Chapter Eight:
Skyler's mind reeled with every bit of information she had ever learned about self defense. One of the most important was to never let the predator take you to another location… and yet here she was sitting in a vehicle with a pillowcase over her head and her hands tied roughly behind her back. Here she was sitting so close to the Joker that his knee was touching hers.
Anger boiled up inside of her at the thought of how much some of the people in her Journalism class would've loved to be in her position.
Why wasn't this happening to one of them instead of her?
This was all because of the stupid picture. One stupid picture and a headline. It had to be. There was no other reason for the Joker to have his target set on her. She hated not being able to see. She hated feeling so helpless about the situation she was in.
"Is the pillow case really necessary?"
The van went silent.
She felt the Joker lean closer to her.
"Y'know… you remind me of someone I once knew. She was beautiful... just like you. The, uh, the thing was though she didn't know when to keep her mouth shut. Ruined all my fun…. and I didn't like that so much."
The way he said it sent a shiver down her spine.
"There's less of a chance of you ruining the fun if you don't know where you are"
He patted the top of her pillowcase-covered head with his gloved hand.
"It's nothing personal… I just don't want to have to kill ya before the big charade."
The car jolted suddenly and gained speed, causing Skyler to fall unceremoniously into the Joker's chest and lap. She tried to jolt off of him but it wasn't an easy thing to do with the way her hands were tied.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back onto the seat, laughing.
"Plenty of time for that later."
Her whole body tensed at the sexual tone that was laced through his voice. It sent a shudder through her. She couldn't wrap her mind around the thought of anybody ever doing anything sexual with the Joker.
Sirens went off somewhere behind them and the clown in the driver's seat sounded like he had just run a marathon as he let out a breathy, "Shit."
The Joker stiffened next to her. "Damn it Wheezy! I thought I told ya we had to get this done discreetly."
Wheezy sounded scared shitless as he replied, "Sorry Boss. I'll get him off our tail."
He accelerated sending Skyler's head crashing painfully into the seat in front of her. She couldn't help the string of expletives that came from her mouth.
She could only hope at this point that by some miracle the cops would catch up to them. With officer Cordova... if that was even his real name...sitting somewhere in this van though, she knew that she couldn't really trust anyone to save her.
The van shook and she could hear the sound of bullets ricocheting off of metal, followed by a screech of tires and an explosion. She instinctively ducked and the Joker let out a celebratory "Whoop!" beside her. Now a part of her was glad that she couldn't see. She had seen enough death and destruction for one day.
The ride carried on for a while longer before it came to a stop and Skyler was roughly pulled out and thrown onto hard cement, causing her knees to scrape on the ground.
"Ow!" she cursed under her breath.
"Shut up!" a gruff voice said pulling her up off the ground and practically dragging her as she tried to keep up with his long strides.
The Joker clicked his tongue from somewhere in front of her.
"That's no way to talk to our guest!" His voice was laced with disapproval directed towards whoever was holding her.
"Oh.. wheezy?" He continued, in a sing song voice.
Wheezy's breathless voice came from somewhere behind her. "Yeah, boss-?" a gun shot burned loudly in her ear and it echoed through whatever parking garage they were in. The sound of Wheezy's body hitting the ground made her stomach lurch.
"Uh-oh" He tsked, "Looks like I'm gonna need a new driver!"
Skyler tried to not think of all the dead people… and failed miserably. She had to get out of this… she hoped Charlotte and Joe were still okay.
After a considerable amount of walking and being thrown over someone's shoulder and carried, Skyler was sat in a cold metal chair. Her already tied hands got secured again tightly, this time to the chair, and someone else got to work on taping her ankles to both of it's legs.
The pillowcase was ripped off her head and she took in the room around her. It was large and empty aside from the camera mounted on a tripod in front of her. A clown was setting it up, making sure that the lense was facing her. A shock of worry shot down her spine.
Why would he want to film her?
Her mind jumped back in time to the horrific video she had watched with Dylan and Jessica in the news room at school on the day it was released. The video of the Joker torturing and killing a man who had been impersonating Batman. A shiver went up her spine and her mind was sent into overdrive.
He was going to kill her.
A few other clown men entered the room then, followed by The Joker himself. The sight of him took her breath away. His characteristic purple suit hung over his body and for the first time her mind wondered what kind of torture devices he harbored inside of it.
His eyes locked on hers, a smile playing on his lips.
"The show starts in ten!" He said to his men, his eyes never leaving her.
He came closer and knelt so his face was level with hers.
