Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. The Joker, John Blake, and Batman belong to DC Comics.

Chapter Seven.


"It's a funny world we live in...you have to do everything yourself, don't we?"

June 3rd.

Charlotte looked up almost expectantly as the Joker's scuffed dress shoes came into her view. She'd been sitting on one of the swings in the park nearby her house, keeping to herself. Despite her parents plead for her to rest after the horrible event a few days ago, Charlotte kept herself away from home most of the time. She knew the Joker would come back for her - he always did, and she didn't want her family to get involved more than they already had. Charlotte hated the looks of utmost concern and worry they gave her whenever she took a step or breath. They didn't deserve to get pulled into this mess purely because of her stupidity.

Actually, in many ways Charlotte was quite smart. She'd stayed alive up to now - and not many people could say that when it came to dealing with the Joker.

"Missed me, Darling?" He said, holding a gloved hand out to her. Something was wrong with his voice - more than usual. Like he'd been punched in the throat. Charlotte wanted to get up, slap him, and tell him how she really felt. What could possibly make her miss a man that had driven her straight into a murderous, psychopathic mission? Instead, she stared down forlornly at his hand.

Of course.

The Joker held a brand new cellphone fore her in his hand, much nicer than the one before. The one he'd given her before the hazardous ride had fallen out when the truck had flipped. It would probably never be found, too many pieces of it were probably scattered around Gotham by now.

"Thank you," Charlotte sighed, trying not to sound so discouraged. She knew he wouldn't like that. Charlotte took the phone gingerly from his hand, not missing the way his fingers curled around the edges of hers as they slipped away. Chills ran up her spine unpleasantly.

"Aw, why so down, Dollface?" The Joker smirked knowingly. She looked a mess, battered with small cuts and scrapes. He analyzed Charlotte slower than usual, taking in the way wisps of her light hair caught in the slight breeze. He'd love to see the bruises and cuts beneath her clothes, the real damage, simply wondering how much he'd actually done. The Joker was much stronger than her, and if her body was as battered as his...well that couldn't be a pretty sight.

Charlotte's snapped up to meet his briefly. To the Joker's surprise, Charlotte didn't look away like she always did. Her gaze seemed to be intensifying, a wonderful flame building beneath her orbs.

"How about you tell me that? Hm, maybe I'm down because of a certain near-death experience that I've recently been through? Oh wait, maybe it's because my family had to come get my failing body from the hospital without any explanation? How dare you? How dare you even ask why I'm down?! It's probably the most obvious thing in the world to you!" Charlotte heard herself explode as she stood up. She tried to close her mouth, internally struggling...but her thoughts had another plan. They were rushing out of her mouth so fast it was practically word vomit. Charlotte knew she should stop - should've stopped when she saw that evil glimmer in his eyes - shouldn't have started anything at all.

"You know what? You can answer that goddamn question yourself! You crazy, psychotic, asshole - !"

A hand wrapped itself around Charlotte's throat before she could take another breath. The purple glove increased the pressure just enough to make white spots appear in Charlotte's eyes. Charlotte's eyes scanned the park, the trees around her. Naturally, they were the only ones there. She didn't want to look at the man in front of her, but what other choice did she have when he ordered her to?

"Look at me," The Joker hissed softly, holding Charlotte's head in position. The Joker didn't even blink when a tear rolled onto his sleeve. The blazing fury he felt was ripping and roaring away at his insides, but he forced himself to look as calm as possible. If he lost his will...Charlotte's limbs would be hanging from every tree in the area. Look at me, or I'll rip your eyes out.

"Tsk tsk, foolish Char. Didn't mommy and daddy ever teach you manners? I'm sure they did," He growled, holding her closer when she began to struggle. "Ah, So...I suggest you start using them, and quick. You're too pretty to have such a filthy mouth. Also, I'm not crazy. Got that?" The Joker growled, staring into Charlotte's eyes. Their bodies were so pressed together that Charlotte could hardly breathe. As always when she was with the psycho, Charlotte closed her eyes and prepared to take her last breath.

"Look at me," The Joker ordered, releasing some of the pressure against her neck. He paused for a moment, swiping his tongue against his inner cheek. When Charlotte didn't open her eyes, he frowned slightly. He really hoped he hadn't choked her out. "Doll," He called her, shaking her by the neck a little. The tiny pulse beneath his thumb pad was beating rapidly, and he could feel Charlotte's throat contract against his
fingers as she swallowed. More tears were starting to cling to Charlotte's eyelashes.

