DISCLAIMER: I do not own Batman or any other recognizable trademark. They all belong to their respective owners. I'm not using them for profit; I am only using them for creative purposes. They are the property and trademark of Christopher Nolan, Warner Brothers and DC.

WARNING: This story will become its True rating 'M' later on for, course and rude language, sexual innuendo and adult situations, as well as psychological and emotional triggers.

AN: Here is Chapter 6 of Photo to Face, Thank you all for your reviews, faves and follows! Keep those comin' and enjoy!


Chapter 6: Psychosis of The Joker


'SOUND EFFECTS'

"Regular Speech"

'Thoughts' 'Thoughts Emphasized'

Flashbacks


Still staring at The Joker's shaking form Amanda stumbled backwards in frenzied stumbles and began analyzing him.

She knew she had hit rock bottom. Quickly as she could in the time she had now known was borrowed she looked at him.

She knew now that the only way to save her life was to understand his. He was irritated. He was furious, he was excited and he wanted to play.


Her brain moved at what seemed like hundreds of hours an hour as he stared her down with angry eyes.

She realized that in order to save herself and Gotham she was going to have to pull out everything she had, every resource, every contact and every trick because The Joker played dirty.

He was strong, violent, spontaneous, agile and quick. She had to play by his rules, pushing her morals and her brain to their limit.

He had no morals therefore, he was dangerous and he had nothing to lose...nothing to be threatened with...Amanda however, she had everything to lose. Her friends, her life and her cat.

To survive she had to think like The Joker, react like The Joker...be The Joker.

The first thing she realized was that he was just angry with her before, but now that she had tried her little stunt of hide and seek she had made him look like a fool and really pissed him off. Apparently it was okay for The Joker to mess with people but not the other way around, he did not like it...at all.

As of now he not only wanted the photos but also her life to break and bend to his will and what Joker wanted, Joker got...by any means necessary.

She had just successfully turned it into a little game for him, a sick game of cat and mouse where it was survival of the fittest; and she was by no means the fittest.


With this newly acquired knowledge stored in her mind she stepped back slowly into the intersection, The Joker's eyes following her every step like a feral panther, his gloved fists gradually tightening every time her bare foot hit the pavement.

When she reached the intersection's center she cautiously look both ways trying to find the nearest, safest and fastest escape route; she knew that The Joker had a personality like an angry caged animal and that just turning and running away was exactly what he wanted.

Amanda had to move slowly and carefully.

She had to keep him guessing at what she would do next, because most of Gotham's inhabitants were downright cowards and were expected to run away from him. She had to catch him unaware and respond in a way that he wasn't expecting.

She had to wait and then run, she had to surprise him.

'Think Amanda…Think! Which way is the fastest?' She thought to herself.

Deciding that going further into the city would be the best and the safest way to make her escape, with little to no warning she narrowed her eyes and locked on The Joker, turned sharply to the right and started to run like the devil was at her heels.

Amanda knew she caught him off guard when she heard from behind her the words "GOD DAMMNIT!"

Amanda ran and ran for what seemed like hours until she got closer to the center of the city and more buildings began to appear before her. With that she began to gradually slow down for her sides were aching and look behind her.

'Hmm, I wonder if he's sti-'Amanda stopped short and gulped, a scream of terror rose from her throat.

"AHHHHH!" she shrieked.

The Joker was no longer trying to strike fear into her body and mind, instead he was moving in for the kill. He was gunning it down the street at an alarming rate setting a crash course right for her.

"SHIT!" Amanda cussed out

She then began to run even faster than she thought she could as she skidded around the corner and dove into the crowd hoping to evade her enraged pursuer.


After 20 minutes of aimlessly wandering around Amanda decided to stop and sit down on one of the benches in the Gotham Central Park to catch her breath for a brief moment.

"Jesus Christ that man can run fast!" She said exhausted while wiping the perspiration off her forehead with the back of her shaking hand.

"I should be safe..." she nodded to herself, smiling in reassurance.

The smile turned to a heavy frown "For now at least."

"But..." Then the frown turned back to a smile.

"There's no way The Joker would come out here in the open like this…he doesn't seem like the type of man to want a lot of people to know or see his true face." The smile reaching Amanda's lips grew wider.

She bit her thumb letting excited giggles escape her lips causing the Gothamite's passing by to give her looks of bewilderment and amusement.

"Except me of course!" Amanda shouted happily as she jumped up and started laughing boisterously out loud.

"HAHA! Take that Joker I've seen your face it's the end of you!"

She proceeded to dance around happily singing a little rhyme "You can be traced; you can be traced, the police can find you in the database!"

After a few more minutes of singing, gloating and prancing about like a loony while getting questioning looks Amanda sat down and sighed, traces of the smile still gracing her lips. She finally felt at peace listening to the birds and the buzzing of chatter. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

"I've done it…I've actually done it, I really got his pictures and escaped." She whispered softly.

She grinned triumphantly and stretch back on the bench "I thought I was going to die…but I got away without any of the consequences that I was sure were going to follow…"

"Ohhhh…I don'tah know about tha-t…" Said an angry and raspy voice from above her.

Slowly Amanda's grin sunk slowly into a straight line and her hazel eyes snapped wide open.

Amanda came face to chest with a broad chest encased in a navy blue coat embellished with golden cuffs and stitching. She gulped and slowly edged her eyes upward. Her hazel eyes rose up past the scars marring the man's cheeks, past the messy blonde locks that brushed his shoulders and ended inches from his deep sinister brown pupils.

There he was, his large frame leaning over her, The Joker.

Amanda moved as if in slow-motion and lurched forward to run but she wasn't fast enough this time. She shivered and froze when The Joker's long lanky arm wrapped around her waist and started to pull her away from the park...away from the people.

'Oh My God he's going to murder me and bury my body were no one can find it!' She thought, her head spinning in rapid circles.

Amanda frantically opened her mouth to scream for help but was abruptly cut off by a large gloved hand latching over her mouth. She groped and scratched desperately at his hand whilst trying to struggle but he was just too strong for her small stature. Amanda felt utterly helpless as The Joker pulled her into his firm chest and drug her out of plain sight and into the woods.


AN: Annnd…Cliff hanger! God I am such a bitch LOL