Soooo uhhhhh when I originally wrote this chapter, it was only a little over a 1000 words, which is a big no no for me, so a good majority of this chapter I improvised at the last minute and got it to 3,381 words! It fits and it works so yeah!
Get your tissues ready, sorry I'm an evil fucker.
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THIS CHAPTER WAS UPDATED AND PROOFREAD FOR TYPOS, GRAMMAR, AND PLOT/TIMELINE ISSUES AS OF 7/18/2020
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"Hello? Can anybody hear me?!" a faint voice called out.
Anslee groaned when she heard the voice all while she started to slip out of her unconscious state. She couldn't even recall what had happened or how she ended up where she was. All she knew was that her head was pounding and she could move her hands or feet.
"Hello!" The voice yelled out again. And then she recognized it. It was Rachel.
The teen began to struggle against whatever was binding her to the chair she was sat in.
"Rachel?" a voice spoke from behind her.
"Harvey!" the sound of her mother's voice called out almost relieved.
"Mom!" Anslee called out as she continued to struggle against her bindings
"Anslee?" Harvey spoke from behind her as he tried to crane his neck to look at the teen.
"Oh thank God!" Rachel's voice cracked, "Are you okay?"
Anslee heard Harvey bustling behind her as he looked around at where they were, "I'm all right. Ans seems fine too. I'm in a- I'm in a warehouse. They got us wired to these oil drums."
Anslee's eyes filled with tears as she looked around at the oil drums surrounding them. This spelled Arson all over it.
"I am too," Rachel spoke weakly.
"They're coming to save us right?" Anslee looked over her shoulder, "Please tell me they're coming to save us!" she cried.
"Listen, we don't have a lot of time," Rachel cried as well, "They told me that only one of us was gonna make it...and that they were going to let our friends choose."
Harvey breathed heavily from behind Anslee as tears free fell down her cheeks. She didn't want to die. She was too young. Had her whole life ahead of her.
"Okay," Harvey whispered as he looked around at his surroundings, "It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be alright. They're coming for all three of us, they had to have found a way. It's gonna be okay."
"Listen to me. I'll help you," Rachel breathed, "Just talk me through what's going on with you. Can you find something? Anything that's sharp?"
Both Anslee and Harvey searched around them in a frantic state to find something to break them free from their bindings.
"We're trying," Harvey quickly responded as he began to try and move his chair around with him in it.
"What's what's going on?" Rachel asked.
"Shit," he cursed realizing his attempt to move the chair wasn't working.
He then began to tip his chair sideways against one of the oil drums. Although in the process he had managed to tip himself over and the oil drum, making a loud clanging noise as they both hit the ground.
"Harvey, what's happening?" Rachel called.
Anslee turned her head to see the oil drum and Harvey on the ground. Oil spilled from the drum and began to move towards Harvey, littering his face. She turned back over her other shoulder to see a timer had been set. Less than a minute remained until the firework show. Anslee's heart sank into the pit of her stomach and she started struggling even harder.
"What? What's happening? Rachel begged, "Just talk to me, just for one second!"
All the while Anslee struggled and Harvey sputtered to keep the oil out of his mouth.
41
40
"Mom! Mom, I'm sorry for the way I acted towards dad and I'm sorry for being difficult at times when I was growing up. I love you so much!" Anslee cried.
"It's okay, Ans, I forgive you. I'm sorry about not telling you about your father, you deserved to know! You are my world, Anslee Grace, and I love you more than you'll ever know," Rachel cried.
"Harvey, just in case. I wanna tell you something, okay?" Rachel continued.
"Don't think like that, Rachel, they're coming for you," he responded.
"I know they are, but I don't want them to," she sobbed, "I don't wanna live without you, and I do have an answer for you. My answer is yes."
A loud banging noise sounded from across the room and Anslee whipped her head around as a fresh round of tears flooded her eyes.
"No! Not me! Why are you coming for me!" Harvey yelled.
"They're going to save her! They've got to go and save her!" Anslee cried as none other than The Batman quickly made his way towards the two tied up people.
The Bat went to work at cutting the zip ties that had been tightly fastened around Anslee's wrists and ankles, instructing her to run as soon as she was broken free.
