A/N: I finally saw The Dark Knight and fell in love with Heath Ledger's Joker. So I'm trying my hand at a fan fiction of him. I've read plenty of other ones and I think I have some good ideas.
Declaimer: I -sadly- don't own Batman or anyone in this story except my OC's.
She had been leaning over that same piece of paper for a good five hours. She only got up to check the tapes and pictures people had gotten of her current subject. Every once in a while she gave herself a bathroom break. Her hands shot out for different items at random intervals. This eraser, that purple copic's marker, this green colored pencil. But she was finally done. She heaved a heavy sigh and leaned back. She cracked her knuckles and jumped as her phone went off.
Picking it up she pressed the green 'Call' button.
"Adrienne?" Came a man's voice. It was deep and would have been able to make even the most self respecting women melt in her shoes.
"Hey George. I just finished. Should I fax it to you now or bring it over tomorrow morning?" Adrienne asked suddenly very interested in her nails.
"Fax it out now. I'll need to review it for the Paper in the morning. And this had better be good- We've dropped below The Globe again we'll need some very good stuff to raise our ratings."
"Ok. Anything else?"
"N-n-nope. I'll see you in conference room D tomorrow at 8 A.M sharp ok?" George stuttered
"George are you ok?"Adrienne asked concern lacing her voice
"I-I'm." George cleared his throat "I'm fine"
"Ok then. Night, George" Adrienne pressed the end button and set her phone down on her art station. She stood up and grabbed her drawing. She walked over to her computer and booted it. She stuck the cartoon in the scanner and went to look for something to eat while it faxed to George.
She shivered as she left her warm drawing room and entered the main room of her apartment. It was large with wood flooring and a crème colored walls. She crossed to the other side of her apartment and into her very modern kitchen. She shuffled her feet across the stone floor to the French door refrigerator. She opened the doors and rummaged through it until she found some celery, apples, and grapes. She closed the doors and opened one of the cabinets removing a container of Jif smooth peanut butter. She set her dinner on the glass coffee table in front of the T.V.
Adrienne walked back into her drawing room and saw the cartoon had finished faxing. She took out her cartoon depicting a man with clown face paint and gruesome scars. He was wearing a light purple collared shirt with octagons on it. A green vest and dark purple suit pants with a Dark purple over coat that came down to his knees. He also had clown type shoes on. He wore a devilish smile and had a miniature Batman tied around the pinkie of his left hand and held a miniature Gotham City in his right hand. It was a picture of The Joker. Many people in the city feared him. Who could blame them? He'd been wreaking havoc about the city for a good month now. But Adrienne found herself intrigued by this mass murder.
She put the cartoon on top of a stack of other drawing and cartoons.
Adrienne went back to the front room and turned the heater up then grabbed a blanket and sat on the couch. She un-screwed the peanut butter jar while flipping through channels. She finally stopped on USA where they were having a Psych and SVU marathon. Adrienne heard a knock on her door and agitatedly got up.
'It's 11 o'-fucking-clock at night. Who in their right mind would go around knocking on doors?' Adrienne thought.
When she reached the door she pulled it open as far as the chain lock would let it
"Are you out of your fucking-" Adrienne began but realized she was talking to thin air. She undid the chain and stepped out but saw nothing and no one. She shrugged it off and walked back inside doing up all the locks. She turned to the table she kept beside the door and made a note to tell the people down stairs that there were some kids ding-dong-ditching. Adrienne walked back to her couch and situated herself once more.
Adrienne woke up with her face smashed against the clicker and the T.V. still on. Sitting up She glanced at the time on her cable box. 5:47 am it flashed in orange letters. Adrienne streched and stood up. She turned off the T.V. and gathered up the empty plastic and the Jif peanut butter container. She walked to her kitchen and threw them in the recycling bin for plastics. She got out some coffee beans and put them in her coffee maker/grinder and set it. Then turning up the thermostat she walked into her bedroom. She walked to her dresser and grabbed a pair of under ware from the drawer under that got a white tank top. She walked over to her closet and grabbed some black skinny jeans and a neon green knitted jacket.
Adrienne headed to her bathroom and stripped down climbing into the hot shower. Once she was done she climbed out and dried off. She walked to the sink and washed her face, brushed her teeth, blew her hair dry, and straightened her bangs. She got her mousse and began making the back and sides of her pixi cut spiky. After she was done with that she put on some mascara and black eyeliner. Finally getting dressed. She excited the bathroom and headed back to her room. She grabbed some purple Victorian style lace-up ankle boots and her black hobo bag purse. She grabbed her phone and checked the time. 7:00 am"shit" She muttered to herself. Adrienne an out her front door and locked it. She ran down the emergency stairs to the bottom floor. The man behind the counter shouted something to her about mail but none of it registered to Adrienne. She walked outside and told the Valle to go get her car.
