This is where things get kind of slow as far as getting into the mind Bonnie, mainly because I'm going along with the movie and it's kind of hard to tell her story while going along with something that's been scripted and can't really be changed. Thankfully there's a lot of unseen events in between what's shown so I'm running with those. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of those in this one, just a botched drug deal.


Nerves

Chapter Two - My Annoying Series of Coincidences

Bonnie stared at the cat in concentration as he just stared back. Or would have if he could see.

Bonnie blinked and smiled. "Simba, looks like you win. I'll go to the store."

Bonnie had a dilemma. She had to go to the store to buy groceries but she hadn't gotten her paycheck yet. She could go to the bank to withdraw out of the Chechen's account and just pay him back like she'd done in the past. But she was getting tired of having to do that. If he just upped her percentage, this wouldn't happen. She figured it was a way of keeping her in check, to control her. As long as Bonnie borrowed from her boss she would be in debt to him, making her continue working for him.

She threw out her rebellious thoughts. This was the man who had saved her after all. If it hadn't been for him, she'd probably be in prison for her stunt when she was seventeen. But after joining the Chechen, Lynn Taylor and Jeremy Smith's complaint didn't get filed. Or brought up on. It was as if the incident had never occurred.

"Whoa," mumbled Bonnie as she walked to her bedroom to change. "I haven't thought about them in long time."

After joining the mob, her old life had completely disintegrated. Her relationships changed. It was if everyone knew she was part of some group that participated in illegal activities. Her parents knew of course. Her mother even flat out asked her if she was part of a gang. Bonnie lied and said no. Better to spare her the disappointment and worry. But Mary and Roger still worried.

The phone rang as Bonnie changed her clothes. She let the answering machine get it and continued stripping down to her underwear. She threw the clothes into a hamper tucked away in the corner and slipped into a long-sleeved shirt and jeans. Bonnie's curly hair bounced out as she pulled the black material over her head. She pulled on some long, thin socks and stuck her feet into her worn shoes. Now fully dressed, she walked out of the bedroom and back into the living room, crossing the room quickly to the kitchen. She played the message.

"You have one new message," said the automated female voice. "Message one."

"Hey honey," called out her mother's voice. "Just checking in. I see you must be out. Well, you're father and I are enjoying our beautiful summer," she laughs. "How is the summer in Gotham? Still sweltering I bet. Well just remember to wear the appropriate clothing, nothing too heavy. We wouldn't want you to have a heat stroke," a voice was heard in the background. "That's your father, we were invited to a barbecue on the beach. Well, call me back!"

Click.

"End of message."

Bonnie pressed the delete button. "Message deleted," responded the machine. "No new messages."

She felt something rub against her leg and looked down to see her cat Simba looking up at her. He meowed pathetically and Bonnie's heart melted.

"Aww," she cooed. "Don't worry Mr. Simba. I'm leaving now to get you some more food."

Quitting the kitchen, Bonnie said goodbye to her cat before walking out the door and locking it.

Entering the heavy, hot air Bonnie smiled. There were times her CIPA had its advantages and one of them was now. She loved not being able to feel the heat. But that only meant she had to be more careful than the average person.

Bonnie turned down a street and headed towards the bank on the corner. She was glad she had picked an apartment so close by. Her "business" often dealt with the bank. She entered the building quietly and got in line behind an elderly man. He was called forward by a man at the window. Bonnie waited her turn and was called by a woman. Bonnie walked to the lady's window and began asking for a withdrawal when gunshots split the air.

The room, once quiet and calm, exploded into chaos and screams. Everyone dropped to the ground as Bonnie melted down to her knees slowly. Her hands were raised slightly as everyone recoiled when the three men ran forward.

"Alright everybody, hands up, heads down!" yelled one of the men.

Bonnie sighed in annoyance but complied. She almost laughed when she saw their shabby clown masks. Whoever had that idea should have been taken out and shot on the grounds of a shitty idea.

"I said hands up, heads down!" the clown man shouted again.

