Chapter 9
Mara and Nicole were absolutely speechless. The Clown Prince of Crime, who they had helped sent back to the asylum and who they thought (and hoped) would never see again, had trapped them in the principal's office. Trapped like rats.
"H-how…" Mara stuttered, "…did you get out of Arkham?"
"It was too easy to escape that joint! I mean, those guards do not know when a trap is set. And I got out just to see my two favorite kids." He giggled as he stepped closer towards the girls, making them back away.
"How did you find us?" asked Nicole.
"I have my sources. I know almost everything about you two, so it wasn't hard to find you."
"Where are the office secretaries and our principal?" Mara questioned.
"Glad you asked. They all looked so serious, so I took the liberty to puts some smiles on their faces!"
The Joker walked to a storage room the principal used to put away confiscated items, and opened the door. Inside was the three office secretaries and Principal Thomas, tied up with huge grins on their faces, their eyes staring off into space. They looked dead, but you could barely see them breathing, as if they were trapped in their bodies. The whole scene is pretty horrifying. Nicole tried to keep herself from screaming while Mara tried to stop herself from throwing up.
The Harlequin of Hate laughed maniacally and, while the two girls were distracted by the gruesome image of the school employee victims, grabbed Nicole and Mara by each of their arms and pulled them out of the office and outside the emergency escape door, with his three henchmen waiting by a purple and green van.
"NO! LET US GO!" Nicole screamed.
"SOMEONE HELP US!" Mara also exclaimed.
The Joker handed the girls to his henchmen so they could tie them up, while he watched as the 14 year olds pointlessly struggled.
Once their hands were tied behind their backs, Joker walked up to the girls with two white pieces of cloth.
"And just to make sure no one will hear our little brats scream for help…" Joker proceeded to put the cloth near Nicole.
Right before he could cover Nicole's mouth, a batarang swooshed by and hit right into the van.
"Get away from the girls, Joker." A dark voice rang out from the roof. Everyone looked up to the location of the voice and saw none other than Batman, jumping to the ground and faced the evil clown, his henchmen, and his captives.
"Batsy Batsy. Always here to ruin my fun. Well not this time. Get him boys!"
Moe, Lar, and Cur ran at Batman and instantly started to swing their fists at him. It wasn't long before the obviously better fighter knocked down the henchmen, and stepped towards the Mogul of Mountebanks.
"You're going back to Arkham, Joker."
"That's what you think Batsy!" Joker yelled as he threw two little smoke bombs on the ground.
The air immediately became full of gas, making it nearly impossible to see. Both the girls and Batman started coughing, while the Joker and his now awake henchmen ran into the van, and began to drive away.
"Catch you later, kiddos!" the Clown Prince of Crime yelled out the window as his van drove far out of sight.
As soon as the gas started to fade out, Batman went over to the girls and pulled out a batarang. He used it to cut the ropes off their wrists.
"Are you two alright?" he asked as soon as the restraints were cut.
"Yeah, we're fine." Mara replied while she was rubbing her wrists.
"We run into you a little too much, don't we?" Nicole grinned.
The Caped Crusader smiled. "A little." He pushed a button on his belt, and within seconds, the Batmobile drove itself right in front of them. "We should go to police headquarters."
"Why?" Nicole asked.
"I don't think you two should be alone here." He pushed another button and the top of the car hissed, then opened.
Mara beamed. "Sweet! We get to go in the Batmobile!" Nicole then also grinned as they both got in the shadowy car, on their way to Gotham Police Department
….
As soon as the Clown Prince and his lackeys got back to the warehouse, the Joker grabbed the nearest object and threw it at the wall.
The Joker yelled in anger. "AUGHHH! I WAS SO CLOSE. I ALMOST HAD THOSE LITTLE BRATS IN MY GRASP, AND THE DORK KNIGHT SHOWS UP!"
The henchmen scurried into another room, not wanting to experience their boss's wrath.
As soon as the Joker stopped throwing stuff, he sat down at his desk.
"They were just lucky this time. Next time they won't be fortunate." He looked at the news article with the mentioned girls on it.
"You both will not get away next time." He stared at the grins of the kids' picture, like he was burning holes into it with his hate-filled eyes. "Count on it."
…...
Mara and Nicole sat in Commissioner Gordon's office, along with their parents. Nicole's mom had short dark brown hair and eyes. Mr. Travis had graying light brown hair, blue eyes and glasses. Mara's dad had grey hair, dark eyes and glasses, and her mom was blonde and had dark blue eyes. Both sets of parents looked worried. The teens could only sit and be quiet as the adults discussed what they were going to do about the situation.
