Sequel to Silence of the Lamb. I rrrreeallly hope you enjoy it I will try to be very careful with what I do.
Richard put on his hoodie as he walked through the streets of the Narrows. This infamous place gave him a particularly strange sense of safety. Of course one of the reasons was the fact that he was the Joker's henchman, and everybody knew that. On the other hand, he knew that the unspoken laws of the Narrows wouldn't allow anyone to rat him out to the police.
He almost jogged to the alley near Maroni's former bar and took out the keys to the warehouse. He glanced behind him once before entering the building.
He took off his hoodie and headed for the kitchen, grabbing a beer. He heard a giggle behind him and he turned around in boredom.
"Hey Harls" he said popping open the bottle.
"Whatcha drinking?" she said coming closer. She raised her head, sniffing the bottle playfully before her blue eyes landed on him wildly.
"Well take your own" he said and pushed her out of the way. He heard her giggle behind him before she went for the fridge. Richard shook his head and took a sip before walking to the far end of the warehouse. He hated that woman. Ever since the Joker picked her up from Arkham, he was literally waiting for the moment his brother got bored of her and told him to take care of it. Or until he just found her dead on the Joker's bed. He knew the Joker didn't like her either. She had just helped him escape from Arkham the second time he got in and now she was just glued to him.
Or maybe she was just a good lay.
He knocked on the door of his office and entered. He was working on something on his desk and he didn't even turn to him as he fell on the couch.
"So, what's the big event?" he said as the Joker stood up. He turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Eager enough Richieboy?" he asked "There's this uh, new guy. Pretends to be the Bat" he said crossing his hands across his chest and pacing around the room. "His name is uh, Robin or something" he snickered. "You think you can handle him?"
Richard sat up straight "You mean that short dude with the blue cape and everything? How did you get a name?"
The Joker turned to him with narrowed eyes "Oh please" he said. Richard rolled his eyes and took another sip. It had been almost a year from the death of the Batman and he had to say things were getting boring in the city. Even the Joker was getting kind of bored. It was fun to make people do whatever you want or test them every once in a while, but without a challenge, it wasn't really worth it.
"So?" he turned to Richard "Can. You. Handle. It?"
"Yeah but I thought you wanted a challenge" he replied.
"Copycats don't interest me" he said and sat back down on his chair as they heard a knock on the door.
"Mr. J?" they heard a sweet female voice. Richard rolled his eyes and fell back on the couch as his brother turned to him with an amused smile.
"What is it Haaarley?" the Joker replied.
"May I come in? I made you dinner" she said shyly.
"Tell her I'm busy" he ordered Richard who jumped up and left the room.
"Sorry Harls boss is busy" he said and with that placed the empty bottle of the tray she was holding. He walked away with a smirk. He knew that it wasn't that he was busy. The Joker never let anyone else see him without makeup besides him.
And Mia.
Richard frowned for a moment at the thought of the girl. It had been a whole year since she died. He had missed her himself. It wasn't that he knew her very well when she was alive but he never saw his brother act that way around anyone.
He put on his hoodie and left the warehouse enveloped in his thoughts. That was when the memories began flooding his head.
The image of the orphanage was clear in front of him now.
"Jack wait up!" Richard yelled as he ran behind the boy. "Hey! We'll get caught!"
"Sh! Shut up!" the boy turned to him with glistening eyes. Richard obeyed as Jack broke the window of the third floor. "You coming?" Jack said.
Richard looked at him with fright as his eyes began welling up.
"Fine I'll do it myself" the boy said as he jumped out the window to the balcony of the second floor.
"Jack!" he shouted and then followed him. They were at the ground in no time as the lights of the orphanage began turning on.
"Move! We don't have much time" Jack said with a grin as they ran towards the exit of the orphanage.
"Mister NAPIER! " they heard a voice behind them. They both stopped on their heels and turned around to see Mrs. Jacobs looking at them with her green old eyes.
"Fuck" Jack said under his breath. Richard looked at him in query as his brother spoke the curse.
"Where do you think you're going?" the old woman said grabbing both of them by the arm.