Bonnie ducked beneath the woman's window and drew in her legs close, trying not to attract too much attention. One of the other men threw a large bag down onto one of the counters and began hurriedly rummaging through it. The man yelling ran up to the man in the window, next to the woman Bonnie was currently underneath, and yelled at him to hurry up while pulling him out from his post and onto the ground. He ran to the woman next and kicked Bonnie out of the way who thankfully held back her tongue and quietly moved. Continuing his yelling, he pulled the woman out of her post and onto the ground, knocking over a lamp. Bonnie grabbed the woman to calm her and make her shut up before she got them all shot. The man with the bag began handing a small item to the hostages and pulling out a pin.

A grenade.

Bonnie moaned in frustration and had the urge to kill the man as he handed her one and pulled out the pin.

"Obviously we don't want you doing anything with your hands other than holding on for dear life."

Bonnie held her grenade firmly and watched as the third clown hit the guard with his gun, still shouting out for everyone to stay down. Like anyone was going to disobey with a grenade in their hands and three men with guns yelling in their faces. Just as the guard fell to the ground another gunshot interrupted the scene. Bonnie watched the clown fall. No one messes with the manager of a mob bank.

The bank manager entered the scene in a fury. He shot four more times as one of the clowns fled to the other one.

"Do you have any idea who you're stealing from? You and your friends are dead!" he shouted.

A clown stupidly jumped up with a raised gun but the manager beat him to the punch and pulled his trigger first. The clown dropped as the other stood and shot the manager in the knees. He stared at the downed man as his friend jumped up, nursing his wounded shoulder.

"Where'd you learn to count?" he shouted in anger as he pulled up the now empty bag.

The clown walked up and down the line of hostages and each one in passing turned their head in fear. Bonnie simply sat and watched the little events play out. She had been in enough holdups to know that panicking only got you closer to being dead.

The clowns quickly filled their bags with money and pulled it into a pile by the entrance. One of the two commented on how much money it was and Bonnie glowered. Some of that was hers. That was when the tables turned.

Grumpy, the clown who yelled the entire time, held his gun up to Bozo. He stopped and turned.

"I'm betting the Joker told you to kill me as soon as we loaded the cash."

Bozo checked his watch and denied the statement. "No, no, no, no. I killed the bus driver." Then he sidestepped.

Bonnie's eyes widened. Was the man serious?

"Bus driver?" asked Grumpy but Bozo remained silent and simply sidestepped again. "What bus driver?"

His only answer was the sound of a school bus ramming through the wall and hitting him, knocking him out cold. Bonnie flinched at the debris and the loud sound of the wall falling. The bus stopped and another clown jumped out. He commented on Grumpy while helping Bozo load up the cash. He noticed something was off.

"What happened to the rest of the guys?"

Bozo merely shot him in the chest in answer. He grabbed the last two bags, passing the hostages as they drew back in fear and covered their faces. But not seeing didn't make the situation any less real.

"Think you're smart huh?" asked the bank manager. Bonnie knew the guy was tough, having done business with him before.

Bozo's attention diverted to the man on the ground.

"The guy that hired you is just gonna do the same to you. Criminals in this town used to believe in things: honor, respect. Look at you. What do you believe in huh? What do you believe in?" the manager was furious and Bonnie knew he was usually cool under pressure, not one to "lose his top". She couldn't see what was happening, a stand was in the way.

The clown stood up and got into the bus, closing the door behind him. Was that a piece of thread trailing behind him? Bonnie was curious what it could be but quickly lost interest as the bus pealed out the hole it had created.

The police arrived quickly soon after the lone clown fled the scene. They checked the grenades and were relieved to find them all duds. Bonnie had to wait to give them her account before she could be released. She ran through the events quickly, giving them a very detailed description of the events. They finally released her and she began her walk back home.

Her cell phone rang and she looked at the caller I.D. before flipping it open and answering, "Hello?"

"We got a problem." It was one of the Chechen's men, Frank or something.

"What's the problem?"

"It's our customer. He's having a bad reaction to the drugs we sold him."

"Which drugs?" They sold many drugs, how was she supposed to know which ones were the bad apples?

"The ones from burlap sack."

"Scarecrow?"

"Yeah, the doctor," he laughed darkly.

