(Hello there, sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. I recently got myself a job and it's hard to work on this as much as I want to. But not to fear, I at least spend thirty minutes a night on this thing so I won't fall too far behind. Anywho, I really am happy about all the people who have listed me under favorite stories and story alerts! It keeps me going. So do reviews…*hint hint*….. I like reviews. Oh yeah, and I do not own Batman or the Joker *tears up and composes herself*. But I do own Samantha Reads.)
Chapter Four
The mobsters were still frozen after the Joker had left the room. It didn't last long though. Gambol flew into a rage, yelling about how they let a lunatic waltz in and insult them and then let the lunatic walk out. He and his men were the first to leave the building after taking the dead body guard with them.
Chechen turned to Maroni. "Maroni, what you think?" he asked.
Maroni examined his fingernails and looked back at the Russian. He shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Eh, I still think he's a wack job," he answered.
Chechen raised his dark, bushy eyebrows and motioned to where the Joker had been sitting. "But you saw what he did to Gambol's man. He might be useful."
Maroni gave him a doubtful look as he stood to his feet. He smoothed his suit before he spoke. "Look, this is our problem, and we'll fix it. Not by using some guy off the street who wears clown make-up. Got it?"
Chechen hesitated before he finally nodded. "All right Maroni, we go your way," he answered.
He took out a cigar from the inside pocket of his jacket and stuck it between his teeth. Chechen dug around in his pockets before he finally looked at Maroni.
"Got match?" he mumbled out of the corner of his mouth.
Maroni produced a pure silver lighter with his initials decoratively engraved on the surface, and held it up to Chechen's cigar. Chechen took a few puffs before he said 'thanks'.
At that moment, they heard the loud slam of a door from outside the building. They briefly locked eyes with each other and hurried to the window to see the Joker swiftly striding out to a van surrounded by thugs in clown masks.
Maroni's attention was grabbed by the beautiful face he saw with them. That beautiful face also caught his Russian friend's eye.
Chechen removed the cigar from his lips and exhaled a pillar of smoke as he gave a whistle. "Not bad," he said, nodding his head a bit.
Maroni squinted to see that three of the thugs had their guns pointed at the woman. The Joker stopped in front of her and said a few words to the young woman. Whatever it was he said the Joker was rewarded with a slug to the jaw.
The Joker went down on the pavement and put a hand over the spot the lady's fist had made contact. A thug with blue lips on his clown mask got ready to hit her with the butt of his gun when the Joker turned around and put out a hand to stop him. The thug froze. Standing up, the Joker faced the woman.
"Poor girl," Maroni thought. "Any second she'll have a knife slice her throat. Such a pretty face, got spice to her."
He watched with anticipation as the Joker roughly grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to the passenger's side of the van.
Chechen paused in mid-drag on his cigar, paying more close attention to what he was seeing.
Maroni raised his eyebrows. This girl was special! She had to be! The Joker let her live!
The Russian and Italian watched as the van rode away from the building, tires squealing against the asphalt.
"Who was that woman?" Chechen wondered out loud.
Maroni had been asking himself the exact same thing. He slowly shook his head from side to side, still staring out the window even though the van was gone.
"I don't know…" He let a dirty grin spread across his tanned face. "But the wack-job's got taste."
…
Once again, Samantha was pushed into the room and collided with the wall. She grimaced and stood still to regain her balance. All the pain from yesterday flooded back and combined with the pain of that morning.
Two hands slammed onto the wall at both sides of her head, causing Samantha's heart to leap into her throat. She spun around to face the Joker, leering at her.
"Naughty, naughty; trying to run away like that," he teased and flicked his tongue over his lips. He paused, taking in their positions and suddenly giggled. "Well, isn't this familiar?"
Samantha took a moment to realize he was referring to that moment by the lockers in high school ten years ago.
The Joker wrapped a strand of her blond hair around a gloved finger. He sighed as if he was unhappy. "Oh Samantha, you can't just go running off. What would you have done without me there to protect you, hm?"
"Protect me?" Samantha exclaimed incredulously.
"Well of course; we wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you, now would we?"
"I didn't think you cared."
The Joker laughed breathlessly and let go of her hair.
"I. Care. Very. Much. Especially when the little bir-die tries to escape from her cage so she can go tell the cops where we are!" he shouted in her ear.
Samantha couldn't help but cringe and shiver, making the Joker smile. He stepped closer, closing the gap between them.
Samantha pressed herself against the wall to put some space between them, but it didn't work. "Back off," she hissed.
