad luck I guess.
Bad luck? Try a bad life.

Are you trying to make me jump off the roof here?
I mean, it’s an option. Sorry, I don’t mean that.
It’s fine.  What are we going to do?
I hear the mob is a lucrative business…
You are seriously no help at all. You’re more of a hindrance.
I’m all you got.

I rolled over in the narrow bed trying to silence my mind and get some sleep before I had to face tomorrow. Nothing like a good 8 hours so I can face the fuck up that my life has become.

I have no idea what I'm going to do. I didn’t even have money to fall back on. No net, no safety, just rock bottom. I shut my eyes and was soon consumed by sleep or by sheer exhaustion.

Something woke me up from the dream I was having. Johnny Depp was just about to rip my clothes off; the hospital better be on fire or I'm going to be pissed. I sat up a little and looked about the darkened room.

It must be the middle of the night, as my room was cloaked in darkness. The only light was the lights from the hallway spilling in through the small crack of the door as someone had left it ajar.

As I was scanning my room I caught sight of a figure by the window, standing too far away from the door. I couldn’t see who it was but as they came a little closer, I caught sight of a long white coat and I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God it’s just a doctor.

“Hello doctor, you scared me for a second there.” I laughed, settling back on my pillows again.

“Was just making my rounds.” He replied, but this wasn’t my doctor from before. His voice was different but also eerily familiar. But hey I'm not mad.

“Where’s my other doctor?” I asked, slightly confused.

“He is no longer your doctor.” The mystery voice said.

“If he says I threatened to choke him with his stethoscope, he’s lying. I would never.” He’s most certainly not lying. I most certainly would.

I heard a chuckle before the man covered it with a cough.
“Ah, no. Just a high demand of patients tonight.”

“Oh okay.” I nodded as the room descended into silence. I felt awkward, so I made some small talk.

“Graveyard shifts. Must be shit, I mean tough. Tough.” Try to be at least semi-polite Anna.

“You could say that. I just came in to check you were doing okay. Well, I have to see some other patients. See you soon, Doll.” As he left my room, I watched his back as he went. That was kind of strange to say to a patient, wasn’t it? Doll?

But I would probably be sprouting all kinds of crazy things too if I was on a graveyard shift at a hospital. Night time was sleep time. Daytime was just barely awake time; I wish all time was sleep time. Wow, what are they giving me, it was making me a little loopy, but I’m enjoying it.

As he got closer to the door, I could have sworn he was wearing purple under his doctor’s jacket.

But that’s probably my sleep-deprived mind trying to scare me, the Joker isn’t moonlighting as a doctor. The hospital wouldn’t let a maniac roam the halls, of course not. These past few days have just taken a toll on me, I guess.

I gave up on rational thought and went back to sleep.
Thankfully when I woke up again it was morning and the nice nurse from yesterday was in my room again with a cheerful smile.

“Morning. Did you get a good night’s sleep?” I smiled as she made her way around the bed, fussing over my bandages that had come loose in the night.

“Yeah, except a random doctor’s visit in the middle of the night woke me up, but I’m feeling fine.” I shrugged.

She gave me a questioning look.
“There were no doctors in your room last night.” She went to the bottom of the bed and checked the chart again, shaking her head as she showed me the doctor's entries. The last visit was yesterday afternoon.

“They were all in accident and emergency last night. There was an explosion on the docks and we needed them all down there doing triage. It was just awful. You must have been dreaming honey; sometimes the pain medication can give you strange dreams.” She patted my shoulder.
“How about some tea?”

“I’d love one.” I tried to smile as she shuffled out.
As she left to get me a tea, I couldn’t help but wonder, I'm almost positive it wasn’t a dream. I dreamed that me and Johnny Depp were about to get down and dirty. It was going to be the highlight of my week.

I was woken from that dream by Doctor Graveyard. Can you wake up from a dream into another dream? Unless it was all one big dream. Dream-ception? This is making my head hurt.

What the hell were they giving me for my pain? And can I get some to go? That was one realistic dream. Imagine my dream about Johnny Depp being more realistic, now that sounds good.

I could hear the soft footsteps of the nurse coming back into my room.

“Here’s your tea.” She placed the Styrofoam cup on the table and pushed it closer to my bed. As I curled my fingers around it beginning to become pleasantly warmed. Tea always made things better.
“Do you need anything else?” She asked but I shook my head.

“No, this is great, thanks.” She left my room with a smile and I settled back on my pillows with my tea.

Still confused by the doctor in my room. He was so real and kind of familiar... Was I going slowly insane? Well, not so slowly. Who knows, maybe I’ll be trading this room for a padded one soon. 
That doesn’t sound too bad…
You are not helping.

Chapter Six
A rose by any other name smells as sweet

I looked around my room again, bored without any company and trying not to think of phantom doctors in my room. As my eyes roamed around the nearly empty room, I noticed something that wasn’t there last night.

It was a single rose with a little note tied around the top of the stem. Do I have a secret admirer? Are they loaded and have an apartment I can have? How exciting, I rolled my eyes.

Maybe it was Valentine’s Day or the hospital was having an event and they were in everyone's rooms. I picked up the rose, smelling it approvingly. I loved roses, well I loved any flower. I lifted the little note attached, wondering who was leaving me roses. Maye it was Robert, it seemed like something he might do.

It read:
‘Get well soon. J xx’

J? Who the hell is J. Do I know anyone with a J? Claire’s middle name was Jasmine, but then again, she doesn’t know I’m in hospital or I would have heard her wailing next to my hospital bed. Bit of a stretch.

Are you dense?! J as in Joker? Are you fucking with me right now?
Oh, my Jesus Christ. I didn’t even, oh. No.
Ok, let’s try not to panic here.
We are getting roses from psychopaths! This seems like the appropriate time to panic?!
At least it’s not something dead, and we aren’t dead either, that’s a plus.
WE ARE GETTING ROSES OFF PSYCHOPATHIC MURDERS!
INNER PEACE BITCH, BREATHE! I TOLD YOUR DUMB ASS NOT TO PANIC!

Just seconds away from breaking down and needing to be carted off to Arkham myself, there was a soft knock at my door.

“Hello, Anna. Can I come in?” Robert had appeared at my doorway.

I suddenly tugged the little note off the rose and stashed it under my blanket.
“Hi, of course. You’re paying for it after all,” I laughed, trying to put the last two minutes to the back of my brain and file it away for when I could have my nervous breakdown in private.

“What’s up?” I asked, my voice only breaking slightly.

“Nothing really, just thought I would visit my darling saviour. Oh, who is the rose from? Do I have competition?” He raised his eyebrow with a big smile, shuffling in with a walker.

“I have no idea.” I lied. I set the rose down on the bedside table. Resisting the urge to throw it out of the window. And then following it.

“It’s so nice of you to visit me.” I gestured to the seat next to my bed and he took it, a literal reversal of roles since yesterday.
“I could have come to visit you in your room though.” I was concerned Robert was going to hurt himself, but he waved his hand.

“Don’t listen to George, he’s a worrywart. But speaking of George—” Robert began but a yelling in the hallway soon caught our attention. We both looked out of the door when a man swinging a duffel bag looked in my room.

Oh fuck, we know him.
I wish we didn’t. It was my landlord.
Doesn’t he look full of happiness and sunshine?

“There you are!” Todd yelled coming into my room and pointing a fat finger at me. A nurse was hot on his heels.

“Sir! You can’t just come into private patient's rooms!” She was trying to get him to leave but he was in no mood to be told what to do. He threw two duffel bags down with more force than necessary, making me raise an eyebrow at his theatrics. What a fucking drama queen.

“You’re a private patient, but you can’t pay your rent!?” He stormed up to my bed.

“I’m a couple of days late Todd. Don’t get your tight little panties into such a twist.” I threw back the covers and stood in front of him. He was 6”2 and I was shorter at 5”6 but I’ll be damned if this incel neckbeard is going to try and scare me. Anyway, my attitude is 6”4 at least.

“Late is late Anna.” He folded his arms and stared down at me. Does he know where he is? I decided to remind him.

“You do see this is a hospital, right? Where I am a patient. How did you even find me you absolute scumbag?” I folded my arms as I looked up at him. Somehow from this angle, he’s even uglier.

“Seen your ugly mug on the news. They said you were here. Some hero you are, heroes get paid and pay their rent.” He kicked the two duffel bags on the floor.
“Here’s your shit, you’ve been evicted.” He sneered at me.

“You can’t evict me without notice!” I glared at him; I wasn’t even sure if this was legal but I’m pretty sure he can’t.

“I can, and I just did! And I already have new tenants moving in so I better not see your ass back there again.” He jabbed his fat finger into my shoulder making me jerk back in pain. He would pick the injured one that I landed on, wouldn’t he?

“Do not touch her.” Robert stood up now, but he didn’t look very imposing in a hospital gown, half hunched over with a walker.

“Shut up old man.” Todd looked as if he was about to touch Robert, so I grabbed his jacket collar and shoved him back, hard.

I felt a weird paternal protectiveness over this man, even though he was old enough to be my grandfather. Todd nearly tripped over his feet but managed to stay upright.
Probably for the best, if he fell, he would have caused an earthquake.
A 5 on the magnitude scale.
That generous, I would have gone with 9.

“Who do you think you’re pushing?” He was about to come back up to me, but the nurse had returned with security guards. She looked smug as they rushed into the room. They didn’t wait for an explanation and each grabbed one of his arms. And began to haul him out.

“Do you know who I am?!” Todd yelled outraged.

“That only works if you are actually someone important! You dumb ass!” I yelled as they dragged him out. I took a deep breath as the room returned to silence.

Maybe Todd was less of an earthquake risk and more like a hurricane, coming in, causing destruction and leaving just as fast as he arrived. I remembered Robert was still in the room and turned to him.

“Oh fuck, are you ok? You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?” I asked, he looked ashen.

“I’m fine, just taken aback. Do you want a job as my security guard?” He laughed, and I smiled back.

“How does it pay?” I joked back. I took his arm and guided him back to the chair he had been sitting in.

I then pushed the duffel bags around the other side of my bed. Embarrassed that Robert had just seen my rather public eviction.

“Did you know that man?” He asked, we could still hear some distant yelling. I sat on the edge of my bed, nodding.

“My landlord, well previous landlord now, I guess.” I chuckled, even though it wasn’t very funny.

“If you need legal representation getting your furniture back…” Robert offered but I shook my head.

“That’s okay, I… didn’t have any.” I said even more embarrassed. This was just getting worse. I had the bare bones of furniture, but that was there when I moved in. None of it belonged to me.

“My life pretty much fits in two duffel bags.” I tried to laugh but this was just sad at this point.

“Oh.” Was all Robert said as I scratched my neck, hoping my cheeks weren’t red? This was awkward.

“Anna, I don’t know if you would be interested, but in light of your new… circumstances, this might be just what you need. There is a job vacancy at my company, as an assistant. I was going to start interviewing next week but you seem perfect for it, if you would like it…” He trailed off, leaving the offer out there for me.

I can safely say I wasn’t expecting a job offer this morning when I woke up. And wouldn’t have expected one after that display with my former landlord.

“Robert that’s very generous of you, but I have no experience in anything but serving food and pouring coffee. I hardly think I'm qualified to be your assistant.” I tried to decline as politely as possible.

“Ah, not my assistant but Georges.” It took me a minute to catch up on who George was. But I remembered him now. He had mentioned wanting to speak about him before that whole, shitshow.

Smart suit, baby blues, too nice, bit of a wimp, needs to tell his big brother to fuck off. Nice kid.

“He is opening a new branch in my company, and he is beginning to build up his staff. You two seemed to get on so well yesterday, and he needs someone to help him. To be…” He seemed to be searching for the right words.
“Stern.” He settled on.

“What you’re saying is he needs someone to whip him into shape and help him grow a shiny new backbone to deal with investors and his older brother?” I read between the lines. Robert looked slightly surprised but then smiled.

“Basically, yes.” He agreed with a short laugh. Not needing to dance around or sugar coat what he was trying to get at.

“Well, it sounds like an offer I can’t refuse.” I shrugged, it beat serving tables and I would miss Claire, but I can’t save for a new deposit for housing with the dismal pay from the diner. Especially when Antonio was always threatening to dock me.

And right now, I was literally homeless, maybe I could ask Robert, or I guess George for an advance. Having somewhere to live was my biggest concern.

“Do I have to interview to get it?” I asked, not knowing how well I would hold up in an interview. I never actually had one. I just walked into Antonios and that was it.

“No, no. Don’t worry about anything, I’ll get it all sorted out. Good thing you saved the boss's life, isn’t it?” He stood up with a chuckle and began to hobble his way out.
“Now I must get going, I have a very special granddaughter visiting today, but George will be by later to finalise things.” He smiled and gave me a small wave as he departed. I could see how excited he was to see his granddaughter.

I couldn’t help but smile even after he left. Today was finally looking as if things were about to turn around for me. Finally.
If you don’t count psychos leaving love notes and roses.
Shut up, no one asked you. I had almost forgotten I had that.

I didn’t have to wait long until George stopped by. He smiled as he popped his head in.
“Can I come in?” He asked, with a goofy smile. I nodded and waved him in.

“Of course.” I turned off the bedside TV I had been half listening to.

“I talked to the doctor and he said you could leave tomorrow if you wanted.” George took a seat next to the bed.

FREEDOM.
Tomorrow.
I thought I told you to shut up. Raining on all my parades.

“Thanks, I’m going crazy in here. Has your dad… talked to you?” I ventured, feeling a little awkward talking to my now boss. Not sure if he even knew it yet.

“Oh yes, I talked to him this morning. He told me you accepted the job offer, which is great because boy, I need some help.” He smiled sheepishly and began to fiddle with the buttons of his suit. He looked like a shy little teen about to ask me to go to prom and it was beyond adorable.

“Well, I guess it’s my job to help you now boss. I'm your new lackey.” I smiled, not sure if I should be so happy about being someone’s lackey.

“I have to ask; do you have any familiarity in assisting?” He asked.
“None.” I answered.
“Do you have any background in business?” He asked.
“Absolutely zero.” I answered.
“Any references?” He asked.
“Nothing.” I answered.

I smiled triumphantly at my total lack of experience. Proud for no reason.

“But I can make a decent cup of coffee. And will yell at anyone for you.” I tried.

“Well, I do like coffee. And yelling, I guess.” He laughed a little, it sounded mostly like nervous laughing though.

“It’s destiny, George.” I smiled; I was going to whip this boy into shape. He would have a spine made of steel by the time I’m done with him. Just like I promised Robert.

Wait, which is stronger steel or titanium?
Titanium.
How do you know?
I don’t, but I have a 50/50 chance of being right. Neither one of us is exceptionally gifted in the intelligence department.
I don’t know, exceptionally is a pretty big word. Nerd.

“I hope you don’t think this is too forward of me.” George began, eyes fixed on the floor. Oh, this doesn’t sound good, I stayed silent waiting for him to speak.

“But my dad, he told me about your p-predicament, this m-morning. With your landlord.” He coughed nervously as he stammered. Was he worried I might cry or something? Again, adorable.

“Ex-landlord now.” I mumbled through gritted teeth, just thinking about the rude bastard.

“Well, one of my friends from university, is a real estate agent. He recently told me about some apartments that he renovated himself. They’re not very big. But they’re close to where we’ll be working, and they’re cheaper rent, just as a rest stop until you get back on your feet.” He was sweating and wringing his hands. He was way too nervous.

“That sounds great—” I began but George jumped in again before I could get more than 3 words out.

“It might be a step down from what you’re used to.” Oops, he was beginning to spiral.

“George, look at me.” I got his eyes up from the floor and pointed to myself.
“The last place I lived was all one room, my kitchen was directly next to my bed. Nothing worked, some of the floor was missing. A window was put out, that was never replaced. It was infested with cockroaches and had rats everywhere. Believe me, a box on the street would have been better than that.” George looked appalled as I described my last living situation, all of which was true.

I mean, yeah ok, maybe I broke the window when I threw a rat through it. But the fucker was fighting me, I have the right to defend myself.
It was either him or us.
Exactly.

“Oh.” Was all he said, oh my sweet summer child. How sheltered were you growing up?
“We can go see them some tomorrow if you like.” He offered but I shook my head.

“Let’s go now.” I swung my legs over the bed and went to the duffel bags, hoisting one up I began to root around for some clothes. Some clean clothes would be preferable.

“But the doctor said—” I cut him off as I turned around with a raised eyebrow.

“Do I look like someone who lets people tell me what to do?” I asked him. He looked incredibly nervous, so I added with a wink.
“Except for you, boss.”

“They might want you to stay.” He mumbled, throwing a look at the door.

“They might want a lot of things. Tough shit. Unless you’re busy now?” I suddenly remembered some people might have a life.

“No, I have nothing to do.” His voice cracked which made him go red.
It looks like it’s going to take a little more work to get George into fighting shape. But that sounds like a challenge, and I do so adore a challenge.

I began to change out of my hospital gown which made George run out of the room with a stammer and I had a small giggle to myself, it was a little cruel. But his face was priceless. He’ll learn, I don’t have a filter on my behaviour or my mouth.

We left the hospital after saying goodbye to Robert, he was more at ease with me going with George and not by myself. Guess he just didn’t want me to disappear from his life, which had been my plan.

It can’t be a safety issue because I’m not sure how much help George would be if we got mugged, I’m pretty sure I would have to fight them off while George cowered behind me clutching his pearls.

Robert’s granddaughter was with him in his hospital room, with a pink sparkly unicorn that was 4ft tall. A foot taller than her.  She had dragged it over to her grandfather and it was taking up most of the bed. She was a cutie pie.

But she had literally zero interest in me or poor George and just wanted her quality time with her grandpappy. So, we left them to their bonding and signed me out.

I think the doctors were relieved to see the back of me, to be honest. No more threatening their rude doctors or crazy visitors bursting into my room to be dragged out.

George called his friend on the way out to set up a meeting and his friend was more than happy to meet us straight away. George said this was his friend's first set of flats on the market, so he was eager to get them filled quickly.

Don’t think he would be overtly happy with me filling one, but as long as I’m able to pay rent, it should be fine. He doesn’t need to know that I’m not as high class as he might be expecting. George drove us in his yellow mini-Cooper, it looked like a bumble bee of a car. Which seemed like a car he would have. My duffel bags almost didn’t fit on the back seat.

But we arrived pretty quickly and were ushered into one of the flats on the higher floors.
This is nice.
You can say that again.
Ok. This is nice.
Smart ass.

Chapter Seven
Can I turn on the Sirens?

I twirled around slowly taking it all in. This apartment is gorgeous, glorious and better still, it’s clean. Not a rat or cockroach in sight. It might not be a huge penthouse suite, but it felt like it to me. There was a kitchen with cabinets and drawers, that didn’t break off if you poke them (I tested) and they weren’t nailed shut either.

I could even cook more than just ramen noodles in the kitchen. I don’t know if I can cook more than that with my limited cooking abilities but hey, the option is there.

There was a nice small living room next to it, it even had a TV and a couch already there. Then there was my bedroom with a double bed and a small walk-in closet, I don’t think I even have enough clothes to fill a third of it.

Then there was the bathroom with an old but beautiful claw bathtub. I have died and went to apartment heaven. It wasn’t even located near the narrows! It was in Gotham City which means one thing. Expensive. I walked into the kitchen to see George testing the cabinets, opening and closing them.

“Hey George, I need to ask you something.” His friend had stepped out to make a phone call so thankfully we were alone.

“You hate it?” George’s face fell.

“No. This place is great, better than anywhere I have ever lived. But can I afford it? I was barely making ends meet at my old apartment and that was a shit hole.” I didn’t mince my words.

He smiled as he replied.
“You’re going to be working at the second biggest company in Gotham City next to Wayne Enterprises.” He smiled a little smugly but that wasn’t an answer.

“So, is that a, yes?” I asked again after silence.

“Don’t worry this place would fit nicely in your budget. You’ll even have enough to put away every month in case of a rainy day.” I nearly fell over, disposable income?!
I think I need a cold shower. I’m getting hot under the collar. Financial stability was hot.

“You know, I never thought I would be able to get a job working in a big office. I hope I don’t let you down. I didn’t mean to say the last part, but my stupid mouth sometimes doesn’t stop moving when I want it to. Didn’t mean to say that bit either.” Seems I couldn’t shut up. The nerves might be getting to me now.

“I don’t think you will let me down.  Anyway, I'm the third son so my department will be small at first. The team is mostly made up of old friends who studied the same field as me.” He blushed slightly.

“Oh darn, I was so looking forward to working my ass off day and night. Working my fingers to the bone. Corporate America dream.” I finished off dramatically and laughed.

I hopped on top of the kitchen counter, next to George. That’s right boys and girls, I have a kitchen counter, look at me in all my fanciness.

“I can give you an advance on your first pay cheque, seeing as you won’t get paid until Friday. And you need somewhere now.” He got out a chequebook and started scribbling away. He slid it over to me.

“Holy fuck. How much of it will go to rent?” I asked staring

“That’s without the rent, figured I would take that off and pay it directly from me, save you from some hassle.” He explained with a smile.

“I, what, what, what?!” I tried to keep my voice down, didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his friend. But, what?! He smiled and went to the door.

“I’ll finish up things with Will, this place is as good as yours. I’ll leave you to get settled in, see you tomorrow at work.”

“SEE YOU TOMORROW!” I yelled as he shut the door. I slapped myself across the face. Hard. Ow, fuck, not dreaming. Oh, I need to go shopping.

I have money to go shopping. I don’t have to count my quarters. Handing the poor clerk fistfuls of change and putting stuff back.
I think my life just became perfect. But first I needed to sit down. Holy fuck. All this money, this was more than I made in a year. Fuck.

Now this is the sweet life.
What was it you were saying about bad luck again?
I’ll admit, this once, I was wrong. This once.
Victory is mine.

I sat for a while longer in my apartment, it was mine.
Who knew that getting kidnapped by a raving madman would be the best thing to ever happen to me?

But my good mood was a little ruined as the Joker entered the forefront of my mind. He was still out there; somewhere in Gotham. I'm a dead girl walking if he’s set his sights on me… But I would one rich corpse…

Suddenly a loud ringing shattered my thoughts and I nearly screamed. A few days cut off from my mobile had made the ringing so unexpected. Thankfully my bag hadn’t been mistaken as debris and had been taken to the hospital as my personal effects.

They returned it to me upon my departure and I almost wish they hadn’t, who was disturbing my peace? I picked up my mobile from my bag, half expecting and dreading to hear the Joker on the other end.

“H-Hello.” I stammered, trying to get a grip on myself.

“Hello, is this Anna Jones?” I knew this voice, where did I know this voice?

“Can I ask who is speaking?” I asked tentatively. Where did I know his voice?

“Yes, it’s Commissioner Gordon of the Gotham police department.” He answered, and I was flooded with relief. Mostly happy it wasn’t the Joker.

“Oh erm, hi. Yes, this is Anna.” I greeted with relief.

“Ah great, it seems we missed you at the hospital and we just have a few questions regarding you and the incident a couple of days ago. Would you be able to pop down to the station, so we can talk?” He asked.

Don’t police stations have coffee and doughnuts?
Are you being serious right now?
Hey, we’re hungry.

“Sure, that’s not a problem, when would you like me to come down?” I asked, checking my watch.

“As soon as possible, just so we can get it out of the way. Are you busy at the moment?” I was a little surprised, the commissioner didn’t have anything more pressing to do than talk to me? Was it a slow crime week?

Doesn’t he have criminals to catch? I can think of one that dresses up like a clown that I’m eager to be caught. Starts with a J and ends with an oker. Wears purple, green hair, can’t miss him. But then again, I was involved with a major crime, this shouldn’t be too surprising to me.

“No, I’m not busy. I can come down.” I offered politely, immediately regretting it.

“That’s great, would you like me to send over a police vehicle to pick you up?” He offered.

“Only if I can turn on the sirens.” I joked. Did they do that for innocent people? Was this secretly an arrest?   

“Alright, I’ll send someone now. I’ll see you down here shortly.” He hung up before I could interrupt him. I was joking about the sirens. I could have just got the bus. Or a taxi, I have taxi riding money now, I’ve moved up in the world.

Thinking of going down there, a sense of dread filled me. What have I just agreed to? I only really realised now that this would involve a whole heap of questions about something I would rather forget. If I'm honest it’s the thought of donuts that was filling my head.

Sugary, sugary doughnuts. 
Honestly, I was only thinking about doughnuts too.
This is why we don’t function well as an adult. At least one of us has to be smart.
It’s a wonder we’re still alive.

I grabbed my new keys, shoved them in my bag and practically dragged myself out of the door. My floor was the fourth, so I didn’t have too many stairs to run down. Only once I was at the bottom, did I realise there was an elevator.

I live somewhere with an elevator. Magical box of transportation, I don’t trust you, but I like you. I opened the front door and was out on the streets of Gotham.

I stood awkwardly outside; would the police even know who I was? I saw a police car driving down the road, and as it slowed in front of my building, I went over to it. I was taught from a very early age that you can always trust a police officer, but I was young and naïve and easily lost in department stores.

I wasn’t sure if it still rings true though or if that still applies to Gotham. But the police hadn’t done anything wrong to me… yet. And Gordon had sent them for me, I don’t think he would have sent anyone shady. At least I hope not.

As I waved them down, they pulled up to the sidewalk next to me and rolled down their window.

“Can we help you ma’am?” He had a deep Italian accent. As soon as he saw me, he reeled back a little.

“Ma’am, have you been attacked?” This reaction to my face was getting old, really quick. What was I? The hunchback of Notre Dame? I need some make-up.

“Hi, no, well not recently. There was pavement. Are you by chance here to pick up an Anna?” I asked sheepishly.

“Oh, yes. We are. You’ll have to ride in the back though.” He pointed a thumb to the backseat and I shrugged, not my first time.

“Alright.” I climbed into the back seat. It felt weird being behind the cage when I hadn’t done anything. But I did start to think of everything wrong I had ever done in my life. Which was a long list.

“So, what business do you have down at the station little lady?” The driver piped up and his accent was not Italian, but strong New York. I didn’t like the ‘little lady’ bit of that, but he is an officer of the law and he’s giving me a ride, I’ll let it slide.

“I'm going to see the commissioner, he wanted to speak with me.” I told them, surprised they weren’t aware.

“Do we need to cuff you?” He laughed along with the driver. I smiled; this must be police humour. I guess I could play along.

“Oh no don’t worry, I’ve been good I promise.” At least in a law-abiding way. Well, mostly. They can’t prove anything. I left no evidence. Or witnesses.

“Don’t worry we will get you there in two shakes. In fact, let’s give you the whole police ride experience.” He stepped his foot down and pushed a button, setting off their siren and blue and red lights.

Suddenly the traffic parted making our ride to the station a lot shorter and also ten times more terrifying. If I had been a Christian woman, I would have prayed.

As he pulled into the parking lot next to the station, I realised my hands had a death grip on the seat. I wanted out before they started doing circles in the parking lot. I realised the doors had no handles. A fear started in my chest and I was reminded of being in the car with the Joker. Feeling trapped and frightened. Soon the door opened, and I was let out.

“Sorry about the doors, it’s made with criminals in mind.” The driver apologised.

“Don’t worry about it.” My voice slightly wavered at the end and the two police officers waved as they left me at the station.

Well, that was fun!
You’re me, aren’t you? How can we have two different definitions of fun?!
I'm just as confused as you are. Can we do it again?
NO.
You’re no fun.

I headed into the station and was quickly directed to Commissioner Gordon’s office. As I glanced at the clock, I passed I realised it was a lot earlier in the day than I thought, it was only 11:30 and I already wanted to go home and sleep. Human interaction is hard.
As the secretary led me to the door, I gave it a short knock.

“Come on in.” I heard and as I entered, I realised the commissioner wasn’t alone, standing near the window was Bruce Wayne. It’s strange to see him in person when you’ve seen pictures of them all over the papers and TV.

Let me tell you the pictures didn’t do him justice; he was so tall dark and handsome I had to focus on not swooning right there.
He reached out a hand to me to shake and introduced himself.

“Hi, I'm Bruce Wayne.” I shook his hand firmly and replied.

“Anna Jones.” I let go of his hand even though I didn’t want to.

He smiled at me and turned to Gordon.
“We can continue our talk another time.” I realised I might have walked in and disrupted their conversation.

“I'm so sorry would you like me to wait outside while you finish?” I made a move to leave when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“No don’t worry, we’re just old friends catching up. You’re fine. I’ll see you later Gordon, nice meeting you Anna.” Flashing his smile, he removed his hand and went to the door, but not before giving me a cheeky wink. As the door closed, I'm sure I was blushing.

The commissioner cleared his throat and stood up, he motioned for me to take the seat opposite his and I accepted, feeling stupid for blushing like a schoolgirl. But happy I wasn’t going to have to go to an interrogation room.

Gordon sat back down, and I studied him for a moment. He had thick brown hair, but it was greying on the sides as was his broad moustache. His thick-rimmed glasses balanced on his nose as he looked over his notes quickly.

“I'm sorry we have to meet again under such circumstances, but I'm going to have to ask you some questions about the Joker.” I nodded my head and prepared myself.

“Any details you can think of would be helpful, it might not seem important, but it could be.” I nodded again, and he took out a little notebook from his desk drawer and flipped it open to a blank page.

“Ok. So, Miss Jones, can you just walk me through your day leading up to the bank robbery.” He began. I shifted in my chair and jumbled my memory.

“Well, I woke up and got ready for work. I was late, my alarm clock, erm broke. And Antonio was a little bitch about it. That’s my boss.” I mentally slapped myself, he meant details about the Joker, not your life.

“After my shift, I went to the bank because there was some sort of problem with my account. When I arrived, I was standing in the queue behind Robert—"

“Sorry Miss Jones, but who is Robert?” Gordon asked his pencil momentarily stopped.

“Oh Robert, Mr. Taylor, he was the man who was stabbed. With the knife, the shoe knife.” I added, and Gordon's lip twitched at the mention of the shoe knife. I’m sure it had a proper name, that I didn’t know. But the shoe knife seemed appropriate. Because it was a knife. In a shoe.

“Oh yes of course.” He quickly scribbled in his notepad, “Sorry for interrupting, carry on.”

I nodded.
“And we chatted for a little bit while in the queue. And then a few minutes later the Joker and a bunch of men come charging in, yelling and start tying everybody up. They all had on clown masks, except the Joker. It took a while to get to Robert and me, we were furthest away from the doors. Then one of his men stabbed Robert for talking back, and the Joker just shot the guy. His own guy. Right in the head.” Gordon nodded thoughtfully, as he scribbled furiously.

“Witnesses did mention one of the robbers was shot, we just didn’t know why.” He motioned for me to carry on.

“Then the Joker walked off like there wasn’t a dead body on the floor.” I pushed the image out of my mind and tried to carry on with the story.

“He made one of the tellers go to the vault to open it and then ordered the other one to help. I think he was close to the silent alarm. When the Joker heard the sirens, he tried to take Robert as a hostage, but I knew he wouldn’t survive. Especially not in his condition, he needed a doctor immediately, he was actively bleeding so I volunteered instead.” I tried to give every detail I could think of, Gordon did ask for everything.

You’re still a dumbass.
Don’t make me come in there.
I would LOVE to see you try.

“That was incredibly brave of you Miss Jones.” Gordon complimented me.

“Or incredibly stupid.” I smiled even though I was slightly shaking from having to re-live it.
He laughed and began to jot down notes again. I carried on trying to not let my voice shake.

“So, that’s when you and your men came in.” He nodded and kept writing.

“Then he shoved me into the car and drove off like a bat out of hell.” I could feel my hands begin to shake so I gripped them together and tried to act calm.

“He drove?” Gordon asked but I shook my head.

“Sorry, no. He was in the back seat with me.” I corrected myself, feeling a little flustered.

Gordon looked up from his notepad and took a quick mouthful of coffee from his desk. Did he have any doughnuts?

“So, what did he say to you while you were captive?” Gordon asked.

Internally I was squirming at remembering our short exchange and shook my head. I didn’t want to say he was flirting, especially since I’m 100% sure he was going to murder me later. And also, he wasn’t flirting, more like a cat batting at a mouse, teasing it before it finally snaps its neck. So, I kept it short.

“I wasn’t in the car for too long, so we didn’t really speak. He asked my name; I told him and that was pretty much it. He did allude to the fact he was probably going to kill me.” I decided to leave out the unintentional ‘snuggling’ part.

“After that, I jumped out pretty quick. Rather take my chances with the pavement than him.” I pointed at my face and Gordon nodded. My hair was long, but not long enough to cover the extent of my damage.

“Did you pass anything memorable or something you recognised?” He asked still scribbling away.

“Not really, but I knew we were in the narrows eventually. I used to live on the outskirts, so I knew we were around there.” He looked up from his notepad and shuffled around some papers, taking one out and reading it he said.

“Ah yes you lived there, it’s still here as your current address have you moved?” He scribbled in his notepad again. From here it looked like scribbles. I wanted to repeat outskirts, but thought better of it.

“Yes, I moved. Well, my landlord actually kicked me out for being late with my rent.” I said still pissed off.

He looked a little surprised behind his thick glasses.
“Was he aware of what had happened?” He asked in a surprised tone. I laughed a little.

“Oh yeah, he even dropped off my stuff at the hospital. He was a bit of a bastard about it. I'm sorry am I allowed to swear?” Commissioner Gordon laughed at my question.

“I'm a police officer, not your Sunday school teacher.” He smiled, and I returned it. I never went to Sunday school a day in my life.

“So, you were in the narrows and is that when you escaped?” He began scribbling again.

“Yes, my grand escape. I jumped out of the car, while it was still moving. Not my finest moment, but I was too scared to just sit there.” As if to remind me my body ached as if reminding me how well it went.

“The doctor did say you had some considerable damage.” More rummaging through papers. He seemed to find what he was looking for.
“Ah yes, bodily bruising, damage to your knee and a puncture wound? Miss Jones, did the Joker stab you?” He looked very concerned and worried.

“No, no he didn’t. It’s when I jumped, I landed in glass so that’s what stabbed me.” He visibly relaxed and put the papers back down. My bruises were still very visible, but the swelling had gone down finally. The rest I could cover with makeup. Which was on my shopping list.

“Has he attempted to contact you since?” My mind flashed back to the hospital and my fear that he was there in my room while I slept. But then again, the nurse did say the medication for my pain was probably responsible for that dream, but the rose was indisputably real. And he did say all the details.

“I'm not sure. But I think he might have left a rose by my bed in the hospital.” Gordon looked completely baffled.

“A rose?” He shifted his glasses and looked at me.

“Well, I can't be sure, but someone left me one with a note saying ‘Get well soon. J xx’. I can't be sure that it’s from him, but it was signed J. And I don’t have any family or friends with that initial. Could be someone playing a prank?” I shrugged.

He didn’t say anything but seemed surprised.
“Was there anything else? Did you see him come in or was anything out of place or moved?” I shook my head.

“Just the rose.” I decided to leave out the dream, it was probably my warped brain trying to scare me. I'm my own worst enemy.
You have no idea.

Gordon nodded and took a few more notes, I peeked and all I could see was a mass of black marks. Looks like a police officer's writing is as notoriously bad as a doctor’s. Maybe worse, God damn.

“Do you have the note, or rose still?” He asked, but I shook my head.

“They’re back at the hospital, I didn’t feel like keeping them.” Gordon nodded and read over his notes quickly. “Sorry.” I added quickly.

“Don’t be sorry, you’ve been very helpful. I think that’s all we need. Thank you, Miss Jones, for your time and cooperation; we have every available man working on catching the Joker. We will find this madman and get him off the streets.” He stood up and began rummaging around in his coat pocket. He handed me a small card as I stood up.

Why does everyone have some damn fancy business cards, and why have I been receiving so many lately?

“That’s how you can contact me. If anything happens or you remember something, please don’t hesitate to call me.” He shook my hand and gave me a weary smile. I thanked him but before I left, I had to ask him.

“You don’t think the Joker will come after me, do you? I'm not a target, right?” I hated to ask but I was a little frightened. He put his hand on my arm in a reassuring gesture.

“Don’t worry, it's far more likely he will move on to something else. And it’s not in his behaviour to go after individuals who aren’t in the public eye. You’ll be more than safe. If it would help, I could assign someone to watch your home?” The thought of being followed even if by an officer didn’t sit right with me.

“Oh, no. That’s not necessary. If you say I'm safe, I’m sure you're right. I just needed the reassurance.” I smiled and waved the card.
“If I’m in trouble I can always call.”

He smiled and led me out of his office. With a final goodbye, I made my way out of the station.

Stepping back out into the sun gave me a small sense of hope. Sure, I was still scared at the prospect of a killer clown on the loose but as Gordon said, I'm not on the Joker's radar, a long-forgotten blip. I'm more than safe. I practically skipped off towards the bank with a new-found sense of security.

But I couldn’t help but feel like I was being watched.
You know the feeling you get in your gut?
This is the hunger talking. Feed us for the love of God!

I shook my head and smiled, again my body trying to fuck with me. I decided to go to the bank and maybe then treat myself to a nice lunch. The feeling of being watched stayed with me but I pushed it to the back of my mind, hoping to occupy my thoughts with happier ideas.

Like food.
Finally, you’re starting to speak my language.

Chapter Eight
Back to the scene of the crime

As I started to walk towards Gotham Bank, I was a little worried about going back in, I mean the last time I was in there I was terrorized and then kidnapped by a crazy ass clown. I’m still healing from the events, mentally and physically.

But Gordon even said it, I'm not a target and the bank was already been hit once. It won’t get robbed again so soon. It’s nearly empty. It’s probably one of the safest places right now.

I’ll be fine. Won't I? I swear if it does get robbed again, my ass is moving to Metropolis.

As I stepped into the bank there was no queue seeing as it was still early in the day, so I went straight to a teller to cash my cheque. I felt kind of happy the blonde Chihuahua wasn’t there, she probably quit after the robbery, and I probably would have too.

The teller sitting behind the glass was a tired-looking brunette, tapping away at a computer, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but here. As I walked up to her desk, she put on a fake smile.