"Just do it! It's not like you don't want to, so why don't you just kill me already? How long are you going to drag this out, I can't take this anymore. Any of it!" Charlotte cried out, blue eyes snapping open. Goddamit, why couldn't he just let her die? If she had to live the rest of her life constantly struggling against the Joker, then she didn't want one. And Charlotte wasn't only thinking of herself - all of her family and friends would be much safer if this all just ended now. Her watery eyes met the Joker's deep ones. He was regarding her with an unfathomable expression, one she'd never seen before. In fact, Charlotte didn't even
think he was capable of expression that didn't involve fiery car wrecks or exploding buildings.

The Joker smirked at her as he released her throat. He'd never seen anyone welcome death at his hands so openly. Usually, the people he killed begged mercilessly for their lives, willing to throw anyone in front of them to preserve themselves. Charlotte was entirely stranger than he'd thought, and he liked that. Charlotte didn't look away from the man's eyes, nearly mystified. The expression had disappeared so fast.

Joker chuckled darkly to himself, moving the hand that had been against Charlotte's throat into her hair. He brought her closer that way, gripping her roots viciously. It was cute, the way she tried to play the martyr.

"You know what I always say. The answer is always going to be, ah, no. I'm going to be, um, dragging this out for a while, I think. So buckle up, Char. It's gonna be a long ride."

}{{}{}{}{}{

June 5th.

The Joker never stopped, did he? John Blake thought as he rushed into his unit and sped off into the street, sirens blaring. Not even a week, and the man had already created chaos again.

John shuddered as he remembered the alert he'd received only moments ago. He'd blown up hospital...how could he even have the heart to do that? Oh, right, he didn't. He was the Joker...and that name and the word heart would probably never mesh well in a sentence. Unless of course, the Joker was cutting out someone's heart. That, he was perfectly capable of doing.

For once, John wished he didn't have to come to the rescue. He didn't want to see the damage, the people screaming. For once, John was scared it would be too much for him to handle.

/

"Jesus Christ," Charlotte heard a voice mutter from the desk behind her.

'Jesus Christ indeed' she thought to herself. Was she the only one in the class with a shred of respect for the teacher? Charlotte had a certain preference for World History, and for her teacher Mrs. Jenkins, so when people decided to disrespect both of those things, it was kind of hard for her to not turn around and tell those kids to Shut. The. Fuck. Up.

Mrs. Jenkins was an older woman who'd been nothing but kind and generous to Charlotte since she'd moved to Gotham. In fact, she was probably the only teacher in the whole damn school who cared whether she graduated or not...and to Charlotte, that meant quite a lot.

"The Joker's just blown up Gotham City General Hospital! Look, it's all over the internet!" Charlotte heard a hushed voice say excitedly. Bile rose in her throat as Charlotte sat there. She tried her best not to fidget in her seat, but on the inside she was...well...fuming. Charlotte held her breath, listening in to the conversation happening behind her.

"He what?! Oh my fucking God... -"

"Are you sure it isn't just a rumor? I mean, things like that turn up about him literally every week."

"No, it's real! Look, there's pictures!"

"Holy shit! Well where's Batman?"

To Charlotte, it suddenly felt like every single eyeball in the room was focused on her. They couldn't know...could they?

No. And they wouldn't. Charlotte would take her secret to the grave, or die trying.

}{{}{}{}{}{

June 7th.

It was just before dawn when the Joker had finally made his decision. In a lot of ways, he really didn't have any other choices.

He wanted her. He wanted Char.

The Joker wouldn't let his being explain why to himself, he just did. He wanted like he did things...randomly. Suddenly, things were beginning to get loud. His thoughts were beginning to jumble.

So, that's when he knew.

He would deal with whatever came to him, after he had Char.

/

Charlotte could barely keep her eyes open, especially when she knew school was so close to being over. It made it even harder to care about such trivial assignments when she was so close to graduating she could nearly taste it. Mrs. Jenkins was a lovely lady and an interesting teacher, but even her excited rant about the Battle of Little Bighorn couldn't keep Charlotte awake.

Besides, the last few days in this class had been rather dreary. There was only one reason of course.

Him.

