(*types on computer and notices Joker looking over my shoulder*
"Hey!" *blocks screen from his view* "No peaking! You wait to read it like my readers, you're not so special!"
*Joker frowns and walks away.*
"Good riddance." *resumes typing. Joker tiptoes over and once again starts reading over shoulder. I notice him.*
"JOKER!")
Chapter Seven
He couldn't stop laughing. He had laughed since they left the party and the whole ride to their new hide out. The Joker finally began to calm down when the van stopped in front of yet another depleted building. He hopped out and looked it over before sighing.
He was starting to get a little tired of these trashy dumps, maybe the next time the group had to uproot again they'd pick a classier base of operations. No one would expect to find him staying in a classy joint.
The gang went inside and situated themselves, as always, the Joker got the best room. No one argued with that. The last recruit who argued got his tongue cut out, a slit throat, and a new smile. After that, whatever room the Joker wanted, he got; no arguments whatsoever.
As he settled into his new room, he removed his coat and his right shoe. He released the hidden blade and shivered with delight at the metallic sound it made. He gave a satisfied grin at the sight of a little dried blood crusted on the surface.
"So, he's human after all…"
He set to work, cleaning the blade and humming a bit. The Joker hadn't been able to use his new toy as much as he had wanted, but it had proven to be efficient.
In his head, he kept replaying the scene of when Batman had launched himself out the window to go after that Dawes woman. He hadn't even hesitated.
Now who would do that for her? ... Dent? The two of them were dating and Dent had never shown up at the party…or did he show up, but in a mask? ...
The Joker licked his lips and narrowed his eyes as he continued wiping his knife clean. Thoughts kept coming into his head, little moments that pointed to Dent as being Batman.
He chewed the side of his cheek and finished with the knife, pushing it back into his shoe. The Joker grunted as he removed his other shoe and moved about the room in his wacky colored socks.
In his remembering of the party, he kept coming back to seeing Samantha. He hadn't expected to see her there.
"She really does look good in purple," he thought with a chuckle.
"Maybe it's time to get more acquainted with Samantha Reads."
He'd have to do a little research. The Joker stepped outside of his door and leaned against the frame.
"Red!" he yelled. "Bring me your laptop!"
Barley a minute passed before Red came running to the Joker, laptop in hand. The Joker snatched it from him and disappeared into his room without a word.
Red called the Boss an unflattering word under his breath just as he was turning to leave. The door cracked open and the Joker stuck his head out.
"What was that?"
Red flinched and tried to cover up his insult.
"Nothing, sir."
The Joker lifted an eyebrow before drawing his head back and closing the door firmly behind him. He decided to let that little incident slid for the time being.
…..…..
Samantha slowly shuffled to her apartment door and began to pull out her key when the door opened for her. It barely registered that she was being pulled inside by Alice and Harleen.
"What are you guys still doing here?"
"You think we could leave before hearing about the party? How was it?" Alice asked.
Samantha tossed her shoes in a corner and plopped onto the sofa, sighing loudly. Harleen cocked her head to the side and blinked.
"That bad, huh?"
Harleen and Alice took seats on the couch, waiting for Samantha to talk.
"I ran into an old friend," she muttered.
"Who?" Harleen asked curiously.
Samantha lifted her head slightly to look at her friends.
"Let's just say, if I had dyed my hair green, we would have had matching outfits."
Alice and Harleen's jaws dropped.
"No!" They said in unison.
Samantha closed her eyes and limply pointed at the TV.
"It should be coming on GCN any minute."
Both woman made a mad dash at the remote and switched on the television. When the sound of Mike Engle's voice reached her ears, Samantha opened her eyes. She turned her head to face the TV and listened as he told about the Joker crashing Bruce Wayne's party.
"And also, the Joker is the prime suspect in the sudden death of Judge Surillo and Commissioner Loeb."
Now that was news to Samantha.
"He killed the Commissioner!" Samantha said.
"And Judge Surillo. From what I've heard, she ruled Salvatore Maroni, Chechen, and hundreds of others guilty for several crimes earlier this morning. She was like one of the only judges in Gotham who actually cared about justice," Harley told her.
Samantha pinched the bridge of her nose.
"One less good person on Gotham who actually had the position to change things here," she thought to herself.
Engle then switched back to the story of the Joker crashing Wayne's party and mentioned Samantha's attempt of drawing the Joker away from the crowd. Harleen switched her gaze to Samantha, one eyebrow raised in confusion.
