A/N: Wow, I really left you hanging onto a cliff right there, didn't I? I can tell because in less than 24 hours, I've gotten 8 replies for a chapter since posted. 8. That's more than I've gotten for any other chapter yet. Gonna keep this short since there are so many replies! Thanks for all replies, favorites, and follows!

1. katielouise10x: LOL sorry for screwing with your brain! And you're welcome, I hate English homework too. So far, I haven't had a lot though. And thanks, I wanted to show that although Bruce loved Rachel, he deeply cares for his other friends from school (Sofia). And thank you for noticing! It's really hard to write him because you need to get in his head, and imagine how he'd phrase something, where he'd pause, what motions he'd make, etc. I refer to YouTube Joker scenes to get myself in the Joker's character. No problem, I like making people smile.

2. Queen of sharks: Oh my Jonas, the drama is overwhelming! BTW, it loves you too, lol.

3. racheljf12: Hey new replier! Yes, it certainly is a cliffie! Don't worry, I won't take too long!

4. TheRabidWriter: Ermegherd indeed. Thank you for being in love with it! It loves you too! (Don't tell Queen of sharks. As you can see above, they have a "thing" together, lol). Yeah, I was leaning towards that at first and then I was like "Hey, I should give them all heart attacks!" Thank you, it's hard to keep him in character but I love a good challenge!

5. anon: Right? Even I'm in suspense! JK, I already have the whole story planned out :) It says you're a guest, so I hope you'll join!

6. Skylark Potter: Why thank you! Here's your update darling!

7. Bella2286: Hi! Yes, I know, hate me for the cliff hanger. I pinky promise I'll keep semi-steady updates though, at LEAST once a week!

8. writer's legend: Teehee! Confusion in the first step to chaos, and we all know how much the Joker (and I) love that! Thank you, I've tried to keep him with one personality as much as possible. Yes, he has mood swings, but he doesn't change himself completely. And yeah, poor Andrew. He was my favorite. But if JK Rowling taught me anything, it's to make an audience fall in love with a character, and then rip their hearts from their bodies…so to speak. Thank you for bringing that to my attention, I've fixed it so that the last line of the penultimate part says Conor, not the late Andrew. Yes, he's dead. Once I read it, it made me laugh a bit too. The ghost of Andrew, as a final act of redemption, set Sofia free!... In the dark basement of an old warehouse to meet with the Joker. Thanks, Andrew.

9. L van Am: Unfortunately, it is too late, but Batarangs to you for getting two of the references! Thank you so much, and please keep on letting me know what you think!

EASTER EGG: Hlengiwe means savior. Look for this character!

Disclaimer: Why do I even need this anymore? If you think I own Batman, maybe you should get your head checked out. Actually, maybe I should get my head checked out. I'm very odd, especially since the Joker is easy for me to relate with…minus the psycho-killer part.

Italicized words are backgrounds/ past events.

Chapter 14:

"JACK!" Sofia screamed in heart-broken agony. Not Jack. Not him. Oh god, what had she sentenced him to? He'd been her best friend, and now he, Aiden, Delanie, and Lilly were all locked up because of her. They'd all trusted her, except maybe Jack.

"Reminiscing, tiger?" The Joker guessed excitedly, licking his lips and seemingly bouncing. She was drained, yet with every bone in her body she turned a full-forced glare on him, one that'd send chills down a normal man's spine, one that people hoped never to be on the receiving end of. It was a glare of someone who'd lost everything, someone who'd nothing to fear.

"I hate you." She growled out, and he smirked. She didn't care, though. This man had taken everything from her, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of her tears.

She got up to walk away, but he stopped her and suddenly the lights were on. She was in an old auditorium on the balcony, and with a shiver she realized that if she'd taken a step further, she would have fallen to her death. Feeling no need to thank him for seemingly saving her life, she fell into a stony silence, a depressed look coming over her face.

"Your, uh, show isn't over yet, Rosie-girl." She could faintly see Jack's eyes widen at this, then turn to fury as the Joker grabbed her upper arm and slam her into the seat, which happened to be the only one left in the theater.

"Now, your dear friends-" he sneered out the word. "-have just been too kind in telling me…well absolutely nothing useful, to be honest. No no no." he muttered more to himself than to her. He fell silent and began circling her, like a bird of prey. Suddenly, he clapped his hands together and grinned. "Now, uh, what they have, in fact, told me is that you are such a good person." He exaggerated.