Charlotte didn't even want to think his name in the privacy of her own head out of some sick paranoia that someone would realize what she was doing. Hell, she hadn't even been able to spare a glance towards anyone in the class since that dreadful Hospital news had been announced. And especially since Shelley Burnstein had burst into horrified tears upon hearing the news. Charlotte's stomach quivered nastily. Shelley had an Aunt in the hospital. Luckily, everyone in Gotham City General had gotten moved to Gotham West General just in the nick of time. West General was now safely on lockdown until further notice, but Shelley's Aunt was now in critical condition and Charlotte felt as if it were entirely her fault. To make matters worse, Shelley was in every single one of her classes. The dreadful face of a girl who was close to a mental breakdown followed Charlotte wherever she went.

Somehow, Charlotte's eyes managed to stay open for the majority of the class. Somewhere in the last ten minutes of class, Charlotte's eyes slipped closed...and the unthinkable happened.

"What the? What the - what hell do you think you're doing!" A man's voice protested, instantly waking Charlotte. Had she gotten in trouble for sleeping in class? They hadn't called hall security on her, had they? Oh great, just what she needed - another detention! She blearily tried to find the source of the sound...but so was everyone else. The crackling of the old intercom above Mrs. Jenkins head blared to life suddenly, startling everyone. A small whimper resounded loudly through the room, followed by the sound of a scuffle.

"What the fuck?" Somebody exclaimed, before being shushed by the others. While her classmates stared at each other confusedly, Charlotte's eyes sought out Mrs. Jenkins bespectacled ones. She didn't like what she saw. Whether Mrs. Jenkins was trying to hide it or not, Charlotte saw that she'd been caught off guard. Her eyes went down to the pointer that instantly went slack in the elderly woman's hand.

The intercom cracked wildly - someone must've been breathing into it.

"Er...Mrs. Jenkins?"

It was Miss Rose, the school's pretty secretary. Charlotte had only seen her a few times - a pretty face and strawberry blonde hair. A rose in flesh.

"Y-Yes?" Mrs. Jenkins called back, scanning the room quickly. The kids looked stunned.

"Could...could you please s-s-send Charlotte Marlone to the office, please?" Charlotte swallowed as the woman stammered out her sentence. Something was off with her voice. Mrs. Jenkins eyes met Charlotte's again, this time with grave concern. Charlotte sat near the end of the room, frozen in fear. She knew what this was.

Charlotte felt eighteen pairs of eyes shift to her stiff body, their stares radiating through her.

No.

"She's uh...she's going - OW! No, no please! I've done what you asked, PLEASE! -" Miss Rose's scream blared though the old device before the sound of loud scuffling shook the room. Eerie silence covered the room...before all Hell broke loose.

A weird sound came through the intercom, which Charlotte identified as a throat being cleared lazily.

"Ah, Char."

It wasn't a question. It was a simple statement. Charlotte's own name had never scared her so much in her life. No, she thought. No, no, no. This couldn't be real? She was still asleep - wasn't she? All she had to do was wake up -

The immediate screams enveloped the room better than silence ever could. Charlotte couldn't scream, damn it, she couldn't even move. Fear slid through her body viciously, swallowing her blood. She didn't know who'd started screaming first, but the room was close to collapsing from the roar alone.

"Uh, Charlotte. Doll, I know you're there. Now, you have two minutes to get your things...we're, ah, leaving." The Joker stated calmly, as if he were leaving a message. The screams stopped, but the haggard breaths of her classmates replaced them. The eyes returned. "Oh, and it's in everyone's best interest that you do. If you don't..."

The Joker didn't finish his sentence. Instead, the statement was made with the noisy click of the intercom switching off.

There was no pause this time. As soon as his voice disappeared, the first protest came.

"Well what are you waiting for, Charlotte?! Get the hell out of here, he's gonna fucking kill us if you don't!" Casey said bravely, standing out of his chair. The jock had been planning to push the girl out of the room if she didn't budge. That Joker guy was a sick fucking freak, and he wasn't going to get his ass offed for some dumb girl.

Charlotte ignored him, staring down hatefully at her desk. She didn't have time for the remarks, that dimwit Casey didn't understand just how crazy and real and serious the Joker was. Abruptly, Charlotte grabbed her rucksack and stood up. "Don't worry, I'm going. Everything is going to be fine," She mumbled, looking at and promising no one. She wished she could tell her class the truth, and just how sorry she was for dragging them into this shit, but there was no time. A riot of protests had been about to start, but Mrs. Jenkins just as quickly shot them down.

