"I'm not intruding," she protested, trying to inch away from the man in front of her, "I was just… asleep." Her arms shook underneath her as she trembled in fear from the criminal she was looking up at. She then nearly hit herself for coming up with such a lame excuse.
"You were sleeping in a cardboard box?" one of the joker's men from behind her asked dumbly.
Maeve nodded, her mind trying to scroll through various details that she could add to her previous explanation that would make it half way plausible.
"It's a project for school, I'm raising money for the homeless and so thought I should try put myself in the situation they would be in," she mumbled quickly, thinking this was the soundest excuse she could think of at that moment.
In front of her, the joker was scratching his head as if wondering what she was going on about. Maeve began to think that it did not matter what excuse she came up with, the Joker on the news killed for fun and that was exactly what he had just done in front of her. She saw him remove the rifle from his shoulder and Maeve gave off a squeak in alarm.
The Joker smiled at her, handing the rifle to one of his gang members and rolling his shoulder as if it was in pain, then bent down to come face to face with the frightened girl. She could see his scars in all their glory now, their twisted form painting an eternal smile on his face.
"You need to… relax girly, I wouldn't hurt your oh so charitable self, now would I?" He laughed, pointing out how ridiculous her excuse had been before. Maeve decided to pretend not to hear his sarcasm and play dumb, thinking that might get her out of this extremely sticky situation.
"Since we've got that all cleared up, I guess I'll be going then," She said as she jumped up and turned to run from the alley as fast as she possible could. Hoping that he would just leave it at that and let her be. However, her luck in the past should have told her otherwise. She had hardly gone a few steps before she was grabbed by the henchman who had spoken earlier.
"Are you stupid?" The henchman asked as he turned her to face his boss once again, who now had a giant smile plastered on his grotesque face. It was almost as if he was imagining killing her, a knife through her struggling body. The joker ambled towards them, hands in his pocket as he stared into the eyes of his intruder. He seemed to be taking her in, noticing the fact that she had no shoes and just a t shirt on her top half, he also saw her shiver from the cold and her chattering teeth craving warmth.
"So we have a little saint here boys. Maybe we should make a donation to this charity then shouldn't we?" He exclaimed to his gang members with that same cruel smile on his face, "But the fact still remains that you were an eyewitness to one of my… shows. And four dead bodies is better than three… the more the merrier." He was now reaching for a knife he had held in his pocket, the blade although quite small had a razor sharp edge and Maeve could already imagine the damage he could do with it.
"You can't do that," Maeve stammered, trying to pull herself away from the strong arms of the gang member. He held fast as the joker chuckled at her comment.
"And why is that?" He asked her, wondering what stupid excuse she would come up with. He always took pleasure in seeing what people could come up with at their most terrifying moments.
"I have rich parents," was her first excuse, but she was quickly cut off as he chuckled.
"I don't care about money," he replied, staring at his reflection in the flat part of the knife.
"We're a very tight knit and protective family, they would hunt you down and-"
"And I would kill them," he finished for her. He did not seem to be so interested in what she had to say any more, which frightened Maeve. After smiling at his own distorted reflection, he stopped staring at himself and cleared his throat roughly, before looking at her with grim eyes. She screamed as he walked right up to her and grabbed her face roughly with his hands.
"Are you quite done little one?" he stated simply as he kept his right hand tight around her chin and menacingly flipped the knife in the fingers of his left hand.
"My parents are close personal friends with the Batman," She shouted before she could stop herself. Immediately he stopped flipping the knife and looked at her with a look of both curiosity and menace.
"Is that so?" he asked simply, licking his lips quickly.
"He comes around a lot, obviously not in his bat suit but it's him all the same," she said slowly before adding, "He would probably take my murder personally, me and him are quite close."
