A/N: Thank you jamcneill680, Cow-Lover2214, Suki. Fictionist, Newgeminis, rosieali, Kiiwwwwiii, aegyomc, RuariRedHead and HannahDanyelle for your reviews and/or follows/favourites and also to everyone that has been reading this story, you're all brilliant! :) I wanted to put this chapter up sooner, but I didn't get much time to write this week: one of the main reasons being I went to go and see the whole of The Dark Knight trilogy in this amazing little cinema, which I'm still buzzing from haha. I hope you enjoy chapter nine! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from The Dark Knight trilogy. All I own is Cora and any other original characters.


A shiver went down my spine, the sensation of his raspy breath on my skin tickling my neck. I tried not to let my face give me away as he lowered his head further down to be almost level with mine, and the sour odour of his mouth clouded my nose.

"You remember, Cor-ah." He was playing with my name again. His head was bent nearly completely over mine now, the ends of his greasy hair almost touching. "The state between chaos and order is so … fragileee."

I heard him lick his lips, feeling like I was about to puke as the hands that were clenched around the tops of my arms began to squeeze. I scrunched my eyes shut, feeling my body starting to shake with the tension until finally he suddenly released me and stepped away.

I brought my hands up unsteadily to rub at my arms, feeling the blood rushing back. Limbs tingling, I looked up to see him pluck out and grab from the air something small and that caught the glint of the grey morning light.

"This, my dear," he said as he started to pace back and forth in front of me, "is going to be broadcasted all across Gotham. All me and my boys have to do now is deliver it."

I looked closer, already realizing what it was: Brian's videotape. I felt my stomach clench at the memory, forcing my brain not to remember.

"And how are you going to do that?" I asked plainly.

"Ah-ah-ah – can't ruin the surprise," he replied, showing each of his yellow teeth. He slid the tape back into his coat, but before I could even begin to feel a sense of relief at this fact, he had already pulled a small gun out from another pocket.

"Oh, you don't need to worry your pretty little head," he told me as I stared back up at him, feeling like my legs had turned to jelly. "But, we have got a very precise schedule to keep here, darlin', which meeeans –" he brought the gun up to rest on the side of my forehead, and the world around me froze, "if you pull any little stunts, I'll shoot you. Okay, beautiful?"

He raised his eyebrows, sucking on his lips. I nodded, knowing I didn't have any other choice. The gun was cold on my temple, and I couldn't help but wonder how many others had been like this before me, had had this gun pointed at them too? My vision was just starting to lose its focus when the Joker smiled widely again, taking the gun and tucking it back into his outside pocket.

"See? If only all deals were as simple. It makes me happy when we agree." He gave me a wink, before grabbing my wrist and yanking me beside him. "It always pays to be clever. Like me," he said happily.

Avoiding his eyes, I hastily took the opportunity to try and work out exactly what was going on here, breathing shakily. Glancing around for a split second, I tried to make sense of the familiar figures of the Joker's cronies, both around us and stationing themselves further down the street. Ready to take care of anyone who came this way whilst the Joker was still around.

Abruptly pulling me from my thoughts, I felt a harsh tug on my hand that almost yanked it out of place as the Joker started dragging me behind him. Biting my tongue, I forced my shaky legs to keep up as we made our way to what I saw was a tall building almost diagonal to City Hall, with lots of windows.

Reaching the entrance, we went through a set of glass doors I was surprised were even open and into a sparse foyer that didn't look like it had held any people for weeks. Without stopping, the Joker headed towards the side of the room where I realized there was an elevator. I felt the grip on my hand get tighter as my body held itself back, instinct telling me this was not a good idea at all.

"Oh, come on, come on, we can't dilly-dally!" he said, continuing to pull me along with him harshly.

"What are we doing?" I asked, hoping to get some answers this time, but he simply gave me a look that said it wouldn't be long until I found out.

He stabbed the button on the wall, and the doors opened after a couple of seconds. I had to stifle a scream at what I saw slumped against the far wall, a body in a janitor's uniform. I gagged as I took in the blank look on his face, the puddle of blood pooling over his chest where he had clearly been shot.

The Joker didn't say anything, instead wrapping an arm around my waist and simply going straight in. Pulled into the corner alongside him, I tried not to disturb the man's body. My eyes were burning, and I had to secretly blink the tears away, scared to draw any attention. It looked like it couldn't have been more than ten minutes since he had lost his life. My heart imploded in my chest, breaking.

"Floor ten, Boss," I barely heard John say over my head. We both froze when after a few seconds the Joker tilted his head in his direction.

"I know," he said lowly, coming out more like a growl.

John didn't say anything else, keeping his gaze ahead. I bit my lip too, feeling the blood pounding in my ears.

It couldn't have taken more than twenty seconds for the elevator to arrive at our floor, but inside that small metal room the tension was thick. It was hard to breathe – gazing down sadly, the janitor's blood had made a dark, crimson puddle on the ground, and also, I knew now that the Joker could snap at any second. It was mental torture at its finest.

My stomach was wringing itself into a tight knot when I suddenly felt a weird feeling down on my side. I realized with both disgust and horror that the Joker was chafing his thumb against my ribs.

I took a deep but subtle breath, trying not to let the edge show. To speak now would be to dance with death.

