{Joker singing: "I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves! I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves-," (I try to block out Joker's voice with a pillow as I toss and turn in bed.) "Sing it with me, sweetheart! 'I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves!' …Shall I sing the 'Cuppy Cake' song?"
(I shoot up in bed and throw a pillow at Joker.) "Dear Lord in Heaven above, NO!"
"Well, if you don't work on the story, I'll have no choice."
(I lay back down in bed.) "I'm sleeping, Joker."
"No you're not."
"I wonder why? I'll work on it tomorrow."
"All right, you leave me no choice." (clears throat) "You're my cuppy ca-,"
"AH! I give up! I'll work on it now!" (Joker snickers as I type.) *mutters under breath* "Spawn of Satan…"}
Chapter Eight
The sky darkened and the few remaining good citizens of the city hurried to their homes and locked their doors and windows.
In Gotham, day was no different from night. Crime was constantly happening, but at night, it was worse, much worse. Anyone who had a lick of common sense wouldn't dare go outside just to take a stroll. Which is why Patrick Harvey was so nervous about walking to an apartment he had never been in before in an area of the city he tended to avoid.
He went into the building and whispered the room number he was told to go to.
"Number eleven, number eleven, number eleven."
Patrick spotted the room and opened the door. A sudden movement caught his eye in the dimly lit room.
The shape of a man, jumped up from the couch. "Who are you?" the man demanded.
"Patrick Harvey; I was told to meet someone here," he explained.
The man seemed to relax and extended his hand.
"Richard Dent, I got the same message."
Richard glanced at his watch and sighed. "6:55."
Both men sat on the couch.
"Any idea who called?" Patrick asked.
"Not a clue."
At exactly 7:00, a knock came from the door. Richard and Patrick stared at the door uncertainly.
"One of us is going to have to answer it," Richard said after a few seconds.
Patrick slowly rose to his feet and walked towards the door. He paused a second before grasping the knob and turning it. He opened the door just a crack.
It suddenly was shoved open and a leg kicked his stomach, knocking the air out of him. Patrick saw Richard leap up from the corner of his eye. Richard swore when he saw who had burst into the room. The Joker and another man had stormed in.
The man lifted a hand gun with a silencer on it and aimed at Richard. Richard swore again and dove out of its line of fire just as the man pulled the trigger. A bullet imbedded itself into the brick wall behind him.
The Joker had immediately locked the door behind him and lunged at Patrick, laughing wildly.
"I'm so glad the two of you could make it!"
He latched his gloved hands around Patrick's neck and hoisted him up against a wall. Patrick's eyes widened when the Joker shoved a knife against his throat.
"You really should smile more, Mr. Harvey. You're doing me a big favor. So is Mr. Dent-ah," he said in a dark tone. "You two are gonna be a part of my joke!"
In one swift movement, he slashed Patrick's cheeks, splitting them apart. Patrick screamed, causing the wounds to enlarge and more blood to pour. The Joker dropped Patrick to the floor. The wounded man clutched his face and couldn't stop screaming.
The Joker left him and grabbed Richard by the back of his head. He jerked on his hair and pulled him closer. "Na-ah-ah-ah! Where do you think you're going? Hm?" he chuckled.
Richard struggled in his grasp and winced in pain. The Joker also winced, but from the sound of Patrick's wails. He took his eyes off of Richard and glanced at his goon. "White, make him shut up!" he ordered with a snarl.
White put a bullet in Patrick's head without hesitation. The screams instantly stopped.
The Joker sighed in relief. "Ah, that's better, isn't it? Now I can hear myself think." He pressed the blood stained knife against Richard's cheek.
"P, p, please! Don't kill me! Please, I'll do anything!" Richard whimpered.
The Joker giggled. "Please, please, Mr. Joker! Don't hurt me, don't kill me! Take my money! Help me, someone help me! Please, please, pleeeeease," the Joker mocked in a pathetic voice. "Like I haven't heard that joke before."
