(Sorry for my tardiness, guys. I hope that this makes it up to you!)
Chapter 9
Annie could feel her clever mind freeze. There was nothing that she could do to get out of this situation. Even as she stared into The Joker's leering face she could feel his men closing in behind her, blocking her path and crushing any hope she would have to escape. The fury at her predicament began frothing through her pounding heart, unwisely advising her to ask The Joker if he had anything better to do than stock a young, unsuccessful writer. Fortunately, the intelligent side of her won out and she remained still, terrified, her lips barely mouthing the word 'why'. The Joker must have been intensely focused on her lips because his grin faded slightly as he reached out to take her arm roughly.
"Funny that you should ask that." He said licking his lips again. "How about we go on a walk?"
Waiting only long enough to catch her panicked expression, he began leading her down the alleyway towards a door that was hidden in grime and shadow. It looked as though it had never been used (or that no one dare ever use it), but The Joker seemed not to care and kicked it open, his hand still steady in its grip on her. The men behind her blocked off the exit while they descended into the cavern below. A sparse room that was furnished with nothing but a rusted chair and a table lamp stared eerily at the floor and was plugged in to cast a harsh, glaring light.
It was only at the moment that she stepped into the room and the door was closed behind her that she found herself alone with The Joker. The men had left them moments ago, and she was now staring at the heavy metal door that enclosed her in a room with the most disgustingly horrific man she had ever seen. As if out of unconscious desperation, she reached out with her other hand and tried to turn the knob, but remained unsurprised when she discovered that she was locked in. The Joker seemed pleased by this. He laughed in his dry, rasping throat and pulled her down to sit in the uncomfortably rusted chair.
Something about the situation was oddly intimate and seemed completely unlike The Joker that she had seen on TV. She looked around her for some indication as to the reason why she was there, but nothing was predictable with this psychopath. The Joker was circling around her as if he were plotting the right words to say to a new lover. Annie tried to make herself look less visible.
"You're probably wondering…what's with the THEATRICS." He said as he circled, his eyes fixed on her cowering form. "Now what you need to know about a guy like me is I don't just beat around the bush. I'm a man of action I get things done, I TELL people what's on my mind and then I just go…I improvise. I like to do things in style so that I can get my message out. That's why I made a very…conscious decision to do things in a shiny new way…with a little help from you."
He stopped his circling and leaned into her so that she could very clearly see the scars on his face in the shadows of the blaring light. "People…expect things from their criminals. They want action EXCITEMENT, something to tell their family out in hicktown after they survive the whole ordeal but the problem is…they all FOLD. They get good and scared, which is good most of the time but after a while they just don't give enough and then there's nothing to give back and that just leaves no room for expansion. They just get really screechy, you know? 'HELP HELP! THE JOKER OH GOD!' Nothing new in that. It just becomes so boring getting the exact same response over and over and over and over and over. There's nothing interesting nothing to sick your TEETH into."
He paused. "And then…just as things get really pathetic you get one person, be it bat or be it girl who stares you right in the eyeball and starts thinking. Now that…that's interesting to me. No defiance, you know, no uncomfortable silence, just pure IDEAS. I can really respect and idea man…or woman do you see what I mean?"
Annie remained frozen. The Joker was working her up to something, she knew it but she could not figure out what it was. She thought back on what he just said for a semblance of sanity, but in her terrified state she could not make any sense of it. The Joker seemed to notice this and waited patiently for the wheels in her head to turn far enough. She shook her head fearfully. "I…no, I don't get it."
The Joker remained in the same position and stared into her eyes. He sighed after a moment and dramatically heaved himself into the air again. "Everything is just very very very very simple here Annie. You are cut from a different cloth… YOU are not LIKE the rest of them. Haaaaaaa… if I ever entertained the thought of the Batman being a woman you…you would be my first guess. And like the Batman you seem to have this uncanny knack for scraping below the surface where no one else wants to go and finding something interesting. You. Fought. Back. And I liked that. I think that the mind is a terrible thing to waste so I want to make you a deal. If you take it then I'll be having some fun and if you don't…well…" he stopped to grin at her. "I'm still having fun. So you want the deal or not batgirl?"
She stared at him, her eyes frozen over his gleeful malice. "I still don't know what you want." She whispered. "You say you like the way I think. Does that…" The thought swelled inside of her as she was stolen in a moment of extreme clarity. "That means…you need me for something?"
The Joker suddenly burst into laughter, his body shaking generously with its force. "Oh something, everything…what does that really matter? It's just a little position on our team that you could fill very nicely. I mean it's different from the other positions that my boys like to gear up for. No no no no no no YOUR position would GUARANTEE job security. Call you…" he leveled to her face again, ensuring that she could see each inch of his tongue as he slowly licked at his scar. "My…number one….ah gal…"
Annie's heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. She tried to freeze her mind from thinking about what The Joker's proposed position would involve, but it was racing too wildly to stop imagining. Looking into his face at this moment was like staring at a train wreck and there was nothing she could do to pull away. She swallowed hard. If she said yes then there was no telling what would be The Joker's next step for her. She would be completely at his mercy. If she said no, it was probably just as bad. She could be dead for sure or at least horribly mutilated with no one to save her or even hear her scream. But she could not allow herself to be taken by The Joker and whatever he had planned for her. Death would almost be better.
"No." she said clearly, surprised by her own strength. "I won't. I'm not going to be like you."
The Joker seemed to almost have expected her defiance. He shrugged nonchalantly and pushed a button hidden on the side of the wall. The metal door that had kept her enclosed in the room with him swung open, ensuring a clear path towards the street above and a way of escape. She felt relieved for no more than a second before The Joker jumped at her and pinned her angrily against the chair. A trace of a smile still played on his lips as her lowered his head menacingly so that she could see the whites of his eyes.
"Not eager to disappoint are you? Well then, let me tell you something that won't disappoint YOU, beautiful. You can tell your Commissioner that I am back and that I am getting a little uglier. People are going to be dropping in this city like flies and only you can stop me. It's very very simple, Annie. Just think. That's all you need to do and then you tell me when you've had enough and it's time for you to stop being the hero that you think you aren't. But I'd really hurry if I were you. God's away on business."
She couldn't tell whether he had let her up or if she had pushed at him hard as she thrust him out of her way and began charging up the stairs. All of The Joker's thugs moved to the side to let her out into the alleyway, out on the run, out on the streets. The tears were rolling down her face and she began running as fast as she could towards the blaring police sirens and away from the nightmare she had just faced.
She swore that she could hear The Joker still laughing in the distance.