Kait: So everyone, a fan of the story has decided to drop by and pay us a little visit here in the "Kait, Meg, Joker and sometimes Nichole" chats we have in the beginning of the stories, because well she has wanted to for quiet some time now. Everyone say hi to Varrica! (waves)

Varrica: (Waves erratically suppressing a giggle) HAI!

Joker: (blinks and eyes Varrica head to toe, then slowly walks towards her licking his lips) Well hello beautiful! Finally something more...appealing here (circles her like a vulture)

Varrica: Err... (takes a chance when the Joker is in front of her to trip him) Oops!

Meg: HEY HEY HEY! She's been here for two seconds and already your goo goo eyeing her? She's our guest Joker! Treat her nicely!

Joker: Oh I intend to give her the royal treatment (beckons Varrica over) Just....over in this secluded dark corner of the room.

Varrica: Maybe some other time? I intend to...behave here. OH LOOK (runs)

Chapter 25

Nichole got over the burning pain on her scrapped legs long enough to see the bigger picture. The Joker kept her from falling. He kept her from killing herself.

He wanted to do it himself.

He was angry she tried to foil his plans and would beat her to death severely for her attempt. The angry look that had been in his eyes when he threw her backwards to the roof's ground, had only confirmed the feeling she got when he stopped her. No light was in them, just pure dark chaos.

She watched him laugh manically at the now burning up building and her mind just snapped. She didn't know what came over her, but it was the feeling of not taking this shit anymore.

She was done.

She was ready to die now.

Her body was so weak from the weeks of pain it endured and her mind was worn out from all the mind games and tricks the Joker had played on her.

There is only so much a person can take before they can not take anymore.

Her bridge was made and now she was going to cross it to her death.

Nichole eyed the edge of the building again, and came up with a plan. Originally she was going to kill herself to save the people in that building, but they were dead because she just didn't try hard enough to stop the Joker in her mind.

I should have fought back or thought of the idea earlier! She scowled at herself through her tears.

But now Nichole had a better idea.

She was just going to end her life to save others.

Now she was going to kill herself, to save herself.

She was going to die a painful death from the Joker, probably for her attempted suicide, so it was time to end her life quick and painless by a single jump off the building.

But this time she had to kick.

Scream.

Thrash.

The Joker would not stop her.

Her mind was set. No more abuse would come from him onto her body and mind.

She felt as if she did not belong to society a while back, so now she was just going to do the world a favor.

She was tainted and would never be rubbed clean.

Today was the end.

She stood up straight biting her lip to hide the pain her legs felt. Her body swayed back and forth as she felt a dizzy spree fall over her body. With one hand holding on to her leg to ease the pain, she took off running like a bat out of hell toward the building edge.

Any building edge.

Nichole didn't give a damn.

As long as it was a short drop and a sudden stop she was fine with it.

As she reached the edge she felt the Joker grab a fist full of her clothing from behind and yank her backwards. The wind was knocked out of her as she fell backwards.

The Joker sighed. "What am I going to do with you Nikki? Are you now just going to try and kill yourself to solve all your problems? You do know that is not the answer right?" He teased and laughed at her.

Nichole immediately started to thrash and wave her arms out extending them toward to edge of the building. "NO! NO! JUST LET ME DIE!" She screamed, tears freely falling from her eyes.

She wanted death.

A fast one.

She welcomed it.

"Just let me jump! Let me die! Nooo!" She scooted her body forward and caused her upper body to be hanging off the ledge.

The Joker quickly squated above her and placed his hands on either side of her ribs. He pulled her backwards while shoving her downwards into the cement roof so she would be badly cut and scraped.

"I can't let ya do that Nichole! Then what fun will I have?" He grunted as he was able to pull her back more so they were towards the center of the roof. He leaned down and scooped her shaking body up. "You need threapy!"

The Joker tightened his grip on her as she turned over onto her stomach in his arms, and he awkwardly held her like a fisherman held fish. He was having a difficult time keeping her still.

"NOOO! I wanna die! Let me die! I can't take it anymore! I hate you! Let me die!" She pleaded frantically to him as she tried to shove her way forward in some odd thought that she could just flop out of his arms and bounce her way off the ledge.

"Well why didn't you just tell me days ago you wanted to die? I could have helpped you with that! It's a hobby of mine! Come on with me, I'll help solve your problem!" He said with dark humor.

He dropped her to the floor letting her smack her head against it. He then sent a paralyzing punch to her head causing her to black out for a few moments. In her moment of weakness and confusion, he bent down and picked her back up. He walked down the stairs of the building and to the van.