"That you always do the right thing, that you deserve better than this, et cetera, et cetera. Now, that leaves me in a tough position, because I'm sure you'd take a bullet for anyone. You're that kind of person." He drawled, gesturing with his hands as he talked. She made a motion to talk, but he hushed her and petted her hair rapidly.

"Lemme finish, tiger. I had this, uh, idea, if you will, to put you in a position where you can't make a right decision. See, your friends over there? Two of them, I'll let 'em go. Thing is, you decide who leaves here freely and who… isn't as lucky." Her eyes widened with fear. He was joking right? He had to be joking. She couldn't sentence someone to death!

"You're insane!" She shook her head quickly as she spoke. The concealed knife was between her teeth in a matter of seconds.

"I'm not. No, I'm no-tah. The world, that's CRAZY!" He yelled the last word and nicked both sides of her mouth. She was sure that if she moved her head, he'd carve her face right then and there. Slowly, he took shaky breaths and pulled the knife from her mouth, trembling with anger and grinning.

"You-" he said, shaking the knife at her slowly. "Are no good for my blood pressure." He pretended to check his pulse, and then started to again circle her. "Now, as I was saying before being interrupted-" he shot her a look. "You pick two to fly, two to die."

Her mouth went dry and she hoarsely asked. "How long do I have?"

He nodded his head side-to-side as if thinking immensely. "Ah, twenty-four hours."

She nodded emotionlessly at him. "May I speak with them first?" He looked at her, and she could see the gears spinning in his head. A smile spread across his face.

"How could I say no to my favorite pet?" he wondered aloud, then ruffled her hair. Pulling her up by the arm, he lifted her bridal-style, laughing when she squeaked, and carried her away from the four captives whose eyes never left Sofia.

Aiden William Davis was born to proud parents Stratford and Rudra Davis after only one year of marriage. The two had met when Stratford was on a business trip in India, and he immediately fell for the foreign beauty. For the next two years, he courted her until she agreed to marry him. They weren't rich in India, except in love. Asking them, there was no point in being rich in any other way.

The two wasted no time in creating an heir to their small estate. They named him Aiden William, after Stratford's late father, and he was soon the apple of their eyes. Rudra could not be happier. Stratford, however, looked upon their small cottage in shame. His name had meant something in Britain, and now he was forcing his family to live this way? Poverty was all around them, and after the first four years of owning their house, it was robbed. Luckily, they were out to dinner, but it was a rude awakening for Stratford. He soon found a job as a poacher in Africa, which had already been banned for six years. Raising a four-year-old though, the Davis' needed the money. They pay had been very good. After all, it was basically the African's mob. When Rudra found out, however, she was furious. She'd always been content with life, and when she'd found about Stratford's illicit dealings, she'd nearly left him and taken Aiden with her.

Not wanting to lose his family, who was the whole reason that he'd joined in the first place, Stratford devised a plan. A risky plan, but a plan nonetheless. He faked his own death by way of a sea vessel crash. Rudra and Aiden stayed for a small funeral (in which the other poachers were invited) and Stratford's close friend Hlengiwe helped the two meet Stratford safely in Gotham without the poachers taking notice.

There, the family made a life in the city. Upon arrival, they realized how poor most were. Stratford had acquired more American dollars than he realized, and the family was now among the upper-class cosmopolites in the city, their name being almost as well recognized as the Wayne's. Still, Stratford lusted for more profits, so he took a business risk that turned incredibly sweet. With so much crime, he had bought out 90% of Gotham's armory. Most of his profits came from the GCPD's constant need for weapons, ammunition, and protection, but he also sold to independent parties.

He did not, however, sell to the mob, one of Rudra's few restrictions in their new life. They were already hidden from poachers with limited means. Rising mobster Carmine Falcone had more resources than the government, and they did not need to be targeted by him. Still, Stratford sold to private dealers who in turn sold to Falcone's mob; not that he'd been made aware of this, of course. He'd thought that the private dealers just sold to individuals who needed a good weapon or two. In a city like this, who could blame them?

Aiden grew up in a world of socialites, and oftentimes his parents were invited to the same parties as the Waynes. Bruce and Aiden didn't see each other often, but were close friends when they did and provided company for each other at stuffy old balls. After the death of Bruce's parents though, they rarely saw each other, and their correspondence all but stopped until Aiden called upon him for a favor of the limo. Aiden could've rented one, of course, but Wayne already owned one. The chauffeur, Alfred, was also Bruce's butler, and reminded Aiden of the grandfathers he never knew.