“Hello, how can I help you today ma’am?” She asked in business mode.

“I'm just here to deposit a cheque.” As I reached into my bag, I realised I didn’t even have my bank card, thinking back I must have left it when I was being served here last time.

“But I don’t have my bank card I left it here last time I was in. It was when the robbery happened, so I forgot about my card.”
And our common sense.
“But I have my ID.” I began to root around my bag for my purse.

She looked confused for a minute and then realisation dawned on her face.
“Oh my gosh! You’re the girl! The girl from the news. I thought I recognised you!” She laughed as I stared at her confused.

“Wait the news? What are you talking about?” Being in hospital I didn’t watch a lot of the news. Mostly nature documentaries on the small TV next to my bed. David Attenborough calms me.  And why does everyone refer to me as “the girl” these days? I have a name.

“They said you were still in the hospital. Hold on I’ll find the remote.” She disappeared from my sight for a few seconds and when she came back, she switched on a little TV behind the counter at the bank. One of them small portable ones, she brought it closer, so I could see. She flicked through some channels until she came to the news. They talked about some other happenings in Gotham and then finally.

“And in the headlines today, the Joker makes his second appearance this week.” His face appeared taking up half the screen and the other half was a video of a burning ship.

“Last night the Joker threatened and then blew up several boats in Gotham’s dock after his demands of Batman unmasking himself went unanswered. Although there have been no reports of any deaths, there are many seriously injured civilians currently being treated at Gotham Central.” That was the emergency the nurse had mentioned.

“Also, there are two of his victims from his bank heist a few days ago, where he stole over 18 million dollars from one of Gotham’s biggest banks. Miss Anna Jones and Mr Robert Taylor, of Taylor Industries have been described as in stable condition and due for release later this week.” A picture of me and Robert flashed on the screens for a minute and then went to CCTV of the robbery. Creepily I was at the same teller booth today.

It was weird to watch myself in the footage; it was especially weird to watch myself being dragged off by the Joker. Never thought I would be in that position. And how did the news have this footage? Also, is that how my hair looks from the side?

“Authorities are still urging people who have any information about the Joker's whereabouts to step forward, but not to try and apprehend the suspect themselves, as he is extremely dangerous and heavily armed. This has been Irene Agnew, stay safe and have a good day Gotham.” The TV set went black as the brunette shut it off.

“See? You’re practically famous!” She squealed, obviously more excited about this than I am.

“Yeah, that’s great. I guess.” She continued smiling and went off in search of my bank card.

Do you think we could score some free coffee somewhere seeing as we are kind of famous?
That’s all you’re thinking about right now? Free coffee? We don’t even like coffee!
No, you don’t like coffee, I happen to love it.
What? We’re the same person.
I still love coffee.
Where’s your off switch?
There’s no escape from me. Together forever.
That’s creepy.

As the teller came back, victoriously holding my bank card. She assured me I could still take money out as the bank was being helped back onto its feet, and soon they would be back at full capacity. Also stepping up their security, I told her about my bank being emptied and as she told me she would look into it and contact me, I gave her my mobile number and left. Productive day so far and I'm just getting started!

But before I went anywhere else, I went into the nearest beauty shop and bought their best coverage foundation and powder. I also bought myself a few other new make-up products. Seeing as all my products were well over 6 years old, I felt like I should be enrolling them in school soon.

I can afford to treat myself now, for the first time in forever. With actual money in my bank. And I didn’t want to start work tomorrow looking like a bad boxer who got their ass beat.

I couldn’t decide whether or not to go to my old job and officially resign. Of course, I knew my job wouldn’t still be waiting for me and I didn’t even want it. I was stepping up in the business world. 

But it is probably the right thing to do. I mean maybe someone’s worried about me; maybe they saw the news and would like to know how I'm doing. It’s highly unlikely but it’s possible. Claire would care, at least. Maybe Rosa if I caught her on a good day.

I took out some of my new money from a cash machine and hailed a cab. No way I was walking all the way to the diner with my knee like it was. It still fucking hurt. A cab soon pulled over and I hopped in the back, telling him my destination. I sat back and stared out of the window.

As I headed down to my old work, I realised how different Gotham City and the narrows were, maybe that’s why they were separated by the bridge. One day someone would probably blow it up and leave all those poor people to rot in that hell.

A lot of people would probably like that, rich people sometimes have that frame of mind, that if you don’t have money, you’re not important. How much money you have defines how much of a person you are. But then they make themselves feel better by donating their purse change to charities, acting like they care.

And you know the news loves that kind of stuff, taking photos and interviewing these ‘philanthropists’ about their hard work in these charities and how difficult it is to organise such big events. How they have to wipe up their tears with their wads of cash and cuddle their bars of gold to get to sleep every night.

But at least Robert and George weren’t like that, I mean they practically saved me and they could have left me, let me go back to my old job, and left me homeless on the street. No one would have blamed them of course; I wasn’t their responsibility.

But they helped me nonetheless. I think the eldest brother Charles fell into the aforementioned category of assholes, but they can’t all be winners. And I could tell from our first meeting. We wouldn’t be getting along.

Mercifully Antonio’s dinner wasn’t far into the narrows. It looks just as crappy as I left it. As I walked in, it wasn’t as busy as it usually was this time in the morning. Usually, people came in for their coffee and breakfast, but only one old man was sitting in a booth reading a newspaper and a burly man sitting in the corner. I went up to the counter and almost immediately Antonio came out looking as if he had just been woken up.

“Oh, it’s you.” He grouchily said. “I thought you were a customer.”

“Yes, it’s me. Look before you get all--” I tried before he interrupted me.

“What the hell ah happened to your face? Who have you been fighting?” He waved his hands quickly.

“I don’t care. I bet you have come to beg for your job back. I'm a merciful man and I will take you back. But you will have to work twice as hard for half the pay.” He took an apron from under the counter and tossed it at me.
I caught it with a surprisingly fast reflex and put it back on the counter in front of him.

“One that’s unfair and I think illegal and two I came to tell you I quit.” I told him.

“What do you mean, you don’t want your job? Then why are you here?” He asked, hands on his hips.

“I came to resign officially; I thought maybe you were worried about me. I have been in hospital after all, do you not watch the news?” I asked. Strangers have recognised me, but not my old boss?

“You’re quitting? Did you get a new job? Who are you working for, huh? Is it Joey? It’s Joey from across the street, isn’t it?! That bastard! He steals my wife and now he steals my waitress! I’ll kill him! Mamma always loved him best!” He threw his apron and hat off and stormed out of the dinner. I didn’t have the strength to chase after him.

What the hell was that?
I have no idea, is he shouting out there?
We should leave.
That’s a good idea.

Quickly walking out I saw Antonio banging on his brother's restaurant door.

“Come out you coward! I'm going to slap the Italian out of you!” He yelled.

Deciding it was best to stay out of family conflicts I was about to leave when Claire ran out of the restaurant. She instantly wrapped me in a hug and I could have cried. Not from being reunited, but from the pain. I think she ripped my stitches in that bone-crushing hug. She let me go and had tears in her eyes.  

“Where have you been?!” She asked, shaking my shoulders.

“Why do none of you watch the news?” I asked, surprised no one had seen it.
“I was at the bank when it was robbed.” I told her, but she looked at me blankly.

“Big robbery, two nights ago. Joker robbed the bank. Seriously, read a newspaper.” She gasped at my riveting re-telling of the story.

“OH. MY. GOSH. I dropped you off there, I could have been in there!” Her mind automatically went to herself, but I didn’t care. She had been like this since we met. I was used to it.

“Are you ok?” She asked after her brain processed her near-death experience. I swept back my hair and I heard her suck in a breath.
“Oh, that’s not a good look.” She put her hand out to poke it, so I quickly leaned back. If she touched it, I might have to slap her.

Antonio’s brother had come out and they had begun a scuffle in the street.

“Shit, I’ll have to get Rosa.” Claire stepped away but then fixed me with a look.
“You better call me. We need a major catch-up session.” She looked me up and down.
“I’ll try and help you fix…this.”

She scurried back in the restaurant and I left, happy I didn’t have to deal with Antonio anymore. He was a truly terrible boss and a crappy all-around human being.
And Claire, well, she was just Claire. She wasn’t an overtly thoughtful friend, but she was the one I had.

And she was better than no one.

Ahem. I’m here.
Don’t even.

Chapter Nine
Buying the essentials

I was eager to get back to Gotham. My knee was starting to ache, and I instantly regretted my decision to walk. As I have always said, exercise is dangerous and bad for your health. Why does no one, myself included, ever listen to me?! As I was walking, I decided the first bus I came across I would get onto. I don’t even care where it’s going at this point.

But as I was looking to cross the road (road safety is important kids), I noticed a burly man walking behind me. Not unusual, but it was off-putting how he was staring at me. Sure, my face was still a bit bruised from my swan dive out of a car, but the make-up was covering most of it and didn’t his mamma ever tell him it’s rude to stare?

It then dawned on me that it was the same man from Antonio’s dinner, who was sitting in the corner. Trying to remember, I didn’t see him with any food or a drink. He was just sitting there like he was waiting for something or someone.

Was he following me? I crossed the road and looked for a shop, if he followed me in then it was safe to say he was probably following me and I should ring the police, I had a direct line to the commissioner after all. If not, then I guess I'm safe and it’s just a big coincidence and I'm being overly paranoid. I hoped for the latter option and not the former.

As I walked down the road growing ever more scared and wishing that he would stop or turn off somewhere, anything to ease the paranoia. I finally came across a little corner shop, the windows were plastered with posters, paint chipping off the frame but to me, it looked like the garden of freaking Eden. My salvation.

I quickly pushed open the door and a bell rang overhead. As I walked down the little aisle, I didn’t hear the bell ring after me and the sense of relief that flooded through me was amazing. Maybe it’s been the past week that has put me so on edge, all the huge changes to my life and the sheer drama of it all, I mean come on I'm lucky to still be breathing. Surely my life can't get even worse, can it?

I grabbed the biggest bar of chocolate I could find and a bottle of whiskey to go with it on my way to the cash register. Life problems can either be fixed with chocolate or copious amounts of alcohol, if not then you’re not using enough.

I placed my items on the counter and started rooting around my handbag for my purse. The man smiled as he looked at what I was buying.

“Rough day?” He asked with a chuckle.

“Pretty rough week.” I replied. Which wasn’t a lie.

“Will you be paying by cash or card?” He asked, putting my items in a plastic bag.

“Card please.” I paid and thankfully it was accepted. I always had the fear my card would randomly decline. As I took my card back and put the contents of expert problem-solving into my handbag, I asked the cashier.

“Hey, could I maybe use the back door? I'm a little suspicious someone followed me, and I just want to get home safe.” It didn’t hurt to ask even if it did make me look a little kooky. 

He looked at me and then at the front door.
“Yeah sure, just go down the little hall and to the left there should be a door leading out to the alley.” He shrugged. I looked to where he pointed and started down the hallway.

“Thank you.” I was probably being overly cautious, but better safe than sorry.
As I went to take a left I heard the bell ring over the door at the shop.

“Where is she?!” I heard a rough voice demand.

“Who is where sir?” The cashier asked his voice shaking.

“Tell me where she went now!”  I quickly changed my route and took a right turn into a room. No way could I outrun someone. I don’t run! I don’t jog! I don’t even walk fast!

I closed the door but left it open a crack to listen.
“She went down the hallway and to the left into the alley ten seconds ago!” The cashier squealed.

I tried to slow my breathing, so he wouldn’t hear me if he passed. Nothing more suspicious than a gasping sound coming from a door.

I heard heavy footsteps and they finally stopped at the end. It suddenly occurred to me that this guy might not know his left from his right. Oh fuck. Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Please have a higher education than a 5-year-old. American school system please don’t have failed this idiot.

He headed towards my door, the right door. No, you dipshit! This is the wrong door! Left! Left! I could tell he was a breath away from coming in, his shadow blocking the light, his hand reaching for the handle. I didn’t even get to drink my whiskey and eat my chocolate. Life isn’t fair.

“No sir, the left door.” I heard a quiet voice say from down the hallway.

“What?” The voice was scarier up close, maybe it was because I was pretty sure I was about to die.

“That’s the right door, it’s just the storeroom, she went out the left door that leads to the alley.” He clarified.

“I was just checking. Go back to your store asshole.” I prayed he wouldn’t check my door, but I'm an atheist, so I'm pretty sure praying doesn’t work that way.
He stood at the door a couple of seconds more, then retreated and I heard the back door slam open and then shut. I gasped to catch my breath again and held my hand over my heart. Feeling it beating hard.

That was way too close.
I know.
We nearly died!
I know.
Why was he even following us?
I don’t know. Is the Joker watching me?
But remember we aren’t even on his radar.
Maybe the commissioner is wrong. Maybe we are on his radar. A big red dot on his radar.
Well. It was nice knowing you.
Same here.

After my internal dialogue ended, I decided it was probably safe to come out of the store room. As I stepped out the cashier was standing there.

“Thank goodness you’re ok!” He breathed a sigh of relief. He looked like he wanted to hug me, but thankfully he kept his arms to himself.

“I was worried for a little bit there. See the back door, slams whether you open it gently or not. So, when I didn’t hear it, I hoped that you had gone into the storeroom. I nearly had a heart attack when he reached for this door.” He laughed nervously.

“You and me both.” I smiled at him.
“Thanks for not telling him where I was hiding.” He shook his head.

“It’s no problem. I wish I didn’t tell him anything but, he was a big guy, and I'm not exactly Batman.”

“Yeah, where’s the caped crusader when you need him? Can I use your front door instead?” I asked, not eager to follow my stalker.

“Of course. Be safe.” He smiled at me.

“Yeah, you too.” As I left through the front door, I walked quickly back to the main street. A little worried my pursuer might still be here. Thoughts of Batman flew to my mind (bad pun alert) and I wondered where in Gotham he was.

But I guess Bats are nocturnal, maybe if I hung around after night I would walk into him. I finally came out onto the open streets. Safe and very populated streets. As I started walking again my knee began to ache. Fuck this. I’m hailing a cab. I turned and held out my hand. Suddenly a black Lamborghini pulled up alongside me.

“Hey need a ride?” A voice called out to me.

“My mother warned me about getting into cars with strange men.” I ignored the man. Even though a ride in a Lamborghini did sound nice. I have had enough risk-taking today.

“I'm not strange.” He said innocently. I stopped and bent down to talk through the window.

“For all I know you could be some sort of psycho, so thank you but no thank you.” I looked into the rolled-down window; in case he popped up on America's most wanted. But as I looked, my face must have exploded into red from embarrassment.

“Mr. Wayne?! I'm so sorry, you’re not a psycho.” I straightened back up and thought about running. But as previously discussed I don’t run… I could blame it on the leg, but that’s simply not true.

“It’s not the first and probably not the last time anyone’s called me that, so how about that ride? We look as though we’re going the same way.” I bent back down and he was sitting smiling at me. I decided I might as well, my knee was getting really bad. And he was right, he wasn’t a stranger, well not really.

“Sure thanks, Mr. Wayne.” I opened the door and took a seat before I could even put on my seatbelt, he was off like a whippet. 

“No problem and please call me Bruce.” He flashed his oh-so-charming smile and sped up, weaving in and out of the lanes. Ok, I get why people may have called him a psycho, who drives like this?

“So, where you headed?” He asked me.

“Home.” I answered, watching Gotham pass in a blur. He lifted one hand off his wheel to check his watch.

“Home? It's only one o’clock, tell you what I’ll take you out to lunch.” He seemed to already be making plans.

“Oh, I don’t know--” He took a sharp turn cutting off what would have been rejection.
I had my whiskey to keep me company, I didn’t need anyone else. He suddenly stopped, and it was a wonder I didn’t hit the dashboard face first, who drives like this!?

He was out of the car and opening my door before I had time to take off my seatbelt, so I stayed seated.
“You know Mr. Wayne it’s a road, not an F1 track.” I informed him. He drove even faster than the police had, and they had sirens to at least warn people.

“Ha-ha sorry, I guess I do drive a little recklessly. And remember it's Bruce.” He smiled and offered his hand to help me out of the car.

“Mr. Wayne, I do need to go home. I have had a very long day.” I normally would never turn down free food but I wasn’t in the mood to make small talk with Gotham’s most famous playboy.

He looked a little surprised.
“Are you sure?” He asked.

“I’m really tired.” It wasn’t a lie, I was shattered.

“We could always go out another day.” He flashed me another smile.
“Hand me your phone.” I was a little surprised but handed it over without much fuss. After a few taps he handed it back and I could see he gave me his phone number.
“I’ll take you home.” He offered, and I thanked him. But as we drove, his silence was pressing on me.

“I’m sorry if I offended you.” I apologised but Bruce shook his head.

“No, don’t worry it’s not that, I was just thinking…” He trailed off and I waited for him to expand on that.

“Sorry, no it's nothing.” He tried, obviously wanting me to ask, so I played along.

“No, please, tell me.” I acted as if I actually cared, but I just wanted to sleep.

“I was just wondering what a girl like you is doing down at the station talking to Gordon.” He said and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

“You must watch TV Mr. Wayne.” I said, giving him just enough rope so he can hang himself.

“No, I don’t—" He began.

“Liar.” He looked taken aback by my sudden accusation.

“Excuse me.” He asked.

“You heard me. I might not have your million-dollar education Mr. Wayne, but I know a liar when I see one. So, running into me was no coincidence then, you thought you would get a first-hand account from the poor girl kidnapped by the Joker. Well, if you’re looking for a play-by-play you can read the police report, which you no doubt have access to considering your bank account numbers.” I shot an accusing glare at him.

Bruce looked a little guilty. “I already read that.” He mumbled.

“Ha! Of course, you have. What, you want sordid little details? Sorry, you’ll have to get your sick kicks somewhere else. Stop the car.” I ordered but Bruce didn’t slow down.

I felt a hand brush on my knee.
“Wait Anna, it’s not like that. Just let me take you home.” I slapped his hand off my knee.

“Don’t touch me,” I shouted. “Stop the car, or I’ll start screaming.”

He came to a red light and I unbuckled my seat belt. Happy I could get out of this one when it was stopped.
“You are misunderstanding the whole situation; I'm only trying to help you.” His voice was considerably lower than my raised voice, but I couldn’t help it, I was furious.

“Really because last time I checked you weren’t a police officer. Are you? Do you have a badge? No? How strange. You can’t help me Mr. Wayne so don’t pretend like you can.” I slammed the door on my way out and headed for the pavement.

That self-entitled prick. I dare someone to fuck with me right now; you do not mess with a mad lady, and I am livid. I quickly got back onto the busy streets. I integrated with the lunch crowd and made my way to the bus station, pretty sure of the direction I was headed in. Kind of anyway.

Finally finding the bus station I checked the timetables and various routes, picking the one closest to my new apartment I sat down on the benches after I paid for my ticket. Still mad.

The eerie feeling of being watched fell over me again, the paranoia set back in, and the image of the burly man following me jumped back into my mind. I lost him though; he couldn’t have found me again, could he? I cast an anxious glance around me, but no one looked out of the ordinary. Funnily enough, no one had a sandwich board around them that said ‘STALKER’.

And who was he anyway? I’m pretty sure I haven’t met him before. Why was I meeting all kinds of horrible men today? Gordon was the only decent one, and the store guy. I just wished my bus would hurry up, quickly looking at my watch I realised it should be showing up any second. As soon as it did, I leapt onto the bus and took a seat, after a few more passengers boarded it set off and I breathed a sigh of relief. I just wanted to go home.

I decided to occupy my mind with other things instead of thinking of the day’s events. It was all too much and I didn’t want to be the crazy lady who breaks down and cries on the bus. I can cry when I get home with my whiskey and chocolate. I checked my purse and saw my lovely bottle of whiskey nestled safely next to my chocolate and small tracking chip.

All safe and wait what? Confused I picked up the little device, turning it over in my hands it read W.E. on the back. Wayne Enterprise? Oh, you little whore.

The bus stopped, picking up some more passengers. An especially tattered-looking man stepped up onto the platform.

“Can I get a ride?” He asked the driver.

“No money, no ticket.” The gruff driver replied and I went to the front instantly.

“Where are you heading sir?” I asked him.

“To the shelter.” He smiled at me and I handed over the ticket fare.

“Thank you so much.” I sat back down and beckoned him to sit next to me. I felt bad for what I was about to do, as he sat down, I slipped the tracker into his pocket.

“So, what’s your name stranger?” I asked making polite conversation.

“Names Lawrence Baxter.” He said quietly.

“Well, I'm Anna Jones.” I held out my hand for him to shake and he did so hesitantly.

“Down on your luck Lawrence?” I asked.

“Just for now, I’ll get back up on my feet soon.” He smiled sadly and had a faraway look in his eyes.

“Of course.” I smiled at him.

I grabbed my purse out of my handbag, took out all the remaining money I had taken out and waited till my stop. He was still looking into the distance when my stop came up, I put the money into his hand. It wasn’t a fortune, but it might help him.

“Good luck Lawrence, I’m passing on some kindness.” He looked dumbfounded as I left the bus.

As soon as the door closed, I waved to him as he beamed at me, shoving the money into his pocket and waving back.
Now I feel less guilty about using him as a distraction for Mr. Wayne, I doubted he would mind. I walked the short distance to my apartment and walked in. Still not trusting the magic box of transportation, the elevator, I opted for the stairs.

As soon as I got in my door, I started on the whiskey. Hoping to find a glass in one of the cupboards, I had no luck, well looks like I'm drinking from the bottle. I unscrewed the cap and headed for the sofa.

Oh, classy Anna, we’re drinking from the bottle?
Ah, she speaks, haven’t heard from you since the car, why so quiet?
I took a swig of the whiskey, the harsh taste instantly filling my mouth, setting my taste buds on fire, but giving me a nice warmth.

Isn’t it a little early to be drinking, what is it three o’clock?
Don’t change the subject.
Fine, you were acting like a raging bitch, so I decided to back up.
I was not a raging bitch! And if I was, it was justified. He was looking for details on the Joker, what, does he get off to it?

Oh, come on seriously? Why not entertain for two seconds the idea he MIGHT, just MIGHT HAVE BEEN trying to help your psychotic ass? Are we that damaged that we can’t trust anyone now? Not everyone wants to hurt us.
They can all go to hell for all I care. I think I’ve been through enough for today. So, stop it.

I took another large swig, hoping to silence this damn voice in my head. Or drown her.
You think everyone is out to get you, everyone is your enemy, and you push everyone away before they get the chance to hurt you like--

“I SAID STOP!” Without meaning to I screamed out loud. The following silence was deafening.
“Just stop.” I sat on the hardwood floor.

I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that.
It’s fine.
Ok.

Feeling too tired to go to my bed I grabbed my whiskey and crawled up onto the couch. Taking one last swig I switched on the tv for background noise. As I lay down, I let the whiskey fill my head and numb the pounding pain in my chest.

Hardly even paying attention to the window being opened…

Chapter Ten
Late night activity 

Good morning sunshine!
Oh god, you’re still here?
Here to stay baby. How’s the head?
Pounding. This doesn’t feel like the couch. Are we still on the couch?

No.
Where are we then?
On the floor.
Oh ok…It’s not that bad.

I opened my eyes and thankfully it was pitch black.
I thought you said good morning.
I didn’t mean it literally.

I could have sworn I had a light on when I went to sleep, I must have switched it off. I lifted my wrist trying to read my watch, the numbers kept moving about. I held it closer to my face and the light-up display read 21:45.

That was one long-ass nap, I would be happier with it if not for the jackhammer going off in my skull. I put my hands up to my head clutching it; maybe I can squeeze the pain out.

Are you still drunk?
Yes, no, maybe? I don’t know, can you repeat the question? You’re not--
You’re singing the ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ theme song, you’re still drunk.
Not drunk, just tipsy. Please don’t kill my vibes.

I rolled onto my front, somewhere in my brain I reasoned if I laid like this, the voice in my head wouldn’t be able to see me and, therefore not talk to me; drunken logic.

I still see you, asshole.
No, you don’t… do you?
You need a shower.
I smell fine!

To prove my point I sniffed myself, immediately recoiling, ok maybe I did need a shower.
Told you. I’m not even in a corporeal form and I can smell you.
Shut up.

I plodded my way to the bathroom, not exactly sure where it was but too stubborn to feel across the walls for the lights. I didn’t have a chance to explore this entire place much before that commissioner dude called, so what better time to explore than at night in complete darkness?

Trial by fire. This way I can find all the places to stub my toe on, MOTHER FUCKER, found one, SON OF A BITCH, and make that two.

I had run through it with George, but anything before whiskey is honestly blurry as hell.
Finally finding a door I opened it and felt across the wall for a switch, finding it I flicked it filling the room with light.

Not the bathroom but I have found a small utility room with a washer and dryer on my journey. Good to know, but now no excuse not to do my washing. I switched off the light and closed the door, might have been an idea to leave the light on to at least have a little illumination in this place; Hm shoulda, woulda, coulda.

As I was feeling my way down, I soon came to a hallway. Ah open space, danger zone. Any number of ninjas could be in this hallway, ready to jump out at me, ready to attack. As it was impossible to see in the darkness there could have been a huge elephant sitting there and I would have no idea.

Stumbling a little I felt around for a wall, finally finding it and bonus a door right next to it, opening it and switching on the light I found the bedroom, already inside was a bed, a dresser and a closet.
I don’t think I have ever owned such nice furniture, if this is a dream and I'm in a coma, do not wake me up.

I went over to the bed first and then thought better of chucking my stinky body all over new covers, is it blasphemy to get in a clean bed when I'm not clean myself? Is that weird?
You’re weird in general.
I did however see a little note, I picked it up and almost couldn’t read the handwriting.
The Joker was a murdering psychopathic clown but at least his handwriting was legible.

Dear Anna,
I hope you’re enjoying the new apartment; I know you’re too proud to ask for help. So, we’ll be taking money out of your salary to pay the deposit and rent. But a little at a time, so you still have money to pay for the essentials.
I’ll be around when I'm let out of the hospital to see how you’re getting on and check up with George on if you're fitting in with everyone at work alright. I am sure you will be good for him, fight in his corner.
I’ll always be in your debt Anna.
See you soon Richard. 

I smiled at how thoughtful Richard was, but how terrible his handwriting was. I thought back to all my bad luck recently, but really the luckiest thing in my life was finding Richard, or at least him finding me.

Sure, there’s been a hell ton of drama thrown in as well, but you can’t have a rainbow without some rain. My rainbow just came with some torrential downpours and tornado warnings. I put the note on the bedside table and stared at my new sleep zone, I'm going to sleep the fuck out of you.

Happily, I dragged my duffel bags over to the closet, with the full intention of hanging some of my clothes up. Later.

George must have dropped them off when he realised, they were still in his car, and I was off galivanting across Gotham. He had my spare key seeing as I would probably lock myself out… probably a lot. It was more of a curse for him if I'm honest, he’ll be getting the call when I can’t find my key.

Nevertheless, I dug through my duffel bags and brought out a pair of pyjamas, my fancy pyjamas, still with tags on pyjamas. I can still remember buying these, I had saved up all my gift cards for more birthdays than I’d like to admit, and I could never justify wearing them but now, was their time to shine.

I took my toiletries, a towel and my brush to the bathroom. I was going to have a bath and be cleansed of today's horrible events. I left the door of my bedroom open, so I could see where I was going, the light illuminated the hallway somewhat and just a little further along the hall was the bathroom. Well, it was the only door left so I prayed it was the bathroom.

I walked in recognising the bathroom. And the big claw bathtub. Baby I missed you!
I turned the hot tap instantly getting warm water, gradually heating up, I had to do all kinds of banging and hard labour to get tepid water at my old apartment, here it just does it!

What kind of sorcery is this?! Letting that fill I turned my attention to the small counter and sink. Dumping everything onto it and taking my toiletries and towels closer to the bath in arms reach; this was going to be heavenly. Being impatient for my nirvana I started to undress, removing everything made me ache, seemingly every muscle I moved cried out in pain.

Shouldn’t have slept on the floor.
Shouldn’t have jumped out of a car
That was all you baby, but. Touché.

My legs were the worst affected though, they screamed out when I removed my jeans, and my knee was still purple and swollen, but healing. I probably shouldn’t have aggravated it by walking so much, I should invest in either a Pegasus or a jet pack, but hey maybe both. Or maybe be normal and get a car, or taxi everywhere.

I unwound my bandages, everything had stopped bleeding and was beginning to heal. I wouldn’t need to redress them. I slowly, but surely, succeeded in my task and climbed into the bath eagerly immersing myself, glad for the heat on my sore body relaxing it almost instantly.

Steam rose and filled the bathroom, already I could see the mirror fogging up. I leaned forward and switched the tap off when the tub was sufficiently filled, I laid back down trying not to fall asleep.

I should have brought my whiskey with me the only known substance to make a bath better, that or wine, I guess. I'm not ladylike enough for wine, that’s why I drink good cheap whiskey. Also, it gets me drunk quicker so there’s that, which is nice.

I sank further down until I was completely under the water, holding my breath I let the water embrace me. I enjoyed the total silence, the only sound I could hear was my heart, rhythmically beating letting me know, I was still alive. I slowly rose back out to breathe; at times like these, I wish I was a mermaid.

There’s an old legend that if a maiden drowned in the ocean she would come back to life as a mermaid, but I'm not sure if it applies to drowning in the bathtub. And I surely am no maiden.

 My dreams of flippers and fins are not to be. I took out my shampoo and conditioner from my little bag and began washing my hair, deciding it needed some extra loving I let the conditioner soak in while I took care of the rest of my body.

Grabbing a loofa and my soap I began to earnestly scrub myself clean, washing away all thoughts of clowns and stalkers, letting the stress just melt away. Baths are the poor man’s therapy. When I felt clean again, finally, I just lay in the bathtub, unfortunately thinking about the past week.

Everything was going great, up until Bruce showed up. Well, if you minus the bank robbery, the crazy clown, the hospital and the stalker it would all be dandy. I'm leaving my old life behind me, starting new, not the first time I’ve done that… But this time will be better.

I have an excellent-looking job, a beautiful apartment, I'm alone sure, but I'm safe. And hey single life works for me, no one steals my whiskey. Maybe I should get a cat? Or a dog? But they were both kind of high maintenance. Maybe I should just get a goldfish.  That seemed more my speed.

But who the fuck, puts a tracking device on someone anyway!? I’ll tell you who, crazy people! With too much money and too much spare time, so they follow people and track them. Well hope you enjoy homeless people Bruce; my buddy Lawrence will sure be happy to see your handsome face. Stupidly handsome face.

I don’t even know if he even bothered tracking it, he could have slipped that into my bag at any point of the day, at the station, when I got into his car or when I was slamming his car door. There was an abundance of opportune moments to slip it in discreetly, damn snake.

Maybe he accidentally dropped his extremely expensive, well-concealed tracking device into your bag.
Repeat your sentence in your head. Think about it a little. And then come back to me when you’re talking less crazy.
Ok, he probably put it in there intentionally. Maybe he does want to keep you safe though, maybe he cares.

Who do you think he is, Batman? He is just some rich, stuck-up brat. With too much money and trying to get his sick kicks from me.
Maybe not, he could still be a decent guy just trying to help.
Who would just try to help me? He doesn’t even know me. Sure, he is charming and handsome, but you know what all psychotic serial killers are!

Why do you always bring up the psychotic serial killers?! EVERY GOD DAMN TIME?!
BECAUSE IT’S RELEVANT TO OUR CURRENT CONVERSATION!
TALKING ABOUT CRAZY, BUT YOUR CRAZY ASS IS TALKING TO A VOICE IN YOUR HEAD.

I sunk my head again, searching for the calm silence of before.

What is it with you today trying to play hide and go seek with me? I'm in your goddamn head you can’t hide from me. Now get up before you drown your dumbass. I can see the headline now ‘Girl escapes notorious killer Joker, drowns her stupid ass in her bathtub.’
I wish you were in corporeal form. So, I could hit you
Lay it on me, baby, punch yourself, maybe it’ll hurt me.

I reluctantly came back to the surface unable to hold my breath any longer. Deciding it was for the best I reluctantly left my bath, we’ll be united again my love, one day. I quickly towelled myself down and dried, quickly changing into my new PJs I felt at peace again and damn fancy too.

After drying and brushing my hair I was ready to get into bed and dream of fluffy bunnies and rainbows. Or whatever normal people dream about. I left the bathroom and thought I would get the rest of my whiskey just to help me sleep.

I padded back down the small corridor to the sitting room, reluctantly admitting defeat and feeling across the walls for the light switch. As soon as light lit up the room I looked around for my bottle, I was sure I had left it in there right next to the sofa. But it wasn’t there.

I glanced toward to kitchen and there it was on the kitchen counter. Not where I had left it…

What the hell? I looked around confused, who moved my bottle? Did I move it? Why wouldn’t I remember that? I'm not that drunk, I remember everything but. All sorts of explanations filled my head, aliens, magic, Obama. But I doubt the president of the USA was relocating my whiskey bottle.

Was it you?
Shut the fuck up.

I took the bottle and giving the room one final paranoid look decided to forget it and sleep it off. Things always make more sense in the morning, the dark fills you with nothing but paranoia and nightmares, and I had enough of both of them already.

I switched off the lights and glanced at my watch, 11:25 p.m., the night was still young. A little freaked out by moving bottles I decided I would evade sleep just a little longer, make sure nothing was coming to get me. I finally settled on putting my clothes away in my new closet.

A little miffed because I was hoping to procrastinate that task until it magically did itself.

I dragged my duffel bags inside the closet and started emptying them, my clothes and shoes began to spill out, and also falling out was the small pistol I kept for safety in its pouch. Shoving the pistol into a drawer I began to hang my clothes up in some sort of orderly fashion and then my shoes.

It took me some time but finally finished I looked around happily, my closet didn’t look as bare as before, still lacking in clothes, but we can sort all that out another time.

Who can refuse a good shopping trip, especially when you have real money to spend? Happily, pleased I looked at my watch, 12:50 p.m. Damn ok now it is bedtime, tomorrow is my first day of work.

I picked up one of the duffel bags and shoved it into a cupboard, as I dragged over the last one something caught my eye inside it. I opened it and stuck my hand in feeling around for the object, my hand came across a smooth surface and I pulled it out.

A playing card, what? Why is this in there? I looked in the bag again but couldn’t see the rest of the deck, unaware I even had a deck of cards. I shoved the duffel bag away and took the card to my room.

Turning it over it was just a lone Joker card, no writing or anything of real significance added to it. I got into bed and gave it one last look; it was just a joker card, nothing unusual.
The realization then hit me like a speeding train, cackling as it rattled down the tracks.

It was a Joker card. It was his calling card.

I dropped it as if it was hot and burning my fingertips. I grabbed the phone sitting on the bedside table and immediately didn’t know who to call, the police, the FBI, the Navy? Who was going to take me seriously?

It’s a playing card, a slightly ominous one yes, but just one playing card. It wasn’t painted with blood or set to explode; it was harmless. I assumed at least.
You know what I know I bet it was my asshole landlord! He was the one who packed my bags. I set the phone back onto the cradle and hugged my arms around myself.

Maybe we should call the cops just to be safe.
“Police, police I found a card. We’ll be over right away ma’am!” Get serious.
It could be him though!
It was probably Todd, he knew what happened, and probably thought it was a great laugh. A final fuck you as a goodbye.

You’re giving him too much credit, he is not that smart. I’m amazed he knows how to haul his massive unwashed body around. What if-
What if pigs flew and cats barked? There’s no need to jump to conclusions, we’re always super paranoid at night.
I would feel better if we called the cops.
Compromise, we’ll call that commissioner guy in the morning and let him know. I still have his card; I’ll go get it right now in fact.

I stood up and was about to go to the front door where my coat and bag were discarded from earlier, then I heard a bang. Not as loud as a car hitting a tree or a gunshot bang but more like a soft thump. Like something cushioned but heavy had fallen.

I jumped back from the door and suddenly panicking raced into the closet and started looking for my pistol. It was a simple black Glock 19 pistol I kept for self-defence.

My dad had given it to me for my 18^th birthday, I'm not saying it wasn’t a weird gift but what father doesn’t worry about their little girl? He taught me how to use it and wouldn’t let me fire it until I could dismantle it and put it back together again.

He took me to target practice when he could, and I got to be a pretty decent shot, which was impressive to me as I had no hand-eye coordination.

This was my first time using it in my home though, on something other than a target. Could I shoot someone? I never went hunting; I never shot a target that was breathing and moving. Steadying myself, I wasn’t sure if there was someone here, it could be my overactive imagination or an alcohol-induced dream. Or a flying cushion, I don’t know.

I took a deep breath and readied my pistol. I ejected the clip to check if it was loaded, looking there were still 4 bullets left in there, as my daddy used to say:
“If you can’t kill it with 5 or fewer bullets it isn’t going down and you better run.”

I pushed the clip back in and turned the safety on, didn’t want to accidentally shoot the floor while I was moving.

I crept out of my closet with the pistol in my hands, ready to CSI this bitch. I silently crept out of my room, moving towards the bathroom first, softly pushing the door open I swept the room holding my gun in front of me ready to take aim and fire.

Thankfully it was empty, and I had the urge to shout ‘clear’. But unfortunately, I wasn’t on CSI. I frowned; I couldn’t be serious in serious situations. Was this a psychological problem?
I’ll tell you what’s a psychological problem…

I stepped out of the bathroom and moved down the corridor, not paying attention to the small closed utility room, I instead turned on the lights and looked around the kitchen, again nothing. The sitting room was a pretty open space and it would be hard to hide in here. Nothing was out of place.

I was going crazy and hearing things. Check me into Arkham stat. I finally relaxed, and let the gun fall to my side. Thankful I had it but as usual it wasn’t needed. Safe for another night, I guess. I set off back to my room, thinking about what I would tell George tomorrow or if I would even mention this little fiasco to him.

Passing the small utility, the door was ajar. Wasn’t this closed before? I opened the door checking it and there was nothing inside, mustn’t have been closed properly. Remembering why I was originally out here; I shut the door and went to the front door.