He quickly dragged the blade against Richard's skin, giving him a similar smile like Patrick. "White," the Joker called.
White shot Richard down.
The Joker strolled around the room, looking at his surroundings as if two men had not been murdered. He kicked Patrick's limp arm out of his path and stepped over Richard's body as he headed for a small table.
The Joker snapped his fingers at White and the man hurried over. "Put them in the chairs," he told him.
White scrambled to carry out his command. He grabbed the man closest to him and started dragging him across the floor. His eyes fell upon a name tag clipped to the man's collar. 'Richard Dent.' He looked at the other man to find he also wore a name tag. 'Patrick Harvey.'
"Boss, did you plan that?"
He got a giggle for an answer.
When the men were in the chairs, the Joker pulled out two tubes of face paint; black and white; and a tube of red lipstick. White watched as the Joker smeared the paint onto their faces just like he wore his make-up. When he was finished, he carelessly pushed their heads down onto the table with a loud thunk, causing the items on it to rattle.
"Boss?"
The Joker looked up to see White was getting jumpy. Why would he be? White had used a silencer on the gun, no one was home in the neighboring rooms, they had slipped into the building unobserved, and as for someone overhearing the screams; no one cared to check it out.
The Joker fished a deck of playing cards out of his pocket and pulled out several joker cards. Each one was different from the other. He placed a few in each man's hand and put a few more in the center of the table.
The Joker retrieved the newspaper from his inner pocket and opened it up to the obituaries column. "Red, didn't screw up," he thought as he looked over the article in The Gotham Times. A grin spread across his lips as he stared at the picture of Mayor Anthony Garcia. It looked so plain.
The Joker searched for a red and black marker. He found them in a cup on the table. Uncapping the markers, he immediately started to doodle on the picture. He drew dark circles around the eyes and outlined the lips in red. He wrote a few 'HA HA's and Xs and Os around the picture.
White shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he waited for his Boss to finish what he had come for.
The Joker rolled his eyes and sighed. Why couldn't his recruits be more like him? Did he look nervous? Of course not!
He finished his doodling and folded the paper in half. He placed a water glass on top of it to make sure it stayed put until the authorities or Batman arrived.
The Joker brought his cell phone in sight and dialed '911'.
White about had a heart attack. "Boss, what are you doing?" he exploded.
"Sh!" the Joker said, putting a finger over his red lips. He ran his tongue over his mouth and listened.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"Good evening, Miss Operator, I'm afraid there's been a murder."
"Your name sir?"
He grinned when he heard the quiver in her voice. She knew the man she was talking to was no ordinary guy. "Eighth and Orchard. You'll find Harvey Dent there."
"…Harvey Dent?"
The Joker quickly cut the connection and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He jerked his head at White. "Let's go."
White happily followed him out of the apartment and down the stairs.
…
Samantha watched the 9:00 news while she sat on her sofa, chin in hand. She lightly bit her lip when Mike Engel told of the Joker's most recent victims; Richard Dent and Patrick Harvey.
"The two men's mouths were slashed open in an identical fashion like the Joker. The families mourn the loss of their loved ones. Patrick Harvey leaves behind a wife and a twelve year old son."
Samantha squeezed her eyes shut as she listened to Engel informing Gotham of the Joker's plan to kill Mayor Anthony Garcia.
Her emerald eyes flew open.
"The Mayor?"
He was going to give a speech in honor of the late Commissioner Loeb the following morning. For some reason, Samantha felt she needed to be there. She could be on the look out for the Clown.
Samantha had made up her mind. She would be there.
A slight pain began to develop in her head. Samantha clicked the TV off and lightly massaged the spot where the pain was coming from. She took some mild painkillers before going to bed. The pain gradually dissolved and let her sleep.
…
As soon as Samantha was awake, she got ready with a speed she hadn't used since she discovered she had slept in on a school day.
Since the parade would be in honor of the deceased, Samantha dressed in black. She threw on her black sweater, a black scarf and a black sock hat.
