(So this is my second installment, and I have to do this chapter justice because my friend, Shadowscreator, would kill me if I ruined the Mob Bank scene. Yes, I know that this is mostly from the movie but, eh. And also, please excuse the way Samantha get's on the bus, it was the only thing I could think of. Anyway, here it is. Please review!)
Chapter Two
~Ten Years Later~
Samantha trudged up the steps to Gotham City Bank to cash in her paycheck from Gotham General Hospital, where she worked as a nurse. All those years of hard work had finally paid off.
As for Harleen Quinzel and Alice Fredricks; Harleen had gone to a separate college while Alice and Samantha attended the same one. Harleen had returned to Gotham with a head full of blond hair and plans on interning at Arkham Asylum.
Alice got a job as a secretary at Wayne Tech. The pay there was better than Samantha's, but that's what happened when you worked for the richest man in Gotham City. Yep, Alice now worked for Boy Billionaire, Bruce Wayne, who had in fact been missing for seven years before suddenly reappearing not even a year ago.
Samantha entered the building and picked the shortest line she could find.
She'd heard rumors about Gotham City Bank being a mob bank. Of course, she had only heard those rumors after setting up her bank account there and that had taken a lot of time and frustration. She didn't want to have to go through the process of relocating her account to another bank that was probably less secure than the one it was in now.
Samantha pulled her black sweater closer to her body as she waited in line. Why did all banks find it necessary to keep the temperature so low that it felt like an ice box? Banks could afford a little heat, couldn't they?
Gunshots suddenly filled the air, disturbing the quiet atmosphere of the bank. Samantha instinctively ducked and turned to see three men in clown masks and holding guns.
Clown One yelled out for everyone to keep their hands where they could see them as Clown Two dragged bank tellers over the counters and onto the floor.
Clown Two pointed his gun at Samantha. "Come on, sugar; move it this way like everybody else."
"All right, everybody, hands up, heads down!" Clown One shouted.
Samantha slowly moved where Clown Two ordered her to go and got down on her knees. To her horror, the third clown produced hand grenades from a blue duffle bag he carried on his shoulder. He placed them in people's hands, pulling the pin so they had to hold on or die.
"Obviously we don't want you doing anything with your hands, other than holding on for dear life," Clown One said with amusement.
Clown Three came to the man beside Samantha and shoved a grenade in his hands. Her heart leapt into her throat as he turned to her. He stopped and cocked his head to the side as he peered at her through his frowning clown mask.
"On the ground!" Clown Two shouted as he hit a security guard, who fell to the tiled floor. He pointed his gun at a group of people. "Nobody make a move! Everybody stay down!"
Suddenly a loud explosion of shattering glass and a gunshot, resounded from Samantha's right. The clown fell face down; dead.
Clown Three grabbed Samantha by the arm and pulled her with him underneath a desk.
Another shot was heard and she looked to see the bank manager with a shot gun, firing at the robbers. Samantha felt the clown release her arm.
"Please don't let him use me as a shield," Samantha prayed.
"Esmeralda…?"
It was whispered so softly that Samantha had almost missed it.
The hairs at the back of her neck stood up. She turned her head to look at the clown but he was already moving to join the leader of the gang beneath another desk. He hadn't grabbed Samantha to use as a shield. She sighed in relief.
The manager shot at Clown Three as he moved from one desk to another, following him. "Yeah!" the man shouted.
Clown Three over shot his leap to the desk and had to slide back, using his feet to push himself against the desk.
Samantha stuck her head out from beneath her hiding place to watch the men.
"You have any idea who you're who you're stealing from? You and your friends are dead!" the manager yelled out to the clowns.
The two of clowns stayed low behind their shield.
"He's out, right?" Clown One asked his partner.
Clown Three paused a moment as if he was thinking and then nodded. Clown One jumped up and raised his gun at the manager but he immediately felt a bullet graze his arm. He dropped back down for cover.
Apparently the manager had one shot left but now his gun was empty.
Clown Three sprang up and shot the manager in the chest. He staggered a bit before he collapsed onto the floor.
The clown leader popped back up from the desk, holding his arm and inspecting the hole in his sleeve. "Where did you learn to count?" he asked angrily. Clown Three just glanced at him but didn't answer.
Samantha began to wonder if Clown Three could even talk.