Looking in her bag Adrienne realized she didn't have the drawing.
"God damnit!" She hissed under her breath calling her neighbor.
Adrienne sat in her car revving the engine. She was going to be late not by too much, but late none the less. In her rear view mirror she caught sight of Angie her neighbor. Adrienne honked the horn of her Alfa Romero which isn't supposed to be released in the U.S until 2011. What could she say? She knew some nice people.
Angie ran over with the picture
"Mr. Roberts said you didn't stop for your mail so I grabbed it for you. Honestly, you should just work at a night club. I do and I get paid great plus I don't have all these stupid business meetings to go to." Angie said smiling at Adrienne
"Well I don't like having guy's trying to looks up my skirt all the time. So I'll pass."Adrienne said jokingly before revving her engine and taking off.
Adrienne sat at a stop light she wished would just change all ready. Glancing side way's she saw her mail. She reached her long thin fingers out and snagged a few pieces. Glancing at them. 'Mostly junk...' Adrienne thought. All of a sudden the light turned green and she took off, not noticing the joker card that flew out the window.
She parked in front and tossed her keys to the Valle running inside. Skipping the elevator Adrienne ran up 12 flights of stairs before bursting out on her floor.
Lucy the receptionist smiled and nodded at Adrienne signaling that she had enough time to walk down to the conference room and at least try to look dignified. Adrienne adjusted her hair and bad and began to stride towards room D. She tried to catch her breath and when she passed a window glanced at herself in it.
'At least I don't look THAT horrible after running up 12 flights of stairs and driving like a mad woman. Maybe if I put on some sun glasses I might look less disastrous.' Adrienne finally made it to the conference room. She stood outside the door staring at the handle. Sure her art had been in the papers before. She was a famous artiest in Gotham. But The Globe's reputation rested on her one piece of art now. What if no one liked it and stopped reading it? 'No.' She thought 'No, who are you kidding? 4 out of 5 critiques love you work. Don't think like that. And besides The Joker is big news right now. Anything with his face on it is getting bought up in about 5 seconds flat.'
Feeling confidant Adrienne grabbed the handle and opened the door stepping into the fluorescent lit room. There were only 3 other people there. George Hampton; The man who had commissioned her to do this for his paper, Leonardo Smith head researcher for The globe, and John Jacob Head journalist for The Globe.
"Hello, Adrienne" George said "have a seat. Would you like some coffee?"
At this her eyes grew a bit wide realizing she forgot her coffee maker on. "Yes please. Do you have and raspberry or French vanilla creamer?"
George nodded "We have both" he said pouring her a cup of coffee
"Good. A little of both please" Adrienne said pulling out the picture she had drawn last night. Leonardo reached his hand out "May I see that Miss Kyren?" he asked. Adrienne nodded and handed it to him "But please call me Adrienne. I hate formalities." She said flashing a smile. Leonardo just nodded pointing something's out to John.
George tapped her shoulder and offered her coffee. She took it gratefully taking a long sip.
"So" John began, "Why do you have the Batman tied around the Joker's finger?" He picked up his coffee and took a sip. Adrienne could feel the pressure coming on. Everyone was looking at her. I was like they were reading her every movement. Looking into her soul ready to devour her if she made one mistake. It brought her back to her freshmen year in Collage.
She took a deep breath and stood up. She closed her eyes and whispered to herself "Go kick ass". She opened her eye's 'You can do this. It's just like when you did monologues in Theatre in 8th grade'.
"I have the Batman tied around the Jokers finger because, if you think about it, it's true. He has the Batman running all over the place. Has him go here and blows up some building 8 miles away. He controls the Batman right now. He controls the whole city. It's like one of those little boxes of ants. We all go about doing our work. But then he taps on the glass or shakes it a bit and we freak out." she breathed in and surveyed her audience, then plowed on "None of us are able to do ANYTHING. He has us" she pauses "...All of us," another pause "In the palm of his hand." She concluded sitting down. George smiled at her his Mediterranean blue eye's shown with a hidden light.
Leonardo and John huddled together along with George muttering. Adrienne felt triumphant. She sat down and put her feet on the table sipping her coffee. 'If Mrs. Hall was here she'd have been proud I'm sure.' Adrienne thought smiling to herself.
"We'll run it." John said grudgingly. Adrienne could tell he didn't like her but she didn't care, she was on cloud 9.
"Thank you gentlemen. Until next time" She said gathering up her items and putting her empty coffee cup in the sink.