"But my mom," she shook her head through sobs.
Batman then moved to Harvey, unbinding him from the chair and picking him up from behind to drag out the thrashing man.
"Rachel! Rachel!" The man screamed as he was being dragged backwards.
"Harvey. Anslee." Rachel spoke as her breath seemed to quicken more, "Okay."
Harvey still continued to scream for the woman whilst Anslee stood in the doorway, completely paralyzed as she leaned against the doorframe hyperventilating through her sobs
"Harvey, it's okay. It's all right. Listen," she coaxed, "Somewh-"
A loud explosion could be heard through the walkie device, cutting off Rachel's words. And that's when Anslee knew.
"No!" the girl cried at the sound of the explosion as she crippled to the ground in a heaping sobbing mess. Her Mother. Her Rachel. All in a matter of seconds and she was...she couldn't even bring herself to think it.
"Come on!" Batman yelled in his dark voice as he grabbed Anslee by the back of her shirt and dragged her the rest of the way out of the building. Not even five seconds after the explosion over the walkie system sounded. An even bigger bang of an explosion erupted just behind them as their trap had self-destructed.
Anslee had been knocked out of Batman's grip from the impact of the explosion, though she was only a few feet from Harvey. The man was rolling around on the pavement screaming in agonizing pain. Half of his body engulfed in bright yellow and orange flames that almost seemed to lick at his body like the devil's tongue. The last thing Anslee remembered was hearing sirens before she had completely blacked out onto the pavement below her.
XXX
'I love you, Anslee,' a voice echoed in the darkness.
"Mom?" Anslee called out into the nothingness that surrounded her.
She opened her eyes to a familiar sight. The room she was in was brightly lit and very white. The air felt fresh, yet it had a sterile scent to it. She was in the hospital.
Her eyes began to adjust to the light, making her groan as her head swarmed.
"Hey," Bruce's voice spoke softly, "You're finally awake. How are you feeling?"
The girl looked over at her father groggily, "What?" she asked.
Bruce reached out to grab the girl's hand and rub the back of it with his thumb sympathetically, "You've been out for a little over a day...the doctors thought you had chloroform poisoning, not to mention they thought you might have gone temporarily deaf from the explosion because you wouldn't respond in the ambulance."
"Where's Harvey?" Anslee sat up quickly, the beeping on her heart monitor began to rapidly increase, but she didn't care.
Bruce placed a hand gently on her shoulder to guide her to lay back, "You need to take it easy, Ans, you've been through a lot the past few days. Harvey's up in the ICU right now."
"What happened to her?" she asked.
This was a question he wasn't prepared for. He was hoping they could hold off that conversation for when they were home and had more of a personal place to process and mourn.
His lips went into a straight line as he pursed them. All he could do could shake his head, unable to make eye contact with his child.
"God," Anslee's voice cracked as her head crashed back onto the pillow of the hospital bed. Her face scrunched up and tears fell down her cheeks, "She-she didn't make it, did she?"
"Why did they come for us?" she sobbed, "Why didn't they go to rescue her?"
Bruce stood up, but then took a seat on the side of the bed. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around the girl and pulled her close to him as she cried.
"I wish they would've rescued her over me," she sobbed into Bruce's chest, "It's not fair!"
"Don't say that," Bruce held her head against him, "Don't say that, Anslee."
"I don't want to be here without her!"
All Bruce could do was shush and coo to her like she was five years old and crying after waking up from a nightmare. Bruce had never felt worse about his ability to be a father to Anslee. He had failed to make her feel safe and secure. He felt like he had lost that trust from Anslee even if she didn't know about his double life. This was when he needed to make his final decision. He needed to stop living his life behind a mask and in a web of lies.
She needed to know.
And that was final.
XXX (This is where I originally intended to end it lmao)
With the help of some medications put through her IV drip and some coaxing from Bruce, Anslee had slipped back to sleep. The nurses insisted the more rest she was able to get under their watch, the better chance she had at going home that night. Bruce knew how much she hated the hospital and would've rather been anywhere but laying in that bed.