She stuffed her hair into the hat, a slight attempt at disguise so no one would recognize her. She would have worn sunglasses but it wasn't very sunny outside. It was grey and cloudy, she would just draw attention to herself if she wore them.
The parade wasn't very far, so she could walk.
Samantha heard it before she saw it. The sound of bagpipes reached her ears and she soon came upon a crowd. There weren't that many citizens who had gathered; mostly it was a big procession of cops in uniform marching down the street.
"I need a better view."
Samantha pushed past people and passed news anchor Mike Engel as he was reporting live.
"With no word from the Batman, even as they mourn Commissioner Loeb, these cops have to wonder if the Joker will make good on his threat in the obituary column of The Gotham Times to kill the mayor."
Samantha bumped into a man with graying brown hair, a moustache, black-rimmed glasses, and carrying a walkie-talkie. She recognized him as Lieutenant Jim Gordon.
"Sorry," he apologized and hurried on. He soon joined the parade and stood next to Anna Ramirez as they made their way to a stage set up in the center of the street.
When the procession finally came to a halt, Mayor Garcia stepped up to the podium.
"Commissioner Loeb dedicated his life to law enforcement and to the protection of his community."
Samantha saw the commissioner's family sitting behind the mayor, along with Harvey Dent, Rachel Dawes, and Jim Gordon.
The mayor continued with his speech.
"I remember when I, I first took office, and I asked if he wanted to stay on as commissioner and he said he would, provided I kept my politics out of his office. Clearly he was not a man who minced words, nor should he have been. A number of policies that he enacted as commissioner were unpopular. Policies that flooded my office with angry calls and letters…"
Samantha's attention began to waver and she started searching for anything out of the ordinary, but in Gotham, some of the 'out of the ordinary' things were normal to its citizens. So she just looked for anything that screamed, 'Joker!'
"Couldn't they have chosen to have the speech in the park where there are no windows?" she wondered, looking around at the ocean of windows on every building lining the street. "He could be behind any one of them."
Apparently Jim Gordon was thinking the same thing. He was constantly scanning the windows.
The mayor did not seem nervous at all. It was as if he didn't know the Joker had him pegged as his next target. Mayor Garcia carried on.
A very tall man obstructed Samantha's line of sight. She tried to see over him by lifting herself on her toes, but it didn't work.
Samantha grunted. "Great, Goliath decided to join us."
She weaved herself through the crowd to a closer spot near the podium and a clear view. Garcia was concluding his speech.
"And as we recognize the sacrifice of this man, we must remember that vigilance is the price of safety." Garcia backed away a few steps from the podium.
The Honor Guards waited as their leader stepped up and began to give orders.
"Stand by! Honor guard! Attention! Port arms!" The guards lifted their rifles from their sides. "Ready! Aim!" The guards aimed into the air. "Fire!"
A wave of gunshots was heard. The guards waited for the order again. "Ready! Aim! Fire!"
Another wave of shots, but this time it sounded off; like there had been extra shots fired.
Gordon had noticed it too. His head jerked up to the windows.
"Ready! Aim!-"
That's when Samantha saw the whole row of Honor Guards change direction and aim at the mayor.
The one in front grinned evilly and pulled the trigger just as Gordon leapt out of his chair and tackled Garcia to the platform's floor.
Samantha watched as that one bullet caused complete chaos among the crowd.
The police scattered, the onlookers panicked and began running in all directions.
Samantha was jabbed, shoved, pushed and carried away by the crowd until she found herself in the middle of the street.
One of the Guards was shot in the leg and brought down by the few officers who had not fled and were trying to get things under control.
Scattered gunfire was heard, making the situation even worse.
Samantha felt a hand shove her to the side. She fell to the pavement, scrapping her hands on the rough surface and her hair spilled out from underneath her hat. She looked to the right just in time to see the one who had shot at the mayor. He looked straight at Samantha and grinned before running off.
