"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of people who are evil, but because of the people who do nothing about it" – Albert Einstein
5:21 AM – The Wayward Motor Lodge
Gotham City
Drew slumped against the wall with a heaving sigh, she raised her eyes up to the ceiling in thought.
Her boss, Charles York, hadn't paid Drew much thought when she had called him in a frenzy about the bullet lodge in the ceiling of his establishment. It was Gotham, he said, a little bit of gun fire wouldn't hurt the place and she was all in one piece so no use in being all dramatic about it.
'Can't believe I held someone up at gun point' Drew's eyes wandered over to where said hole was and shuddered when the memory of what had passed washed over her.
"Oh, Yeeah. Next time, I, uh, see your face-uh, I want yoou to know just actually whoo, " He twirled a finger in the air just to stab himself in the vest covered chest, "I am. Or, I'll give you a matching pair." The clown motioned to his large red grin before giving her another wink and lopping out of the lobby and down the sidewalk.
With a sorrowful groan, she burrowed her head into her open palms.
'How the fuck am I supposed to know who he is?' She hissed at herself.
Drew mulled over her previous encounter with the clown and came up with nothing but a massive headache. She was brought out her thoughts when her cell phone that was located in the small, black two-bit potato sack Drew called a purse went off.
If I don't get some shelter, Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away! War, children, it's just a shot away, It's just a shot away!
Jeff's ringtone blared to life right in the middle of the chorus making Drew grin at how perfectly his ringtone matched him.
Plucking up the singing phone and smashing the answer key. Drew held it up to her ear and lowered her voice to make herself sound more masculine, "Yeeeellow? Salty's Sperm Bank, you spank it, we bank it."
She could just picture Jeff's usually grinning face twisting uncomfortably underneath the red light of his developing room, with a negative picture in his hand shaking.
"Uh…" Came the intelligent reply.
Drew rolled her eyes with a slight smirk decorating her lips, "It's me, dumbass."
A stutter sounded out of the speaker as Jeff cleared his throat in annoyance.
"You're a dick, ya know that?" Jeff snapped at her, the very faint Hispanic accent well hidden, even in irritation.
"Yeah, you've told me before." Drew plopped back in her office chair and hefted her booted feet onto the ottoman in front of her so she could stare listlessly at the TV, "What's up, Jeffy?"
A slight pause met her question before she could hear Jeff rustling around his papers and pictures and a muted' Aha!'.
"So, ya know that old abandoned chemical factory over on the East Side? By the docks?"
Drew hummed in confirmation before he continued on.
"Well, you know I like to go free lancing whenever possible so…"
"Get on with it." Drew droned, running a nail underneath another one so she could scrap up the dirt that had collected there.
"Ooookay," Jeff scoffed, a small laugh slipping out, "Cranky."
Drew gave an affronted look before saying, "I've been in hell the last twelve hours. I can afford to be cranky."
"Anyway, I was over that way about a night or two ago and I saw some vans and equipment over there that usually wouldn't be. I thought I'd, ya know, go check it out." She could picture the shrug that Jeff had just done.
"So I'm walking into the gates of the place and I see a person and, this is where it gets weird, " Jeff warned, "I was going to ask the guy what they were doing down here, maybe they were trying to rebuild the place, ya know? But when he turned around, he was wearing a clown mask, Dre!"
Drew's teasing smile fell and crumpled when he mentioned 'clown mask'. Jeff was chattering away happily on the line while she was swept back up in memory.
"Jeff," Drew cut him off swiftly, "Jeff, did you say clown masks?"
He made a humming noise of approval.
"And, um, what kind of vans did they have?" Drew quivered in her seat, her widened eyes couldn't help but dart over to the two white vans with blacked out windows that sat just outside her place of work.
"Uh, well, they were white, I guess. Tinted windows," She could hear him scratch at his beard softly.
Time slowed and fuzzed right before her eyes.
"W-what," Drew stopped to swallow the lump in her throat, "What were they doing there?"
Jeff paused before answering.
"Loading something up in the vans. Big boxes."
Dread now ran rampant throughout Drew's small form, she could faintly hear Jeff talking to her but it was like he was talking through water.
"Ya know, Dre, even since that 'Joker' guy came to town wearing all that makeup, I thin-"
Drew unfroze and sputtered for a moment, "Wait, wait. What do you mean that 'Joker' guy?"
