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

Chapter Eight.


"Do I really look like a guy with a plan?"

June 7th - Evening.

Charlotte woke up to darkness so dark, she wondered if her eyes were still closed.

"Well aren't you a sleeper, Beautiful." The Joker's voice drawled closely to her in the darkness. Charlotte shifted uncomfortably. Her neck was aching and her entire body felt cramped. What a horrible dream she'd had...

Charlotte's eyes fluttered for a few moments before she realized the worst. This wasn't her room...this also wasn't a dream.

A scream built up within her, but she somehow found a way to stifle it before it traveled out of her mouth. "Where am I?" Charlotte asked blankly, voice too shot to portray emotion. Her throat was completely dry, making it excruciating to swallow. She didn't have time to scope the place, but from what she could see in the dim lighting, she was laying in the same van she'd been in a few weeks ago.

"C'mon Miss," a gruff voice said to Charlotte, before a hand grabbed her forearm roughly. Charlotte looked up from where she was laying to see who was attempting to shake her awake. A clown mask peered over her, a tuft of blue hair sticking out at the top.

"Don't push me!" Charlotte gritted, coming alive. She sat up and grabbed her rucksack before crawling out of the van and away from the goon. As she crawled out the exit doors she realized there were more, probably close to a hundred of these clown mask wearing freaks. And where the hell was she, anyways? Had the Joker brought her out to some deserted area to kill her and dispose of her useless body? Charlotte paused, adjusting her now wrinkled uniform. It felt like her muscles were tearing with every move she made.

It wasn't as dark as she'd thought, but it was close to dusk. Charlotte looked around quickly, taking in the atmosphere.

The clown goons paid her no attention...they were almost like robots. Each of them was busy carrying something, boxes of dynamite and concealed weapons that were either being lifted into a large van or being stacked... It all clicked to Charlotte as she watched. This was a back-lot of a warehouse...this was the Joker's Headquarters! More goons were starting to come through the back doors of the immense gray building, making Charlotte wonder just how many fools the Joker had convinced into joining his goon army.

"Welcome home!" The Joker's voice came from behind Charlotte once more. His gloved hand came to envelop Charlotte's small shoulder. She flinched violently before looking to her side. The Joker stood at her side with a strange expression his scarred face. He looked as if he wanted to laugh. The Joker didn't look at Charlotte directly, he chose to focus on his goons instead. He enjoyed the way their fear of him only increased the pace of their work. The presence of his hand on Charlotte's shoulder disgusted her, she shook it off instantly.

"Ah, ah, ah, that's no way to treat a man, Char." The Joker chuckled, licking his lips. Charlotte didn't know what came over her, she could only label it as fury even though it was much more than that, an all-encompassing fire spreading through her body. She stared in disgust at the man who'd invaded her life without a care, the same man who'd turned her world upside down.

Chaos. That's all the asshole was good for.

So, Charlotte did the first thing her anger told her to. She spat at his feet.

"You're no man...you're a monster!" Charlotte said angrily, trying to back away from the clown. Her back came into contact with the van shortly, there was nowhere else to go. Good, she thought to herself. Her sensible side was now wailing that she was about to have her guts sprayed all over the pavement. Charlotte didn't care, she was done being that scared little girl! The Joker wasn't better than anyone! He had no real power -
his only strength was his possessive mind, his guns, his gasoline. What was he without those? A sham.

It took Charlotte a moment to catch her breath before she realized she'd said more than she'd meant to out loud. The shuffling of workers stopped, and as she looked into the Joker's eyes, her body electrified. She'd actually said that...Out. Loud. He looked positively murderous.

And the Joker did want to murder her. He wanted to bash her head against the van and rip out her jaw she wouldn't be able to speak. The image of that both calmed him down and riled him up. He focused on the flush of her cheeks and the puffs of invisible hot air emerging from her lips, hitting his cupid's bow. His eyes trailed down for a quick second to graze her chest as it moved heavily. The first few buttons her uniform shirt had come undone on the jostling ride up here, and the Joker could see the faint outline of her light pink bra.

What angered him the most was that she was losing her fear. Perhaps she was becoming too accustomed to him. Perhaps he was being too...nice.

The Joker's eyes locked on Charlotte's firmly. Joker could feel the shadow of a hundred pairs of eyeballs hovering over him, and he needed that to stop before he did something too drastic.