"He's probably a bozo. Bozo, the Clown."
Clown One ran off towards the back of the bank heading for the vault, while Bozo stayed to watch everyone. Not that anyone was really panning to do anything, considering half the people had grenades in their hands.
Samantha took her time to study Bozo.
He walked with a slouch and a sort of menacing strut. His hair, from what she could see, seemed to be dyed green. It was long and messy and stopped near the bottom of his ears.
He walked up and down, between the people, looking at all them. Actually, he seemed to be looking for someone.
"Me...?" Samantha wondered.
Bozo froze when he saw her under the desk. Again he stared at her and cocked his head to the side. Samantha couldn't help but stare back, unable to look away.
Ten minutes or more went by and Clown One came back with large duffle bags, stuffed with money. Both men piled the bags together.
"That's a lot of money. If this Joker guy was so smart, he'd have had us bring a bigger car," Clown One said.
"Joker!" Samantha's blood froze when she heard the name. He was someone you didn't want to mess with.
Bozo turned to grab another bag when Clown One cocked his gun and pointed it at him. Bozo slowly turned to face him. The mask hid his true emotions, still holding its frown.
"I'm bettin' the Joker told you to kill me soon as we loaded the cash?" Clown One asked.
Bozo sighed as he looked at his wrist watch, slowly lowered his arm and said, "No, no, no, no; I kill the busss driver."
It was the first time Samantha had heard him speak; unless he wasthe one who whispered, 'Esmeralda'? Okay, so he wasn't a bozo after all.
"Bus driver?" Clown One repeated.
Bozo took a couple of steps back from him.
Clown One still kept his gun trained on him. "What bus driver?" he asked, voicing Samantha's thoughts.
Suddenly the wall beside them exploded and the back end of a big, yellow, school bus appeared and collided with the leader's body, knocking him down and killing him. The back door of the bus opened and another guy in a clown mask jumped out.
"School's out, time to go," the new guy said. He gave a short laugh when he glanced at the dead man. "Ha, that guy's not getting up, is he?" He grunted when Bozo threw him a bag to load onto the bus. "That's a lot of money," New Clown said as Bozo handed him a second and third bag.
Bozo turned and looked to see that he had given him all the bags in the pile closest to the bus.
"What happened to the other guys?" New Clown asked.
Bozo took one step towards the next pile of bags, threw his arm holding the gun behind him and shot New Clown dead without turning around.
Bozo walked over to the bags which were right in front of Samantha. He grabbed a bag with each hand and looked at her before dragging them to the bus.
Bozo was about to climb into the bus when the bank manager Samantha thought was dead, lifted his head weakly and started to yell at him. "You think you're so smart, huh?"
Bozo paused and looked over his shoulder.
"The guy that hired youse… he'll just do the same to you."
Bozo turned to face him while reaching behind his back as he walked towards the injured man.
"Oh, criminals in this town use to believe in things. Honor…respect." The bank manager wheezed out a laugh. "Look at you…"
Bozo pulled his hand from behind his back. In his hand was a grenade.
"What do you believe in, huh? What do you believe in?" the manager shouted angrily.
Bozo knelt down and shoved the grenade into the man's mouth, silencing him.
"I believe, that whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you-," Bozo pulled off his mask, "straaanger."
The manager's eyes grew wide with horror as the clown gave a quick grin before turning away, grabbing the man's shotgun while he was at it.
As Bozo walked, thread was beginning to unravel from the lining of his wrinkled, faded, blue jacket. Samantha saw the end of the thread was knotted around the pin of the grenade.
He turned his head towards Samantha, grinning wickedly. Samantha felt her jaw drop when she recognized him as the Joker, a criminal mastermind who had become well known in Gotham City in a short time.
The Joker's face was covered in ashen white paint, the area around his eyes was colored black and his lips were outlined in blood red, curled like a smile. His eyes were a dark brown; his teeth were yellowed, but perfectly straight.
He winked at her and focused on the bus. The Joker glanced at the manager's gun and threw it into the back of the bus, climbing in after it. He shut the door on the string and hopped over the pile of bags on his way to the driver's seat.
As soon as he started the engine, Samantha decided to do the most daring thing she had ever done. She leapt up from where she was sitting and ran to the bus.
