Quite frankly, I kinda channeled Knight's Tale Heath in this one. Just a little, really.

Chapter 10

Bruce Wayne didnt really know what had possessed him to throw a Halloween party, especially when criminals and punks dubbed Halloween as 'Crime Party Night'. But he had been somewhat reclusive lately--aside from his nighttime right-doing, that is--and of course one of Alfred's infamous ideas had come into play and the next thing he knew, invitations for 300-plus people were sent out, with 298 affirmative RSVPs. It was a costume ball-type gig, but he had made it clear that no masks were allowed. This way, in case someone--the Joker was his primary concern--decided to crash, at least they would be identified.

He was ready for the beginning of this party; Alfred insisted that Bruce personally greet everyone like a good host. Bruce was dressed as the Phantom of the Opera, complete with a black cape with red silk inner trimming and a half mask that covered most of the right side of his face, and white gloves. Alfred had simply chosen not to dress up for this one.

At least the guests were punctual; at eight sharp, they began to arrive en mass. The costumes were exquisite; more like a masquerade ball than anything, sans the masks, of course. Only a few--women, mostly--were dressed somewhat raunchy; one girl was even a playboy bunny. But everyone was getting along, and since Bruce himself was greeting the guests, he knew who came in and who was whom.

Finally, the end of the list came with just two more people due to arrive, who were late. Bruce didnt really have time to wait for them, as a good host mingled. So he did just that. He mingled, talked, and 'flirted' with the single ladies. The playboy bunny especially seemed interested, as she stuck by his side like glue and shamelessly flirted with him like the spoiled little rich girl she was.

Finally around ten-thirty, things were settling down into comfortable mingling, drinking, conversing, and a few were dancing. Bruce was actually feeling bored. Surprise, surprise. He was stuck in a penthouse with spoiled blue bloods instead of out in Gotham, doing something productive. Despite the obvious benefits, being rich sometimes sucked, for lack of a better word. He was actually near falling asleep because of the mindless drone and drone and drone of the younger girls he was stuck in the middle of, for the love of all that was--

"Master Bruce."

Bruce snapped to attention, hoping to God Almighty that something was on fire. "Yes, what is it, Alfred?" he asked, sneaking away from the girls. Alfred nodded toward the entrance.

"Your final guests have arrived," he said. "A Lord Erick Elloway and his daughter Madeline."

"Ah," Bruce said, nodding. He had been expecting them. Lord Elloway was a businessman from England who was about as rich as he was, and had land and property all over the world. He had never met or seen the man, but just knew enough about him to invite him to the party to get to know him better. He learned that Erick Elloway himself was a rich, divorced philanthropist and had just one 22-year-old daughter. He turned to the door to greet them himself, and blinked slightly.

Lord Erick Elloway himself was decked out in a red, white, and black outfit with multiple layers and decorated with elaborate hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs. His dark brown hair was slicked back and his face was decked in white paint with a red diamond over his right eye. Holding onto his arm was who Bruce assumed to be his daughter, Madeline. She had long blonde hair that was tied back and shaped like a heart in the back of her head. Her dress consisted of a red corset with the top front cut out in the shape of a heart with three smaller hearts stamped out below it. Underneath the red corset was a black undercloth, as were her arm gloves. The long skirt of her dress was also red, and ended with a short black trail that had a heart-shaped tie in the back of the dress. Her face was also white, and she had a red heart over her left eye and red eyeshadow on her right. Her lips were dually colored, with the upper lip black and the lower lip red.

Bruce stepped up to them and held out his hand to Lord Elloway. "A pleasure to finally meet you, Lord Elloway," he said. Lord Elloway gave him a half-grin.

"Likewise, Mister Wayne," he said, his voice soft and his accent eloquent. He turned to the girl on his arm. "And might I introduce my daughter, Madeline?" Madeline kept her strong violet eyes on Bruce's as she curtsied delicately.

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Madeline," Bruce said, holding out his hand. Madeline took it and he pressed his lips to the back of it. Madeline gave him a sinfully innocent smile, which Bruce returned. Madeline straightened back up and stepped forward to take his arm gently in her hands. "...If I'm not mistaken...the Queen of Hearts?" he continued, looking over her costume. Madeline smiled more broadly and nodded.

Lord Elloway's grin spread to straighten. "That she is, Mister Wayne," he said. "The little Heart Princess to the King of the Deck." He put his hands behind his back and nodded to the two of them. "I believe I shall find myself a brandy. Wonderful to meet you, Mister Wayne. I do hope we may converse again." That said, he walked his way through the crowd and disappeared, leaving Bruce with Madeline on his arm with her smiling at him.

