A/N: Thanks to all of the people I mentioned in previous chapters as well as mysterious works for me, 123Ekaterina, FantomeAngeDarcy, Electriciaty, xx Rachael, Crystalline Dream, StarryStarryNiite, AufCat, MissMorose, cuteepiee1, LadyKatella, TheBiigK, Katelyn, Chloe4, BookLover786, GoGotha13, hermonine, SoxChik09, BowieChick91 and Snowboardevil. You are all amazing at life!

Warning: This chapter contains some gore in it.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Batman characters. I do own Jessica Wayne, any original characters and the plot.

My body met the cold, black concrete with a 'thud.' I heard the Joker's footsteps as he stepped out of the van. His hand coiled in my hair as he started to drag me to God knows where. My hands clawed at his in desperation as tears flooded my eyes. This act didn't seem to effect him whatsoever as he continued to haul me behind him. I looked around at my surroundings; although everything was blurry due to my tears, I could tell we weren't in the same alley the old warehouse was located. In fact, we weren't in an alley at all.

It seemed I was being pulled up a driveway. I leaned my head back as much as possible and caught a glimpse of a little, white house. I put my head back in its original position and saw an open field. We must be on the outskirts of the city. I knew we'd been driving a little longer than usual, but I hadn't thought to look out the window to see exactly where our destination was.

I heard the sound of a door opening and was pulled into a well lighted area. The Joker let go of my hair and I fell onto the soft carpet. I had to lay there a second to regain the feeling in my roots; I never knew your scalp could go numb.

I looked around at the walls and saw pictures of a happy family; two parents and a little girl with light brown hair at the beach, a thirteen-year-old girl's school picture…

I narrowed my eyes at the school picture. The young girl looked extremely familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen her before.

Another set of footsteps entered the entrance area from the adjacent living room; Angela.

"So you found her?" she asked. She used the same disgusted tone she always got whenever she saw, and probably thought of, me.

"Obviously," the Joker muttered as if he had more important things on his mind. "Where's Nick?" he asked her harshly.

"He went to the store to pick up some more food, J," she replied, adoration now coating her voice.

I rolled my eyes at her ridiculous show of affection. Before I knew it a sharp pain attacked my abdomen area; the bitch kicked me! I clutched my stomach and start coughing.

I heard a smashing noise and looked over to see Angela lying on the floor over a pile of glass that had obviously been a coffee table seconds before. The Joker was standing over her. His back was to me, making it impossible to see his expression. His voice left nothing to the imagination, however.

"STUPID BITCH! What did I tell you about touching her?! ANSWER ME!" he yelled and kicked her even harder than she kicked me.

A surge of pity went through me. The look on Angela's face was heartbreaking; with tears streaming down her face, she continued to look up at the man who was beating her senseless as if he was still the most precious thing she'd ever laid her eyes on. It was like she was grateful that he was even giving her the attention. How could a person look at someone like that when they were beating them?

The Joker threw his foot back, aiming it over her stomach. It was then I did something I never thought I would do.

"STOP IT!" I yelled angrily. The Joker whipped his head around and looked at me. He had a huge grin on his face, though his eyes look confused. Glancing down at Angela I saw she looked just as bewildered. Not only that, she looked sort of angry as well. There was just no pleasing this girl was there?

"What did you say?" he asked with a low voice that sounded so menacing it brought a chill to my bones.

"I…I said stop," I replied in an undertone.

He walked over to me slowly, his black eyes never leaving my blue ones. He leaned down in front of me and flicked a piece of hair out of my face with his knife. He cupped my cheek with his free hand gently and began to caress it with his thumb.

"Aww, your confidence and good nature lifts my spirit-ah," he said, still gazing into my eyes. This caused me to gulp loudly. I began shaking slightly as I saw the knife was still in front of my face.

"Don't ever tell me what to do again," he whispered before standing up. I let out a breath of air I hadn't even realized I'd been holding.

I did this too soon, however. Before I knew it I was pushed onto my back as the Joker sat on top of me and punched me in the jaw.

"NEVER BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU!" he screamed into my face before letting out a shriek of laugher.

He pulled the hem of my dress roughly up to my waist. I felt him caress my left thigh and couldn't suppress the chill that ran down my spine. What was he planning on doing?

I looked up at his face, my breathing shaky. He was looking at the thigh he was caressing with a hungry expression. I felt a lurch in my stomach; I'm ashamed to say I couldn't exactly tell which emotion caused it to do so.

"Please, don't," I whispered hoarsely, tears streaming down both sides of my face.

His eyes trailed up the rest of my body until they met my eyes yet again. I saw with horror that he was still staring at me with the same look he'd been staring at my thigh with. He licked his lips before lunging at me, his mouth attacking mine.

"MMPH" was the only sound that was able to escape me. I silently thanked God as this clown pulled away from me after mere seconds.