She jumped, grabbed the handle of the door, and pulled it open, clambering inside just as the bus drove off.
"Ah crap!" Samantha thought when she remembered the manager with the grenade in his mouth.
Samantha looked back to see the manager hadn't moved. The string pulled the tab off and smoke billowed out from the grenade. No explosion. It was a fake! Samantha sighed in relief.
She stayed low in the back, hiding behind the seats and glancing at the Joker, praying he wouldn't see her through the rearview mirror.
How was he going to cover up a big bus heading away from a bank robbery?
Her question was answered when the bus pulled out into the streets and into a line with lots of other buses, taking kids home from Fergunson Middle School.
Samantha decided to crawl under the seats to avoid being seen. When she got to the last seat, she saw the gun beside him and took a deep breath. She shot out her arm, grabbed the weapon and aimed it at the Joker. He looked at her in surprise but kept on driving.
"Alright Clown Boy, turn this bus right back around," she hissed.
The Joker let out a series of strange laughs. Laughs that sounded eerily familiar. The Joker kept driving and turned right, pulling away from the rest of the buses.
"I mean it! Turn around!" Samantha ordered.
"Listen, I'm not turning around, and another thing, that gun's not loaded," the Joker said.
Samantha realized she was holding the manager's empty shotgun and her heartbeat quickened.
The Joker pulled out a handgun from beside him. "This one's loaded though. Sooo instead of you trapping me, I've trapped you," he laughed.
The Joker's laughs were high pitched, but when he spoke, his voice was constantly changing from one tone to another, like he couldn't make up his mind.
The Joker looked at Samantha's astonished face in the mirror. "Sooo why don't you just sit tight and enjoy the riiide, hm? When we stop, I'll figure out what to do with you, but for nooow…"
He reached into his jacket and brought out a small metal ball the size of a marble from his breast pocket.
"Take this and relax."
The Joker cackled as he threw it over his shoulder. It hit the floor and smoke issued out from it.
Samantha began to cough and covered her mouth as the smoke surrounded her face. She began to feel dizzy and tired. Her vision started to fade in and out of focus.
Samantha fell to her knees, trying to clear her head. She collapsed and her vision went black. The last thing she heard was those strange laughs.
…...….
When Samantha woke up, the bus had stopped moving. It was silent.
She lifted her head and groaned at the dull ache she felt in her head.
The Joker was looking down at her from the driver's seat, sitting on his knees with his head on his arms as they rested on the head rest.
"Ah, you're awake!" he said.
Samantha quickly sat up and her head swam.
The Joker moved from the driver's seat to the passenger seat right next to her. He sat on it and brought his knees up and put his elbows on them. In his hand was a gun.
"Sooo you thought you could get me to turn around; hm? Well, that little idea didn't work out did it?"
"No," Samantha answered reluctantly.
"No, it didn't. You shouldn't have got on the bus, buuut you did and now I have to decide what to do with you." The Joker pulled out a knife from his pocket.
Samantha noticed a sort of disfigurement about his mouth and she realized that he had scars at both sides of his mouth. The scars were curled up, like a smile.
"Are you staring at my scars?" he asked.
"No," Samantha said quickly.
"Yes, you we-rrre," the Joker sing-songed. He moved into her seat and held the knife close to her face, a wild look in his eyes. "Wanna know how I got 'em?"
"No."
The Joker paused. "Well…you're the first person to ever say that." His tongue darted out across his lips. He leaned in close to her and a gloved hand clamped around the back of her neck as the knife was brought to Samantha's mouth.
"What-ah am I going to do with you?" he sighed.
If Samantha struggled, the knife would slice her throat. If she didn't do anything, the Joker would kill her. There was no win in this situation.
She remembered the whispering of a name in the bank. It had probably been her imagination but Samantha decided to ask anyway.
"Did you call me, Esmeralda' in the bank?" she blurted.
The Joker's brown eyes flickered. It was strange, he had puppy dog eyes and yet he was the most dangerous man in Gotham.
The Joker didn't answer so she went further.
"Allan Jordan?" she asked.
That got a reaction.
The Joker's face twitched. "I knew it was you," was all he said.
He took the knife away from her face but kept his hand latched to the back of her neck. "Samantha Reads, right?" he asked, licking his lips.
Samantha nodded slowly in disbelief.