"Five minute break, all of you." The Joker said darkly, not even looking at the fools who'd stopped working. He wasn't going to let them enjoy this too, this was his fucking show. The goons didn't dare make a sound as they piled into the warehouse. They were all too shocked at the fact that the Boss had actually given them some breathing time. As they looked at each other through their masks, they all felt quite sorry for that girl. She was pretty, but by the way the boss was looking at her, she wouldn't stay that way for long.

The Joker stared down calmly at Charlotte, watching her little bravery facade melt away. He waited till the last goon was out of earshot before he pounced.

Charlotte found herself flying momentarily before her head smacked against something hard. Her vision watered before her airway was cut off. It burned. The Joker pinned Charlotte down against the gray wall of the warehouse with his weight. She choked, but he didn't relent - not even when her fingers came up to claw at his sleeve, begging him to release her.

"Stop trying to get me to kill you, Sweetheart." He growled, pushing up against her so that every inch of their bodies touched. Charlotte struggled without fail. The Joker let her breathe again, letting his hands rest against her waist. Charlotte wasn't going anywhere now - not when she was trying so hard to not black out. The warmth against her abdomen jolted her. Charlotte looked down to see the Joker's bare hands against her -

When had he taken off his gloves? And his jacket?

"Why am I here?" Charlotte asked, still as angry, if not more. She shifted uncomfortably at how close he was. She could feel the warmth from his palms seeping through the fabric of her shirt. She wasn't as afraid now that he'd let her breathe. She didn't mistake it as kindness though, Charlotte knew he'd hidden his hands between the two of them to keep from breaking her neck. She could feel his thumbs squeezing her hipbones.

The Joker smirked angrily, pushing even harder against her. By now Charlotte was completely smashed against the wall. She could feel every pulse of his body, and it was so hot Charlotte thought she would sooner die from lack of oxygen than from the clown actually murdering her.

"Because I want you here-ah." The Joker pronounced. "What do you think I'm going to do with you?"

Charlotte's eyes blazed at the comment. "I haven't the slightest idea," she spat back, voice shaking from fury. The Joker gazed at her a little longer before stepping away to put on his coat. He didn't speak again until his last glove was on.

"Well, that makes two of us, Char." Said the Joker, before striding away and furiously slamming the backdoor of the warehouse shut behind him, leaving Charlotte alone.

/

The goons that had been talking quietly shut up immediately upon his entrance. The Joker didn't pay them any attention, although he did pull out his revolver and shoot randomly. If it hit one of his goons, he could give less of a damn, he thought as he trudged up the loud metal stairway. He was fucking irritated with Char. She could find her own way around the damn warehouse for all he cared, and if his goons got to her he would take care of that later.

Damn women.

}{}{}{}{}{}{

June 7th.

It was a total of two days before the Joker spoke to Char again. In fact, Char hadn't seen him since that frightening meltdown in the back-lot. She'd spent her days in her new room (cage), which was, despite the situation, quite nice...? Still, it reminded her of a mental institution. That didn't surprise her really - with the amount of ex-convicts and crazies in the place, of course the decor would be reminiscent of their...home.

The King of Crazy and his insane Royal Subjects. HA.

The room was simply furnished and entirely white, with a large white bed that was luxuriously soft. Charlotte was thankful for that, at least. Charlotte couldn't help but wonder if the Joker had had this furnished just for her. Probably not, she'd scoffed. She couldn't be the first person he'd kidnapped. In fact, Charlotte would bet money that the person that previously inhabited the room was now dead. Like she would be, sooner or later. And they were probably all women, to boot.

Charlotte spent her days staring up at the bright white ceiling, wondering how her family was doing. If they were still alive, that was. She had no way of finding out their status - she had no television - and she certainly wasn't planning on going downstairs to hang out with those goons. Especially when the Joker wasn't around. As strange as it was to say it, Charlotte felt safer when he was around, even if he was her biggest threat.

Chuckles - the clown that had jostled her awake in the van - was now her...caretaker, of sorts. He silently brought her meals, and if she needed something she used the disposable phone at her bedside to ring him. She'd tried to use the phone to call the cops or her parents, but the only thing it seemed to know how to do was call Chuckles. It had been stupid of her to try, anyways. In a way, the whole experience was a bit like staying in a Hellish hotel. Besides staring blankly at the wall or the ceiling, Charlotte also doodled...a lot. When she'd first arrived to her quarters, she'd made sure to check that nothing had been taken from her bag. Everything had stayed the same, to her surprise. Luckily, she had her art supplies and her camera. But, she figured that her camera should be used in case of an emergency so she just stuck to drawing.

She hid the camera behind the dresser.

