A/N: Here we go, the Joker chapter. I hope you guys like him, I've tried to keep him in character as much as possible. There's more to come from him and some back story. Please keep reading and let me know if you like, or not. Thanks xx
A Dancing Clown
Rolling over, Amelia was in complete darkness. Panic rose in her throat and she scolded herself at how stupid she'd been. Why hadn't she seen this coming?
The floor was smooth, indeed just like a basketball court and she shakily stood, pain exploding in her left leg, her hands flying in front of her. She hoped that any minute her eyes would adjust, but she had no idea where she was or how big the room was.
Amelia collapsed back down on the floor, her knee aching and she tried desperately not to cry. She reached out and felt the floor around her with her palms, knowing that her hand bag had gone skidding off somewhere when Doctor Lye had pushed her into this room.
What did they want with her? Had this all been a ploy from the beginning?
The thought that JJ, might have had something to do with this sickened her, but she realised, he must have known when he sent her here.
Her breathing had escalated and she realised that any minute she would pass out if she carried on that way, so she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to take deep, calming breaths.
There was a noise. It was momentary but she'd heard it. A click.
Then there was the guitar. A soft, gentle beginning to a song she knew, drifting across the darkened room towards her.
"What the hell is this?" she whispered, a tear running down her cheek.
That music! It was the music from her dream. But it wasn't a dream, she had heard it once before.
The guitar intro became a song, a song she knew well.
She gasped as somebody touched her hands, feeling the warmth of another person close to her. She could hear them breathing. She must have been so distracted with her own thoughts, she hadn't heard them approach.
"What do you want?" she screamed, the panic in her own voice startling her as she snatched her hands away. She was crying now.
The stranger took her hands again but this time held them with a vice like grip, and pulled her to her feet.
She stumbled forward and felt the hands go around her waist supporting her as she cried out; she felt the stranger's body press into hers.
"What do you want?" she repeated, as the hands glided up her arms and held her there.
She felt warm breath on her neck as the stranger leaned towards her ear.
"I just want to dance, pretty ballerina,"
Oh, God why did she recognise that voice?
Her breath caught in her throat as she felt him run his hands back down her arms to her freezing cold hands. His were warm and he walked her forwards in time with the music.
He let go of one of her hands and then she was being twirled around. She gasped in shock, going dizzy but then he caught her around the waist again, pulling her against him.
They were dancing, she realised in amazement. Here in this big empty room, in total darkness, with this strange, familiar music. Without realising it had even happened and despite the pain in her knee, her feet were moving in time with the song. He was leading her and when he turned, she followed; when he spun her around she let him.
Then when he took her by the waist, taking her full weight, he bent her backwards and she trusted him.
He held her under her arms and lifted her up, spinning her around. When he brought her back down, she slid down his body.
Her eyes were adjusting now and she could make out his figure in the dark.
"Stop!" she cried pulling away and to her surprise he let her go, she stumbled backwards and fell again.
Wincing she tried to stand. "Where are you?"
"Right where you left me princess,"
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"So many questions Ballerina! Why are you doing this? Who are you? Where are you? Which one shall I answer first?"
"Turn the lights on!" she screamed, now scared and tired. She wondered why he kept calling her ballerina. It sounded strangely familiar.
The room was flooded with bright, florescent light and she hid her eyes from the brightness with her hands.
Her heart pounding she stared at the figure in front of her. It was a figure she'd come to recognise from press photos and the television.
He was taller than she'd imagined, but then press photos were always slightly off. He stood gazing at her, hands clasped in front of him. He was thin almost wiry, but compact, wearing that odd outfit she'd seen in pictures, the green neck tie, purple shirt and trousers, sleeves rolled up high. Her eyes met his and she realised she was gawping. The makeup had been crudely smeared on with his fingers, a quick, careless job, leaving white marks trailing down his neck. His eyes were just black, endless holes, and the smile was garish and evil, spreading up his cheeks like a demented grin.
"You're…you're the joker,"
He chuckled. "Hmm…glad that college education daddy shelled out for wasn't wasted after all,"
She rolled her eyes at her own dumb remark and sat up.
"What do you want?" she asked, suddenly more irritated than afraid.
"Well now that's the right question Miss West!" he licked his lips, like a cat staring at its prey, "That's the million dollar question!"
"If you're planning on blackmailing my father you can forget it!" she snapped, a shiver running through her at the thought of her Mother.
"No…no," he said as he began to walk a wide circle around her, like a shark circling a unsuspecting seal pup, "No that didn't work out too well for you and mommy last time,"
She raised her eyebrows. "Am I going to die?"
"Yes..someday, not today, not tomorrow but one day you will….like we all do, Miss West. It's the natural order of things,"
She got to her feet and to her horror he was across the room in seconds. He grabbed her hard, pulling her against him and she yelped, his fingers digging into her face.
"Why can't you look at me, Ballerina?" he jibbed, "Is it the scars?"
She tried to avert her eyes, but he was so close, right in her face that she couldn't look anywhere else. She found herself eye level with his mouth and stared at the jagged scaring here, hidden under caked clown makeup.
She heard a flick and then felt the cold metal of the blade as he pressed it against her face. Amelia felt her legs weaken, but to her surprise he held her up, tightly pressed against him.