She had been right all along. She was right when she thought he'd become evil. She just didn't know he'd be 'famous' evil.
The Joker twirled his knife, a care free expression on his face. "Samantha, it's been a dog's age."
Samantha eyed the knife, not quite sure if she felt relieved to know it was Allan, or not.
"All those people he killed..."
The Joker put his back to the driver's seat and leaned on it, facing her. "Oh, the memories…" He gave a dramatic sigh. Suddenly his eyes lit up. "Remember the last time we saw each other, when I, uh, kissed you." His lips moved to form a dirty smile. "Did you recognize me in the bank and jumped on the bus because you wanted more? You couldn't let me go, huh?" he chuckled.
Rage bubbled up inside of her. She knew this man from the start and here he was! He was responsible for so many deaths; some of his victims she'd actually treated and watched die! And here he was making off-hand remarks about kissing her in high-school!
Samantha balled up her fist and swung at the Joker. He moved his head and grabbed her arm. The Joker twisted it around and put the knife to her throat as he pressed Samantha's back to his chest.
"Oh don't do that. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
He removed the knife to motion in the air. "I'm quite irresistible."
With the blade gone from her throat, Samantha struggled to get out of his grasp and fell down into the narrow walkway on her back. The Joker straddled her and pinned both arms when she tried to punch him again. He lowered himself to where he was less than three inches from her face.
"Sooo, you're through with slapping and moved on to punches, is that right?" he jeered.
"Get off of me!" Samantha hissed through clenched teeth.
The Joker raised his eyes to glance briefly at the ceiling before bringing them back to Samantha.
"Uuuuuh…no." He chuckled, showing his yellowy teeth and shifted his weight on top of Samantha. "No, I think I'm comfortable right herrre."
Samantha rolled her eyes.
"The annoying side of him hasn't changed a bit, in fact, it's worse!" Samantha thought angrily.
"Allan, get off!"
"Oh, that's not my name; I just made that one up."
"Let me go!"
The Joker snickered at how ticked Samantha was becoming as the seconds passed by. She tried to raise herself up, but he pushed her down none too gently.
"You really should learn to relax. Take things easy."
He was hovering over her now, his upper body being supported by his elbows. Samantha caught the gleam of the knife's blade from the corner of her eye as it stayed in the Joker's hand.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when a gloved finger brushed the hair away from her face.
"You're still so tense," he told her.
Samantha suddenly exploded with energy and used all her strength to try and throw the Joker off. This time he put his full weight on her, she couldn't move at all, she could barely breathe. Her efforts started to dwindle.
"Are ya done?" the Joker asked smugly.
Samantha sighed through her nose. "For now."
"All right; I'm going to get up, and so are you, but you are not-ah going to do anything that would force me to hurt you. Understand?"
He received a cold glare as his reply. "Good," he said and got up, pulling Samantha to her feet.
They exited the bus and Samantha squinted at the sudden glare of the sun. She looked around after her eyes had adjusted to the light and found they were in some kind of a deserted bus parking lot. She also saw that the Joker seemed to be studying her.
"Your hair is shorter," he said out of the blue.
Samantha unconsciously touched the end of her hair. "What?" she asked, making sure she heard him right.
The Joker reached out, touching her blond hair. "It used to go over your shoulders aaaand," he traced her shoulders, went down her back two inches and stopped, "ended right there." Now her hair went to the top of her shoulders.
Samantha felt her skin crawl. "Stop that," she said testily.
The Joker bit the inside of his right cheek. "Oh I'm sorry, does it make you uncomfortable? Because I'm aaaall about making my hostages feel comfortable," he said with such heavily laced sarcasm that Samantha couldn't believe a human was capable of.
Samantha took a step back from him. He cocked his head to the side. "I know what you're thinking," he sing-songed and stepped towards her.
Samantha turned and started running; the Joker close behind. "I was right!" he shouted, still singing his words.
Samantha went around the bus to the driver's side and paused long enough to pull the metal bar on the bumper out. The Joker came around and his legs hit the bar, falling face first, but put his hands out to catch his fall.
Samantha didn't turn to see if her plan had worked, she kept running to an alley that was ahead and opened out to the busy streets of Gotham.
When she was about half way into the alley, Samantha realized that running in was not the brightest idea.
