A/N: This is a big thank you to jamcneill680, PrettyRecklessLaura, suki. shah, xXFoxy Scorpion BlossomXx, InTheWrongEra, marie. zygoni, Katya Romanov, and andersonbt92 for reviewing, following this story and/or adding it to their favourite stories list :) I hope you enjoy chapter six! Hopefully the next one should be along soon.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from The Dark Knight trilogy. All I own is Cora and any other original characters.
Stumbling backwards, I let out a gasp as my spine hit the cold tiles of the wall behind me. All I could discern through the pounding in my ears was my rapid, shallow breathing, my vision blurring as tears welled up behind my eyes. He was staring at me silently, his dark orbs fixed on my every movement. I glanced around helplessly for something, anything, a way out, but he was starting to tread closer to me now, his hunched frame closing out more and more of the room with each painful step.
"Please," I said, my voice coming out in a whisper as he came to a stop in front of me, his hand extending to push away some of the hair from my face. I flinched, my eyes darting anywhere but him: the metal rails, the hanging pig meat. I was sure I was going to throw up.
I could feel his raspy breaths on my cheeks, the sour, stagnant stench filling my nostrils. He was drinking me in; I could sense the smirk on his face as he devoured my terror.
My heart was pounding as I made the decision. Before I could fathom what I was doing I was sprinting, running as fast as I could towards a set of doors that had entered my vision. No sooner had I set off I heard a snarl and a set of footsteps storming after me. I had just reached the handle when something grabbed me by the shoulder and flung me away from the doors so hard I landed in a heap on the ground, panting.
Scrambling to my feet, I gasped when I felt him take hold of me again, this time pushing me so that I was up against the wall and he was leaning into me, breathing heavily as he frowned down at me. There was nothing I could do as his hand grabbed my neck, and before I knew it he had slammed my head against the tiles, causing my vision to swim for a moment. Tears leaked out from under my eyes with the pain, staring back up at him whilst my body threatened to give out from under me.
"There are two ways we can do this … the easy way, or the hard wayyy," he growled as he tightened his grip around my neck. I simply clung to his wrist weakly, feeling my head growing heavier and heavier with lack of air. It was getting harder to see, harder to react. Something that caught the light flew into view, and I realized that his knife was now against the corner of my mouth.
"How about we give you a little reminder for the next time you want to try and escape."
I let out a gasp as he threw me to the ground. My body landed with a 'thud', cold air rushing into my lungs with the impact. Wracked with a coughing fit, I didn't see it coming. His foot came out of nowhere, connecting with my stomach. A dull pain resounding through my body, it was too soon before his leg came at me again, catching me in the same place. This time the ache was even worse, causing a moan to escape my mouth as I attempted to curl into a ball, shielding myself as best I could. I laid there in a heap, waiting for the next. But it didn't come. Instead, a hand shot down to grab me under the arm, yanking me to my feet. I swayed dangerously but he had me steady, staring down at me with that anger still in his eyes.
"Let's try this again," he said, bringing the knife back up to my cheek. "See, you only get hurt if you try and do something that's not very nice," he spat, his face so close now that his warm, sour breath clouded my nose. I wanted to gag. "And that wasn't nice at all."
"What do you want from me?" I said, my ears ringing. I wasn't sure I could even feel any more pain.
"Welll," he said as he backed me up against the wall again, seeing that my knees were probably about to give out. "All I wanted was to ask whether you know why we made this little movie, hm?"
I stared back at him, glad when he simply told me anyway.
"Y'see, tomorrow, this little clip will be shown all over Gotham, and everyone will be busy skipping on their merry little wayyy, with their same old monotonous routines, trying to keep their perfect little worlds in order," he said, fluttering his free hand mockingly. "But, these, these civilised people … their perfect little worlds that they try oh so hard to control are gonna be shaken up just a little. With this – little – clip."
He licked his lips, staring down at me deeply whilst giving me a look. All I could do was simply return his gaze, searching his eyes. They were dark and brown, flickering over the expanse of my face like he couldn't keep them still. I felt uncomfortable, like he was reading all the thoughts I'd ever had just by watching me the way he was now. I sighed a little in relief when he finally leant back, taking away the knife from my mouth.
"I'm just showing people how pathetic their attempts to control things really are," he reasoned. "It's everyone. Harvey Dent's one of 'em, the Commissioner's one of 'em, your father's one of 'em," he said, his voice going low. I was shocked at how he snarled a little when the words came out his mouth.
"Right now, he's frantically trying to find a way to get his precious little daughter back safe and sound, to get everything back to the way things were. He doesn't know what's coming. No one does," he told me, sounding almost exhilarated. I shook my head, cursing myself when a tear ran down my cheek.
"You're just crazy," I whispered. "My dad's gonna come and get me. The police will find us and they'll stop you." I wanted to cringe away as he brought his face close to mine, our noses almost touching. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him bring his knife back up to my face, and began to twirl a strand of my hair around the blade gently.
