I'm sorry it took me a while to update. I just for the life of me could inot/i seem to get myself to put these up!! That's why I decided to put up two more chappies, to make up for it. :3 Oh, and I don't think it's all that good. It sucks, and I'm sorry... ;_;
((P.S.: Oh, and I'm ireally/i sorry to anyone who's bothered by what the Joker goes through in this one. It had to happen; it's iSAW/i!!! At least I didn't ikill/i him...yet. *evil grin/shifty eyebrows* :D))
((P.P.S.: And I'm not saying, nor denying that that's what is gonna happen to him, mind you.))
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"I want to play another game."Joker couldn't stop screaming. It had all been too much, too fast. He wasn't even mentally there anymore. Just a raving shell wailing on and on with no intention of stopping. He couldn't think, he couldn't see. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know what he was. He felt himself drifting away into a hurricane of memories. Thrusting themselves on him, invading him. Stripping him bare to the vulnerable onslaught. Locking him up within their grasp. Winding their putrid thoughts and ideas around and through him. Twisting him...hooking him...Never to let him escape again. Because he was theirs. He belonged to them. Always have, always will...
His body arched violently up under the restraints when an electrical current suddenly ran through his entire body cutting off the screams from the madman. His mouth gaped wide choking back any sound. He tremored in that pose, shocking the Clown into silent submission for the full duration of the current. His mind and heartbeat froze along with it. When it stopped, he collapsed back down into the chair, gasping desperately for air long missed. He trembled all over. It made his body temporarily numb, but it cleared his mind enough to remember where he was and focus blankly at the TV screen to his left. The Joker wasn't sure how long he had been screaming like he did, he just knew something had been triggered with those words the Puppet said. Then everything went spiraling...and then...
Hey, wait a minute. I...was I just electrocuted? Did it just...
As if responding to his muddled thoughts, the Puppet began to speak from the TV.
"That's much better. Now that I've got your full attention again, I suppose you've got a lot of unanswered questions. 'Where am I?' 'Why am I here?' You never could remember our last meetings. I doubt this has changed over the years."
What,
what is this?! The Joker could feel himself
sinking at those words. More at the voice then what was actually
being said. He had been through this before, he was sure of it. But,
he couldn't for the life of him remember how, where, or why. He just
knew. So did the doll.
Quickly, he scanned the corners and the upper walls near the ceiling of the room looking for a hole, camera, mirrors, anything. The thing somehow was watching him, and the second he got way too crazed (which he must have suspected was going to happen), he somehow had set up a device to send volts of electricity into him. Just enough to get him under control and stop what he was doing, whatever that might have been. In this case, it was the constant shrieking.
Shock treatment. I haven't had that in a while...not since before...
Calming down some, he sat there at the Puppet's mercy listening to that all consuming voice.
"Unfortunately, time is a terrible thing to waste, and something you cannot afford to lose by reminiscing our previous encounters. No, for as you are quite aware of, the here and now are all that matter. Your whole world no longer exists outside this room. Outside that chair."
The Joker swallowed hard, eyes locked to the screen. He started to wheeze. Something inside him was reacting to what was going on before his mind would let him understand. He felt sick. Bile slinking its way up his throat trying to exorcize itself from his body, but he held it back. So many memories, feelings, pains. Things he never felt as who is was now, but as he did then. Joker was getting light-headed. He began to feel like two separate entities were trapped in his one little body. One of who he once was, and one of who he became....
He couldn't tell the difference anymore. If there ever was one.
"That chair will either become the beginning of your transformation, or your final resting place. The choice of how you wish for this to turn out is entirely within your grasp. And I mean that in every sense of the word. As you have already discovered, every part of your body is strapped down securely...except for your wrists. As I am sure you have already done, you will notice that on either side of the hand rests there are 5 indistinct buttons. One for each of your fingers."
The Joker had noticed this, but it still didn't stop him from unconsciously moving his fingers to the sides and absently tracing each button. It seemed whatever the doll mentioned or said, he seemed to do. Just like a good boy...
"Each button is connected to one of the devices encasing your joints and head. You will not be able to free yourself from them in any other way but unlocking the correct set of coordinates. It is very simple to decipher, once you figure out the pattern. However, being under your mental strain it will seem near impossible to solve. The key to getting out is to remain calm and move past the pain. And oh yes, you will receive pain. Pain is the first step to the healing process, as you know. I am only giving you one minute to escape the chair. That is just enough time for someone of your intelligence and skill to impute the code."
The fear inside of him was rising, like a paraplegic helplessly watching as the water continued to fill in the bathtub he occupied. But even through all this, even as the doll continued its speech, the Joker never once took his eyes away from the Puppet's face. But then again, he couldn't even if he wanted to.