Picking up my coat I rifled through the pockets and found the card Commissioner Gordon had given me earlier. I’ll call him at some point tomorrow just to check in. I unlocked and locked the doors again just for peace of mind and walked off back to my room, to finally get some sleep.

I placed the card next to the phone in my room, crawled under the clean covers and put all madness out of my mind. Instead, I filled it with images of Johnny Depp and tried to slip into a nice dream. Oh, why Mr. Depp I would love to see your villa in Paris.

Despite my fears of the past 24 hours, I slipped into my dreams with a small smile on my lips.

Chapter Eleven
Wild Goose chase

Bruce Wayne p.o.v

Trying to follow after Anna was no good. She had slammed Bruce’s door and stomped off. Quicker than he would have thought with her injured knee. Maybe she was too mad to feel the pain.
Good thing he had slipped the tracker into her purse at the station this morning. Or he would have had no idea where to find her. She didn’t seem the sort to be at home a lot.

But hopefully, that’s where she is now. Gordon had asked Bruce to keep an eye over her. Jim didn’t have any proof, but he felt like the clown wasn’t done with her yet. And apparently not, Bruce had clocked someone following her this afternoon.

But she lost him by herself. He came out of the alley alone and mad as hell. Then she appeared a few minutes later walking out of the front of the shop. She was smart.

It saved Bruce a job of having to deal with him. But if he was able to find him again, he could question him and see who he worked for, or whether he was the garden variety stalker or mugger.

Her face had been plastered all over the news, she was losing her anonymity. Which was a crucial form of protection in Gotham.

But Bruce had bigger issues on his mind, like the Joker. Robbing the bank, blowing up the docks, just what was he up to? And why wasn’t he done with the girl, maybe he just didn’t want her to survive to tarnish his ruthless kill streak.

Maybe she had insulted him by escaping or said the wrong thing before she leapt out of the car. She seemed the mouthy type in any situation, even life and death.

Bruce decided to head back to the manor for today, he was going to try and get to know the girl better. Maybe she could give him some clues or ideas about what was holding Joker’s attention to her. But she had made it quite clear she was in no mood for chatting.

The slamming door was more than enough of a signal. He didn’t exactly blame her; he had come on too strong. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t.

Maybe Alfred could help him, he always ran ideas past his butler. He was less of a staff member and more like family. And no doubt he would have an opinion on how Bruce handled Anna today, probably a scathing comment or two.

As he raced through the streets something Anna had said to him came to mind.

“You know Mr Wayne, it’s a road, not an F1 track.” He smiled as he remembered, she at least had a sense of humour. Not a stand-up comedian, but witty. She also called him out immediately and didn’t even hesitate.

Bruce was used to models and businesswomen alike, throwing themselves at him. Even when he acted like a complete jackass to them, they sat there passive and doe-eyed. Never challenged him, just taking it.

Hoping it will help them land the elusive bachelor Bruce Wayne. But Anna hadn’t given a crap, she had put him in his place and told him where to shove it. She probably hated him now, but Bruce didn’t worry about that. They all came around, eventually.

He arrived back at the manor in record time.

“Ah, back so soon Master Bruce? I thought you were having lunch with Miss. Jones?” As soon as Bruce opened the door Alfred had been waiting there.

“Didn’t quite get to the restaurant. She told me off and left.” Bruce gave Alfred the short version of the story and his butler's eyebrows perked up.

“Master Bruce, she sounds delightful we should have her come for tea.” Alfred smirked as Bruce walked away with a roll of his eyes.

“May I ask the sudden interest? I thought you were focusing on apprehending the Joker.” Alfred asked as he followed Bruce.

“She lived through an encounter with the Joker, not many can say that—” Before Bruce could finish Alfred interrupted him.

“I have.”

“Yes, Alfred, you survived an encounter with the Joker. But you’re not being stalked by the Joker, are you?” Bruce opened the door to the Batcave and began descending the steps, Alfred hot on his heels.

“Now Master Bruce, we don’t know that.” Alfred defended. He was very stalkable, he was insulted Bruce thought he wasn’t.

“Call it an educated guess.” Bruce chuckled as he got down to his computer.
“I’m tracking her now. I slipped one of the new chips Lucius Fox developed in her bag this morning when she was at the station.” Bruce began tapping away at his computer, pulling up the map of the city and waiting for the small red blip.

“In my day, we gave girls flowers.” Alfred came up beside Bruce and looked at the map.
“I doubt she’ll see it the way you intend, sir. I would report you to the police.”

“No, I don’t suppose she will. But as long as she is still alive to hate me, I don’t care. I don’t need to make friends Alfred.” Bruce pulled up her file from Gotham police, reading through it while he waited for the chip to activate and lock in on her location.

“It wouldn’t kill you to have one friend master Bruce.” Alfred mumbled.

“No, but it might kill them. Anyway, I have you, Alfred.” Bruce turned in his chair to smile at his butler, but he received an eye-roll in return.

“Master Bruce, I do not count.” Alfred said with a sigh, he had such trouble dealing with his socially inept charge.
“Wouldn’t it be more effective to start trying to find the Joker, go straight to the root of the problem?” Alfred asked changing the subject.

“That was the plan, but I can’t seem to find him. Every time I think I’m close, he slips away. I was hoping Anna might have some information, seen something.” Bruce turned back to the file but she was unusually clean for someone he was researching.

“Absolutely nothing.” Bruce sat back in his chair with a sigh.
“No arrests, no incidents, she doesn’t even have a parking or speeding ticket.”

“Well Master Wayne, maybe she can have one from your extensive collection.” Alfred replied dryly.

“Ok, she’s already mocked my driving today, I don’t need it from you too.” Bruce sighed as he was getting frustrated.

“I’m starting to like this girl more and more.” Alfred chuckled slightly as Bruce glared at him.

“Is that her?” Alfred asked, pointing to her driving licence photo. Bruce nodded and looked at her again. Shoulder-length red hair, although it was longer in person. And her green eyes were much more vibrant, especially when she narrowed them in your direction. Bruce clicked off her profile and read over her statement again. But he felt something was, off.

He decided to get another opinion.
“Alfred read through this statement. Does it seem, off to you?” Bruce asked. Alfred put on his spectacles and read it off the large screen.

“Off sir, how?” Alfred wasn’t seeing what Bruce did.

“She says the Joker didn’t do anything but ask her name and then he just let her escape? When does the Joker let anyone just escape like that? Would have been more in his nature to shoot and dump her dead body by the road. Why even take a hostage? He usually likes to shoot his way out, rack up a body count while he does it.” Bruce couldn’t count the times Joker had left bodies littered after his crime scenes, there was always someone.

One more funeral for Bruce to attend to assuage his guilt for not preventing it.

“Well sir, it does say that the Police suspected the intended victim was Richard Taylor. Isn’t he the retired tycoon of Taylor Industries?” Alfred asked.

“Not fully retired no. But I did hear since he was hurt his eldest son has taken over and is acting as the company director for now. So, she sacrificed herself instead. Is she brave or just crazy?” Bruce mused out loud.

“In my opinion sir, they are both the same thing.” Alfred gave Bruce a look, telling him he wasn’t much better himself.

“Master Bruce, is she supposed to be the small red dot?” Alfred was looking at the map Bruce was using to keep tabs on the girl.

“Yes, why?” Bruce got up from his chair and followed Alfred's pointed finger.

“Then why is she in the narrows? Hadn’t she moved to central Gotham?” Alfred asked, seeing in the report a change of address.

“She was supposed to, what is she doing there?” Bruce watched the dot move down the street, only getting deeper into the narrows.

“You don’t think…” Alfred turned to Bruce; a worried expression etched into his face.
“The Joker has her?” He asked, and Bruce thought it might be possible.

“You think?” Bruce asked.

“I don’t know sir, maybe it’s best you go and find out.” Alfred suggested, and Bruce nodded. Guess his night isn’t over after all.

Bruce was disguised as he looked for Anna, he didn’t want to alert her that he was following her. And since she was in the heart of the narrows, it was easy to blend in with the droves of homeless people camping out.

He wore a heavy coat and ripped clothing, a thick hat pulled down over his face, concealing his eyes. Hopefully, when he found her, she wouldn’t be too alerted to take a closer look at him.

Bruce was having a hard time trying to follow her though, she didn’t stop moving. And he was distracted being on constant guard, the narrows are the Joker’s favourite hunting ground. And without the Batsuit, Bruce didn’t fancy his chances against him and his men. And all their guns.

He finally closed in on her location, she was in the building he was entering now. Looking around he could see it was a soup kitchen. Volunteering? She didn’t seem the type. Goodwill to all men didn’t seem to fit her.

But Bruce went in, forgoing waiting in line. He went straight to a vacant table and looked around. Trying to not be too obvious. He looked at everyone’s faces, but he didn’t find Anna among them. He even watched the volunteers but none of them had her red hair. Maybe her bag had been stolen? Or the device had fallen out? But how did it then end up here?

Bruce had the thought, that maybe he wasn’t giving her enough credit. It was meant to be a discreet tracker, but it was the size of a quarter. If she emptied her bag or caught it in the right light, she could have spotted it.

Bruce left the soup kitchen, not before noting down its address though, to donate. They were doing important work here. If only someone he knew wasn’t this difficult, how could she not see that he was trying to help her?

Is she this difficult with everyone? Or just Bruce? He took one last look around and then decided to check on her apartment. Thanks to Gordon he had her new address.

As he left the alley and was about to call Alfred to send a car, he got a call from Gordon.
“Gordon?” Bruce answered the phone.

“There’s been a development in the Joker case. Are you free now?” Gordon didn’t sound too happy on the phone, which worried Bruce.

“Sure, where do you want to meet?” Bruce noted down the address and after hanging up with Gordon, typed it into his GPS. It wasn’t too far from where he was now. So, at a brisk pace, he was there in about 10 minutes. He expected some squad vehicles, but there was only Gordon’s car.

Bruce made his way up the stairs quickly, taking two at a time. Didn’t Gordon say this was a break in the case? If that was true, why was only he here? And why here? When he finally got to the hallway, he could see Gordon outside of one of the flats.

Gordon looked a little surprised to see Bruce dressed as a homeless man but shook his head and turned his attention back to the flat. Better not to ask sometimes.

“You called me here for a robbery?” Bruce asked Gordon as he stepped past him into the flat. The door was taken clean off its hinges and lay among the other debris.

“I called you because of the previous tenant.” Gordon stepped in behind Bruce and surveyed the apartment.
“It was Anna Jones.”

Bruce turned to Gordon, now it was his turn to act surprised.
“And when did this happen?”

Gordon checked his watch.
“About three hours ago. The landlord called it in. But didn’t give much information.” Gordon shrugged.

Bruce looked around, wondering how much had to do with a robbery and how much was terrible upkeep. The apartment was devoid of most belongings, it was mostly just old furniture, and there was no sign of anyone ever living there.

The furniture, although a more apt description would be bits of furniture, littered the floor. Shards of wood and glass lay on every available surface and the windows had been knocked out. Every step Bruce took crunched under his shoes.

This place wasn’t robbed, it was destroyed. There were bullet holes in the walls, everything had been smashed or obliterated. Thankfully there was no blood. Looks like someone let a raging bull inside and said, ‘Go crazy’, well that’s a pretty accurate description of the Joker….
Very accurate actually.

“You think the Joker?” Bruce asked, voicing his thoughts.

Gordon shrugged.
“Seems like an extraordinary coincidence.”

“No such thing.” Bruce sighed.

Going further in there wasn’t much to the little place; it was barely bigger than one of the rooms in his mansion, which sounded strange while he was dressed as he was. His best guess would be the Joker came here looking for Anna and was a little upset when she was nowhere to be found. Hence the bullet holes and wrecked furniture.

Homes were robbed daily, especially in Gotham, but there was no denying Anna's old apartment was hit hard. And it was too much of a coincidence for his liking.

“So, you were right to be worried about the girl.” Bruce said, making his way back over to Gordon.

Gordon nodded and sighed.
“I just don’t know why her. She seems like a sweet girl.”

Bruce almost laughed but decided to keep his opinion to himself. He and Gordon had different experiences with Miss Jones.

“Are you going to inform her?” Bruce asked instead.

“No, it’ll only scare her.” Gordon sighed as he nodded to the entrance.
“I’m going to talk to the landlord, and see if he has anything of note to say.” Bruce nodded and followed Gordon out.

“I’m going to go check on her.” Bruce pulled his hat back over his eyes to go incognito back to his car.

“Call me when you have.” Gordon instructed Bruce before leaving to go talk to the landlord.

Bruce left quickly, making his way back to his car. It was one of his cars he took out when he wanted to not be seen. It was disguised as any other car, scratched on the outside, with some dents which weren’t part of the disguise. They just happened.

But inside, it was like his Batmobile. Rigged out with all the things he needed as Batman. And a spare suit. It wasn’t bulletproof like his others. But it was meant to be lightweight and he didn’t expect any fighting to check on one girl.

He quickly changed and turned around to head for mid-town Gotham. It had been dark when Bruce had been looking for Anna before, so he didn’t need to be too worried about being seen. The streets of Gotham were mostly dead at this time of night.

Climbing up to the fourth floor didn’t prove too difficult, although there was no balcony to camp out on. But Bruce found a perch on one of the windows. She must be in because her lights were on, Bruce shifted to get a better vantage point and could see a hand hanging over the couch.

He went in to check she was still breathing. The window wasn’t locked and slid open easily. Bruce shook his head at her lax security. As a girl from the narrows, she should know better. Any creep with a grappling hook could get in.

But coming from her old home, she had stepped up in life. Her stirring caught Bruce’s attention, he turned slowly but she was still fast asleep. Just moving about. But then she stirred too far and fell with an almighty thump to the floor.

Bruce thought she was going to wake up then, but she kept snoring. Blissfully unaware of the bruise that was probably forming on her backside.

Bruce was torn about whether he should move her to her bed or back on the couch. She might hurt herself sleeping on the floor like that. But then he spotted the bottle of whiskey half empty on the floor.

She would have a sore ass and a hangover in the morning. Bruce decided to put her back on the sofa, if falling off didn’t wake her up, Bruce putting her back on wouldn’t either. He put one arm on her back and one under her legs. Gently lifting her back onto the sofa, she shifted a little but was soundly asleep still.

Bruce turned picking up the whiskey as he went to the front door, making sure it was locked and secure. It was an okay lock, but Anna would need something sturdier to keep someone out. These locks were just a fail-safe, enough to keep out nosey neighbours or amateurs, but if someone truly wanted to get in here. They could in under a minute if they knew what they were doing.

Setting the whiskey down on the counter, Bruce decided to open it up and smell it, immediately regretting the decision. It smelled like paint thinner and he would bet his fortune it tasted like it too.

Lovely girl, but horrible taste in alcohol, horrendous really. Thinking about Anna, Bruce turned around in time to see her fly spectacularly off the couch again. He shook his head as she once again didn’t wake. Either she was an overactive sleeper or really liked the floor.

He decided Anna was safe from the Joker, but maybe not from her sleeping habits. Bruce turned off the lights and left the same way he had come in. Hoping she would stay out of trouble for at least one night…

Chapter Twelve
First Day

At 8’clock, my alarm decided to sing me the song of its people. Loudly. I batted away at the nightstand trying to hit the offending sound. After many initial misfires, I finally got it and thumped the cogs of it.

I sat up, resigning myself to the fact I did have to wake up. Wouldn’t want to waste this job opportunity by showing up late. I went over to the curtains of my bedroom and threw them open.
Which was a terrible idea.

“Holy fuck, that’s bright!” Getting a sudden shock from the bright light streaming in through my window I fell back and landed on my ass.
I groaned at my poor tailbone.

I’m so happy that you’re so smart, like really, wow.
Aha, but now I’m fully awake.
Normal people drink coffee to wake themselves up, not momentarily blind themselves. Asshat.
That’s beautiful, is that Shakespeare?
Hey, there’s only room for one sarcastic bitch in this head of yours. And the position is filled.

Refusing to let myself get myself down. I made my way to my closet. Hoping I had something that looked halfway professional. Even remotely professional would do until I could buy myself a new wardrobe. And with the money I was going to be making, that wasn’t going to be a problem.

I picked out a pencil skirt and a black shirt. Pretty sure the last time I wore this was for a job interview after college. Let’s hope they still fit. After some squeezing… okay a lot of squeezing. I managed to fit myself into the old outfit, it would do but a little tight for my liking.

But I didn’t have a lot of options. At the restaurant it was ‘anything clean’ and that was good enough. It was usually covered with an apron anyway, it hadn’t mattered then.

I got my new makeup and sitting at my vanity, I managed to cover up the bruise until it was only slightly visible. This foundation was amazing but it couldn’t work miracles. I finished the rest of my face and tamed my wild hair into a ponytail.

I never wore make-up at Antonio’s but that’s because I only managed to dress myself and get there without throwing myself into oncoming traffic. I wanted to make a good impression at this new place, I actually cared.

As I finished, I suddenly remembered last night. The whiskey, the floor, the joker card, the thump. I wasn’t as scared now as I was at night, but I still felt uneasy. Thinking rationally, I could explain it all away.

I probably moved my whiskey when I was drunk, therefore couldn’t remember. The noise could have been from the apartment below or above me. The Joker card though, that was a little more sinister. Was it a sick joke from Todd, or was it from someone I dreaded even more?

Maybe if it was Todd, I could charge him for harassment and whatever else they would let me throw at him. Maybe being overly creepy and an all-around scumbag was a crime.

I went over to my bedside table and picked up the card to examine it. It looked old and battered, so not from a new pack. I lifted it to my nose and it stank of gasoline and something else I couldn’t place. Todd as far as I’m aware isn’t an arsonist, and only one person I knew smelled like this, but it couldn’t be.

I took another look at the card and it was blackened around some of the edges, as if it had been burnt a little. All signs were pointing where I didn’t want them to. I went to pick up Gordon’s card to give him a call, just to be safe. And he did say I could call him anytime.

Flipping over his card to get the number, I couldn’t see it from the black note that was written on the card.
‘Don’t tell.’

All it took was two words to fill my entire body with dread. He had been here, in my apartment. How the hell did he even find me? Was he the noise? Did he leave the Joker card in my bags? I let Gordon's card fall from my hands.

Was that bastard taunting me, telling me he knew where I was? Trying to fuck with my head and scare me.

It’s working, I for one, am fucking terrified.
No, you’re not, we are fine. We are going to go to work and get doughnuts.
Now normally the mere thought of doughnuts fills me with inexplicable joy, but is this the time for sugary treats? He was here, he knows where we are!

You know I might get one with chocolate icing, oh and sprinkles.
You can’t pretend this isn’t happening.
But then again, I’m feeling a little frisky, I might get popping candy.
You’re hopeless and we’re both going to die.

There was a knock at my door and shoving my feet into my shoes, I jogged to open it.
I opened the door to reveal my new boss starting today.

“George! What are you doing here?” I stepped back and let him in. I grabbed my handbag and began to shove what I needed in there.

“Truthfully? I came to check you were awake and remembered today was your first day.” He smiled at my dressed and mostly ready form.

“But I see you’re more than ready. I brought some coffee and doughnuts.”

“That’s so kind of you and thoughtful.” I smiled back as he handed me a hot cup of coffee and a bag with some doughnuts in it. I immediately shoved one in my mouth, sugary goodness taking over my taste buds.

“But shouldn’t I be the one bringing you coffee and doughnuts?” I asked, my mouth still full. My mother would slap me if she could see my awful manners.

But George shrugged.
“You’re helping me out, don’t worry I’ll let you make me coffee while at work.”

“Can do boss man.” I began to shoo him out of the apartment.

“We have time Anna; work doesn’t start till nine.” He told me as I continued to shoo, I wanted out of the apartment and my mind busy as quickly as possible.

“No George, we must get to work, much to do.” I shut the door behind us and locked it, checking it just to be sure.

“I didn’t take you for such an eager assistant.” He chuckled.

“Oh, I just love… work.” I said lamely. We began to walk down the stairs and I began to relax the further away from the Joker’s taunting message I could get.

I tried to pay attention to George talking about the company, but all I could think about was calling Gordon. I refused to be scared by the Joker, I was going to be calling Gordon, that clown wouldn’t bully me.

As we reached the lobby, I could see George's yellow mini parked outside. We quickly got in and settled in to leave. When he started the car though, the radio came on, scaring the living hell out of me.

“Fucking hell!” I yelled, clutching my chest.

“Oh shoot.” George began to push buttons trying to turn it down or shut it off.
“I didn’t realise it was so loud. Sorry about that.” He laughed nervously.

“No, it’s ok, I’m just jumpy. Everything that happened just set me on edge.” I waved off the other apology I could see George about to give.

“Not your fault. Let’s get to work, I’m armed with coffee and doughnuts, I can handle anything!” I smiled even though my heart was still pounding like a jackhammer.

But I could not handle anything. The building was humungous. I expected King Kong to be chilling up there, a plane in hand. How big does one building need to be, was Richard compensating for something?

I smiled to myself, that was one joke I didn’t think he would appreciate. So better to keep it to myself.

As we made our way inside, the lobby was swarming with people, all of them bustling around. In their own worlds, as they talked on the phone, shuffled through papers, coming and going through doors. It was a beehive of activity and all the worker bees were busy.

“I thought you said work began at nine?” I glanced at my watch.
“It’s only 8:40.”

“Well, technically that’s when business hours start, but the building is open all night. A lot of people stay and finish work or come in ridiculously early to get a head start. It’s kind of cutthroat in the business world.” George stared ahead with me, wide-eyed at the hustle and bustle.

“Do I have to cut anyone’s throat?” I asked, curiously.

“No, you’re safe don’t worry.” George assured me.

“It’s not me I’m worried about.” I mumbled. I’ll cut a bitch. I just wanted to know whether I would be getting blood on me today or not.

“George that reminds me, what is ‘Taylor Industries’?” Maybe I should have done some research, but I don’t have Wi-Fi.

“Well, our main business and biggest source of revenue is computer and technological work, but we also have branches in medical and pharmaceutical research, various business models and most recently science-related work.” He told me this as we made our way to the elevators. Damn magic boxes.

“What about the stairs?” I tried but George looked at me sceptically.

“You want to walk up 40 flights of stairs?” He asked, I hung my head in defeat, my legs were not made for more than 5 flights of stairs max.

I pushed the button in defeat and waited for the ding.
“You ever watched ‘What floor’?” I asked as we made our way into the overcrowded elevator.

“No, what’s it about?” As the door closed, I started to describe the movie to him.

“Well, it’s these 5 people who get trapped in an elevator, which weirdly looks exactly like this one. And they hear all these weird scratching noises coming from the top and suddenly this raptor drops in and eats them all, none of them can even try to fight back. It’s horrifying, there’s blood and guts everywhere and when the doors finally do open there are all his raptor buddies and they go off and kill all the people in the building.” When I finished, I realised the whole elevator was very quiet.

As the door dinged stopping at the next floor nearly everybody left after hesitantly stepping out and checking the hallways.

“That movie sounds, delightful?” He said when the doors closed again.

I smirked as we had the elevator to ourselves.
“Thanks, I made it up. That movie would flop so hard at the box office.”

He shook his head at me which only made me laugh.
“I don’t like crowded elevators.” I sipped on my coffee innocently. If they weren’t all such nosey Nancy’s they would have been fine. Who listens to other people's conversations?

“So, what do you do around here?” I asked as we waited for the elevator to get to our floor.

“Mainly I’m managing the small science sector. It’s still in the baby stages, my dad only just green-lit it. So, we’re building it up, hopefully it’ll be one of the most successful sectors. It’s the most interesting for me. Charles handles the big money accounts and the computer sector. And my other elder brother Fred manages the medical sector; it manages itself though, so he has more time to spend with his family.” He explained.

Fred must be the one with the child then, the little girl, Adrianne. Richard’s granddaughter.

“But we mainly oversee what everyone in our sector does, except me. I enjoy the projects we’ve started, so I like to stay updated on everything.” We stepped out of the elevator; the floor was a slightly calmer version of the lobby.

Except more people were talking with one another, not just zooming past like their ass was on fire. George waved at a few people as we passed but soon, we were secluded in his office. As he shut the door I was pleased for the peace, it was a lot of activity for so early in the morning.

We were in a large spacious office, one wall had floor-to-ceiling windows, which was a bold choice to make. One word. Snipers. But the windows did overlook some of the city, I was drawn to the view and stood by the window.

“Great view, isn’t it?” George came up beside me and smiled.

“One of the prettiest in Gotham.” I agreed I hadn’t seen many views from so high up of Gotham, but this had to be the best I had seen.

“This was my dad's old office. Since the building was built higher, his office was moved. Pretty sweet deal on my end.” George sighed as he looked out on the sight with me.

“Not interrupting anything am I?” A voice sounded from the door, ruining our peaceful moment. Darkening the doorway was the eldest child. Charles.

“Yes, you are, but you’re here now.” I mumbled.

“I was just showing Anna the office.” George turned and walked away from the window, over to his desk. Charles looked slightly surprised at me as I turned around fully.

“Well, you look ravishing without the bruises.” He gestured to my face and I had the sudden urge to scrub my face clean of the foundation. He was smirking at me before he turned his attention to his younger brother.

“Oh, little brother, forgot to mention.” His smirk grew.
“Bruce Wayne is coming this morning; he was interested in the new science sector and was interested in knowing more.”

George's eyes grew wide as his mouth dropped open.
“Bruce Wayne?! Here?! Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I have nothing prepared!” George was beginning to spiral; he began riffling through the papers on his desk.

“It slipped my mind.” Charles shrugged before looking at his watch.

“Better get moving quickly, he’ll be here in about half an hour. Bye for now George. Goodbye Anna.” He looked me up and down once more before leaving, making me want to gag. What a snake.

“Anna, I have nothing to show Mr Wayne, but if he decided to sponsor some of my projects, it would be huge!” George scraped a hand through his hair.

“Can you not just wing it?” I offered, but George looked at me as if I had grown two heads.

“Multi-billionaire Bruce Wayne and you want me to wing it?” George asked in disbelief.
“I need charts, I need diagrams, I need to show him I’m not a five-year-old.”

Note to self. George doesn’t work well under pressure. He cracks like a sugar nest under a hammer.

“George, George, look at me.” I forced his eyes off the now chaotic desk and into my eyes.
“What do you need me to do?” I asked calmly.

I put my hands on his cheeks to stop his babbling about charts.

“Tell me what you need.” I asked, hoping to end his meltdown.

“I need more time, I need to find all my data, and come up with a presentation.” He threw up his hands, but I refocused him.

“I can buy you time, how much do you need?” I could see his head going through a mental list of what he needed to prepare.

“At least another hour. Maybe forty-five minutes.” He finally said.

“Easy. I’ll show him around the building.” I shrugged. George gave me a sad small smile.

“You don’t even know your way around the building.” He informed me.

“I can wing it, I’m a professional time waster. I’m also your assistant, I got this. In the meantime, we have time before he arrives, what can I do until then?” I asked.

“Anna, I never knew how much I needed you.” He smiled, his face not looking so depressed anymore.

“Very sweet but let’s focus.” I mock-saluted George and stood to attention.
“Instruct me, captain.”

“Ok, I need Dale.” George began to organise the papers on his desk again.

“Not Chip? Kidding. Search and retrieve Dale. Got it.” I left the office and walked into the main office.

“Ladies, gentlemen and those in between, may I have your attention!” I yelled which made everyone quiet, I did want to shout ‘Nerds’, but I didn’t want to make any enemies. Yet.

“I need a Dale. Is anyone a Dale?” I shouted; I didn’t need to since everyone was quiet though. I just liked yelling.
I scanned the room and a hand nervously crept up from a desk.

“I’m a Dale.” He said meekly.

“I need you to come with me, Dale.” He got up quickly, but I stopped him.
“Bring your laptop.” I assumed he might need it.

He quickly came over, laptop under his arm.
“I’m not being fired, am I?” He asked anxiously.

“Nope, George does however need your help. I have been sent to retrieve you.” I began walking back to the office and he followed.

“Are you, his assistant?” He asked a little more relaxed.

“Yep, just started today. I’m Anna.” I stuck out my hand as we walked, shaking his hand awkwardly.

“I’m Dale.” He introduced, a little pointless since I knew that already. I did yell his name rather loudly. I just hoped he was the only Dale, therefore the one George wanted.

As we arrived back in the office, George was furiously typing at his computer. He looked up when I entered, and Dale walked straight over when he saw George's stressed face. Apparently in sync with one another, Dale set his laptop next to Georges and they both began to type and talk quietly back and forth, neither of their eyes leaving their screens.

I quietly looked at the clock. There were another 15 minutes before Bruce arrived, but I thought I should go down to the lobby. He seemed the type to be early.

“I’m going to the lobby, to catch Mr Wayne before he gets up here.” George nodded, but he wasn’t paying attention, he was way too absorbed in working on something to present.
This was to help George, but also served my own agenda.

I wanted to ask him just what the fuck was going on yesterday. I would of course be reasonable; this is a professional setting and not my personal boxing ring. I’ll try to keep the cursing to a minimum but being real, that doesn’t mean shit.

As I made it down into the lobby, I waited near the front doors ready to ambush Bruce, like a lion waiting for a wounded antelope. I didn’t have to wait long as a chauffeur car pulled up in front. As he stepped out of the car, I was glad he was alone.

Hello, wounded antelope. When he entered, I stepped in front of him, giving him no chance to escape.

“Mr Wayne.”  I greeted icily. He looked surprised to see me but quickly recovered.

“Anna? What a… pleasant surprise.” He smiled at me, to which I replied with an up-and-down stare.

“We need to talk.” I turned around and began walking out of the lobby, Bruce was already attracting attention from the busy bees and I wanted to talk to him more privately.

I turned down a quiet hallway and picked a room at random that didn’t look occupied. I walked in and leaned against the desk that sat against the wall.
I didn’t fill the silence that followed, I just glared at Mr. Wayne, waiting for him.

“I just want you to know, I am genuinely sorry. I think you misunderstood my intentions.” He began.

“Then clarify.” I offered, schooling my features.

“I have nothing but contempt for the Joker, my intention was not to ‘pump’ you for information for self-interest, but because I want to protect you.” Bruce was giving me his puppy dog eyes, but he would need more than that to make me feel pity for him.

“I’m a big girl, Mr. Wayne, I can take care of myself. I have been doing so for a while now.” I said that almost confidently like my life wasn’t falling apart at the seams.

“Anna, this man is a psychopath. I have no interest in him, other than protecting people from him.” He took a step closer to me and I fixed him with a glare.

“Is that why you put a tracker in my bag?” I asked, which is when Bruce’s gaze went to the floor, guilt all over his face.

“You found that then.” He asked, and I nodded.

“That was only so if the Joker took you, the authorities would be able to track you down.” Bruce said after a minute.

“It’s still creepy as fuck.” I told him, making him sigh.

“I know but it wasn’t intended to be.” He admitted. He looked so guilt-ridden it was starting to pull at my heartstrings.

“This past week has been hell for me, Mr. Wayne. I was a victim of fraud, involved in a bank robbery, kidnapped by a madman, had to jump out of a car, and ended up in the hospital. I also lost my home and my job. And my face has been plastered all over the 5 o’clock news. It’s been a wild ride and I’m still reeling.” I explained and he was still looking like a kicked puppy.

“But you were genuinely trying to help me, and I can appreciate that. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. I’m… sorry.” I sighed; I hated apologising. I pushed myself off the desk and held my hand out to him.

“How about we start over? I’m Anna Jones.” This was an olive branch; it was up to him whether to take it or not. Bruce took my hand with a smile and shook it.

“I’m Bruce Wayne, prize idiot.” I smiled, not disagreeing with him.

“I believe you're late for a meeting.” He looked a little surprised that I knew he was here for a meeting. Why else would I be waiting in the lobby though?

“How…” He asked.

“I’m George's new assistant, I was sent to distract you. For full transparency, Charles only told him you were coming this morning. So, if his presentation isn’t convincing it might be due to the fact he put it all together in half an hour.” I didn’t see the point in lying to Bruce, he should know George was sabotaged, but I had full faith in my doughnut bringer.

“I see, well George is in good hands with you. Although, if I knew you were in the job market, I would have offered you a job at my company.” Bruce smiled at me and I shrugged.

“I wasn’t. But I’m happy with George, he brings me coffee and doughnuts.” I had to quickly check that I didn’t still have crumbs on myself.

“I could bring you coffee and doughnuts.” Bruce mumbled making us both laugh.
“Well, you have your work cut out for you; someone’s got to put that Charles in his place.” Bruce laughed. “Think you can handle that?”

“Don’t remind me. That arrogant ass, he makes my skin crawl. He reminds me of someone.” I cut my eyes to Bruce.

“I do hope you don’t mean me.” He raised an eyebrow; I gave Bruce a look of mock offence.

“Mr. Wayne, I'm hurt you think that. I would never say that, to your face. But you’re right I meant you.” We laughed again, and I nodded to the door.

“We should go get a coffee and then head up.” Bruce nodded, and we made our way, back into the lobby.

“Will you call me Bruce?” He asked as we walked.

“I’ll consider it Mr Wayne.” I laughed when I caught him rolling his eyes slightly.

“Where can we get coffee anyway?” He asked, and I realised I had no idea.

After asking a slightly starstruck receptionist, we finally found the café and were headed towards the elevators. As we stepped into the elevator it was empty, I didn’t even need to pull out my raptor story this time.

“Don’t let the fact that George is my boss sway your decision. But if you hurt his feelings, I will punch you in the throat.” I smiled sweetly as we stepped off the elevator.

“I’ll… I’ll keep that in mind.” Bruce chuckled as he followed me.

George was standing in front of his office, looking more confident than he had 45 minutes ago, holding a large folder with a huge smile across his face. 

"Mr. Wayne, it's wonderful to see you." He stuck out his hand and shook Bruce's enthusiastically. 
"I see you've already met my assistant, Anna." George smiled at me. 

"Ah, yes. She greeted me in the lobby. She showed me around, delightful lady." Bruce smiled and gave me a discreet wink. 

As he left my side to talk with George I stayed behind, and let the boys talk business. George turned around I stuck up both my thumbs as he walked off. 

My little baby, sweet-talking investors with his science. I’m so proud.
Now what do we do?
I don’t know. Play solitaire?
Want to ring Gordon?
We were having such a lovely day and you ruined it by mentioning that
Well, excuse me for wanting to live to see tomorrow.

What’s so great about tomorrow? Anyway, I don’t even have his number anymore
That’s what Google is for honey.
You think?
Google has everything.
Maybe I should Google how to get you out of my head.

All you will get are psychology sites, you crazy bitch. Maybe a nice straight jacket.
Maybe I’ll just keep you then.
I'm not a stray cat you found on the street!
I know that… I found you in a dumpster.
Just find his number, you’re hopeless, you know that right? I'm shocked we have survived into adulthood, I really am.

Chapter Thirteen
Calling in the Cavalry 

I left the hallway and went into George’s office. I pulled his chair out and opened his laptop that sat atop his desk, hoping it was already logged on. Luckily it was already on his user profile now I just need the Google. I don’t know if it was obvious, but I’m not a very technologically inclined person.

Clicking on what I hoped was the Google page, it flashed up on the screen, I typed in Gotham city police commissioner Gordon. In the top results it gave me his office number, I quickly jotted it down on a scrap of paper and clicked off the laptop.

George wouldn’t mind if I used his office phone, would he? Well, I already used his laptop so it’s a little late to consider any boundaries he might have.

Picking up the phone I was suddenly nervous, what if Gordon didn’t believe me? What if the Joker knew I called Gordon, even after he told me not to and decided to cut my neck while I was sleeping? I like my neck the way it is, no cutting necessarily. I slid the phone back down, what should I do?

I stood up and went to the window looking over Gotham, maybe this would be one of my last chances to see it. From this high up it could have been any city, any normal, run-of-the-mill city.

One without crazy clowns blowing shit up, Bats roaming all over the place and devoid of any mobs or crooked cops running the show.

But it wasn’t, it was Gotham. And I would never be able to leave this fucked up city; it was my home, the only home I have ever known. I used to be happy with my parents here, I lived a normal life; looking back I yearned for it once more, even for just one day.

Just one more chance to tell my mum and dad how much I loved them and to hear them say it back. I wanted my dad to wrap his huge arms around me, and call me his little girl. For my mum to kiss my cheek, and tell me ‘I love you, to the moon and back.’
I never knew how much it would mean to me for them to say those things to me. It was only when I  knew I would never hear it again that I realised.

I especially cherish the memories I had with my dad. We were always so close. He wanted me to be able to protect myself, to be independent and not have to rely on anyone to save me. That’s why he took me to boxing lessons when I was younger and then bought me a gun and taught me to shoot when I was older.

“Shoot first, ask questions later baby girl.” I doubt he would want me to take on the Joker myself though. If only he was here to tell me what to do. I didn’t want to have to tackle this alone and I hated it, but I needed help.

He taught me well, but even he would tell me to call Gordon. He taught me to not need anyone to save me, but he also taught me not to be stupid. And this needed some outside help, if that meant swallowing my pride and asking Gordon, then I guess I would have to.

I would rather my pride take a blow now than be in the morgue in the morning. If I died when I didn’t have to, my dad would be pissed. I decided to call Gordon and let him know what happened last night and this morning. I just hope he didn’t think I was going coo-coo crazy.

It only rang a couple of times before it was picked up and a gruff voice said hello.

“Hi Gordon? It's Anna Jones.” I greeted him hopefully not sounding too nervous.

“Ah Anna, it’s good to hear from you, but you sound nervous. What’s the matter?” Well, I fucked that up, I guess. How could he tell?

“Well, something happened at my new apartment. I think the Joker was in there last night. I don’t know how, but I think he’s found me.” I told him, waiting for him to hang up or laugh me off the phone.

“What makes you say that?” He asked, and I could practically hear him frowning through the phone.

