Luna groggily opened her eyes. How long had she been out? One? Two days? She hadn't a clue. Even now her mind was confused. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head, hitting something solid. A wall. Where was she exactly?

She sat up in attempt to look around her, but immediately regretted it. A sharp pain in her forehead forced her down again. She grunted, "Perhaps I ought to remain here…" She craned her neck slightly in attempt to observe where she was.

She seemed to be lying on the floor. 'A filthy floor,' she added as she wiped her hands on her jeans in disgust. There was a sound of running water coming from an ajar door to far left of the room. A large bed was about a foot to the left of her and to the right… 'Bingo!' A door was about seven metres away.

Luna rolled onto her stomach and crawled on her belly in the direction of the door. She must have looked like such an idiot. She certainly felt like one. This was mildly uncomfortable for her wriggling across the dirty floor of what seemed to be an abandoned apartment. She had to take this slowly in risk of hurting her squished breasts and alerting the person present in what she thought was the bathroom.

She heard a sudden crash and crawled faster in panic. Now she really felt like an idiot. 'Almost there…' A foot stomped on her back with all its weight. "And where would you be going-ah?" Luna arched her back in pain and struggled to breathe.

She felt herself being slammed into a near-by wall. "Ow…" She tried to find something to grip onto, as she had no balance. She pushed her palms against the wall and stared angrily at the advancing clown.

He towered over her petite frame. 'He's a lot taller than I remember…' Luna gulped. She couldn't do anything but stare with her large green eyes.

The Joker placed his hand on the wall beside her head. "You're a late bird."

Luna blinked, "Wh…what?"

"I said," he growled, "You…are…a…late…bird-ah." He smacked his lips together. Luna wanted to recoil with disgust, but she doubted she would be able to melt through the wall to do so.

He grinned flashing all his yellow teeth. His infamous scars looked strained against his powdered white skin. Her green eyes met his dark brown ones, which were barely distinguishable due to the black shadow he applied around them.

Luna was positively terrified. He was a lot scarier in person; even his aura gave off dangerous waves. What did he want with her? Would he push her out a window again? She glanced to see if there were any windows in the room. There was only a small one above the bed. She almost sighed with relief.

The Joker gained the reaction he was looking for and walked away towards the bathroom. What a confusing man. Luna frowned, "What do you want with me? And what did you mean by a 'late bird?'"

He stopped and turned menacingly.

Luna repeated the questions only with more viciousness, "What the hell do you want with me? And what the hell did you mean by my being a 'late bird?'"

In a flash he had Luna's neck in a tight grasp. "You should really stop with the uh…questions." Luna gasped like a fish, she couldn't…breathe. He looked at her wriggling body and licked his lips again. "And with it…the attitude-uh."

He walked away again leaving Luna spluttering angrily and gasping for breath. She massaged her neck with one hand and placed the other on the wall for support. How dare he even try to strangle her. "So…is that the way you work eh? Threatening, then walking away?"

Big mistake. She could feel the deadly silence warning her. 'Luna, you are an idiot.'

Luna hardly had time to ready herself when he had her by the hair and was dragging her towards the bathroom door. "JESUS!" she screeched.

Her scalp felt like it was about to be torn up. She scratched at his gloved hands and tried to stop him by dragging her feet. To no avail. He was too strong.

He opened the shower door and shoved her in with force. Luna grunted as her head made hard contact with the tiles. "Christ! My fucking head!"

He slammed the door shut and pressed his face against the frosted glass. "I'd hardly think-ah he's going to save you." He disappeared leaving a printed version of his face on the glass.

Luna's chest heaved as she leant against the shower-wall. There was a deadly silence. His printed face stared at her with a constant smile. He was away somewhere, but Luna could still feel his presence. She contemplated testing the door to check if he was present in the bathroom, but was too much of a coward. She feared what he would do to her.

The shower turned on and ice-cold water gushed out of the showerhead. "Ah!" the shocking cold caused her to cry out. She rushed for the shower door and tried to open it. The Joker pressed his face against the glass again and laughed his horrific manic laugh. She noticed his purple hand keeping the door shut. She pulled with all her strength, but it wouldn't budge.

The Joker continued to laugh at her. Luna wanted to cry. The water was freezing. Colder than ice, colder than being out in the snow stark naked. It was so cold it was painful.

She kicked it and slapped at the place where the Joker had pressed his face. He recoiled slightly and laughed again. He visibly waggled his finger at her. "Ah ta ta ta." He turned his back on her and pushed against the door and changing the hand holding the door shut. He leant on his left hand, his back still pressed against the door.