And he really wanted to.
"To start the game you must push all the buttons on both sides at the exact same time. This will set the game in motion and start the clock. What you must do, is push one button from each side at the exact same time in the sequence that it has been set in. Meaning, if you choose to push the third button on your right side, you must push the third button on the left side as well. Every wrong choice will cause those specific gears correlating with which buttons you pressed to crank down further. Every right one will raise it up. Don't make too many mistakes, or you will greatly suffer the consequences. The deeper the damage, the more severe your chance for survival will slip away."
I'm
going to die. He wants me to die--he always wanted me to
die!!! No. Why won't you
leave me alone?!?!
"When you get the coordinates correct in the right order, then all the gears on the contraptions will reverse and rise up, and then eventually fall off. The bonds will release you and you will be free."
Free? Did he say 'free'?! Yes!! Yesyes!! Oh, yes I want that!! Give me that!!! I want free--
"However,"
Oh God...here it comes...
"You must make every second count, because when the timer reaches fifteen seconds remaining, all the cranks on each device will twist downward, regardless of getting a segment correct. When it gets to this, it is only a matter of time before they pop your joints out and your skull is crushed in, killing you within moments."
The Joker couldn't help but drop his jaw and suck in air at the last part. He never minded death before, but it always had a different meaning then when it came to this. Anywhere else, and he felt it was for a greater cause. But when it came to these games...these sick games...
It felt perverted.
"Solve the order, punch in the correct pattern regardless of when, and you win the game. Are you ready for this, my dear Joker?"
The madman winced at the formal way the Puppet called him. No one called him that. No one dare call him that. He would rip out anybody's tongue for even uttering the syllables. He didn't know why he despised it so much, but he had a funny feeling it had to do with the fact he hadn't been called that...since...
"And you may interpret this in any way you see fit......I wish you the best of luck, little Clown."
The TV went to static, with the Puppet slowly disappearing and his ghastly features being replaced with a timer. Bold numbers blazing one minute just like It said. As disconcerting as it was to see how little time he had, the Joker was beyond relieved that the Puppet's face was finally gone from his sight. He gagged after the 'demon' went away. Staring at it had brought flashbacks of things he never wanted to relive again. Ever. He felt a wave of relief sweep over him. This new wave of relief didn't last long for him. Then again, nothing does. He looked back at the screen and replayed in his head the instructions of the game.
I've got to
get out of here. Got to. I do not
want to rot in this place without anyone knowing where I went. It's
such a wasteful way to go. Not at all like I had planned. But,
even more important than that...If I should die here, in this chair,
all alone...then... Then I'll never see my darling And I cannot allow that to happen. Nobody keeps me
away from my Bat. And
no twisted game is going to keep me away from that which I Especially about ...wait, a minute...
His heart rate sped up at the realization of what was about to take place. No, I can't. Of what he was forced to do in order to get out of the chair, out of this prison. I can't do it again. Not again! He had gone through horrible things before (and done horrible things to people) just to get away, but never anything as severe as these 'games' put him through every time. I can't physically or mentally handle these anymore!! His breathing grew labored, and as he drew a deep breath and exhaled it slowly--horrible ideas passing through his mind-I've got to try, if just to see you again--, he placed his fingers over the buttons, eyes cast downward....and after a brief pause of looking himself over, (and thinking fleetingly of a certain someone) he pushed all the buttons at once.
And started the game.
The Clown gasped lightly as he wasn't prepared for the immediacy of it to start. It jerked, rumbling to life in moments. He half expected everything to just start moving and have those jagged spikes crashing down on him and it ending right away, but it didn't. Nothing happened.
Except the timer ticking his minute away.
He kicked his mind into motion, deciding the best thing to do (since it just started) was to push any button first. He pressed both thumbs and was greeted with a whirring sound, then a click.
What? Oh! That was right. I got the first one done! Haha! But of course. Now, the second one. This is so easy! Why was I ever worried?!
He chuckled at his progress, deciding to go next with the last digits on his hands. He pushed with both pinky's.
And got an altogether different reaction.
This time, the sound was a loud hiss, followed by squeaking gears.
He watched in spellbinding wonder as the cranks by his ankles lowered the top spikes downward, stopping right after breaking a centimeter into the flesh. Just tickling at his Achilles' heal. He sucked in air at how surprisingly painful it was. His tried to pull his legs into him, but that only succeeded in ripping the open skin more. He closed his eyes and just pushed his middle fingers next, hoping it was right and would relieve the pain.
It didn't. It was the wrong choice again.