“I thought I was just being paranoid and overthinking things, but I kept hearing noises last night and then I found a Joker playing card in my bags from my old apartment. So, I put your card next to my bedside table to call you this morning, only when I woke up it had writing on it. It was this note saying, ‘Don’t tell’. It was the same writing from the note at the hospital and I have been freaking out about it.” It all tumbled out from me at once, I wasn’t able to stop.

The other end of the phone was so quiet I thought for a second maybe Gordon had been cut off or he had hung up.

“Gordon?” I paused for a couple of seconds. “Gordon, are you there?”

“Yes, sorry Anna I'm still here. I was just thinking.” I breathed a sigh of relief as his voice came back on the phone.

“So, what do you think?” I asked hoping he would tell me it was probably some intricate prank and the Joker was busy somewhere else wreaking havoc on the city.

“I'm going to be putting you under special watch for a while Anna.” Gordon sounded nervous which in turn made me nervous.

“Special watch? What does that mean? And for how long exactly?” I asked.

“I’ll explain it later. I have to make some phone calls. Where are you now?” He brushed past giving me an explanation.

“I'm at work right now, it’s my first day.” I replied trying to sound chipper.

“OK well go straight back to your apartment when you finish, ok?” He asked but I couldn’t.

“No, not ok. Commissioner, I'm sorry but I have things to do.” I was maybe being a little short, but I did have stuff to do.

“I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation Anna. You are a target for the Joker, for whatever reason he seems transfixed on you. Now unless it's life or death plans you have, I'm going to have to ask you to cancel.” His voice was firmer now, I felt like I had just been called into the principal's office.

“I might starve to death seeing as I have no food at home or utensils. I did just move in yesterday.” I mumbled.

He was silent for a minute on the other end of the line. No doubt sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“I’ll be sending a police car to your work after you finish, he will take you to the closet grocery store and you can do that. Then it’s right back to your apartment--” He sounded tired.

“Yes sir!” I tried to lighten the conversation but all I got was a sigh.

“Be safe Anna.” He replied, sounding very weary which made me feel a bit guilty.

“Thanks, Gordon, truly. Sorry, I'm such a pain.” I apologized, feeling bad that I called for help but ended up making a demand.

“I have a daughter at home. I'm used to it. Remember call me if you need me.” He stressed the last part and I listened.

“I will do Gordon. Bye.” As I put down the phone, I felt relieved but also curious.

What is a special watch anyway? I got up from George's seat. Wanting to call the commissioner back and ask again about this ‘special watch’ but I'm sure I’ve annoyed him enough for one day, probably a week’s worth. I walked back over to the window, looking out to the view for the millionth time today.

“Still entranced by the view I see.” Looking towards the door I could see George standing there, looking one billionaire short.  

“It’s one hell of a view. Where did Mr. Wayne go?” I asked.

“He got a phone call when we were done. Said it was urgent and he had to leave.” As he said that I felt a little put out. He could have at least said goodbye.

“How did it go then?” I asked, reassuring myself Bruce would have said goodbye if he could have.     “You look pretty confident I must say.” I grinned.

He rubbed the back of his neck as he put his papers on his desk.
“It went really well actually. Bruce said he liked the direction we were headed and said he was hoping we could partner up in the future and work on some projects.” I hit his elbow playfully as he came to stand beside me.

“George that’s awesome! You did such a good job, and you were all worried.” I teased.

“Couldn’t have done it without you getting me some extra time, without it I wouldn’t have been able to get all the data I needed to show him.” George blushed.

I pulled a face that I'm sure was very attractive.
“Pfft I just ran interference. You’re the one who got the touchdown.” I put up my arms in a touch-down sign and cheered. He laughed at my antics and shrugged his shoulders.

“I think we both did well. I wonder if there are any more mystery meetings to worry about.” He went and sat down in his chair, looking a little deflated.

“Yeah, your brother pulled a dickhead move. But hey fuck him, you pulled it off.” I was trying to be positive enough for both of us.  

“Yes, little brother it would seem you did well.” Easily recognizing the voice behind me I didn’t even bother to turn around.

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear.” I left the window and went to stand by George's desk protectively.
“Lovely to see you, Charles.” I said sarcastically.

Seemingly undeterred he entered George’s office, a smirk plastered on his face.
“I have to say I was hoping to see you fail, I did not foresee your new assistant being able to distract Bruce Wayne for so long, whatever did you two chat about?”

Not being in the mood for Charles's bullshit I decided he wouldn’t be getting any kind of serious answer from me today.

“We talked about our favourite My Little Pony characters, then we braided each other’s hair and talked about our feelings. It was kind of magical.” Next to me, George had to cough to cover up his quiet laugh.

“She’s also a comedian.” Charles said the smirk wiped off his face.

“I wear many different hats. It’s part of my charm.” I said beaming at him, finally a good use for my sarcastic humour.

“You know if I were in your position, I would be more respectful to those higher up.” He said in a threatening tone and stepped closer to me; I'm guessing trying to be intimidating.

But please, I have the Joker playing hide and seek with me, he is going to have to bring more to the table.

“I only answer to one person in this room, and I’ll give you a clue, his name starts with a G and he isn’t a huge ass.” I kept smiling, enjoying this.

He stepped closer to me again.
“You don’t want me as an enemy Anna.” I matched his step so we were inches apart now.

“I certainly don’t want you as a friend.” I replied. As he began to look very angry, George surprisingly stood up.

“Charles if you don’t mind, me and Anna have work to do.” Charles looked a little taken aback by his brother’s vocalisation and stepped back.

“Don’t tell me you’ve finally started growing a backbone now you have a little guard cat.” He scoffed.

I meowed in response and smiled when he turned his glare back to me.

“Now children you are supposed to be running my business. Not fighting like school children.” Surprising everyone at the door was Richard, finally up and on his feet, he was dressed smartly in a suit and tie, obviously ready to reclaim his throne of business.

“Father, I thought you weren’t ready to come back to work.” Charles said as he stepped further away from George and me.

“Sitting in a bed was getting very tedious. Anyway, I was given the all-clear. Why not come back?” He walked into the room and came up to me.

“I trust you are settling in well my dear?” He asked placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

“I already feel at home, thank you, Richard. Did you know just this morning George had a meeting with Mr Wayne?” I turned to George who blushed.

“Bruce Wayne?” Richard asked. I stepped to the side to let George explain.

“Yes, he said he was interested in partnering up with some future projects when we get fully set up and started.” George said sheepishly, wringing his hands together nervously.

“That’s brilliant! I knew putting you in charge of this department was the right choice.” He put his hand on George's shoulder.
“I'm very proud of you son.”

Just as they were having a very lovely father-son moment; his other son, although I still fail to believe he is, spoke up.

“Well, this is touching. But I don’t think you’re ready to come back yet Father. You had a very traumatic experience. You should be at home.” Charles tried.

“I'm happy to see you so concerned for my health Charles, but I'm fine and ready to get back into the boss’s seat. Thanks for keeping it warm for me.” He smiled at Charles and headed for the door.

“Keep up the good work George.” He called back as he left, Charles trailing at his heels no doubt already missing his seat of power.

“I love work.” I smiled and made George laugh as the atmosphere lighted after Charles had left.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, we ordered a desk for me to set up in George’s office, so I could get my ‘assistant’ on. And then he kept me pretty busy sending me to fetch the odd document or read through what he was writing, not understanding what any of it meant I just kept telling him it sounded smart and kept the coffee flowing for him.

“Anna I'm going to stay for a little longer here and finish up, but you should head home.” George said as I came back carrying a new cup of coffee for him. Looking at the clock it read 5 o’clock, huh guess time flies when you are fetching things back and forth.

“You sure?” I asked.

“Yeah, I just have to finish this up tonight. Oh, wait do you need a ride home?” He finally looked up from his work but I waved him off.

“No, it's ok. I have a ride already set up. What time do you want me in tomorrow, same time?” I asked retrieving my bag and checking I had everything.

“Yeah, do you want to pick you up again?” He asked, taking a sip of the coffee and eyes slipping back to his laptop.

“I can just hail a cab if it’s out of your way.” I shrugged, as I stood next to the office door.

“No, it’s actually on my route.” He kept trying to look at me, but his eyes were dragged back to his work after two seconds.

“Well, as long as you bring me coffee I won’t complain.” I said cheekily as I began to leave.

“I won’t disappoint. See you tomorrow, Anna.” He called.

“See ya, Boss.” I waved as the door shut.

As I left and went to the elevator, I remembered I was getting a police escort to go shopping, which should make a good impression on my new colleagues, getting picked up by the cops. When I got to the lobby doors I didn’t see any police vehicles, did Gordon forget?

Not that I would complain, I wasn’t too crazy about being babysat anyway, just as my hopes were raised, I was tapped on the shoulder.

“Miss Jones?” I turned around and a man in jeans and a T-shirt stood there.

“Hi, can I help you?” I asked intrigued.

“I'm from the station, Gordon sent me. He thought it best to not make a scene with a marked car.” He nodded towards the car we were standing next to.
“If you would like to hop in.” Not just wanting to get into a car with just anyone I quickly stopped him before he got in his seat.

“Wait can I see your badge?” Hoping I wasn’t about to get kidnapped again I thought it best to see just who I was getting into a car with. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a wallet and slid it across the roof to me, as I caught it, I opened it up.

Next to an adorable picture of two kids was a police officer's I.D. card with the name ‘Thomas Brooke’. Which was good enough evidence for me.

“Sorry, Thomas, I just wanted to be sure.” I slid it back over.

“No, you’re right to be suspicious, caution keeps you alive.” He smiled and we both got into the car.

As we drove to the grocery store, we made polite small talk, he started talking about his kids who were in the picture in his wallet. Identical twins named Jenny and Joyce, which was cute. We continued talking as we went through the supermarket, me shoving practically everything I could into the trolley, including an expensive bottle of whiskey, which I thought I deserved.

Thomas kept his guard up at all times but looked calm on the outside, we probably just looked like a couple going around. Which was nice to make believe even for a little bit; it would probably be very nice to have a nice little family even if it was in Gotham. His wife was a very lucky lady.

I focused on finishing up here and heading back home. It was strange to think of the new apartment as home, I had only just arrived there. I probably couldn’t make my way there without directions. But it was nice, to feel like I had a space to go back to.

As I paid for my groceries Thomas very nicely helped me pack them, as I was given the extensive receipt. I feel so dangerous spending so much money, but at the same time elated that I could. As we packed the bags into the car, Thomas laughed.

“You’re as bad as my wife.” He shut the boot and smiled.
“Is this something all women do? Just buy everything they see?”

I mocked offence as I got into the car.
“Now-now, I only bought essentials!” I tried.

“Oh, bunny slippers are essentials, are they?” He teased.

“I bet you’re just jealous you don’t get bunny slippers.” I folded my arms across my chest as he started driving back to my place.

“I'm very happy with my old man slippers. They’re orthopaedic.” As we stopped at a light, I looked in the side mirror and saw a dark shape go past, looking up I could have sworn I had seen something.

“Anna, what is it? Is it the Joker?” Thomas sounded alarmed, but I wasn’t sure what I had just seen.

“No, I don’t think so.” Thomas seemed relieved at my answer and looked back in front of him.

“Wait, look on top of that building, it's Batman.” As he pointed above, I took a glance before we drove away, and he was there, cape billowing in the wind, looking very ominous in the night.

I turned to Thomas whose eyes were already back on the road.
“You don’t seem very shocked to see him.” I was still craning my neck to see him again.

He shook his head.
“I'm not, we see him a lot at crime scenes and he usually helps us. You get used to seeing him about.”

As we neared my apartment, I stayed quiet, kind of unnerved by Batman, shouldn’t he be off fighting crime and the Joker? Was there crime so close to my new home? Stopping at the lobby of the apartment building, Thomas helped me take the bags to the elevator.

“I’ll help take these upstairs before I leave.” He offered.

“You don’t have to I can take them up, I don’t want to inconvenience you.” I said, mostly just out of politeness and wanting to scream OH SWEET, BABY JESUS, DON’T LEAVE ME TO DIE.

“It’s no problem. You look the clumsy type anyway.” As he jumped into the elevator, I felt relieved he wasn’t abandoning me just yet.

“I was going to say thank you until the last part.” We laughed as the doors closed and it jerked itself to life.

I was still apprehensive about going back into my apartment, a little scared the Joker might be waiting for me. Waiting to slit my throat and steal my bunny slippers.

As we reached my floor, I grew increasingly anxious, and the bump telling us we reached my floor didn’t help the situation. When we reached my door Thomas didn’t look like he was about to leave so I fumbled with my keys and tried to get the key into the lock, did my keyhole shrink? I finally managed to unlock the damn door and open it. 

Chapter Fourteen
A Surprise Visitor

As I opened the door to my apartment and let Thomas in, I felt strange. Something was off, but I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly. There just seemed to be an air of wrongness, kind of like the feeling where someone’s moved your furniture and you can’t remember how it was before, but it looks wrong.

I found my feet were glued to the spot as I tried to figure out what was giving me such a feeling of unease. Thomas had already laid my bags on the counter in the kitchen and didn’t feel as uneasy as I did.

“Anna, you look worried…What’s wrong?” He came over and took the bags off me and put them with the others. I finally regained control of my feet and walked over to the kitchen to join him.

“I feel a little odd, I feel as if something isn’t quite right.” I mumbled, still looking around.

“I'm sorry, I don’t understand what you mean.” He looked confused as he looked around trying to spot if anything was amiss but shrugged. I started unpacking the bags and I found a special comfort in my bunny slippers which I immediately put on.

“It’s like something’s here that doesn’t belong. I probably sound insane right now.” I tried to laugh off my unease.

A deep voice sounded from the dark corner across the room.
“You don’t sound insane to me.”

Looking towards the direction of the voice a dark shape emerged from the shadows and stepped out into the light. My heart jumped out of my chest as black boots came from the darkness, followed by the unmistakable black costume of Batman.

“Son of a bitch! What the fuck!?” I screamed, not caring about my neighbours hearing me.
“Who sneaks into people’s apartments only to give them a heart attack?!” I bent over with my hands on my knees, trying to breathe normally.

“I didn’t mean to alarm you.” His deep voice seemed to echo against me as I put a hand to my chest.

“Like hell, you didn’t! You could have turned on the light or waited outside the door. Instead, you hide in the shadows like a bloody horror movie.” I tried to take some deep breaths, was he trying to kill me off before the Joker got the chance?

“I'm sure his intention wasn’t to frighten you, Anna. He just likes to make an entrance.” Thomas assured me from next to me, not looking as taken aback as I was. He knew how to keep his cool in a weird situation I’ll give him that.

He nodded his head to Batman and went to shake his hand.
“Batman.”

“Officer Brooke, glad to know Anna is in safe hands.” Batman shook his hand and stepped back.

“Commissioner Gordon said to expect you. I assume you’re the special watch he was talking about?” Brooke asked to which Batman nodded and then turned his attention to me. How are they making small talk while I just had a heart attack!?

“Officer Gordon wants me to keep checking up on you until we have the Joker in custody Anna. You seem to be a target and we don’t want anything happening to you.” He was trying to assure me, but my heart was still pounding.

“That’s great just, just don’t creep about in the shadows like that, it freaks me out.” I felt a shiver go up my spine and I wrapped my arms around my middle.

“I'm sorry it won’t happen again.” Trying to look at his face to see if he was lying, I couldn’t see much past his mask, but he looked familiar.

“Do I… Do I know you?” I asked as I tried to place his features, he reminded me of someone, I just couldn’t think who it was.

“No, you do not. I just, just have one of those faces. You don’t know me.” He turned away as if he was hiding from me, oh yeah as if I was about to guess his secret identity from his chin.

The list of people I knew was short and none of them screamed protector of Gotham. Unless Richard was moonlighting as a vigilante, but as lovely as he was, I didn’t expect he was agile enough to jump from rooftop to rooftop.

Or maybe it was Bruce Wayne, yeah millionaire playboy protecting Gotham in his spare time, jumping around in a silly outfit. Has everything in the world and spends his fortune protecting one city. Bruce also seemed a little too squeamish to kick ass and take names. Might mess up his manicure. I wonder if he gets manicures…   

I gave up for now at least; maybe he did have one of those faces.

“Would anyone like some whiskey?” I asked as the silence grew a little too lengthy for my liking.

“No thank you, Anna, I'm still on the clock.” Thomas politely declined as I grabbed a glass for myself.

“Batman? Want some?” I asked as I looked over to where he stood awkwardly out of place, like a fish on land.

“No, I need to stay alert, but thank you for the offer.” I poured myself a small glass; to give the impression I wasn’t an alcoholic, I'm not. But no need to give the impression I am.
I beg to differ.

“If you would be more comfortable Batman, I could open the window and you could perch on the edge.” I offered in jest as he began to shift awkwardly.

Batman looked at the window as if considering the offer while Thomas and I just smiled.

I sipped on my whiskey as the awkwardness grew. What do you do when you have Batman in your living room? That sounds like a bad setup for a joke if I ever heard one.
Batman looked around and his eyes landed on my footwear.

“Nice bunny slippers.” He said with a small smile.

“Nice skin-tight costume.” I replied, smirking back and raising an eyebrow. Batman looked as if he was about to reply, but before he could, Thomas’s radio suddenly screeched into life.

“Confirmed sighting of the Joker in the narrows, all available units are requested for backup immediately at 22^nd and 23^rd street.”
Thomas and Batman exchanged looks as the radio went silent again. Batman was the first to break the silence.

“I have to go. Do not leave this apartment, Anna.” He gave me an authoritative look and then he jumped out of the window into the night.

He could have just taken the stairs but alright then. Who needs a front door when you can cannonball off the fourth floor?

“If you would like I can stay here?” Thomas offered as he shifted on his feet, obviously wanting to jump into action, hopefully not out of the window. I doubt he would land as gracefully as Batman.

His radio once again came to life and Officer Gordon’s voice sounded out.
“Officer Brooke?”

He took the radio off his belt and held it up to his mouth.
“Yes sir?” He replied.

“Are you still with Anna? Is she alright?” Thomas looked over to me and I nodded that yes, I was fine. I have my whiskey; and my bunny slippers. The Joker was also on the other end of town why wouldn’t I be fine? 

“Yes, commissioner, she is fine.” The static was making my skin crawl, like nails on a chalkboard, to drown away the feeling of unease I turned away from Thomas and downed my whiskey, bottoms up. The commissioner’s voice came again.

“OK, I want you to do a sweep of her apartment and outside to make sure everything is ok. Double-check everything is locked up. Then I want you down here as fast as you can, we need every available officer here to catch the Joker.” Gordon ordered.

“Yes sir, I’ll be as fast as I can.” Thomas assured the commissioner. The radio went quiet again and Thomas began walking through the apartment, checking all the rooms.

“Sorry that I have to leave Anna.” He shouted.
“Will you be ok by yourself?” I poured another glass of whiskey to settle my nerves at being left alone.

“Yes, don’t worry I'm a big girl. I'm sure I’ll be fine. The Joker is on the other end of Gotham after all. I'm safe and sound.” I shrugged as I sipped at my expensive whiskey.

As he finished his rather rushed sweep of my apartment he came back to where I was still with my whiskey and bunny slippers.

“OK, it looks alright, when I leave, I want you to lock up everything ok? I’ll call later to check on you so be sure to answer, okay? If you don’t, I’ll be coming back.” I gave him a mock salute as he headed for the door.

“Yes sir, lock up and keep an ear out for a phone call.” I parroted back, the whiskey already giving me a pleasant buzz.

“Good, I’ll have a quick check on this floor and outside. You behave yourself.” He gave me a pointed look before he left.

He rushed out of the door and I shut it behind him, deciding to be serious for a few seconds I locked the door and then went over to the windows, if Batman could scale up my walls and climb in, I don’t want to take any chances with anyone else coming through.

I made sure they were shut and locked them up. No one was getting in, or out for that matter. But I was safe, the Joker was off terrorizing some other unfortunate souls at the minute and the GPD was hot on his trail. It would seem I have a small respite from crazy for today.

I'm still here.
Respite over.
Charming.
Sorry. Just thinking of the Joker is making my blood pressure shoot through the roof.

We could watch TV and wait for Officer Brooke to call.
Sounds like a weirdly normal plan, but first I need to devour the souls of my enemies.
Why can't you say eat dinner like a normal human? You need professional help.
Of course, I do. You’re talking to me, aren’t you?
Bitchy, why have you got to be so rude?
Force of habit.

I shuffled into the kitchen, the ears of my bunny slippers flopping up and down as I did. I dug through the boxes until I found the spaghetti and quickly put some water on to boil, nothing simpler than pasta, but good food is good food. I started to empty the bags of my groceries on the counter, while I waited for the water to boil.

I did get a lot of food. I would have never dreamt of spending this much money on food before. I used to get excited over deals on cheap ramen. But now I can afford actual food, I think the money is going to my head a little bit. Money corrupts and absolute money makes you spend a lot of money on food and novelty slippers.

I stacked everything in different cupboards, surprised at the amount of space I had, and also feeling weird about having cupboards where the doors didn’t fall off. With the water boiling I dumped some pasta into the pan and left it to boil, setting aside the sauce I was going to use with it I became bored again.

I quickly grabbed the whiskey bottle and poured myself another glass, all whiskey tasted like gasoline, but it made me feel warm inside like I was being hugged, internally.
It sounds kind of horrifying when I put it like that. But it was familiar to me, and a habit. A bad one at that. I sipped at my whiskey and sighed contently.

“It’s rude not to offer a drink to guests ya know.” I froze when I heard the voice behind me, I could feel my heart beating faster as I tried to hold in a scream. You don’t easily forget that kind of voice.

“It’s also rude to break into someone’s home.” I replied, I looked behind me and sure enough, the Joker was standing in my sitting room.

He looked the same as the last time I had seen him, although it seemed like a lifetime ago now. His pale skin was still painted bone white. His eyes were pitch black and hollow like the eye sockets of a skeleton. His green hair, although it was beginning to look browner as the green tinge wore away.

But that smile. That terrifying blood-red smile. Stretching across his face, spanning his cheeks.

I was trying to keep my voice calm and even, the last thing I needed was the Joker knowing just how terrified I was that he was in my home. Although I’m sure that would make him happy.

I'm probably kidding myself thinking he doesn’t already know; I could feel myself shaking and he would have to be blind not to see it.

“Well, I was in the neighbourhood and thought I would drop in.” He smiled wider as he watched me. I held my whiskey, gripping the glass tightly, hoping it would disguise my trembling hands.

“Heard you were on the other side of town?” I asked, he smiled as I said that and went to my couch, he flopped down onto it spreading his arms across the back of it. Looking as relaxed and comfortable as possible while I felt like I was on the brink of having a heart attack.

“Not me, I just dressed up one of my fastest henchmen to keep the cops busy while I visited. After all old Jimbo has got you locked up all safely in your little ivory tower. This is much nicer than your last apartment.” He commented, eyes roaming over my new home.

“You were in my old apartment?” I asked, feeling a little more confident that he didn’t seem like he wanted to kill me. Yet anyway.  I sat down on the opposite chair and hoped if he did go crazy, I would be able to get up and run before he could do anything.

“Well, your locks sucked. And I wanted to see you, so you can imagine how disappointed I was when you were nowhere to be found. I even sent out my guys to look for you. You shook one of them off pretty good I have to say. Little Houdini in training. But you didn’t notice the one who followed you onto the bus.” He chuckled.

My mind whipped back to the night before, there were a couple of people who did come on the bus after me, but none of them looked suspicious. But then again, I guess they don’t wear signs saying, ‘I work for the Joker.’ Although it would be really helpful if they did.

“So, I thought I would visit, scope out your new digs. I had a look last night, but I didn’t want to disturb your sleep. And today, had to wait for Officer Nice Guy and Bat Geek to leave, thought they were going to stay all night. Aren’t guests who overstay their welcome just the worst?”

I almost replied with ‘You should know’ but I quickly shut my mouth, I didn’t want to push my luck with this guy.

“What? No witty retort?” He asked leaning forward with his hands on his knees, I didn’t reply, not knowing anything safe to say. Usually, my mouth got me into a lot of trouble.

“See, I liked it when you stood up for yourself. I like a girl who says what she thinks. But now you’ve gone all meek on me. And. It’s. Just. No. Fun.” He leaned back again and took a switchblade out from his pocket.

“Maybe you need some incentive?” He began flicking the blade in and out, the metal reflecting the light before it disappeared. Reappearing once again to be flicked away.

“What will I do with you, Anna?” As he said that he hefted his dirty shoes onto my coffee table and without thinking I stuck my foot underneath one of the legs and pulled it out from under his feet. His shoes fell to the door with a loud thump.

“Kill me if you want, but don’t dirty my new coffee table. Insanity is no excuse for bad manners.” I folded my arms across my chest.
Are you fucking serious right now?
We are probably going to die anyway. Might as well save the furniture.

He looked shocked for a moment but then his face broke out into a huge, slightly terrifying smile.

“There she is!” He flicked the blade away and put it back into his pocket, thankfully.
“Knew the girl from the bank was in there somewhere.”

He quickly got to his feet and walked over to me, I remained in my seat unmoving, but my mind was racing, and my heart was threatening to break out of my chest. He went behind me and leaned over the back of my seat.

“Lucky for you she made an appearance.” He whispered into my ear and I could feel his breath tickling my neck.
“Or I would have had to kill you.” He added before laughing loudly, I flinched a little and could my knees begin to shake again.

I heard his feet move away from me and I released the breath I was holding. I heard his shoes move into my kitchen.

“Err, is this pan supposed to be overflowing?” He asked from the kitchen. Quickly remembering the pasta, my fear went out the window as I squeezed past him to save my dinner. Shit, shit, shit.

It was a little too close from comfort when I brushed past him seeing as he had no intention of moving. Even leaning right up against the counter, our bodies still touched when I moved past him.

I turned down the heat and I drained the water off. Quickly picking out a piece I tested whether it was too soggy or not, thankfully it wasn’t that bad. I put it back stove and added the sauce, to heat it a little. I breathed a sigh of relief and stirred; happy I wouldn’t have to start over.

I was financially better off, not wasteful.

“I do hope, uh dinner isn’t ruined.” The Joker mumbled from behind me and I jumped a foot in the air. I had forgotten the Joker was there until he spoke.

“No, it’ll be fine... Do, do you want some?” I asked more out of reflex than with any actual intention of feeding him.

“Running from the cops and outwitting Batman sure does build up an appetite. Don’t mind if I do.” He came up next to me and smelled the pasta, he was practically on top of me.

This guy has no idea what personal space is, does he?
I think we should just be thankful he isn’t stabbing us to death.
So, there is a silver lining for tonight.
If you can call it that.

He thankfully moved away when I took the pan off the heat and went to sit at the table, but then I remembered I didn’t have any dishes yet. I had got some glasses and even a pan from the store but no plates, why am I so stupid? Maybe I was just too used to eating food straight from containers that I had forgotten normal people use plates.

If in any universe, you could class the Joker as ‘normal’.

I grabbed two forks and hoped he wouldn’t murder me with his. I grabbed the pan and stuck it on the table in between us; I gave him a fork and I proceeded to dive right in. He gave me a confused look as I filled my mouth with spaghetti.

“I forgot to buy plates.” I said simply as I continued eating.

He seemed to not be too bothered as he began to eat as well. It was probably one of the most bizarre images of my life so far, seeing the Joker with his jacket off, across the table from me, spinning spaghetti out of a pan.

“It’s good.” He said into the silence we had settled into and I made a sound of agreement because it was Hella good.

So, what did you do last night Anna? Oh, nothing much just ate pasta with a mass murdering psychopathic clown!

Chapter Text

Part Two

Chapter Fifteen
Spaghetti with Gotham's most wanted

Remind me, why are we having dinner with Gotham’s most wanted?
My politeness is obviously broken.
Shall we add it to the list?
I’m as confused as you are, you want to ask him to leave?
No, he might shoot us.
Then let the man eat spaghetti.

“Any particular reason why you broke into my apartment?” I asked, I had my fill of pasta a while ago. I had let the Joker take the pan and finish it off. His eyes flicked up to me for a second before he shrugged.

“You’re interesting to me.” He said, mouth full of pasta. Didn’t his mother teach him to chew with his mouth closed?

“Is there any way to un-interest you?” I asked, my mouth not getting the memo on who we were talking to. He smiled and shook his head.

My mobile began to vibrate on the table in between us. Both our eyes darted as it told me I had a call. I sat as tense as a violin string as we watched it.

“It’s Officer Brooke. I have to pick up.” I reached for the phone but stopped at the glare the Joker gave me.

“Don’t do anything stupid. It would be a shame to ruin our supper.” He growled at me, I nodded and picked up the phone.

“Hi.” I squeaked out, covering it with a cough.
Smooth.
Shut the fuck up.

“Anna, sorry to tell you, but it wasn’t the Joker. Just some idiot dressed as him.” I could hear the commotion of sirens in the back.

“Oh, right ok.” I wanted to reply ‘no shit’ as I sat across from the actual Joker.

“I can come back if you need me to?” Officer Thomas offered. My eyes snapped to the Joker as he glared at me, it was tempting to scream ‘YES! FUCK YES!’ but I didn’t. If I let him know the Joker was here, I don’t think I would be breathing by the time he arrived.

“No, no you go home. I’m fine. I’ve locked everything up, no one’s getting in.” Or unfortunately out. 

“If, you’re sure?” He didn’t sound confident in letting me go.

“I’m positive. I’ll probably be having an early night. I’ll see you tomorrow.” We both said bye and I hung up.
If we live that long.

The Joker looked at me with a smirk.
“Good job.” He congratulated me, I put the phone back down on the counter between us.

“Good enough to live?” I asked, only half joking. He chuckled regardless and pushed the pan away from himself, finished with his late-night meal.

“You’re fun Anna. I was planning on killing whoever I dragged out of the bank, shoot 'em and dump 'em.” He made a mock gun with his hands and shot his temple.
“Boom. But you, you made me laugh.” I was glad he found my humour amusing.

If it kept me alive, even better. He took a knife out from his jacket and I froze. He was picking at his nails with it, but he had a creepy grin on his face that I didn’t trust.

“What are you planning to do now?” I asked, my eyes not leaving the knife.

“I haven’t decided yet.” He shrugged, but his eyes stayed on me, sending a nervous shiver up my spine.

“I would prefer it if you didn’t murder me. I did feed you. And I just went grocery shopping.” I tried to joke, because hey it helped me out last time. I wondered if he still wanted to kill me. And the uncertainty was making my heart pound in my chest.

“It depends.” He answered mysteriously.

“On what?” I asked, my eyes leaving the knife to look into his face.

He was watching me with a smirk that grew when I looked into his eyes. 
“Depends, on how fast you can run.” He got out of his chair so quickly it knocked back and fell to the floor with a crack.

As soon as he moved, my body went into autopilot and ran in the opposite direction. Finally, fight or flight served me well.

I knocked over my chair and anything else in the path behind me, hoping to slow him down at least a little. My room was the only one with a lock from the inside, so it was the one I headed for. I ran for the door and as soon as I was inside, I slammed the door behind me. Throwing my entire weight behind it.

It was about to shut when a foot jammed in between the frame and the door.

“Come out to play Anna!” He yelled, laughing maniacally as I kept trying to close the door.

“Fuck no!” I shouted back.

He was throwing his shoulder into it, but with his foot trapped, he couldn’t put his full force in trying to get it open. With an adrenaline-fuelled burst of strength, I managed to push the door enough, so the Joker retracted his foot. I locked it immediately and breathed a sigh of relief.

He can’t get in, yeah fuck you, clown boy. But then there was an almighty crash, the door vibrated with the force. The Joker was trying to break it down, that crazy bastard. I ran to my closet and got my gun. My hands were shaking as I checked it.

Can’t aim if you are shaking.
I know, I know.

I took a deep breath, to try and stop my hands from shaking so badly. My gun was locked and loaded. I stood a little way away from my door. If he manages to break it down and comes at me with that knife again, I’ll fill him with lead.

I couldn’t believe the door was shaking from the Joker’s hits. I didn’t think I was paying for an impenetrable fortress but fuck, the doors could at least be a little stronger.
I know I say this a lot. But this time, we really are fucked.
Come on, have some faith, the door might hold.

As soon as I said that the door splintered into pieces.
You were saying?
Not the fucking time!
I might not have the chance later. You know, because we might be dead.

With a final shove, the Joker managed to break the door down. I held the gun in front of me and aimed straight at the Joker's head. He raised an eyebrow as he stared down the barrel. There were a couple of feet between us, but it might as well have been an inch.

“You should put that down. You could hurt someone.” He took a step toward me and I clicked the safety off.

“That's the idea. Get out of my apartment.” I managed to keep my voice steady, I even sounded confident, but inside I was screaming.

“Do you even know how to use that?” He asked with a smirk.

“Do you want to take that chance?” He must have thought it was just for show as he took another step toward me. I quickly dropped the gun to the floor and shot a bullet where his other foot was about to fall. As soon as I did, I brought the gun back up and aimed it as before.  

“I'm not playing around Joker.” The Joker nearly fell backwards, as the bullet embedded itself into the floorboard. But all he did was laugh hysterically.

“You nearly shot my foot!” He cackled, bending down to look at the bullet now embedded in the floor.

“If I wanted to shoot your foot, I would have. That was your first and last warning Joker, get out. The next bullet goes in between your eyes.” I took a small step forward, gun still trained on him. He held up his hands as he backed away. But that fucker was still smiling.

“You know I’ll be back?” He asked me, a mocking smirk on his lips.

“And I’ll be ready.” I motioned to the door.
“Out.”

He turned around and began to walk out of the apartment, hands up. But he wasn’t taking me seriously, this was all one big joke to him. He unlocked the front door and stepped outside. I was tempted to slam the door immediately, but I didn’t want to lower my gun until he was a few feet away.

“You passed the test.” He announced as he walked down the hallway. I stepped out after him and kept my gun trained on his back.

“What test?” I asked as he opened the door to the stairwell. But he didn’t answer me, he just left. As soon as he appeared, he was once more gone.

Chapter Sixteen
An extended Lunch hour

When the Joker was gone, I immediately slammed the door closed and locked the locks. As soon as the last one clicked, I fell against the solid wood door and slid to the floor.
I can’t believe we’re alive.
I know. Believe me, I know.

I couldn’t help the tears that streamed down my face, I was fucking terrified. I had just survived the Joker again. If I was a little slower or didn’t have this gun and know how to use it, I would be dead right now. Bleeding out on my kitchen floor probably. And it was such a nice floor. Such a nice, blood-free, corpse-free floor.

How did Officer Brooke not see the Joker? Where the fuck had he been hiding? Does the Joker moonlight as a hide-and-seek champion? Maybe if Officer Brooke wasn’t so eager to run off and catch the Joker, he would have realised he was closer than anyone else.

No that was unfair, he had no reason to suspect the Joker was here. I didn’t know, neither did Batman.

But, how did the Joker get in here, in the first place? Because he sure as fuck didn’t knock. Why was he in here? What the fuck did he want with me?

I tried to calm my brain as it went 100mph. It would short-circuit if I kept asking questions when I had no answers. But finally, a rational thought jumped into my mind. I need to call the police.

I dried my face and got up off the floor. A little shaky still, but I managed whilst holding onto the door. I put my gun in the waistband of my skirt, not wanting to just leave a fully loaded weapon on the floor but not wanting to put it away yet either.

With a task in mind, it helped me calm down. I went for my phone, which was still on the counter and was about to call 911 when a small tapping caught my attention.

My eyes flew to the window and I could see a faint outline of a familiar figure. I sighed as Batman pointed to the locked window. So, I could keep him out, but not the Joker? Comforting. Putting my phone back down, I went over to the window and unlocked it, so he could slide it open himself.

“You have terrible timing.” I told him as I went back into the kitchen.

“What do you mean?” He asked as he closed the window behind him. At least he’s polite.

“You just missed the Joker.” I told him as I lifted the chair the Joker had knocked over and righted it.
“We had spaghetti, he tried to kill me, it was delightful.” I said sarcastically.

“Are you being serious?” Batman asked as he came closer to me.

“No, it’s a joke! How hilarious. Of course, I’m being serious!” I threw up my hands. Why the fuck would I joke about that?! I used the counter for support as I suddenly felt dizzy.

“Anna?” Batman asked, coming closer.

“I’m fine.” I wiped at a tear that crept out of my eyes.
“Sorry. I’m just…Just shocked.” I laughed, but it was hollow.

“How did you get him to leave?” Batman asked. I took the gun out of my waistband and put it on the counter, with a satisfying clatter.

“I put that in his face and threatened to shoot his crazy ass.” I told him.

Batman flinched when I put the gun on the counter, the slightest of moves. Just a twitch of his hand. I wouldn’t have even noticed if I wasn’t on edge right now.

“You have a gun?” He asked.

“I do.” I nodded as I found my glass of whiskey and decided to have some more. Steady my frayed nerves.

“Do you have a permit?” Batman asked, which made me chuckle. Despite nearly dying.

“That’s what you’re choosing to focus on? Do you actually care?” I asked, shooting back a shot of whiskey. I felt the familiar sting as it ran down my throat and hit my stomach. Leaving a trail of scorched skin in its trail. I poured another glass as Batman shook his head.

“Sorry, it’s a habit.” He looked toward my door.
“How long since he left?”

I shrugged. “Maybe 10 minutes? Believe me, he is long gone. I don’t think he would stick around. I was just about to ring the police, when you appeared on my ledge, like a crazy person.” I mumbled the last part, but I think he heard me.

I was about to pour myself another glass, but I wanted to sleep, not pass out cold. I corked the bottle and put it in the fridge. Proud of myself for my self-control, and not chugging the entire bottle. Because I fucking wanted to. Badly.

“I’ll inform Gordon.” Batman took a step closer to me.
“He won’t get this close again.” He assured me. I gave him a tight smile and nodded. But I didn’t believe him. Not a single word.

“Thanks, Batman.” I tried not to burst into tears at how helpless I felt.

No one could protect me, not from the Joker, no matter how much they wanted to.

