Chapter 2: It's a trap.

Helena and Mary arrived at Laughing Land; and the limo's driver, Keith, took the position of their escort. Even Mary's parents wouldn't let her go to an amusement park unattended. There were too many dangers for young girls, even more for ones who came from rich families. However, the Winchesters trusted their driver to be able to protect their daughter from such dangers. The man was an retired Marine, after all.

Now the job of escorting two eight year old girls, especially around an amusement park, would have been a nightmare to most middle aged men, but Keith had been with the Winchesters since Mary was two. They were good people who seldom put on airs, and they made him feel more like a relative than a servant. Mary even called him Uncle. So, for Keith, it was less like guarding his boss's daughter and her friend while they ran wild at an amusement park, and more like taking his niece and her friend out for a day of fun. And they were having fun.

They rode the ferrous wheel, got some cotton candy and tried their luck at some of the booths. Keith even managed to win a beanie baby for both of the eight year olds. And since it was a pre-opening, with practically no lines, the trio was able to accomplish all of this in under a half hour. Then a pleasant female voice broke in over the park's com system.

"Come one, come all to the center of the park and ride our pride and joy, the Belly Buster. It's the greatest rollercoaster in the world and its maiden voyage will commence in five minutes."

Helena turned to Mary. "Lets go ride the Belly Buster."

Mary turned to Keith. "Can we? Please!"

Keith looked down at the two children. Their faces were a mixture of excitement and apprehension, and their lips were posed in a slight pouting expression, an expression which seemed to come natural to the two of them. "All right, but we have to stay together. Deal?"

Both of the young girls were quick to agree, and the trio rushed to the center of the park. When they got there, they saw the first line since they entered. The ride still had a couple of minutes before it opened, and it looked as if every kid in the park wanted to try it out.

Shortly after getting in line, Helena felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around, saw Jason standing behind her and wondered what he was doing at the park.

"Found you." The boy smiled.

"What! How did you get here?"

The boy shrugged. "I ran."

"All the way from my house?"

The boy smiled again, this time looking somewhat proud. "Yup."

Helena eyed him in disbelief and said the only thing that came to her young mind. "You're weird."

Jason, however, didn't get a chance to respond. The ride opened up at that very moment, and all the children surged forward.

Although there were over a hundred people in line for the ride, none of them had to wait long. There were seven cars lined up at the beginning of the track, and each one could accommodate twenty passengers. As one car was filled and took off, another moved into position, and more passengers boarded it. Helena, Mary, Keith and Jason were destined for the forth car. They stepped unto the loading platform; and as Helena watched the third car pull away, she couldn't help but be unsettled by the two men who were helping to load the people in front of her.

The employees were dressed in clown costumes, which wasn't that unusual. The entire park had a clown/circus theme. Still, a red flag went up in the back of Helena's mind. The employees didn't seem to be the kind of people that Helena would've expected to be working in an amusement park, at least not in positions where they would be close to the patrons. Neither of the two men seemed particularly... jolly.

One of them had three days worth of unshaved facial hair, and the other appeared slobbish. He was quite overweight, which by itself wouldn't have seemed that out of place among amusement park employees, but he also had a large number of stains on his wrinkled outfit. It looked as if he changed clothes as often as the other man shaved; and when Helena thought about the two men, they provoked the description goon, rather than amusement park employee.

When it was Helena's turn to board one of the cars, she hesitated slightly. That was when a third employee came over. The new employee looked more like what one would expect. She was also in a clown costume, but it wasn't a basic white one like the other two employees. It was an alternating black and red, adorned with playing card symbols.

This new employee walked up to Helena. "Don't you want to ride the rollercoaster?" The lady flashed a big, warm smile, and Helena's suspicions vanished. Now this was how an amusement park employee was supposed to look and act. Helena advanced to the car.

Keith and Mary were already seated. In fact, every one for the forth car was... except for Helena and Jason. So Helena was forced to sit next to the 'weird boy'. Once the fourth car was full, the safety harness came down, and the car took off.

At first the ride was everything that a good rollercoaster ride was suppose to be. There were sudden drops, dark areas where scary projections would appear and maniacal laughing sounds. If Helena's father had been with her, he would've recognized the crackling laughter. However, Helena just dismissed it as another part of the ride that was exciting, scary... and thoroughly enjoyable. It wasn't until the end of the ride that things took a turn for the worse.

