Helloooooo everyone! Dreamer here with another chapter! As the temporary author's note (that's not up anymore) explained, I will be updating more frequently and I'm sorry for the slightly long absense. I'm also terribly sorry that this chapter...is not the Scarecrow chapter (Ducks from a pitchfork being thrown at her head) I know! I know! I really am sorry! But I didn't notice how much needed to go on before I go to Scarecrow and I thought things needed to stop somewhere! Personally, I don't like where the chapter ended, but I needed to end it somewhere :/ I hope you all enjoy it though anyways and don't be afraid to review :) Thankies!

Chapter 10: Cuts and Bruises

Death felt weird.

I thought it would feel cozy and warm as all the troubles of the world would be released from within you.

Nope.

It felt cold and uncomfortable.

"Amber..."

Was that God?...or Satin?

"Amber."

No...no that sounded like Officer Cash.

"Amber wake up, kid." My heart beat began to race as I felt my eyes twitch and slowly peel open, the light from the room quickly flooded my vision and stung in my mind. My eyes snapped tightly shut again to block out the sudden unwanted light. I muttered something about not being a kid but it mainly came out in slurs as the words couldn't escape from my lips.

"Thank God, she's waking up." At the sound of Cash's voice I attempted to open my eyes again, when I did I managed to keep them open so my vision could get adjusted. I had a splitting headache, my lungs hurt, and my body was sore. I blinked a few times before noticing Cash and the doctor standing over me, when they took notice of me I saw the doctor collapse in relief and Cash let out a smirk. I took in a deep breath but grimaced when a burning sensation spread through my lungs, it felt as if they had been crushed. Cash took a step back from me and held out his hand, I glanced at it while questioning myself whether or not I had the will to stand. I sucked up whatever energy was slowly returning to me and grabbed his hand, with surprising strength he lifted me up back on my feet.

"How you feelin'?" His voice made my ears ring in pain, I tried to shake it off as I quickly gathered up a reply.

"Lousy." Was all I could say, and even if that answer may have been brief, it matched exactly how I felt. Cash placed a hand on my shoulder a little too hard as I almost fell over due to lack of balance. My eyes scanned over the room and noticed everything was strangely calm, my eyes reached the doctor and then finished with Cash.

"I...guess I hit the switch?" I asked more than stated, Cash placed his hands on his hips and nodded, I couldn't help but scan the room once more because of this.

"The gas cleared out pretty much before you hit the ground," Mentally I cringed at hearing this, it's not every day you hear that you crashed into the ground from a platform that was more than 6 feet high.

"You only got hit with a little bit of the clown's gas, but even that can still mess with your mind." I took a deep breath as another burning sensation quickly spread through my lungs, I winced and coughed slightly.

"How long was I out?" I asked after a few moments of silence that were held too long for my liking, Cash's face twisted for a moment before he finally decided to answer me.

"10 minutes, maybe 15." I wasn't pleased with this answer, my eyes burrowed in frustration at this and my palm smacked into my forehead.

"Shit." I hissed through clenched teeth as my fingers gently began to massage my temples. "I've wasted so much time." Without a second thought I was headed to the door, but just as my hand reached the door and I placed it on the cool surface a voice stopped me.

"Hold on a minute Amber." I turned to Cash and arched an eyebrow, both agitated and confused as to why he stopped me, I had just stated I was wasting time, why did he need to help with that?

"You're in no condition to be goin' around and fighting." He told me, though it sounded more like an order. He was ordering me around, after I just saved his butt? That's gratitude for you. I took a deep breath and released it as an attempt to get rid of this sudden anger I had. It wasn't really towards Officer Cash, it was mainly towards myself since I was so clumsy enough to trip over my own feet and fall.

"Sorry Cash, but I have no other choice. I've come too far to stop now." Our eyes locked and we stared at each other in silence, both of us questioning as to why and how we were here. Yet, even with these questions we both knew I had a job to do, and I needed to get back to that job. Cash was silent now, so I took that as my cue to leave. I pushed open the door and walked through, down the hall from the way I came. I wobbled a bit as I walked down the hall, and I couldn't help but blink to get rid of the fuzziness in my eyes.

I pushed through a door and down another hall as I continued to try and piece myself back together from the fall. As I rounded a corner I felt like I was once again going to collapse, but that quickly left my mind as I saw another conveniently placed present in the middle of my way. I rolled my eyes, knowing it was just going to be another set of chattering teeth. I slowly limped towards it, but when it exploded, I assure you teeth, is not what came out. Before I could comprehend much cool silver slit my arm and I howled in pain. My eyes slipped up from the ground as I saw a man dueling double blades, apparently that's what came out of the box. I clenched my teeth tightly and tears flowed from my eyes in streams as I used my feet to attack. I kicked the man in the torso and he stumbled back, then without much thought I picked up a chair and swung it at his head. After the two had collided he was quickly on the ground unconscious and the chair slipped from my hands crashing onto the floor. I couldn't help it if I was fighting dirty now, this was becoming more of an attempt to stay alive than it was to save the people. I glanced at my shoulder as blood glistened from the cut, it hadn't hurt too much now, and I was thankful that I could still move my arm. I glanced down at the man I had just taken down and bent down towards him while wiping the tears from my face with my good arm, I grabbed one of his knives and cut off most of his sleeve. When I was done I stood back up straight and continued to walk on while wrapping my wound up with the sleeve. Just as I had tied it tightly a voice rang through my head and through the halls.