“I’ll leave now, make sure he isn’t anywhere near your building.” He gave me a tight smile which I think was supposed to be comforting, but it came out as more of a grimace. Does he even have the required muscles for smiling?

He left out of the front door quickly, which was novel. I, for sure, thought he was going back out the window. Nevertheless, I locked the door after he left, and even locked the window again. Although I don’t think the Joker would be able to do the gymnastics required for Batman’s preferred entry point.

I felt so drained, physically, emotionally, mentally. I dragged my feet as I got into my bed. I immediately buried myself under the covers, not even bothering to change out of my clothes. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t anymore. I just felt numb to it all.

Maybe I was accepting that I couldn’t get away. The police, commissioner Gordon, and Batman. They could all try to protect me, but I don’t think they could, not from the Joker. How do you protect someone against the unpredictable tsunami that he is?

He has no limits; he doesn’t draw a line anywhere. If he wants something he’ll just take it. I barely stopped him from killing me tonight, and it had come out of nowhere.
One minute he is eating my pasta, the next he is trying to bury his knife in my throat.

But, if he had come any closer to me, I would have shot him. I have no questions in my mind; to protect myself I would kill him. But would a bullet even stop him?

He looked like a man, and he spoke like a man. But he acted like a monster, his disregard for human life was monstrous too. But maybe that’s the most terrifying thing about the Joker. Not that he is a monster, but that is undeniably human. As human as any one of us…

The next day at work, I was one hot mess.

I was walking around as stiff as a board, every nerve on high alert. Every noise made me tense up. If I suddenly relaxed, I might just fall apart. Every door shutting, every coffee maker squeal, every file dropping made my heart skip a beat.

My eyes were constantly darting around me, making sure no one was behind me. Every time I turned a corner, I held my breath, sure the Joker was about to jump out from behind, a fucking plant or something, to gut me like a fish.

George could tell I was on edge. I think Helen Keller would be able to tell I was on edge, but that’s beside the point.

“If you would feel better at home Anna.” He tried in the afternoon, but I shook my head.

“I feel better here.” Trying not to scream as someone slammed a door.

“If you’re sure, I’m meeting a client for lunch. Will you be, ok?” I nodded and waved as he left.

And I did feel better here, at home is where he had been. In my own fucking home. He couldn’t get me here though; this was my haven right now. And although I was tense, I was able to function, mostly.

At home I hadn’t slept a wink, constantly bolting upright every time there was a noise. By morning I felt more tired than when I had gotten into bed. Maybe I should have finished the whiskey…

But maybe as soon as the Joker showed up in my sitting room, I should have got the fuck out of dodge. A sane person would have run.

Let’s not kid ourselves that we’re sane. There are currently two residents in your head. Pretty sure sane people only have one.
Then leave.
Ok, little Miss Sassy Pants. Someone’s touchy.

I shook my head as if that would dislodge the voice as if she was a rock in my shoe. She was as annoying as one.

I tried to get on with the work George had given me. He wanted me to read over a proposal he was working on. I didn’t understand the science portion of it, but I checked his grammar and spelling.

For a smart guy, he didn’t use a lot of commas. Maybe because his mind is working so fast, no breaks on the brain bus. But that PhD should have schooled him on sentence structure.

“Anna?” I was taken out of my grammar Nazi parade as my name was called. Looking to the door I could see Richard looking my way.

“Oh, Richard, hi.” I smiled as he made his way into the room.
“Sorry, Mr. Taylor.” I corrected myself to be professional but he shook his head and pulled a face.

“Please keep calling me Richard, so few people do.” He smiled and I nodded back.

“Richard.” I smiled and then pointed to the laptop.
“I was just going over George’s new proposal.” I saved the work I had done so far and turned to my new visitor.

“I’m glad to hear he’s keeping you busy.” Richard smiled, but his face soon fell.
“I had a call from the commissioner this morning.” He trailed off, looking at me concerned.

Wait, when did I break the law... Was it recently? The statute of limitations! They Ain’t got nothing on me!

But Richard carried on as my mind raced.
“And he told me what happened last night. With the Joker.” He clarified as I must have looked confused.

“He called you?” I asked, wondering why he would inform Richard.

“He wanted to make sure our security was up to par to protect you.” Richard explained. He had dragged over a chair to sit and talk with me.

“Richard, I’m so sorry.” I put my head in my hands as I was taken over by embarrassment.
“This must all be such a bother to you. I can’t believe I’ve brought this to the office.” I mumbled through my hands.

“You’re… sorry?” Richard asked confused.
“Anna, I’m the one who must apologise.” I parted my fingers as I peeked out at Richard, huh? Bossman said what?

“If you hadn’t taken my place that day in the bank, the Joker wouldn’t have become obsessed with you. You would be living your life without fear. But because you risked your life to save me, it is still in danger. This is all due to me.” Richard wouldn’t meet my eyes as my hands slid off my face.

This conversation wasn’t going the way I imagined it would have. I wasn’t expecting an apology. I had thought he was going to fire me.

“Richard, none of this is your fault. You can’t help the actions of a madman, and I’ve never blamed you. I volunteered myself, you didn’t make me.” I put my hands over Richards which were clasped tightly. So tightly I could see the whites of his knuckles, but as I touched them, they began to relax.

“And in a weird way, it’s the best worst decision I ever made. If I had stayed in my old life, believe me, I would be up on some rooftop about to jump off. I was in a dead-end job that I despised. And you have given me this amazing opportunity, an incredible job that I’m so completely unqualified for. You’ve helped me get a home that isn’t infested with roaches and rats and god only knows what else. You’ve probably added 20 years to my expected life span.” I couldn’t believe the tears that welled in my eyes. But I pushed them back, I wasn’t about to become a blubbering mess in front of my boss’s boss.

But Richard was unconcerned with tears, as one ran down his wrinkled cheek. He clasped my hands in his as he tried to find the words. I waited patiently.

“But the Joker…” Was all he managed to say before his voice cracked and he looked back down to the floor.

“The Joker has picked the wrong girl to mess with. And I dealt with him last night, if he is dumb enough to try again, I’ll be ready and waiting. I have a gun; I know how to use it and I’m more than willing to use the Joker as target practice. I’m kind of a badass Richard.” I smiled when Richard looked up at me, giving me a weak laugh in return. I sounded way more confident than I felt.

“Now, your terrible son has left me alone for lunch. How about you eat with me instead?” I stood up bringing Richard with me.

“It seems like an offer I cannot refuse.” Richard said as I linked my arm through his.

“Of course not, you’re paying.” I nudged him with my shoulder and laughed as his smile became a little less forced.

“How about Italian?” Richard asked, but I shook my head vehemently.

“Absolutely not, no.” If I even look at spaghetti right now, I would cry. Although I laughed as I imagined taking Richard to Antonio’s.
“Anything but Italian food.”

Richard and I didn’t speak about the Joker again as we headed out to lunch. Instead, we spoke about George, and how he was progressing in his new role. He told me about his granddaughter, and how recently she was in trouble at school for slapping a boy who dared say unicorns weren’t real. I told him about my new apartment, even inviting him around for a tour one day. ­

We stayed out for a while, just chatting the lunch hour away. When I got back into the office, George was already typing away at his keyboard. He hardly noticed when I walked back in, lost in his science. I had only just opened the document back up to continue editing when George noticed my presence.

“Anna? How long have you been there?” George asked, scratching his head.

“Oh, me? Ages.” I lied, not wanting to admit to taking twice as long of a lunch break as I should have. George didn’t need to know that, ignorance is bliss, right?

“Sorry, Mr. Wayne emailed me asking to see one of my new projects. I just finished compiling the data and sending it. He asked about you...” He added mysteriously. I hummed at the mention of myself.

“And what did you say?” I asked, curiosity piqued slightly, but not enough to stop what I was doing.  

“I told him about your scare last night, but that you were ok.” George shrugged. I nodded, that didn’t sound too bad. I turned back around to carry on with work. But to my surprise, this conversation wasn’t over.

“Do you not want to know his reply?” George asked, rolling his chair over to my desk. Why did I feel like he wanted to gossip with me like 14-year-old girls at a sleepover?
I cut my eyes to him and then looked back to my laptop.

“Not particularly.” I mumbled, not really too interested in what his reply was.

“Any normal woman would want to know what an eligible billionaire said about them.” George was nudging his chair into mine, making it impossible to type.

Why are you not interested?!
Are you?
One of us has to be!

“When did I give you the impression that I was a normal woman?” Geroge looked slightly put out by my answer so I rolled my eyes and turned around to ask.

“So, what did Mr billionaire, eligible bachelor Bruce Wayne say about me?” I asked, mocking glee and excitement. George looked happier and was about to answer when another voice cut in.

“I haven’t said anything yet.” Both mine and George's eyes snapped to the door as Bruce stood there with a grin on his face. Pushing the door fully open as he stepped into the room.   

George wheeled his chair away from me, painfully slowly. Leaving me staring at Mr Wayne, alone.

“We were talking about another Bruce Wayne.” I tried, turning to my laptop to hide my red-hot cheeks. He probably thought my fake excitement was real, which was mortifying.

“You know many?” Bruce asked, a smile on his face as he walked further into the room.

“Like 5.” I lied, my eyes scanning the document but hardly registering anything.
“Very common name for billionaire bachelors.”

Bruce just nodded, a grin on his face knowing I was full of shit. He turned to George who was watching us from his desk with wide interested eyes. All he needed was some popcorn.

“I was wondering if I could steal your assistant for the last few hours of the afternoon?” Bruce asked, I looked at my watch and it was already half three, only three more hours until I would be leaving.
I was about to tell this to Bruce, tell him I still had work to do, and he should go stare at pigeons for a couple of hours. But George spoke for me.

“Of course!” He said too eagerly. I tried pointing to my laptop.

“I still have work—” I began but George interrupted me with a wave of his hand.

“It can wait until tomorrow.” I tried to give George a look. But he wasn’t watching me.

I was beginning to wonder if George batted for his own team as he stared dreamily at Bruce Wayne. But then I remembered him drooling over one of the female secretaries yesterday when she had smiled at him.

I think he exclusively fancies Bruce Wayne. The rest of the female population is fair game, except me of course. He is way too afraid of me.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Bruce.

“Apparently I would be delighted.” I shut my laptop and put it in my bag. I would work on this proposal tonight as I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping. I would probably be curled up under my bed with my gun, shoot any ankles that dared enter my room.

I quickly organised my desk for my early departure and let Bruce walk me out. I had no idea why he was even here.

“So, what are we doing?” I asked as we entered the elevator, gathering some curious glances.

“I heard what happened.” Bruce wasn’t looking at me but looking straight ahead at the elevator doors. “With… you know.”

“You shouldn’t stick to a strict schedule, leave at odd hours so no one can predict your next move. Take different routes. And, I thought you might like someone to walk you home, make sure nothing happened to you.” He offered with his signature smile.

“Are you going to protect me?” I asked with a smirk.

“I know some moves.” He defended, smiling as we stepped off the elevator. The lobby was still as busy as ever. People moved in all directions, although some stopped to look at Mr Wayne. They were so obvious about it that I was embarrassed for him.

“Is it like this everywhere you go?” I asked as we had to sidestep another star-struck intern who became rooted to the spot.

“The people?” He asked as he re-joined my side and I snorted. What else would I be talking about?

“I’m used to it.” He said simply, shrugging.

“How annoying.” I grimaced at the thought of everyone watching me. It would drive me insane. I only had one stalker, thank you very much. Although he was a real persistent son of a bitch and was way too carefree with a switchblade in his hand.

Bruce led me to a car and I gave him a look.
“I thought you were walking me home?” And it was Bruce’s turn to grimace.

“I don’t walk.” But his face soon gave way to a smile. He opened the door for me, and I took my seat with a roll of my eyes.

“I remember the last car ride.” I reminded him, half warning. He just laughed as he got in his seat.

“It’s like you think I’m a bad driver.” Bruce said as I strapped myself in. If there was a second or third belt you could bet your sweet ass, I would have strapped them too.
I was about to confirm that he was a bad driver when he suddenly shot off into the roads.

“Fuck!” I yelled, half scared but half exhilarated. I soon laughed.
“You’re insane!” I yelled over the loud hum of the engine.

Bruce didn’t reply but grinned as he sped off to my apartment. Soon the joyride was over at the sheer speed he drove. I took a couple of seconds to take a deep breath. I had never been driven that fast before.

“My comment from last time still stands. The roads of Gotham are not an F1 track.” I laughed as I unbuckled myself.
“But thank you for the ride home.” I opened my car when Bruce also got out.

I glanced at him curiously as he followed me to the door. Had he just invited himself up to my place? I hope he wasn’t hoping to get lucky. Because no way. You have to buy me dinner first. Or at least drinks. Or at least, something. I hesitated at the door.

“Bruce, would you like to come up?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, I shouldn’t.” I was about to agree and send him off home when he walked past me and through the door.

I shook my head as I followed him. He is either oblivious to social cues or he purposely ignores them. I walked to the stairs as he stood in front of the elevator, he looked at it and then back to me.

“Is it faulty?” He asked, gesturing to the perfectly fine elevator.

“Incredibly.” I lied, already making my way up the stairs. He nodded and followed me, throwing me a dirty look when the ding sounded, elevator doors dinging open to no one. I just smiled and kept going up.

“Work them gluts Bruce.” I teased as his giraffe legs caught up with me. When we came to my hallway, I could see a man crouched in front of my door. He was using tools to try and get into my apartment!

I slammed my purse into Bruce’s arms for him to hold. I could hear the laptop knocking the breath out of him.

“Hey, motherfucker!” I yelled, storming to my apartment door. The guy looked up and nearly fell over when he could see I was heading for him.

“What in the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” I continued, my one-woman army heading straight for him.

You are breaking into the wrong girl's apartment buddy. I was about to launch myself at him when a strong hand encircled my arm. I looked back and it was Bruce holding onto me. His other hand rubbed his chest.

“He’s a locksmith.” Bruce explained coughing a little. I looked at him and then at the man cowering in front of me. Only then did I see his uniform and bag that clearly said ‘Key and Locksmiths’.

Oh.
You dumb fucker.
Oh, oh, oh.

I stepped back quickly.

“I’m so sorry!” I apologised. Even hiding behind Bruce and grabbing my bag off his arm, even though it looked fetching on him. The locksmith looked between us and hesitantly back at the lock. After some checks and looking back at the crazy woman who nearly assaulted him, he stood up.

“That should do it, Mr Wayne.” He picked up his tools and I rounded on Bruce.

“You called him?” I questioned, and Bruce nodded. As if it was normal to call professionals for other people without asking them.

“You need adequate protection.” He shrugged and shook the locksmith's hand.
“You can bill that to Wayne Enterprise. Add a generous tip for your trouble.” The man nodded and skirted around me, giving me a wide berth.

“I can pay for my own locks.” I put my hand on my hip and narrowed my eyes at Bruce. Feeling my inner feminist rear her head.

He smirked as he handed me a copy of the receipt. I took it from him, feeling proud of myself for being able to pay my bills. But when I saw the amount of money he paid for a hunk of metal, I quickly shut up.

My inner feminist is not as powerful as my inner thrifter. She silences my inner Pankhurst with her tight purse strings.

“What a lovely gift.” I commented handing him back the receipt. He laughed as he took it back from me and put it in his inside pocket. But turning the door was closed, and I guess my old key won’t do a whole lot of good.

“Please tell me he left me a set of keys.” I didn’t want to chase the poor man down, he might cry. Bruce fished out a keyring from his pocket and handed me a single key.

“What I only get one key for my door?” I asked, seeing he had two more in his hand.

“One for you, one for me and one for Richard.” He put the keys back in his pocket.

I raised an eyebrow at him.
“And why do you need a key?” I asked.

“In case you lose yours.” He shrugged but I kept on at him.

“Then I’ll get it from Richard.” I reasoned, a hand back on my hip.

“I did pay for it.” He argued.

“Touché.” I conceded.

“What’s so great about this lock?” I asked turning once more to the door. I wanted my bunny slippers on my feet, pronto.

“Well, you use your key.” He took the key out of my hand and slid it into the lock. Pretty standard so far. And then a small tray extended out, giving me a slight shock.

“And then press your finger against the pad.” He instructed, I tentatively did, wondering how the hell Bruce got my fingerprint to put it in here.
A small beep came from the lock, as the fingerprint retracted itself back and the lock clicked open.

My door slightly opened, and I pushed it the rest of the way.
“Easy as that.” He smiled as he followed me in.

“So you need a key and my fingerprint?” I clarified, already slipping my high heels off to put into my comfy slippers. They nearly squealed in delight at the comfort. If feet could…squeal.

Bruce looked at my footwear with a slight chuckle before he looked up to my face.
“Yes, I programmed yours, mine and Richard's fingerprints into the system. We’re the only ones who can open that door.” He smiled again as he looked back at my slippers.

“You want a pair?” I asked him as I made the bunny ears flip back and forth.

“Definitely.” He answered sarcastically, making his way over to my table.

“I’ll get you a pair for your birthday, you wouldn’t be able to afford them.” I teased. He laughed as he took a seat.

“You want a drink?” I asked him.
“You can have tea or coffee?” I offered, he was thinking it over when I made my way to the fridge and took out the already mostly drunk whiskey.

“Something stronger?” I shook the bottle a little at him, but he declined the whiskey. Instead asking for a coffee. I kept the whiskey out for me though, I’m not teetotal.

When he looked questioningly at the mostly empty bottle, I felt a little embarrassed at how much I had drunk of it.

“I had friends over.” I said lamely as I stirred two coffees.

“I didn’t know you had friends.” Bruce laughed when I turned around with a glare.

“I don’t.” I agreed but then corrected myself.
“Well, I do have Claire.” I put a coffee in front of Bruce and sat down with my own, pouring a generous helping of whiskey into mine.

Bruce slipped his mug toward me.
“I’ll have a little of that then if you are, I’ll Uber home.” I smiled as I poured a shot into his coffee. Liking the way, he cracked under slight peer pressure.

“What the hell is Uber?” I asked, confused at the word.

“Who is Claire?” He asked instead of answering. It must be too complicated.

“We used to be co-workers at Antonio’s. Before, everything.” I took a sip of my whiskey coffee and smiled at the bitter taste.

It didn’t taste great, but it made me feel better. I could see Bruce grimace as he tried his own, but he politely kept sipping at it.

“Have you seen her since… the incident?” Bruce asked, I was happy he didn’t mention the elephant in the room. I felt like saying his name would just summon him like an overly eager demon.

“Yes, well very briefly, just been a little crazy over here.” I shrugged and thinking about it, I should call Claire.

“You should call her.” Bruce said, echoing my thoughts.
“Have good people around you.”

“I don’t know how much help she would be if anything happened.” I laughed, thinking of just how loudly Claire would scream if she saw the Joker. I would guess she would shatter all glass within a 5-mile radius. Like an OP (overpowered) opera singer.

“Just for company then?” He suggested, and I nodded my head.

“I’ll call her later.” I gulped my mixed drink and finished it in one. Feeling the burn of whiskey and hot coffee fill my body. Chasing away the chill.

Bruce grimaced again as he took another sip. I thought about finishing his off for him but decided against it. Enjoying his squirming.

“Have you got any plans for tonight?” He asked.

“I planned to work.” I laughed, thinking about the laptop that was waiting for me in the bag. I hoped I hadn’t broken it when I shoved my bag into Bruce’s chest. How hard is Bruce’s chest? How durable are laptops anyway?

Because I’m going to need something that can take a beating. Like a ‘throw it out of a tenth-story window and it still works perfectly fine’ kind of durable. I’ve been known to throw items out of windows before when they annoy me. I have a short fuse and a good throwing arm.

Bruce shrugged and smiled.
“We could go out for a bite to eat?” He suggested, finishing off his drink with a final turn of his lip.

He pushed it away from him and I held in my laugh. But then I had a eureka moment.

“We could invite Claire.” I grabbed my phone and scrolled for her number. I didn’t have to scroll very far; I don’t have many numbers…

“Sure, I would love to meet her.” Bruce smiled but I grinned back at him.

“She’s an… acquired taste.” I warned him as the ring began. I didn’t have to wait very long until her chirpy voice sounded on the other end of the phone.

“ANNA! YOU FINALLY CALLED ME!”

Chapter Seventeen
Is it a Pigeon? 

Claire didn’t need much convincing to come out for a free meal. Courtesy of Bruce, of course.
Despite her slight fangirling when we pulled up to her flat, and again in the car, and again in the restaurant, it was a really fun time.

She calmed down enough to not creep Bruce out too much and we had a nice catch-up in between her moony glances at him.

I had hardly any time to worry about clowns in my flat between all the laughing, taste-testing wine and generally nice conversation. Claire told us about Antonio and how the fight ended between him and his brother. Rosa won, by knocking them both unconscious with her ladle of justice.  

Bruce made us laugh by telling us how he fell asleep in his meeting today, twice. I didn’t have any funny anecdotes unless the Joker chasing me with a switchblade was my new comedy material.
But it was nice, so nice in fact, Bruce and Claire even exchanged numbers at the end of the night.

Bruce dropped Claire off first after our dinner, much to her disappointment. I think she wanted to do more than text Mr Bruce Wayne tonight.

“Claire Wayne.” I thought aloud as we zoomed through the empty streets of Gotham.
“She sounds like an old western bank robber. Which I guess is what she’ll do to you.” I laughed at his face when I said that but shook my head.

“No, she’s a nice girl. Don’t hurt her, or I will hunt you down and chop your dick off.” I said it seriously and Bruce laughed nervously.

“I have no intention to hurt your friend. And if I did, I’m too scared to now.” He shot me a side glance as we pulled up to my flat. He laughed, but it was no joke.
He gestured to my building.
“Do you want me to walk you up?” He offered.

“No, but thank you, for dinner, for the lock, for everything. I don’t think I have to worry about any more unwanted visitors. Praying to whatever God’s there may be.” I smiled as I opened the door and got out, waving as Bruce pulled away.

Unfortunately for George, I had lost all interest in finishing my work. Socialising tired me out, which explains why I don’t do it too often, or really at all.

I quickly showered and put myself to bed, opting for an early night. I was tipsy after shots with Claire, so I couldn’t bring myself to care too much about the Joker.

And anyway, my new lock made me feel very safe, I don’t think the Joker is enough of a technology wizard to crack it. I hoped he wasn’t at least. But if he was… I did need help setting up the Wiffy.

It’s Wi-Fi, you dinosaur.
That’s what I said, isn’t it?
Talking to you about technology is painful.

But never the less I did keep my gun under my bed, close by if I needed it. You know, just in case my new lock was more for show than durability. But for that price it better keep out a rampaging herd of elephants. I didn’t want my gun under my pillow though, for two reasons.

First of all, if it exploded it was game over for me, my skull and brains would be all over the walls. Try to re-sell with that kind of staining. And second of all, it was a real princess and the pea situation for me. I could just feel it there.

So, under the bed, it went. The handle poked out if I needed to grab it, it was to hand. I just hoped I wouldn’t need it. I hope it gathers layers of dust from inactivity.

I fell asleep easily, my mind free from any worry other than Claire turning into Bruce Wayne’s new stalker. And me having to tell her, Claire it is weird to go through his trash.

The girl could go a little overboard with her interest, her apartment being a prime example, unicorns EVERYWHERE.

She even has a toilet seat with a unicorn on it, I don’t even think you can buy them. I hope she made it herself, if she paid someone to custom make that for her, I was going to slap her.  

Halfway through the night I was tossing and turning from my unicorn nightmare. They were chasing me with those goddamn long horns trying to skewer me like a kebab. It’s like a jacked-up albino horse fucked a swordfish and voila! Freaks of nature were born. And they were chasing my ass!

So, when a noise sounded from outside, I bolted upright in half a second flat. I looked out the window, waiting for something. Maybe a unicorn. But nothing or, no one appeared. No unicorns, no Joker, no Joker riding a unicorn. That’s a weird image in my head.

But at the window, it was just the darkness. That was odd, I was sure I heard something. But I turned over and dragged the covers back over me, trying to stop the shiver going up and down my spine.

Paranoid much?
You didn’t hear that?
I heard it, but I’m not crazy.
Highly debatable. We are having a conversation.

It was probably some pigeon flying into a window.
Can you blame me for being skittish?
No, but we also need to sleep. Calm the crazy down a few notches and sleep.
My ‘paranoia’ is what has kept us alive for so long.
And every second is torture.

I snuggled further into the covers, nearly covering my entire upper body with the blankets on top of me. I was right--
I was right.
-- It was nothing. I was up on the fourth floor; the Joker couldn’t climb up here.

I tried to tell myself that, but all the noises I could hear were the Joker. A creak in the kitchen, water rushing through the pipes in the bathroom, and the window sliding open.

Wait, what? The window? I stopped to listen, not even daring to breath. And that was the window sliding in its frame. Suddenly there were more sounds after that. The click as it tapped the frame, the rustle of fabric, two shoes landing on the carpet.

I bolted upright from the bed and turned to my window, praying it was nothing. That I was going crazy and I would be met by empty space, just my window being a window. Nothing that shouldn’t be there was there, and my overly paranoid brain was making up noises to scare me. Fuck I would even take a unicorn.

But I couldn’t be more wrong, standing in front of my window was The Joker. He had a grin across his face as he looked at me.

“Miss me?” He rumbled.

My body was released from the shock that momentarily froze me. I flung the covers back, trying to get myself out of bed. Get that fucking gun and shoot. But my legs got trapped in the sheets as I furiously kicked to get myself free.

Fuck you Egyptian cotton! You have betrayed me! You and your high thread count are not loyal!

When I finally managed to kick my feet free out of the sheets, I had taken too long. I already felt his hand brushing through my hair, then with a tug he grabbed a handful and pulled my head back.

I fell back against the bed and he pinned me down almost immediately. His hips were on mine, and he had one hand on each of my wrists, holding them down so I couldn’t punch him in his stupid face.

“I did say I would, ah, be back.” He smiled down on me and even though I couldn’t use my hands to hit him, my legs were still fully free.

I brought up my knee, jabbing it hard into the Joker's back, he was slightly surprised, and I managed to tear my left wrist from his grip when he turned to my legs. I reached down and grabbed the handle of the gun. When the Joker turned back around, I brought up the gun and shoved the barrel against his forehead.

“And I said, I would be ready.” I clicked off the safety and when I did, his grin only widened as the click resonated in the silence of the room.

“It seems that we were at an impasse.” Joker giggled, pushing his forehead against the gun.

I gritted my teeth, resisting the urge to just pull the damn trigger. It was at an odd angle in my left hand, I was right-handed so the gun was unsteady in my hand.

“Not my fault you’re too dumb to heed an obvious threat.” I shot back at him. I might be in a physically less-than-ideal position, but I also hold the gun.  

That is until Joker ducked quickly under the gun and without thinking twice, I pulled the trigger, startled by his fast movement. We both stared at the smoking barrel until his eyes went to me.

“You were going to shoot me?” He asked, sounding more surprised than I was.

“I guess so.” He recovered quicker than I did, snapping my wrist back making me cry out and drop the gun.

“Fuck!” I cursed loudly as it hit the ground with a clatter. Ok, now I was in a terrible position on all fronts. The Joker laughed as he had control over both my wrists again. And no gun pointed at his head.

I thought about kneeing him again just to hurt him, and as if he could read my mind the Joker began to speak.

“Any more knees in my spine, and I’ll have to tie you up.” He licked his lips as he said this, and I resisted the urge to kick the shit out of him. I didn’t want to be tied up.

At least this way his hands were as trapped as mine, if he wanted to use one hand, my wrist would be free to punch him.

“How did you even get in here?” I asked him, trying not to wiggle too much under the madman, it might be his kink.

“Through the window.” He said it so matter-of-factly, as if I was an idiot for asking.

“It’s a sheer wall, how the hell did you climb up?” I was genuinely interested, so I could cut off his entry point for next time, I just hoped I was alive for the next time.

“I used your upstairs neighbour's window and climbed down.” He shrugged.

“My neighbour? I assume he’s dead?” I asked, already knowing the most probable answer.

“Were you two close?” He teased with a frown.

“I didn’t know him.” I admitted.

“And now you never will.” He grinned when I sighed at him.

“Look. What do you want Joker?” I asked, already sick of this interaction between us.

“I didn’t like how we left things last time; thought I would drop by. Nice new lock, by the way. Who are you trying to keep out?” He giggled at his little joke.

“Not my idea, it was a gift from a friend. Personally, I love these late-night chats we have, where I may or may not be murdered.” I told him sarcastically; he smiled down at me.

“I wouldn’t murder you, you’re too much fun.” He cocked his head to the side when I rolled my eyes.

“You were pretty convincing last night.” Just thinking about it made my adrenaline spike again.

“You know, I just can’t get you out of my mind—" He looked suddenly distracted when he looked down at me. His eyebrows knitted together as I followed his gaze.

“How did you get that?” He was looking at my stomach and I hadn’t realised but my top had ridden up a little, showing the long, wide, silver scar that ran across my stomach. He cocked his head to the side as he examined it.

“Did I do that?” He asked with a chuckle.

“None of your damn business.” I tried in vain to free myself, or at least hoping my top would magically fall back down. Bucking my hips until I felt the tip of a knife in my side. Not cutting into my skin, but enough pressure so I knew it was there.

I stopped immediately. I hadn’t even realised he had pulled one out, or that both my wrists were now in one of his hands.

“Unless you want another scar to join it, tell me the story, Anna.” The Joker leaned down closer to me, his breath dancing across my cheek. I narrowed my eyes and I didn’t for one second doubt his threat was empty, especially with his knife in my side. I considered lying but nothing would come to my mind, only the truth.

“I had an emergency C-section.” I mumbled.

“A c-section? But I don’t see any baby.” As if to double-check, he scanned the room again. Did he think he missed a cradle and screaming baby?

“She died a few days after I had given birth, trauma during pregnancy.” I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as I thought about the worst time of my life. But the Joker didn’t seem to care. He only wanted a story.

“Where’s the baby daddy?” He asked, seemingly interested in my life history.

“In prison where he belongs.” The Joker mocked and gasped. I gritted my teeth, my hands already balling into fists wanting to punch him.

“The plot thickens. Why is the love of your life locked up?” He continued, I wanted to punch him. I really did.

“That generally happens when you beat the mother of your child nearly to death.” I quickly added. “And he isn’t the love of my life, he’s the worst mistake of my life. I hope he dies slowly and in the most painful way imaginable.”  The Joker was for once silent, and it was disconcerting.

I looked up and his gaze was burning into me with a look I couldn’t place. But the moment was gone when he looked away.

“Want to know how I got my scars?” He asked a smile back on his face. The knife pressing deeper into my side

“No.” I answered honestly because I didn’t want to know.

The Joker looked a little taken aback but laughed out loud. Finally removing the knife.
I took his little laughing fit to look at him, he looked the same as last time.

His green hair hung in messy stands around his face as he looked down at me. His make-up still applied chaotically, staining his hands as he held my wrists down.

“Where was I?” My attention snapped back to his face as he spoke again, all his laughing gone.
“Oh, I remember. I don’t know whether to murder you or whisk you away and keep you in a cage as my new pet.” He looked thoughtful.

“A cage?!” I yelled.
That’s the part that outrages you?! Priorities!

The Joker carried on as if I hadn’t spoken.
“I can’t stop thinking about you. No matter how many bombs I set off or people I murdered, you’re always in my head. It’s distracting me, it’s annoying me, it’s driving me crazy!” He giggled and gripped my wrists tighter.

“Maybe I’ll just take you now and decide what to do later.” He leaned closer to my face again. In the silence that followed, I could hear the faint sound of sirens.
The Joker heard it too when his eyes snapped to my window.

I took his moment of distraction and head-butted him, not letting him recover I bucked my hips and we both toppled off the bed. I immediately scrambled away from the bed, my back hitting the wall. I was breathing heavily as the Joker held the side of his head.

“You got a head filled with lead or something?” He asked, grinning as he rubbed his temple. The sirens were getting closer as the Joker stood and backed out the door.

“I’ll have to take a rain check on our little, date.” He chuckled and turned quickly.

I could hear his feet running to the door. Too late I remembered my gun, even though I heard the front door slam open I grabbed it. Feeling calmer with it back in my hand.

I waited until the sirens were right outside until I moved again. Using the wall for support I got up onto shaking feet.

“Anna?! Anna!” I could hear my name being called and Officer Brooke ran into my room. He let out a breath when he could see I was still in one piece. He had been holding onto his gun, but he quickly holstered it. A few more officers ran into my room.

“He is long gone, but nice hustle.” I joked; Officer Brooke sent the other officers to look for the Joker while he stayed with me.

“He was here?” He asked gently, he didn’t need to say who, we both knew.

I nodded going over to the window, shoving my gun back into my waistband. I slammed it shut and began digging through some drawers until I found what I wanted. A pack of nails and a hammer.

“I came as soon as I heard your address over the radio. They said a gunshot was heard and when I knew it was from here… Are you ok?” Brooke asked me, I hummed as I began to hammer nails into the frame. One after the other until the pack was empty.

“I’m alive.” I said as I hammered the last nail in. Get in now you son of a bitch.

“Anna?” There was another voice now, as I turned Batman was in the doorway. He looked at the door, completely off its hinges from the Joker’s last visit. I hadn’t had the chance to fix it.

“Batman.” Officer Brooke nodded at Batman as I put the hammer down, although it felt good holding it. If I had when the Joker was here, it might have gone a little differently.

“What happened?” Batman asked, his eyes going from me to Brooke. Not sure which one of us would tell him.

“I had another visit from our friendly neighbourhood psycho.” I answered sarcastically, folding my arms across my chest. Trying to rub some warmth back into my arms.

“Can you walk me through what happened?” Batman asked, and I wanted the shove all the police and Batman out of my flat and go to bed, but I guess that wasn’t on the cards.

“He came in through the window. Pinned me before I could reach my gun.” I hesitated not wanting to give them a play-by-play of our actual conversation, so I skipped over that part.

“I managed to headbutt him and knock him off. He ran when he heard the sirens.” I shrugged as if I hadn’t nearly been killed, again.

Except this time, he hadn’t run after me, but his knife had been pushed into my side.
Both Officer Brooke and Batman nodded as I recounted the bullet points of what had just happened.

“We should secure the window.” Batman had walked past me to the window.

“Already taken care of.” I replied.

“I can see that,” I could hear a smirk in his voice as he looked at my security DIY.

“I don’t think you’ll get your security deposit back.” He said, and I barked a short laugh in surprise at the Batman’s joke. But then I remembered how he got to the window, so I turned to Officer Brooke.

“I think my upstairs neighbour is dead, someone might want to go check that out.” I told him, he looked surprised but nodded and left my room.

Then it was just Batman and I, in my room. It was weird.
Just as I was wondering whether Batman slept in the suit or kept just the mask on. I felt a gloved hand on my shoulder.

“Do you have anyone you can stay with?” He asked, and I tried not to sound too bitter when I responded.

“No.” Claire did pop into my head. But being surrounded by all those unicorns might just drive me to insanity. More so than I was right now. Then I really would be the Joker's ideal woman, just as Coco pops crazy as he was.
No, thank you. I also didn’t want to put her in any danger.

“I’ll let Gordon know, we’ll have an officer with you at all times.” He squeezed my shoulder as I nodded. I didn’t want a babysitter, but maybe it was for the best. Maybe it would keep the Joker at bay, for a while anyway.

“Sure.” I agreed. “Sounds awesome.”

“I can make sure it’s Officer Thomas again if that makes you feel more comfortable?” Batman asked, I felt bad for the way I had brushed off the kind officer before. He had been nothing but nice and I had been sarcastic and catty with him.

“I would like that.” I answered, brushing a hand through my hair. He nodded and left the room without another word. I could still hear the police in the next room, but I was exhausted.

With the sound of them all still milling about, talking and organising themselves. I crawled back into my bed. Maybe when I wake up this will all have been a very realistic nightmare. Maybe my life could go back to Unicorns being the scariest thing my subconscious mind could think of. And not the clown stalking reality.

I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but knowing my apartment was being protected by the boys in blue right now. I fell asleep instantly, exhausted. I just hoped tomorrow would bring better things.

Or at the very least. Not such crappy things.

Chapter Eighteen
A date with Destiny Disney 

“Don’t worry about coming in Anna.” George had called me this morning just before I was about to get ready for work. I had fully intended on going in and pretending nothing had happened.

Just shove down all the emotional trauma so it can fester quietly as a mental illness.

But apparently, word had got back to George.

“I’m fine—” I tried but George wasn’t having any of it.

“No, no. I can handle it today. I have no need for you.” There was a stutter before he amended his previous statement.
“N-not that I don’t need you. I d-do. Just not… today. Just rest.” He finished with a sigh and I couldn’t help the small smile that crept up to my lips.

“If you’re sure—” I began again, once more cut off. Was this boy ever going to let me finish a sentence?

“I’m sure! Stay safe.” He sounded adamant. So, I let him win. I didn’t have the energy to argue my case with him.

As we said goodbye I could hear a knock at my door. I thought about not answering it, but they began to knock insistently, and then I could hear a rhythm in the knocking. An upbeat knocking, which gave away who it was instantly.

I was still in my pyjamas and opened the door to Claire.
She came into the apartment without being invited in and had brought an overflowing bag with her.

“I came as fast as I could.” She turned to me with a soft frown. Taking my face into her hands and squeezing.
“Are you so traumatised that you can’t speak?” She looked as if she was about to cry so I slapped her hands away playfully.

“You didn’t give me a chance to. I’m fine.” I went into the kitchen and turned the kettle on.
“Tea or coffee?” I asked her.

“Can I have a hot chocolate?” I turned to her with a sigh. She was such a child, but I actually did have hot chocolate, so I took it down from the shelf.

An excited squeal escaped from her when she saw the container. I smiled despite the situation. I don’t know how Claire knew, or who called her. But I was happy she was here.
I turned around while the kettle boiled and eyed her bag suspiciously.  

“You planning to move in?” I asked, nodding to her practical suitcase.

“I only brought essentials.” She defended herself, proceeding to empty the bag on my kitchen counter.

