A/N: Hello fellow readers! Sorry for the delay, but I've been very preoccupied with my "Initiated" fic. The saddest and scariest part of writing this is that somewhere in my word processing unit, I've lost my outline to this story! ARGH! Now I'm writing it completely blind! Great…
*NOTE*: In the last chapter, Holly began to have a seizure as she was losing blood. As a certified EMT, I feel that I need to clarify what to do in case of a seizure. In the chapter, Anna and Anthony held her down. DO NOT do this. This is a very common and deadly mistake. By holding down the victim, you can cause tearing of muscles, cracking of ribs and other bones, and the possibility of puncturing vital organs. Instead of restraining them, let them thrash around, and move any objects nearby that might injure the victim. Just thought I'd clarify. If any of you have medical questions, feel free to ask me. It's what I do. *grin*
"Why?" Amy sobbed, just higher than a whisper. Justin looked down at her with cold eyes.
"I had my reasons," he replied shortly. Amy sniffled loudly, continuing to sob.
"You son of a bitch," I growled as I rolled onto my side. "You dirty, lying, murdering-!"
My string of insults was cut off by a cackle from the Joker.
"My, my! Aren't we a feisty one!"
I had to bite my lips together to not scream back at him. I reasoned that it was wise right now to keep my silence.
"You're crazy," Ryan muttered from the ground. The Joker's head spun to look at him.
"What?" The Joker said in a low voice. Ryan lifted his head, and looked at him defiantly.
"You're…crazy!"
The clowns in the room all went silent; even Amy stopped sobbing.
"No I'm not," the Joker said quietly. He reached down in a flash, and grabbed Ryan by the collar of his shirt. Ryan yelled out in alarm. "No I'm no-t." The Joker popped his 't', as he roared demonically into Ryan's face. Keeping Ryan held by his collar, the Joker leaned away from him, and muttered something quickly to a nearby clown. The clown nodded shortly, and sped from the small room.
"What are you doing?" I hissed, craning my neck to look him in his smoldering black eyes.
"We're going to send a little…ah…message." He replied, glancing at me briefly. The clown returned carrying a damaged handheld camcorder. The Joker swiped it from the clown, and tinkered with it for a few seconds. He clicked the 'record' button, and the red light flashed into all of our faces; indicating that he was taking video of us.
"Smile! We're recording live to GCN!" he said, pointing the camcorder at all of us. Amy turned her face to the floor.
"Well, well, well! What have we here?" The Joker narrated to the camera. "Six, uh, make that five, of Gotham's finest heroes' kiddies! They look a little frightened, but let's see if we can get a few words out of one of them. You!" The Joker kicked Amy's back. "Ya have somethin' you wanna say to the camera, doll-face?"
Amy turned hesitantly towards the camera, taking a deep breath. "Dad…if you're listening…I wanna go home. Please," she gasped. "I wanna go home…" The rest of her sentence was drowned out by the Joker's scratchy laughter.
"'Daddy, please! Daddy come and save me, please!' You hear that, Sergeant? Your daughter wants to come home to you and the little woman. And I'll let her go…unharmed, if you'll uh, just do one little thing for me."
I listened as the Joker breathed heavily on the camera lens for several seconds.
"The Batman…" he growled, pressing the camera against his smeared oil-painted face. "Give me the Batman, unmasked, and unarmed. Then I'll let your little children go."
"Don't do it, dad!" Nathan shouted, interrupting the last of the Joker's speech. The Joker aimed the camcorder straight into Nathan's face; growling into his upturned ear.
"What did you say, little boy?"
"Dad, listen to me…he's just trying to get to you. I'm expendable; don't listen to the ravings of a madman!"
Nathan's plea was cut short by a blow to his face from the Joker. Nathan grunted loudly in pain as I shrieked.
"Stop it! Stop!" The camera was in my face soon after. "Batman is a symbol of hope, and makes it so that we don't have to be afraid of demons like you! He's more important than all of us-!"
"Shut up, Anna!" Amy screeched. "I wanna go home! If you keep talking, he'll kill us like he killed Holly!"
The Joker laughed maniacally, drowning out the rest of us. "Now that's what I like to see! You kids turning on each other. This is what happens when a friend dies, real craziness ensues! This should be fun!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" I screamed over his laughter.
"Oh, you silly girl; I'm about to kill one of you, and let all of Gotham watch!"