Other than food service, she found that Chuckles could be used to bring her books. At her request, he'd brought her a library rack on wheels filled with an assortment of books. She didn't ask how he'd managed to bring it up the stairs - she'd heard him crash it multiple times on his way up. Besides the bed, she was thankful for Chuckles as well.

It was on the third night that Charlotte figured out how she would escape. First off, she wouldn't get anywhere close to escaping this place if she stayed in her room. She'd have to scout the place. Charlotte had already completely turned her room over looking for a way out. It was impossible, no windows, large air vents, or even a window to jump from. So, Charlotte would work from the bottom up.

Charlotte left her room for the first time since her arrival, eyes scanning over every crevice in the wall. Maybe she could work something out with one of the goons - or at least ask them some questions. They seemed stupid enough. Charlotte went down the rickety metal stairs as quietly as she could, looking down at the scene before her. It was rather late, so the goons were awake. While many of them still clutched weapons, guns of all sizes, they were mostly
drinking beers and lounging around on the ratty couches that were laid out in the large space. However, they were never 'off duty'. Ever. Some were mask-less, others weren't. Despite Charlotte's sudden boost of courage she felt rather intimidated. Most of them had their backs to turned to her as they watched television, but she knew it would be awkward interacting with them. She was confident enough, sure - but these were all criminals! She was almost at the bottom step when she heard a distinctive voice of a particular clown. She found the mop of green hair easily in the crowd. The Joker was giving orders to two goons. Charlotte stared at him, unable to look away. She was frozen on the steps. She must have stood there too long, the Joker felt her eyes staring daggers into his back.

The pair met eyes, silencing the whole room. Charlotte didn't wait for him to greet her. She shot him a nasty look and trudged loudly back up the stairs. That was all the exploring she needed to do for now.

/

A knock at the door startled Charlotte out of her light slumber. She knew it was late, but after seeing the Joker and not having any sort of verbal contact with him...she couldn't sleep. She'd chosen to take a nap and possibly fall asleep that way. Sleeping was no picnic now, and nor was it a pleasure - her mind constantly bombarded her with visions of blood and carnage and her parents lifeless bodies...

But as unlucky as Charlotte was, the heavy fist against the door woke her instantly.

"What?" Charlotte snapped, knowing it was only Chuckles. Actually, she couldn't be sure if it was him - and she didn't give a damn either way. What would anyone want at this time of night? There was no such thing as a quiet night in the warehouse, the goons barely ever slept - and when they did it was in shifts.

"It's Chuckles, Miss. Boss wants to see ya," Chuckles slightly dreary voice answered back. Charlotte lifted her head from the plush comforters for a moment, biting her lip. She didn't want to see that bastard, but what
other choice did she have? Chuckles waited outside the door quietly as Charlotte slipped on her shirt. She'd been sleeping in her bra, not very smart now that she thought about it. What if the Joker decided to randomly burst in and check on her? A grim thought plagued her.

Well, if he came to you this late, it'd be pretty obvious what he'd want. You'd at least have done half of the job for him...

She switched off the lamp in the room before exiting and standing before Chuckles, trying her best to not squint at the change from dark to light. As they walked down the hall, Charlotte realized her assumptions were indeed correct. Plenty of Goons were running around on her floor, taking care of whatever the needed to be done. It was a long walk down the hallway, but when they stopped at a tightly closed door at the end of it, Charlotte realized that the Joker's lair wasn't too far away from her own.

Chuckles opened the door and let Charlotte in first. He didn't follow, but instead shut the door so quickly behind her she jumped. The Joker chuckled at the girl. Charlotte squinted again. It was quite dim in the room, the only source of light being a buzzing fluorescent light bulb dangling from the ceiling. Charlotte nearly scoffed, it was all so...cliche.

"Happy to see me, Doll?" The Joker smirked, sitting alone at what seemed to be one of those fold out tables. A metal chair sat waiting across from him, waiting for Charlotte. "Take a seat."

Charlotte fought to not roll her eyes and plopped herself down slightly on the hard, cold chair.

"Cat got your tongue-ah?" The Joker asked her with a hint of laughter. Charlotte couldn't keep her eyes from narrowing at him...the bastard looked so smug she couldn't stand it. She stayed silent, imagining what it'd be like to literally rip that horrendous smile off his face. Like ripping off a band-aid.

"Well, this is certainly the calmest you've ever been," The Joker growled. That seemed to do it.