Bruce had been in the hallway on the phone with Alfred, letting him know it'd probably be a few more hours before he and Anslee needed to be picked up so they could go back to the penthouse. As the father hung up the phone, a familiar face approached him.
"I've just been up to see, Dent," Jim Gordon spoke as he stopped in front of Bruce, "Didn't get much out of that conversation but another guilt trip."
The commissioner glanced into Anslee's hospital room and sighed.
"She woke up about two hours ago.." Bruce looked in as well at his slumbering child, "I don't think I've ever seen her so heartbroken and distraught in my life."
Gordon looked from Anslee back to Bruce, "I'm sorry about Rachel."
Bruce took the man's words into consideration, if anything he felt more guilt and at fault than Gordon did. All he could do was shake his head in response, "It's not your fault."
"But I feel like I owe both you and that girl something...that was her..mother," Gordon quickly interjected.
"What did Harvey tell you?" Bruce quickly changed the subject.
Jim sighed, "Nothing useful...I asked him who had picked him up from the street after Batman and Joker had it out. I figured out Wuerts had picked up Rachel from the precinct after Anslee had gone missing. I just need to know which of my men I can't trust."
Bruce glanced at Gordon, "You need to ask her who took her, don't you?"
"I don't want to make her talk about it if she isn't ready, Bruce," Gordon looked back at the man.
Bruce looked to the floor, digging his hands in his pockets again. He didn't know what to say. He felt like Anslee would open up to Gordon about what happened to her before she ended up at that warehouse with Harvey.
"Go ahead and go in," Bruce granted, "I don't know when she'll be up, the nurses had to give her a pretty heavy dosage of sedative, we couldn't get her to calm down after the first time she woke up."
Gordon looked at Bruce, making sure he really was sure about letting him in there, "Thank you, Bruce."
The commissioner walked into the room cautiously, the sound of the heart monitor was the only thing that could be heard. He looked at the girl lying in the bed and guilt washed over him all over again. Her face had been tinted a shade of red from her crying.
He sat down in the chair next to her bed and engulfed his face in his hands. He finally built up the courage to pull his hands away and pinch the bridge of his nose. He stared at the girl, who looked to be as pale as a ghost, unable to speak any words from the lump in his throat. He knew it must have felt horrible to lose someone you'd been so close with and loved your entire life. He imagined that's how his wife felt when she was told that Jim had "died". The emotional toll was something he never imagined having to take on, and he only found it worse that Anslee was taking it on as a teenager. Losing your mother had to be one of the worst things to ever happen to someone. It was something Jim would never wish on even his greatest enemy.
"I'm sorry," the man choked out, tears brimming his eyes, "I tried, I really did."
Jim reached up to wipe his eyes behind his glasses before he steadied his elbows on his knees and folded his hands together as he hunched forward trying to suppress quiet sobs.
"Jim?" a tired voice muttered.
The commissioner looked up to see Anslee had her eyes open and was looking at him tiredly, he could tell her eyes were adjusting to the light again.
"Hey sweetheart," he tried to speak past the lump in his throat, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
Ans shook her head, "No, it's okay. Where's my dad?"
"Just outside the room," he looked over his shoulder to see Bruce was leaning against the wall across from Anslee's room staring at the floor while his arms were crossed over his chest.
Anslee glanced in Bruce's direction and then looked back at Jim with a confused frown, "What are you doing here?"
Jim thought about how he wanted to word his answer for a second before he replied, "I wanted to see how you were doing after that night..it's not everyday someone survives something like that."
"My whole body hurts," Anslee shrugged, "I have a headache that won't go away, I can even feel it in my sleep. My ears are ringing and it's really hard to breath."
Jim gave the girl a knowing look. He knew how she suppressed her internal feelings.
Her eyes immediately welled with tears and she sniffled, "I don't know what to do, Jim...I can't think straight. It's like I can't function properly knowing that I can't turn to her. I don't even want to think about having to go on with the rest of my life without my mom."
"Don't cry, don't cry," Jim reached out to gently take the girl's hand, "It's okay, Anslee, things are going to be okay. There will be light at the end of this tunnel."
Anslee sniffled again, "Joker's still out there, isn't he?"
