Kendall Davis used one hand to lift her long yellow dress lightly as she crossed the open floor. She wasn't exactly comfortable about having to attend Bruce Wayne's fundraiser for Harvey Dent. The dress wasn't the problem, in fact, Kendall felt quite comfortable in the Clarisse 9120 silk dress. It dipped low on her back, and the v-neck front was classy and sophisticated. She held her favorite black clutch in one hand, although the only contents it held was a credit card, her ID, and her car keys. Her cell phone had been left purposely in her car. Her long dark hair had been pulled back into an easy, yet elegant bun at the nape of her neck, with only a few long wisps left to fall loosely from the bun.
Absentmindedly, she brushed one of the dark strands back from her face as she headed toward where Bruce, Harvey, and Rachel Dawes were gathered. Of course, the extravagant party wasn't exactly Kendall's scene. In fact, there was a time when Kendall would have wrinkled her nose in disgust at the idea of attending such an event, especially when said event was being hosted by none other than the infamous playboy Bruce Wayne.
However, when Kendall had moved to Gotham only a year and a half before, the only company that would take a college dropout as an intern had been Wayne Enterprises. Kendall had never intended to be a broke college dropout; then again, she hadn't intended for most of the things that had happened to her in her short 21 years. But when she was left with no other options, Bruce Wayne had opened up a door for her. Thanks to him, she was living in a moderately safe neighborhood (really, moderately safe was as good as you could truly ask for in Gotham City), in an upscale apartment. She was able to afford the two-hundred and seventy-five dollar dress which currently hugged her curves. Sure, she hadn't made it back to college yet which had originally been her intention, but she was doing well working as a paid intern. She made better money than most of her friends, and she wasn't living off welfare or on the streets. All in all, she was doing pretty damn good.
"Kendall," Bruce greeted her with a smile as the young woman approached.
Kendall offered him a wide smile in reply.
"Hello, Bruce."
"Harvey, Rachel, I'd like to introduce you to the lovely Ms. Kendall Davis. She's a very promising intern at Wayne Enterprises," Bruce introduced her proudly. "And Kendall, I assume you know of Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes."
"Of course," Kendall nodded. "Wonderful to meet you both. And Mr. Dent congratulations on your big achievement. Clearly, you're the man of the hour." She offered him an honest smile.
Harvey held out a hand for the young girl. "Please, just call me Harvey."
Rachel had been appraising the young girl since she had walked up. Her olive skin and incredibly dark eyes contrasted beautifully against the yellow dress. Her nude colored heels added about four inches to the petite's girl frame. Rachel guessed she would be just around 5'4 without them. Her cheek bones were sharp against her face, and Rachel noticed a long, yet thin scar that reached from her left temple to her pierced ears. Rachel wouldn't have even noticed it had she not been examining the girl so carefully.
As Kendall gave Harvey an honest smile, Rachel felt herself warm to the young girl. She radiated innocence.
"Pleasure to meet you Ms. Davis." Rachel offered a hand. "I'd love to hear about what you're working on with Bruce."
"Oh, we don't have the pleasure of working together too often. I'm still just a lowly intern." Kendall laughed lightly as she shook Rachel's outstretched hand.
It was at that moment that a loud crash was heard coming from one corner of the large room. Kendall heard gasps as another set of doors crashed open and loud footsteps were heard. Immediately, masked men began to disperse across the room, their large machine guns a silent warning to everyone.
Then, she saw him.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. We are tonight's en-ter-tainment. I only have one question. Where is Harvey Dent?"
Kendall shrank back slightly, and looking to her right and left, realized that both Harvey and Bruce were no longer there. Rachel was, however. Her eyes were stern and serious as she watched the Joker question random party-goers about Harvey's whereabouts.
Kendall inhaled sharply, a hand going up to her mouth to quiet herself, as she watched the Joker bring a knife up to a man's mouth.
She had seen him on the news before, and of course, he was the talk of the town. Still, in person he was louder, he seemed to captivate the attention of everyone around him. Most likely because he scared the shit out of everyone around him.
Suddenly, Rachel had stepped up from beside Kendall. Kendall's eyes were wide as she watched Rachel stand up to the madman. Sure, the story he was spinning about his crazy-wife was a bit sad, but from what Kendall had heard, all of his stories regarding his scars were different anyways. She doubted someone like him would give the real reason for such torturous marks.
