Bratatatatat!
All I could hear was the sound of machine guns randomly firing in the bank's halls. I looked around to see who could have been shooting, especially at Gotham's main bank. The gunshots suddenly ceased, and three men in dirty suits and clown masks rushed in, all armed with various guns. The other patrons of the bank looked on in horror as the men ordered everyone onto the ground. Two of the clowns stood as guards while one of them pulled one of the bank tellers from his area to the ground and hopped behind his desk to get the money inside the registers. I scanned the area hurriedly to try to find a way to escape and possibly get help, although the police were most likely already on their way. My positioning was perfect since I was at the last teller, the one closest to the large double-doored emergency exit. I planned my escape when I suddenly heard a couple of gunshots echo through the air.
"You're all dead! Do you have any idea who you're stealing from? You and your friends are dead!"
An angry man's voice echoed through the building as I saw one man emerge from an office space, who I'm assuming worked at the bank or had ownership of it. He continued to try to shoot at the clowns, hitting one of them in the head. The two others hid and waited until the man tried reloading his bullets, then jumped out and shot him in the side, taking him down. I laid on the ground paralyzed in fear as the two guard clowns began arguing with each other about the hostages and the possibility of police showing up before they collected the rest of the money from the vaults.
"This was a stupid fucking plan all along! I knew shit like this would happen! What kind of leader are you if you can't keep your guys safe?" one of the clowns yelled. "Shh shh shh, trust me. Everything will be just fine." the other replied in a voice I could've sworn I had heard before. Before I could blink, the second clown shot the first one in the head at point blank range. Unfortunately, they were both close to me, so some of the clown's blood splattered onto me. I gasped as the blood splashed onto my face, then covered my mouth so I couldn't be heard. Thankfully, the other men from downstairs rushed up just in time. "What the fuck happened up here?" they both wondered as they hauled up giant bags filled with money. The remaining clown shook his head in confusion, staying silent as the others gave him the bags.
Why would he randomly shoot his partners then stay silent about it? Why did he even shoot that other guy in the first place?
I had little time to ponder that before the clown randomly shot the other two men, killing them both instantly. At that point, the guy that had tried to fight them off before began to crawl towards him, shotgun in hand.
"You better get out of here before the cops show up, you fucking psycho clown! I'll get you for this!"
Ominous silence echoed throughout the bank, except for the man's heavy breathing and pathetic attempts to crawl towards the lone clown. The clown began to step away from me and towards the man, so I began to slowly inch towards the emergency exit. Eventually the clown got to the man and lifted him up by his collar, pulling him up into air, making him drop his gun.
"You sure do have a lot of guts for a guy that's going to get his brains blown out, don't-cha think?" the clown growled in that familiar, ominous voice. I held my breath as I stared at the horrid scene unfolding before me.
"You're pathetic, clown! Fucking pathetic!" the man choked out, spitting blood at the clown's masked face. I crawled quicker towards the exit as the clown threw the man roughly on the ground then shot him twice in the head. The rest of the patrons gasped and watched in horrified silence as the clown began to circle the bank, seemingly waiting for something to happen. I froze only a foot away from the exit, terrified that he would see me trying to escape and kill me too. I watched as he began to pace and repeatedly check his watch. He stopped and tapped his foot angrily, remaining silent. He faced away from me, and I took that as my opportunity to slide a little bit closer to the door. I quietly slid until I was at the exit, my heel loudly hitting the door. Immediately, the clown whipped his head in my direction and began speed-walking towards me.
Fucking shit.
In a couple of seconds he got to me and glared down at me, not saying anything. I felt tears gather in my eyes as he continued to glare at me through his mask. His silence was maddening. Suddenly, he picked me up lightly by my throat and pushed me against the wall next to the door. He still stayed silent, driving me insane. A couple seconds went by, then he reached for his mask and ripped it off. I gasped when I saw his face; I knew I recognized his voice!
His Glasgow grin and eerie clown makeup were a dead give-away to the identity of my captor; the infamous Joker.
"Didn't anyone teach you that it's impolite to leave a party before saying goodbye to the host?" He snarled at me, ripping me away from my thoughts. "I-I-" I struggled to come up with an adequate response as his grip on my throat tightened, but his eyes slightly softened. He grabbed my hip with his other hand and pressed me harder against the wall. "Although I will have to excuse you. I can't possibly harm a woman as breathtaking as you." He smirked as my eyes widened at his comments, my heart beating out of my chest. "P-please, just let us all go!" I whispered, barely being able to speak with his hand on my throat.
"Oh pity, here I was thinking you were one of those interesting, feisty women, not like the typical boring broads in this city." He sarcastically sighed, his permanent grin facing downwards in a frown. He opened his mouth to speak again when we were blown away by an earth-shattering crash on the opposite wall; a school bus crashed into the bank and another clown jumped out, barely glancing at the Joker and I before loading the bags of cash onto the bus. I was too busy staring at the bus to notice that the Joker had let go of me, but he quickly pinned me down, lowering his face incredibly close to mine. For the first time I got to completely look at all of his features; his greasy blonde-green hair, the cracked white paint on his face, the black makeup around his eyes, and the blood red lipstick on his lips. His hazel eyes had anger in them, but also a hint of wonder and glee. I stared at his eyes for mere moments, but it felt like an eternity.
"Ya know, I'd love to stay and chat, but as you can see, I have a bus to catch!" he giggled, looking back towards the bus. "We'll just have to keep in touch dollface!" He began to cackle above me, holding his sides in laughter. In a split second he stopped laughing and donned a serious look on his face, quickly getting up and picking me up, dusting himself off. He turned back towards the bus as I watched him, then he quickly spun back around and hit me in the forehead with the butt of his gun, immediately knocking me to the ground.
I groaned as I fell to the ground, random flashes of black blocking my vision. Everything became blurry as I saw the Joker jump onto the bus and shout at the driver to drive. He looked back towards me and let out his terrifying signature laugh before my vision faded to black.