Luna continued to slap the glass and kick and scream, but the more she did so, the more the Joker got his satisfaction. The more he laughed.

It was painful for her to touch anything. She had frostbite. That was obvious. Giving up, she slid down the wall and sat with her knees against her chest and her head between them. The water rained down on her neck and head. The rest of her body was spared the coldest drops. Her clothes were soaked straight through and she shivered violently. She had never been so cold in her life.

After what seemed like centuries, the water stopped and Luna heard the door opening. She refused to look up, clutching her knees for any scrap of warmth.

The Joker stood at the door and laughed. "Haha! Look at you! How much are you shivering?! Haha!" He continued to laugh, slapping his leg for emphasis. His laugh was ringing in Luna's ears. She refused to look at him still.

He stopped laughing and frowned, stepping into the shower and kneeling beside her. "WAKEY WAKEY!" he shouted.

In normal circumstances this would have scared the shit out of Luna, but her muscles were too tense to even flinch.

"Hmm…" he mocked thinking. "Aha!" He grasped her arm tightly and pulled her to her feet.

Luna yelped. Her whole body felt like it had a thousand needles jabbed into it. The arm, which the Joker held, was going to fall off any second. Luna was certain of it. She looked at him with expressionless eyes.

"Now I've got your attention-ah." He grasped Luna's chin with his other hand. "Have you learned your lesson?"

She glared in response.

"I said, HAVE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON?!" he pinched Luna's chin even harder.

"Ye…y…ye…. yesssssssss…sssss." Her teeth chattered painfully.

He pulled her out of the shower and pushed her into the next room. She landed with a pathetic thump and lay there on the ground.

"Well, look at you!" He laughed, "I've made you a beeaa-utiful shade of purple-ah." He waited for any sign of movement, but seeing none grabbed her again and dragged her towards the bed.

She was as limp as a doll. She couldn't even wriggle a little bit to lessen the burning of her fragile skin as she was dragged across the carpeted floor.

He propped her up, making her lean against the bed. "I'm sure you'll stay here." He observed her shivering body. "You know the saying…freeze-ah!" He then walked off laughing his crazy socks off at his own horribly un-funny joke.

*****

"What would you have me do Alfred?" Bruce was in the warehouse contemplating Luna's current predicament.

"Endure." He replied calmly.

"You're asking me to endure this?" Bruce shouted, "How is it possible to endure this?!"

He received no reply and continued, "Luna's out there somewhere, receiving only God knows what sort of torture. Or…perhaps the Joker's already killed her! How can I possibly endure that Alfred?"

Bruce grasped his hair with his hands. It would have seemed a rather manic gesture if one was present to witness it. It was true; Batman was stressed over the limit.

"He won't have killed her. You said so yourself Master Wayne."

"Well I didn't think she would be made a target either." He stood up and took a deep breath, "What does this maniac want with her? She's innocent after all."

"She's Harvey Dent's fiancée…"

"Yes I know!" he shouted and then calmly continued, "she should not be any interest to him. Capturing her doesn't kill Harvey for him does it?"

"Master Wayne, some men think its good sport…to watch the world burn."

There was a thoughtful silence, but Alfred broke it pointedly, "And I'd appreciate it, if you ate your eggs before they get cold. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day." With this he left the room.

Bruce looked at his plate; his expression, as if the plate of scrambled eggs magically appeared there.

*****

"Honey I'm home-ah!" the Joker chuckled to himself darkly. "Are you still where I left you?" He walked to the end of the bed and crouched down at where the girl was still shivering. He rolled his eyes; she had retained the protective 'cupping of the knees position.' "Are you still sore-ah?"

He slapped her both of sides of her face, "Earth to Looooo-nah!" She flinched. He gently took one of her hands in his own. She tried to recoil, "Ah ta ta ta." He slapped her face again.

The Joker brought her right hand up to his face and then to Luna's astonishment started to suck on her fingers. He placed a finger in his mouth and curled his tongue around each one in turn, starting off with the smallest. In any other situation this would be beyond disgusting and Luna would punch him full in the face, but oddly it was helpful. His breath and saliva was warm on her frozen fingers.

When he finished with one hand he moved onto the other, repeating the same action. He never took his eyes off Luna's face which held what he assumed was an attempt at a frown.

He finished and stood up, tilting his head to the side like a confused animal awaiting a response. She strained her neck to look up at him.

"You'd be warmer if you uh…got into bed-uh." He then stalked off to. Luna followed him with her eyes until he disappeared into the bathroom. She then groaned as she stretched her arms and prepared herself for a painful attempt to get into the bed.

*****

I enjoyed writing this chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Xo