"*ahem* actually, we were wondering if you'd sign up with us. You know, draw a comic or picture for us every week? Maybe a contract for a year then if you choose you could go do something else?" Leonardo asked. Adrienne almost dropped her glass.
"Do you have a contract drawn up?" she asked her heart fluttering.
"No not yet. But we could fax you one. And anything you don't like or agree with we could either remove or adjust." Leonardo said, "To a reasonable extent at least."
Adrienne was in auto pilot. Smiling she agreed to at least look a contract over. She basically danced out of there.
When Adrienne got her car she pulled off to stop in the first McDonalds she saw. Whipping out her phone she called Angie.
"Ange?" Adrienne asked heart humming
"Adrienne! How did it go? Any cute guys?" Angie asked teasingly
"Great! Get down to the McD's on Main St. ok? I'll tell you all the gooey details."Adrienne couldn't help but want to gush; she was a girl after all.
"There's 'Gooey details'? I'm in! I'll be there in like. 10 minutes ok? Love ya, kiss kiss." Adrienne hung up and walked in. 'I can cheat in my diet for ONE meal, it'll be like my 'Congrats' party ' Adrienne convinced herself.
She walked up to the counter and ordered a large chocolate shake, large fries, and a #9 fish sandwich. By the time she had sat down Angie had walked in and spotted her.
"Pigging out I see? I'm starting to wonder what these gooey details consist of." She said eyeing Adrienne. Both girls laughed.
"Want some? Now that I've got it all I realize it just might be too much." Adrienne said taking the lid off her shake dipping in a fry and popping it into her mouth.
Angie stared at her flabbergasted. "That was disgusting." Was all she could say.
"No it isn't! Try it. I used to do it all the time when I was a kid." Adrienne said getting two fries and dipping them into the shake holding them out to Angie. She finally relented and ate it.
"It's ok I guess. Now" She said getting serious "What about this business meeting?"
Adrienne smiled and began her story. She described Leonardo's Dark hair and chocolate brown eye's to which Angie said something along the lines oh 'I'd tap that'. Adrienne then began to describe how she powered through the question she was surprised with.
"I don't like that John guy. I mean, why he would surprise you with a question. He could have just accepted your artistic genius and been done with it."
"I know but...Maybe he thought it might not be printed if I couldn't answer. Too bad for him I could and they offered me a contrac-"Adrienne was cut off as an explosion sounded behind her. The windows in the McD's shook and the ones at the very back, closest to the back across the street blew out. Adrienne jumped up and ran outside.
Traffic had stopped and there was a line of school busses driving away.
"Holy shit! What the fuck was that?" Angie shouted when she found Adrienne who wasn't paying any attention.
She was staring across the street at a man pulling his mask back on. The man stopped and looked dead on at Adrienne. Slowly he pulled it up again to reveal the Joker's face. There were shouts in the crowd. Adrienne paid them no attention. As the joker sat down in the driver seat he cast another glance at Adrienne before winking and driving off.
Angie started shaking her.
"Adrienne. Adrienne!" She was jerked out of her thoughts.
"Did you see that? He-he winked. I think he winked at me!" She shouted. Another smaller explosion went off from the bank again. A joker card and a news paper opened to her cartoon were lying on the ground in front of Adrienne.
"Can you stay the night tonight?" She asked hardly hearing her own voice.
Angie nodded. "Come on. Let's grab your food and head home." She suggested, "Today has been too eventful."
"I can only stay until 8 then I've got to go to work." Angie said as she led a shaking Adrienne up to her apartment. "Key?"
Adrienne shoved her hand into her bag and found her key, handing it to Angie.
They walked into her apartment. Adrienne headed to the bathroom where she washed her face with cold water. Angie put the food on the glass table and switched on the T.V. She almost screamed when the Joker's face popped up laughing. Quickly she changed the channel but found they all had the same thing. She then noticed there was a DVD in the player. She pulled it out and read what it said: You're right. I have Gotham in the palm of my hand.
"How about we go somewhere? I don't feel like being cooped up tonight" Angie suggested shoving the disk under a couch cushion.
"Ok."Adrienne said cheerily as she came in. "I'm just going to change then ok?" Adrienne ran to her room and came out a little bit later wearing a mid thigh length grey skirt with a green satin top and purple high heeled Steve Madden's. She had on a purple beaded necklace and her light red/brown hair had a grey bow in the bangs.
"oooh. Sexy" Angie laughed
"I just need to grab something's to put in my bag. You can run down and change it you want to." Adrienne said putting her phone and key in her clutch.