"Hey hey! Don't harass a thirteen year old boy! Two of them actually!" Jack mocked her. Her hand landed painfully on his mouth and the slap forced him to stop talking. Startled he looked at Richard who was about to faint with a "Did she really just do that?" expression on his face. Jack pushed the woman back and she shrieked in surprise as her foot found a rock. She fell back with a scream which was cut short with a cracking noise. The two boys looked at the woman and then at the pool of blood forming next to her head.
Richard felt his stomach turning and soon enough, he vomited his dinner and knelt down as his legs couldn't support him anymore. When he looked up, he saw his brother looking down at the woman with an unexplained expression on his face. He turned to him and gave him a huge grin before approaching him and patting him on the back.
"Come on. Let's get out of here"
Richard looked at the time as he threw his cigarette out of the window of the black SUV. He kept his eyes on his men that were now robbing the small minimarket and beating the owner to the ground. He had chosen a quiet neighborhood and he was sure that one of the people would call the police. If that Robin guy was on their frequency, he would be here soon enough. If not and the police came, well, the men would have to get caught.
And of course they didn't know that.
He smiled to himself as he saw the dark figure falling from the sky and landing on the rooftop. He climbed down with agility as Richard grabbed his gun and turned to the back sit.
"Let's roll" he told his men and they all jumped out of the car and ran to the building. When they got in, Robin had already taken out two of the robbers.
They began taking fire as the figure jumped behind some boxes.
"Hey!" Richard said to his men. They stopped shooting and approached the boxes slowly. "Tik tok tik tok" Richard said as they got even closer. But before he could even think about pulling the trigger, he felt a strong force pulling him to the ground as his head connected forcefully with concrete.
Through his dizziness, he could hear his men's agonizing screams as the figure fought them off. He looked around him fanatically, finally understanding that this man was something off his league. He got up and ran to the exit as few more men followed him. In a distance he could hear police cars approaching as they got in the SUV. The tires screeched on the road as Richard put a towel on his nose to stop the bleeding.
"What do you mean he's not a copycat?" the Joker said with his hands crossed over his chest.
"I mean he's not just another citizen. I remember how the Batman fought. That man fought like him. He is not as muscular but believe me, it's as if the Batman told him to do this"
The Joker frowned and then giggled to himself. He saw few of his men growing uneasy of that laugh but he couldn't bother.
"Oh and here I thought I've seen everything" he said "So gentlemen! We have a new Batman to take care of! I know he's a Robin but uh, don't you think Batman sounds more fun? Go out into the city! Burn it to the ground! Take what you can and leave nothing unturned! Until we have the full attention of our new friend!"
"YEAH!" said one of his men as they got up and ran out of the warehouse in triumph. Richard turned to him.
"What?" he said as the Joker was giggling.
"He never diiiied" the man said with another giggle "He wouldn't have had time to teach anything to this man nor tell him about his secrets and all. The Batman planned his own death to leave the city"
"That's a little bit farfetched" said Richard heading for the kitchen to grab a bear.
"Perhaps" the clown said "Find Crane for me. He and I need to have a little chat"
"Crane's in Arkham" said Richard as he returned with two bottles. He handed the one to his brother and sat down on the couch.
She opened her eyes and gasped for air as the nightmare dissolved in front of her eyes. She remained frozen, staring at the wall of the apartment.
Fire. That was the only thing she remembered.
No. It was not an apartment. There was white all around her. And there was this beeping sound. Over and over again. It gave her a headache.
She turned her head to the side and screamed in pain. She then opened her eyes in shock as no sound came out of her mouth. She screamed again and again and still, there was nothing.
Was she deaf?
She tried moving the rest of her body and felt shocks of pain radiating all through her as that earth shattering beeping became faster.
She suddenly heard a door slamming open and looking across the room, she saw two nurses approaching her fast.
"Calm down now missy. Calm down" they said as she looked at them in shock. She began pushing them away and tried to get up when one of them pushed her back down easily. It was as if her hands had no power.
"Heartbeat over 180" said one of them.
"Ok relax. Don't worry. You're safe here. It's ok. I'm Nora" said the nurse. She turned her attention to the beeping and saw the monitor with a heartbeat on it. She looked up at the redhead in shock and then down at her arm which was holding the woman by the sleeve. She let go of her and stared at it. She lifted the other arm and stared at it as well.