"Calm? You harassed my school's staff, blew up a door, killed my teacher, and kidnapped me. All in that order! I wouldn't exactly describe myself as calm!" Charlotte blew up, standing up from her chair as she pounded her fists on the rattling table. To her demise, it only made the shit-eating grin widen. She sighed, exasperated. There no winning with this guy!

"Ah! There's that fire I love so much. Sit down, Doll, you're exhausting yourself." The Joker drawled. Charlotte couldn't help it, her bottom lip was beginning to tremble. Soon, she felt she would burst into tears purely out of frustration! As much as she hated to do it, she took her seat again. She didn't really have any options when she was locked in a dark room with a murderous psychopath.

"And just so you know I, ah, didn't actually kill your old lady friend."

Charlotte stared incredulously at the clown across the table. "Liar," she seethed. The Joker stared at her with that expression she hated; he was analyzing her again.

"Doll," He warned her, tongue rolling crazily against the roof of his mouth. The Joker was in a rather good mood at the moment, which was rare. He didn't want Little Miss Grumpy here to spoil it.

"Well you did!"

"Don't accuse. If you must know, the bullet only grazed Grandma's leg. She'll be...fine."

Charlotte couldn't help it, her eyes rolled back into her head briefly out of pure irritation. "Well there was still no reason to shoot her! Or anyone for that matter!"

The Joker held in a laugh and gave her a look that very clearly said everything coming out her mouth was complete and utter bullshit. "My reasoning doesn't exclude old senile women."

With a wave of his hand the subject was switched. As he'd studied Char, he realized she was still in the same clothes she'd been in since her arrival. Is there, ah, a reason as to why you haven't changed?" The Joker asked, motioning to her quite wrinkled school uniform. "I hate to say it Beautiful, but you're beginning to look a bit...ah...stale."

Charlotte blushed involuntarily as his eyes traveled from her face to her midsection, everything he could see from his spot. She'd taken showers and dealt with other hygiene rituals, but she didn't have a spare change of clothes. "I don't have any other clothes with me! Kidnapping doesn't usually involve a full wardrobe." She replied back shrilly, not caring if the Joker found her attitude presentable or not. He hadn't put a hand on her yet, so she would continue speaking the way she pleased. The Joker raised an eyebrow.

"Obviously you haven't opened a certain door in your room." Silly girl, did she not see the closet in her room? Charlotte nearly blushed again. She'd been too afraid to open the extra door in her room, but was thankful to know that there was clothing in there. She just hoped that some ridiculous outfit wasn't awaiting her. The Joker's idea of fashion sense wasn't exactly practical.

"Actually, I can't look at you anymore. Go change. Now." The Joker ordered, waving her away. Charlotte was stunned at his sudden attitude. But what else could she expect? He wasn't going to be nice to her just because he had her now.

'Not for long' Charlotte thought sneakily to herself.

The Joker called for Chuckles to escort her away. He'd been standing outside the room the entire time. Charlotte was out of her chair instantly, thankful to get out of there. She'd taken one step out the door before the Joker made her freeze.

"You know, Doll. I'm, ah, really quite surprised that haven't tried ditching this place yet. What gives?" He asked cockily, eyes burning a whole into her back. Charlotte didn't look back. She exited the room silently, exhaling the breath that had caught in her throat once Chuckles shut the door. She wished she could turn around and prove the man wrong.

'Oh', she thought vindictively. 'I just haven't tried yet.'


THIS IS IMPORTANT, READ IT PLEASE?:

AND THERE'S CHAPTER EIGHT! I'd just like to take the time to say thank you to all of those who've taken the time to read and review LOCKDOWN. You have no idea how happy it makes me. The hours it takes to write and revise all seem so much more worth it when you guys leave me positive feedback and reviews, so please keep it up! And if you haven't left a review, I'd love to hear what you have to say! What are your feelings towards the characters and their development? Any questions? Feel free to ask me anything! It makes it feel like people are actually interested in the story, and that I'm not just writing for myself. As far as the story goes, I hope you all liked the chapter, I tried to make it sort of funny but still keep the Joker's character intact, so tell me what you guys think about that? We all know he's a pain in the arse, but we love him! WARNING: the story is really going to start speeding up in the next chapter, and because of that there will be more action, violence, and brief abuse. Just wanted to take the time to say that while I do not condone these sorts of behaviors, it is necessary to the storyline and to the Joker's character. So, I hope you're all ready to take a ride! If I get enough reviews I'll post the ninth chapter this weekend! TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK, IT ONLY TAKES A SECOND! (I'll make you cookies?)