Maeve wondered when she had gained the ability to lie so easily. Her mum had hated lies of all sorts, which Maeve had always thought very hypocritical since she herself had always been a frequent liar before her death. After that it seemed when Maeve had been made to move in with Malcolm she had just needed to lie a lot so as not to get hurt. She realised that at that moment it could be saving her life – or postponing her death.
"Interesting," the joker muttered under his breath as he thought about what she was telling him. If this girl did indeed know the batman then she could be very useful to him. Obviously she could easily be lying, but then again she sounded very convincing, he guessed there would be only one way to find out.
"Tie up her hands and bring her with us boys," he shouted to his gang members as he turned his back on them and skipped towards the mouth of the alley.
"Wait, what?" she asked stupidly as her arms were tied up with a rope of some sort. She realised her plan had backfired when two of the henchmen began pulling her towards a black Volvo that had appeared at the front of the alley.
"Let me go! Leave me alone!" she screamed as she was pushed into the back of the car and two gang members sat down on either side of her. She trembled as she saw the joker grin back at her from the driver's seat of the car.
"What's wrong girly? Just be glad you're not dead," he laughed maniacally before slamming down the breaks and tearing down the road.
Maeve tried to stay as still as possible as the car sped down Gotham's streets, trying as hard as she could not to slam into either of the henchmen on her right and left. Besides herself and the joker they were the only other two people in the car. She wondered where the other gang members were, because she was sure there were at least three other people with them in the alley before. Probably going to dispose of the bodies, she thought to herself glumly as she stared out of the window to her right. Just ten minutes before, that small family had been alive and happy, a huge future ahead of them to look forward to. She felt herself tear up as she remembered the look of horror the little boy had on his face as he had stared at his father's dead body, and then down the barrel of the joker's gun.
Maeve had narrowly escaped facing the same if not a worse fate… but only due to the lie she had told. She shuddered at what he would do to her once he realised what she had said was not true, making up her mind to try escape as quickly as possible.
They had been driving for around thirty minutes before they reached central Gotham. At this point, the joker began driving the car towards the east of the city, driving away from the busier area of the city and into a more quiet area that was still as industrial as its central counterpart.
Finally, the car was stopped in front of what looked like an old theatre. It gave off the impression that it may have been quite an expensive one in its day, gold paint still evident on its front. An old dilapidated large sign still hung over red doors, which had long ago been boarded up and locked. All over the glass of the old doors were torn posters for shows of years past, with titles such as 'Othello' and 'The importance of being earnest."
The man on her right, who she had taken to calling 'the big guy with the cool hair', as his hair was dyed a dark black with blue streaks mixed in, got out of the car slowly. When he got on the street he stretched his legs as if just a short car ride had cramped his overworked muscles. The guy on her left, Maeve had realised earlier in the car journey, was the guy who had accused her of being stupid, and she had not yet figured out a nickname for him. Just as she was thinking of what to call him, she saw the big guy outside reach in and grab her by the arm and pull her out with him.
"Be gentle," she grumbled as he shoved her in the direction of the theatre entrance, he simply growled back, keeping a hold on the collar of her t shirt.
The Joker was busy fumbling with a large number of keys on a tiny keychain, seemingly try to find the right key to fit the lock of the theatre door. Maeve smiled to herself at the humorous scene before her, this dangerous criminal not being able to open the door to his own lair.
"Finding something funny?" the joker asked dangerously as he found the right key and managed to open the door. She shook her head quickly, realising she had to be careful none of what she was thinking would show up on her face.
He frowned and walked into the theatre, waiting for the others to follow him in before he swung the door shut behind them. The big guy let go of her arm as he fumbled for the light switch, and a few seconds later a bright glaring light lit up the room.
The room they were in was an entrance into the grand theatre, where they would have sold tickets if the theatre were up and running. There was a grand red carpet running beneath her feet and the entire place smelt damp and musty.
Once again, big guy grabbed hold of her arm and led her into the actual theatre, and Maeve could finally see the giant stage and rows upon rows of seats. The joker walked down the aisles of seats and placed himself in the very middle of the front row, his feet resting on a footstool that was in front of his seat.