Bonnie took the phone away from her ear and cursed loudly. Returning to the call she asked, "What are they doing?"

"Maybe you should come down here and see."

"Or you could just tell me-"

"You wouldn't want the Chechen to find out, right?" he asked threateningly. "You did make this deal after all. It was all your idea to buy from the freak."

"You're blackmailing me?"

"No, just giving you fair warning. I will tell the Boss if you don't handle this situation accordingly."

Bonnie glared into her phone, fuming at this man's lack of respect. She was fucking Bonnie, the Chechen's leading lady and one of his top thugs. How dare this pathetic excuse for a man blackmail her!

"Listen to me you little fuck," she replied intimidatingly. "I'll take care of this but if you ever try to fucking cross me again I won't hesitate next time to cut your throat."

The man just laughed in response before hanging up. Great, now she had to go down to HQ to manage this little problem. Changing course, she hailed a cab and got into the little yellow car. She told him the location and the man was off in the general direction. She pondered on all the ways the drugs could have gone bad but none of them came close to what she was about to see. Bonnie paid the man when they reached her desired spot and got out of the car.

She waited for the man to drive off before she began walking towards a dilapidated building. She knocked on the door twice, waited three seconds, and then knocked once. The door opened and a large, intimidating man stood before her, taking up the entire doorway. He looked her up and down before moving out of the way and letting her in. Bonnie passed the man, scowling that she even had to do this in the first place. She entered the living room and saw two men sitting on a couch watching a show on a fuzzy television set. Didn't these men have a life?

"Where's Ben?" Bonnie asked.

"Who?"

She rolled her eyes. "The customer who got the bad batch of drugs."

"Oh, downstairs."

Bonnie thanked them before walking to the door that led to the basement. She threw open the door and immediately was assaulted by the sound of a man screaming in terror. She walked down the steps hesitantly, not sure what she would find. But all she found was their customer, Ben, writhing on the floor.

"Get 'em off me!" he kept shouting.

"He's pretty fucked up."

Bonnie looked behind her to see the man she had talked to on the phone descend down the stairs.

"What happened?"

The man shrugged. "I don't know, he won't say. He just keeps screaming. He won't let anyone near him."

"Well, he's clearly hallucinating-"

"No shit."

Bonnie ignored his interruption. "So, it should wear off after a while. Maybe the Chechen won't even have to know about this."

"He's been like this for a while."

"How long?"

The man thought for a second before answering, "A few hours."

"And his symptoms haven't diminished?"

The man shook his head. "It's just been the same. He just keeps screaming and wailing."

"Well there goes not telling the Boss," she muttered.

But the man heard regardless and said, "I already told him."

Bonnie's eyes bugged. "You already told him?"

"Yeah, he called before you got here asking for a report so I gave him one."

"How could you have already told him? This is my problem, I should have been the one to tell him!"

"Doesn't matter now."

"What do you mean? Of course it matters!"

"No it doesn't. He's on his way over right now."

"What?"

The man nodded. "Yeah, he was going to a meeting when I told him," he looked at his watch. "He should be done by now."

"Well that's just great! Fuck, how can this day get any worse?"

They heard a door open and close up stairs and both pairs of eyes raised to the ceiling.

"Sounds like he's here," the man commented with a smirk.

"No fucking kidding."

"Aww, don't be upset Bon-Bon."

Bonnie's temper snapped and she threw the man into the wall with a knife to his throat.

"Don't. Call. Me. Bon-Bon." she growled through clenched teeth. The last time she had been called Bon-Bon was by that girl Lynn Taylor, ten years ago.

"Calm down."

Bonnie snapped around to see her boss walk down the steps of the stair.

"Don't get so worked up. I taught you better."

Bonnie dropped the man and pocketed the knife. "Sorry, I've had a rough day."

"Yes, I hear you were in the bank robbery today."

"Who told you?"

"I have friends in many places," the Chechen said.

"Are you implying police officers?"

"I imply nothing," his words were interrupted by the shouts and screams of the man still twisting on the ground. "Now what the problem with him?"

"It was a bad batch Boss," the man beat Bonnie to the punch.

