You're taking it too far
Getting more than I paid for

In the past four weeks, I had been terrified, stalked, tormented, kidnapped, and kissed all by one man. Well, his cronies helped as well, but they were following orders given by him so the point still stands. And though I had replayed every detail over and over in my head after each new thing that happened, I couldn't exactly recall how I had gotten to this point.

Sitting in the back of the SUV, trapped on all sides by child locks and psycho predators in the front seat while we drove through the streets of Gotham, I had a while to think about things. No, my life wasn't flashing before my eyes again-I'd already come to terms with my shitty life two weeks ago. What I did try to think about was what was going to happen next.

Apparently, I had done my job so well that Joker wanted me to do another one and I had absolutely no idea what that could entail. I already told him I wouldn't kill anyone and I wouldn't let him make me an accessory to murder again. One time was enough for me. Thankfully, I was fairly sure that he wouldn't kill me after making me sign those papers today.

I was going to be kept alive for that to play out, whatever it was. But that gave me no clues as to what the hell he had up his sleeve now. I didn't know whether it was a bad thing that I wasn't terribly frightened or not. Compared to the day he had tossed me in that van and put a gun in my hands, I would say that I was handling my current situation well.

Occasionally, Daryl and the driver of the SUV would discuss where they were going and from what I heard, I assumed that they were making a pick-up and I was just along for the ride. What they were picking up and from where I had no clue. I didn't want to know.

The less I know the better.

And I was pretty sure that's exactly how Joker felt too. He kept me out of the loop just enough that I had no idea what was going on or what he was planning. It was simultaneously frustrating and relieving, but it left me thinking more about him and less about what he wanted from me. Which was the opposite of what I should have wanted and I crossed my arms over my chest to stare out the window on my left.

We had been driving for nearly half an hour and I knew it was no use trying to get answers out of tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum in the front. Anything I asked, Daryl would give me that stupid smile, call me pussycat and the guy driving would ignore me.

I took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh, glancing down at myself. My purse was sitting next to me on the seat and though I had the gun, I didn't know what to do with it. Pointing it at them and forcing them to stop the car ran through my mind several times, but what good would it do? They would just be waiting on me by the time I got back home, or worse-they would barge right in and terrorize Chelsea.

She may have been a bitch, but she didn't deserve that. Apparently, I had pissed someone off in a past life and karma decided that I deserved it, though.

I shifted on the leather seat and tugged the skirt of my dress down as far as it would go, just in case Daryl looked back and decided to leer at me again. A dress had definitely been the wrong choice, but like I had told Joker, this was the only nice thing I had. At least he had noticed my effort and the length of the dress.

Of course, I shouldn't have had this kind of reaction to him noticing that. Why should I care that he noticed anything about me or what I was wearing?

Again, I shifted in the seat and watched the nicer businesses and neighborhoods of the city fall away to give room to short, squat buildings, and warehouses. The sight of them made my stomach clench and I studied each one passing by, trying to find anything familiar.

The click of the blinker pulled my attention back to the front of the car and I frowned. We were turning right, moving deeper into the industrial areas of Gotham and I bit my bottom lip. Anxious anticipation was eating at my insides and I cursed myself for not peeing before I had left the apartment. Hopefully whatever warehouse they planned to toss me into this time had a bathroom.

With another right turn, the SUV pulled into a side street running alongside a four-story warehouse with a sign painted on the side. Industrial Plastics . It didn't look familiar and the parking lot the car slowed into was not the same one I had seen last time.

This must be the pick-up place.

I pressed my face closer to the window and looked up at the windows running along the top of the warehouse. Fat clouds of gray smoke billowed out from a few stacks on the roof and I could smell a faint odor that made my nose wrinkle.