“I brought every single Disney movie I own, which is all of them. I brought some wine, and yes, I know you like whiskey but I bought wine. I also brought some tissues; in case you cry. Some snacks for us, chocolate, chips, dips, and popcorn you know a balanced diet. And I also brought you something very special.” She brought out the final item, which was a raggedy bunny with one ear missing. She presented it to me like a priceless jewel.

“Did you make it?” I asked her.

“No silly. It’s Miss Thumper.” She told me as if I was dense for not knowing.

“Oh right…” I took it from her but didn’t quite know what to do with it.

“It’s my bunny from when I was little. You can hold her and get her good vibes. And if that doesn’t work, I brought crystals!” Oh god, there was more, she brought a bag full of rocks.

“This is rose quartz, and this is Amber, and this is—” I interrupted her before she could list off every single shiny rock she owned.

“This is great. Thank you, Claire.” I thanked her sincerely, the items she brought were… interesting.

I didn’t love Disney, I don’t drink wine, I don’t cry in front of other people, I hate crystals and this bunny is unnerving. But the effort and thought that went into everything was enough to nearly make me break my no-crying rule… Almost.

“It is what friends are for.” She smiled at me and I went around the counter to hug her. Something I didn’t do often. She was slightly surprised too since I have only hugged her a handful of times, and usually only after someone died.

She grabbed onto me tightly like a baby chimp hanging onto the mother. But I let her. It wasn’t entirely terrible for someone to hug you that tightly, sure I liked air. But you know. Priorities.

The kettle boiled, and I extracted myself to make the hot drinks, just as I did there was a knock at the door. Claire leapt off the chair.

“I’ll answer it!” She declared, skipping to the door.

“Look through the peephole!” I shouted after her, for the love of all things holy, look through the damn peephole. She walked back cheerily with the JOKER! Just kidding it was Officer Brooke.

“I can let the police in, right?” She asked, only now eying Thomas with suspicion. I sighed and got a mug for Thomas.

“Can I interest you in a coffee or tea Officer Thomas?” I handed Claire her hot chocolate and he looked over at her.

“I wouldn’t say no to a hot chocolate.” He eyed Claire with a slight shade of envy.
I rolled my eyes but complied, he’s protecting my ass, if he wants hot chocolate, he can have one. At least he isn’t interested in watching Disney—

“My little girls love Tangled!” He picked up the DVD and smiled at the cover.

“OMG me too!” Claire beamed at Thomas. I handed the strong, alpha, male, police officer his hot coco as he gushed over how great Rapunzel was.

I leaned back against the counter and watched them, trying to not be as bitter as my coffee. Only tuning in now and then to their conversation. It was about Disney and Pixar, princesses and princes. Maybe it would have been better if the Joker did kill me last night.
Or did he kill me, and is this my hell?

“Anna? Are you even listening?” I heard Claire say as I was wondering what would be in my hell.

I’ll probably be there.
Bitch I know that.

“I’m totally listening.” I lied.

“So, have you seen UP or not?” Claire asked holding up the DVD case. I didn’t recognise the cover, so I shook my head. Earning gasps from Claire and Thomas.

“You need to watch UP.” Thomas told me. He looked as if I told him I eat tiny cute bunnies as a snack.

“How have you not seen this?!” Claire was outraged.
“Carl and Ellie are relationship goals!” She hugged the DVD tight against her chest next to her heart.

“I think we should start with UP.” Thomas told Claire and she nodded her head fiercely. Can I request a different police officer? Anyone else? I’ll even take Batman.
With hot cocoa still in their hands, they both guided me to the sofa.

That’s how we spent the remainder of the day, Claire cried her eyes out multiple times. And I did cry at UP, come on, I’m not a monster.

Carl and Ellie are SO relationship goals.
I don’t know what that means.
Neither do I, I just have a lot of feelings right now, and Claire said it before.

Officer Thomas managed to keep his composure, barely. Although his eyes did water a couple of times. My phone buzzed just as Brave was finishing.

Bruce Wayne: I hope you are having a nice relaxing day…
Anna: Did you call Claire? I bet you did. How did you even know?
Bruce Wayne: I might have. She said she would help keep your mind occupied. Have a girly day with you. Did it work?

Anna: I have been watching Disney for the past 9 HOURS!
Bruce Wayne: I thought all girls liked Disney?
Anna: And I do. BUT NINE HOURS OF IT?!
Bruce Wayne: Disney has some lovely movies, I’ve been told.

Anna: Oh please, join in my own personal hell.
Bruce Wayne: Very busy… talk later.
Anna: Coward.

I put my phone away as the film ended and everyone was very happy. Thankfully no one was singing in this one. I liked Brave, I could relate to the single independent Merida, she doesn’t need a man and neither do I. Unless he is called Johnny Depp and he brings me chocolate and a puppy.
Which is just the dream, isn’t it?

The few times I had dared to go to the bathroom, Thomas had followed me and stayed outside, only after checking inside the room, of course. How did he know the Joker was hiding in my bathtub!? I rolled my eyes each time he did it.

I know it was for my protection, but the only window into the bathroom was tiny, and I don’t think the Joker's bodacious hips would squeeze through, I know my ass would defiantly get stuck in there.

Even Claire would get stuck and she was tiny. She had the hips of a small boy. Just up and down like a rake. A very pretty rake though, the prettiest rake in the Garden.  

So, the constant checking was a little over the top, but I let him do it. It was his job. And even though we hadn’t discussed it, I think he felt guilty for not checking my flat as thoroughly as he maybe could have last time.

I still hadn’t figured out where the Joker had been hiding that time. But I think Officer Thomas was overcompensating for it now. Especially as he would leave for a few minutes as he checked the flat, multiple times. Not even after a noise, just spontaneously.

Claire didn’t notice, she was engrossed in the movies. I’m pretty sure she had seen them all 40 times over, but she looked as if it was her first time watching. Laughing along with the jokes, gasping at all the twists and crying at the emotional parts.

Oh, there he goes again.
He sure does.

Officer Thomas got up again, going first to my room and I could hear his heavy footsteps going all over my room, even inside my closet. I could hear the doors closing and I let him do his thing.

Claire went over to her Disney film pile to choose her next movie. She held up three for me to pick from. Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White. Ok well, I had seen all these; I did have a childhood.

Before I could pick one, which would have been Beauty and the Beast. A loud noise came from the hallway. Claire and I both froze as we listened.

“Officer Brooke!” Claire yelled as she scrambled back up onto the couch, diving under the cover she had claimed. He jogged back into the room and Claire pointed frantically to the hallway.

“We heard a noise!” She told him, eyes wide. Good thing to know she does REALLY well under pressure.

“It was probably nothing.” I told him as I rubbed Claire's back. She had latched onto my arm like a leech, again, a very pretty leech.

“I’ll go and check it out. Make sure it was nothing.” He made his way to the door and I gestured to the TV.

“Claire, why don’t you pick what we watch?” I suggested, using her love of Disney to distract her.

“Oh! Yeah, fun!” She agreed, unlatching from my arm and sitting cross-legged as she went to choose a DVD. As if she hadn’t been picking them all day. Ruling over my DVD player like a power-hungry tyrant. She was fretting, trying to choose between The Little Mermaid and Big Hero 6.

My eyes went back to my door, shouldn’t Thomas be back by now? He was taking a long time to just check the hallway.

Maybe he left this Disney Fest?
Are you kidding? He was having the time of his life. Did you not see him singing along?
I thought he was praying for an end to his pain.
No, that was just us.

But as I was beginning to get worried, a knock came at the door. I got up before Claire could offer.

“I’ll get it.” I smiled at her as I made my way to let Officer Brooke back in. I was being paranoid now, maybe I should uncork that wine to calm down.

We hate wine.
But we love alcohol.
True…

I got to the door and nearly skipped the peephole, but a nagging part of me--
I don’t nag!
That’s your main pleasure in life.

A nagging part of me told me to look. But sure enough, I could see Thomas’s police hat and his uniform. I couldn’t see his face though… maybe he was looking at his phone. But I still didn’t open the door.

“Thomas?” I called, but he still didn’t look up. Surely, he would know I would be looking through the peephole, making sure it was him. He had drilled that into me earlier today.

Unless.
Unless it wasn’t Thomas…

Chapter Nineteen
You break it, you bought it

“Thomas?” I called again, a little more desperate.

“Everything alright?” I heard Claire ask from across the room. I turned around and smiled at her. The best fake smile I could muster.

“Of course.” Turning back to the door I lowered my voice, enough so he could hear me, but Claire couldn’t.
“Officer Brooke, if you don’t look up, I’m not letting you in.”

I heard a chuckle from the other side of the doorway and instantly tensed up, I knew that laugh. Everyone in Gotham knew that laugh.

The hat was thrown off to the side and green hair tumbled out. The terrifying visage that haunted my nightmares appeared.

“Hello, doll.” The Joker smiled, his cheeks stretching out his Cheshire cat smile.

I gasped as I fell away from the door. Landing hard on my ass, I kept shuffling back, desperate to put distance between us.

“Anna? What the heck?” Claire rushed over and helped me to my feet. Before I could explain anything to her, a gunshot was fired into the door. Another rang out and I heard it ding off the metal of my new lock.

Does he know how much that cost?!
So not the issue right now!
You know our first thought was the money!

Claire screamed when the first gunshot was fired and was sobbing as more followed suit. I grabbed a hold of her hand and dragged her behind me. Running for my bedroom as the door began to splinter under the Joker's assault on it.  

I sprinted to the window, hoping we were above something, anything that could break our fall. A garbage skip, a pile of trash, hell I’ll settle for some stacked cardboard boxes. As I stuck my fingers under the frame, it wouldn’t move. I was confused until I could see the nails, I had hammered in. All 20 of them. I had forgotten! FUCK!

And it seemed like such a good idea at the time.
At the time it fucking was!

I might as well have nailed them into my coffin. Making the Joker’s job of killing me SO much easier.

“Anna?” Claire asked panicked, hearing the door breaking. She tugged on my sleeve like a small child. I had to hide her, she had nothing to do with all this mess. But where could I hide her? It seemed like the worst option, but I pointed under the bed.
She didn’t understand.  

“What?” She asked as I began to push her.

“Under the bed, you need to hide.” She let me push her and began to army crawl underneath but looked up at me.

“What about you?” She asked, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

“He knows I’m here, but he doesn’t know about you.” I spotted my gun on my bed and grabbed it, handing it to her.

“Do you know how to use a gun?” I asked, her eyes grew wide as I handed the gun to her. She held it uncertainly in her small hands. 

“No!” She looked like she wanted to throw it to the other side of the room.

“Point and pull the trigger. Look, Claire, I think the Jokers going to take me. As soon as we’re gone, call Gordon. He is the police commissioner, tell him everything. As quick as you can, ok?” I was very aware of the door breaking.

“Anna, you can’t let him take you!” She grabbed onto my hand and tugged me towards her under the bed. “Hide with me.”

“He knows I’m here; I don’t want you to be in danger too Claire. And Officer Brooke, I don’t know if he is alive, but if he is you need to get help for him too, ok? Can you do it, Claire?” I realised this might be too much for Claire. She was a sweet girl, used to being looked after, not having to do things like this.

“I can do it.” She began to sob again, and I wanted to take her out and hold her. Tell her it was going to be ok. But then I heard the final wood of my front door splinter and Joker’s shoes coming into my home. Claire screamed a little and I put my hand over her mouth.

“Don’t come out until we’re gone.” I whispered quickly.

She nodded and shuffled further under the bed until she was completely hidden. I went over to the window and grabbed the hammer. Pulling out some of the nails so the Joker wasn’t suspicious that I was just waiting for him. I got a few out before I heard him in the doorway.

“Am I interrupting?” He asked. He leaned against the door frame with a smirk on his face.
I turned again and held the hammer in front of me. Wielding it as a weapon, I would rather have my gun. But I was hardly about to lean under the bed and ask for it.

Anyway, Claire needed it more than me. If he found her, I just hoped she would be able to shoot it.

“Stay back.” I warned, but the Joker didn’t look too frightened of the shaking girl and her hammer. He raised an eyebrow as I stood there.

“No gun?” He questioned.

“I wanted something more hands-on.” I put two hands on the hammer, wondering if maybe I could defend myself with this. I bet it would hurt coming at his face. Which is what I intended to aim for. Ruin his chances at a modelling career.

“As amusing as uh, this is.” The Joker rolled his eyes and in a few long strides was in front of me. I had reared my hand back to swing the hammer, but he easily grabbed my arm before I had the chance to hit him. He snatched it from my hand and threw it down near the bed. A sudden squeak sounded when it hit the floor noisily and the Joker looked at me.

I didn’t squeak, I wasn’t a mouse. But if the Joker realised it didn’t come from me, then he would find Claire. He smirked when I, swallowing my pride, recreated the sound.

“Ah, cute.” He grinned.

I’ll show you cute. I brought up my knee kicking him in his no-no spot. He looked shocked and released my other hand while he bent over slightly.

I wanted to push him over and give myself a good head start. But knowing my luck he would look under the bed and accidently see Claire. So, I just sprinted from the room. My fluffy sooks made me stumble when I got to the hall and I lost precious seconds. I got to my sitting room just before he tackled me from behind.

We both hit the ground with a resounding crash, landing hard I took a few seconds to get my bearings. I felt a thumping in my head and I’m pretty sure my rock-hard skull broke the landing.

“Didn’t know you were such a Disney freak.” It took me a minute to process what he said. I looked to the side and could see Claire’s carefully constructed tower of Disney DVDs had scattered in the fall.

“Oh, for sure. Why don’t we watch Cinderella and wait for the police to arrive?” I offered, my hand reaching to rub the back of my head. I could already feel a bruise forming as I winced.

The Joker chuckled from above me, when he tackled me, he had ended up on top of me and was propping himself up on his hands.

“I plan to leave long before the cops arrive.” He pushed himself up and took advantage of my disorientation, he grabbed my hands and yanked me up. I could walk but couldn’t put up too much of a fight. Did I have a concussion? He wrenched my arms behind my back and held both of my wrists in one hand.

“If you’re taking me, I guess you decided to kidnap me, not kill me, right?” I asked as he began to lead me out of my flat.

“That all depends on you, doll.”
When we got to my door, I could see he went full ‘shining’ on it. Wood chippings were all over my floor within a ten-foot radius of the door. If I could even call it that anymore.

The lock was, funnily enough, totally fine. If only the rest of my door had that kind of strength I would be laughing behind it right now, not being dragged through it.

Halfway down the corridor, I could see Officer Thomas, his hat and shirt were missing, leaving him in his trousers and a vest. He had a gash on his forehead but appeared to be breathing. But his skin was ashen and his breathing so shallow, I wasn’t even sure.

The Joker wasn’t going to let me go to him, he held me in a vice-like grip but that didn’t stop me from trying. I tried to get to Thomas, pulling against the Joker and finally, I took a deep breath to scream.

Alert anyone to the fuckery happening right now. But I felt the Joker slam his hand against my mouth, cutting off my scream before I even had the chance.
He crushed my back against his chest and whispered in my ear. So close I could feel his scars brushing against my ear.  

“You’re going to behave yourself kitten, or I’ll be taking that girl from underneath your bed instead of you. And I don’t think she’ll last nearly as long as you will.” My eyes widened as I realised the Joker knew about Claire. But how?!

“So, no screaming, no fighting, you’re going to do exactly what I say. Got it?” He asked me. He released his hand over my mouth, so I could answer.

“I thought you liked them with some fight.” I reminded him through clenched teeth.

He chuckled and being so close to him still, I felt it rumble through his chest.

“Oh, I do. And in private, you can rage all you like, kick scream punch. I like it all.” He pulled me even closer to him and I wanted to pull away, but he was stronger than I was.

“But right now, I want to have you to myself for as long as possible. So, we’re not going to pull any unnecessary attention. So, uh do as I say, or you’ll pay for it later. Understand?” His voice was low and dangerous in my ear. And as much as it pained me to do it, I replied without cursing him out.

“I understand.” I mumbled. He bit my ear before shoving me forward again.

“I’m glad we understand each other.” He chuckled as he led me down a corridor I didn’t know was there.

If not for Claire, I would have told him to go fuck himself. Cursed him out until my mother was rolling in her grave. But he was right, she wouldn’t last very long with the Joker, and I cared about her.

I didn’t want her to get caught up in this madness, she was too sweet and gentle to survive this, to survive the Joker. I wasn’t even sure I was going to. So, I complied, staying quiet as he led me, for Claire’s sake.

“Where the hell are we even going?” I asked, hoping queries weren’t out of the question.

“You think we would be going out the front door?” He shook his head.
“How do you think I ah, slipped away without being seen? Every building has a back-door doll.”

He kicked open a metal door that led to a less-than-impressive staircase. It was less fancy than the set at the front of the building.
This was less picturesque than the front of the building led you to believe and Joker made quick work of getting us through it.

I had wondered how he managed to evade the police and Batman. Maybe they didn’t even know about this second set of stairs? Or if they did, they were too late in finding it. We were led out into the alleyway and a black van was waiting. The engine still running.

“You got her boss?” Someone called out of a rolled-down window.

“Gas it.” He said simply, shoving me into the back seat and jumping in next to me. Suddenly the van lurched into life with a screech of its tyres and was speeding down the narrow alleyway. Joker threw his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close next to him.

“How romantic, it’s like how we first met.” Joker laughed, and I couldn’t resist resting slightly against him. My head was throbbing in pain and I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t fight it anymore, the past few days, the fighting, the anxiety. It had all taken it out of me and I passed out.

The last thing I remember was wondering if I was going to wake up.
It was nice knowing you. But we are most definitely dying tonight.
I don’t think you’re wrong about that.

Chapter Twenty
A traumatic day 

Claires p.o.v

Claire was in one word. Terrified.

Or two words. Super terrified. Like oh my gosh, what the hecking heck? Bruce had called her this morning and told her everything. That the Joker had been following her bestest friend in the whole wide world and Anna hadn’t said a word about it.

The last time they talked was only last night, she had told Claire all about her new job, and how well she was doing. How much she hated Charles, even though low-key he sounded hot as all heck. And they did shots like they used to do every Friday night; it was great!

And then she went home, and all that crazy, crazy stuff happened. Claire couldn’t understand why Anna hadn’t phoned her herself. But then again, Anna wasn’t the type to make a fuss, even when a fuss was what the situation called for.

But that was Anna, she would pretend everything was fine while it all collapsed around her. Claire was pretty sure Anna was heading for either a nervous breakdown or a stomach ulcer from all the stress. Both of those options were SO not cute.

It couldn’t be helped though, Anna was the kind of girl who would stand in the middle of a hurricane and say, ‘What a nice breeze.’ She could be on fire and only say ‘It’s warm, isn’t it?’ Be in the midst of an earthquake and say she felt slightly dizzy and might sit down.  

Claire didn’t know whether Anna was crazy or just that chill. But she would probably bet her last pink glitter unicorn on crazy.

But anyway, Bruce had called her. Claire thought it might be to ask her out but that was not the case. He told her what happened, and that Anna needed her friend. Which was her!

So, Claire packed every Disney film she had ever bought (or borrowed and never returned) and made her way to Anna’s flat. Bruce had told her he would be by later with Chinese food for everyone, so it was kind of like a date. A weird kind of double date… In Claire’s mind, it counted.

Claire might even accidentally fall asleep on Bruce’s shoulder while they watch movies. Maybe he could be her Prince Charming, her Flynn Rider, her Prince Phillip, her Prince Eric, her Kristoff.

Dreamy! He probably had a six-pack. Claire giggled as she imagined her hands running over them. And then a little lower… Eiiii!

But Claire was scared as soon as she stepped into Anna’s flat. And no, she didn’t wait for an invitation, best friends don’t need such formalities. But in this flat, the Joker had been here. Claire was scared of touching anything in case he had. He was so super-duper-scary!

Claire didn’t even watch the news if he came on. Not that she watched a lot of the news. But Clowns brought joy and laughter, not murder and death! He was desecrating the name of all circus clowns. And Claire liked clowns, but she didn’t like him. Not even a teeny-weeny bit.

But never the less! Claire put on a smile and watched Disney movies with Anna and Officer Thomas, who was super nice. And cute as all heck! If she wasn’t so interested in Bruce, she might even flirt with him.

But she was pretty sure he had a wife and kids; Claire wasn’t into all that. Seemed messy, she was happy with her billionaire. Imagine all the unicorns she could buy! SHE COULD BUY A CASTLE! Would that make her a princess?

Claire sang along to all the songs, because duh she knew them all. She even acted out some of the scenes, even though most of the time she was shaking like a leaf. But she was going to be strong for Anna because Anna had always been so strong for her.

Even when Anna lost her baby, she was still strong. Claire had bought a little unicorn, for the baby you know. Anna had been saying Claire was going to be her baby's Godmother, and she was so happy. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so happy.

But, when she found out what Caleb had done, done to her best friend. Claire didn’t stop crying for days. Especially when she went to the hospital to visit Anna.

But Anna… she just carried on, like her whole world wasn’t on fire and burning to ash. Like Caleb hadn’t taken away the only piece of happiness he had ever given her. Claire was happy when he was sentenced to prison, she hoped he never got out. And if he did, well Claire didn’t even know what she would do. She hoped she didn’t have to find out.

Claire knew she wasn’t very… physically imposing. Or imposing in any other sense, but she loved Anna and would do anything to make her happy.

“Everything alright?” Claire asked Anna, she was at the door but not opening it, which was weird. Officer Thomas had been AGES in the hallway. Why didn’t she just let him back inside? Maybe they’re playing some sort of game.

“Of course.” Anna smiled, so Claire went back to picking a movie.

It was so hard to decide! And she didn’t want to pick one too scary, because Anna was still recovering! So, the Lion King was out of the question. The scene with Scar and the hyenas was so spooky! Even if the song was so gosh dang catchy.

Just as Claire was shaking off a shiver of seeing Scar singing, Anna fell over. She was so clumsy! But then she was shuffling back, away from the door.

“Anna? What the heck?” Claire rushed over and helped her to her feet. Just what was happening!?

Claire screamed when the first gunshot was fired and was sobbing as more followed suit. Who was shooting? It was so loud and scary.
Anna grabbed a hold of her hand and dragged her behind her. Claire struggled to keep up with Anna, but she followed. If not, she would have stayed rooted to the spot, too scared to do anything!

Anna went to her bedroom window and was trying to push it up, but it wouldn’t move. Why was she at the window? Claire wasn’t going to jump out! That didn’t seem like a smart idea. Even if there were gunshots.

“Anna?” Claire asked, hearing the door breaking.
Anna pointed to her bed and Claire didn’t understand, now was not the time for a nap!?

“What?” Claire asked as she was pushed.

“Under the bed, you need to hide.” Anna pushed her to the floor and Claire thought she was going to crawl in after her, but she didn’t.

“What about you?” She asked, tears still streaming down her cheeks as the gunshots continued.

“He knows I’m here, but he doesn’t know about you.” Anna pulled out a gun from the bed and handed it to Claire.
“Do you know how to use it?” She asked, Claire’s eyes grew wide as she took the gun off Anna.

“No!” Claire half shrieked, she wanted to throw the gun to the other side of the hecking room. She shouldn’t hold a gun! Antonio didn’t even let Claire use a knife, never mind a gun.

“Point and pull the trigger. Look, Claire, I think the Jokers going to take me. As soon as we’re gone, call Gordon. He is the police commissioner, tell him everything. As quick as you can, ok?” They could both hear the door breaking more and more.

“Anna, you can’t let him take you!” Claire grabbed onto her hand and tugged her under the bed. “Hide with me.”

Why didn't Anna see it? She could hide instead; Claire would just tell Mr Joker she went outside for a smoke. Claire thought Anna seemed the smoking type.
Leaning against a wall, flicking ash off the end of a burning cigarette. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the world pass by. Not a single care.

She was so cool… But you know what isn't cool or cute? Lung cancer kids.
But Anna didn’t smoke, but did he know that? Claire could lie, she had been telling everyone she was 21 for the past five years. She hadn’t been 21 for a while.

But Anna shook her head at Claire's plan.

“He knows I’m here; I don’t want you in danger. And Officer Brooke, I don’t know if he is alive, but if he is you need to get help for him too, ok? Can you do it, Claire?” Claire realised Officer Brooke hadn’t come back. But he has a family, he likes Disney films, he can’t die… Why was this happening?!

Claire didn’t want responsibility, she HATED that. She liked to just sit there and everyone else could do the important stuff. But this time she couldn’t, she had to be strong, for Anna.

“I can do it.” Claire began to sob again, she hated this. It was so scary, and she didn’t look cute AT ALL right now. She was an ugly crier, she knew it.
But all of a sudden, the door completely broke apart and it was so loud, that Claire couldn’t help the small scream that escaped when it did.

Anna put a hand over her mouth but that didn’t stop the new stream of tears.

“Don’t come out until we’re gone.” Anna whispered. Claire nodded and shuffled under the bed completely. She had to trust that Anna knew what she was doing.

Anna was smart, of course, she knew what she was doing. This was all going to be ok. Claire held the gun in front of her. She didn’t know how to use it, or at all. But movies made it look easy, so how hard could it be?  If Jennifer Lawrence could fire a bow, Claire could fire a gun. Hopefully…

“Am I interrupting?” Claire heard his voice from above her and put her hand over her mouth to stop the scream that threatened to erupt from her. He was even scarier in person! And Claire couldn’t even see him yet!

“Stay back.”  Anna warned him. Claire wanted to cheer from under the bed.
‘Kick his clown butt, Anna!’ But Claire thought Anna might be mad if she did that, so she kept listening instead.

“No gun?” He questioned, and the gun felt even heavier to Claire, Anna should be holding this, not her. At least Anna knew how to use it.

“I wanted something more hands-on.” Anna was so super scary using that voice, even Claire was worried for Mr Joker. He was going to get his booty kicked.

“As amusing as this is.” The Joker's feet suddenly began walking across the room and Claire watched with big round eyes. What was happening? She hated that she couldn’t see.

Then the hammer hit the ground right in front of Claire's face. Well, like a foot away. But it was still super scary! Claire didn’t manage to hide the squeak that escaped from shock. She got so spooked it just slipped out.  

There was silence in the room, but then she heard Anna recreate the sound she made. Oh, that didn’t sound right at all. She sounded like she was in pain, not cute at all.  

“Ah, cute.” Ok, so Mr Joker thought it was cute. No accounting for taste, Claire’s was so much cuter! But that’s not the point…

Then Claire could see one of Anna's feet lifting off the floor and then both running out of her room. Claire watched confused, but then the Joker fell to the floor. Did she kill him?

When he moved Claire whimpered, he was so not dead! Then she saw him freeze, oh no, did he hear her? She held onto the gun with a tight grip, but she still had no idea what to do with this big hunk of metal. Could Anna not have got it in pink? Or purple, maybe Anna would let her paint it later. Or bedazzle it?

As Claire was thinking of cute designs, she suddenly saw that the Joker’s face was looking under the bed, right at Claire. She wanted to scream seeing his actual face.

It was so much scarier than the pictures, especially since it was looking right at her. Claire wanted to run away but she was stuck. She wanted to scream and cry and have Anna protect her. But Anna had run out of the room.

The Joker grinned at her like a wild man before rushing out of the room, looking gleeful. Claire felt the tears stream down her face as she sobbed as quietly as she could.

Then Claire could hear an almighty crash from the next room. What had happened? Should she go look? But then Anna might be mad at her. And Anna was super scary when she was mad. Even scarier than Claire's mum had been growing up. And she was REALLY scary. So, Claire waited.

After it had been a few minutes since the crash Claire couldn’t hear any other noise. And she just couldn’t wait anymore. She needed to see what was happening. And even though she was so scared, she crawled out from under the bed.

She took the gun with her, although she might only be able to use it as something heavy to throw. She crept out of the bedroom, not making a sound. But the flat was empty. Her DVDs were strewn across the floor, but nothing else was there.

Claire heard a groan from the corridor and ran out. She saw the back of the Joker and ran back into the apartment. That was too close.

After a few more seconds she went back out. Anna told Claire to check on Officer Brooke. He was stirring as he lay against the wall. His hat and shirt were gone, which was strange, did he get too hot? Then she remembered she had to phone someone. Erm, who was it again?

Bordon? Jordan? Lordan? Fordon? Cordon?
No wait Claire thought of an animal to remember the first letter.
Goat! Goat Gordon. Oh yeah!

She felt around in Thomas’s pockets.
“Forgive me, Mrs Brooke, this is strictly for all the right reasons. No unnecessary touching is going on, I assure you.” Claire took out Thomas’s phone and went to unlock it.

But it had a passcode.
UH really?!
She tested her luck with 1 2 3 4 because that was her passcode, but it didn’t unlock. Drats.

She spotted his shirt a few steps away and could see the shine of his police badge. Maybe that had numbers on it? She crawled over and looked at it. It was so shiny! Wait no, Claire thought, curb your magpie urges and look at the numbers!

City of Gotham police department
Police Officer Thomas
4674

She tried the number and it worked, she was in!
Should Claire be a detective?
He had a couple of texts from his wife, but Claire didn’t peek, that would be an invasion of privacy. She could always do that later.

She went into his contacts and looked for the commissioner, she was sure that was what Anna had said. Commissioner, goat, erm Gordon. She finally found it and dialled it right away. It only rang a couple of times before it was answered.

“Hello, Commissioner Gordon.” The other voice answered, the voice sounded tired. Claire thought she should recommend he had a nice bubble bath, with candles and duckies. Maybe a nice glass of wine… But again, that could wait.

“Hello Mr Gordon, this is Claire.” She greeted.

“Sorry, who?” Gordon asked, that was super-duper rude!

“Claire. Anna’s friend.” Claire reminded him, they had met before. He had come to the restaurant the day after Anna had, asking if anyone had come looking for her.

“Anna? Oh, you’re her co-worker?” But Claire was not happy with that.

“Actually, sir, we are best friends.” Claire huffed. Men didn’t understand the complexities of female friendship.

“Yes, of course. How can I help you?” He asked, sounding confused.

“Oh yeah, um Anna was kidnapped by Mr Joker.” Claire was about to repeat herself when there was only silence until Gordon spoke again.

“What?” He asked.

“Kidnapped, Mr Gordon.” Claire clarified, maybe in his old age his hearing had gone.

“When?” The man sounded like he was rushing around now.

“Like 5 minutes ago?” Claire guessed, she wasn’t too good at guessing time and her unicorn watch was at home.

“Why didn’t you start with that?!” Gordon shouted.

“I do not appreciate that tone Mr Commissioner! I have had a very traumatic day! And Officer Brooke is also really hurt, I have a lot on my plate right now!” Claire felt like crying again.

“Officer Brooke? How hurt is he?” Claire looked at him and he wasn’t moving anymore, but she could see he was breathing.

“He’s breathing, but not moving.” She told him, she didn’t know medical things. If Claire was a smart doctor lady, she wouldn’t be waiting tables!

“Sit with him, call me back if something happens. We are on our way to you right now.” The phone hung up and Claire stared at it bewildered for a moment.

That. Was. So Rude! She tucked the phone back into Officer Brooke's trouser pocket. Although she did want to dig through his messages to satisfy her curiosity. It seemed inappropriate given the current circumstances.

A few minutes later, the elevator dinged open on the floor and Claire could see the commissioner among some other officers and paramedics. The paramedics immediately came over to Officer Brooke, so Claire stood back. And Police officers surged past her into the apartment. Mr Gordon took Claire to the side. Away from the commotion.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, then Claire couldn't hold the tears back any longer. 

"No!" She wailed throwing her arms around Commissioner Gordon. He froze but let her cry on his shoulder.

She had enough of being strong. It sucked, and she was ready to stop now. She wanted Anna back; Anna would be good in this situation. She would be able to answer questions and probably would have known what to do with Officer Brooke too. Why did Mr Joker take her?! She was her friend and he had no right to just steal her! 

"Did you see which way they went?" Gordon asked her softly. She extracted herself with a less-than-cute sniffle and a nod.

"They went down the hall and to the right." She told him.

"But that just leads to a supply closet." Gordon said, Claire sniffed and shrugged.

"That's where they went. I remember." Gordon shook his head and shrugged.

"You might remember it wrong. It's a traumatic event that you’ve just been through, it isn’t uncommon to recall details wrong."

Claire pouted and began stomping down the hallway.

"I'm upset, not stupid! My eyes work fine!" She yelled. Gordon was following her.

"We've already been down here." He tried to stop her but Claire was determined. She came to a door and slammed through it.

In front of her were two more doors. She opened one and it was a supply closet. Gordon sighed from behind her. The next one had a 'Supply closet' sign. But then why didn't the other? If they were both supply closets? And Claire had seen the Joker coming down here.

Gordon sighed and put a hand on Claire's arm. But she shrugged it off and opened the door. Might as well check it.  It led to a long hallway and a set of stairs.  Claire turned to Gordon with a satisfied smirk.

"Now who's dumb?" She huffed. The doors were labelled wrong, but Claire wasn’t stupid.

"Me." He mumbled before he slammed the door open to the hall where police were still milling about.

"I want two units down here. NOW!" Gordon yelled, making Claire jump slightly. Why did the police shout so much?

She was just happy she had been right. But she wouldn't say told you so to Mr Gordon, he was super scary. He was nearly as scary as Anna. Nearly...

Batman arrived a little later. Gordon and Claire were in the apartment security centre. Which was a whole lot of screens, but no one was employed to watch them. Claire thought that was silly.

When he arrived Claire instantly stood in front of him and offered her hand for him to shake or kiss. Whatever.

"I'm Claire." She smiled. He shook her hand, if a little hesitantly.
"Big fan." She told him with a flutter of her eyelashes. She let him pass to stand next to Gordon who was rubbing the bridge of his nose. Annoyed, although she didn’t know at who.

"Gordon."
"Batman." They greeted each other before they both turned to the screens.

Gordon played the video again. Claire had already watched it with him. It showed the Joker in the hall and Thomas coming out.  Then a scuffle where the Joker hits him with the butt of a knife. Leading to the gash on his forehead. Which looked super sore.

It also showed the Joker shooting the door and breaking in. Then a few minutes later dragging Anna out too. And then Claire a few seconds later before she ran back in. The rest was Claire getting the phone. 

"You figured out his passcode?" Batman asked, Claire nodded.

"It was his police badge number." She blushed when he nodded his head.

"Good work. " He complimented making Claire giggle at the praise. 

"You know you remind me of someone." Claire told Batman leaning closer to his face.

"Is that so?" He asked.

"Same jawline, you got a brother?" She asks to which he chuckled.

"No." He answered and Claire hummed. He really did look familiar, Claire just couldn’t quite place him.

"We need to figure out where he took her." Gordon said, bringing them all back to the present.

"We can hit all his known hideouts." Batman suggested, Claire looked between them both. They didn't know where he had taken her?! What kind of detectives were they?!

I mean sure, Batman is cute. But where was his brains? They need to find Anna. Now.
Claire just hoped her friend was ok and still alive. And that they would find her soon.
Who knows what's happening to her?

This is SO not what Claire had planned out for today.

Chapter Twenty-One
The Big Plan

Anna’s p.o.v

We had been driving for a few minutes and I was getting my wits about me again. I didn’t think it was a concussion, I had just been dazed and stunned by being rugby tackled not too gently.

“Now, no little tricks like last time.” The Joker told me as I eyed the door handle.

“I’m not stupid enough to do it twice.” I replied, even though I most definitely would if I got the chance. There were no limits to my stupidity.

“I think you are, you’re uh, gutsy.” He whispered in my ear, I recoiled but he yanked me back with his arm around my shoulder.
“Now, now. Don’t be shy.” He laughed as a chill crept up my spine.

I was considering saying ‘fuck it’ while tucking and rolling out again.
Just as I was thinking that the car slowed down. I looked around puzzled; this wasn’t the narrows. Not even close. This was still the main of Gotham, we pulled down an alley and the Joker smirked at my confused face.

“Not what you were expecting?” He asked as I looked around. I looked at the building we were next to. And it looked normal, nice even. What the ever-loving fuck?

“I would think you would be more into abandoned, condemned places.” I told him honestly.

But he shrugged with a grin.
“We have someone else paying the bills.” Before I had the chance to question him further about this mysterious benefactor, and maybe ask who the fuck would pay his bills? He grabbed my arm not too gently and dragged me out of the car.

I thought about ripping my arm out of his grasp, but I didn’t like the idea of a bullet in my temple or a knife in my jugular. So, I let him drag me around like a rag doll, for now at least. He better hope I don’t get my hands on a weapon. Or anything I can fashion into a shiv.

I let him pull me along behind him and into the building, trying to make a mental map in case I got the chance to run. But I was in shock, this was a nice apartment building. Like, fuck. It was even nicer than my new apartment. And to me, that was the Ritz.
This was more like the Plaza. Some fancy digs for the Joker.  

I was in awe as he rushed me through the lobby. But the interior was slightly dimmed by the contents. The lobby was filled with men meandering about, with huge guns on their backs, strapped to her thighs, hanging from their belts. Why was everyone packing like they were off to a war zone? You’re in uptown Gotham, act like it.

All of their eyes focused on the Joker and me. But the Joker didn’t seem to care, he just made his way to wherever we were going, tugging me behind.

Which I sincerely hoped wasn’t a cage like he had mentioned before. I hope that was a joke, a weird joke. Which held no ground in reality? It better fucking not be a cage or I’m going to lose my shit. Before we left the lobby, I could see tables overflowing with weapons, blueprints, and ammo.

Was he beginning a war? Or did he just like to be prepared? Maybe everyone was dressed for a war zone because that’s exactly what the Joker was intending to turn Gotham into.

As I looked around the place, I couldn’t help but think how expensive it all must have been. And having the whole apartment building to himself? He must have bought it, I couldn’t imagine any realtor, no matter how scummy, would rent to the Joker.

But who would sell to him? I knew I sure as hell wouldn’t.
Maybe just for the right amount of money? Judging from the Joker’s digs, crime does pay. Or maybe he killed the previous owner.  