"You'll soon understand," he said, nodding more to himself than at me. "You're soon gonna see things a whole lot diff-erentlyyy."
That was when I felt the sensation of something sharp slice through my bottom lip, causing me to cry out in pain. He let me go and I stumbled away from him, covering my throbbing mouth with a shaky hand. I felt blood dripping down my chin. Turning to look at him with both shock and anger written across my face, something clenched in my stomach when I found him staring at me with a hungry expression. After a couple of seconds, he became angsty again.
"Now, as much as I'd looove to stay here and continue our little chat-ah, we've gotta go." He marched over and reached out as if to grab my hand, but I hastily stepped out of his grasp without thinking, giving him a look that told him there was no way I was going to let him touch me again after what had just occurred.
A dark expression overtook his features. "Are we really gonna go through this again?" he growled, raising an eyebrow at me. Summoning up the last of my courage, I braced myself as I began walking past him towards the doors that I remembered seeing the others exit through. I heard him chuckle, his footsteps gaining on me before I suddenly found myself having to follow in his wake, watching nervously as he pushed his way through the set of navy-blue doors ahead of me.
We walked down the corridor, a couple of yards between us. That was when it hit me that I was still alive. He hadn't killed me. Only a raw sense of relief filled me at this realization, due to the knowledge that he definitely had more in store for me. I felt my brows furrow as I contemplated this. Why hadn't he done away with me? I was no use to him whatsoever, so what was the point of him keeping me around? I didn't have time to think over this fully however as we stepped outside, the late afternoon sunshine beating down upon my face. I found myself wishing that I'd thought to wear a watch yesterday, realizing how much this would help me keep track of the time.
The Joker took us over to the same black van that had driven us here. His cronies were leaning against it, waiting for us, some of them pacing anxiously. They already must have re-loaded their gear. I was trying not to imagine what kinds of things were in those bags when slowly I began to register a faint dragging sound in my ears. Glancing to my left, I felt my eyes widen as I watched two men haul Brian into the back of another van that was parked further up from us, this one white and grimy. I could hear him groaning faintly, and I managed to catch sight of his chest rising and falling rapidly as he was slid onto the metal platform like cargo. I flinched as the doors were slammed shut, staring after the van as it accelerated hastily with a low whirr down an adjacent back-alley and out of sight. I could only hope that he would be alright.
"Boss?" a voice asked. I turned back to see one of the Joker's cronies stepping towards us apprehensively. I recognised him as the man that had sat in the front with the Joker on the drive here.
The Joker, who had been casting his eye around at us all as if making sure everything was in order, turned his head lazily in the man's direction, his eyes cold.
"B-Boss, when you were all inside, some man on his cell phone came around the corner, and … he saw me with my gun, and that I was about to shoot him, and – and he ran off, I couldn't catch him. I think he may have called the cops," he ended, gulping.
There was a silence of a few seconds where nobody made a sound. The other two men, who I now knew were called Caleb and John, and the girl, who I guessed all already knew, were watching the exchange nervously, looking as if they didn't know whether to look or not. I peeked a glance at the Joker, concerned to find an expression of irritation across his face.
"You know, I thought I told you to keep watch?" he said, causing the color to drain from the man's face. He opened his mouth to speak, but before any sound could form, a loud bang that caused me to feel like my eardrums had just burst from the close proximity sounded. The realization at what had just happened dawning on me as out of the corner of my eye I saw the Joker slide a gun back into his coat, I slowly looked over at where the man had been standing, stifling a gasp as I saw his now lifeless body laying sprawled on the ground, a pool of blood blossoming over his chest.
"Far too quick-ah," the Joker was muttering to himself. "Everyone in the van, now!" he ordered, causing an immediate flurry of activity as the others flocked to the vehicle. "Johnnie-boy, you're driving."
He pulled me over to the back of the van, just as the faint sound of a siren met our ears. Everyone immediately quickened their movements with the exception of the Joker, who was licking his lips as he listened.
"Ah, what a sound!" he breathed as a wide grin stretched across his face. I cringed when he quickly turned to me and lifted me up by my waist and set me down inside the van, guiding me in the direction of the row of seats. I hurriedly broke myself away and sat down, sensing the girl scurrying over to sit opposite. The Joker climbed in next to me as Caleb, the younger man, jumped in as well, slamming the doors closed behind him.
"Home we go, everybody!" the Joker cried, his tongue darting out to lick his lips as he brought out one of his knives from his coat pocket. The van immediately accelerated down the alley, causing me to almost fly into the Joker's side, only managing to keep myself seated by gripping onto the underside of the frame. Sighing shakily, I focused my attention back onto the sound of the police siren that was growing fainter and fainter into the distance, my hopes for escaping the clutches of the man next to me, who sat twirling his knife around menacingly between his fingers, his motives as to why he had taken me still unclear, fading along with it.