"Bring the girl down Karl," he shouted back to the big guy who then proceeded to grab her arm and pull her roughly down the aisles, not caring whether he was dragging or pulling her down. Finally he stopped her in front of the joker and pushed her onto her knees roughly.
"Watch it asshole," she muttered under her breath as she hit the floor hard. In front of her the joker was staring at her unnervingly, his lips curled into a small smile.
"What did you call me?" Karl growled at her, grabbing hold of her hair.
"Leave her Karl… we need her for now," the joker stated, saving Maeve the trouble of having her hair pulled off at the roots, "I'm afraid we're at a disadvantage little one, you obviously know my name… but I don't know yours."
Maeve decided against telling him her real name, if she escaped he could probably track her down with it.
"Emma," she answered quickly so that he would not have need to doubt her.
"So Emma… if your parents are as overprotective and wealthy as you say they are, I would give them say, till this afternoon for them to call up the police and for your photo to be all over the news. What do you think?" he asked her, leaning down to be closer to her.
She gulped in dismay at hearing this, because she was ninety nine percent sure her stepdad would not even go to the police about her disappearance… and if he did it would be in a week, not a few hours.
"That sounds just about right," she answered, giggling uneasily.
"And until then, all you have to do… is be a good girl, understand Emma?" he said dangerously, taking his knife out of his pocket and flipping it in his hand. This was a habit that was terribly unnerving to Maeve, making her imagine the damage he could do with that one small object.
All she could do was nod, and was surprised when he got up and pulled her up by the shoulder and walked her towards the right end of the cinema. Here, he grabbed some rope that seemed to be just lying around and tied her already bound hands to a seat and then pushed her into it abruptly. Then he turned his back on her and strode back into his seat in the centre of the theatre, picking up a T.V remote control and switching on the news before turning to smile at her.
"Just be good little one," he shouted across to her, turning towards the T.V screen.
Maeve shivered by herself, she knew she had only a few hours to get out of the Joker's grasp. A door slammed behind her as the rest of the joker's henchmen walked in. There were around seven of them, not counting Karl and the guy who had called her stupid… Ten men including the joker, probably all of which would not even hesitate when it came to shooting her.
She watched as they walked towards the joker and huddled around him in a tight group, every once in a while a few of them turning around to look at her oddly as if they were talking about her. After a few minutes of this, the joker leaped on to the stage with one swift movement, and turned to look at the very end of the theatre where Maeve saw a group of teenage boys had walked in. They could not have been more than a year or two older than her, and Maeve wondered what they were doing there.
The Joker motioned for the group of boys to get on the stage with him. Here, he divided them into groups of two and picked two from the front, pulling them into the middle of the stage.
"Let the games begin!" the Joker shouted, picking up two long wooden poles from the floor and throwing them to each of the boys.
"Wait what?" One of the boys stammered, staring down at the pole in his hand, "No one mentioned any of this before. I just want money… I don't wanna kill anyone."
"The only way out of this building alive is as one of my henchmen, and there's only one spot on my team up for grabs. I'd get a move on if I were you," the joker replied, jumping back down into his seat.
The boy stared at him in horror, the pole still in his hand. She could almost see his dark brown eyes tear up but was shocked when he suddenly jumped for the other guy, about to hit him over the head with it until the other guy blocked, pushing him back.
"Dude what the hell?" the guy shouted, trying to push the brown eyed boy away from him with all his might. The two of them were locked in what seemed like a tie, neither of them willing to give up as they pushed against each other with the poles. Maeve gasped as the brown eyed boy fell to the ground as if beaten, and as soon as the other guy were about to hit him over the head, he rolled over and pulled him down by his leg, before jumping on top of him and raising the weapon above his head.
"I'm sorry," the brown eyed boy mumbled just as he brought the wooden stick onto the other boy's head.