She hadn't gotten a good look at him, but she had seen the scars.
The Joker had been right there! Smack dab in the open! And no one noticed? Sure he wasn't wearing his make-up, but the scars! Who couldn't notice them?
Samantha picked herself up off of the road and anxiously looked to see if she could spot him.
He had disappeared.
"Did he hit the mayor?" she wondered.
She craned her neck around to the platform and saw Garcia being escorted away. An officer was kneeling by a still body on the floor, checking the pulse.
Samantha hurried over to the stage. When she was a little closer, she recognized the prone body was Lieutenant Gordon.
"Officer! I can help, I'm a nurse!" she called out.
Samantha reached the stage as the officer sat back, still staring at the man.
"He can't be helped," the officer said, sadly.
Samantha met the man's gaze and her jaw dropped.
"You," she whispered angrily.
Detective Stephens looked shocked. "You…Miss Reads?"
Samantha's eyes hardened. She inclined her head at the dead man. "Bet you're wishing you had taken me more seriously, huh?" she asked in an icy tone.
Stephens lowered his head in shame as Samantha gave one last look at the dead man and walked away. Stephens watched her disappear into the crowd of chaos he could have prevented if he had listened to her.
...…..
The Joker pressed his back against the wall and looked out at the panicky crowd running around like ants. He pushed the inside of his bottom lip with his tongue and then licked his lips. The skin near his nose twitched.
"Stupid Lieutenant! Why did he have to have such quick reflexes? He ruined the joke! The mayor was supposed to die, not him."
He tried to spot his men among the crowd, but it was hard with everyone running like chickens with their heads cut off.
The Joker had seen Thomas Schiff get shot in the leg and taken away by the police. So he was one man less than when he had arrived. Unless more had been captured. He should probably start heading to the van, see how many he had lost. He couldn't loose too many. Oh no no no no no. He had a lot more in store and it wouldn't work if he kept loosing men.
The Joker pulled his hat low over his eyes and kept his head down as he ran from the wall and threaded his way through the crowd again.
"Hey you! Grab him!" an officer yelled out at the Joker.
The Joker recognized the man he was ordered to chase after was one of his own thugs.
The Joker signaled to show he had heard the officer and sprinted after the fake guard with no intention of bringing him back.
The thug looked over his shoulder and thought he was being chased by a real guard, so he redoubled his efforts at running.
The Joker let out a frustrated sigh and increased his speed. He caught up and latched onto the thug's arm.
"Darren!" the Joker snapped when he tried to fight him off.
Darren immediately stopped and looked at his face. Relief instantly washed over him. "Oh Boss, it's you!"
"Get to the van," the Joker hissed, releasing his arm. Darren nodded and both began to run. They arrived at the van and found all but one of the team waiting.
"Boss, Schiff hasn't showed up yet," Red informed him.
"Schiff's not coming. You drive," the Joker nodded for Red to take the wheel as he climbed into the passenger seat in front and everyone else piled into the back.
Red hesitated. "But what about Schiff?"
"Get in the van and drive!" the Joker yelled.
Red jumped behind the wheel and started the engine. He knew not to be slow when the Boss was like this. He had overheard the others talking about how the plan to kill Mayor Garcia had failed.
If Red wanted to live to see tomorrow, he would have to be walking on his toes around the Joker.
Little was said between them as Red drove. From the corner of his eye, he saw the Joker whip off his guard cap and use the other hand to shake his wild, greenish blond hair loose. He tossed the cap on the floor and turned his face to stare out the window, glaring.
The Joker's mind was going everywhere at once, rethinking his plan since the lieutenant had thrown him a curve ball.
Speaking of a curve ball, spotting Samantha had been a nice surprise.
A smirk worked its way onto his scarred lips.
The look on her face had been priceless. Of course he didn't know it was her when he pushed her aside. The way her eyes had widened when she recognized him…he had been in plain sight, scars bared for all to see, yet no one had paid attention! He might as well have been invisible! How many people on Earth had scars like his?