A gloved hand grabbed the back of my neck, and pulled me backwards. A voice hissed into my ear.
"And the best part; you kids get to pick the one who dies."
My eyes widened. Pick?
"Never!" I yelled. The Joker thrust me up to the camera in his other hand.
"Now for a little commercial break! We'll be right back with the decision, folks! Stay tuned!" The Joker laughed once more as he clicked off the camera.
The room was in pandemonium.
Amy started screaming, Nathan and Ryan began yelling protests, Anthony was scrambling to get out of his binds, and I was stumbling to my feet to punch that Joker right in the mouth. Unfortunately, the liquid that I had been injected with hadn't worn off yet, and my wrists and ankles were still bound. I got to my knees before I keeled over on top of Amy.
"Now, who's going to be the lucky one to make a special appearance on GCN? Will it be the outspoken leader?" The Joker tapped my forehead with his toe, "The weak best friend?" He nudged Amy's leg with his foot, "or the drooling, desperate boyfriends?" The Joker jumped over Amy, and stood by the door. "You've all got two minutes to decide. Make it snappy!"
With a bounce, the Joker exited the room, followed by the clowns, and turned the light off, plunging us all back into darkness.
"Me; let him kill me." I muttered to no one in particular.
"No way in hell," Ryan spat, rolling over.
"I think I'm getting some feeling in my legs," Anthony reported, shifting from one of his sides to the other.
"So what do you think?" Nathan asked, breathing heavily. "The police may or may not abandon the search for us to capture the Batman. If they're even looking for us, that is."
"Don't be ridiculous; they're looking." I replied.
"You don't think the Batman would turn himself in, would you?"
"Let's pray he doesn't."
"I hope he does," Amy sniffed. "It's about time that that vigilante got his just desserts."
"Stop it, Amy." I hissed, venom laced into my voice. "We'll get out of here, you watch."
The door reopened. It couldn't have been two minutes!
Justin stepped through the door and flipped on the light again. "The Joker wanted me to watch you."
"What do you want?" I snipped.
Justin put his hands up in a mock surrender. "Hey now, I'm working to get you guys out of here."
"Save it,"
"Really!"
"What could you possibly have to gain by being in the Joker's service? You know he'll just leave you high and dry." Anthony asked confidently. Justin paced over to him slowly.
"I have my reasons,"
"Like what?" I asked.
"I. Have. My. Reasons." He said shortly.
"Fine, don't share. Get out."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"He'll kill me!"
"Not my problem,"
"SHUT UP!" he roared.
"GET OUT!" I screamed back. Justin glared at me, turned on his heel, and jogged out of the room.
"We need to come up with a plan, fast." Ryan threw in.
"I know! I know! I just can't…think!"
"How do you think he's going to kill us?" Amy whispered.
"Slowly; the Joker's one for theatrics." I replied. Amy gasped, and then resumed crying; quietly this time.
"We need to make a decision." Anthony pressed.
"No,"
"Anna!"
The door banged open once again.
"Time's up!" the Joker said, jogging into the room. He made sure that his coat slapped all of us as he stepped over our incapacitated bodies. "Who's the winner?"
We all fell silent, avoiding his gaze.
"Me,"
My head spun in shock as Anthony turned to face the Joker. "They chose me, so let them go."
The Joker raised his eyebrows. "So they picked the strongest one? Well, all the fun we'll have!"
The Joker grabbed Anthony by his arm, and dragged him over all of us and out of the room.
"NO!" I yelled.
"Don't worry, you'll get to watch." Justin said, grabbing Amy's arm and mine, tugging us behind him. The other clowns grabbed Ryan and Nathan as they all followed the Joker away from our prison. They drug us across the stone floors for a minute until we reached the Commons area. The clowns dropped us all on our faces.
"Untie 'em." The Joker ordered. The clowns all brandished large knives, and cut us all loose. Justin was not very skilled with a knife; he nicked my wrists and ankles a few different times. I sat up, feeling immediately light headed as the blood rushed down from my head. The clowns stood around us with their guns pointed at our heads.
The Joker clicked the camera on. "We're back, ladies and gentle-men. Did you miss us?"
Anthony's bindings were not cut. The Joker placed him on the ground in front of the circle of clowns.
"Let me introduce you to the star of tonight's show, Mr. Drooling and Desperate!"