"Make me," the Joker replied childishly, moving even closer.
He received a hard shove against his chest, causing his feet to take a couple of steps back to keep his balance. Samantha moved to slip away and had herself thrown against the wall again.
"Getting a little rough there, aren't we?" the Joker teased.
Samantha refused to show any hint on her face that she felt pain shooting up and down her spine.
"You see, Samantha, I can't let you go. You know things; for instance, our location. That's a big one, but also, you know me…not very well, but more than anyone else in Gotham."
"I don't even know you're real name, so how do I know you better than most?"
The Joker grabbed Samantha by the chin and thrust his face within an inch of hers. "Aaall it takes is one. Loose. String for everything to unravel; and you, my dear, are that loose string."
"What are you going to do?"
The Joker's hand moved from Samantha's chin, slid down her jaw line, and came to rest at her neck.
Samantha's breathing became shaky, thinking he was about to strangle her. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his.
The Joker ran his tongue along the inside of his bottom lip and ever so slightly added pressure to her neck. Samantha's eyes widened.
The Joker grinned and released her neck, moving his hands to her shoulders. He gave her a painful squeeze while he laughed.
The Joker opened his mouth as if to say something, but decided against it. He patted her cheek.
"I was only joking, Samantha."
By the look on Samantha's face, she didn't believe him. He turned away and went for the door. The Joker paused and looked back at her.
"Why so serious?" he asked with a laugh. He soon closed the door, leaving her alone.
…
Red was shoved against the wall and held in place by two purple gloves.
"Didn't I specifically tell you to keep an eye on her?"
Red braced himself for the next assault. He was jerked off the wall and flung onto the table. The table threatened to collapse at the sudden weight, but held.
The Joker flicked out his knife and held it near the corner of Red's eye. "Soooo, why did she almost escape-ah? Hm? Can you tell me that?"
Red gasped when he felt the cold metal touch his skin. "Boss, I only looked away for a second! The others were supposed to be watching her too; I was the only one who-." He was cut off when the tip of the blade poked him.
"Don't blame them, I'll take care of 'em later. Right now, I'm talking to youuu; the one I told to watch Samantha!"
"Boss, I swear, it won't happen again!"
"I know it won't…" The Joker moved the knife to Red's throat.
Red paled when he saw the murderous look in the Joker's eyes.
This was it. He knew he was about to die, he knew his time would be soon. He had lasted longer than most of the thugs, but now he'd die. Red had always been the Joker's 'Go-To Boy' and it made him think he'd be left alone. He had only screwed up this once, and now it was costing him his life.
Red squeezed his eyes shut and waited…and waited…and waited. He felt the knife against his throat, but it was just there. It had only nicked him.
Red dared to crack an eyelid open and peek out, his face twisted in anticipation.
The Joker wasn't even looking at him, he was staring into space. His eyes landed on Red again and a mischievous smile spread along his face.
The young man didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. He felt the knife leave his throat and Red held his breath, hardly daring to hope he'd live.
"I might have some use for you…," the Joker muttered.
The thing about Red was that he was the less dangerous looking of his gang. That's what made him a good 'Errand Boy'; he didn't attract much attention, and he was the one who thought more clearly than the others.
For now…the Joker would let him live.
The Joker released Red and bit the inside of his left cheek. "Go make yourself useful," he snapped.
Red practically flew off the table and out of sight, afraid his Boss might suddenly change his mentally unstable mind.
The Joker laughed in amusement at Red's speed and then pocketed his knife.
He strolled down the hall and entered the room all of his men liked to hang out in. He scanned the faces for two in particular and spotted them trying to be invisible.
"Bob! Dez!" he yelled.
The two thugs' heads snapped up and their eyes widened. The Joker twitched his index finger at them, motioning to come forward. The two young men shuffled over, their masks dangling from their pockets. Bob had the Whistle mask, Dez had the Blue Lips mask.
The Joker put a hand on their shoulders. "I need to have a little talk with you two." His tongue darted out over his lips and a glint appeared in his now black eyes.
Bob and Dez glanced at each other uneasily.
"From what Red tells me, you two decided to be lazy about. Your. Job-ah."
"He's lying."
"Uh-huh..." The Joker pushed his tongue against the inside of his left cheek and suddenly grabbed their necks with the hand resting on their shoulders. He moved his thumbs over their windpipes and pushed.
"The thing is, boys, Red has learned not to lie to me. Wanna know what I did to help him learn?"