A small group of young men and a few teenage boys appeared from the shadows.
Samantha skidded to a stop.
"Get 'er!" an older black teen shouted.
It was as if he had said, "Sic 'em," to a pack of hounds. They lunged for her as one.
Samantha immediately changed directions. She froze when the Joker and two more men showed up on the other side.
He chuckled as he casually strolled down the alley to her. "You didn't think I was going to unload all that money by myself, did you?" he asked.
Samantha glanced to the left and spotted a fire escape ladder. She sprang towards it and climbed up the metal bars.
The Joker leaped with a growl, hand outstretched to grab her foot but was a second too late.
"Go after her!" he barked at his goons.
The men sprinted up the ladder with the Joker close behind them. He made it to the top in time to see one of his newest recruits, Jamal, was gaining on Samantha.
The Joker grinned evilly. "That's right, run little rabbit," he thought.
Samantha leapt over the ledge of the roof and sailed across the narrow space between it and the next roof. She kept searching for an emergency door or another fire escape, anything!
Wait…There! A door!
She saw the sign from far away said 'push', well that's exactly what she was going to do.
Samantha picked up her pace and slammed her body into the door. It made a metallic bang when she made contact, but never budged.
Samantha rebounded from the door and fell to the ground on her back. Her body throbbed with pain, coursing through every muscle.
The sign said 'push'. Well she had defiantly done that!
"That was stupid," Samantha groaned, picking herself off the ground.
"Dang! Did you see that?" one of the boys exclaimed.
Samantha began to move again, her body ached with every motion. She wouldn't waste her time on a locked door.
Samantha spotted another up ahead just as she was dragged down by the older black boy, who had taken a flying leap and wrapped his arms around her boy's knees hit the pavement hard.
Samantha flipped over to face him and punched him in the gut. He let out a grunt and grasped her arm. Samantha switched to the other hand and drove it into his face. The boy was propelled backwards, letting Samantha wriggle away and start running for the door.
She chanced to look over her shoulder and noticed the group of men had gotten closer. She reached the door and opened it, hurrying down the steps.
The group squeezed through the opening barely fifteen seconds later. A young man with light red hair, grabbed at Samantha. Two others slide down the stair rail and blocked her escape. Samantha stomped on the red head's toe and he released her to hold his foot.
The sound of clapping from the top of the stairs made everyone look up. The Joker was descended the steps, applauding.
"Well done, boys. Samantha, I see you've kept yourself in shape. She won't be anymore trouble, gentlemen," he told them.
"Yeah right," Samantha scoffed.
The Joker roughly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. "You won't cause any more trouble, cause if you do…" he lifted his eyebrows in a silent warning.
The Joker signaled for his thugs to head up the stairs. When they emerged from the stairs and were outside, the Joker leaned in close to Samantha. "I'm gonna have to keep an eye on you," he said.
Samantha stiffened when she felt his hand touch the small of her back. "That may not be the only thing I keep on you though," the Joker murmured.
Samantha jerked away, only to be pulled back to his side. "Mmmmh, it's going to be fun having you around," he laughed.
"Yippee," Samantha said sarcastically.
"I can tell you're elated," the Joker mumbled.
Samantha raised her hand to gauge his eyes, but the Joker caught her arm and twisted it. "Same fiery Samantha!" he cackled, enjoying the struggle.
Samantha suddenly kneed him in the groin. He bent over but didn't let go. A growl emitted from his throat. "That's it!"
The Joker bared his teeth as he picked Samantha up and threw her over his shoulder.
"Put me down!" Samantha shouted, kicking her legs.
The Joker's group of thugs watched the two of them with curiosity and amusement. He walked over to the ladder and pulled out his gun with one hand.
The Joker set Samantha down and aimed the gun at her. "I'll tell ya what I'm going to do. When I climb down this ladder, you're going to come down after me. If you try to get away…" he waved the weapon, "Bang."
Samantha crossed her arms, frowning, but made no reply.
"Soo glad you understand."
The Joker kept the gun trained on her as he backed up to the fire escape. He set one foot on the first bar and grinned. "Oh boys, make sure Miss. Reads doesn't try anything," he ordered. He laughed as he suddenly slid down the ladder. When he got to the bottom, the Joker motioned for her to follow.