This time the spikes lowered down onto his knees, imbedding themselves deeper than the ankle spikes did. Rows of sharp teeth squeezing together from the top and bottom of his poor joints, slowly locking them in place. His legs kicked automatically upwards--which did very little but caused more damage--and this time he cried out. It stung, like the spikes had been soaked in lemon juice. His fingers spastically flicked down, pushing the same button and his thumb ones again by accident. The Clown snapped his eyes open in horror at the blunder he made and was able to let out a 'no' before they lowered down further onto his knees, again.
And his head.
The one device around his head had bothered him from the beginning. Now, he had good reason to be so disturbed. He could feel as the cranks lowered the round top of the head piece slowly down onto the top of his cranium more, forcing his jaw to close. Immediate pressure had shot through his skull. The pole underneath his chin felt like it was bending the jawbone.
His knees had begun to be impaled on the spikes, and the Joker could feel all the muscles being torn slowly as those jagged edges gently grinded into the bone.
Joker tried to throw back his head and scream against the pain. But it was muffled, for his mouth was forced shut and his head refused to budge. He fumbled against the restraints to get away, because he just didn't want this anymore. Not that he ever did, but he was slightly curious as to how this one would play out. A sort of primal fear was taking over him now, however, and he couldn't calm down from it. His heartbeat had sped up and all his fresh open wounds were bleeding out fluently.
His index fingers seemed to push down on there own--his body becoming a separate entity from his mind.
And the cranks on his knees reversed.
But only on his knees, and nothing more.
There was no relief from the pain, however. In fact, it probably stung more. He didn't care at the moment. The only thing that mattered to him was somehow he had gotten another one right. And by accident.
I got the second one! Wh-what the first one, again? I can't remember! What am I going to do?! I can't think! My head hurts...Why is this so hard? How much time do I have left??...Oh god! Not enough!! I've lost 20 seconds already?!? NO! I've got to hurry, I'm running out of time and I'm not even half way!!!
The Joker had become hysterical, pushing buttons and getting the wrong answer. The spikes continued to lower themselves down upon him; twice to the ankles, once for the elbows, and again for the knees. But the worst for all of them was by far the head. When the spikes had dug deep into his elbows, the tendons in the arms were pulling his wrists inward and seemed to lock them there. He wasn't even sure what he was pushing anymore, but at some point he had hit the buttons that were linked to the head mechanism and brought it down worse than before. Last time it just locked his jaw in place and caused great discomfort. Now, however, it cranked down relentless and shattered his teeth. He had closed his eyes and let out a bloodcurdling scream through a clenched jaw and succeeded in spraying out large amounts of blood.
This was getting him nowhere, and the pain was getting worse.
Somehow, thankfully, he had hit another right button, which this time raised the ankle machine higher. He hadn't noticed. Because something far better happened; he figured out the sequence.
And just like the Puppet said, it was very simple.
All he had to do was go in order from the thumbs down to the pinky's. That was it.
But, as luck for the Joker is fleeting, so was his excitement and hope of getting out. Right when he pressed his ring fingers and it raised up the pressure on his head (causing him to cry a little in relief), the worst happened.
The timer reached 15 seconds remaining, and all the cranks suddenly groaned in response and slowly descended down at once.
To describe the pain the Joker was now newly experiencing cannot be done with words. But if you were to walk into the room at that moment, this is what you would see:
A bloodied Clown convulsing in a nightmarish chair with spikes grinding into him in distinct spots, with his screaming overpowering the room while blood poured down in waves from his mouth and other various places.
The Joker tried everything possible to move past the pain and stay focused on what he needed to do, and that was to press the last buttons--which were his pinky's--and end the game. But he just couldn't get his hands to do what he wanted them to do. Instead, he ended up pushing any and all the buttons desperately, which did nothing. His concentration was greatly impaired when the head crank continued its descent threatening to crush him like an egg. His brain was becoming numb as he heard a siren that only rang through his head. By this time, his ears had started to bleed. It kept putting more weight on his already broken teeth, cracking them in pieces and threatening to have them fall out in pieces. Wave after wave of sharp pain increased relentlessly until he just couldn't take it anymore, and it still came.
At some point through all this, the spikes on his knees dug so deep that the madman actually felt them pop apart, which sent another uncontrollable vibration through his body. He stopped screaming after this, as the pain reached a whole new level.
He knew he was going to die.
Although slow moving, he moved his fingers one last time in a dying effort to end it all. He reached over to those buttons, rested his pinky's above them, and when all he saw was white, he used his remaining strength to push...