The Joker slammed Dez's head against the wall and kneed Bob in the stomach. He bashed Bob's head against the wall beside Dez and kicked them both while they were down.
The other thugs were now watching nervously, wondering if the Boss would suddenly turn on them.
The Joker giggled as he kept bringing his foot hard against their bodies, encouraged by their yelps of pain. After a few more seconds of this, he stopped. He was breathing heavily as he crouched down.
The Joker grabbed a fist full of Bob's hair and pulled his head up to look Bob in the eye. "Now...do you want to retract your statement?" he asked.
Bob gave a weak nod and spit blood out to the side.
"Good."
The Joker ruffled Bob's hair and shoved his head away as he got up and skipped out of the room. He paused when he was halfway to his room and looked down at his brown shoe. That kicking exercise had given him an idea.
The Joker pulled out one of his knives and flicked it open, glancing at the blade and then at his shoe. A wide grin stretched across his scarred face.
"That might actually work," he thought.
The next two days were very uneventful. Samantha was let out of her room by Red and he let her take care of some personal necessities and have something to eat.
As he led her back to her 'prison' on the second day, she couldn't help but ask, "So where's the Joker?"
"He's busy working on something. He hasn't come out of his room for hours except to tell me to let you out for a little bit."
"Working on what?"
Red stopped walking and jabbed a finger into her shoulder, now bruised from her impact with the emergency door. "Listen, Miss Blond, you're getting a bit too nosey. If you knew what was best for ya, you'd stop asking so many questions." He shoved her back into the room and closed the door behind Samantha.
On the third day, the door was opened by the Joker. "Good morning, Sunshine!" he greeted.
Samantha had actually still been sleeping when he burst in. She quickly sat up and looked at him with blurry eyes. From what she could tell, he was still wearing his purple suit.
The Joker grinned at Samantha and hopped over. "Have a nice sleep?" he asked.
Samantha rubbed her eyes with her thumb and groaned. "You really do enjoy making me miserable, don't you?" She looked back at him when her eyes had cleared. Samantha cocked her head to the side and stared at his painted face.
"You don't sleep with that on, do you?" she asked.
"Do you want to find out?" the Joker asked with a dirty grin.
"Forget I asked," Samantha sighed irritably.
The Joker chuckled and roughly pulled Samantha to her feet.
He took her to the main room and pushed her into the rolling chair which sent her rolling a few feet away from him. He leaped over to her and grasped the arms of the chair, pulling it close to him.
The Joker loomed over Samantha; the grin still plastered on his face."Sooo, Samantha, did ya miss me while I was busy?"
Samantha was quiet and looked away.
The Joker snatched her chin and pulled her back. "Eyes forward, darling, and answer my question."
Samantha set her jaw defiantly and looked directly in his eyes, but she didn't speak. His grip tightened. "Are you going to talk-ah?"
The Joker pulled out his knife and held it in front of Samantha's face. The light played against the blade and fell across her face. She blinked when the light shined in her eyes.
"Have I ever showed you my favorite knife? It's a real beauty, isn't it? Very sharp..." The Joker leaned forward, grinning. "Are you sure you don't want to know how I got my scars?"
The sound of a door opening made both of them turn to look. Red had come in and hesitated when he saw them so close. "Um...uh, you wanted me, Boss?" he asked uncertainly.
The Joker briefly exchanged a glance with Samantha and straightened to his full height. "Yes," the Joker said as he tucked the knife back into his pocket. "I need you to watch Samantha for a little bit."
"Boss, I'm kinda tired of being her baby-sitter."
The Joker licked his lips and cocked his head to the side. The skin at the side of his nose twitched. "Excuse me?" he asked in a low voice.
Red took a nervous step back. "I can watch her for ya," he said quickly.
The Joker flashed him a quick smile and gave his shoulder a slap. "Greeeat." He glided out of the room and closed the door.
Red sighed and trudged over to the small table near by Samantha.
Samantha sat in the rolling chair and moved the seat from side to side, using her feet to change the motions. She lifted her eyes to see Red, sitting on the table and watching. Samantha stopped moving and leaned back.
"Do you have to stare at me like that?" she asked testily.
"The Boss said to keep you in my sight at all times."
"You do know you can blink, right? I won't vanish."
"I'm not taking any chances. You've gotten me in enough trouble already."
"Then I guess we're even."
Red grunted and shifted the gun to his other hand. Silence followed.
Samantha rubbed a kink out of her neck before she spoke again. "Why are you working for him?"
