Chapter 9
The underground river flowing below Wayne Manor emptied out into Gotham Bay. Along with the random debris picked up from the banks of miles of underground tunnels, a soggy body spilled out into the inlet and was washed up onto the rocks.
When Joker awoke, he was in his bed in the warehouse, and Tommy was watching over him. He groaned and ripped a damp towel off his face. He yelped as a clump of dried blood came off with it. "Bats got me a good one… Where's the girl?"
"He took her," replied Tommy. He had a good-sized gash and a bruise on the bridge of his nose where the batarang had made contact.
"Filthy flying shit-rat!" Joker sat up and lifted his sleeve and looked at a strap that was fitted around his wrist. It had a light that coincided with the one that shone on Katelyn's collar when it was active and safe. The little bulb was dark. He frowned. "Well, she released the gas…she must be dead. That's too bad, I really did want to play with her some more!" He pounded his fist in a childlike fit of displeasure.
"Why'd you put that thing on her in the first place, boss?"
"To keep her cooperative. I was going to hold onto her for a while, until someone got his panties in a twist and decided to come and nab her! But…but! What if the gas got him too! Oooo, wouldn't that be lovely, Tommy my boy!?"
Tommy shrugged. "Yeah I guess so, boss."
Joker scowled at him. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad to let the poor kid kill him, he thought.
"Well, Tommy. Just in case, we need to find me another hideout. If Batsy's still alive, he'll be coming back for us. And as much as I treasure our time together, I'd rather not be sitting here with my thumb up my ass when he comes back…"
The pale, lifeless body that had washed up on the rocks shivered slightly. The woman suddenly attempted to suck in a large breath of air and began coughing violently, and then vomited up multiple cups' worth of water. After the initial uncontrollable bodily purging, she relaxed slightly. When she tried to open her eyes, she realized something was wrong. She lifted a hand gingerly to check her face. She was weak and trembling. She immediately felt the large and splintered piece of driftwood that had impaled her left eye at some point during her turbulent submarine journey.
"Ah…ah…!" A few feeble cries escaped her lips as she drug herself up on her knees, the pain starting to splinter through the numb shock. Panicked and half blind, she tried to stand, stumbled over the ragged rocks of the sea shore, scraped up her hands and her knees, then gave up and simply crawled on all fours up to level ground. She was finally able to stand and remain balanced, so she attempted to steady her trembling limbs for her next task. She slowly reached up both hands, wrapped them around the jagged chunk of wood, took a few deep and tumultuous breaths and then ripped it out of her eye socket. A sick squishing sound - like someone punching a bowl of lasagna - erupted from her hollow and mangled socket and she screamed in agony.
After she had regained some semblance of composure, she dropped the bloody piece of wood and began stumbling toward the outskirts of the city. The sun was setting and heavy, dark clouds rolled in. It started raining on her almost immediately.
She found a man walking down the street, assaulted him, and took the duster he'd been wearing. She covered her soaked, half-bare and bleeding body with the coat and continued on her way.
Next she arrived at a guns and ammunition store. The clerk seemed to be just getting ready to close up for the night. She walked in and before he even realized what she was doing, she was smashing her elbow through the glass of the front counter and grabbing a magnum. She tore open a box of rounds and loaded two in the gun. As the clerk was beginning to make a run for the back room, she shot the wall next to his head. "Stop."
He immediately stopped and faced her, putting his hands up. "J-Jesus Christ lady! What do you want!?"
"There's one more bullet in this gun and I won't shoot you if you listen to what I tell you and say yes afterwards."
He nodded his head vigorously, seeming like he was trying as hard as he could to push his body through the wall and disappear. "Whatever you say, just don't shoot me!"
"Good. I need you to come with me. I'm sure you've noticed the lack of an eye. There's an ophthalmologist's office not far from here. You help me, and I won't be painting the town red with your blood tonight. There's even a reward in it for you."
He nodded again. "Sure thing, whatever. What's an optimologist?"
Her good eye twitched. She had always had little patience for idiots, but the strange urge to kill this guy for it now was almost overwhelming. "Oph-thal-mologist. An eye surgeon, idiot."
She filled the magnum with more rounds and stashed the rest in the pockets of the duster and nodded for him to follow her out of the store. She kept the gun close to her hip, the safety off. "Now listen, I don't want to have to kill you. I need you right now. I inherited a large sum of money from my dead husband's life insurance, plus the money I saved when I was a doctor at Arkham… stick with me for a while, keep your mouth shut, and you'll get to walk away tomorrow with fifteen thousand dollars. Deal?"
The clerk's eyes lit up. "Fifteen thousand? Yeah lady, for that much money I'll do whatever you say!"
"Good." They arrived at the ophthalmologist's office. The lights were on inside, but the doors were locked. She shot out one of the windows and motioned for the clerk to climb through, following after. Once they were in, she quickly apprehended the secretary that had been in the process of slipping her coat on to leave for the night. "Get that damn alarm off! If the G.C.P.D. calls, you accidentally locked yourself out." She turned to her hired sidekick. "Gun-boy, what's your name?"
"D-Dexter!"
"Dexter - be a good boy now, and go find the surgeon. If she's still here, so is he. Probably in the back doing paperwork. Take this." She tossed him the magnum. "And bring him out to me, alive."
The secretary was so shocked by Katelyn's appearance that she immediately obeyed all her instructions. It would have taken someone with an iron will to cross a woman with one massively bloody, hollow eye socket, bloody gashes all over her entire body, and torn, ragged clothes that looked like they'd just had an encounter with a saber-toothed tiger. The phone rang. As the secretary was talking down the police, Katelyn began rummaging through desk drawers until she found what she needed. She smiled as the secretary put down the phone.
"Th-they're not coming." She was trying hard, but a small sob escaped her throat. "I did what you said. Please don't hurt me…"
"What's your name, sweetie?" Katelyn moved toward the terrified woman.
"Grace…" Tears began slowly rolling down the woman's cheeks.
" Well Grace… this will only hurt for a minute." Katelyn jumped on the girl, tackling her to the ground. She screamed, and Katelyn slammed a hand over her mouth. She used the weight of her body to keep Grace the secretary still, then used the letter opener she'd found in the desk and began carving one of the girl's eyes out. Even muffled, her screams were still pretty loud.
Dexter came back in with the doctor at gunpoint and stopped short when he saw what Katelyn was doing. He started gagging a little and the doctor's mouth dropped. "Grace! What are you doing to her!?"
Katelyn slit the girl's throat, ending the screams with a few sputtered gurgles, then stood up and turned to face the two men. An eyeball dangled from her left hand and the letter opener was clutched in her right. She dropped the bloody letter opener and held up the eyeball. "You should be proud, Grace just became an organ donor. My friend Dexter here is going to make sure you put this eye in my face and make it work without trying to kill me while I'm under anesthetic, aren't you Dexter?" She turned her eerie gaze on Dexter.
He nodded and pointed the gun at the surgeon. "Whatever you say, lady."
The doctor scoffed at her "Are you insane? I barely have anything I would need for such a technical surgery! I don't even have an anesthetist because you just murdered her!"
She looked at Dexter. "Dexter." He pushed the gun up against the doctor's head. Katelyn smiled and looked back at the doctor. "See how obedient he is? He'll make a fine anesthetist. Now hurry before this little baby gets cold."