"What are you, a bad guy magnet?" she asked. Samantha grinned and threw a pillow at her.
"You know what this means, right?" Harley asked.
"What?"
"It means me and Alice are sleeping over again."
Samantha dramatically widened her eyes and pretended to be horrified.
"Oh no!" she cried.
"Oh yes!" Alice giggled.
Samantha lifted her eyes heavenward.
"What did I do to deserve this?" she pouted.
Harley chucked the pillow back at Samantha, successfully hitting her square on the head. Samantha sat up and reared her arm back, ready to throw the pillow when Alice snatched it out of her hands.
"Whoa! Don't you think you should change out of your ball gown, Cinderella?"
Samantha chuckled and pushed herself off of the sofa and headed for her bedroom. Suddenly the pillow launched through the air and collided with the back of her head. Samantha slowly turned around and saw Alice sitting next to Harley, the very picture of innocence. Samantha pointed at Alice.
"Don't think you won't get punished, cause you're next."
Alice raised her eyebrows in playful surprise. Samantha smiled and went into her bedroom to change. When she had come back out, she told her friends what had gone on in the party and since it was so late, fell asleep on the sofa.
…..…..
The next morning, Samantha didn't want to wake up, but she knew she was about to anyway. She rolled to her side and suddenly felt the sensation of falling. Her eyes flew open just as she rolled off the sofa and landed on top of Harley.
"Ouch!" Harley yelped, making Alice jolt awake from her spot on the couch.
She almost laughed out loud at how comedic Samantha had landed on top of Harley. They were face to face with one another.
"Good morning, honey," Samantha said, trying not to giggle.
"Good morning to you too, sweetheart. Now please get off of me, you're cutting off my air supply," Harleen wheezed.
Alice finally started to laugh which made the others laugh with her. Samantha stood to her feet and extended Harley her arm to help pull her up also. Harley moved to the open space of the living room and began to stretch. Samantha and Alice winced at some of the positions Harley performed.
"How can you do that without snapping in two?" Alice asked.
"Easy, she has bones made out of rubber," Samantha joked on her way to the kitchen.
Harley laughed through her nose and stretched her legs.
"I just stretch everyday so I won't get stiff and also go to the gym and do a little bit of-."
"Gymnastics," Alice and Samantha finished for her.
Harley looked up from doing a split and put her hands on her hips.
"I have a feeling I've told you this before."
Samantha stuck her head out of the cabinet she had been looking in to stare at Harley, a shocked look on her face.
"Naaah, ya think?"
Harleen finished her stretching and joined Samantha in the kitchen.
"Tell me, Sammy; were you this sarcastic with the Joker?"
"Oh yeah."
Harley's eyebrows shot up.
"And you lived?"
"Nope; I'm dead. You're talking to a ghost."
Samantha received a sharp pinch to her arm from Harley.
"Sammy!"
Ouch! Ha ha. Yes, I lived. Apparently I amused him."
"Hm…"
Samantha glanced to see her friend had a thoughtful look on her face and staring into space. She snapped her fingers in front of her.
"Hey, earth to Harley. Come on down, girl."
"Huh? Oh."
Samantha pulled out three mugs. "Coffee?" she asked.
"Sure."
Samantha went to fix the coffee when the phone rang.
"I'll fix the coffee," Alice offered.
"Thanks."
Samantha picked up the kitchen phone and pressed it to her ear.
"Samantha?"
"Bruce?"
She heard all movement from her friends stop. Samantha could feel their eyes burning into the back of her skull.
"Hey, I was calling to see if your cell phone idea had worked out?"
"Oh, it worked, but not as expected. He ditched it in the warehouse."
"That's too bad," he said in a disappointed tone of voice. "Hey, uh, would you like to grab some coffee with me later on this afternoon?"
"Oh, um, coffee?"
Samantha looked at Harley and Alice to see them on each side of her, trying to listen in. They both nodded their heads vigorously.
"I'm sorry, I can't. I need to get back to work."
Looks of disbelief and shock replaced the looks of excitement on her friends' faces.
"Why!" Alice mouthed dramatically.
Bruce wasn't going to back down.
"Well, how about I give you a ride to work?" he offered.
Samantha was silent as she glanced at Alice and Harleen. Harleen had overheard his offer. She narrowed her eyes at Samantha.
"I swear, Samantha, if you say 'no', I will never leave!" she whispered threateningly.