You could hear Jeff scoff and chuckle a bit in disbelief, "You are kidding right now, Dre? Where've you been? Underneath a rock?"
She pulled back from the phone to send a scalding glare that Jeff couldn't see but a tingling in his forehead made him chuckle nervously before he cleared his throat.
"I just got back from a month's trip to South Carolina, dick. It was my parent's 30th anniversary." She reminded him, looking out of the front lobby doors with a squint as she noticed the sun starting to rise over the skyline of Gotham's skyscrapers.
Splashes of maroon and deep plum scattered across the clouds, lighting up the usually gloomy city of Gotham. Drew could see the lights from the previous night flicker and turn off as the sun rose and started to settle on the bustling city below it, basking the front lobby in a brilliant golden glow.
"Dre…that guy has been terrorizing Gotham for about 2 weeks now. Started off as a bank robbery at Gotham National, these days he's working with the mob and running around taunting Batman. Way I see it, Gotham doesn't stand a chance."
Drew could feel the panic rise like a swelling wave at the beach, threatening to tumble over into itself.
"Dre? You there?"
She could hear Jeff's concerned voice buzzing back at her through the receiver but all she could do was stare blankly at the yellowed countertop with a rock stuck in her throat.
After a moment she responded, "J-Jeff?"
A relieved sigh met her ears, "What's up, Drew? Are you okay?"
Drew blinked back the tears that were about to pool over, "What does this guy look like?"
She could tell she had stumped Jeff with her off the wall question.
"Look like? This guys a freak! Wears a purple outfit, clown makeup." Jeff stopped and mulled over his words, "I do hear he has these-"
"Scars…" Drew wheezed.
"Yeah! Looks like a smile." Jeff snorted, "Guess that's why they call him the Joker."
As Jeff was busy snickering at this guy's name, Drew could only gape at her phone with terrified eyes. She was having difficulty comprehending that the guy she had drew the gun on last night was the very same guy Jeff was croaking on about.
Shoving herself away from the counter, Drew quickly shuffled over to her computer and pulled up the search bar, fingers nearly blurring when she typed in 'The Joker, Gotham City.'
"Dre? Why are you so quiet?"
Drew startled and looked back down at her phone that she had put on speaker, "Jeff, would you believe me if I told you that I used that gun you gave me last night?"
Clicking the 'search' button, a tiny hourglass showed up and spun for a moment before articles upon articles loaded up the page.
"What? Really? What for?"
ROBBERY AT GOTHAM CITY'S NATIONAL BANK: THREE RINGED CIRCUS?
Was the first newspaper article she stumbled upon, on the side of the article was a zoomed in picture of a man driving a school bus while the picture was in black and white, you could see the risen line of his scars.
Drew paused in her scrolling with sucking her bottom lip into her mouth to chew on the skin there then rolled her eyes toward the ceiling, "Um…what if I said I used it on this guy?"
Her eyes once again found the blurred screenshot hesitantly.
Jeff must've been taking a sip from his coffee because the sound of liquid being spewed everywhere came through the phone along with multiple sputters.
"D-Did you just say you pulled a gun on the Joker?"
A long silence answered his question and he met it with a pained groan, a light 'thud' as he leaned forward to bang his head on the table in front of him.
"Oh, Drew. What have you done, you fucking moron?"
Indignation crested over Drew rapidly at his bewildered tone and insult.
"Hey! The guy was creepy, with his makeup and shit." Drew snarled back at him, "And he wouldn't let go! What was I supposed to do? Take it like a sitting duck?"
"Wouldn't let you go?" Jeff mumbled back at her.
She huffed and ran a shaky palm over her frizzy hair before replying, "Yeah, leaned over the damn desk and got my wrist in an iron hold so I…drew out my gun and lined it up between his eyes. Point blank."
Jeff could be heard fumbling with something in his hands before he dropped it and let out a muffled curse.
"And you got away?!" Came the screamed question.
Drew sheepishly shrugged before realizing he couldn't see her and answered back with a meek, "Yes?"
A strangled groan crackled over the phone before she could hear Jeff take in a deep breath and then letting out a large sigh of weariness.
"You are one lucky person, Dre. This guy isn't joking around, excuse the pun. He strung up that Bryan guy just for dressing up at Batman!"
Drew blew out a sigh before leaning forward on the counter to prop her chin up on her palm, "Well, no use crying over spilt milk now."