They shouldn't look this way.
Her whole arm was covered in scars. No. Burn scars. They ran from the start of her wrist all the way to her elbow. She lifted her sleeve, only to see that the scars kept on going. She brought her hands up to her face and relaxed when she touched soft skin under her fingertips.
"Don't worry. Nothing happened to your face. You look great. Tired, but great" Nora replied with a smile.
She frowned in confusion. What was her face like? She looked down at her hair and found brown locks resting on her shoulders.
"Doctor Brighton will be here any minute now. Just relax"
She rested her head back on the pillow and looked panicked at the two girls who were staring at her.
"Good morning ladies!" said a male voice. A young blonde man walked gracefully in the room with a huge grin on his face.
"Well hello there. I'm Doctor Michael Brighton" he told the girl on the bed. "You gave us a scare" he said. When she didn't reply, he went on "Do you know where you are?" he asked and the girl shook her head. He smiled and sat at the end of the bed "Do you remember anything at all?"
She looked down and thought hard but there was nothing but darkness in her mind.
"You were brought in the hospital in December of last year by a woman. You had suffered a gunshot to the chest and severe burns on your body"
She frowned and stared at the doctor as none of that made sense. The nurses looked at each other for a moment as the doctor went on.
"You uh, were very, very, VERY lucky. The bullet missed your heart and lungs. This happens once in a billion" he said with a snicker. When he saw that the girl didn't respond, he began questioning if she was comprehending what he was saying.
"Do you understand me speaking to you?" he said slowly. The girl nodded and so he went on "You were in a coma. All expenses are paid by the late Bruce Wayne. Do you know who that is?" he asked and the girl shook her head.
"Can you tell me your name?" he asked again as the two women began getting fidgety. The girl shook her head again as tears began streaming down her eyes.
"Ok don't worry. Relax. This is very common for someone who went through what you went through. It will come back to you. And if it doesn't, we'll get you the help you need" he said with a smile and the girl nodded.
"Get her something to eat" he told the nurses before walking out the room with them.
"That poor girl" one of them said.
"She remembers nothing" said the other one.
"I don't think that she needs your pity right now ladies, only your food" Michael said before walking away. "Jameson!" he shouted to one of the trainees. The young boy approached him fast.
"You take room 113. Monitor the vitals and run some tests. Oh and contact Arkham Asylum for a potential new patient" he said as he walked to the other side of the corridor.
"Room 113? The coma lady? She woke up?" the boy said with excitement.
"Yes. Go" Michael replied quickly.
Harley moaned as he pushed into her hard. She was in all fours and he pounded into her like a machine gun. She could hear him growling as he pushed before his climax. He stayed there for a moment before pushing her hard away from him and onto the bed.
She turned to him and smiled as he got up. He didn't look at her. Sex with the Joker was rough. There was nothing sweet or tender about it and Harley knew that. But she didn't mind. He was touching her and that was good enough for her.
He put on his trousers and shirt as she stayed there watching him. His makeup was still intact cause, no kissing on the lips, and he was soon enough ready to take off.
"Out" he simply said grabbing the key of his room. Harley gathered her clothes quickly as cold sweat ran down her forehead at his command. She put on her t-shirt and left the room, hearing the door slamming behind her. She turned around and raised an eyebrow at the man in front of her.
"He doesn't give a fuck about you you know" Richard said.
"That's for us to judge" said the girl, nodding her head towards the closed door. Richard rolled his eyes and took out his cellphone as the woman hopped away.
The Joker ran a hand through his greasy hair and licked his scars. He put on his gloves and headed for the door when he saw something sticking out from under the mattress. He stared at it for what seemed like centuries before walking towards it slowly. He sat down on the bed and took the piece of paper in his hands. He opened it with hesitation and felt his throat going dry.
It was a drawing of him. Of his eyes.
He folded the piece of paper carefully and pushed it safely under the mattress again. Why did he keep it? There was really no point to it anymore. He shouldn't have. He made sure that he got rid of everything else but he could never throw this away. He had tried. Many times. But each time his hands came close to ripping it, something held him back. So he had just stopped trying.
He licked his scars and readjusted his suit before walking out the door.
"Time for work" he told Richard with a grin before locking the door behind him.