"Would you be here by nine?" Samantha asked, defeated.
Harleen smiled smugly.
"Nine it is," Bruce agreed.
"Thanks, bye Bruce."
She hung up the phone and received a pat on the shoulder by Harley.
"Congratulations Sammy, you now have the richest man in Gotham asking to do you favors."
"Maybe being kidnapped by the Joker wasn't such a bad thing," Alice joked.
Samantha rolled her eyes and went off to her room to get ready for work.
….…
Bruce ran his thumb over the smooth surface of his phone before putting it away and returning his attention to what was in front of him. It was a computer system with many screens, all of them showing something different, but all about the same thing. The Joker.
He had been a side note to Bruce while under the guise of Gotham's own masked vigilante, Batman. But last night had shown Batman how dangerous and daring the man could be and now he was a top priority.
On the screens, images of the Joker were being scanned, surveillance videos of the bank robbery were being analyzed, and the video the Joker had sent to GCN was being played over and over in slow motion where he had showed his face. Bruce was going through everything that the Joker had done.
"Taken an interest in Miss Reads, Master Wayne?" Alfred asked as he made his way to stand next to Bruce in the center of his temporary 'Bat cave', due to Wayne Manor being burned to the ground.
"She's the only link I have to the Joker."
"Is that the only reason, sir?" Alfred prodded.
"You know I love Rachel, Alfred."
"Of course, sir; but what will your excuse be for seeing Miss Reads?"
"I've been thinking about that."
Bruce continued to look at the screens and knit his brow together.
"It's strange," he said softly.
"What's that, sir?" Alfred asked.
"It's strange that the person you pass everyday in school, you see laughing with her friends, and performing school plays; the one who's just there…is kidnapped one day by the most dangerous man in the city and suddenly she's more than what she was. She's a face and a name with a life. Not just part of the background. She's the most important link we have to this guy."
"The police don't seem to share the same idea, sir."
Bruce gave a low scoff.
"Most of the police are fools on Maroni's payroll. They won't get involved or pursue anything they suspect might reveal they're dirty."
"Which is where Batman comes in?"
"The Joker didn't kill her, Alfred. Every prisoner he's taken has ended up disfigured and dead. She came out alive and unharmed; why her? What's so special about Samantha? What does she know about him?"
Bruce rubbed his eyes with his thumb and inhaled deeply. He folded his arms over his chest and glared at the screens.
"He's rather bold, isn't he? You suspect Maroni is paying him to kill Batman?" Alfred asked.
"Targeting me won't get them their money back. I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They've crossed a line."
"You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them; you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand."
Bruce turned away from the screens and walked to a secret storage unit that was rising from the floor. Inside the caged unit were his new Bat suit and a few weapons.
"Criminals arn't complicated, Alfred. We just need to figure out what he's after."
The unit opened up and Bruce stared at the intimidating suit, thinking.
"With respect, Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man you don't fully understand either."
Alfred moved from his spot to Bruce.
"A long time ago, I was in Burma and my friends and I were working for the local government. They were tryin' to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones, but their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anyone who traded with him."
Bruce had turned to face Alfred, giving him his full attention. When Alfred told a story, it usually had a very good point that Bruce never took for granted.
"One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine…the bandit had been throwing them away."
Bruce took a moment to process this and shrugged his shoulders slightly.
"So why steal them?" he asked.
"Well because he thought it was good sport. Because some men arn't looking for anything logical, like money."
Bruce looked past Alfred and focused directly on the Joker's face on the screen playing the GCN tape. Alfred's voice continued to speak.
"They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."
…..…..
After much pushing and shoving, Samantha had finally gotten Alice and Harleen out of her apartment.
Alice had given her a quick hug and said, "Don't go jumping on any more buses, okay?"
Samantha had promised. Now she was waiting for Bruce to pick her up.
Samantha had slipped into her blue scrubs and pulled her blond hair back into a ponytail. She tapped her index finger on the table as she watched the clock.
A car horn blared loudly outside the window. She hurried over and peaked out to see Bruce had pulled up in a black Portia. A familiar black Portia.
Bruce grinned when Samantha came out and her eyes widened at the sight of the car.
"I don't believe this!" she said.
Bruce opened the passenger door for her.
"What?" he asked.
"I thought you'd be picking me up in…well not a Portia," Samantha admitted.
"Well, you came close to not riding in a Portia. A van almost rammed into me a few days ago."
Samantha froze.
"A white work van?" she asked.