Kendall felt weak as she watched the Joker continue to hold the knife up to Rachel. Rachel had been brave enough to step up, why couldn't she? Thankfully, she didn't have to question her own weakness much longer as a gravelly voice woke her from her thoughts and brought her back to the present.
"Then you're gonna love me."
Batman had showed up. Thank God, Kendall noted. She watched as he singlehandedly took out most of the Joker's men.
Suddenly, she felt two rough hands throw her forward toward the fight. She ended up on the ground, her knees protesting being thrown ruthlessly against the hardwood floor. She pushed herself up to her elbows just in time to see Batman move towards the masked man who had probably thrown her out of the way in an effort to escape the dark knight.
Just as quickly as she was thrown on the ground, Kendall felt herself being jerked up roughly. She tripped over her dress as she attempted to get her feet underneath her, all while trying to look up to see who was grabbing her. She heard a large rip as one of her heels shredded the bottom part of her dress.
Then, she was upright, her back pressed against a hard chest, and the smell of gunpowder filling her nose. Her eyes widened as she heard the voice behind her.
"Ah, ah, ah. Batman. I've got two kiddos here I don't think you want to see hurt."
Kendall attempted to turn her neck but she felt cold, sharp metal against her neck. She raised her head up higher in an attempt to get away from the cool metal, but it only followed her, its point digging in even further against her tanned skin. She grimaced slightly at the image.
In her peripheral vision, she saw the Joker's other hand holding a black gun to the side of Rachel's head.
Joker's lips smacked once before continuing. "Now-ah, you just take off that mask of yours and I'll let both of them go."
For a moment, all was quiet, as the Joker apparently waited for Batman to respond to his request.
"No? Well, then," he continued as he kicked Kendall's legs out from under her. Kendall suddenly found herself on her knees in front of him, one of the Joker's gloved hands holding on to her hair tightly. Kendall felt it being pulled from her perfectly elegant bun. Just as he managed to get her on the floor, Kendall also heard a blast leave the gun, the window behind her shattering from the impact the bullet had made. Suddenly, his hand had left the back of her head, his gun taking its place, as he maneuvered Rachel Dawes' to the window with his other hand.
"Who's it gonna be, batboy? I'm gonna shoot one and toss the other." Joker smiled dangerously, the red paint reaching his ears.
"Let her go," Batman's voice rang out.
Kendall grimaced at his words, considering the fact that Rachel was hanging over the ledge of the building.
"Poor choice of words," Joker commented, as if reading Kendall's mind. There was a scream and Kendall turned her head just enough to see Batman diving out the window toward the screaming Rachel.
"Ah, ah, dollface," Joker scolded, as he nudged her hard in the head with the barrel of the gun. "I'm not finished with you."
Kendall shivered slightly. Batman had jumped out the window to take care of Rachel. Did that mean she was the one the Joker would kill now? She didn't have much time to consider her fate before she heard sirens in the distance.
"Oh, that's our, uh, cue." In two steps, Joker was standing in front of the still-kneeling Kendall, his gun pointed at her forehead. He seemed to be considering her, she thought. She heard the safety on the gun click off and she closed her eyes gently, not wanting to see him pull the trigger.
She heard a laugh as the gun left her head. She peeked her eyes open slowly to see the Joker waving his gun in the air.
"Come on boys, let's move out-ah," he ordered. Kendall almost sighed with relief. Was she going to make it out alive? Joker seemed to sense her relief as he buried his hand in her hair again, grabbing it tightly and yanking her to her feet. She groaned softly in surprise and pain. "Don't think you're getting away so easy, dollface. You're the, uh, insurance policy."
They crossed the room quickly, one of the Joker's hand's holding the gun loosely, the other wound tightly in Kendall's hair.
She found it quite difficult to walk, especially at the pace he was setting. His hand kept her head bent backwards painfully, and her heels and long dress made it nearly impossible to keep from tripping and slipping. She barely had time to consider the fact that she was a hostage as her mind was so focused on keeping from falling.
Suddenly, the elevator was in front of her, and she found herself being pushed roughly into it. But her heel caught in the crack between the elevator doors and she felt her ankle twist as she fell to the ground inside the elevator. The Joker had kept her from falling completely, as his iron grip had not let go of her poor hair, but her heel was still stuck.
