.. and I'm going on to Chapter 10! Which, by the way, is the longest I've gone with a story, ever! I'm pretty pumped on this. Thank you to everyone who read, enjoyed and reviewed my story. Also, thank you for pointing out my grammatical errors with tense and what not. I was up late/early and my mind was all over the place, so with this one, as with all the chapters before, I will edit better this time. :)
Oh, and obviously, I don't own anything but Elise. Thank you, happy reading!
Chapter Ten;
Elise was aware of pain before she even realized she was awake. The moment her mind gained consciousness, agony filled every inch of her body. To her, it felt like an enormous rock was simply crushing her, unforgivably and powerfully. But when the pain allowed for more sensory experience, the consuming thoughts of pain drained away immediately.
In the distance, yet she could sense it getting louder and louder, Elise heard the beautiful ringing of bagpipes. Today had to be Commissioner Loeb's memorial service.
Automatically, Elise sat up from her laying position to observe the new place she was left in and her outside surrounding. Inside, the room was completely barren of anything: tables, chairs and couches, clocks, television, anything. The walls were alabaster white, growing dirty and dingy with time and lack of care. The only thing giving some kind of character to the empty room was two windows to her right. Elise stood up, shaking slightly due to the pain she was feeling and rubbed the back of her neck as she looked out of the window.
To her surprise, Elise recognized the location immediately. She was in what was downtown Gotham, to the locals. When she was younger, Elise used to go joy-riding with Rachel and their other friends. Elise smiled softly to herself in remembrance, but the smile was quickly washed away when she brought herself back to reality.
As the sound of the bagpipes grew louder, Elise realized that there wasn't a thing in the room that prevented her from leaving. The doorframe on the other side of the room was simply without its counterpart. There weren't any restrains on her wrists or ankles and, from what she could, there weren't any cameras, bombs, explosives or anything that could deter her from coming or going.
A new drive filled Elise's senses.
For the first time since she was abducted, she ran away. When she got to the doorframe, she took an immediate right and ran to the door where the sign above read, "EXIT." Elise took this as her calling and sprinted to the glass door. A few moments later, much to her disappointment and fear, Elise heard footsteps coming up towards the floor she was on. Not wanting to be caught and captured again, Elise did a 180 degree turn in the opposite direction and ran back where she came. Fearfully, Elise looked behind her. She saw a shadow of a bulky figure approaching the door. She threw herself against a door, hoping the wall would conceal her from anyone evil seeing her.
From her location, however, Elise could see into another room, one that did have a door on it. Suddenly, she saw a long shadow stretch down the hall. If she could do so, Elise pressed herself even harder against the door and held her breath. The stranger down the hall speed walked and halted at the door Elise was staring into. She took her chances and peeked her head out from her hiding spot. The stranger was dressed in a motorcycle jacket. Just from appearances alone, Elise doubted it was the Joker and decided to follow him. She imagined that spending over a week with a psychotic killer that she could sense the bad guys from the good ones.
Carefully trying to not make a sound, Elise tip-toed through the hall until she reached room 1602. The sight that met Elise's eyes astonished and horrified her. There were eight men, stripped down to their socks, boxers and under shirts who were blindfolded, mouths covered with duct tape, bound and tied to a wide, square-shaped beam in the center of the room. Crouching down to eye level with one of the bound victims was a man Elise had known for years: Bruce Wayne.
Elise's heart stopped for a moment. She had known the man for most of her life, hell, he practically dated her best friend before he left and disappeared to, hardly anyone knew where. But, he was also the first human being she had seen in over a week, besides the Joker and his henchman. The sight of the so-called Prince of Gotham filled Elise's heart with hope. Maybe today was the day she would be let free.
As Elise watched in wonder, Bruce pulled off the duct tape on one of the men's mouths and asked hoarsely, "What happened?" to which, the captive explained "he" had taken their uniforms, guns and everything.
With a sinking feeling, Elise knew better than anyone who that "he" was.
By this time, Bruce had noticed Elise's presence, for he turned to the direction of the door way. His reaction seemed rather similar to Elise's: stunned, disbelieving and shocked. By this time, the whole of the Gotham's powerful were marching on the street below, walking to listen to Mayor Garcia's speech, honoring the late commissioner. Quickly, Bruce strode towards the girl everyone believed was never coming back and enveloped her in a huge, yet brief hug.
"Elise, my God, are you okay?" Bruce managed to get out quietly, glancing towards the windows as he spoke. Urgently, he walked away, holding onto Elise's arms as he walked.