Instead of the ride ending with a long pull up a steep incline (to bring the car back to its starting position), it ended with one last, long drop. The car shot down a dark tunnel, and the passengers were jerked back as it came to a sudden stop. The track then spun around, like a locomotive turntable, and the car slowly wheeled into position along the first three. All of the cars were still packed with their original passengers, who were trying to push up on the restraining bars and free themselves.

The other passengers weren't having much luck. Only the largest of them were able to budge the bars at all, and they certainly couldn't move them enough for the other passengers to escape. Still, Helena couldn't think of anything better to do, so she grabbed the bar that was across her and Jason and started to push. Jason soon got the idea and joined her; and to Helena's amazement, the bar moaned and started to bend. And, as the fifth car was brought into position by the fourth, Helena and Jason were actually able to force the bar up, freeing themselves.

Immediately after freeing herself, Helena went over to help Mary and Keith. At first the three of them didn't have any luck moving this second bar; but when Jason joined in, they managed to wrench it up just like the first. Then the four of them began to help free the other people in the fourth car, and they were nearly ready to move onto a different car when a green gas began to fill the poorly lit room.

It started with a couple of giggles and suppressed chuckles. But, it wasn't long before the gas took full effect, and the room's occupants were gripped by a hysterical laughter. One by one, they fell to the floor and kicked wildly as they laughed themselves into unconsciousness.

Up above, in a control room, a man wearing a white face and sinister smile watched them with a twisted glee. "They seem to be enjoying the gas, don't they? What a shame it's not at lethal levels." The man quickly spun his chair around and jerked his upper body forward. "Everyone deserves to die with a smile on their face!"

Then man slowly relaxed his body and let it rest on the chair's padded back. His hand moved up to his chin and rubbed it in a thoughtful manner. "Of course, if we kill them now, we might not get our money." His hand came crashing down onto the arm rest. "Those rich society blue bloods may insist on talking to their kids before they pay up!"

The man stood up and moved one hand to touch his own chest. "Can you imagine not trusting the Joker?" Joker's face wore a mock hurt expression, then he made a dismissive wave. "Oh well. We can always kill them after we get the money. For now, lock the little buggers up, and drop the adults outside of the park. Make sure that you leave them each with a letter detailing the ransom amount and telling them that if the cops or Bat gets involved the children will all be killed. Yada, yada, yada." Joker made another dismissive wave and turned back to his monitors.

His eyes fixated on the young boy and girl who managed to free themselves from the restraining bar. They shouldn't have been able to do that. Heck, Arnold Schwarzenegger shouldn't have been able to wrench that bar up. After a moment's consideration, the Joker decided to add another order to his departing henchmen. "Make sure that you put the girl and boy who got out of their seats into the special cells."

Helena awoke in a cold, dark place; and as she stood up, she discovered that her hands and feet were shackled. She struggled against the chains, but it was no use. She started to cry. She wanted her mommy, Selina. She wanted to go home. Why didn't she just listen to her father? Then she wouldn't be in this mess. She sobbed, and her long, black hair fell into her face. She continued crying for a few minutes then opened her eyes. The crying wasn't doing her any good. She had to try to find a way out. Maybe she wouldn't be able to escape, but she had to try. Helena Wayne was not going to give up without a fight.

She looked around the cell, trying to find something that she could use. She couldn't see anything. The cell appeared completely bare. She started to brush the hair out of her face, hoping that she might then be able to see something she had missed. And then, as she focused her attention on her hair, Helena realized that she did have something. She reached up and pulled out a hairpin, bent the metal object and inserted it into the lock on her shackles.

In addition to Helena's formal schooling, her father insisted that she learn a number of extracurricular skills. She hated the tutoring sessions. While her class mates were out playing, she was locked away learning things that she thought completely useless. What difference did it make if she knew how to throw a boomerang? However, as the lock on one of her shackles sprung open, Helena was suddenly very grateful for the lock picking lessons. She continued to free herself of her restraints and then went to work on the large steel cell door.

As she picked this lock, Helena heard a loud banging sound coming from down the hall; and she managed to open her cell door, and step into the hallway, just in time to see a similar steel door fly off its hinges. The door was quickly followed by Jason exiting his cell. The lad was panting and seemed rather upset at being locked up.

(Well I hope you enjoyed the second chapter. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Next Chapter: Helena and Jason set off to free the other kids and escape from Laughing Land.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.)