"Quiet, Mr. Casey! Miss Marlone, you aren't going anywhere." Mrs. Jenkins said firmly, frail yet strong hands grabbing Charlotte and steering her away from the door. "Everybody under their desks, now!" She ordered. Charlotte wanted to thank her, but she was far too shocked for any verbal exchange. How the old woman managed to keep herself calm in the state of panic was incredible.

Seconds later, Charlotte really wished she'd thanked the brave woman. The door seemed to implode on itself, shattered pieces of wood and metal shrapnel flying everywhere. Charlotte screamed in fear, trying desperately to find cover beneath under her desk. A piece of the wood slit her cheek. Smoke floated into the room slowly, and in her panic, Charlotte thought she was going asphyxiate. Charlotte heard Casey's feminine scream drown her ear, but now wasn't the time to laugh...not when she was about to die. In a lot of ways, she didn't care. She'd made it this far. Charlotte's mind had been made since that truck crash...she was going to accept her death at the psycho clown's hands...and the time was now.

A suede dress shoe stepped in slowly, followed by another. Charlotte's eyes trailed up although they didn't have to. Purple pant legs came clearly into view - that was all Charlotte could see from behind her overturned desk. Charlotte wanted to cry out as she saw Mrs. Jenkins fearful face from across the room. A scream louder than the other's traveled through her ears. She couldn't help but look back to see Shelley Burnstein cowering in fear at the sight of the man who would probably cost her Aunt her life.

"I, ah, really didn't want to have to do that." The Joker paused, looking over to the now non-existent door. "But..uh...now that we're here. Which one of you is the lovely Charlotte Marlone? Oh wait, that's a silly question! Theeerrree she is." The Joker smiled grimly, eyes boring into Charlotte's. He wanted to laugh...was that really her idea of hiding? He'd expected this to be a bit more fun.

"You leave her alone, Sir! I don't know what you've come here for, but Charlotte is certainly not going anywhere with you!" The Joker heard a frail voice say somewhere to his right. He turned slowly - Jesus these kids had no guts, even the slightest shift of his body made them squeal - to see an old woman positively trembling. He admired her courage, there was always one in a crowd. Stupid, but courageous.

The Joker smirked, before turning his tongue around in his mouth. "That's nice, Grandma. C'mon Doll, the car's outside." He acknowledged Charlotte briskly, who was now slowly climbing out of her awkward position behind her desk. Chaos suited her, the Joker thought, analyzing her like he always did. It made her hair flow wildly around her shoulders. He was beginning to quite enjoy the way her cheeks flushed heatedly when she was in danger.

"You-" Mrs. Jenkins started again, but a click of a trigger about to be pulled shut her up instantly. Charlotte turned to see who had threatened her teacher - there were two goons by the doorway.

"Okay, okay, I'll come with you!" Charlotte rushed over, shooting a panicked look to the old woman. She'd only wanted to keep her safe, how could Charlotte ever let her lose her life after something like that? "Please. Please...Joker just tell them to lower the gun." Charlotte hushed at him, trying her best not to beg. Joker saw the watery look in her blue eyes, and he growled in disgust. Why did she care so much, anyway? The Joker didn't ask his men to lower the guns...he wasn't going to take orders from the girl. He wanted to choke her, didn't she know how difficult it was to orchestrate things like these? And he'd done it all for her, damn it.

The Joker stared into her pleading eyes for a moment. His scars burned intensely...he could hear every little shift and whimper and snot drip in the room. Char's eyes left his for a millisecond, breaking the contact. He'd been about to change his mind until she'd done that...but oh well.

The Joker pulled out his silver revolver before Charlotte could even fully scream, aiming and shooting without losing his eye contact with her.

Mrs. Jenkins howled and toppled to the ground just as the screams rose again, Charlotte's included. He didn't spare the old woman a glance. Instead, he hauled Char over his shoulder, holding her down despite her kicks and screams. She would pay for that later.

"Stay in school, kids!" The Joker cackled, before stepping over the rubble of the door and striding down the hall, Char in tow.

The Joker smiled to himself as he strode swiftly down the hall, Charlotte's screams nearly rupturing his eardrums. He'd gotten what he wanted.

The process was over quite quickly after that. The black vans rolled away from Gotham City High just as the alarms went off.


Yes, Ladies and Gents, the Joker also now specializes in shooting the elderly! Haha, I'm kidding (but he's not, clearly). Well anyways, how is everyone doing? I know it's been a few months since I've updated, so I hope you all enjoy this, let me know what you think? Please? REVIEW, I'VE MISSED YOU ALL! :D