Bruce quirked an eyebrow.
"Yeah."
Samantha covered her mouth as she suddenly began to laugh.
"Say 'hi' to one of the passengers of that van," she said.
Bruce's eyes widened.
"That was the Joker's van?"
"Small world, huh?"
"Very."
Samantha climbed into the car and Bruce soon followed. Samantha bit her lip and stopped him before he pulled away.
"Do you drive fast?"
Bruce flashed Samantha his perfect white smile and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah…" he answered.
The smile dimmed when he saw her reaction.
"Is there a problem with that?" he asked with some concern.
"I'm not much for fast driving," was her only reply.
Bruce shrugged and eased away from the curb.
"Okay, no problem."
"Thanks Bruce."
They talked for a bit as he drove to the hospital. Just about what they had done after high school. Samantha couldn't help but bring up a subject that seemed to be forgotten by half the city.
"After Princeton you disappeared for seven years. Where'd you go?"
Bruce tensed.
"I prefer not to talk about it if that's alright with you," he said, briefly glancing at her before returning his eyes to the road.
Samantha nodded in understanding.
As he came closer to the hospital, Samantha told him to not stop in front.
"I've been getting a lot of attention on the news recently, and if it's alright with you, I don't want my being dropped off by you added on to the pile," she explained.
"I get it; a girl like you doesn't want to be caught with a rich playboy like me, right?" Bruce teased.
Samantha shook her head quickly. "No! No, that's not it."
Bruce sighed as if heartbroken. "It's fine. Go on, forget about me."
Samantha shoved his shoulder.
"You're pathetic," she said as she opened the door and got out.
She bent over to look at him through the window and waved good-bye. Bruce waved back and watched her go until she was out of sight.
He drove off, trying to think of other ways to keep an eye on Samantha. He knew she was right. Being around Bruce Wayne would draw attention and that was not what she needed at the moment. If the public forgot her, maybe the Joker would forget her too, but Bruce highly doubted he'd forget.
…...….
The moment Samantha had entered the hospital; she was swarmed by everyone who recognized her face on GCN. Questions were fired one after the other at her, so she spent most of the day trying to avoid the attention and perform her duties as a nurse at the same time.
"So what was it like?"
Samantha sighed. She had been hoping to have a peaceful lunch that afternoon, but almost every nurse and doctor on break had gathered to her table and were swamping Samantha with questions.
"He was insane."
"Did you ever see him without that paint on his face?"
"No."
To be honest, she had only seen his face without the makeup back in high school, but ten years could change a person's appearance to be completely different from what you remembered.
"Did he make you…ya know, have sex with him?"
Samantha was sipping from her bottle of water when he asked and she started choking.
"No!" she coughed out quickly. "Why would that concern you anyway? That would be extremely too personal for someone to answer even if he did, you pervert!"
The doctor's face reddened and he skulked off. Samantha gathered her lunch and escaped from the crowd of curious coworkers. She went outside of the hospital and found a bench to sit on and finish her lunch.
Her beeper went off just as she had finished off the food. She looked at it and tossed her bag in the trash can as she ran back into the building.
Never a dull moment in Gotham General Hospital.
…..
The Joker had long since given Red his laptop back and was pulling on his brown shoes.
After looking up all he could find on Samantha, he looked up some other names in the city. He chose two men and called them, saying to meet him in an apartment room at 7:00.
He giggled as he remembered the sound of their voices when they asked who he was. The Joker hung up without answering.
Red had just returned from an errand and hesitated before knocking on the door. The door opened to reveal the Joker, grinning down at the young man.
"Ah Red, did you bring it?" he asked, slowly and inconspicuously lowering the knife in his hand back into his pocket.
One of the things he had learned was to never be unarmed.
Red handed him tomorrow's paper, wordlessly. The Joker snatched it from his hands and snickered. He moistened his lips and glanced up at Red.
"Why are you still here?" he asked in a low voice.
Red hurried away.
The Joker tucked the newspaper into an inner pocket and went to find his goons. He already knew which one he would choose for his next task.
The Joker threw open the door and looked directly at the man, as if he knew exactly where he would have been sitting. The Joker hooked his finger and motioned for the goon to come over.
"Melvin White, I've got a job for you."
(So today I almost got rammed into by a car when I pulled out from school. No worries, I'm still alive to update this story. Isn't life grand? Hope you liked the chapter and send some reviews my way!... or so help me I will track you down and it will not be pretty!)