"I've got ringside seats for the big event!" Joker started, I huffed in annoyance and surprisingly, I began to run. "Harley's bringing the popcorn, I can't wait!" Joker sure liked to build up the 'big event' he had planned. My expression couldn't help but twist in deep thought, knowing the Joker, it had to be big. An uncontrolled shiver flew down my spine as I realized I wasn't ready for the finale yet. Sure I wanted to go home and get out of the dismal asylum, but I wanted to end up alive. In order for that to happen I needed more time, no doubt everything I came across would help me for the final fight, at least that's what I prayed. Before I could think more on the subject I glanced up at the door to the room I had left the doctors that I previously saved in and skid to a hault, breathing to regain lost breath from my sprint. I took in a deep one and pulled open the door.

I found the doctors looking over a Joker thug that I had taken down, but their attention quickly turned to me after they had heard the door. The red haired doctor was the first to speak as she wrung her hands nervously.

"It's you. Did you find them, the other doctors? Are they okay?" I nodded my head in reply as a way to calm her, though I didn't blame her for being hysterical in the first place.

"You look terrible. Arkham seems to be wearing you down, maybe-" The doctor was cut off there.

"Amber." I heard Cash call my name, I stood up straight and turned to him only to see Doctor Young trailing behind him. "We've got another problem." He told me, at this I threw up my arms slightly with a bit of carelessness in the air.

"What else is new?" I raised my voice in question rhetorically, when I was done I released a sigh and turned my attention to Doctor Young to see what she had to say.

"I need to get back to the Mansion. All my research notes are there, we can't risk Joker getting his hands on them." The gears in my head began to turn rapidly at her words, Doctor Young had some notes that Joker wanted?

Great.

"You can't go outside Doctor, it's a madhouse out there." Before I could pardon the expression Doctor Young frowned in annoyance and clenched her fists.

"It's my life work," She started defensively. "I don't expect a child to-" I stopped her right there, feeling all of my anger suddenly rush through my entire body.

"I am 'not' a child." For a moment, I didn't recognize the sternness in my own voice, it sounded strange, but it scared me. Because of the energy I had used to raise my voice I felt a quick flash of dizziness and I rocked a bit over my own feet, but I tried to make that go unnoticed. Doctor Young blinked and took a brief moment to absorb what was just said to her, she finally frowned in reply and spoke her thoughts.

"Child or not, you really don't have the authority to-"

"I'll get her there, Amber." At the sound of Officer Cash's voice hitting my ears I turned to him, he turned to me and continued, it was almost as if he knew I was pissed off and he was trying to calm me.

"If you ask me, it's about time for a little payback." I couldn't blame him for that, thinking back on what had been done to him, I would want some payback too if I was him. I just had to make sure he didn't go too overboard with it. My face scrunched up in thought as I pinched the bridge of my nose and began to rub my temples, I felt my headache getting wose. I didn't like the idea, as much as I sympathized with Cash I didn't want him going out there with all the freaks and crazies. That's when something hit me. Doctor Young was right. I really didn't have the authority to be ordering these adults around, what made me think I did? Was it because I was the one saving them? Was that a good enough reason? I hoped so. So far, most of them had been listening to me, and they did depend on me. I suppose that's what worried me though, what would happen when I gave the wrong order? I didn't want to think about that now as I finally decided to answer Cash.

"I don't know...maybe-" I didn't get to finish my sentence as a beeping that sounded close to an alarm, but gentler, rang through the room. My body tensed at the sound and I released my grip on my nose as my eyes frantically glided over the room to figure out what it was, I quickly went from face to face of the people standing around me.

"What's that?" I asked, the red haired doctor looked around with a bit of panic dug into her features, she turned to me as I saw fear glisten in her eyes for a brief moment.

"The elevator." She replied, it was clear she was scared as I now clearly heard it in her voice, my eyebrows burrowed at her response though as I once again scanned the group.

"Well who called it?" I noticed the agitation in my voice as my arms raised from my sides slightly in a shrug before I set them back down.

"It wasn't us," I quickly turned to the red haired doctor once more. "It's coming from the lower floor." She informed me, I immediately guessed it was probably Joker sending his men up to our location, at this I bit my bottom lip in frustration as the wheels turned in my head quickly to form a plan of what to do next. My brain had still been trying to recover from exhaustion, it was getting harder for me to focus and as I thought of this all the wounds and bruises on my body stung harshly. I tried my best to hide my wince by biting my lip again as I looked up from the floor.