The Chechen pointed to the customer. "Bonnie, you did this?"

Bonnie nodded. "Yeah, but I didn't realize it was a bust."

"Who'd you get it from?" he asked as he drew out a cigar and lit it up.

"The Burlap Sack."

"Who?"

Bonnie glared at the man for taking her line yet again. "The Scarecrow," she clarified.

Their boss puffed out a ring of smoke from his cigar. "So, the Scarecrow gave us a bad batch? I don't like this, it gives us a bad name. Makes me look like I can't handle my own shit. And I can handle my own shit. Bonnie," he called and she came closer. He put his arm around her shoulders and lowered his voice. "I want you to find the Scarecrow so that I can have a little talk with him."

Bonnie nodded. "Yes Boss."

He smacked her on the back in good fun. "Good. That's what I like to hear." He headed back up the stairs but paused and added, "Oh and Bonnie, don't fuck this one up too."

"Yes Boss," was her reply.

The Chechen chuckled and continued his way up the stairs. He shut the door behind him and once more Bonnie was alone with the customer and the man. She glared at Frank who just smirked back. She looked back at the customer on the ground and sighed. It'd be fun trying to get a hold of the Scarecrow. Especially with his other personality around.

Bonnie left the basement for the small, dirty kitchen and took out her cell phone. She dialed the Crow's number and luckily he answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi, I work for the Gotham Gazette and I was wondering if I could have an interview with you?" It was code for "We need to talk."

The Crow chuckled. "Of course, I'd be happy to have an 'interview'. Where and when would you like to conduct it?"

Bonnie thought for a moment. "The car garage on Westwood."

"A car garage?" he sighed, giving in. "Alright, when?"

"Tonight."

"When tonight?"

"Eight o'clock."

"Sharp?"

"Sharp," Bonnie confirmed.

"Alright, you want an interview tonight at eight o'clock sharp at the car garage on Westwood."

"Correct."

"I'll be there."

"Good," Bonnie paused before adding, "Oh, and bring a friend."

That would warn him in case the Chechen wanted blood. Not that Bonnie cared but she preferred fights that were fair.

"Alright, I'll do that. Goodbye."

"Bye."

Bonnie closed her phone and slipped it back into her pocket. There, it was done. Not so hard. She didn't understand why everyone always freaked out when things didn't go according to plan. She guessed she was just more flexible than most, taking things as they came.

Finding the Chechen, she explained to him the conditions they would meet the Scarecrow and he nodded in acceptance. He was happy with those conditions.

"I want my dogs to come."

"Why?"

"In case the Batman shows up. I can feed him to my dogs." He let out a harsh laugh.

Bonnie let a fake smirk slide over her features. "Sounds good."

"Now, we wait."

. . .

They would be taking two vehicles, one for the Chechen and one for the poor customer. Bonnie grabbed the handle of the vehicle her boss was riding in but he stopped her by her wrist.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"I'm riding with you."

"No, you're not."

"I'm not riding in the other vehicle."

"And why not?"

"Because that guy won't stop screaming and it's getting annoying."

"Well," he said. "He was your customer. So you have to put up with him."

Bonnie sighed in resignation and moved to the second SUV. She got in the back with the screaming man writhing in his seat and struggled to get him strapped in. When she accomplished that hard task she rested back in her own seat and exhaled. This was going to be a long ride.

They drove to the car garage on Westwood and pulled into two adjacent parking spots. The Chechen emerged from his SUV with his bodyguards following suit. One of them pointed up to the sky and everyone looked up to see the Bat-Signal. The Chechen merely shrugged, not caring. Tonight, all he cared about was the defunct merchandise.

"That's why we bring dogs," he declared. "My little princes."

Bonnie helped one of the bodyguards drag the man from out of the car. All the while he was screaming "Get 'em off me!". They dumped him on the ground, twisting and contorting, trying to shake off whatever invisible thing was on him.

"Look what your drugs did to my customer!" the Chechen bellowed out in anger.

"Buyer beware," was his reply from inside the beat-up white van.