I cringed at the Joker's description of Anthony. He was the farthest thing from desperate! He was the strongest of us all. He saved our lives multiple times tonight. I don't know if I'll ever get to thank him…
"Anything you'd like to say to our studio audience?"
Anthony paused, looking directly at the camera. "Yes," He took a deep breath. "To my parents, I love you very much. Dad, do not turn in the Batman. He's the only figure of hope we have in this entire dying city. To the Batman, if you're watching. I want you to ensure my friends' safety. I will be indebted to you forever." He glanced away from the camera to me. "Anna…I never told you this, and I don't think I'll ever get a chance to. You are an amazing woman…and I know that you'll survive this hellish ordeal. You're strong, and I-"
"Oh that looks like all the time we have for opening statements! Now, on with the show!" The Joker cackled, taking a jagged knife out of his pocket. Amy screamed, and put her hands over her mouth.
The Joker placed the knife on Anthony's upper arm, and made a small line with his knife, cutting the flesh underneath. Anthony grunted quietly in pain.
The Joker watched Anthony's expression carefully. He pushed the knife in deeper, drawing scarlet blood in alarming quantities. Anthony let out a small yell, and the Joker smiled. He continued carving into Anthony's arm. I watched the cuts, and soon realized that he was cutting letters…no, words, into his arm.He finished cutting, lifted the knife off, and wiped the bloody blade off with his glove.
He turned, and stalked towards us menacingly. The clowns parted for him.
"Hey," he said. "Look at me," I lifted my head, and saw that he was speaking to me. He raised his glove up, and put it towards my face. I cringed away, but a clown touched the back of my head with the nuzzle of his gun. The Joker touched my cheek with a single gloved finger, swirling it around. I felt Anthony's warm blood smear across my face. The Joker switched fingers, using his middle one, and traced the corners of my mouth, putting drops of blood on them. He switched to using his palms, as he rubbed the drops across my cheek roughly. I caught a reflection of myself in his bottomless eyes. He'd rubbed a clown-like smile onto my face.
"Hmm, doesn't look half-bad. What would you think of making it permanent?" he chuckled, raising his knife to my face. I screamed and turned my head to avoid his blade.
"Come on! They chose me, not her!" Anthony yelled. The Joker placed the blade on my face, but didn't cut. He turned to face Anthony.
"Patience, kid! I'll get to you soon…"
I screamed again, squeezing my eyes shut as he pushed the blade onto my skin. I felt a drop of blood fall from the cut and roll down my neck.
"STOP IT!" Anthony bellowed.
The Joker let out a loud grunt, and his knife disappeared from my face. I heard a struggle, so I opened my eyes.
The Batman was struggling with the Joker on the ground, landing blows all over him. The clowns stood in confusion as the Joker was being beaten by the Batman.
"Help me, you fools!" The Joker screeched. One by one, the clowns abandoned the circle, and joined in the fight. When the last clown abandoned us, I stood up, and ran towards Anthony. His head was bobbing up and down and his eyes were wide.
"Anthony!" I gasped, grabbing the sides of his face with my dirty hands.
He coughed, lifting his eyes slowly to meet mine. He smiled a groggy smile.
"Get outta here…" he muttered.
"Not without you!" I said, grabbing his good arm with both of mine, and pulling him to his feet.
"I'm feeling kinda dizzy…"
"You're losing a lot of blood. Come on, please walk…" I begged, towing him slowly behind me.
Ryan and Nathan ran to his side, and took him from my arms. I almost objected, but now was not the time to argue. We made our way out of the Commons, and towards the main doors.
"GET THEM! DON'T LET THEM GET OUT!" a voice shouted from above. I looked around in alarm as two more clowns ran down the main stairs and towards us.
"MOVE!" I yelled at the group. Amy's legs wobbled uncertainly as she ran ahead of the group.
I glanced back at the Batman, who was now engaging the three clowns at once. I looked around in alarm as the Joker was no where to be found. I swiveled my head around in complete horror. Where is he?
I didn't get to dwell on the question for much longer, because the clowns that were heading down the stairs were heading straight for us.
"You guys run, I'll distract them!" I yelled. They picked up their speed a little more and continued heading for the main door. But it was still painfully far away…
A clown cried out in pain as the Batman delivered a final punch. The clown's gun flew of off his belt, and skidded across the ground. It came to a halt a few feet from me.