"Wait here." The driver said, stepping out of the SUV before shutting the door behind him. I spun in the seat and watched him move to the back of the car where he pulled a black duffel bag out of the back. Without a backward glance, he shut the back and set off toward the warehouse. Wait. He was just leaving me here with-

Daryl turned and looked back at me, making me clamp my legs together and clutch my purse closer to my side. He chuckled and shook his head, shifting on his seat to face me. In his right hand, I could see he had found a new gun. This one was bigger than the one I was in possession of. It was blocky and with my limited knowledge of guns, I figured it was an automatic. And one that I would not stand a chance against.

He curled his two fingers on his left hand and nodded to my purse. "Let me see what you got."

"No."

The sound of his amused sigh made my jaws clench and I tightened my grip around the strap of my purse. I wasn't about to let him take my only weapon against him, but I didn't have much of a choice. In a flash, he snatched the bulk of my bag and ripped it out of my hands. To my horror, he dumped the contents into the floor between his legs.

He took his gun back, wedging it into the space between his back and his belt, and rifled through the rest of my things. I could only stare in quiet fury as he held up a tampon between his fingers. "You raggin'?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but yeah I am."

A long time ago, I had taken a self-defense course in high school for women and girls. The instructor had been a man, but was sweet and did show us some good tips. I couldn't remember a single fighting move or stance, but what I did remember was him telling us that if we were ever being snatched up or raped, to piss on ourselves or if we could, vomit on them. Something about it distracting the attacker or turning him off.

I had to pee, but I wasn't going to piss myself just yet. So I lied and hoped he was the kind of guy who would be turned off by period blood.

Daryl laughed and dropped my things back into my purse before tossing it back at me. I barely caught it without spilling it everywhere and he looked back at me. I could feel his eyes on my legs before I saw them and I pulled my skirt back down around my knees.

"What? You think I'm gonna try something?"

"Judging by the last time we were alone together, I'm not taking my chances."

Again, he laughed and faced the front. He drummed his dirty fingers along the dash and ducked to peer up through the windshield. "Relax. Not like we have enough time to enjoy ourselves anyway."

For some reason, when it came to these dangerous, murdering madmen, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. It was a compulsive need to smart off to them since I had no power physically. Sneering at him, I snapped back. "The only thing I would enjoy would be to watch you slowly sink to the bottom of a river."

"That right?" He asked, clearly distracted by whatever he was looking at. I almost leaned forward to peer up through the window as well, but I was surprised by his quick laugh. "And what about Joker?"

"What about him?"

"He does all this shit to you," he said, turning to stare at me. The darkness in his eyes was disturbing and I swallowed my nervousness. "And you let him."

Was he serious? "I let him?"

"What? You got a thing for freaks like that? His face-" Daryl motioned to his cheeks with his middle finger and I narrowed my eyes into a glare. "-turn you on all fucked up the way it is?"

A million things popped into my head to say to this cretin, mostly insults and curse words, but none would come out of my mouth. I sat there, stammering in complete disbelief that he would make judgments about me based on absolutely nothing . As if I were the one asking for all of this to happen to me! As if I wanted to be tormented for weeks by a psychotic man in clown paint!

"You are seriously out of your head if you think I asked for any of this." It was too similar to the way Joker had tried to convince me that it was me seeking him out. I didn't want to hear this from someone else. I hated that it was in my head as it was. "What is it with you assholes? Do you all get together and think of the most outrageous ways you can fuck with people's heads? You're all a bunch of assholes!"

"You're telling me that there's nothing going on with you and Joker?"

I scoffed, shaking my head to look away from him. "Of course not."

Even as I said it, I heard the slight tremor in my voice because I didn't believe my own words. As soon as they were out of my mouth, I was reminded of last night and the way he had shoved me back against the door. I felt the ghost of his hand around my throat, of him lifting me off the floor and my legs wrapping around his waist. It left me feeling feverish, even now.

"Good." Daryl's voice dropped in tone and I quickly jerked my head back to face him. Seeing him open his door and get out of the SUV sent panic surging up into my chest. My heart leapt into my throat and I crushed myself against the window, watching as he adjusted his pants, shut the door behind him, and took two steps to the back.