I raised my hand to slap him in the face, but he immediately grabbed it and slammed it down on the ground. He took both my arms and pinned them above my head with one hand. Curse his quick reflexes.

"I love that little fight in ya," he said with a wide smile. "One of your best qual-i-ties," he said, breaking the one word into three.

I started squirming beneath him in the hopes that it would annoy him enough to get him off. This plan completely backfired on me as I heard him let out a noise I hoped to never hear him make and I ceased my movements immediately.

"Stopping so soon?" he asked in amusement, his breath slightly quicker and his voice a bit huskier. "Oh well. We'll have plen-ty of time for that later."

My heart was racing even more now as I saw a new look in the Joker's eyes that I couldn't place. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what it meant…

I heard the door open and looked over to see Nick standing in the doorway, a grocery bag in each hand. He froze when he looked down and absorbed the scene before him.

I looked back to the Joker and saw his eyes trail back down to my bare thigh. "Have you ever heard about what they do to cattle on farms?" he asked as he smacked his lips. "You see, they take a red-hot branding iron and stick it on a part of the animal. It's a sign of possession. A way of telling other herders that this…is…MINE!" he yelled and glanced over at Nick. A furious look came into his eyes just as quickly as it went away.

"Do you understand?" he asked, now looking back down at me.

I nodded fervently, fear in my eyes. I was desperately hoping he wasn't thinking about doing such a thing to me.

I felt that hope dwindling area as he positioned the knife on my flesh.

"Please," I begged desperately.

He looked down at me with a new twinkle in his eye. "Ah, you shouldn't have said that."

A look of confusion came over my face just before a look of utter agony. The knife entered my skin and I felt him carving something into my thigh.

A scream escaped my lips as I felt the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life engulf my entire body. I heard the ruffle of Nick's bags dropping to the ground. I closed my eyes as I felt the cold blade slice my skin.

I don't know how long the mutilation took place. My vision was drifting in and out along with every other sense in my body. All I could feel was my warm blood flooding down my leg. I couldn't even feel the pain anymore. My mind was wrapped around each individual drop of life that was escaping me.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

The Joker's voice was so faint now, I wasn't even sure if he'd actually said anything at all. It felt like my mind was fading completely. I could no longer tell the difference between imagination and what was actually happening

I felt a light kiss on my inner thigh and what felt like a tongue lap up some of the blood. I heard a gagging sound and realized after a couple of seconds that it was coming from my own throat.

A figure came into my line of vision as I stared at the white ceiling, but I couldn't distinguish a face. My eyes fluttered closed as a cold darkness began to surround me.

"You're mine now. You'll always be mine-ah," I heard a distant voice say as I fell willingly into the blackness.

At The Gotham Police Department:

"Four more cops are now dead," Gordon muttered. He had his head in his hands as he sat behind his desk. Four of some of his most trusted men in his department had been gunned down outside of Bruce's penthouse earlier that night.

"What could this all mean, Gordon? Why did he take her again?" asked Detective Anna Ramirez.

"I've been pondering that question all night," he said with a sigh. He took his glasses off and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Maybe he's trying to get to Bruce Wayne."

"But why? There's no reason for that unless he's after money. Wouldn't he have already asked for that if he was really interested?" she asked and sat down in the chair across from him, a pondering expression on her face.

Gordon, on the other hand, knew there was a reason for it. What if he found out Bruce's secret?

He couldn't express this theory with Ramirez, though. He was in a bond with both the Batman and Bruce Wayne; the hero and the man behind the mask. There was no way he could break that alliance by letting out too much information. He trusted Ramirez, yes; but like Harvey Dent had already expressed, she was one of the people who was under extreme questioning about the Joker earlier that year. It was hard to tell where anyone's true loyalties lie in this city.

"You don't think it could be something more than that do you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I'm really not sure. The Joker never has clear motives. I don't think he ever has a plan for anything. He just enjoys seeing this city in complete chaos and turmoil. He's a sick man," he said sadly. His thoughts traveled to poor Jessica and how much she was hurting right now. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the Joker was going to inflict as much pain on her as he possibly could. He'd made it quite clear awhile ago that she was seen as some sort of property to him.

"How's Bruce doin'?" she asked with concern.

Gordon sighed as he came out of his thoughts. "Not too good. He's still up at the penthouse," he lied.

The truth was Bruce went back out into the city as the Batman after everyone left his house hours ago. As much as Gordon had begged him not to do anything rash quite yet, there was no bargaining with him.

"What about Batman? Is he going to help us in this case?" Ramirez asked with some doubt in her voice.

"I'm sure he will. The Batman cares about this city more than anyone can even imagine. He's not going to let anything happen to her," he said truthfully. "In fact, I feel sort of sorry for the Joker. When Batman gets done with him, he's going to wish he never even heard the name Jessica Wayne."