"Crap...ok um," I turned to Cash with the upper half of my body as the wheels turned faster. "Officer Cash, you take Doctor Young to get her notes from the mansion, but be careful." I turned my full body to the other doctors as the ringing began to make my heart pump rapidly from tension and worry.

"As for the rest, go to another room and lock yourselves in." Cash was immediately gone with Doctor Young and I noticed the other doctors began to scatter, but one doctor, the bald man, turned back to me.

"What about you?" He asked, I glanced at him and stood up tall as I clenched my fists to look like I knew what I was doing.

"I'll handle things in here." That answer seemed to satisfy him enough as he hurried off with the others out of the room, when I was sure they were gone I grabbed the grapple out from the belt and zipped up to a gargoyle, holding back a scream as the zip through the air pulled and stretched my sore muscles. As soon as I perched myself up on the stone creature I ignored the cold tears pouring down my cheeks and focused on the three thugs that had entered the room from the elevator.

"The boss says she's in here somewhere, spread out!" One ordered, I noticed the group follow the orders as they split up throughout the room, I tried to get my breath steady as I watched closely, my eyes moving from each one. For a moment, part of me was afraid my loud beating heart would give away my position, then another part of me reminded myself on how rediculous that sounded. I spotted one of the thugs going off on their own and knew he was the first to go, but part of me didn't want to swing on another gargoyle, so using my grapple I managed to silently get down from the gargoyle onto my feet. I put the grapple away and silently made my way towards the man while sticking to the shadows, I thanked my black shirt, dark pants, and black shoes for helping with that. I crouched down low and followed him, when I was sure he was completely off guard and no one else was watching I took him out. I guided him to lay on the floor and slipped off into the shadows before anyone could notice. After a few moments of waiting I heard voices from behind the wall I was hiding behind.

"Oh God, got someone down." One voice said, it only took about a few seconds before I heard another pair of footsteps heading over.

"You think it was the girl?" Another voice asked. "Of course it was her!" The first voice replied, and I could only smirk as I heard the slight nervous tone the man had to him.

"We gotta find her, now!" The voice continued, at this I stepped out of the shaddows and took out a batarang, when I through it one of the men went down and the other one turned to me. Before he could even think about pulling the trigger however, I charged and tackled him to the ground, he landed on his back with me on top of him and I head butted him. He was out in a few seconds as I held my head, that probably wasn't the smartest move to do considering my state at the moment. I got up from the fallen henchman and rubbed my temples, that is until a pain came from behind my legs, it hit the middle where my knees would be which made me tumble over. I grunted and slammed onto the ground as I glanced up to see the henchman I had hit with the batarang, apparently that wasn't enough. He growled at me and pointed the gun dangerously close to my face, immediately my face paled and my body went stiff.

"You're going down, brat." He hissed through clenched teeth, with a shaking body I looked up at him, and that's when I realized, no way was I going to let this be it. I grabbed the gun and pushed it up away from me and yelped when a shot rang out, my foot collided with his stomach as he stumbled back. I quickly stood up and grabbed the gun from him and smacked him in the face with the butt of it, he tumbled over with a cry of pain. I turned to the fallen man annd glared at him with a stone cold expression.

"P..please, don't shoot! I didn't mean it!" Don't shoot...those words echoed through my head a million times over. Don't shoot? Why would he say that? It took me few moments to think it over, and that was then I realized the gun was held tightly in my hands, and the barrel was aimed right at him. My face went expressionless as my whole body froze, my eyes slipped down to the gun in my hands and that's when pure horror struck my face. I threw the gun down on the ground, what the hell was I thinking? I couldn't kill him. I couldn't. It wasn't in me at all to kill someone, I could never. I blinked and shakily turned around to the man who was still cowering on the ground, I walked over to him and stared at him deeply in the eyes. Behind the clown makeup he stared back, I knew deep in my eyes there was something that was telling him I was sorry for even thinking about it. With no words I banged him in the head to make sure he was finally out. Once I was sure he was I turned back to the gun I had thrown. What possessed me to even think about it? This may have been a video game, but it felt like real life, and that was enough to know I couldn't take someone's life, even if they deserved it by taking others. I shook my head and turned away, not even wanting to look at it in fear of knowing what could have happened if I didn't catch myself.

Thankfully, my mind was taken off that thought when I saw that the elevator doors were now opened. I arched an eyebrow and glanced around a bit in question as to who could have opened the doors. Why were they all of a sudden working, and for what reason? Was it a trap? At the moment I didn't care, it was really the only way I could have gone. With a deep yet shakey breath, I glanced around one more time and clenched my fists before stepping in.

I'm so sorry! . I promised you all the Scarecrow chapter and I still didn't put it up yet! Next one for sure! I can't avoid it any longer, I promise he'll be up next! Please don't kill me for not posting it! Like I said in the first note, I'll be posting up more chapters quickly, so you can all expect the Scarecrow chapter, sometime this week, probably Wednesday. No promises, but that's what I'm aiming for! Alright everyone, tootles for now! I bid you all adue! (Bows)