I've never fired a gun before…
Even though my dad dealt with guns on a regular basis, I'd never even held one.
Why not start now?
I shuffled forward, and grabbed the weapon, keeping the barrel pointed away from myself. I didn't know much about guns, but I know that much…
Keeping the barrel pointed at the ground, I ran towards the clowns. I pointed the barrel at the clowns as they drew dangerously close.
"Don't move! Or I'll shoot!" I screamed. The handle of the gun became slippery as my palms became sweaty. One of the clowns threw their head back and laughed.
"Don't be afraid, stupid! She's not gonna shoot-"
Losing my patience, and desperate to draw attention away from my friends, I pointed the gun towards the ceiling and fired it. Both clowns jumped in surprise. My wrist throbbed from the kick of the gun.
"I won't?" I shouted back. "Get back!"
The clowns took one step backwards.
"Put your hands up!"
The clowns didn't move.
"NOW!"
The clown who doubted me didn't obey. The other clown's hands shot up into the air.
"Now girly…" The clown said evenly. His hand wandered to his belt.
"Don't even-!"
But I was too late. He whipped a gun out of his holster, and aimed a shot at me. Luckily, my feet acted faster than my mind; my feet side-stepped to the side quickly as he pulled back the hammer and shot in the place where I stood a few moments before. I turned, and ran up the stairs.
Both clowns were in hot pursuit as I neared the top. I looked down where the Batman was fighting the other clowns. The Batman was gone, and the clowns were unconscious on the ground. One of them was stirring, but I didn't have time to watch him get to his feet before another shot rang through the air.
I rounded the top of the stairs and took off running towards the Debate room. The clowns got to the top of the stairs, and continued after me. I turned another corner and entered into the doorway of the library. I waited until the clowns were closer before aiming my gun at them.
If you kill them, you'll be no better than the one that killed Holly. Anthony's words rang through my mind.
As much as I wanted to follow Anthony's words, I decided that I wasn't technically murdering them; it was self-defense.
Yeah, I'll go with that.
I cocked the hammer back on the gun, and waited. The first clown came into view, and I aimed…I fired one shot, and it met its mark. The bullet buried itself into his chest. The clown gave a groan, and fell to the ground.
The thing that shocked me was the blood that spurted from the wound. In the movies and TV shows, there was never any sort of gruesome squirts of blood…
The second clown was bearing down on me as I gawked at the clown I'd just killed. He gave an outcry as he reached out to grab me. I raised the gun again and fired. The shot was far off of its aim, but it still hit him. The clown screamed in pain as he clutched his arm and fell to the ground. Instead of finishing him off, I turned and began to run down the stairs back to the Commons.
"The doors are locked!" a male voice screamed from below.
"Go to the cafeteria doors!" another panicked voice answered.
I was about halfway down the stairs, when a weight crashed into me from behind. I fell forward onto the flat landing midway between the second and first floor.
"You are causing unnecessary problems!" The voice yelled into my ear. With a surge of adrenaline and rage, I pushed the attacker off of my back, and into the wall. I stood, and faced him
It was Justin.
"Why won't you die?" I screamed, lunging for his throat.
"Why do you want me dead so bad?" he yelled in reply.
"You terrorize Amy, killed Holly, you're with the Joker, and I hate you. Do I need another reason?"
"Listen to me! You don't understand-"
"What is there to understand?"
My voice cracked as I roared at him.
With all of the strength I could muster, I grabbed him by his lapels, and swung him around to throw him down the remainder of the stairs. I released him; unfortunately his hand found a grip on my upper arm.
The momentum threw him and me down the stairs. The metal stairs jammed painfully into my back as Justin and I pummeled downwards. We landed at the bottom in a heap. I shoved him away from me, and began punching haphazardly at him.
"Anna, stop it!" he yelled as I continued landing punches on him.
Instead of replying, all I could do was yell out in rage.
A gunshot rang through the air, making my heart skip a beat. The Joker stepped down the stairs rhythmically, aiming the gun at me and Justin.
"Boss!" Justin yelled. "Boss, get her off me!"
The Joker continued pointing the gun at us, not firing a shot. He finished the stairs, breaking into a run. Fear froze me in place as the Clown Prince bolted towards us. He raised the gun once again, and fired a shot. I closed my eyes, waiting for the death blow.
Instead, I felt a warm liquid splatter against my arms. My eyes sprang open to see Justin with a bullet through his head, bleeding onto my dress.