Samantha rolled her eyes and repeated his way down by sliding. She reached the last wrung on the ladder and was swooped up in the Joker's arms.
"Let me go," she hissed.
"Of course."
The Joker dropped her. Samantha landed painfully on her butt. She grunted, feeling even more agony build up inside her already battered body.
"You jerk," Samantha muttered.
The men hurried down the ladder and they all headed for the bus.
The Joker opened the back door and the boys immediately got busy with unloading the bags of money and carrying them to a big work van that a thug had drove to them.
As the boys worked, the Joker whirled around to face Samantha. "The only solution to this, uh, little problem, is bringing you along," he told her.
"Sorry to be such a burden," Samantha apologized sarcastically.
"No trouble at all," the Joker replied with a tone to match hers.
Samantha hugged her sweater closer and felt the lump in her jeans pocket; her cell phone. Her salvation.
She tried to act the same, as if she hadn't discovered her possible key to survival hidden in her pocket.
The Joker pointed to the van's passenger seat and lifted his eyebrows as if to say, "Get in."
Samantha walked over and the Joker opened the door for her. Samantha sat in the seat and flinched when he slammed the door shut with a flourish. He hopped to the driver's side and climbed inside.
"Just a sec," he said.
He reached across the space between them and put his hand inside her left pocket. Samantha about slapped his hand away due to the inappropriate action.
The Joker dug out the green cell phone and waved it in her face as he smiled and licked his lips. "Mm-mm," he sang smugly.
"Jerk," Samantha grumbled.
The Joker chuckled.
"Laugh it up, Clown Boy, but the joke will be on you one day."
"I doubt it."
"Don't close your mind to the idea."
The Joker's laughs instantly ceased. He remembered the conversation they had all those years ago.
Without a word, he put the keys in the ignition and revved up the engine. The men piled in the back of the van and the Joker nailed the gas pedal to the floor.
Samantha clenched her teeth and winced at how fast he was driving through the city streets. She gasped when he nearly ran into a black Portia and a taxi. He only howled with laughter.
"You're going to get me killed!" Samantha yelled.
"Lady, I think that's the point," the red head said.
Samantha turned to face him and gave the boy the coldest glare she could muster up. The boy's eyes widened and he cringed.
The Joker took a hard right, slinging some of the goons around and making Samantha's heart rate increase. She had a special reason why she hated being in fast cars; it involved a terrible accident three years ago.
The Joker slammed on the brakes in front of a dilapidated looking building, which was surprisingly still selling its merchandise of clothes.
A clown with blue lips on his mask was ordered out of the van. He went to the driver's window to hear the rest of his instructions from the Joker. Samantha caught part of the conversation. Something about a suit that was custom made.
The Joker snapped his fingers at one of the men behind him and he was handed a blue duffle bag. He passed it to the man outside the van and the clown darted into the building.
The Joker tapped his thumb on the steering wheel as he waited, occasionally humming and la-de-da-ding to a tune that only he could hear.
The red head leaned forward in the space separating the Joker and Samantha. "So Boss, who's the broad?"
The Joker glared at him. Red clamped his mouth shut and leaned back.
A few minutes later, the clown came out with a thin black box under his arm. Someone opened the van's side door and he ducked inside. Once again, the van took off at an alarming speed and didn't slow down until they came to a sudden stop at an abandoned building, out of the main part of Gotham.
Once inside the building, Samantha was shoved roughly into a room and would have face planted against a wall if her arms had not shot out to stop her.
Samantha turned around to face the clown that had shoved her and to give him a piece of her mind. The clown had already gone and in his place stood the Joker. He sauntered into the room, a wide grin on his face.
"Sorry about that," the Joker said as he straightened his hopelessly wrinkled, blue suit's jacket. "This will be your suite until I figure out what to do with you."
He swung his arms out at the walls, displaying the fact that there were no windows. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay in here." He began to walk out of the room but paused and turned on his heel. "Oh, and if you're good, I might let you out of here every now and then. 'Kay?" The Joker grinned and left the room, slamming the door on his way out.
Samantha rushed over and put her ear against the door to listen. She heard the sound of the Joker's voice telling some thugs to keep watch at the door. The next thing she heard was his footsteps growing fainter and fainter as he walked away.
(Please send some reviews my way!)