The Joker touched the corner of his mouth with his tongue and ran a hand through his hair.
Again, Samantha was at the same place he was, and he hadn't planned that. It was amusing to say the least. It might become a problem in the future if they kept 'bumping' into each other. Eh, he'd think about that later.
Now, about the failed assassination.
The Joker wasn't worried about Thomas Schiff. He had planned for him to get caught, though getting a bullet in the leg was not what he had in mind at first, but if that's what it took, then so be it.
Schiff was carrying a special message for Harvey Dent. Schiff's uniform had a certain woman's name on it; Rachel Dawes.
The Joker snickered at the thought of how Dent would react when he found his little clue. What would he do to Schiff? Oh well; not his problem.
His thoughts drifted back to Samantha.
How good of a view did she get of his face? He hadn't stayed still too long. She probably got a brief glimpse of his scars and that was all.
He lightly touched his right scar.
Once, a long time ago, he had hated them, now he was quite fond of them and liked to show them off. He also loved telling people how he got them. Everyone always listened to his stories, but Samantha didn't seem to like hearing them.
It was probably for the best. Some of the stories he came up with weren't suitable for a beautiful girl like her. But one day he'd tell her, one day she'd listen, one day he'd make her smile and laugh.
"Smile for me, Samantha…"
The Joker suddenly twisted his thin body around in his seat to face the men in the back.
"Sooo, boys, who's hungry?"
…
Samantha got out of the middle of the street and stepped onto the sidewalk as people still ran past her.
She was deeply regretting what she'd said to Detective Stephens.
"Curse me and my guilty conscious!"
The sound of a motorcycle drew her attention.
She saw a red motorcycle coming her way. The driver pulled over and seemed to look directly at her, but it was hard to tell because of the helmet.
As if sensing her confusion, the man removed his head gear.
"Bruce?"
He motioned for her to come forward. "Get on!" he told her. Bruce didn't seem to be playing around.
"You know I don't like fast moving vehicles, Bruce."
His face grew stern and the tone in his voice surprised her. "Get on the bike."
Samantha hurried to him and threw a leg over the motorcycle. She sat down on the space Bruce provided for her and put her arms around his middle.
"Just hold tight and close your eyes," Bruce told her in a softer tone. He put his helmet back on and felt Samantha's arms tense.
The moment the bike moved away, her arms tightened around him with such intensity, it took him by surprise. She had more than just a mere 'dislike' of being on a fast vehicle. Bruce would have slowed down to ease her discomfort, but he had to get her away from there.
Samantha thought he was out for a joy ride, but that was the farthest thing from it.
The night before, when the double homicide had taken place, Bruce had gone there as Batman and found the entry point of a bullet in a brick wall. He had taken fingerprints off of it and discovered the owner of the bullet, Melvin White, had an apartment over looking the street the parade was to take place.
It was still morning, so Bruce couldn't go as the vigilante. Bruce Wayne could go out for a little 'joy ride' on his motorcycle though.
Bruce had located White's apartment and discovered a group of guards, stripped of their uniforms and guns. They were blindfolded; mouths tapped shut, and tied to a column in the room. A sniper scope was in front of a window with the blind half drawn.
When Bruce went to take a look at it, the blind suddenly lifted. The motion and sight of the sniper scope caught the attention of a cop on guard on a fire escape.
The cop fired just as the Honor Guards had, so it went mostly unnoticed.
The next thing Bruce knew, the Honor Guards were aiming at the Mayor. After that, everything had been a blur. He was out of the building and back on his motorcycle while the crowds had scattered. That's when he saw Samantha.
If the Joker was anywhere close by, Bruce knew he had to get her away.
As they sped through the streets, Samantha held on for dear life and buried her face into Bruce's leather jacket.
The motorcycle came to a halt, but Samantha didn't budge. Bruce craned his neck to look at her.
"Samantha, you can let go now."
Samantha lifted her head and took in her surroundings. They were in front of the building that had Bruce's pent house.