He opened it and I wasted no time. I launched out of the seat and scrambled over the console between the passenger and driver's seat. He pawed at the back of my legs, one hand gripping the fabric of my dress and my underwear. To my horror, I felt the seam on the side of my panties tear.

I reached out and grabbed the steering wheel, using it to haul me out of his grasp. My other arm landed on the horn and I pressed it down. Daryl readjusted his grip and wrapped an entire arm around my thigh, pulling me with all of his strength. I held tight, still pressing the horn down. Hopefully, the other guy would hear and come running.

"Get the fuck off me!" I screamed, leaning to the side so I could wedge one leg up between us. The heel of my boot caught him against the jaw and neck and the look on his face was satisfying but far too short-lived. With a final tug, he jerked me away from the steering wheel, and my face smacked hard against the console.

Pain erupted through my chin and I knew instantly that my teeth had sliced my bottom lip open. The metallic taste of blood was all over my tongue in an instant.

Daryl slid me onto the seat and shoved my skirt up around my hips and I knew now that I was going to have to piss myself. Besides, I was too terrified to hold it in anymore. Before I could let it out, and before he could rip my panties off, a deep voice called out from the warehouse.

"What the fuck!"

The man between my legs snarled in annoyance and pulled away from me to poke his head out of the car. He sighed and his hands fell away from my legs, letting me scramble back away from him. While he was momentarily distracted by the driver shouting at him, I launched myself into the front seat and threw the door open.

I didn't care what Joker had in store for me. There was no way I was going to stay anywhere near these creeps.

Shouting broke out and I could hear Daryl curse as he raced around the car, but I was already running. Unfortunately, I ran right into the other guy and he caught me easily, spinning me back around. "Whoa, little girl. You're not going anywhere."

I struggled against him, kicking my legs out and using all of my strength to pry his arm away from me. It didn't work. He brought me easily back to the SUV and Daryl opened the back door for him. I fell halfway between the floorboard and seat and he shoved my legs in before slamming the door shut.

"What the fuck did you do?" His voice was muffled by the car door and I scrambled back onto the seat.

"Nothing. She just went psycho."

I slid to the window and banged my fists against the glass. They both turned to face me and though the windows were too tinted for them to see me, I screamed. "He attacked me! He tried to rape me again !"

"Jesus fucking Christ," the driver said, pointing a finger into Daryl's sour face. He looked angrier that he had been stopped than for what he had tried to do to me. "Get the fuck back in the car and you better hope she doesn't tell Joker about this."

Oh, I was definitely going to tell him about this. I was going to give him and his little bastard goons a piece of my mind. If it meant me finally getting shot in the face, then so be it. I was tired of them tossing me around and forcing me into situations that terrified me. And if he didn't do something about Daryl, then I would.

I may have been a pacifist, but I was going to take great pleasure in seeing him suffer. They both got back into the car and again, the driver glanced over his shoulder at me. He cursed beneath his breath, reached over to the glove box, and grabbed a napkin before tossing it over his shoulder. I let it fall to the floor.

Blood was dripping down the corner of my lips and I could taste it oozing out of the cut I had gotten from bashing my face on the console. There was no way in hell I was going to wipe it up and clean myself off. I wanted him to see what they'd done.

"Did you make the payoff?"

"Yeah, I did." He cranked the car and shook his head. Without a backward glance, he whipped the SUV around and we drove out of the parking lot. "I didn't have a lot of time thanks to you and whatever the fuck happened. But yeah, they're going to set the charges according to the plan."

I didn't like the sound of that. Through my limited knowledge of typical bad guy villainy in movies, I could only guess that 'setting the charges' had something to do with explosions. I let my head fall back against the seat with a roll of my eyes and watched the warehouses pass by once more. Whatever the Joker was planning, I just hoped I was far away from it when it went down.

Notes:

Sorry for the long way and such a short chapter but the next one will make up for it...I hope ;)