Red surprised her by giving a short bark of a laugh. He looked at her, his light blue eyes full of sarcasm. "Don't even try that. Almost every prisoner we've had has tried that 'why are you doing this, I can help you' speech. It doesn't work."
"I know it doesn't."
"Huh?"
Samantha could tell she had thrown him a curveball. "I was just curious," she said and went back to moving her seat from side to side.
Red cocked his head to the side, as if he were examining Samantha for the first time. "You're different from the others."
Samantha lifted her head back up and raised an eyebrow. "How so?" she asked.
"He's brought a few women prisoners along before, not very many, but a few. They were pathetic. Crying all the time, fainting whenever he came at them with a knife, just pathetic really. This one woman, she was a piece of work, I mean she was a real beauty. She offered to…well, you know…with him if he let her go."
Samantha's jaw fell open, surprised that the woman would make such an offer.
Red kept on with his story.
"You know what he did? He gave her this look, like he was insulted and said, 'I don't go for cheap women,' and he slashed her throat; just like that. He killed every one of the prisoners, but with you…" Red shook his head in confusion. "I don't get it."
Red eyed her for a minute and shrugged. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you're a nice looking girl, but so were some of the others and...I just don't get it. He hasn't even tortured you yet."
Samantha's heart picked up speed. "Torture?"
"Yeah. He's tortured every single one." Red smirked at her. "And he doesn't go easy on any of them."
Samantha swallowed the lump that had developed in her throat.
"You wouldn't happen to be the daughter of someone really important, would ya? Someone who'd pay big bucks to make sure you won't get hurt? Maybe a friend of some rich tycoon? Rich boyfriend? Husband? Fiancé? Brother? Cousin-twice removed?"
"Now you're just being ridiculous!" Samantha snapped.
"I want to know! Compared to the others, he hasn't laid a finger on you!"
"Ha!" Samantha scoffed.
The door opened and the Joker walked into the room.
"Speak of the devil," Samantha thought.
The Joker put his hands behind his back and leaned forward. "I see you're still here," he said, smiling.
"I couldn't bring myself to leave," Samantha sassed, eyeing the gun in Red's hand.
The Joker followed her line of sight and grinned, giving a quick laugh. "Well, Samantha, I'll have to be taking Red along with me, we're going to be off on a little visit and that means-." His arm shot and he grasped Samantha's shoulder tightly.
She was jerked out of the chair and dragged from of the room. "That means you'll have to stay in your lovely room until I, uh, return." He turned to Red. "Get to the van and wait for me."
Red nodded and hurried down the opposite hall.
Samantha winced at the pressure on her shoulder. "Red told me what you do to your prisoners."
"Did he now? Sometimes Red needs to keep his mouth shut," the Joker growled.
"Is it true you killed all the prisoners after torturing them?"
"Is that what's worrying you?"
"Considering I'm your prisoner, I believe that gives me a very good cause to worry-." Samantha tripped when the Joker tugged her forward to keep up with his pace. Samantha rolled her eyes, knowing he had made her lose her footing on purpose.
The Joker gave an amused laugh and pulled Samantha to her feet. "You don't think that I'm going to give you speciaaal treatment-ah?"
"I know you won't."
The Joker's mouth twitched and he chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Good, that proves you're not stupid."
He opened the door to Samantha's room and bowed at the waist. "You're suite, my lady," he teased.
He straightened up and shoved her into the room, laughing maniacally as he did. The Joker slammed the door shut and locked it. He looked at the key before dropping it into one of his coat's inner pockets. He snickered as he walked away, humming as he went.
…
Samantha sighed and leaned against a wall. At least the Joker had turned on the light instead of leaving her in complete darkness.
"Allan…" she whispered.
She could not believe it was the same guy! For one thing, his mannerisms were different, but ten years could change a person completely. Also, he had called her Esmeralda and he brought up their kiss at prom. No one knew about that because she had kept her mouth shut, and 'Allan' did not seem like the type to brag about it.
"Oh let it go! Think of a way to get out of this Hell-Hole!" her mind yelled.
Samantha paced inside the room, running ideas through her brain. She briefly glanced at the lock on the door and paused, looking at the lock longer.
A light bulb lit up in her head. Samantha went over and knocked on the door and listened. No reply from outside. She knocked again to be sure and still heard nothing.
Samantha took out a hairpin from her hair and bent it into the proper shape before she began to pick the lock.
After being occasionally locked out of her dorm room during her college years, Samantha had decided to learn how to pick locks so she wouldn't have to stand outside and wait for her roommate to show up and unlock the door. It was a skill that came in handy and it wasn't going to fail her now when she needed it most.