"Samantha?"
Bruce's voice brought her back to the fact that her arms were still tightly wrapped around his torso. She had some difficulty letting go, her muscles seemed to have locked up.
When she finally pulled away and hopped off the motorcycle, Bruce was looking at her intently. "Sorry about that, but when I saw you there and heard those gunshots-."
Samantha interrupted him. "Do you know what was happening?"
Bruce shrugged. "I was out riding and heard those guns going off. I was about to turn around but I saw you."
Something about his story didn't sound right.
"So you didn't know about the Joker's plan to kill the mayor?"
Bruce raised his eyebrows. "He what?" he asked in a confused voice. It was as if he didn't really care.
"Do you watch the news, Bruce?"
"Not really, maybe once or twice a week. It's so boring and depressing."
"Maybe you should start watching it more often. You could have been shot too, you know."
"The mayor was shot?"
"No, but Lieutenant Gordon was…he didn't make it."
A sudden change came over Bruce's face. "Gordon?" he asked as if he misheard her.
"Yeah, he jumped up to move Garcia and got the bullet instead."
Samantha watched Bruce closely. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, it's just…"
He wasn't about to tell her that Gordon was the Batman's only ally. He wasn't about to tell her that they were an unofficial team. But it wasn't just that he had lost an ally; he felt he had lost someone that was almost a friend.
"When my parents had been murdered, Gordon was there with me. He stayed by me until Alfred picked me up. He told me 'everything was going to be okay'…I don't know why but, out of all the cops who had told me the same phrase that night…he was the only one I believed. Because he was the only one who sounded like he truly cared. That memory of him always stayed with me."
Samantha was silent. What exactly could you say to someone after that?
Bruce Wayne was a puzzle. One moment he'd be the stuck up, play boy, billionaire Gotham knew him to be, the next he was ordering her to get on his bike so he could whisk her off to safety instead of turning around and saving his own butt.
It was almost like he was pretending to be something he wasn't. But why?
She never got to ask. Bruce slapped on a smile and asked her to join him in his pent house.
Well, she couldn't say no, not after what he had just shared with her.
When they walked inside, Alfred greeted them and offered to take Samantha's coat, scarf, and hat. Samantha removed the black sock hat and shook her blond hair free of any misplaced strands.
Now that everything was normal in the apartment, Samantha saw that it didn't seem as large as it had during the party. Probably because the furniture was back in place.
She cast a glance at the window the Joker had shattered and saw a new window pane had been installed.
Bruce stood still with his hands shoved inside his pockets as he watched her taking it all in.
Now was a great time to study her and find out what had caught the Joker's attention and why he let her live. He would try asking her questions that Batman would ask, but with Bruce Wayne's style. It had to be timed just right.
"What do you think?" he asked her.
Samantha turned to face him. "It's still huge. I think I could fit my whole apartment in this room alone at least four times," she laughed.
Bruce chuckled along with her. Alfred reappeared after taking care of Samantha's things.
"Alfred, could you make some lunch for me and Miss Samantha?"
"Of course, Master Wayne."
"Oh no, I really couldn't. I should be going back-," Samantha protested.
"Nah, come on. I need someone to talk to besides Alfred. No offense, Alfred."
"None taken, sir," the butler replied good naturedly.
Bruce looked back at Samantha. "Please?" Bruce begged, pouting his lips.
"I guess I could stay for lunch."
She ended up staying late into the afternoon talking with Bruce.
At first they joked around with each other and Bruce discovered Samantha's sense of humor. She had perfect timing for what to say and when to say it. He would find himself nearly in tears from laughing uncontrollably at a funny remark she said.
When he felt she was relaxed enough, he steered the conversation to her kidnapping.
Bruce noticed something about the way she told her story. Every time she would repeat what was spoken between her and the Joker, she would pause. The pausing caught his attention. It was as if she was replaying the entire conversation in her head and choosing what to say out loud. Something had been said between the two of them that Samantha was covering up. But what was it?