"He is," Jim confirmed, "He took Laue and ran from the MCU."
It was silent between the two, for neither of them exchanged words. There was still a question burning in the back of Jim's mind. He needed to ask her, but he didn't want to push her. But still he needed to know.
"Anslee," he muttered, "Who kidnapped you from the precinct that night?"
He noticed her look into her lap with a poker face. Although he could tell there was a pained look in her eyes as she recalled what happened.
Anslee didn't want to think about her struggle in that moment of weakness. She still felt dumb for how she handled the situation in the first place. As per usual she let her mouth get the best of her and it came back to bite her in the ass. Even the face of the psycho with murder on his mind gave her goosebumps and made chills run down her spine. He was the first thing she saw in the darkness when she closed her eyes with his scarred permanent glasgow smile. She could hear his demented laugh when it was silent. She could still smell that stench of gunpowder and sweat like it had stuck to her skin when he had dragged her out of the precinct. She'd never known what having a true fear of a person was until now.
"It was him," she muttered, "It was Joker."
Anger began to boil inside Jim at her statement. He didn't want to believe what she said, but it was also very hard to mistake someone for The Joker.
"I got up to go to the bathroom by myself after my mom left to go and see Harvey," she cried, "H-he caught me outside the bathroom and I ran from him after he confronted me. He didn't have his makeup on...he had on a police u-uniform."
Jim was angry. No, he was enraged. HOW could he have let Joker slip past him right under his nose? It didn't make any sense.
"He slammed me- he slammed me against a wall," she sobbed, "I couldn't think after that and my mind went foggy. He held a washcloth to my mouth...I think it had chloroform or something. The last thing I remember was hearing him laughing while h-he dragged me out of the precinct."
Jim stood from the chair, letting go of Anslee's hand.
"Thank you, Anslee, it takes a lot of strength to do something like that," he looked down at the girl sympathetically, "I promise, we're going to bring this guy in and he'll pay for all of the pain he's caused."
Before Anslee could get out another word, he turned to leave the room. As soon as he was out in the hallway, Bruce looked up.
"He was in the precinct," Jim looked at the ground, "The Joker was in the damn precinct!" he raised his voice.
"He took Anslee.." Bruce wondered out loud.
"I'm bringing this son of a bitch in, and this time it's personal," Jim boiled as he looked to Bruce, "Keep me updated on her, I'll make sure she's got whatever protection she needs. Protection that can be trusted, just let me know."
"Thank you, Jim," Bruce nodded before the police commissioner made his way down the hall to turn the corner towards the elevators.
Once he was out of sight, Bruce re-entered Anslee's room, his heart sank seeing her in tears again.
"Why won't it go away?" Anslee sobbed.
Bruce walked forward and took his place next to her on the bed, scooping her into his arms, "What is it?"
The girl pressed her head to the man's chest, staining his shirt with her tears, "My chest aches and my whole body goes numb. I feel like I can't breath when I think about it. About her. It hurts so much and I can't take it anymore. I mean there's n-not-there's no room in this family for anything else to go wrong."
"I know it hurts, Ans," Bruce spoke softly, "It doesn't go away in a short period of time. The way you choose to deal with it and the way you choose to help yourself determines how long until it goes away. But I'm going to share with you some words my father shared with me when I was young."
Anslee held onto Bruce for dear life as if this was the last time she might ever see him. She sniffled against his chest, "What?" she asked in a pitiful tone.
"Why do we fall, Anslee Grace?" he asked her.
"Why?" she muttered.
"So we can learn to pick ourselves back up," he replied simply, "I'm on your side with this, Ans. I want to be here for you. I want to help you."
"I want to go home," She whined.
"I know, I know," Bruce whispered, "I promise you'll be home soon."
The father held onto his daughter tightly, trying to assure her that she was safe with him.
"I love you, dad," Anslee whispered against his chest.
Bruce closed his eyes as he rubbed circles onto her back to comfort her, "I love you too, Ans."
XXX
Did I tell you? Or did I tell you? Sorry to all you hopefuls out there but ya girl isn't trying to stray too far away from TDK plot.
Fun fact: I already have maybe three or four chapters written for the sequel to this book...whoops.
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