"How's my star?" He asked, his eyes reguarding her inquisitively.
"I can give you money." She blurted out stupidly. It was a lie and she knew it. She didn't have money… but she was willing to speak to her Father for the first time in years if it meant getting out of this alive.
The Joker rolled his eyes in disgust.
"What is it with people always thinking I want their money?" He reached his gloved hand up to her face and the feeling of the worn leather sliding gently down her cheek made her shiver. "What you offer me…"
He grabbed her chin and held it so she had to look directly into his eyes, "What you offer me is worth so much more." Her heart dropped into her stomach as his smile turned into a frown, his scars still curving up in a frightening juxtaposition.
"Please… I'll do anything. I'll give you anything just don't kill me."
His eyes glittered and he burst into a short eruption of laughter, "those are some veeeerrrry dangerous things to say hahahahah… offering yourself up to do anything that a dangerous clown like me desires…" He licked his lips and smiled. "I'll think about it." He winked.
She immediately wanted to take it back. Of course she hadn't meant she'd do anything. Death was better than some things.
She started praying to whatever higher power there might be in the universe... If she did die please just let it be quick.
He looked to a couple of his men. "She looks a bit too pretty. I need her a little roughed up... Not enough to make her unrecognizable." Then he looked back to her and shrugged. "Normally I'd do the honors but I don't want to get my gloves dirty before the shoot." He crinkled his nose and wiggled his fingers at her.
It didn't even occur to her what he had asked his men to do before one of them decked her hard across the face.
She couldn't help the scream that erupted out of her at the unexpected assault.
The blows continued for a few moments longer, stinging her face and making her feel numb somewhere deep inside, before his voice stopped them in their tracks.
"That's enough." He examined her once more.
She could taste blood seeping in through the side of her mouth. If she made it out of there alive she vowed to herself that she would tear the clown bastard apart with her own two hands. The look on her face must have been feral because when his eyes locked with hers again they transformed into orbs of curiosity and a smile once again tugged at his scars.
He went behind the camera and clicked a few buttons before stepping behind the chair and digging his fingers into one of her shoulders. His other hand wrapped in her hair and pulled her head back to look at him. "No interuptions unless you want Charlotte or Joe to be cut into a bunch of teeny tiny pieces. Understand?"
"Yes." she grit out through her teeth.
Then he twisted the camcorder off the tripod, which he promptly kicked into the corner of the room. A red light turned on to signal that the camera was rolling.
His voice went into a higher register as he looked into the camera, laughing.
"Hellooo world of Gotham." He licked his lips smiling. Then, he turned the camera to face her.
"I have a message for a verrry special Bat." He laughed.
Skyler felt the tears start to flood down her face as fear gripped her. She hated that this was probably exactly what he had wanted… for her to look terrified. The thing was though that was exactly what she was; Terrified. He pulled a knife out of his coat and came back behind the chair again, pulling it up to her throat and yanking her head back so she winced and looked into the camera he had now held out to show the both of them.
"What's your name beautiful?" He grumbled into her ear, just loud enough for the camera to pick up on its microphone. She could no longer think of words or how to formulate them, everything around her felt a bit like a dream… or a nightmare. Then, he painfully nicked the knife into her throat bringing her back to the present moment. "ANSWER ME!" he barked.
She felt a dribble of blood slide down her throat and her mouth took over for her, "Sk-Skyler Barduga." she let out in a quick, raspy breath. He erupted into laughter again and let go of her, circling around so he could bring the camera close up to her face. "Orrr as most of Gotham probably knows you by now... you're the, uh, Bat's little love bug." His laughter continued intermittently, "Oh Batsy… I have great news for you." He licked his lips sloppily and ran his fingers through his hair, turning the camera back towards himself. "You see you and I… we're going to play a little game. You have an opportunity to save your, uh, little squeeze one more time before she quite literally blows a large amount of Gotham's citizens to smitherines. The fun part is... that you won't know when or where this is going to take place!" He became breathless as a bought of laughter overtook him once again.
He cocked his head to the side and squinted his eyes into the camera, letting out an exhasperated sigh. "All right. All right. I'll give you a hint." He smiled, putting his eye up to the lense. His voice deepened, "You have three days to find her… and, um, if ya don't find her by Friday." He made an explosive noise with his mouth and his hands mimicked a bomb. "Annnnnd you can bet if you wait until the last day it's going to be quite the spectacle… you can trust me on that one. As you know, I am a man of my woorrrrd." He laughed again, and switched the camera to view Skyler one last time before the red light shut off.