Chapter Nine

When Selene woke up, she was in the dark.

It was like a thick blanket, hiding anything that she wasn't suppose to see. Selene sat up slowly, her hands moving around to try and feel where she was. She felt like she was on a bed – an old bed, with the springs sticking out and it had lost any 'comfort' that it had once had. She felt herself, as if to make sure she was still all there.

And then a light was switched on.

Selene's eyes instantly went toward it. The light was very dim and didn't do much to brighten the space, but just casted shadows. She saw she was inside was looked like some kind of office – or, use to be. The walls were made of metal that was covered in rust and there was one window, but it had been boarded up from the outside. What told Selene it use to be an office was the desk in the corner that had the small lamp on it that lit the room.

Standing next to it was the Joker.

Selene moved back on the bed, feeling fear and uncertain crawling up through her. He was leaned up against the wall, twirling his knife in between his fingers. "I was waiting for you to wake up," he said, licking his lips as he inspected his knife. Selene wondered if he played with his lips because he wanted to or because of the scars. Did he like to run his tongue over the inside of his cheek to feel them or what?

"What do you want?" Selene asked sharply, her defense shield already up.

He paused, suddenly becoming motionless. He looked up at her, eyes only, before taking a step forward. "Why do you assume I want something. Hm?" He said, eyebrows raised. "What if I'm just want some company? I mean, have you seen my helpers?"

"You better stay away buddy boy," Selene said, suddenly terrified that when he said 'company' he meant more than just sitting down for a cup of tea. "I've fought off more pervers then I'd like to say." That statement wasn't completely true. The Scarecrow was the only 'perve' she had ever encountered, and that was a never ending battle.

The Joker laughed – a soft, amused chuckle. Even if he wasn't laughing loudly like he usually did, that chuckle made Selene uneasy. "That's not what I mean," He said.

Selene raised one eyebrow and gave him a sideways glance. "Is this about money?" Selene asked. "Because if you want money, my adopted father is the richest guy in the city."

The Joker flicked his hand at her, as if pushing away the proposal. "Money's useless," he replied. "I need an… Assistant of sorts. To help me with the dirty work I have to do."

Selene raised an eyebrow at him, as if to say You're kidding? "If you think me of all people are going to help you commit crimes, you've got the wrong girl."

"But do I?" the Joker asked and knocked on the door. It opened and one of the Joker's 'henchmen' came in. He still wore the creepy clown mask and Selene recognized him from when they invaded Bruce's party. He held a laptop and set down on the desk, opening it to show the screen was on and a video was up.

But it wasn't a video.

What Selene saw was the living room of the penthouse, in perfect order as usual. Sitting on the couch was Laurel and Mr. Fairchild, books scattered about as Laurel did her studies, running her hands over the braille paper as she read. Selene was suddenly at attention and crawled to the edge of the bed to get a better look, still not wanting to get off of it.

The Joker ran his tongue over the inside of his cheek as he watched her. "Because, if I have the wrong girl, than I have the wrong family," the Joker said. "And, I can't let you or your family know what I've been doing. So… You'd be killed."

Selene eyes went wide as she tore her gaze away from the screen to look at the Joker. He had a small smile on his face, his eye shining with insanity.

"You're crazy," Selene whispered, as if she was at a loss for words.

The Joker's smile at bigger. "You're just putting that together now?"

And then he started laughing.

Laughing so loud and hard that Selene was scared that the room would start shaking. He left the room, still laughing as he slammed the door shut, leaving Selene in the dimly lit room. After he left, Selene realized she was shaking. She sat there on the bed, trying to control herself as she felt the fear devouring her.

He was crazy.

He was just… Crazy.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0

Laurel sat in a hard metal chair, hands in her lap, cane leaning up against the desk next to her. Even though she couldn't see where she was, she had been told she was inside the Bat Cave. Selene had given her a description of it so many times it was like Laurel already knew how to move around it, but being there for real helped her feel what it was like to be there.

She could feel the lights from the ceiling against her skin and she knew there were many of them. By the way the voices bounced off the walls she knew the space was large, but there were objects in the way. The objects must have been able to come out of the floor, becomes sometimes they would interfere with the sound, and other times they wouldn't. Selene had told her that most of the things in the Bat Cave had hidden compartments in the floor, so it wasn't a complete surprise.

Laurel sat and listened to Bruce and Alfred talk, not really knowing what to say because she had no idea what was going on. "Targeting me won't get their money back," Bruce was saying, "I knew the Mob wouldn't go down without a fight but this is different. They've crossed the line."

"You crossed the line first," Alfred replied. "You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation." All this Alfred said with respect, but Laurel could hear he was also trying to prove a point. "And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand."

Laurel heard Bruce hit a switch of some kind before walking away, his shoes clicking against the cement floor. "Criminals aren't complicated, Alfred," Bruce said. "We just need to figure out what he's after."

"It seems to me he was after Selene," Laurel thought to herself, not ready to voice her opinion.

"With respect, Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man you don't fully understand either," Alfred said and Laurel also could see his point. As they continued to talk, Laurel tried to go over what she heard over and over in her mind. Selene never really told her about what went on during her time as Batgirl – she didn't want to scare her apparently. But what Laurel could put together was that the 'Mob' had money stolen somehow and now wanted it back.

Laurel heaved a sigh, feeling a little left out, but once again, not voicing what she thought. The only reason she was there was because Bruce didn't feel safe leaving Laurel alone in the penthouse now that Selene was gone. Alfred had to watch her now and when she had to go to the Bat Cave, Laurel was coming with him.

She felt someone coming closer to her and felt a hand on her shoulder. "Laurel?" It was Bruce. "I'm not sure if you want to talk about this, but I need to ask you some questions about your family."

"Okay," Laurel said, but felt a pull on her heartstrings. He wanted her to talk about her dad, mom, and younger brother Calden, who were all dead. But she still let him talk. "What do you want to know?"

"Were your parents ever… Involved with bad people?" He asked and Laurel heard the fabric of his shirt rubbing together as he crossed his arms.

"My mom was, for a while," Laurel said. "She was selling illegal drugs for the Scarecrow, but I was never really told what happened. Selene refused to tell me. As for my Dad, I really don't know."

There was a pause. "So you're not very sure?" Bruce asked.

Laurel nodded. "I was a toddler when he left us, but from what Selene told me, he started acting very strange and staying out later at night than usually. One day he left and never came back."

There was another pause, but Laurel guessed that Bruce was nodding as he rolled the information around in her brain. "What did your father do for a living?"

Laurel shrugged. "No idea," Laurel replied. Like she said, she had been a toddler when he left and Selene and her Mom never really liked talking about him. "I just know he left us and Selene hates him for it." She paused for a moment, wondering if she should ask the question that was on her mind. "Do you think my Dad was a part of the Mob?"

"I'm not saying that," Bruce replied, "But it's possible. What was your Dad's name?"

Laurel bit her lip, realizing she didn't remember. It had been so long since she even cared about his name. Selene and her Mom had said it maybe a handful of times but not enough to etch it into her memory. She searched her memory and right as she was about to give up, a name bubbled to the surface.

"Jack. Jack Fuse."

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0

Yea, crappy chapter, I know. But now that Selene's kidnapped, I need to start planning what happens. And then I'm putting Laurel in so we stay on track with what's happening with Bruce so yea, still figuring a lot of things out…

Anyway, I will have the next chapter up hopefully on Saturday!

Review!

~| Neverland Child |~