"What do you want?" she felt like it was the tenth time she'd asked that question.
He looked into her eyes and she tried to lean away.
"I don't know princess, a house in the country, my very own pony, world domination…maybe I just want you to remember me?"
She met his eyes. "Remember you?"
"Didn't our little dance there mean anything to you? You know I really thought for a minute there we connected. But no, you're still denying it!"
She shook her head. "You've got this wrong. You must have the wrong person,"
He laughed manically and she felt sick. She had watched the television clips of those poor people he had held hostage all those months ago. That laugh…it was truly terrifying.
"Hmm, let me see if I'm wrong. You're Amelia Jane West…but you're nearest and dearest all call you Millie. You're twenty eight years old and when you were a cute little girl you had dreams of been a prima ballerina. But that all ended the night mommy got her face carved up by a maniac burglar, all because daddy was too upright and honourable to pay the ransom….wondering yet how I know all this?"
She twisted in his arms. "Internet?" she spat angrily.
"Well yes, I suppose I could have…but lets see…how about the fact that I know everything that happened in those three days you were locked up with bill the burglar…including who pulled the trigger that ended his poor, waste of a life.."
"How could you know?" she whispered.
The metal doors swung open behind them. Men in clown masks ran in with guns, bringing Doctor Lye with them.
Amelia's heart twisted in her chest when she saw that he was holding a needle in his hand. It was large and the thickness of it made Amelia gag, her mind trying to block her vivid imagination of where that needle was going.
The Joker turned his attention back to his victim and he squeezed her tightly.
"Ahh, princess, you look worried! Don't worry about that big old needle thing, you wont feel it till it hits your spinal cord and then everything will be just lovely and dreamy. We may uncover some of those locked up memories of yours!"
Amelia's legs buckled and the Joker held her up. One of the clowns came behind her and grabbed her bare legs.
She screamed and she saw Doctor Lye wince.
"Help me, please," she begged to him but he looked away, his eyes filled with a mixture of horror and shame.
"Gag, her!" the Joker demanded, "We don't want him hitting something important do we? Its no fun if she dies already!"
Amelia felt the gag being pulled around her head, pulling her hair uncomfortably. She struggled to breathe normally as the clown shoved the knot in her mouth.
"We should take her to one of the examining rooms," Doctor Lye said nervously, "I can't do this with her on the floor,"
"Fine, lets go to the examining room," the joker winked at her suggestively and her eyes filled with tears.
One of the clowns grabbed her under the arms and one took her legs, and at once she could see the ceiling. She was being moved through the dark corridor. There was a bang in front of her and she was being laid on a cold, metal table.
Amelia screamed and kicked violently as the goons laid her on her side and roughly lifted up her shirt at the back.
The Joker was in front of her; he grabbed her hands in a death grip and brought his face down to hers.
"Baby, please…I'm doing this for your own good," he whispered, his lips close to her ear, "Now if you keep wriggling like that…not that I don't enjoy the sight of a beautiful woman wriggling away on a metal table…the doc might miss your spine and hit something that will mean you cant walk anymore, so please keep still!"
His tone frightened her and she relaxed, feeling his warm hands closing tightly over her cold ones.
She closed her eyes.
"There's a good little girl," he whispered looking over her body at Doctor Lye, "Do it quickly,"
The Doctor placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You'll feel cold," his voice was shaking, "And then…you'll feel nothing,"
Frightened tears escaped her eyes and her body went rigid.
The needle felt like a small pin prick at first and she whimpered, but it keep going and going. She screamed through the gag as she felt the needle hit bone.
Her eyes flew open and The Joker was there, staring straight at her. He moved closer, running a thumb down her cheek, tracing where her tears had streamed.
To her surprise and confusion, he didn't look like he was enjoying himself.
He leaned nearer, only inches away from her face, his voice low so only she heard him.
"Its going to be alright," he whispered, "You're not going to die,"
The pain in her back said otherwise and she arched in agony as Doctor Lye withdrew the needle. As the pain ebbed away, Amelia's vision went blurry, but she could still sense the commotion going on around her.
One of the goons had come bolting through the examining room doors.
"He's here…Batman!"
Her heart swelled in relief and she was struggling to stay conscious. She heard the voices around her rise in panic.
"Boss, we have to get out of here!" one of the masked clowns shouted.
The Joker cast Amelia a disapproving look and rolled his eyes.
"Dam Bat," he said to Amelia, touching her cheek softly, "Ruining our date, well don't you worry, we'll get you out of here,"
"We can't take her Boss, she'll slow us down!" the clown said, his voice rising in panic. The Joker considered this, he looked crestfallen and annoyed.
"Fine!" he agreed at last, obviously angry that his fun had been cut short, "Leave her for now,"
A cool, light feeling was creeping up Amelia's legs and to her horror, she realised that she was drifting away.
The Joker's face was above her own.
"I'll be seeing you, real soon," he whispered, giving her another wink.
Her arms deadening at her sides, she could no longer move, her breathing deepened. He pressed his scared mouth to hers roughly and she couldn't stop him.
Her eyes closed but his kiss didn't end.
Amelia was falling, the room darkening around her, the last thought that popped into her head before she melted away was that now, she could remember her first kiss.