When she didn't immediately right herself, the Joker seemed to assess the problem. He used the toe of one shoe to kick her leg away from the elevator door, freeing her heel in the process. Then, he yanked her back to her feet so there would be room for the rest of his men to fit.
"Clumsy, aren't ya," he commented, as he pulled her back against him.
Kendall's eyes tightened up in pain as she was forced to put weight on her ankle. It had rolled harshly to the side when her heel was stuck, and she realized she must have ripped something, or at least twisted something badly. She switched her weight so that less of it was on the throbbing ankle.
"Quiet, too. Although that-ah my dear, is a good quality for a woman." The Joker laughed as he spoke, the words coming out higher than normal.
The elevator beeped twice as it reached the first floor.
"Van's out front boss," a gruff voice from over Kendall's right shoulder said.
"Good, good," the Joker muttered as he grabbed a larger chunk of his young hostage's hair. It was silky beneath his gloves. He rested his other hand on her shoulder so that the gun was pointed against her slender neck.
"Now don't-ah make a scene, please," he whispered in her ear as the elevator doors opened.
Kendall found herself limping obviously as the Joker pushed her ahead of him, out the revolving glass doors, and toward a tall white van with tinted windows.
A masked man opened up the back doors and Kendall found herself being pushed harshly through them. She didn't have time to get her hands underneath her before she found her face meeting the hard bottom of the van. She just barely moved her feet out of the way of the closing van doors. She heard another few door slams before the van lurched to life. She looked toward the front of the van to see five men settled comfortably into the two rows of seats, pulling off their masks and immediately talking amongst themselves.
She gasped as she felt two gloved hands enclose around her ankle. That was when she realized that the Joker had climbed in to the back of the van after her and was observing her critically from his seat on the ground. He pulled her feet on top of his legs and pushed her dress higher up.
Kendall bit her lip hard as she tried to keep in another gasp of terror.
She watched as the Joker ran his leather-clad hand back down her leg and pulled off her heels carelessly.
"How do you walk in these things? No wonder you're-ah so clumsy." Kendall watched as he pushed open the back door about a foot and tossed her favorite heels out.
"Those things are weapons, doll. You won't-ah be needing them." He smirked at her, his scarred, jagged smile uneven.
"Let me out." The Joker's head snapped toward Kendall as she finally found her voice.
"Ex-ca-use me?" His smile faded. "Glad to see you can speak, dear, but watch your words."
"You got out. You don't need me anymore. Let me go," Kendall rationalized. She tried to keep her tone even, her words sure. She was fairly certain that reasoning with this madman would be impossible, but she wasn't one to just sit back and allow her situation to continue getting worse and worse.
He had shocked her by his actions, sure. She had not been expecting him to take her from the party, but her head was clearer now, despite the throbbing pain shooting up her calf from her left ankle.
She looked down to her bare feet and noticed they were still resting stretched out on his legs. She tried to pull them back towards her, but his hands clasped around both of her ankles painfully, keeping them securely where they were.
He leaned forward towards her, his grip on her ankles tightening even more dangerously. She bit back a small whimper as he narrowed his eyes at her.
"Ya see dear, you're not the one calling the shots-ah. That'd be me. And you just look so good in that pretty yellow dress of yours, I've decided to keep you."
Kendall's eyes widened and her heart hammered loudly against her chest. Her breath caught in her throat.
"K-keep me? Whatdoyou mean?" she rambled out quietly, her voice suddenly sounding foreign to her.
"Ya know, I liked you a lot better when you were being quiet." The Joker looked down at the gun that was still held loosely in one hand. He tossed it from hand to hand for a second, as if enjoying the familiar weight of it.
Kendall watched him fearfully. Then there was a blur of movement and something hard caught her on the side of her head. She fell to the floor of the van again, her cheek resting against some cables. Her head was spinning, her vision fading in and out. For a second she considered fighting for her consciousness, but as a wave of pain shot through her skull, she gave in to the darkness.
Okay, my first Batman Begins/Dark Knight fic. I'm hoping it won't be so similar to all of the other great ones out there-if it is, feel free to tell me, or give the story another few chapters to see where it's going first. Leave me a review please, or give me some kind of heads up as to what you think :) I will continue if there's interest, otherwise probably not. Also, feel free to let me know whether or not you think the Joker is in character. He's so hard to write! Thanks guys, hope you liked it!