"The girls probably shouldn't go home tonight. The Joker knew where they went to school, so he most likely knows where you live. He could take them in the middle of the night." The Commissioner said.
"Then what do you suggest? Should they go into a safe house or something?" Mrs. Rose questioned.
"Doubt that we will. The Joker is highly intelligent. If he can get information from secret databases to find where they go to school, he could find where they would be in a safe house."
"Then what should we do? A psycho is after our kids, and God knows what he wants to do to them!" Mrs. Travis exclaimed.
"Please calm down, ma'am. We don't exactly know what we are going to do at the moment. We need to place the children somewhere where it will be safe and the Joker wouldn't think to find them. We just need to find out where."
"Perhaps I can help." An unknown voice said.
Everyone looked to the door to see none other than Bruce Wayne, who had a brown suit and dark hair and eyes.
"Mr. Wayne! What are you doing here?" Mr. Travis asked, surprised to see his boss.
"I heard about the situation, and I wanted to see if I can help. If the two young ladies need somewhere to stay, I would be happy to volunteer. After all, my mansion is one of the safest places in Gotham. And I would of course want to help out the daughter of one of my best employees and her friend."
Mr. Travis scratched his head. "I don't know."
"I insist, Norman. They would be welcomed at my home. And I will make sure they would be safe. If it is alright with the commissioner."
Gordon nodded. "Wayne Manor is highly protected with security systems. And the Joker probably wouldn't think to look for them there. They would be the most safe there, Mr. and Mrs. Travis and Rose."
Both sets of parents shook their heads in agreement, taking the police commissioner's word. So it was decided that Mara and Nicole would stay at Wayne Manor.
"You folks should pack the girl's things and Mr. Wayne will pick them up tonight. And just to be safe, they probably shouldn't go to school either."
The teens jumped up in happiness. "Yes!"
"But to make sure they don't fall behind, we will send the homework to the mansion."
Both the girls sat down suddenly and glumly. "Awwww!"
All the adults chuckled, even Mr. Wayne.
Later, as the girls had their things packed and they had a moment of goodbyes and painful hugs, the two girls got in the back of the limo, with Mr. Wayne and Alfred holding the door.
"Good evening, young ladies. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, and I am the butler. I will be supervising you along with Master Wayne."
"Hi, I'm Nicole."
"'Sup, I'm Mara."
Alfred tipped his chauffer hat. "Charmed."
They sat in the back, Bruce talking with the adults outside. Nicole and Mara looked at each other, with slightly worried eyes.
"Man, this is so messed up. An insane criminal wants to kill us, and now we have to stay at my dad's boss's mansion. Totally weird day."Nicole sighed.
"No kidding. But hey, we get to stay at a mansion! I bet Christie would be so jealous."
"Very true."
Bruce Wayne got into the car, and the limo started off back to the mansion. Nicole and Mara were silent the whole trip there. When they finally got there, the girls got out of the limo and stared up in awe. The manor was freaking huge! They both had their mouths hung open, eyes wide and admiring of the super huge place they were going to stay at.
Bruce Wayne chuckled. "Yes it is pretty big, isn't it? Come on, I'll show you to your rooms."
The 14 year olds stopped staring and followed Bruce Wayne into the mansion.
The kids stared all over the main hallway.
"Whoa, this place is way bigger on the inside!" Mara exclaimed.
They followed the billionaire up the long staircase, turned right at a hallway then left, and then they stopped in front of a door. Mr. Wayne opened the door, and the young girls gasped. It was a huge, and not to mention, beautiful room. With blue curtains and a matching bed, with a beautiful shade of purple carpeting, it was absolutely perfect.
"This will be your room Nicole. Do you like it?"
Nicole was too speechless for words. She just shook her head in agreement.
"There is another bedroom that connects with this one, through that door there. That will be your room, Mara." He said pointing to a door on the right."
"Okey dokey." The before mentioned girl whispered, star struck at the room like Nicole.
Finally, Nicole snapped out of her daze. "Pillow fight!"
"Yeah!"
They ran into the room, bags still with them, and grabbed the humongous pillows and started hitting each other with them.
"I got you, sucka!"
"Oh no you don't!"
While they continued on with their very violent pillow war, the playboy/vigilante laughed to himself and closed the door. As he walked away, he was thinking about the whole situation with the girls.
"Things are going to get interesting around here."
….
With these two girls Bruce, it will definitely be interesting. Hope you all liked this chapter!