Bruce glanced over Samantha's shoulder outside the window to see the sky had grown dark and that the Bat Signal was on. It took him a moment to remember that Gordon was dead and that he couldn't be the one who had switched it on.
"Bruce?"
He turned his head back to Samantha. Whatever she said had gone unheard by him.
"Uh, sorry. I just remembered an important meeting I have to go to in a few minutes," he said and stood from the sofa. "You won't be upset that I can't walk you out? I have to get ready really fast."
Samantha opened her mouth to speak but Bruce cut her off.
"Thanks, we'll talk again some other time." He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek before hurrying off to his room.
Once inside, he went straight to the wall on his right and pressed his thumb against a certain spot. A panel of the wall opened up and he quickly ducked inside.
…
"What just happened?" Samantha asked herself out loud.
"What was that, Miss?"
Samantha saw Alfred appear from the kitchen. He scanned the area and looked at her with no change in his expression. "Where's Master Wayne?" he asked.
Samantha smiled and gave a half-hearted shrug. "He said he had an important meeting to go to and left," she explained.
Alfred glanced out the window and saw the Bat Signal. "I see." He smiled at her apologetically.
"Well then, I suppose I could walk you out?"
"That'll be fine."
"I'll get your things."
When he returned and Samantha had her jacket, scarf, and hat back on, Alfred led her to the elevator.
Just as Alfred was about to press the button, there was a ding and the doors opened up to reveal Rachel Dawes.
"Miss Dawes?" Alfred stepped aside to let her in.
"Is Bruce here?" she asked nervously.
"He left for a meeting," Samantha told her.
Rachel ran her eyes over Samantha and recognized her from the news. She turned her attention back to Alfred, but questions about why Samantha was there buzzed in the back of her brain.
"I need to stay here. Harvey called and said the Joker named me as his next target. He told me to stay with someone I could trust."
Alfred's eyes suddenly looked worried and now he seemed more like a grandfather instead of a butler.
"Of course, Miss Dawes. I'll see that the guest room is ready for you tonight."
Samantha began to feel uncomfortable and wanted to leave, but felt it would seem rude if she left at that moment. She caught Rachel staring at her again. She extended her hand out to Rachel.
"Samantha Reads."
"Rachel Dawes." Rachel grasped her hand, eyes never straying from Samantha's face. "I heard what you did at the party, about luring the Joker away."
"Word travels fast."
"Are you and Bruce dating?" Rachel asked suddenly.
"Uh, no; we're just friends."
"Funny, he's never mentioned you before."
"We were never close. He heard about my kidnapping and wanted to get to know me a little."
At the mention of her kidnapping the hostility lessened in Rachel's blue eyes. "Oh," she said.
An awkward silence followed.
"Miss Reads was just leaving," Alfred explained, breaking the tension.
"God bless you, Alfred," Samantha thought.
Alfred opened the elevator doors for her and Samantha gratefully stepped inside.
"It was nice meeting you, Miss Dawes," Samantha said over her shoulder.
The doors closed and she sighed in relief.
Hostility had practically been radiating off of Rachel the moment she saw Samantha. What had she done to her? Was she jealous about her and Bruce? Ha! Wasn't she dating Harvey?
The elevator slowly began to descend to the ground floor and Samantha thought about what Rachel had said.
Now Rachel was a target? Why? She was only an assistant to the district attorney. Did the Joker want to kill her because of his last failed attempt?
Wait… Assistant to the district attorney. Harvey Dent. Those two men with the last names that made 'Harvey Dent', then at the party he was looking for Dent…
Why was the Joker attacking Dent so much when he seemed to be obsessed with the Batman? Unless…
Did the Joker think Harvey Dent was the Batman?
(So there it is! Tell me what you think! I went through a lot of distractions to put this up. *looks at Joker with a glare* I hope you're happy... *Joker grins* Anyways, let's bring in those reviews! I love them just as much as hot chocolate!)