I screamed aloud, and threw myself away from his body. The Joker didn't miss a beat. He leapt forward, and grabbed my blood-spattered arm.
"Stay." He ordered.
The tone of his voice froze me in place. Besides, the adrenaline was wearing off; my energy was nearing depletion.
"Let-" I began, but a blinding blow to the side of my face silenced me. I spluttered and gasped aloud as my vision trickled back. The Joker grabbed my shoulders with his hands, and lifted me towards him; leaving me an inch from his face. His rank breath was nauseating as it fogged across my face.
So this is how it ends…
The Joker began talking, but all I could concentrate on was an image of me in a body bag and the faces of my grieving parents as they wheeled me into the morgue…
WHAM.
I felt my body fall to the cool, hard floor. My eyes fluttered closed in pure exhaustion.
I had enough to strength to open my eyes, and see the Batman, once again, tackling the Joker to the ground.
"GO!" The Batman yelled gruffly to me.
"Come on, let's go!" a voice pleaded. I felt someone tugging at my sticky arms. I averted my eyes to see Amy, struggling to pull me to my feet. "Please…get up!"
Somehow, I was able to get to my feet, and stumble towards my friend. Amy took me in her arms, and helped me move. I slumped against her more and more with every step.
"Anna, the cafeteria door is locked. We have the same problem that we had at the beginning of the night." Nathan reported. I barely acknowledged him with a weak nod of my head.
"Smash the glass!" Amy suggested.
"Come on, none of us have the strength to do that." Ryan replied.
"We're trapped-!"
The moment Amy yelled in despair, the skylights on the ceiling above us shattered. Everyone's arms shot up to shield themselves from a shower of glass. A bright light shone from above.
Oh look, Heaven…I thought foolishly.
A booming voice over a loudspeaker echoed through the halls of the school.
"Hostages, please stand by."
Walkie-talkie jabber and whirring static filled our ears as a steel-runged ladder fell to the floor.
"One at a time." A gruff voice growled behind us. The Batman stood at ease behind us.
"Where is-?"
"Don't worry; he's down." The Batman glanced back at the crumpled form of the Joker, lying in the middle of the floor.
"You first," I whispered. I looked at Amy, indicating that I was speaking to her. She looked up at the ladder reluctantly, but grabbed onto the rungs, and scrambled up anyways. She got about halfway up before the Batman ushered Ryan and Nathan onto the ladder.
"Anna, go." Anthony said.
"I'll go last,"
"Stop trying to be a hero, and go." He said shortly.
That did sting a bit, but I brushed it off. I reached up, and grabbed onto the rungs. The moment I put my weight onto my arms, I felt pure exhaustion take me. My muscles released the rungs, and I fell backwards into armored arms.
"I'm…I'm sorry…" I gasped.
"Don't worry; you boy, go next." The Batman replied as he repositioned me in his plated arms.
Anthony was obviously annoyed, but obeyed anyways. Anthony grabbed the ladder with his bad arm, and tested the weight. He winced visibly as he pulled on it. He eventually found a system that worked. By using his good arm, he was able to pull himself higher, and use his bad arm to keep him in place as he ascended.
The Batman waited until Anthony, was halfway up, before tossing me over his shoulder. The blood rushed to my head as I clutched onto his utility belt on his lower back.
"Hold on," he commanded. With surprising agility and strength, he scaled up the ladder. My vision became blurry and spotted as I felt my consciousness slipping. The Batman finished ascending the ladder, lifted me out of the school, and into the cool night air.
I turned my head to see a fire truck, with one of those long ladders that can reach rooftops. Amy, Nathan, and Ryan were all sitting at the bottom, being attended by EMT's and Paramedics. Anthony was about halfway down the large ladder, being helped by a fully-clad firefighter. A bright search beam was shining all over the place, reflecting brightly into my face at haphazard moment. The Batman helped me shift my position on his shoulder as he settled into the last ladder.
The ladder was the last barrier between me and my freedom.
"ANNA!" I could hear the familiar voice of my father screaming above the rest. His voice was reassuring, yet…a distant memory.
"ANNA!" His voice was getting nearer, but my consciousness was slipping faster than ever.
Stay awake…STAY AWAKE…
Stay…awake…stay…
A/N: Wow, Justin is a coward! I wrote this all in one sitting, tell me what you think!