But where did Joker get the money? Sure, he robbed a bank, but those men in the lobby were armed with military-grade weapons, not something you can buy off the street. The Joker must have other avenues of cash flow, cause ammo isn’t cheap, and neither are apartment complexes in the middle of uptown Gotham.

As I was admiring a hallway's artwork, I realized we were going further and further into the building.

My plan for a mental map was FUCKED. I had been too distracted. Fuck it, I’ll just jump out of a window and pray if it comes to it.

You Ain’t never prayed a day in your life.
Exactly, great day to start.
We should see if he is renting out rooms.
Do you want to move in?

I like our place, but I’m just saying. No one’s going to break into here. You don’t break into a lion’s den, do you?
I don’t know, people can be pretty stupid.
I sincerely hope you included yourself on that list.
Rude.

Before I knew it, we were in front of a room. It looked exactly like every other door, except for the padlock on the front. The Joker pulled a key from one of his many pockets and unlocked it, shoving me in first. I nearly tripped and fell face-first, before I righted myself. Only to be blinded by the light turning on a second later.

When my eyesight returned to normal, I could see we were in an apartment, not entirely unlike my own. Except it was clear no one was cleaning this one. He needed to hire a maid or something, and I hope that wasn’t me. I hate cleaning. Nearly as much as I hate this situation.

“What? No tour?” I asked sourly. The Joker chuckled as he bolted the door shut. That wasn’t inspiring any confidence in me. Maybe I was in his murder room, or I guess murder flat.

“You’ll get pretty ah acquainted with it yourself, this is where you’ll uh, be staying.” The Joker began to walk towards me, but slowly. Like a wolf stalking his prey and I was the poor lone sheep away from the flock.

“That’s sweet, but I already have a place.” I wanted to look around, but my eyes were firmly fixed on the Joker. Not only did I not know where I was, but I was also defenceless without my gun or hammer.

So, if he decided to do another surprise attack, I’m pretty sure I’d be dead. I just hoped passing his ‘test’ once was enough. No pop quizzes from Professor Joker. F for Fail and D for die.

“But here I can keep an eye on you, decide what’s going to happen to you. No pesky police or Batman to stop me.” He was closer now, beginning to circle me. I was beginning to wish he would just kill me, and get it over with. And before I could stop myself, my mouth decided to voice my thoughts.

“If you’re going to kill me, Joker, just get it over with.” My eyes widened at my stupid mouth going rogue and saying whatever it liked.

“Why are you in such a rush to die?” He asked.

“I’m not, I just don’t like this suspenseful shit.” I sighed, maybe I was speeding up the inevitable. But I was glad Claire was safe, at least she didn’t have to be put through this. The one good thing I had ever done, was save her from this fate. Knowing she was ok put my mind at ease.

“But that’s the fun bit.” Lost in my thoughts I didn’t realise the Joker was behind me, he chuckled in my ear and I whipped around. Needing to keep him in my sights. Dangerous game not keeping your eyes on him.

Suddenly the Joker stepped forward and put his hands on my hips.

“Little bit of foreplay before the big—” He was interrupted by a knock at the door. He sighed as his eyes narrowed at the door.

I was momentarily shocked by the contact when I stepped back out of his hands. But he kept a tight hold, but I moved again, more forcefully this time. And he let me go, finally turning to the door, with a face like thunder.

Guess he didn’t like interruptions, but I was thanking whatever gods were out there. Thanks, G owe you one big guy.

“WHAT?!” He yelled, making me jump. Someone stepped into the room, not opening the door fully but slinking in through a small gap.

“He’s here boss. Say’s he needs to speak to you.” The man said simply.

He looked like most of the other men that had been in the lobby, except less strapped up. With a pair of guns in a holster on his thigh, and a bulletproof vest. He was underdressed for the occasion compared to everyone else. How embarrassing.  

“I did tell him you were…” The man looked at me briefly.
“Busy... But he said it was important.” The Joker is going to be really busy if I get my hands on something sharp.

“Bring him up.” The Joker replied annoyed. He made his way over to a desk where a sofa would be, if this was a normal flat, and fell into a chair. Leaving me in the middle of the room, I didn’t know where to put myself, I was like a fish out of water.

So, not knowing where else to stand I walked over to the Joker, but still keeping a fair amount of distance between us. The man had slinked back out, apparently fetching this mystery man.

“This the guy footing the bill?” I asked as we waited for this ‘he’. The Joker didn’t answer me but did flash a smile before turning back to the door. Oh, so now he decides he is done being a chatty Cathy? Fan-fucking-tastic.

We could hear him before we could see him. Thumping shoes and an impatient voice echoing in the hallways.

“I’ve been waiting for 5 minutes?! Do you even know who I am?!” I looked over to the Joker who looked more amused than anything. Especially at my confusion.

I faintly recognised that voice. That pompous, arrogant, nails on a chalkboard to me, voice.
You have to be fucking kidding me. No way.

The door opened revealing who I thought it couldn’t possibly be. But there he was…
The one and only…

Chapter Twenty-Two
Play nicely kids

“Fuck, all the way, off. Charles?!” I gasped as his suited self walked through the door.

“Anna? What the hell is she doing here?!” Charles didn’t deem me worthy to ask as he directed his question to the Joker directly.

“You two know each other?” Joker asked with a growing smirk as he watched us death-stare one another.

“Unfortunately.” I mumbled venom in my voice. What the actual ever-loving FUCK, was he doing here? Charles?! What could he possibly be getting out of a partnership with the Joker?

“Are you going to kill her?” Charles asked, surprising me with how casually he asked.  
I could feel the Joker's eyes turn to me as he considered me for a second.

“Not sure.” He shrugged. That didn’t fill me with confidence. Or any confidence. More like a growing sense of dread.

“I’m not paying you to fuck around.” Charles told him.

“You’re paying him?!” I jumped in at that. My mind only now putting Charles as the mysterious benefactor paying the Joker's big bills.

Are you serious?
Shut up.
No wonder you were so easily kidnapped.
Come on now I put up a fight...
And yet, here we are.  

“If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” The Joker replied.

“Can’t you shut her up?” Charles asked the Joker who merely smirked. I quirked an eyebrow at Charles before saying.

“I would love to see you try.” I told him, making him finally look at me. He glared, in what I think he thought, was an intimidating stare. But all I could think of was that his eyebrows looked unnaturally groomed. Did he wax or pluck? Did he thread? He seemed like the threading type.

“We don’t have time for this.” As Charles says this, the door slams open behind him. Surprising both Charles and me as we jumped, but the Joker just slid his eyes over to it.

“Boss, we need you, got a situation.” The man from before came back in. He didn’t say anything else, but it was enough to get the Joker up from his chair. He began to walk out of the room before he turned back to Charles and me.

“Play nicely kids.” He grinned before slamming the door. I assumed Charles would leave then until we heard the click of the lock. Guess no one is leaving now.

“You’re fucking kidding me.” I mumbled. Charles didn’t hear the lock as he went to open the door but found it was indeed, locked.

“What the hell does he think he is doing?” He yelled. Banging on the door with his fist.

“Joker? Joker?!” As he raged against the door, I went over to the chair the Joker had been sitting in. I sat down and tried to get comfortable, but the chair smelled of him, putting me on edge.

“I don’t think he’s coming back for a while.” I told Charles as I spun the chair slightly. I was reduced to a three-year-old when wheels were involved.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Charles asked, walking further into the room.

I shrugged, crossing my legs.
“Fucked if I know. I was kidnapped.” I replied honestly. Because I didn’t know. Was I here to serve as entertainment, a quick kill later, bait? I had zero idea; I don’t think the Joker knew either. We were all in for a surprise.

“I could ask you the same question. Why are you here with the Joker?” I asked before Charles could steer the conversation to where he wanted. Because I had questions and I needed answers.
“I’m not exactly here by choice.” I muttered.

“But you.” I pointed at him. “You have everything. A family, more money than you know what to do with.” I cast a glance around the building Charles was paying for.

“Which is more than apparent,” I mumbled. “And you’re here. So why the Joker, what can he offer you?”

“I don’t expect someone like you to understand.” He scoffed as he looked me over, making me narrow my eyes in response.

“Then explain it to me. What does the Joker have that you want? That you’re willing to pay for, risk your life for?” I asked.

“Power.” Charles said simply. I looked over to him confused.

“You have power—” I tried but Charles stopped me.

“I’m second in line for CEO. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for that old bastard to die? To finally retire and pass it on to one of us?”

“Richard?” I asked, shocked. “He’s your father—”

“He is what stands in my way. And if it wasn’t for you, he would already be 6 feet under.” As he spoke my mind worked overtime to catch up to what he was saying.

“I don’t understand.” I said that, but my mind was already beginning to solve the puzzle, and the end result was horrifying.

“You’re a smart girl Anna.” That was all Charles said, and he was right, I was smart.

“You hired the Joker to kill Richard.” The bank robbery was an elaborate distraction from the actual goal. One which would have worked, if not for me.

“Yes, it was supposed to be simple. Have his men rob the bank while he killed my father. Make it look like an unfortunate casualty, hell even take him with him as a human shield and dump his dead body on his way out. I didn’t care how, all I wanted was him dead.” Charles turned to me with so much hate in his eyes, that it startled me.

“But what happened instead?” He began to stalk closer to me.
“You had to jump in, be a little hero. Sacrifice yourself and ruin all my carefully laid plans.” He stopped at the desk and laid his hands flat against the surface, leaning over it and staring me down.

“I don’t know why the Joker didn’t kill you, I don’t know why you’re here now.”
Neither do fucking I, I thought. Staring back at Charles.

“But I hope he does kill you. I hope he slits your throat and leaves you to bleed out slowly, while he finally finishes the job, I’m paying him to do.” The room was silent as Charles finished his little rant.

“Well, that was, dramatic.” I raised an eyebrow as he stared at me uncertainly. I think he was expecting a different response. Sorry Charles, only sarcastic bitch Anna is home right now.

My ‘give a fuck’ is broken, but my ‘fuck you’ is still fully functional.

“I think you have a lot of unresolved anger issues, Charles, definitely some daddy issues. Have you ever considered counselling?” I asked him, making him growl with anger, which only made me smile. It was like watching a Chihuahua getting riled up. So much anger but not the body or teeth to do much with it.

And Charles didn’t exactly frighten me. The suit didn’t exactly strike fear into my heart, his gelled hair didn’t make my knees shake, and his weasel eyes certainly didn’t make my voice quiver. It was hard to be scared of some jumped-up rich boy when I was literally at the mercy of the Joker.

“You know I have a friend who swears by crystals.” I offered.

“You little—” Charles began before another voice joined the conversation.

“I thought I told you kids to place nice…” The Joker was back at the door, just as Charles was beginning to get irritated. Thanks to me, of course. But I didn’t even hear the door open.

“And where have you been?” Charles asked, turning to the Joker with a face full of fury.

“Dealing with business.” Joker shrugged and came back over to the desk; I hadn’t moved from the chair yet.

The Joker stood in front of me, raising an eyebrow when I sat still. I sighed and left the chair, not wanting to become target practice. I walked a couple of paces away, sure to not get too close to Charles though, who still had a look of ‘I want to kill you’ about him.

“You need to deal with the business I pay you for.” I was surprised Charles was so ballsy talking to the Joker like that. I thought I was the only one with the death wish. I had thought for sure Charles would be a snivelling, nervous wreck in front of him.

But he managed to keep an air of arrogant entitlement with him. It was a little impressive, if not entirely idiotic.

Charles in his temper tantrum didn’t seem to notice the Joker hadn’t sat down yet, his hand had crept into his pocket and I could see him grasping something there. Most likely a knife. Was I about to witness a murder? If it was anyone else, I might warn them, but this is Charles.

And Charles can go fuck himself.

“It’s being taken care of.” Joker replied simply.
But just before the Joker could do anything with his knife, Charles straightened and smoothed out his suit. Calming himself down. The bitch fit was over.

“Good. I’m glad we understand one another. I brought the information you asked for.” Charles took out a manila folder from inside his suit and slid it across the desk to the Joker. Taking his hand which, I was so hoping had been gripping a knife, came out to catch the folder.

Joker opened and only peeked at the contents before smiling.

“Is that sufficient information?” Charles asked, smoothing back his already smooth-gelled hair.

“Let’s hope so.” Joker replied putting the folder back down and taking his seat again.

Charles glanced over to me before he spoke to the Joker again.

“This time, I want him dead. No more games with pretty girls. Got it?” Charles asked, looking at me again before quickly turning away. After my death stare.  

Aw, he thinks we’re pretty.
So not the time.
We can’t afford to be fussy; we need to take the compliments where we can.
If we are ever so in need of attention we’ll take compliments off Charles. We’re jumping off the nearest roof.

“Sure thing. Boss.” Joker said the last word with a grin because we all knew the only boss in this room had taken a seat. But Charles nodded all the same.

“I’ll be ready in two days. Make sure your men are ready to go then.” Without another word, Charles left the room and once again it was only the Joker and me.

“What happens in two days?” I asked once Charles had walked out of the room. Joker had begun to empty the contents of the folder, all blueprints and pages of information.

“Why do you ask so many questions?” He asked, not looking up from his new material.

“I’m naturally inquisitive. And you are keeping me here against my will. The least you could do is be a gracious host.” It seemed some of Charles's backchat had rubbed off on me, but I was past tired of this.

But I soon realised my mistake when the Joker stopped shuffling through his pages and was sitting still as a statue. Oh, fuck.

“You know, I knew I wasn’t making a mistake taking you. I was so intrigued by you, by your… stupidity. Sacrificing your life for someone you didn’t even know; you didn’t know I wouldn’t kill you. Neither did I. But you still did it, all the same.” The Joker stood back up from his chair and walked back over to me.

“Sure, you ducked out of our first date a little early. But that just made me more curious.” He grinned as he was standing in front of me.

See if you let him just kill you before, we wouldn’t be here.
We would also be 6 feet under.
I know where I would rather be.
You are dark tonight.
I wonder why?!

“And you just keep, intriguing me. You are here, at my uh, mercy and you still say the most stupid things. Tell me, Anna.” He flicked out the switchblade I had suspected was in his pocket when he was talking to Charles and held it by my throat.
“Do you have a death wish?” He asked, his voice sickly sweet.

“The way, I see it, if you’re going to kill me, you’ll do it no matter what I do. I’m not going to spend my last moments of Earth being a meek bawling mess, begging for my life. It’s not my style.” My words were brave despite the small shake in my hands at the knife being pressed up against my neck. I could say I wasn’t scared all day, but my body was still trying to stay alive.

“And there you go again. Surprising me.” He flicked the switchblade back into its holder and put it back in his pocket.

My mind was singing HALLELUJAH, but my body stayed still as a marble statue. Honestly, I was still waiting for him to say, ‘JUST KIDDING’ and stab me anyway.

But he took a couple of steps away from me and went back to the desk. Taking his seat with a smirk, but not another word. Deciding I was safe for now, I followed him, looking at the papers he was spreading over his desk.

“So, what’s happening in two days?” I asked again. Hoping I would get an actual answer this time, not another spiel at how ‘interesting’ I am while he threatens me with another knife.

“I’ll tell you everything… if you come sit on my lap.” The Joker patted his thigh and raised his eyebrows at me. I managed to not outwardly show my disgust at his offer.

“No thanks.” That was all I said, deciding I would just try and work it out for myself.

I looked over all the papers and they were blueprints, security information and other papers for Taylor Industries. I narrowed my eyes as I looked at them, why would the Joker need this information? Unless he was intending to break in.

“You’re breaking into Taylor industries?” I asked.

“That’s part of the plan.” He again patted his knee and laughed when I rolled my eyes.
“Why would you break in there? There’s nothing, no weapons, no gadgets or anything you would want. It’s not like Wayne Industries.” I queried out loud.

I was genuinely confused, Richard’s company was more invested in medicine, and technology but nothing that could cause any damage. Not like Bruce Wayne and all his weapons patents, advanced technology, and borderline law-breaking programmes.

“Who said we were interested in that?” The Joker asked, sitting back in his chair while he watched me try to piece together a jigsaw with only half the pieces.

“What else would you want?” But then I remembered the ‘job’ Charles had hired him for.
“Richard.” I said aloud as my mind connected the dots.

“Bingo.” He chuckled as he watched my face turn in horror.

“Fuck Charles. Just don’t do the job.” I tried, thinking of no other reason to give for the Joker to not carry out his assigned role.

“And lose my payout?” He asked looking at me doubtfully.

“I’ll pay you.” Suddenly I was so sure I had some deep pockets.
“How much is Charles paying you? I’ll double it.”

“You have 20 million bucks?” The Joker asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Holy fuck.” I breathed. Let me just cut up my mattress, sure I have some millions LYING AROUND. Maybe in between my fucking couch cushions?!

“Would you do a payment plan?” I asked, already expecting the howl of laughter that erupted from the clown prince of chaos. He stood when his laughter had calmed down a little and walked over to me.

“As fun as this is doll, and this is fun. I have things to do.” He stroked my cheek and began to leave the room.

“Are you going to leave me here?” I asked, turning as he walked out. He didn’t answer me, he just shut the door and locked it.

What. The. Actual. Fuck?

He kidnapped me just to leave me in a flat? Who does that?! I mean, yeah ok, it’s a nice flat. And don’t get me wrong, I’m glad there wasn’t an actual cage. Also, very happy that I wasn’t being tortured or whipped, or whatever kidnappers do these days.

‘So, what did the Joker do to you?’
‘Oh, he left me in a room… It was terrible. I was so, fucking bored.’

The stuff of nightmares, the only nightmare thing that might happen is he forgets I’m in here and I starve to death. I don’t want to die hungry. Although I have enough meat on my bones, I’d probably last a while. But still, kill me, shoot me, stab me, throw me off a fucking building. But let me go with a belly full of food. Or drunk, I’ll take either.

Being alone and now feeling like I needed a meal or a drink I decided to try my luck and see if the Joker left me anything in there. I decided the most probable place to find something was the kitchen.

But I didn’t hold any high hopes, first time the Joker found me I had to feed him. And he ate enough for 2 people, so the idea of him having food didn’t seem very likely.

After all, he can’t just take a trip to Walmart and get some snacks. Well, I mean, he probably could, you see all kinds of weird sights at Walmart. The Joker getting some red vines probably wouldn’t even rank in the top 10.

But I needed food, not just for my stomach which was growling. But because I needed to take my mind off Richard. I couldn’t do anything from this room, not now. So, I had to bide my time. And driving myself to insanity would not help anyone. Except maybe the Joker, misery loves company, maybe it’s the same for crazy.

The kitchen wasn’t nearly as empty as I thought it would be, it was as well stocked as my own. In the sense that there was some food but no actual utensils to cook. Not even a pot for some ramen noodles. I’ll have to get creative if I want something hot, or cooked.

I wonder how the Joker would react to me giving him a shopping list.

I looked through the cupboards for something a little stronger and struck gold at the last one. An entire bottle of whiskey. Literal Irish gold to me, I nearly cried with joy.

I quickly uncorked it with a satisfying pop and took a long swig. No glasses to drink out of. It burned but it was so good, everyone needs a little whiskey now and then. Although I have more than a little, a lot more than a little. Maybe it’s a problem? Well, if it was, it doesn’t exactly rank in my top 3 right now.

Number one was staying alive, number two was finding a way out of here, and number three was protecting Richard from his son.
I still couldn’t believe it, Charles wanted his father, his lovely and kind father, dead.

Just so he could be CEO. Richard had just been talking about retiring at our lunch the other day. Mind you, he wasn’t about to make Charles CEO.

But Charles just wanted the power, and the most fucked up thing (apart from morally) was that he enlisted the Joker to do it?

A self-proclaimed agent of chaos. I don’t know which of them was more insane. At least the Joker knows what he is, he doesn’t hide his sociopathy behind a rich boy act.

I should probably work on number two on my list. Finding a way out of here. If there was a way out, I’ll find it. No doubt about that in my mind. I’m like a rat, I’ll find a way off the sinking ship.

Are we comparing ourselves to rats now?
Better a rat than drowned.
I’m not so sure.

I surveyed the kitchen I was still standing in, but unless I was about to go all ‘Honey I shrunk the kids’ in this bitch, and get out through the sink pipes… In here was a no-go for escape. Taking my bottle with me, I meandered around my new prison. As far as prisons go, it isn’t bad. But it could improve.

However, I found no joy with the rest of the flat, all the windows on my floor were sealed shut. And I was so high up no one would be able to see me signalling around for help. Even if I began flailing around like those wind machine people outside car lots. Although it would be a fun way to kill an hour or so.

Even though the windows all through the flat were sealed tight, I still went into the bedroom to try them. But what a bitch, they were also sealed tight. I don’t know what I would have done if they weren’t, I was so high up. If I jumped out, I would die, immediately. And it was a sheer wall, with no way to climb down, I’m not Batman.

If the Joker thought I was a suicide risk he was sorely mistaken, I had a week's worth of groceries in my fridge. I don’t plan on dying until they’re all finished. How wasteful! I turned around in the room and looked at the bed, it was one of the only places to sit in this entire place.

So, kicking off my shoes I flopped onto it, careful not to spill my whiskey. Although I hadn’t drunk as much as I thought I would, I had a pleasant alcohol jacket on but no buzz. I didn’t want to get wasted so close to the Joker; he doesn’t seem the ‘hold my hair while I puke’ kind of guy.

And I still want my wits about me. If he pulls another ‘murder test’ I didn’t want to stumble and walk into a fucking wall. Killing my damn self and saving him a job.

Anyway, if I did want to kill myself there are a hundred ways I could. Just one, smash the window with my fists and fly out, or cut myself with the glass. Where there’s a will there’s a way.

But I didn’t want to die, I had to save Richard… Again. He needs to hire a bodyguard or something.
Or am I the bodyguard? He needs to hire a better one.

I had only been sitting on the bed for 10 minutes before I heard the front door open. I wasn’t sure it was to this flat, so I stayed silent while I listened. But I could hear his shoes on the kitchen floor and a high pitched.

“Oh, Annaaaa…”

Chapter Twenty-Three
The truth game 

I sighed and contemplated hiding under the bed, as a last-ditch attempt to not speak to him. But I thought better of it. He would find me, best to treat this like a band-aid, rip it off quickly and hope you don’t bleed.

“I’m in here Joker.” I yelled. His head popped around the corner a few seconds later. He grinned when he spotted me on the bed, which put me on high alert.

I sat up and held my whiskey in my lap, to hand if I needed to use it as a weapon. Although that would be a disappointing waste of precious whiskey. So, he better behave himself. 

“I see you’re getting comfortable.” He observed, sitting on the end of the bed.

“As comfortable as I can.” I shuffled back so my back was against the headboard.

He saw me do it but didn’t mention it. He just made himself comfortable as well, leaning back and propping himself up on his elbows.

“I feel like I don’t know you well enough.” He said suddenly, staring up at the ceiling.
“I take you into my home, and you could be anyone.” He giggled at his little joke, I, however, did not.

“You know a lot about me. My name, where I live, where I go. You’ve stalked me long enough.” I mumbled and uncorked my whiskey. I know I wanted to keep my wits about me, but honestly, I need some whiskey to deal with him.

He didn’t reply so with a sigh I began to list off some facts.
“Anna Jones, 27, works at Taylor Industries, and lives at apartment 8 on Ryler Street.” I quickly began to run out of facts.

“Red hair, green eyes…” Was about all I had.

“I don’t want the information I could find on your Facebook—” He began but I jumped back in.

“I don’t have a Facebook. There’s another.” I quickly put it in there, but he carried on regardless of my social media presence.

“I want to know the little secrets you keep hidden.” He finally turned his head to look at me. His signature smirk missing.

“You want to braid each other's hair too? Talk about the boys we like. Pillow fight?” I mocked, the whiskey making me sassy.

Or in other words, stupid. But he didn’t rise to it, just sat staring at me. I rolled my eyes.
“Fine, but I have a rule.” I tried, and he stayed quiet, listening to my request.
“If I answer one of your questions, you have to answer one of mine.”

I was worried when a silence stretched between us, but soon he shrugged one shoulder.
“Fine.” He agreed.
“But I ask first.” I relaxed back into the headboard, as much as I could with a serial killer at my feet that is.

“Who did that to you?” He pointed to my stomach and I knew he was referring to the scar.
“I told you; it was my previous boyfriend.” I shrugged and was about to ask him a question when he shook his head.

“Ah, ah, ah. I want a name.” He fixed me with a stare. And I raised an eyebrow, what a strange first question.

“Why?” I asked, and he laughed.

“Is that your question?”

“No.” I quickly answered, I wasn’t wasting a single one of my questions on his motives.

“His name is Caleb Parelli.” I didn’t like the bad taste his name left in my mouth.

“Seeing as one of your questions was for a name.” I began, worried about the reaction to my questions.
“What’s yours? Your real birth name.”

The Joker didn’t answer immediately but smirked at me, I kept his stare, not shifting.

“It’s Jack. Jack Napier.” He answered, and I blinked. That’s a normal name, I expected something weird. I don’t know why, but such a normal name threw me off balance.

“Oh.” Was all my mind could manage as a response?

“My turn.” He quickly moved on while I was still reeling. Jack?! But that’s such a normal name? For a non-normal person.

“How did it happen?” He had moved to one elbow, turning his body towards me.

“You want me to walk you through a C-section?” I asked, confused.

“No, what led to you needing it.” Ah, so he wanted to know what Caleb did. This was a weird line of questioning. But I shrugged, if he wanted to know, no reason not to tell him. It had been a while ago now, and what else am I going to do? Stare at the walls until he kills me? I sighed and took a second before I dove into the literal worst night of my life.

“Caleb had been out that night, drinking away my wages again. I had been trying to save up some money, just a little to buy diapers and things a baby would need. And I was at the kitchen table counting it up, and I didn’t hear him come in. Before I realised, he was behind me, snatching the money out of my hands and demanding to know where I got it from. Why I was hiding it from him? I told him it was for the baby; I had been saving since I found out I was pregnant.” I explained.

Just re-telling the story of that night was making my chest tighten. But I carried on.
“But he didn’t care about the baby. He was going to take that money and go drink some more. The only reason he came home was when all my hard-earned money was gone on drugs, alcohol, other women whatever he felt like. But I was saving that money for our child, I wasn’t going to be some shit mother. My child was going to be looked after, protected, and provided for. He could treat me like shit, but not our kid.” Reminiscing about this was hard, but a little therapeutic at the same time.

“I tried to get it back from him, but he ignored me like he always did. So, with my hormones raging I took the bat I kept for protection and threatened him.” I laughed at my recklessness.

“Which was stupid of me. Because he easily took the bat from me and turned it against me. He beat me until I was unconscious, broke the bat and then beat me some more. I don’t remember anything after that. Apart from waking up in the hospital. Without my baby. She had… already died. I didn’t even get to hold her.” I finished quietly.

I swiped at the tears that had begun falling. Damn, whiskey made me WAY too honest. I had probably told him way more than he even wanted to know. Too much information Anna.

“Wow.” That was all the Joker said for a minute. I nodded, wow indeed. I felt foolish for the story I had just revealed like he was my therapist.

“I don’t think I want to play this game anymore.” I took another swig of the whiskey. But it didn’t help with the pit in my stomach.

The Joker was about to say something when there was a vibration on the bed. He growled as he took his phone out of his pocket, he seemed to always get interrupted.

“What?” He barked into the phone.

“Oh, Charlie boy. What do you want?” The Joker sat up now, as did I. Leaning forward to try and catch what Charles said.

“It’ll have to be tonight.” I could just make out Charles's voice, so I listened closely.

“The commissioner just left, telling my father we needed to call a meeting tomorrow and get more security. He told him you might target here. It’s either now or never.” Charles finished, his voice irate and annoyed.

The Joker sighed, his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. I was about to scream when I realised, he was only looking at the time on my watch.

“Give me half an hour. We’ll be there.” The Joker let go of my wrist and hung up simultaneously. As he dropped his phone back into his pocket, he also stood up.

“Once again we are interrupted.” He chuckled as he popped his shoulders. Which was gross and made me grimace.
“Don’t worry doll, we’ll have plenty of time to get more acquainted once I finish this job.”

I think he mistook my grimace at his gross bone-popping for what? Sadness that we had to finish his weird game. But this was probably going to be my last chance to stop what the Joker was about to do.

“Is there any way to convince you not to kill Richard?” I asked, it was a stupid question because I felt like I already knew the answer. But it was worth a try.

“Not unless you want to pay me.” His smirk was back in place.
“Bullets Ain’t cheap.”

“I can’t pay you, but I’ll do anything you want. I’ll not try to escape or make trouble for you. Anything. Just don’t hurt him.” I pleaded I didn’t want to lose anyone else so close to me.

He turned around to me and leaned down. One hand was on the headboard I was resting against, the other was placed on my cheek.

“I have ways of making you behave Anna. Don’t make me show you what they are.” He smirked again and I think he meant to scare me, but it only made me angrier. He pushed himself off so he was standing up again and was about to walk out the door.

He came back to me, a small chuckle at the evil glare I was throwing his way. He grabbed my wrist that was holding the whiskey and took it from me, placing it on the bedside table. Then hauled my ass off the bed and onto my feet.

“You can come too. You might come in handy.” He laughed as dragged me from the room. I tried to dig in my heels and rip my arm away from him, but he had an iron grip and didn’t give me an inch of room to even try and get away. Looked like I was going with him, whether I wanted to, or not.

“This goes a lot uh, easier if you cooperate.” The Joker told me, finally stopping and grabbing both my arms, pulling me closer to him.

“Fuck that.” I mumbled, still wriggling to get loose. Who the hell knows what I thought I was going to do in a building full of the Joker's men if I did get free?

“You always make it so difficult.” He reached into his pocket and just as I thought he was about to bring out his knife again, he instead had a length of rope. Before I had a chance to react, he turned me around and wrenched my hands behind my back.

“But I like that.” He growled in my ear with a smirk as he tied my hands together.
“Hopefully that makes you a little more obedient for now at least.” He dragged me by my arm and I had to concentrate on not falling over.

Mind you, he had such a strong grip on my arm, that he would have caught me before I broke the fall with my face. If he didn’t just drop me anyway. Which I suspect the son of a bitch would. And with my arms tied behind my back, the only thing to break my fall would be my face.

We were soon back in the lobby with his men, they were all silent and awaiting their orders. Some cast curious glances at me, tied and at the Joker's side. Maybe they were just surprised I was still alive. Because so was I.

The Joker took a moment to survey his men, the tension in the room was intense. I could almost physically feel it pressing down on me, all his men waiting for the Joker. Like a pack of dogs waiting for the order to attack.

They were all poised to act at a single word. The silence screamed in my ears, even more intense than if they had all been roaring at the top of their lungs.

“Alright boys let’s go cause some chaos!” The Joker finally bellowed. His men immediately began to move, some leaving the building, some going to get more weapons. The Joker watched them, looking proudly at his men.

He said jump, they asked how high Mr Joker? Even if he was asking them to jump off a 60-story building roof. It was sickening to see that level of devotion to a madman. How could some men be so brainwashed?

Even at my worst, even when I was starving for food, literally counting pennies just to get some morsel. Dodging and hiding from the loan sharks who came looking for me to pay my bills, armed with guns and machetes to incentivise me.

Even then, I wouldn’t have gone to the Joker. Not for a loan, not for a job, not for a single thing.

Everyone in the narrows knew going into the mob or gangs was easy money. Sure, you’ll probably die, but you would die with a full bank account. I was never that desperate, I wouldn’t have joined his ranks with this level of devotion.

Who knew what they saw in him? I see Gotham’s destruction, but maybe they see their salvation.

Maybe I’m putting too much into them, maybe they are here for a good time and to revel in pain and devastation. I can’t know their intentions, but it sickens me.
So, while the Joker looked out proudly, I looked on with revulsion.

“Exciting, isn’t it?” The Joker asked me as he watched his men scurry like a pack of rats.

“No.” I replied simply, still mad about the rope. But honestly, it was on a long list of things I had against the Joker, it was just the most recent. The Joker ignored my lack of enthusiasm and marched me to a van.

I’m feeling a sense of Déjà vu. Are you?
Oh, you don’t say.
Hey, I’m not the idiot who keeps going for joyrides with the Joker.
None by choice!
I say tuck and roll again.
It’s not your body that gets fucked up.
No, but I do have to listen to you whining about it.

I was thrown in the front seat of a van. Sandwiched between the Joker and the driver. Probably so I didn’t attempt another daring escape. Which I really would have. It’s kind of my thing now.

My hands were painfully crushed behind me and my arms were aching from being stretched together. It probably wouldn’t hurt as much if I had done some yoga, or ever stretched anything before.

But I hadn’t and right now I was feeling the consequences. But honestly, even if I had a time machine, I still wouldn’t do it. Sure, exercise keeps you healthy, but at what cost?

“Are you ready Anna?” The Joker asked me, we had been driving in relative silence. With the occasional phone call from Charles, asking where we were, and when we would arrive. But no chit-chat between us. I missed the silence.

“Ready for what?” I replied, surely, he didn’t think I would intentionally help him. I was planning on doing everything I could to make trouble for him. He truly was insane if thought I would assist in killing Richard. My boss, my friend.

“You’re my ticket in.” He told him, giving me a creepy smile.

“How do you figure that?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Well, if I go in, the security will press that alarm before I even have a chance to shoot them. But if you go in, a nice familiar face. They’ll not be so eager to go pushing buttons.” I couldn’t help the short bark of laughter that escaped as he told him his ‘plan’.

“You think I’m going in there; hands tied and not tell that to push that button?” I laughed again. “They’ll know I’ve been taken; they’ll see me tied up. They would be crazy not to push that alarm.”

“Not if you want Claire to live, or George. Or any of the little friends you’ve made there.” He threatened, making my laugh stop instantly.

“Now, if you prefer. I could go in and slaughter every single person I see. Or you could help me and stop all that. I will get in there Anna, with or without your help. But this way, you stop a lot of needless deaths.” The Joker smiled, even though what he just said brought tears to my eyes.

He’s given me a choice, an impossible choice, but it was still a choice.

“I go in and help you with the front desk. And you give me your word no one in that building will die.” I asked, keeping my eyes forward, not looking at what I’m sure was a smirk across his face.

“Apart from Richard.” He clarified and then continued.
“But you have my word, and I’m a man of my word.” He drawled.

“You better be.” I warned him, which nearly made me laugh. I'm unarmed and currently tied up, threatening the Joker. I’m sure he was terrified.

To let me know how scared he was of the threat I posed, he laughed. And a few moments later we were in front of the building.

“You’re up doll.” He whispered into my ear, too close for comfort.
I looked at the Joker, but he stayed in his seat and gestured to his door. I was not climbing over his lap.

I threw him a disgusted look before I rolled my eyes and turned to his driver.

“Out.” I ordered him. He looked at me confused and then looked past me to the Joker. Whatever the Joker did convinced him and he hopped out.
I quickly turned back to the Joker, trying to sound as innocent as I could.

“Shouldn’t I get a gun?” I asked, testing my luck.

“So, you can shoot me?” He shook his head with a smile.
Fuck, it was worth a go.

I somehow managed the shimmy out of the van and when my feet hit the concrete the man who had been driving cut my restraints and slammed the door closed. I got a shock from the door slamming close to my head.

I decided I didn’t like this guy.
The Joker's window rolled down slightly as we made our way to the building.  

“Remember Anna, behave yourself.” The Joker's called from the window. A clear warning.

“And you remember your promise.” I shot back, not waiting for a reply.

The man behind me pulled me next to him and I felt the tip of a gun pressed into the small of my back as we walked into the front lobby.

“I have clear instructions. You tell anyone what we’re doing, I shoot them and then you.” He cautioned me.

“How lovely.” I mumbled sarcastically. He pressed the gun harder into my back as if I didn’t feel it before.
He was a tall and skinny man, but his grip on my arm was nearly as strong as the Joker’s had been.

His dark hair fell over his face obscuring most of it, but I could see a small silver scar on his neck. His grip tightened as we got to the front desk.

The night guard was on the desk tonight. He was a short plump man who always had a smile on his face and a doughnut in hand. He even let me steal one a couple of times, his name was Lawrence and he had 4 cats that he loved. More than a few late nights he had scrolled through his pictures showing me them all.

As I neared the desk, he looked at me, looking slightly confused but smiling all the same. His greying hair poked out of the guard hat he wore as he stood up from his seat.

“Anna, how nice to see you.” He smiled, and as he had done a million times before, offered me a doughnut.

“No thanks, Lawrence.” I tried to smile. I hadn’t realised it, but I loved everyone in this building. Which put a real damper on my plans to save Richard.

“The last I heard; you were in trouble with the Joker?” Lawrence asked. He didn’t know the current state of matters concerning me and the Joker.

“The situation has escalated slightly.” I said without even thinking. The man beside me pressed the gun deeper into my back, a clear warning.

“Who is your friend?” Lawrence asked, not catching on to what I had said.

I faltered slightly, but my mind quickly thought up a lie.
“This is my cousin, Rex, he’s from, from Idaho.” I replied lamely, fucking Idaho? I’ve never even been to Idaho. And Rex? That’s not even a name!

Was that the best you could do? Rex, from Idaho?
So not the time for you to chime in. I’m in a stressful situation.
I couldn’t help myself.
I’m sure you could if you tried.
You’re right, but I don’t want to.

“Oh, that’s nice.” Lawrence held up his box of doughnuts to my fake cousin, fake Rex. Who shook his head with a peculiar look on his face.

“No.” He said simply.

“Rex, remember your manners.” I turned to my possible killer with a smirk on my face. He looked at me, his grip on my arm tightening. Painfully so.

“No. Thank you.” He replied through gritted teeth.

I’m probably about to die, but that was funny.
Suddenly the gun was removed from my back and pointed at my temple. I gasped at the sudden movement and Lawrence made a move to pull his gun out too.

“Hands up old man or I’ll shoot her.” Lawrence reluctantly put his arms above his head. Not able to push the button now either.

“Back up into that supply closet.” The man or Rex as I had named him, gestured to the closet behind the desk. Lawrence didn’t put up too much resistance to being locked up. Which was probably smart on his part. Poor Lawrence, at least he is safe in there.