At that particular moment, the orchestra struck up a lovely tune for dancing and Bruce looked over to see a bare spot on the floor. "Would you care to dance, Madeline?" he asked. Madeline nodded and Bruce led her to the dance floor, and put one hand to her waist and took her hand in his other. The other guests watched on as Bruce Wayne danced with the new girl who had a very lovely costume that actually complemented his own. They began a slow and well-paced waltz that the other guests admired and most of the girls found to be jealous of.

While they danced, Bruce was pleased to find that Madeline was not clinging to him. Her entire demeanor and the way she held herself was distancing, as though she were dancing with just another face in the world. It was actually refreshing compared to the other girls he had danced with before, where they clung to him and their hands sometimes went where they aught not go. She also didnt seem to be conceited like those other girls, either; which he found to be odd. She was most definitely rich, and she was also very pretty. But she had an air of humility about her; something he found to actually be attractive...

While the hot couple of the evening danced, one solitary person watched from the bar area with careful, calculating eyes, as though waiting for a right moment. And it did come when the last person walked over to the crowded area to watch the couple dance, leaving him alone. He looked around for a moment more before slipping out of the room and into the hall.

The song came to an end and Bruce twirled Madeline out, then back in, and the crowd around them clapped and muttered about how adorable it was. Bruce took Madeline by the waist and led her out to the outside balcony area, where the evening air was cool. There were no sirens he could hear, so he wasnt really about to ditch his party, or Madeline for that matter. "You dance very well," he said, smiling at her. Madeline smiled back.

"Thank you," she replied. She said nothing more, really, as she leaned her arms against the railing and stared out over Gotham. Bruce stood close next to her.

"...How do you like Gotham?" he asked, honestly interested in the girl. Madeline sighed.

"...I have...quite honestly been better," she said. "...Not everyone...is as nice or polite as you are, Mister Wayne."

"Please, call me Bruce," he replied. "...And I do have to admit that you are right. Though...not everyone is polite...fewer have manners proper for a lady such as yourself." Madeline looked at him, her violet eyes seeming to glow from the dim light.

"You're too kind," she said softly. "Really. And you are right. There are very few people with manners left in the world..." She cut off when she felt Bruce put his hand gently on hers and stood next to her, looking out over Gotham. She didnt protest, but rather leaned closer to him.

The droll of the other guests and the sound of the music was dulled out as they both looked over Gotham City, but through the dull noise, Bruce's trained hearing picked up something that sounded suspicious. His suspicions were affirmed when he heard some of the guests gasp, then scream as things crashed. He whipped around and ran for the door. "Stay out here!" he called over his shoulder, then shut the balcony doors and locked them and disappeared into the crowd.

The lady of the evening stared after him, then looked at the ones responsible for causing all the mayhem. Surprising enough, they werent working for the Joker. They were random losers that decided to crash the party of the richest man in Gotham. And she was missing it? Bull. Shit.

Dolly grabbed the skirt of her costume and tore it off, revealing that underneath were minishorts and thigh-high red stockings and black stilletos. A belt was hung around her hips, and attached to the belt were two large guns and a small pack of extra ammunition. Strapped around her thigh in a smaller holster was a handgun. Dolly grabbed the hand gun and shot at the glass that made up the door, not caring that a few people were hit, and stepped back into the penthouse. She wasnt about to let any kind of plan her boss might have in mind be ruined because of some fourth-rate punks.

The sound of gunshots going off made most of the people turn around and stare at her, the break-ins included. She slowly but fearlessly walked toward where they were apparently attempting to abduct or intimidate Bruce. The crashers took one look at her and started to laugh.

"Oh, what's she gonna do?" one of them asked the others.

"Oooh, how scary!" another added. The rest of them laughed and turned their attentions back to Bruce, who had his hands where they could see them, and trying to tell them not to hurt any of his guests. One of them poked at Bruce's side with his gun and opened his mouth to pick on him a little more when a shot rang out and he fell over dead from a bullet to the head.

Bruce snapped his head up to see who he thought to be Madeline with her gun hand still raised. The guests drew back and some of them screamed. Dolly pointed her gun at the next person who was holding Bruce hostage and clicked back the hammer. "I have three rounds left," she said, dropping her English accent. "And there are three of you left. Back off from our gracious host before I blow you all to Hell." The others didnt drop their guns, and just two seconds later, Dolly knew why when she felt a gun barrel against the back of her neck.

"No...you back off before I blow you to Hell, Miss Elloway." The man behind her pressed the gun closer to her neck, and Dolly just stood there. "Drop your gun." Dolly remained still, and then heard something behind the both of them, a light 'tsk'-like sound. "Now!" Dolly lowered her gun hand and loosened her hold on the gun. Just before she was about to drop it, she smirked, and a second later, a shot rung out and the man behind her slumped dead on the ground.

"Now now," said a higher-pitched man's voice with an insane edge. "This is a party. No need for such..." Another shot rang out and one of the men next to Bruce dropped dead. "...Violence."