She walked with him to the window and responded, "I'm better now," she looked down at the street below. The march, consisting of mainly of lawyers, elected officials and police officers, had stopped. Mayor Garcia now stood at a podium, respectfully discussing the legacy of Commissioner Loeb. Behind the mayor sat Rachel Dawes, Harvey Dent and Lieutenant Jim Gordon, Elise's best friend, her best friend's boyfriend and her uncle, respectively. At the sight of them, Elise's heart jumped. She looked to Bruce with a smile on her face, but it too was quickly replaced with a confused frown.
Looking back to the men, Elise asked, "What the hell is going on, Bruce? What happened to them?" she pointed to the bound men, "What is he going to do?" the last question came out as a whisper.
The color guard began to pay their respects. As they did so, Bruce, without looking at his long lost friend demanded seriously, "Elise, I need you against that wall, right now. I don't know what's going to happen, okay? Now."
Her eyes widened and mouth opened in protest but Elise did what Bruce told her. Suddenly, shots rang through the building and hit the window right next to where Bruce and Elise stood. Elise screamed, covered her head and sunk to her knees in response. When the ringing in the room stopped, the screaming of the hundreds of people below began. Elise jumped up like a frog and witnessed the horrid spectacle of fear unfold below. Another shot rang out and Elise's eyes flew to the podium where Mayor Garcia had stood moments ago.
A few feet from it, Elise could see the mayor running for dear life. From this, Elise figured Gotham's mayor was the Joker's target. Although his original target had escaped, heartbreak flooded through Elise as she realized that her once captor had claimed a different casualty: her uncle.
Beside her, Elise could her Bruce lightly mutter, "Oh, no…" as Elise took in the horrific sight on the street only several floors below her. Half of his body stuck out from the bottom of the stand, holding Gotham's insignia. Lieutenant Jim Gordon laid motionless and still as one of his men knelt above him, mouth gaping and shaking hands.
Elise's hands flew to the windowsill and her calm green eyes suddenly flashed bright and glistening with tears that broke and fell relentlessly down her pale face. She screamed "NO!" at the top of her lungs and continued to scream the single broken word as Bruce wrapped his arms around Elise's chest, pulling her away from the window.
In Bruce's strong hold, Elise began to struggle and kick away aimlessly. She hollered mercilessly and dangerously, like a child who had just lost its favorite toy and wasn't getting it back. Only Elise had just lost her uncle. There wasn't any coming back from the dead.
"LET ME GO, BRUCE!" Elise wailed as she kicked harder and harder. She was surprised at herself that she had so much strength left, 'GOD DAMNIT, JUST LET ME GO!"
As Bruce sped down the stairs with Elise in tow, he stopped at one of the last floors and made her face him, "Elise, listen to me, you have to be strong. I know it's hard because of what you just went through, but…" Elise cut him off.
"Shut up!" she yelled at him, "You have no idea what he put me through when he took me away, none at all! So don't you dare tell me I have to be strong, Bruce, don't you dare! That son of a bitch took strength, my courage, my respect and now my uncle?! How much more can a person take from another without breaking them, Bruce? How much!?" Leaning against the wall, Elise began to sob hysterically, covering her exhausted face with her hands.
Bruce rubbed his eyes and quickly massaged his temples. He felt a bit bitter, considering Elise had no idea what his life had entirely been like but regretted that bitterness when he remembered Elise had, too, lost her parents to Gotham's scum. Quickly, he pulled Elise to him and held her in a hug.
"I don't know what else to say right now, but I'm sorry. But now, the ones who care about you will that. We just need to get you out of here, right now," he nodded to Elise and grabbed her by the elbow, urging her to hurry down the stairs.
Elise swallowed back any harsh words she had to say to him. She knew her friend was only trying to do the best he could for her. Honestly, what could one say to their friend that had been missing for over a week and abducted by a destruction-loving murderer?
Elise and Bruce's race to get out of the building became faster. As they reached the outside exit, to where Elise assuming Bruce's vehicle to be kept, she sickeningly realized, 'He wanted me to see my uncle die.'
Ah yes, so our Joker didn't let Elise off without a hitch. You didn't think he'd just let her go, did you? But yes, I know I didn't add in every aspect in my story that is in the movie, simply because I wanted everyone to know what Elise's thoughts were on the situation and her "release." I imagine I'd feel something like how Elise is feeling currently. And don't worry, the Joker will be back soon.. haha. Review, review, review!