"Ok. I'll be right back up. Were going to take my car ok?" Adrienne nodded and grabbed her lighter and cigarettes. She then made her was back to her bedroom. She opened her drawer and pulled out a condom she didn't even know she had. Checking the expiration date 'Well...why not be prepared?'Her eye's then rested on something else. It was a knife. A switch blade. The handle was black with a green shamrock inlaid. She pulled it out and put it in her purse to. , not really knowing why. She heard a knock on her door and closed her purse running to the door.
"Let's go. I know this really cool bar." Angie smacked Adrienne's hand as she reached for her car keys. "My car this time. Yours has no back seat." She winked at Adrienne who let out an exasperated sigh but laughed all the same.
'The Bull' read the sign in red neon letters.
"I've never been here before." Adrienne said looking at Angie who just looked away.
"It's nice here. They have great martinis!" She exclaimed before heading in followed by a skeptical Adrienne. They sat at the bar chatting for a bit about anything and everything until the barman came up to them.
"What can I get you two lovely ladies?" He asked. Adrienne knew he was looking at Angie who's long blond hair was in a side way's pony tail and her bangs were swept the opposite way. She was wearing a white tank top and ruffled denim mini skirt.
"Pomegranate martini" Angie said batting her eyes.
He turned to Adrienne and she noticed him looking at how nicely she filled out her top. She glanced up at him through her long dark eye lashes, hoping it made her look mysterious.
"Candy apple martini if you know how to make one. Otherwise a rum runner, 4 shots." She said reaching into her clutch and pulling out her cigarettes and lighter. He smiled at her and nodded walking off to make their drinks.
"Nice trick you've got there." Angie said smiling.
"So it worked? I didn't look retarded or cross-eyed or anything?" She asked feeling glad it had worked.
"Nu-uh. It was great. I think you have to have long eye lashed to get it to work though." Adrienne took a drag then put her fag's and lighter away.
"So what was this you were telling me at McD's about a contract?" Angie prompted a conversation
"Oh yeah. They offered me a full year of work. I think John was hoping if I couldn't answer they wouldn't put my cartoon in the paper." Adrienne said taking a sip of her Rum Runner.
"I'll bet he was just jealous. You know, one person is hired another if fired. Might have thought it was going to be him."
"Well I don't even know how much I'd be making. They might not have to fire someone if I'm hired. Their making like 30+ million a year right? With my art added to the line up quite a few more people will be reading the Gazette instead of The Globe." She took another sip as did Angie.
"I see what you mean" Angie muttered "But it's kind of weird you know. You having a steady job."
"I know. The thought kind of scares m-Oh My God I love this song!" Adrienne shouted standing on her bar stool singing to 'Bad Girlfriend' by Theory of a dead man
..."grab her ass acting touch mess with her she'll fuck you up" Adrienne sat back down. "Sorry. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to get 4 shots was it?" Adrienne asked air. She looked around and saw Angie chatting up the barman. She drained the rest of her martini and paid.
"Hey do...do have some aspirin or something? I'm getting a major head ache." Adrienne asked the other barman. He nodded and handed her a glass of water and some aspirin.
"Thankz" She slurred slightly. She stopped outside the bar and rummaged through her clutch. She pulled out her knife and shoved it into her bra for reasons unknown.
Stepping into the cold night air she felt a little better. Her head seemed to not be so light any more. She walked down the street towards her apartment building. Along the way she stumbled and fell onto some grass. 'Probably someone's lawn.' She thought.
Adrienne choked a bit and then threw up just as someone came out of the house.
"You have until I come back with my phone to get off my lawn or I'm calling the police! I don't want any of your kind here" Screeched a woman's voice but Adrienne didn't hear any of it over the sound of her throwing up again. Out of her peripheral vision she saw the woman disappear into the house. Adrienne fell to the opposite side of her puke and breathed. She was starting to feel better. Her head wasn't pounding and she didn't feel sick any more 'Well I did just throw up. That would explain why I don't feel sick anymore. 'She thought. All of a sudden she felt herself being jerked up.
"Oh please no. I'm going to puke again, just let me lay down." Adrienne said pulling back.
"Ma'am pleases. Just get in the car." Adrienne opened her eyes and saw not Angie but two police officers. She immediately stopped struggling.
"What's going on?" She asked and saw the women from the door talking to another officer.
"...Just came and ruined my flowers. I swear she's 'trippin' or intoxicated or something officer. And look how she's dressed! I'll bet she's a dancer or prostitute to boot." the woman said nastily.
"Hey! I can hear you!" She shouted before being forced into the cop car. She moved her arms and found that the hand cuffs were on just tight enough so she couldn't wiggle them off.
Sighing she sat back and stared out the window.
A/N: Finished the first chapter. Going to start on the next tonight I might have it up tomorrow. Hope you like it so far, I'm going to introduce our..."Hero" or the story in the next chapter.