There were several automatic clicking and whirring sounds in response. All the mechanisms froze in there pursuit. A short pause later, the sound of released steam came after, and then one by one,
All the devices raised up, dislocated and fell apart to the floor. Followed shortly were all the restraints unlocking and snapping open, releasing the Clown from there death grip.
The Joker fell bodily face-down to the ground and just laid there, a heap of blood and clothes at the foot of the chair.
He didn't move for a while. The feel of the cold floor and the new position did little to change it. But after a while, when the hissing from the chair died away, it was replaced with a soft--oh so soft--moan that sounded remarkably like a giggle. It grew quickly with each intake of breath he had, and became more fierce. Louder and longer, each one more crazed than the last. Uneven, up and down, every now and again interrupted with a cough.
The Joker was laughing on the floor hysterically. It reverberated off the walls and echoed into a chorus of uncontrollable cackling. Soon his body began to vibrate with each laugh, and he turned himself over to look at the chair and then the TV, eyes bugging out with triumphant insanity.
"HAHAHAHAA!!!! I WON!!! I WON!!!! I BEAT YOU, IBEATYOUIBEATYOU I. BEEAAATTT. YOOOOUUUUU!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAAA!!!!!!"
The Joker continued to rant on like this to the TV, truly believing it was watching him from there. On the screen were the bold numbers of the minute time run out. All zeros. Then suddenly--
-00:00:00-.....
--blink--
-04:00:00-
-03:59:59-
-03:59:58-
-03:59:57-
-03:59:56-.....
Joker's laughing slowly died out at his eyes never left the screen. He stared in disbelief at what was going on on the TV. He frowned, terribly confused.
Wait a minute, what's going on? I...I-I won. I won, dammit!! What is this?! What's happening?! Why does it say that!! Where are you?!?
The Joker looked madly around the little room for some explanation. Hoping to find something, anything--a clue maybe?--as to what this was all about. His eyes eventually fell on something near one of the wheel legs that held up the television on the floor. It was small, and looked terribly familiar to the Clown. It was...
a handheld gray tape recorder.
He tilted his head at it questionably. He had never noticed it before, but then again, he couldn't have. The device that held his head in place hadn't given him a great deal of room to move, and certainly not to be able to bend down and look at the TV's feet.
When his mind finally registered what it was, he moved without hesitation toward it. Joker ended up having to literally drag himself across the floor by his arms, palms and nails, for his legs were too damaged to be of any use. He grunted and winced at the extreme effort it took for him to get to it. When it was within his grasp he collapsed down exhausted. Panting, he reached a shaky arm out and clumsily grabbed the recorder and then dropped his arm and kept it there. God, he was so tired. Too exhausted to do anything more, he stared at it blankly for what felt like forever. Then, on what was sheer will power, he fumbled with it until he was able to get a finger over the play button and turned it on. At first, there was nothing to hear, and the Joker's consciousness slowly began to fade and blur out, when the voice picked up on it snapped him clearly back to reality.
"Congratulations, my dear Joker. If you are listening to this, then I can safely assume you have passed the first test. As I knew you would."
Joker suddenly felt cold as his deepest darkest fears began to grow.
What, what 'first test'?? What are you talking about?!!?
"And yes, you heard me right. Did you really think I was going to let you go after just one game? Oh, no no no, far from it. The game has only begun. You are far too complicated a puzzle to simply break by just one round. This will continue--"
The Joker shrieked NO! and through the tape recorder as far away from him as possible, not wanting to listen to it anymore. He started to half cry, half shout as he curled himself into a tight ball covering his ears. He screamed at the ceiling for it to all stop, shaking uncontrollably. In his state of mind, he no longer felt pain. He felt nothing, but the ever encompassing fear that always overtook him when he was in these situations. He looked like a crazed, helpless child wanting nothing more than to go home. His sobs were all that he heard, until--
He froze and laid quiet, eyes wide with terror. He shuddered. Coming closer and closer was the sound of squeaking wheels moving slowly in his direction. The Clown stopped breathing. He dare not look up, but he just couldn't help himself. He had to know what this new thing was now. What was going to terrorize him now. He slowly lifted his head up--hands still over his ears--and stared at the thing moving in front of him. Speechless terror enveloped him at what he saw.
It was the damn Puppet himself, riding on a red tricycle with his black shoes pushing the pedals until the front wheel was only inches away from his nose then stopped. They seemed to lock eyes for what felt like forever, but then the doll's mouth dropped open and let out a high-pitched mechanical laugh that echoed throughout the room.
Immediately the Joker scampered away, dragging his mutilated body as far from the doll as possible, screaming--and laughing, and crying-- bloody murder until his voice was raw. His eyes stayed on his antagonist until the world faded to black.
--The Joker seemed now completely insane.--