But during Aiden's senior year of high school, life went sour on him. A man came to his father's business one day; a man who worked for the mob, with a grotesque scarred grin that reminded Aiden of the Cheshire cat. This man did not tell Stratford his name, but demanded that Stratford hand over much of his arsenal free of charge. Now, Stratford could not accept this. Most of his fortune was stored away, but the rest was invested in the weaponry which the mobster demanded.

Eventually, the man was able to find out about the poachers and blackmail Stratford, saying he would release the Davis' information to them if he did not get what he wanted. Davis gave in for the sake of his family, but the man released the information anyway. Aiden found his father dead on the floor of the master bedroom with a playing card on his chest. At the time, Aiden thought nothing of it.

The year went on, and Aiden graduated. Rudra died in the following months due to an overdose, and Aiden, with nothing left but a picture of the girl he'd once hoped to marry, joined the military. He was a good soldier because he had nothing left to lose and everything to fight for. It kept his mind off of the life he could have had, and he rose quickly as a soldier, yet he never accepted any promotions. Being higher up meant more power and more protection. He'd seen first-hand what power did to men, and as for protection- well, at this point, he couldn't care less whether he lived or died. In fact, he almost died. Multiple times; but the picture of Sofia and all the letters home to her that he never had the gall to send kept him going. Once he got home, he figured, he'd tell her how he felt, and he'd find a way to marry her.

Upon returning to Gotham though, he found that much had changed. A new vigilante who dressed as a bat was now the eulogized hero of the city, and many new villains, who called themselves Rogues, were beginning to appear and be taken down by the Batman. Only when he saw the face of the most recent one, the Joker, did Aiden forget about everything else. Sofia, his war days, his late family. Hate consumed him, and he wanted to get his retribution, because only when he returned to Gotham City did he remember the man with the scars and the wild card that he carried in his pocket. Taking it out, he flipped it around.

On this little piece of pasteboard, the Joker danced, laughing.

Aiden hadn't expected the Joker to remember him, though he was unpredictable. He was unsure of what the madman wanted at first, he suspected it had to do with his father's business. When he saw the angelic face of the woman who he'd given his heart to though, he wanted to scream. The dancing light that had enraptured him had left her eyes. Her usually thick, auburn hair was now stringy and clumped. Sofia had paled and lost a considerable amount of weight, and had dark circles under her eyes. The feature which angered him the most though, were the bruises.

All over her body were old yellowing patches, or fresh purplish ones, or scrapes or scars or red marks in hand shapes… He shuddered at the thought of what the man had done to her. The Joker had not been branded a rapist, but who knew when he'd get bored of a life without women? Aiden tried to scream her names, but whenever he opened his mouth more than slightly, some odd spray that made his throat hurt wafted through his esophagus.

Silently, he watched the brave woman as she calmly exchanged words with the psychopath before her. Before he knew it, a garish light drowned him and he lost his view of Sofia. He wanted her to know that it'd be alright, that she needed to run instead of just standing there, trying to negotiate. A heart-wrenching cry rang throughout the abandoned theatre as she yelled the name of her once-best friend. Aiden couldn't turn his head, but he could look far enough to the left with his eyes to find Jack Napier sitting there. He felt terrible about it, but the only thing he could think about was that the last time Napier came around, Sofia was taken from him. Squinting past the spotlight, he saw Sofia nearly fall off of the upper circle, the highest balcony. His heart skipped a beat, but assumed normally when the Joker caught her. He didn't question why, but he was for once thankful of the Joker's actions.

More heated words were exchanged between the balcony- goers, and Aiden was sure he was going to have a heart attack soon when he saw the Joker's switchblade slide into her mouth. He could only pray that she wouldn't say something to get herself in a worse-off position. Letting out a breath when the Joker took the knife out, Aiden watched as beauty diffused the bomb of a beast. The last sight of Sofia he caught was when the Joker swept her up and carried her out.

He heard footsteps, and he felt the release of the gag and of the handcuffs. Rubbing his wrists, he attempted to speak. "Who-who are you?" he finished strongly but lamely.

"I got orders to move ya. Apparently, princess is gonna have a talk with ya." The lackey explained, ignoring the question.

"Princess?" he questioned, voice breaking as he adjusted.

The henchman sighed. "Sofia, moron. Jeez, how many women you think boss lets us keep around here?"