The door gave a faint click and Samantha grinned.
"Freedom," she thought to herself.
She slowly turned the doorknob and peeked out. No one was guarding her door.
Samantha slipped out of the room and locked it behind her, in case someone came by to make sure it was still locked. She quickly walked away from the room and made her way down a hall, soon coming to a split. It branched out into three different hallways.
"Which one brought me here?" she wondered.
The sound of voices coming from the hall to Samantha's left made her panic and she ran into the middle hall. The voices faded as she went further and she sighed in relief.
A gasp nearly escaped from her when the Joker walked right by at another split. Samantha pulled back and waited for him to disappear around the corner. He was humming a tune as he walked.
The Joker passed her by and disappeared. Samantha let out a breath she had been holding. Apparently she had taken a wrong turn.
Samantha turned and was about to go back when the sound of footsteps came from ahead, getting closer. Samantha looked around for a weapon of some sort and her gaze fell on a broken broomstick. Samantha picked it up and turned it around in her hands.
Okay, so it wasn't much of a weapon, but still, if she swung hard enough she could do some damage to someone's head.
Samantha hid behind the corner and waited for whoever it was to show up.
A goon with a clown mask on began to walk in the direction the Joker had gone. Samantha carefully made her way down the hall, following the goon.
She raised the broomstick over her head and brought it down on the thug's head. He dropped to the floor, unconscious, his gun clattered next to him.
Samantha stood over the clown. This was her ticket out of here.
…
A few minutes later, Samantha was standing with the group of men, dressed in the clown's baggy black clothes which concealed her feminine form. The clown mask fit her face just enough to where she didn't have to constantly adjust it.
The Joker pushed through the double doors and made his way to the group.
Samantha gripped her gun tightly.
"Be calm, girl, be calm."
"Okay gentlemen, it's time to terrorize this city's innocent citizens and also meet up with a certain mob leader. Load up!" the Joker ordered.
Four thugs, five counting Samantha, loaded into the van while a clown with a pink tuft of fake hair on the top of his mask, sat at the front with the Joker. The van took off and Samantha's adrenaline began to rush.
"What do you think he'll do to the mob leader?" a clown with a smile on his mask asked. Samantha decided to name him Happy.
"Don't know, but I bet it'll be good," Whistle said.
"What do you think?" Happy asked.
Samantha couldn't tell who he was asking because of the mask.
"Hey! I'm asking you!" he said, giving her a rough shove.
Samantha faced him and shrugged. They didn't talk the rest of the way.
…
Twenty minutes later, the van stopped and the back doors were opened, light flooded in.
"All right, everybody get out," Pink ordered.
Samantha clambered out and saw that they were back at the Thomasina Arms. She looked to her left to see the Joker adjusting his purple coat. He pulled out a black trash bag, big enough to fit a body in.
"Who wants to carry a dead body inside?" the Joker asked with his permanent smile.
When no one volunteered, he sighed and looked up at the sky for a moment. He pointed to three boys. "You three, take off your masks. You're going to carry me inside."
The young men slowly took off their masks, confused.
Samantha was thankful she hadn't been chosen. She saw that two of the young men the Joker had chosen were Jamal and Red.
"The uh, mob leader in there," the Joker pointed to the Thomasina Arms, "wants to pay five hundred thousand to anyone who brings me to him dead, but a million if I'm alive. You'll be getting five hundred thousand…or so he thinks. He wants to teach me some manners. No respect for me, no respect for me at all. He's just," he pulled out a knife, "going to have to go." He looked at the gleaming blade for a moment, lost in his own mad world.
A few seconds passed and the Joker looked back up from his knife. "Gambol may have some of his body guards with him, so when I jump up, you take care of them. Don't kill them though, I have plans for them." He let out a laugh and licked his lips.
The Joker wrapped himself in the bag and the boys covered his face with the plastic. They began to carry him to the building.
Before they got far, the Joker started to say something. He pulled off the plastic and looked directly at Samantha.
Samantha instantly froze up and held her breath. "Oh crap…"
For an agonizing moment, Samantha worried the Joker had found out that it was her in the clown mask. He pointed at her and then at Whistle. "You two, stay in the van," he pointed at Samantha again, "You stay behind the wheel."
Samantha nodded and got in the driver's seat as the group began to carry the Joker again. The other clown, Whistle, sat shotgun.
"Wonder what's goin' on?" he said aloud.