"I told your man, or in this case woman," Bonnie glared at the Crow as he emerged from the back of the van. "That my compound would take you places. I never said they'd be places you wanted to go."

The Chechen scowled. "My business is repeat customers," he explained.

"If you don't like what I have to offer, buy from someone else. Assuming Batman left anyone else to buy from."

That was when the dogs started barking. Everyone looked around, searching for signs of the Batman. Bonnie stayed by the man on the ground but became slightly nervous. She had only one encounter with the Bat before. But that had been different. She had gotten into a street fight and he thought they were trying to mug her so he swooped in and saved the day. Well, interfered was more like it. However, now she was the enemy, not the damsel in distress.

"My dogs are hungry!" cried the Chechen. He looked over and saw the Batman standing near the concrete wall. "Pity there's only one of you."

One of the guards screamed as he was sucked into the darkness. Another Batman jumped out and threw a second guard over the rail. Bonnie whipped her head around, trying to keep track of all the imposters. She wondered who was who, which was the real deal and which was the phony. That's when the first Batman opened fire. Everyone ducked down behind the vehicles, trying to avoid the spray of bullets. Bonnie crouched next to the Chechen behind the first SUV, both drawing out their guns and opening fire when ready.

"Loose the dogs!" he ordered.

His henchmen unchained the rottweilers and they raced after the Batmen. A crash was heard and Bonnie turned just in time to dodge a strange looking armored vehicle crashing through the wall. The Chechen grabbed Bonnie and dragged her to the SUV where he opened the door and shoved her through. She climbed over the console quickly as he got in and shut the door behind him.

"What the fuck?" he asked, breathing heavily.

Bonnie chuckled. "I told you today was a bad day."

The men outside opened fire on the vehicle before it unleashed a blast of its own. The Chechen slammed the gear stcik into reverse and backed out of the parking space.

"Time to go," he announced.

Bonnie didn't even bother to ask about the others. One thing about mob men, they didn't care much for henchmen, they came at a dime a dozen. No one was irreplaceable.

The Chechen drove off down the winding road, tires squealing as he made the sharp turns. Bonnie was slammed into her seat over and over again before they finally hit the bottom floor. When they reached the toll booth where they were supposed to pay, the Chechen slammed down the accelerator and busted through to the other side, driving off into the night. The Chechen laughed heartily after they were a safe distance from the car garage. Bonnie looked at him like he was crazy but didn't say anything. If he wanted to laugh like a maniac, that was his business. Bonnie was just happy to be alive.

"Do you think any of them were the real thing?"

Her boss shrugged before answering, "I don't know and I don't care. He was going to show up at any time. We just get to live another day."

"Why did you throw me into the car?"

The Chechen shrugged again. "I've spent too much time and money on you to be wasted by some punk who dresses up in spandex every night. Let the others handle it. You and me have a meeting to get ready for."

"Meeting?" This was the first time she had heard of a meeting. "And just when is this meeting?"

"Two days," he informed.

"What's the meeting about?"

"I don't know, about the robbery today. About our money."

"'Our?'"

"Yes, the other crime bosses."

Bonnie blinked. "We're having a fucking convention? Don't you think that if Batman hears about this he could take out the entire crime scene?"

The Chechen nodded. "We're well aware. That's why we're not having the meeting at night like this shit-fest. We're having it during the day."

"Like a bunch of cowards," she muttered under her breath.

The Chechen ignored her comment and pulled off to the side of the street. "Your home, princess," he pointed out mockingly. Bonnie rolled her eyes but opened the door anyway. She saluted her boss and closed the door behind her before walking up to her apartment. She unlocked the door and was greeted by the meows of her cat. It was then that she remembered she had forgotten the groceries. Smacking herself in the face, Bonnie closed the door behind her, relocking it, and headed out to a grocery store that wasn't already closed.

Today just wasn't her day.


Special thanks to the following reveiwers:

islekstlef: Thank you so much! I hope you don't fall into a serious depression lol and that this was also to your liking.

Isabeau de Foix: Thanks for the reivew! And about that little "Jack" scene, it will pop up again in another chapter so don't think I just threw that in there and forgot about it. I'm sorry they didn't have more interaction lol.