I hastily looked for something I could focus on to keep my mind occupied, just as a thought suddenly occurred to me. My ribs felt a lot more pronounced than usual, and it struck me that I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning at least. My stomach threatened to growl on cue, and I realized I was running on empty. I pushed my mind back to the situation at-hand, consciously feeling a whole lot weaker than I did a couple of minutes ago. My body wasn't going to last forever.

I let out the breath I was holding as the ding of the elevator sounded and the doors slid open. The Joker pulled me out with him onto the landing, and almost immediately one of the men who had driven here before us appeared from around the corner.

"Everything's all set to go," he said simply. We went with him down a corridor and into a large room with some more of his cronies that didn't have any furniture, light streaming through the large windows that faced the street. One of them had been smashed, pieces of glass littering the floor.

I looked up to see a cable leading from the ceiling across the void of the road down below to the roof of what I knew was City Hall. Things seemed to freeze then, a cold breeze rushing through the broken window and ruffling my clothes. Brian's body was lying on the ground, surrounded my pieces of equipment.

"Well done, my little clowns," the Joker said to his cronies, releasing me to clap his hands together. "Keep an eye on the stairs," he said to a couple of them, and they quickly went back down the hall. I listened to their footsteps as he suddenly glanced at John, and almost immediately I felt his bulky figure step behind me, barring me from the exit. I wanted to roll my eyes, feeling like I was being babysat, constantly someone that was being watched.

"See," I heard the Joker say to the men, "I would have asked you to do this yourselves, but if you want something done right, you've gotta do it yourself." He went over to Brian's body, kneeling down with one of his cronies.

He brought him up by the front as the Joker quickly brought out two small cans of paint from his coat. I could hear his raspy breathing as he opened the first one and dipped his fingers into it, and let out a small gasp as he began roughly smearing the white paint around Brian's face.

The knot in my stomach tightened as he opened the second can, and before long he was tracing a bloody-red smile across Brian's mouth on top of the scars he had made yesterday that were now opening up again. Bile rose in my throat, feeling dizzy all of a sudden. I focused my gaze to my right on a patch of floor, staring at it so hard my eyes blurred.

A couple of seconds later I heard the sounds of his coat rustling, and I looked back to see the Joker take out the tape from his pocket. He carefully inserted it behind the hockey pads, tapping it once before getting up.

He glanced around the room for a moment, his eyes catching mine, before he suddenly started to walk over to me. I tried to stop myself from shaking at the feel of his gaze on me as he quickly took something else out from his coat. Puzzled, I realized it was a playing card, and as it came more into view, I saw the picture of a joker on the front.

"Know what's on here?" he asked. He held it up in front of me, and across the surface I suddenly saw a small message:'WILL THE REAL BATMAN PLEASE STAND UP?'

"No guesses? It's D-N-A, a couple of fingerprints for three people. One set for Judge Surillo, one for Commissioner Loeb, and one for Gotham's white knight, District Attorney Harvey Dent-ah."

He let out a wheezy laugh that chilled my entire body. I frowned, deciding to voice what had me the most stumped.

"How did you get them?" I said, trying to look unfazed.

"Oh, just from a couple of little buddies working alongside them," he replied casually. "You know, you can trust anyone these days."

I felt my brain click. So there were police officers and people in the courthouse that were working for the Joker. I decided to see if I could push my luck any further.

"Well, why do you need their fingerprints? What're you going to do?" I asked cautiously.

"These are the people my men and I are gonna be paying little visits to," he replied more menacingly now. "But you know what I think? You can't drop by on someone without a little noticce!"

He broke out into a laugh, wheezing again as he bent over with cackles. On-edge, I watched him cautiously until he finally turned and headed back over to Brian's body, stooping down to pin the card to the front of the suit. He got back to his feet and surveyed everything with an evil glint in his eye before looking to the cronies that had gotten here before us.

"You know the drill. Only drop him when you get the call," he said, whilst I tried to figure out what he meant. "We don't want the, ah ... effect ... wasted because he wasn't in his office."

"Of course, Boss," one of them said. "We'll take it from here."

The man nearest to us bent down and grabbed a pile of harnesses from the floor. I unconsciously took a step backwards as they began attaching a set both to Brian's body and to their gear bag. They then clipped them both to the cable above our heads, and within seconds and a push off from the ledge they were quickly travelling to the roof of City Hall.

I watched with intrigue as their small figures unclipped themselves, seizing Brian's body and their bag and dragging them over to the side of the roof. Whether it was because of how crazy the situation was right now or something else entirely, I had no idea, but it still wasn't clear what they were about to do. But when I saw them pull out a rope that was tied into a noose and loop it around Brian's neck, rolling him up to the edge as one of them tied the end of it to an air vent, it soon hit me. I felt sick.

It took a couple of seconds for me to realize that someone was watching me, and, glancing to my left, I saw the Joker's head turned in my direction. I vaguely felt my heart pick up speed, stepping backwards a few steps at the look in his eyes before he grabbed me by the side of my face and yanked me close to him. I stifled a gasp as I heard the click of his knife, and the cold metal being brought to my cheek.

"Time for a little bit of fun," he said lowly, grinning. I gulped, fear completely incapacitating my body. From the look in his eyes, he was hungry for something, and all I could do was silently pray that this would extinguish.