Samantha shrugged lazily, keeping an eye on the backs of the boys, waiting for them to get out of sight before she…
"They're inside the building! Now!"
She rammed the butt of her gun in Whistle's face and he went limp. Samantha shoved him out of the passenger door and fired up the engine. She slammed the gas pedal to the floor and the tires squealed against the pavement as the van moved away from Thomasina Arms.
She was free! Samantha took off the clown mask and tossed it into the back of the van. She had to get to the police and tell them where the hide out was.
"So long, Joker!" she laughed.
…
Gambol leaned over the pool table and shot at the seven ball when one of his men came into the room. Another man came in after him.
"Yo Gambol, somebody here for you. They say they've just killed the Joker," the man said.
"They brought the body," the other man informed Gambol.
Gambol grinned. Today was going to be good.
Three boys entered, carrying a body bag made out of plastic garbage bags. They laid it on the pool table and stepped away.
Gambol and two of his men stood near the table. His men waited at both ends as he tore away the plastic, revealing the scarred and painted face of the Joker.
Gambol turned to face the boys. He had a smug grin on his face. "So, dead, that's five hundred-," he said.
Behind him, the Joker suddenly sat upright and buried two knives into the two men standing beside him.
Gambol turned to have a switchblade thrust into his mouth and pushed against a cheek.
"How 'bout alive? Hm?" the Joker asked.
The boys pushed guns against the heads of the three remaining men in the room. They forced them to their knees.
The Joker leaned in towards Gambol. "Wanna know how I got these scars?" he asked.
Gambol said nothing but stared at him in complete fear.
"My father wasss…a drinker, and a fiend, and one night, he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself, he doesn't like that. Not. One. Bit," the Joker licked his lips, "Sooo, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. He turns to me, and he says, 'Why so serious?' comes at me with the knife- 'Why so serious?'" The Joker put the blade in Gambol's mouth. "Sticks the blade in my mouth, 'Let's put a smile on that face,' aaaand…"
The Joker looked at the terror filled face of one of Gambol's men. "Why so serious?" he asked calmly.
The Joker quickly moved the knife out of Gambol's mouth and sliced the man's throat. Gambol gurgled blood and fell to the floor.
The Joker jerked the rest of the plastic bags off of himself. "Now," he began, all business like, "our operation is small, but there's a lot of potential fooor," the Joker grabbed a pool stick and grinned, extending both arms out, his hands balled into fists, "aggressiiive expansion. Sooo, which of you fine gentlemen would like to join our team?" he sing-songed.
The three men didn't know what to say.
"Oh! There's only one spot open right now, so we're gonna have-," the Joker broke the stick in two over his knee and looked at the broken ends, "tryoutsss."
He found which one he liked and dropped it on the floor in the middle of the men. He sighed and began to walk out of the room.
"Make it fast," the Joker said, breathlessly.
The boys released Gambol's men and stood back. The men looked at each other and then at the sharp end of the stick.
Would they really kill one another to work for the Joker?
…
When the Joker came back out to the van, he saw it was gone and Whistle was face down on the road. The Joker strolled over to Whistle and shoved him onto his back with his foot. "Where's the van?" he asked.
"The dude drove off with it; smashed my face with the end of the gun," Whistle groaned.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Hm." The Joker licked his lips and heaved a sigh of frustration before giving Whistle a violent kick to the abdomen. "Let's try to keep the cars and not loose them!" he shouted.
He looked up and down the street as Whistle coughed and painfully got to his feet. "Gambol's dead, I won't have to worry about him or his boys, but we need to move to another hide out. Can't have the police find us, can we?"
"What guy in his right mind would go up against you, when they're working for you?" Happy asked. He was a little surprised to hear the Joker chuckle.
The Joker turned around with a grin on his face. "Not a guy; a girl."
"The chick!" Whistle exclaimed.
Jamal started grinning. "Dude, you got you're face smashed in by a girl," he teased.
"A girl with a gun!" Whistle said, defensively.
"Shut up!" the Joker shouted.
They immediately stopped.
"Let's go!" he snapped and they began to move. "Samantha…," he hissed with a smile.
He was really fascinated with her. He liked how she wasn't the kind of woman that crumbled into a sobbing mass when a gun was aimed at her or when her life was threatened. He liked how she had the brains to escape like she did and had beaten a guy senseless.
Oh yeah, he liked her. A lot.
(Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate them. If you also have some song suggestions for me to bob my head to while I work on this story, I'd like to hear them. I'm out! Till next time ya'll!)