He placed her roughly into the seat and buckled her seatbelt. By this point she was starting to get her vision back and the blurry images before her eyes started to take shape. He reached in his pocket taking out a lighter and flicked it on putting the burning flame to the seat belt's buckle, making it melt so Nichole couldn't unbuckle herself and escape.

Even in her state of pain and confusion she started to grab at the belt that was around her chest and tried to pull it away from her body so she could squeeze her way out of it. Her aching head cause her arms to flail around and miss the belt around her a few times. Sometimes it would slip from her grasp even.

The Joker was in the drivers seat in a flash, putting one hand on the steering wheel and the other pressing into Nichole's stomach to hold her down.

"Trying to be noble Nichole? Hmmm? Trying to kill yourself now to save others? Hmmm?" He mumbled to himself angered.

She leaned down and bit his hand hard, using her hands to try and crank down the window to yell for help. The Joker smacked her across the face, then took her face in his one hand holding it tightly and positioning it so she was forced to look forward. He was pressing down so hard she felt the bruise forming underneath his sharp fingernails.

"Well I see how it uh, is. You don't like the way I treat you. Is that it? You think you have it so bad here that you are willing to kill yourself to escape it? Well if death is what you wanted, you should have asked me." He nodded his head up and down a very serious face on. "As an agent of chaos it is my job to end lives of those who want it, and seeing how you tried to commit suicide even after you did a failed attempt to save those people....."

Nichole shut her eyes tightly gritting her teeth at the pain as he dug his fingernails into her face cutting them and causing an intense stinging feeling to spread over her.

The Joker stared blankly at the blood that trickled off her face and on to his fingers, licking his lips. "For the next three days I guess-" He sighed, "You will have to be on suicide watch. Can't have you off trying to end your own life, when I want to. But Nichole couldn't you have picked a better time to finally want to die? I was just getting used to the idea of having a sidekick. Candy really brought a...smile to my face, as it should to you. In fact....I don't believe I've seen you smile in such a long time. I think-kah...I uh....am going to change that." He grinned wickedly as he turned the corner.

Gordon dumped his coat onto his office chair, slumping into it. He just got the word of The Joker's latest crime. Blowing up a newspaper printing place with about a thousand workers inside. The Joker was too much for him to handle. Even Batman can't stop him. Gordon was losing hope of ever catching him.

He placed the file he was carrying on his desk and opened it up. Inside were pictures pedestrians had taken of the Joker when they spotted him various times. The photos were utter crap though. Some were blurry as if the person taking it rushed to take it before the Joker got away and moved the camera when the picture took. Another one had the Joker so far away that it was hard to tell if it was even really the Joker.

Gordon sighed closing the file and placing his head on his desk, worn out from the Joker. He started to wonder if this would become a daily thing. The Joker causing mass destruction and getting away with it. Maybe they could evacuate Gotham City and leave the Joker there to himself. But knowing him, he'd disguise himself to escape. There really was no answer to this problem. It was as if the Joker was not human.

Detective Gonzales knocked on the Commissioners door twice, standing awkwardly by the door waiting for permission to enter. Ever since Gordon became Commissioner everyone treated him with more respect and honer. It was something that obviously Gordon was not used to.

"Gordon?"

"Come in Detective." Gordon ushered with a wave of his hand, not bothering to look up. He could recognize people's voices quite well .

"Well we just got a copy of the tape the Joker sent in to the news to announce him blowing up the building."

Gordon raised his head up very confused and alert. "There was a tape? I thought this was a random act. I just heard The Joker was behind it from you guys."

"Yeah it was on the news. The Joker had his little helper "Candy" say stuff and then well....he blew it up." Gonzales extended a hand holding a CD for the computer.

Gordon immediately took it and popped the disk into the driver and leaning forward in his chair staring attentively at the screen waiting for the disk to load. Gordon tapped his foot on the ground impatiently.

And then finally the tape played. A woman maybe in her early twenties with a ton of red eye makeup on, rosy red lip stick, and a costume like outfit on was holding a piece of paper and reading off of it.

Gordon wasn't paying attention to what Candy was saying at all. He was focused on what she looked like. Her blonde hair, and straight face. Gordon's surprised facial expression turned to utter shock. He fell back into his chair more, his hands falling to his lap. He was speechless as he realized something.