The crowd parted and drew back as the Joker came out of the crowd, a large gun in his hand and his makeup smeared over his face. Bruce took one look at him, and noticed that the black makeup over his right eye looked like a smudged diamond. That, and his hair didnt have that green tint to it and was now purely a messy brown. And Bruce felt like a total ass for not realizing it from the start. He felt like even more of an ass when the Joker stepped up next to the girl, who was apparently his accomplice, as she didnt seem to care that Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime was in her general vicinity. The crowd began to get rowdy again, but this time, it was the girl next to the Joker who raised her hand gun and shot into the air to silence them all.

The remaining party crashers backed up from both the psycho duo and Bruce Wayne, their hands up. They knew better than to mess with the Joker, or anyone who associated personally with him. And if his accomplice said back off from Bruce, they did so.

The Joker turned to a guest not too far from him and snatched up his glass of champaign and took a swig. "Nice party, Brucey," he said after tossing the almost-empty glass behind him, where it crashed to pieces somewhere. "Just wondering why I wasnt invited..." He leered at the playboy bunny girl, who to his delight squeaked and started to whimper. "I'm great at parties."

Bruce narrowed his eyes and took a side-step for the door. "I think we both know why you were not invited," he said, his back straightening. He flicked his eyes over to the girl at the Joker's side. "...You...or your date." His frown only deepened when the Joker began to laugh in that atrocious manner that made both his and Batman's blood boil.

After a few moments of insanity, the Joker shook his head. "I dont know why everyone jumps to that conclusion," he said, mostly to himself. He then focused his attention back to Bruce. "She's not my date, Brucey. No. But she is with me. And we're here to blow this party up Satan's a--"

The Joker was cut off when another shot rang out and a pullet was plowed into his shoulder. It stung like a bitch, but it didnt stop him from whipping around to shoot in the direction he was shot at. He managed to kill one of the punks that had broken in, but only after shooting four guests and killing one.

The room went into chaos again, and everyone scattered about. Both the Joker and Dolly lost sight of Bruce, but both began to run around the crowd to find the remains of the crashers and kill them. They found that there were five left, aside from the ones that they had already killed. And as Dolly had previously concluded, they were nothing but fourth-rate punks with bad aim and even worse force behind hits. One of them actually had the nads to punch her in the face, even. Dolly had blinked after she was hit, then grabbed her larger gun attached to her belt and blew him to Hell.

The entire crises left all of the crashers and about fourteen guests dead and thirty wounded. Thought the Joker wasnt took keen on guns, Dolly had tossed him her other one and were now just plain having fun.

The fun didnt last long, however, because not too long after the riot started, who should have come break it all up but Batman, who went after Dolly first. Dolly was shooting at a chandelier to make it fall, and she was tackled from behind and quickly disarmed, then in one quick motion, her hands were bound behind her back. Dolly growled and glared at Batman, who left her on the floor to go after the Joker.

The Joker had seen his accomplice be disarmed and made a break for the door, grabbing some young woman as a hostage en route. After he made it to the door, he turned and pointed his gun at her head, holding securely with his other arm. Batman stopped just two yards away, his eyes narrowed. "Let her go," he hissed, his hand twitching for something to use against the Joker.

The Joker pressed the gun closer to the woman. "Let me go first," he said, his finger tightening on the trigger. The woman let out a sob and stared pleadingly at Batman for help. The Joker noticed her look and licked his lips frantically. "...Let me go first."

Batman flicked his eyes over to where Dolly was and then back at the Joker. "And your...partner?" he queried. The Joker scoffed.

"I really could give a shit," he said. "She can take care of herself. Let me go or this little sweetheart dies." To add onto the already tense situation, he licked her cheek, making her sob louder.

Batman felt his hands twitch in agitation. The Joker smirked. "Decisions, decisions, hm?" he said, giggling. "Tick tock, tick tock..."

"Let her go, and I'll let you go," Batman finally said, his hands clenching. The Joker arched a brow.

"...Tempting." He stood silent for a moment, then pushed the girl away from himself and into Batman's arms. Batman caught her, then grabbed his small bolas gun and fired as the Joker turned to start running. As he thought, the Joker's legs were bound and he pitched forward into the floor.

Batman let the girl go, and the riot started to die down as the cops burst into the penthouse, Commissioner Gordon first. All they found was the Joker with his legs bound and hand propping up his head in what looked like annoyance, and Dolly with her arms still bound behind her back and sitting on the floor looking like a punished child. Batman had vanished.

For the record, "Blow this party up Satan's ass" is copy-writed by me. Ha ha ha.

Next chapter, Batman talks to the Joker and Dolly, and learns the disturbing truth behind the Joker keeping Dolly.