“Boss, the coast is clear.” Rex spoke into his radio. With him turned around, I managed to sneak the gun off his back waistband. He had enough of them. When he turned again, I held up the gun aiming at his weasel face.

His hand twitched to grab his gun, but I turned the safety off, the click enough to stop him.

“Don’t even think about it, Rex.” I began to back up to where I knew the elevators were.

“Anna?” I heard from the door, I could see the Joker and his men coming in through the doors now.

“I only said I would help you with the front desk, you didn’t say I couldn’t do anything after that.” I kept my gun trained on Rex, but I let my eyes shift to the Joker.

“I kept my end of the bargain, now I expect you to keep your word.” I pressed the button for the elevator and stepped on as it opened.

“I am a man of my word.” He agreed, and I kept my gun up until the doors shut.

Even as the elevator began to move, I could hear the Joker's maniacal laughter. I pressed the 40^th-floor button and hoped George was in his office.

I didn’t have time to play ‘Find the George’ tonight. As soon as the elevator doors opened, I ran out and went straight to George’s office. There were only a few people in the office this late at night, but the Joker wouldn’t hurt them. He gave me his word.

I just hoped that carried some actual weight with him. But the Taylor family were my priority because I wasn’t so sure would so easily survive. I had to keep them safe. So even though it killed me, I ignored all the people working late and went straight to George’s office.

Opening his door, I was relieved to find him at his computer.

“Anna? The commissioner was here, he said you were taken by the Joker. I’m so glad to see that’s not true. You have no idea how worried we all were.” He stood and smiled but it soon disappeared as he saw my terrified expression.

“Anna?” He asked again.
I grabbed his arm and began to pull him behind me.

“The Joker is in the building; I need to get you somewhere safe.” I told him as I began to pull him out of his office.

“What? When? How?” George began to ramble, so I ignored him and pulled him along. I picked a random room and pulled him in behind me. Shutting it again when he was in.
“Anna, I don’t understand, do you have a gun?! Why do you--” He began until I cut him off.

“George, I love you like a little brother, but I don’t have the time to explain everything right now. The long and short of it is, the Joker took me, brought me here, he wants to kill your dad.” I wanted to explain that Charles was also in on it, but I can’t handle explaining that to poor George. The short version was already freaking him out. His eyes went wide, and he began to hyperventilate a little.

“He’s here?!” He squealed, oh good lord, he was the male version of Claire.

“Yes, and I need to get to your dad, but I need to hide you first.” I pushed him toward a desk that was pushed up against a wall. He let me put him where ever, I guess he was still reeling from what I told him. I don’t blame him. I needed to work on my bedside manner.

I pulled it out just enough, so George could slide in and crouch underneath it. The room was sparse except for some boxes, chairs and this desk. So hopefully they thought this was an unused storage room and left it. George climbed in clumsily, making a racket as he did.

George pulled out his phone and looked at it for a minute.
“Should I call the police?” He asked uncertainly. I wanted to throw a box at him.

“That does seem like a good idea but be quiet while you do it.” I warned him. Just as a scream could be heard from the hallway, they were already up here.

“Get down!” I whispered harshly. Pushing the desk back against the wall as soon as his head ducked down. I could hear the faint murmur of him talking to the police behind the thick wood. But it was harder to hear as more people began to scream on this floor.

I felt guilty, but I had to save who I could. And if I just shouted ‘run’ or ‘mass panic’ it would be mayhem. And the Joker probably wouldn’t have to shoot anyone, they would stampede over each other trying to get away. However, they sounded like they were already in a panic.

I heard steps outside of the room and prayed they would move on, but they didn’t. I jumped behind a stack of boxes when the door handle turned. Someone entered the room and I could hear their heavy footsteps, a few more steps and they would be able to see my less-than-impressive hiding spot.

As soon as they turned, a smile crept onto my face, despite the situation.

“Ah, Rex! How was Idaho?” The gun was safely tucked into my belt for when I needed it. So as soon as Rex’s eyes landed on me, I came out all fists flying. Like a drunk ninja.

I only got one punch in when he easily caught my wrists and held them in a vice grip, not letting me move my arms an inch. He laughed as he held me easily.

“Wait till the boss sees what I found.” He grinned when he thought he had me.

“Wait till the boss sees what you let get away.” I replied.

I decided to do something, a little below the belt. Literally. Using all my strength I brought up my foot right into his crotch. Hard. He dropped my wrists as his hands went to his broken dick. As he bent double, I easily pushed him over and jumped over his moaning body to get to the door.

A kick to the dick has never failed me.
Kicking dicks and taking names.

I would have explored her weird use of phrases more, but I had to get to the top floor to warn Richard. Now that George was safe, he was my next priority. Hopefully, they were clearing the building floor by floor from the bottom up, and 40^th was just a lucky guess at where I would be. I didn’t think so, but I still had to try and save Richard.

I managed to avoid the rest of the Joker's men getting to the elevators, all the people who had been milling around the halls had been rounded up into a room and were being guarded. I didn’t have the time to save them, they were safe for now.

It was Richard and George who were in the most danger. And George was relatively safe, as long as he stayed hidden. And quiet.

I snuck onto one of the elevators and pushed the button for the top floor. I checked the ammo magazine in the gun and groaned when I saw it only had one bullet left. I should have taken an ammo pack from Rex’s belt.

But I doubt he would have stayed down long enough, and I needed to get away fast. As the elevator slowed to my floor, I put the gun away again. Hiding it under my jumper.

With only one bullet left, I had to take care to not waste it. If the door opened to all the Joker's men waiting, one bullet wasn’t going to do shit. I had to wait until I needed it, like when I was face-to-face with the Joker or Charles.

Both disgusted me just as much as the other. Especially since finding out Charles had put a hit out on his own father. That was cold. Did I hate someone more than I hated the Joker?

The elevator door slid open and to my horror, the Joker was already there. Or at least his men were. Richard’s people were already tied up on the floor and all of them began to scream behind the gags when I stepped out onto the floor. I crouched down and tried to undo some of the restraints but they were zip ties. Fuck!

I began gesturing wildly for them to shut up, but it was too late. One of the Joker's men was already walking down the hallway. A huge gun resting in his arms, he was looking at the hostages, but his eyes soon snapped over to me.

“You’re the girl!” He exclaimed, eyes widening when he realised who I was.

“Fuck.” That was all I said before I sprinted off down the hallway.

“Hey! Wait!” The man yelled behind me. FUCK NO!

I bolted down the hallway and picked a room at random. I wrenched open the door and slammed it shut just as quickly. Thankfully it didn’t make too much of a noise, but they would be checking these rooms soon. I needed to find a hiding place. I turned around to where I found myself and swore.

I’m in the fucking lady's bathroom.
I guess you could say your plan in … in the toilet.
Please stop.
Your chances of survival are going… down the drain.
Did I do something wrong in a past life, why am I being punished?
I’ll stop, but only because I can’t think of any more toilet-related puns.

I looked around for somewhere to hide, but my options were limited to the bathroom stalls. So, I picked the furthest one and just prayed whoever came to check this room would be startled by the tampons and run out screaming. Feminine hygiene products seemed to have that effect on men.

I stood on the toilet lid and waited. I wasn’t brave enough to go back out into the hallway to find another room, it would have at least some of the Joker's men in there now.

I just hoped the guy who had seen me was as slow as he looked, and no one had seen me running in here. But then again, I don’t seem to have any good luck as of late.

But you are in luck. I thought of another pun... Urine trouble!
I might just go into the hallway to get killed to escape you.
Not even death can separate us. But you know what, shit happens.
Is there a window I can jump out of?

My self-argument? Was cut short when the door to the bathroom opened. I was still praying for toxic masculinity to save the day once more. But no such luck. Why did the patriarchy fail me when it could have come in useful for ONCE?

I heard the door close and whoever it was, was just standing there. I was tempted to look over the stall to see what they were doing, but they would find me eventually. No need to make it even easier for them.

“Aren’t we a little too old for hide and seek doll?” It was the Joker. I didn’t reply, I’m not that dumb. I could hear him sigh as he walked closer to the stalls.
“Ok, let’s see what’s behind door number one!” He yelled and kicked the door of the first stall wide open.

He is taunting me; he knows I’m in here. Mine is the only locked stall. He is like a cat with a mouse, what fun would it be if the cat killed the mouse right away?

“How about door number two?” He kicked the door down again. I could see his shoes stop outside my door and he began to laugh.

“And door number three?” He let the silence hang between us for a few seconds. Taunting me. I could hardly catch a full breath; I was just waiting. Finally, the door slammed open, the lock busting off easily and scattering across the floor.

“Jackpot.” He cackled as he dove for me, I had planned to leap over the separating walls, but he grabbed me, hauling me out of the stall.

“Get off of me!” I screamed, fighting against him. He pulled my arms easily behind my back. A little rougher than was necessary. In my opinion at least.

“I thought I told you, to behave yourself.” I was pushed up against the sinks as he tried to get a better grip on my arms.

“I didn’t lie.” I snapped; he had finally got my arms locked behind me.

“Neither did I. No one’s dead… Yet.” He raised an eyebrow and tugged me away from the sinks and toward the door.
“You should have left when you had the chance doll.” He laughed in my ear and kicked open the door, pushing me in front of him.

“How about a second try?” I asked, maybe he was crazy enough to let me. He didn’t reply, simply laughed and kept pushing me through the hallway. We passed the hostages who this time were silent. All of them looked at me with wide eyes as the Joker pushed me through the hall and into the office.

He shoved me into Richard's office and let go of my arms, so I stumbled into the room, falling to my knees. I swore as my knees hit the floor hard, the carpets were plush, but not that fucking plush. I was about to relax but then I felt a hand entangle into my hair and haul me up.

“Fuck!” I swore as my hands went to his, digging in my nails to get him off me. I felt myself being thrown onto a chair.

Then the Joker was in front of me with duct tape.
“Don’t you fucking dare.” I warned him as he began to roll out a strip.

“Oh, I dare.” He grabbed one of my hands and began tying it down the chair arm.

I tried to fight him off, but he was a lot stronger than me. He easily grabbed my other arm and did the same until I was secured to the chair.

“You know, usually when I tie people up. They start begging for their life. They’ll do anything if I let them go, they won’t tell a soul if I let them live. They cry, they scream, they beg. Are you not going to beg for your life, Anna?” He was leaning over the chair, his face right in mine.

“No. You’d enjoy it too much.” I replied simply through gritted teeth.

He chuckled at my answer and walked away; I began testing out how strong the tape was. Pretty fucking strong. I guess I should be grateful he tied it around the arms of my jumper and not my skin. That would sting like a mother fucker.

“Can’t run off this time.” He gloated, pulling a chair in front of me. He turned it around and straddled it, letting his arms dangle off the backrest as he smirked at me.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked him.

“You’ll have to be more specific.” He grinned, enjoying watching me still struggle.

“Why me?” I asked, I knew why he was at Taylor Industries. But why bring me along? Why not kill me as soon as I ran out of my usefulness?

“I’ve told you; you intrigue me.” His eyes were burning into me as he answered.

“So, what? You’re going to keep me until I no longer intrigue you?” I was guessing, but it seemed obvious.

“I don’t think you’ll ever stop being intriguing.” I could hear a commotion in the hallway, heading in our direction, but I ignored it. If there was a disorder, it would find the Joker eventually.

“I don’t understand.” I tried.

“And you probably never will.” His eyes went to the door as the sound got closer.
“We can carry this conversation on later. We have guests.” He cackled when the door slammed open.

Chapter Twenty-Four
The big finale 

One of the Joker's men burst into the room, but he had a mask on over his face. He took a second to look at both of us.

“What the hell Joker?” I was surprised that one of his men would speak to him like that. But then the mask was dragged off his head and I could see who was speaking. Charles.

“Hey, Charlie boy. We were just chatting.” The Joker turned back to me with a huge grin across his face and I rolled my eyes in response. Not saying anything in return.

“It’s Charles, not Charlie. And you’re playing games while Richard is still alive?” He had begun to take off the jacket he had used to conceal who he was. Throwing it down on the floor and gelling his hair back in place.

“Not exactly all fun and games.” I mumbled from my chair.

“If you’re going to kill her, can you just get it over and done with?” He sneered at me, and I wished I wasn’t tied to the chair.

I would beat the arrogant little shit until he was crying on the floor. Which honestly probably wouldn’t take very much effort.

“Yes, please do.” I deadpanned. The Joker shook his head as he smiled at me.

“I’m not going to kill her Charlie, what are you? Some kind of animal!?” He turned his chair to Charles who was glaring at me on the other side of the room.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed.
“I’ve already sent your thugs into Richard's office. Unless they’re entirely stupid, they should be bringing him here now.”

“I wouldn’t put too much faith in them.” I mumbled, they both ignored my snide comment when, once again, footsteps could be heard approaching. The door was opened once again, two huge men came in both holding an arm of Richards.

He was looking worse for wear as they shoved him in. I wanted to catch him but tied to the chair I couldn’t do much. And he fell to his knees.

Richard was about to stand back up from the floor when Charles kicked him back down from behind. Richard moaned in pain as he was shoved forward. Falling again at the Joker's feet.

“Do what I paid you to do.” Charles sneered.

“Charles?” Richard gasped from the floor, easily recognising the sound of his son. He turned around until Charles kicked him again.

“Leave him alone!” I yelled from my chair, renewing my efforts to get out.

See how Charles likes fighting someone who can defend themselves. But the duct tape wasn’t budging, no matter how hard I struggled.

“No Anna, let her go. She doesn’t have to be involved.” Richard turned to the Joker who was watching all this silently from his chair.

“I can give you whatever you want, just don’t hurt anyone.” Richard begged from the floor, seeing me in the chair.
“Name your price Joker, I can pay it.” He pleaded.

The Joker still didn’t say a word, just watched amused. Watching it like a family drama playing out on his TV.

“He is already being paid.” Charles said, leaning against the desk behind him, arms folded.

“You’re sick you know that.” I spat at Charles, my hate for him burning. I knew he was an arrogant scum bag when I first met him. But I never dreamed he would stoop so slow.

“And you’re annoying.” He shot back.

The Joker's eyes cut to me, and a grin spread across his face. I looked at him, slightly worried. Why was he grinning like that at me? He stood up from his chair and took out a knife from his pocket. Was he finally going to kill me? It was sudden but not entirely unexpected.

I glared at him as he made his way over to me, knife glinting under the overhead lights. He leaned down and began to cut the duct tape that held me down. Wait, what?
Suddenly he was lifting me out of the chair and putting a gun in my hands.

He came up behind me, guiding my hands to hold the gun, lifting my arms and aiming the gun at Richard.

“What are you playing at Joker?!” Charles yelled from across the room. The Joker threw a cold glare at him, immediately shutting him up.

“I want you to do it, Anna.” The Joker was close to me, his breath fanned on my cheek as he held my whole body against his, aiming down at Richard on the floor. Who was silently gazing up at me, tears in his eyes.

“Prove to me that you can be loyal to me.” He whispered. He must be out of his mind; I wasn’t loyal to him I never would be.

“You don’t have to work here, come with me, be by my side. Live in luxury Anna, I can give you anything you want, you could have anything. Just join me.” He was whispering right in my ear, but the room was so silent everyone could hear it.

“No.” I choked out. “I’ll never join—” He cut me off before I even finished.

“We could kill Caleb.” I slightly gasped at the Joker’s proposition. Kill Caleb?
I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. A lot. Ever since I woke up in that hospital, the thought of watching him die was the only thought that gave me some comfort.

“Finally kill him, for what he did to you.” The Joker went on. Watching Caleb die, painfully, gasping his last breath was a primal urge inside of me. I wanted him to be released just so I could hunt him down myself.

And here the Joker was, offering him up to me on a silver platter. Finally, kill the man who took so much from me, killed the only good thing I had in my life. I was tempted. So, so tempted.
I loved my child, as soon as I found out I was pregnant with her. I loved her more than I had ever loved anything in this world. I wanted to give her a life, full of love and safety.

I would have left Caleb for her and worked two jobs to put her through school. Give up anything so she could be happy. But I didn’t even get to meet my baby, she died before I could even hold her. When they told me she was dead, I screamed for hours. Mourning for my child. My only happiness was snatched from me.

All because of one man. Caleb.

And now I had the chance. I could kill him if I went with the Joker. Kill one man so I can finally kill the other. If it was anyone else, a man I didn’t know, I might have done it. But it wasn’t another man, it was Richard.

And my baby was gone, killing Caleb wouldn’t bring her back to me. Nothing would. I wouldn’t kill Richard for revenge, I couldn’t. I loved him too.

“You know how to fire a gun Anna, go on, do it.” The Joker brought me back to the present still behind me. Waiting for me to fire the gun. Holding my arms steady as my hands shook slightly.

“Shoot me, Anna, it’s okay. You saved me once; you don’t have to do it again.” Richard’s voice sounded from the floor.

“DO IT!” Charles screamed from the side of the room. I was snapped out of my head and decided what I was going to do. I threw my arm back and elbowed the Joker straight in the nose.

He staggered back, cackling as he held his bleeding nose. I launched myself across the room and stood in front of Richard to protect him.

“What are you doing?!” Charles screamed again, making a move to come towards me, so I aimed my gun at him and pulled the trigger…

Chapter Twenty-Five
I won't miss

“You shot me!” Charles fell to the floor and began screaming.

“I didn’t shoot your femoral artery, Charles. You’ll unfortunately live so stop being such a little bitch about it.” As the Joker was still trying to stop his bleeding nose, and Charles was incapacitated, I quickly bent to Richard.

“Are you ok?” I asked quickly, he nodded but put a shaking hand on mine.

“George?” He asked quietly.

“He’s safe, don’t worry.” I whispered and stood back up.

Pointing my gun at Joker as he finally looked back at me. The door burst open and two of the Joker's men filed in. Taking in the scene they quickly pointed their guns at me. I ignored them and kept my gun trained on the Joker.

“You shouldn’t have given me a gun Joker. That seems like a really bad decision on your part. Did you really think I would kill Richard, for revenge?” I asked, aiming between his eyes.

He was watching me with a grin as he wiped the blood pouring from his nose. Smearing it across his face and hands.

“I wasn’t sure, I thought you might.” He cackled and nodded to his men.
“They’ll shoot you ya know?”

“But can they shoot me before I shoot you?” I threatened.

“You think your aim is that good?” He asked, giving up on his nose, and letting the blood drip down his lips and chin.

“I know it is, trust me, Joker, I won't miss. I’ll walk you to hell myself.” I narrowed my eyes as he turned to his men and held out a hand.

“Give me that.” He ordered, but before he could receive a gun from one of his lackeys. And before I could fire off a shot myself. The huge window behind the Joker smashed into a thousand tiny pieces.

Not knowing what was happening I dropped to the ground and covered Richard's body with my own. Shielding him from the shards of glass that rained down on us.

Guns were now firing, and I kept Richard down with my body, shuffling us further back and under a desk. I finally turned around when Richard was safely under and took in the scene happening before us.

Batman had come crashing in through the window and was fighting the Joker and his men. The Joker was laughing manically as his men were firing at the Batman, who was trying to shield himself.

I took out the gun with only one bullet left that I still had and fired at one of the men shooting, taking out his kneecap with a precise shot. One dropped to the ground and the other hesitated when his companion stopped shooting.

That was all Batman needed and knocked the gun out of his hand, sending him flying into the wall. Where he slid down now unconscious. I took out the other gun the Joker had given me, aiming at the clown himself. As I fired off a shot though, it only clicked.
It only had one bullet in it. And I had used it on Charles.

The Joker wasn’t as foolish as I thought. He didn’t trust me with a full ammo clip, had given me one bullet and one chance. He grinned at me, as I threw the gun to the side, it being utterly useless. But the Batman soon turned on the Joker and tackled him to the ground.

I could hear whimpering to my side and Charles was dragging himself across the floor. Trying to get to the door. I immediately got up from under the desk and went over to the worm. Crushing his bullet wound with my foot. Stopping his escape attempt.

Rats will always try and flee a sinking ship. But not this rat.
He screamed in agony, drawing the attention of Batman who was handcuffing the Joker on the floor.

“Anna?” He asked, seeing me for the first time.

“Hey, Batman.” I smiled as I began to shake glass shards from my hair. Still crushing Charles's leg under my foot, his screams music to my ears.
“Fancy seeing you here, how are you?” I asked.
He only shook his head and smiled. Going back to handcuffing the Joker.

Richard managed to pull himself out from under the desk just as the police stormed into the room. We both held up our arms, it would have sucked to get this fair and be killed by the police mistaking us for assailants and not victims.

They quickly herded us off to the side and began to arrest the men who were on the floor.
One of the policemen attempted to help Charles up before Richard stopped him.

“Officer, arrest that man for attempted murder!” He pointed to Charles who was quickly handcuffed also. I put a hand on Richard's arm as he watched his son being dragged from the room. We stayed in the corner until it was only the Joker left to be taken out.

The Batman was pushing him out, but the Joker stopped in front of me first.  Batman was about to force him out, but I held up my hand, stopping him.

“It’s fine. Let him say what he wants.” I turned my eyes to the Joker who grinned at me, through a bleeding lip and the blood still dripping slowly from his nose. The painted bleeding lips now covered in his real blood, only served to look even more chilling.

“I’m sure we’ll meet again doll.” He swayed slightly on his feet from his scuffle with Batman.

“I wouldn’t count on it, Joker.” I smiled slightly, maybe from relief that it was all finally over.
“But if we do, I’ll make sure my gun is fully loaded this time.” He began to laugh, and Batman finally shoved him forward and out of the room.

We could hear him laughing down the hallway, when it finally stopped, I turned to Richard.
“I’m so sorry, Richard.” I said, holding back tears. He shook his head and enveloped me in a bear hug.

“Why are you sorry, you saved me. Again.” He laughed weakly.

“I’m sorry about Charles, I didn’t know until the Joker took me. If I had ever thought he would do something so, so…” I could finish what I was saying. I just sank further into Richard's arms and buried my face in his chest.

“I know one thing for certain, I’m taking him out of my will.” Richard joked, and I laughed despite the situation.

“Let’s leave, I think the police will want to talk to us.” He finally released me, and I nodded in agreement. I bet they would have a lot of questions for me in particular. How exciting for me, I could hardly wait.

Don’t be so pessimistic, maybe we’ll get a hot policeman? Maybe he’ll have doughnuts.
Still here?
Never getting rid of me, honey.
I thought maybe the trauma would bury you somewhere in my mind.
Unlucky for you, I’m here for the long haul.

Richard and I walked out of the office together, he was leaning on me for support, although we were both in pretty bad shape. Gordon was in the hallway directing his men when he spotted us both hobbling towards him.

“Richard.” He nodded respectfully and then turned to me.

“We were looking for you.” He smiled and I smiled back.

“You found me.” I joked and then nodded to Richard.
“Can we get him a wheelchair?” I asked, my legs threatening to give out at any second.

“I don’t need a wheelchair.” Richard protested, but after a slight stumble, he relented.
“Ok, maybe I do.” Gordon signalled to one of the paramedics who had one for casualties.

But thankfully no one was seriously injured. The Joker had kept his word. Although he hadn’t managed to kill Richard.

But I guess it didn’t matter anyway if Charles had already paid him or not. Charles was heading to prison and the Joker was most likely heading to Arkham. Who knew? Right now, I didn’t particularly care either. I was tired, too tired to worry about either of them anymore.
I needed a fucking drink.

“Anna?! ANNA!” I could hear my name being screamed and turned just in time to see a frantic Claire rushing over to me. She tackled me in a tight hug before I could even say hello and crushed my ribcage in her arms.

“How did you even get up here?” Gordon asked, looking around to see where she materialised from. That’s the thing about Claire, she just shows up. Crashing into your life like a pretty pink glittering wrecking ball.

An out-of-breath police officer turned up 5 seconds later.
“Sorry sir, she ran right past me.” He pointed the Claire and Gordon waved him off. Letting the crazy woman crush me like an anaconda. 

I immediately felt her shoulders shaking with tears as she held onto me.
“I was so worried!” She wailed into my shoulder.

“I’m sorry Claire.” I held onto her, rubbing her back as she cried.

Smiling slightly at her antics. A normal person would have waited downstairs, but not Claire, she just ran in and tackled me.

“I do need to breathe though.” I gasped slightly; she really did have a strong grip for such a small woman. She let me go but gripped my arm like a clamp.

“I think we need to have a chat.” Gordon sighed, looking towards me once more.

“What do you want to know?” I asked him.

I spent the rest of the night at the hospital. Richard insisted I go with him to get checked out. Even though I told him I was fine, he wouldn’t hear it. Gordon asked me a few questions about the Joker, just where we were, and what we spoke about if we did. Why did the Joker decide to take me if there was anything of note I had seen?

I told him everything, I wasn’t going to protect the Joker, and I owed him no loyalty. I was just lucky to still be alive. I don’t think my smart mouth would have kept me alive much longer around him. It just doesn’t know when to shut the fuck up.

I told Gordon about when he took me, and where we went. I told him about Charles and how he was paying the Joker to kill his father, so he could take over the company.

I didn’t tell him about our conversations, they were too private for me. They weren’t important to Gordon anyway; it would only make him look at me with pity and I didn’t want that. So, I stayed quiet about that but told him everything else. When we finally finished, I was sitting in Richard's hospital room.

He was asleep in the bed and Claire was asleep on the chair next to me, head in my lap while I brushed her blonde curls. George appeared in the doorway a little later. He was about to speak when I held up a finger in front of my lips.

He came further in and could hear the snores, from both Richard and Claire. I would never tell her that she snores though, she would kill me.

“Crazy night.” He said in a hushed whisper. He brought over a chair to sit closer to me.

“Tell me about it.” I sighed, I was tired and wanted my bed. But guess my apartment was pretty fucked. No front door and an active crime scene. Figures.

“What happened?” He asked, and I realised he was under the desk while everything went down. I hope he wasn’t under there for too long. I did tell Gordon about him, and he said he would send an officer to find him.

“I think it’s best if your dad tells you. When he wakes up, it’s... a lot.” George didn’t press me about it, simply nodded with a small smile.

“I’m just happy everyone is safe. You know, no one died. Some people are injured but not one fatality.” He leaned back in his chair, looking over at his dad with relief.

“I guess we are only further in your debt.” He chuckled, making Claire stir in my lap.

“Don’t you start with that too.” I smiled. He looked at her and then back to me.

“Who is that?” He asked, and I remembered these two hadn’t met yet.

“My friend Claire.” I whispered back. He nodded and after a beat asked.

“Is she single?” He blushed slightly although he tried to act cool.

“She is kind of seeing Bruce Wayne. I think.” They weren’t exactly dating, but I’m sure in Claire’s head they were.

George rolled his eyes good-naturedly.
“He gets all the girls, doesn’t he?” He smiled.

“He does have a certain charm with the ladies.” I conceded.

A few minutes later I was asleep. I was exhausted from the past few days but finally, it was over. I hadn’t died, even though I was so sure I was going to. Who the hell gets lucky enough to keep running into the Joker and walk away every time with only some cuts and bruises?

And for once, my smart mouth and sarcastic ass were to thank for it.
Yeah, Mrs Woolwich, my smart ass and backchat came in handy after all. Take that you old mathematics teaching hag.

I don’t think I would have survived with the Joker if he hadn’t found me so intriguing, with a seemingly total disregard for my life and zero filter. It wasn’t that I wasn’t scared, because I was all the time around him. I mean ok, I was mostly annoyed, but scared too.

And I don’t think I would ever know for certain what the Joker found so intriguing about me if anything. Maybe he did it because he was bored, maybe he was going to kill me in the end.

I’ll never know, and I don’t think I want to.
I’m just happy the craziness is over with. I can finally go back to my life.

Chapter Twenty-Six,
The End

A few weeks later

My new life. A normal life. Well as normal as any life could be after the joker. My new normal.

It had been a while since the craziness of the Joker had finally ended. And I couldn’t be happier about it. Going back to my flat to live was not an option. Especially since the landlord had politely asked me to leave…

Seems he didn’t enjoy the whole ordeal of having me as a tenant. What with the Joker murdering one of his other tenants, blowing my doors off their hinges, and having the police swarm the building a few times? Seems I was a little ‘too much’ for the poor guy.

But I left without complaint, it held too many bad memories for me now.
Being kidnapped just wasn’t as much fun as one would think. And I wouldn’t be able to feel safe, knowing the Joker had been here so many times. Even after I tried to keep him out.

I was happier with my new living situation; I had moved into a bigger flat to accompany my new roommate. I asked Claire to move in with me, I had missed her. Although all unicorn paraphernalia was to be kept strictly in her room. ALL of it. She kept trying to sneak things out though, and I promptly moved it back.

 And seeing as we now worked at the same company, it made sense. George had offered her a position at the company shortly after meeting her, he had a small crush bless his soul.  She had taken it on without hesitation, she hated waiting tables, and here she could wear tight little skirts without a care in the world.

No doubt Antonio had gone to fight his brother again, for another ‘stolen’ waitress. And no doubt he got his Italian ass kicked by his wife.

Claire was now the secretary for George's department as it was always expanding. Without Charles to contend with, George was free to try new projects and make some bold moves. I couldn’t be prouder of the little guy.

And speaking of Charles, he was currently in prison still awaiting trial.

The Joker was in Arkham. I say was because he promptly escaped not long after being put in there. It was on the news for a while. And I was worried that he would come for me, maybe this time kill me. But our new building had more security, no one who wasn’t supposed to be here could just waltz in.

However, there was one exception to that rule.

The doorbell rang, and I got up from the couch to answer the door. Opening it Bruce Wayne stood in a suit and tie, looking dapper as always.

“Mr. Wayne, how lovely to see you.” I opened the door fully, inviting him in.

“I assume Claire isn’t ready yet?” He asked, closing the door behind him as he followed me to the couch.

“It’s adorable you think she would be ready at the time you tell her.” I scurried back under the cover I had been snuggled under.

“It’s why I’m here an hour earlier than our reservation.” He smiled, perching on the end.

“Is that Bruce?!” Claire yelled from her room.

“Yes.” He called back with a chuckle. Claire stuck her head around the door with a grin.

“I’ll be two minutes. Maybe three.” She quickly vanished again and by the clattering, I could tell she was trying to get ready quickly.

“Any plans for tonight?” Bruce turned back to me as he relaxed, he was in for a wait.

“Me and the TV.” I grinned, with my movie paused.

“You could come out with us?” He offered.

“And be the third wheel on your date. No, thank you.” I laughed as I scraped my hair back into a bun. I was happy with my plans. I wasn’t showering for anyone. No matter where they took me to eat.

“Fair enough.” We heard more crashes from Claire’s room.
“How have you been?” He asked.

“Fine.” I shrugged because I had been fine.

Nothing weird, nothing out of the ordinary. I’ll be honest, life after the Joker was a little boring. Much safer and I wouldn’t seek him out again, not ever. But it was a little monotonous without him.

But Richard helped with that. After his second brush with near death, he decided to retire. He left the company to both his sons. Not including Charles, obviously. And spent his days travelling, relaxing, and enjoying his hard work paying off.

He kept bringing me strange gifts from all the places he visited, I was building quite a collection. And he always had stories to tell, but thankfully he had bulked up his security these days.

Having a bodyguard with him, updating the security technology at Taylor Industries. Although Lawrence still worked the night shift, with his box of doughnuts as always.

“Nothing from the Joker?” Bruce asked, getting straight to the point.

“Not a peep.” I smiled, Bruce was always very overprotective nowadays, he even came to view the flat to inspect its ‘security’.

Threatening to move Claire and me in with him if it wasn’t up to his standards. Claire was thrilled with the idea until he deemed it worthy.
She always wanted to live in a mansion. Although I think Bruce and I have the same stance on her unicorn obsession. It’s weird.

The unicorn collector herself came out of her room a few seconds later. Still trying to get her shoe on. Bruce immediately got up and helped her into it.

“Aw Brucey, it’s like I’m Cinderella.” Claire giggled and blushed at his chivalry. I giggled from the couch at her pet name for him.

“We should head out.” Bruce looked at his watch, obviously not giving enough time for Claire's lateness. I got up from the couch to hug Claire and lock the door behind them.

Bruce turned on the doormat.
“You have a package by the way.” Bruce picked up the small box and handed it to me. I took it without much thought and waved as they both left.

“Bye Claire, bye Brucey. Have fun!” I called, earning a glare from Bruce.
It was so much fun to mess with him. I laughed as I closed the door and locked it. Claire probably wouldn’t be home until late, so I had the place to myself tonight.

I did love living with Claire, she even cooked sometimes. But it was nice to have some alone time, some silence from the constant gossip of the office. Who was sleeping with who, who was caught fooling around in the supply closet, who had stolen who’s mug?

It was riveting… obviously. But it did make me want to stick a pen in my ear and perforate my eardrum just to make it stop. Or the poppy music she put on when she was getting ready in the morning. More than a few times I had discreetly thrown away a CD or two.

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to wake up to the ‘Circle of life’. Every morning, sang loudly in my doorway, as she held up a life-size Simba plushie.

It’s just not my first choice for an alarm clock. Claire had received more than a few pillows thrown at her face for that. But she was learning to dodge.

I finally turned my attention to the package Brucey had handed to me. Brucey. Classic. I turned it over in my hands, strange there was no postage stamp on it. No return address. Just my name.

At first, I didn’t want to open it, suddenly paranoid. What if it exploded? What if there was an animal in it, I didn’t want a pet, dead or otherwise. But my curiosity finally got the better of me and I ripped open the packaging.

What if it’s Anthrax?
If it's from him. He wouldn’t send me Anthrax; he would want to kill me himself.
True… Okay, fuck it, open it.

There was no letter or card. Nothing to show me who it was from, in the small box there was an even smaller memory card. I picked it out and looked at it curiously. I might regret this, but I went into my room to put it into my laptop. Thankfully it fit in the slot and I only had to wait for a few seconds for a video to start playing.

It started shakily, the camera moving in someone's hands. Then the Joker's face filled up the screen. I was startled a little at seeing his face after so long. He looked the same as last time. Same painted white face, blacked-out eyes and a blood-red smile.

He pushed his green hair out of his face and fiddled with the camera.

“Anna, long time no see.” He grinned.
“I have a gift for you.” I kept watching curiously while the camera fumbled in his hands once again. He had no future in filmography, that much was obvious.

It was blurred for a few seconds and I gasped when it came into focus. It was a prison cell, with an inmate tied and gagged on the floor.

“It’s Caleb. Say hi.” Joker said as I watched the figure squirm on the floor. It was Caleb, older and with a lot more scars.

But the same son of a bitch who I dreamt about killing a hundred times.
He was sobbing on the floor, thrashing wildly against the restraints.

The Joker lifted the camera, so they were both in the frame.
“See, contrary to popular belief. I don’t kill little kiddies. And I don’t like those who do either.” His voice took on a sinister turn as he moved the camera closer to Caleb.

As it did, I could see the bruises on his skin. A black eye, a split lip, bruising right down his jaw, and a cut right down his cheekbone. Look like he took a beating before he was tied up.

I could see his tears, hear his begs behind the gag, and even see his stained trousers. I felt like I was in the room with them. My hatred ignited, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

“You said you wanted revenge. And here it is, at no cost. It’s a personal job.” I watched as the Joker perched the camera on something. The frame showed Caleb and the Joker as he walked over to him.

Caleb's screams grew louder as the Joker advanced on him, renewing his thrashing as he tried to escape. But he was tied up, it was useless.

The Joker dragged him up by his hair, pointing his face to the camera. Caleb was staring right down the lens, eyes pleading. And I watched with no pity.

“This is for Anna.” The Joker whispered. Caleb looked confused until realisation dawned on his face. Only when he realised who the Joker referred to, did the Joker finally kill him.

He stabbed his knife into Caleb's stomach, ripping it across his skin as blood sprayed out. Caleb screamed even louder as he began to bleed out. The Joker dropped Caleb’s head, letting his head smash into the concrete.

Caleb was still alive as the Joker grabbed the camera again. He pushed it closer to Caleb as he began to gasp for breath.

As he finally took his final breath, I could see his eyes glass over as his face went slack. No more screaming, no more movement. The Joker panned down to the stab wound. My hand went to own stomach as I looked at the ripped and bloody skin.

But then I realised, as my hand brushed against my scar, it was the same cut as I had received.

The Joker had killed him in the same way I nearly died. Which was a fitting end for him, I think. Caleb was dead. What I had dreamt about doing for years, the Joker had done it for me. My nightmare, years in the making, was finally at an end.

The person who had caused so much pain in my life was finally dead. And he died in pain, slowly, with no one to save him. I hoped he felt as helpless as I did, I hoped he was in as much pain as I was. And I hope he goes straight to hell where he belongs.

The camera moved away and went back to the Joker's face. He smiled into the camera.

“Consider this a parting gift.” The Joker laughed his signature laugh, which still sent shivers down my spine. And then the screen went black.

I sat motionless for a few seconds. Shocked at what I had just seen. Savouring Caleb’s final moments and knowing now he was gone.
I then noticed a card in the bottom of the box. Not another memory card, but a playing card. Like the one he had left for me before. A Joker card, but with a note on the back.

‘If you need me.’ Next to a number.
I shook my head but I kept the card.

Who knows when this might come in handy?

The End.

Author's note:

I hope you enjoyed this! This is a fic I wrote well over a decade ago, but edited again very recently, so I have no excuse for it. But I always enjoyed re-reading it and why not put it out there for anyone else who might also enjoy it? 

I don't know whether I'll do a spin-off of this, maybe add another chapter for some more shenanigans? I have no concrete plans but wouldn't rule it out either. That's why I left the end open, maybe I'll come back, maybe I won't, who knows?

There are probably a lot of typos and grammatical errors, I did try and catch them but I'm only one lady with two brain cells working overtime, some things are going to slip through the cracks. I hope they aren't too bad though. 

If you enjoyed this I have some other completed fic's. If you enjoyed this, you might enjoy them too. ^_^