He sat there staring at the screen for another two minutes well after it stopped playing. He was simply disbelieving....that....that-

"Commissioner?" Gonzales waved a hand in front of Gordon's face.

"Detective....This Candy....what information do you have on her?" He said shaking his head in disbelief.

"As of right now? Nothing. Never seen or heard of her before."

Gordon walked briskly to his office door and shut it tightly pulling down the shade to it as well. He took a finger and peered through the shade for a moment before turning back around to face the very confused detective. He walked over to him and cupped a hand over his ear whispering softly.

"Candy....That's Nichole. The teacher kidnapped about two weeks ago. The Joker must have forced her to create this "Candy". If you watch the tape again you can clearly see the pain and suffering in her eyes as well as bruises and cuts. She does a good job to hide it and I wouldn't be shocked if a gun is being pointed at her off screen. Point of the matter is that we need to keep this quiet. Some people if we told them Nichole was Candy would assume she was a criminal. She is a good person thrown into a world of chaos that is Gotham City. If they know she is Candy she will never have a chance at a normal life and get a very unfair trial."

He rubbed his chin in thought, letting out a sigh.

"I want you to rewatch this tape as many times as it takes. We need to get a clue as to where the Joker is keeping her and maybe in one of the shots in the video is a car license plate or a computer or laptop we can find the ID to and pinpoint its location. Just to it and keep this secret. No one needs to know who Candy really is. This is just me and you got it?"

Gordon pulled the shades back up, his mind still lost in complete thought. He had to save Nichole. It was his fault she ended back with the Joker. He had naively let her be by herself and she ran away. He should have known it would happen. And besides clearing his guilty conscious he really did like Nichole. She was a sweet women who had a very bad encounter with a killer.

Gonzales went to the computer and replayed the tape. Over and Over and Over again. He was determined to find something that could help. It really didn't have to do with his concern for the well being of Nichole, it was more for the fact if he did this maybe he'd get a promotion or two. The greedy money whore.

"Gordon! I got something! Look here!"

The Commissioner was standing behind Gonzales within seconds.

"See this? A laptop was caught in the frame for a few seconds. If you take this to the lap im sure they could enhance the photo to be able to make out the identification tag on it and pinpoint the location of the laptop or call the company and ask who purchased it and ask for the address."

"Excellent! Do that for me please."

Gonzales sent the picture to the lab and rushed down to explain to them what to do.

Gordon sat back in his chair looking at the paused freeze framed image of Nichole dressed up as Candy. Throughout the video she kept a steady and seductive voice and a pretty straight face. But in her eyes if someone were to focus real hard on them and looked past the red eye makeup, someone could see the pain in her eyes. The tiny tears in them. The screaming voice inside her wanting to be free.

Tom sat silently in his car, his hands tightly gripping his steering wheel. He sat there outside the house waiting. Waiting, for the opportune moment. The one chance he'd have to-

A van pulled up to the house. Tom got a clear view of the Joker in the drivers seat and there was....Nichole dressed like...what?

Tom hung his mouth open as the Joker got out of his seat and went over to the passenger side. He but the seat belt off of Nichole and grabbed her. She struggled in his arms.

"HELP!" she screamed. "OH GOD SOMEONE HELP ME!"

The Joker placed a hand over her mouth, which it then looked like she bit him, because he kicked her. He struggled a bit and then sucessfully got Nichole and himself in the house slamming the door behind him. Faint screaming was heard, but nothing out of the ordinary for Gotham City. If someone were to focus hard on the voice it was clearly saying "Help me! He's going to kill me!"

Tom took it all in.

Candy, the Joker's side kick, the one that he was hearing about through the news was Nichole.

That monster forced her to work for him. Oh if he wasn't mad enough as it was. The Joker stabbed him, taunted him by saying things he's done to Nichole, then sends him a tape of him raping her, and now he finds out poor Nichole has been forced to do this as well.

Tom wanted to kill the Joker. He wanted him dead, but he also wanted to save Nichole. His mind wanted to kill. His heart wanted to save. He didn't know what to do once he got in the house.

He could grab Nichole and get the hell out of there fast, leaving behind a pissed off Joker. Or he could kill the Joker first and then save Nichole. But there was a pretty good chance Tom would die doing that. But it didn't matter he'd die to save her. But in the back of his mind he wondered if he was willing to die for her, or for his revenge.

He hoped he could do both. Save Nichole, kill the Joker and live happily ever after. Kill two birds with one stone.

He opened his car door and headed around the back of the building eyeing an open window and climbing through into the Joker's lair.