Chapter One
"Don't save me,
Don't save me
Cause I don't care." Savior, 30 Seconds To Mars
The building was adequate, I supposed. Nevertheless, I grimaced at it angrily as I followed my father inside. I would have much rather stayed in the car, and even listen to the endless murder reports than go inside to a mob meeting with my dear old dad. Unfortunately, that was out of the question, as my father would have let me sit some place by myself as soon as my mother popped out of her grave.
I rolled my eyes at my fathers great ugly back and pushed ahead of him and shoved open the heavy door. It opened quite easily and I started walking down a dimly lit hallway at random. I was close to the first door on the left when my father caught up with me. "No, Larisa, you know what I said about...wandering along by yourself." I bite my tongue to keep myself from calling my father a mother fucking bastard. Instead I just shrug and walk back to the main entrance.
I wandered around the lobby, not at all apprehensive. I'd been here before. It was the mob hideout. My father, head mobster, had brought me along for an "educational experience". Right. Like talking about how everything is screwed up in Gotham is educational. Please.
I continued walking around until I heard calling me, telling me to hurry inside the meeting room. Ugh. Where do I begin to explain how much I hate my father. I don't think there are enough terrible words to describe him. In short, he is just a greedy, money obsessed mobster with not a good bone in his body. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm smart enough to know what would happen to the seventeen year old, head mobster's daughter on the street in Gotham City, I'd run away right this minute.
But of course I don't. I play the diligent daughter and walk straight into the office without a glance at my father, but I do glance at the floor length mirror right next to the shabby white door.
The girl in the mirror has a slight frown permanently etched on her otherwise flawless face. Her full long brown hair was the envy of many girls in Gotham City, but I hated the sight of myself. My bright blue eyes didn't help, and neither did the glowing pale skin. See, I didn't want to be pretty. I know it stuck up to think of myself as pretty in the first place, but so many people have told me I am, that I am forced to believe it is true. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have pleasant facial features, but I've always had more than my fair share of attention, especially from creepy mobsters exactly like my dad, and I don't want to add to it just because of my stupid face.
When I got in the room, my father slammed the door shut. I thought nothing of it, and sat down, doing my best to look incredibly bored. My father walked around, looking at everyone, before stating; "Something has to be done."
Everyone looked at my father in surprise. Even I couldn't help but be a little astonished. My father is absolutely fabulous at ignoring everything that is wrong, so for him to out and out state that something needed to be fixed was a little less than a miracle.
My father saw my expression. "Oh Larisa, don't look so shocked." he admonished me, looking exasperated..
Everyone looked in my direction. I didn't so much as blink. "Well, father, this is the first time...well, ever, that you have actually admitted that there is a problem in 'this lovely city' as you called it at dinner last night."
My father flushed. A number of guys looked as though they wanted to crack a smile, but if there's one thing these idiots know, it's not to laugh when their boss gets insulted by his underage daughter. As it was, my father decided to ignore me. "As I was saying, our place in society has all but vanished. We have let the civilians and police officers of Gotham control us! We have to band together to try and return to us the power that we seem to have lost!"
Well I certainly was lost. This speech didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to me. It wasn't the civilians OR the police officers that had mucked up my father's and many others society. It had been Batman.
Batman. As far as he was concerned, I agreed with him whole heartedly, and I wished that he'd put a total stop to all the crimes and even to the mob in Gotham City. However, I did have to say he did look like a bit of a dork in that cape.
But anyways, the civilians or the police officers hadn't had very much to do with it, if any at all, and I didn't get why my dad didn't just admit it and move on.
I pondered this for awhile, as my father and the other, less important people talked about plans and other things related to money and power. I don't actually have any inkling about what they were talking about, but that's what I guessed. But none of that stuff was of any importance. No, the only thing that happened in that whole first hour was when the door opened. And it was with that moment, that subtle, tiny push of door, that my entire life changed...forever.
That was, of course, not because of the door itself. No, there was nothing important about that. I mean, it was an alright door and all, but it isn't of any importance to my life or this story, come to think of it. No, it was because of the person who walked through that alright door. The devil who stole so many lives, and in the bargain stole my heart as well. I am talking, of course, about the Joker.