The sound of a car pulling up made Drew perk up as she realized her shift was at an end for the night.
"Call you later, Jeffy." Drew blurted in barely contained excitement as the sight of her relief, a larger woman with salt-n-pepper colored hair named Doris Cane, bumbled up the sidewalk and through the lobby doors.
Doris Cane was a gentle giant, the perfect grandmother combination of sweetness and firm. Her rounded face was soft and had laugh lines marring the corners of eyes and the sides of her mouth, Doris was always in calm colors like robin jay blue or dreamy shades of cream that complimented the hazel eyes behind her thick spectacles.
"Good Morning, Mrs. Doris." Drew greeted, standing from her chair to collect her items to leave.
Doris sent a delicate smile at her, a twinkle in her eye.
"Morning it is, dearie. But at this God awful hour, I am not sure if I would call it good." The old woman chuckled, rounding the corner of the front desk so she could open the door to the office and come through to the counter.
Drew shrugged one shoulder, "True enough. I'm going home to sleep for about 12 hours."
Doris rummaged in her large purse for a second before pulling out two, small throw pillows and stacked them neatly in the office chair just to sink in it with a content sigh.
"You do that, dearie." Doris paused for a moment, reaching over to grab the ottoman just a little ways off so she could prop her feet up. "You sure do deserve it. Working these night hours in Gotham of all places, I'm surprised you haven't run off."
A shudder ripped itself through Drew at her statement, her memory lighting up and dragging the face of a certain clown to the forefront of her mind.
Doris took notice of the suddenly green faced girl.
"Oh, heavens! Are you sure you're feeling well enough to drive?" Doris cried taking in the stricken face of Drew.
Drew shook out of her little fit and sent the ruffled woman a reassuring grin, "I'm okay, promise!"
The old woman eyed her skeptically for a minute before turning back to the computer to sign in on her shift.
Drew shifted uncomfortably and glanced outside to see that the sun was now high and bright in the sky, dangling over the lively city of Gotham that was now flooding with life. The once deserted streets were lined up in traffic, honking and cursing could be heard from afar from the oh-so-lovely Gothamites that resided there.
'Should I warn her about the clown?' Drew worried at her bottom lip, eyes darting off to the side in thought.
She would she decided.
Clearing her throat to catch Doris' attention, who was now humming a merry little tune as she filled up her coffee cup to the brim.
"Hey, uh, Mrs. Doris?" Drew asked quietly, "We have some occupants that came in last night, just thought you should know. They're a bit," Drew paused so she could search for the right word, "Intense?"
Doris furrowed her brow at Drew in confusion before speaking, "What are you talking about, dear?"
Drew looked at the bewildered look on the old woman's face with a squint of her own dose of perplexity.
"Didn't you see the vans outside when you pulled up?" Drew asked with a head tilt.
Doris looked around the lobby as if searching for answering before training her kind eyes back on Drew, "No, dearie. It looked like it was just us here."
Drawing back in disbelief, Drew walked over to the main lobby entrance to peer outside into the parking lot. All that greeted her was her own small silver Toyota corolla and Mrs. Doris' own tawny Oldsmobile were in the mostly vacant lot.
Wariness rose up swiftly in Drew as she made her way back to where Doris was sipping happily at her mug.
"Uh, never mind." Drew muttered, grabbing her items again so she could leave, "I guess they've already left."
Doris hummed in agreement.
"Well, I'll be back in about a day or two, Mrs. Doris." Drew swung open the glass door with her free hand, the other full with her jingling car keys and the crook of her arm stuffed with her other items.
"You have a nice couple days off now, Drew dear. You shouldn't over work yourself, it is good for the soul." Doris advised with a doting look, taking note of how Drew was practically threw together. Her usually neat blonde hair was frizzing and looked like it needed a good brushing as along with the drained look that settled deep in Drew's unusually dull orbs.
Even her skin looked paler than usual.
Drew waved off the concern with a casual hand, "I'll be fine, Mrs. Doris. Have a nice day."
"You too, dearie." Doris waved at Drew's back, watching the younger girl stalk to her car and chunk all her belongings in the backseat before sliding into the driver's seat and taking off into Gotham.
Doris smiled to herself.
"What a nice girl."
She glanced up to turn the ceiling fan on above her but blinked in shock as a bullet hole stared back at her just inches from the fan.
"Good Lord!"
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