A/N: Thanks to Rocklaarts, Straight Edge Queen and Sapphobrazil for your reviews! I own nothing but Chelsea and the plot. Enjoy!
They had driven to downtown Gotham, Chelsea hadn't felt them going over a bridge as far as she could tell, so she knew they couldn't be in The Narrows. They drove into a large garage off an alleyway. Once inside, the van shut off and the back doors swung open.
"Welcome to my humble abode!" the Joker cooed as he pushed Chelsea into the garage area of their hideout, which because of its size, was obviously designed so a truck or two could fit in there. It felt relatively empty with the little currently contained in it.
Chelsea felt strangely disorientated not knowing where she was in the city, just knowing somewhere Downtown wasn't enough for her. The garage door behind them had now been shut.
Everyone began walking in the opposite direction of this door to the entrance which was through a green doorway. Looking around, so far the place wasn't as dodgy as Chelsea thought it was going to be. If it was a rundown warehouse like the other places outside seemed to be though, it would be all too cliché. They came to the end of the walk way where two doors stood. One of the men opened the right one and as it swung open Chelsea held back a groan as she saw behind there was a rundown warehouse. 'O no' Chelsea thought 'I'm going to be living on a wet floor with rats!'.
A couple of the men stepped through and placed a black plastic bag on the floor to the right of the doorway, they weren't paying her any attention. Through the whole trip to this place if she made eye contact with any of them they would look away almost disgusted. Stepping into the place it was cold, damp and breezy, topped off with a lingering smell of death.
In the middle of the room were a couple of broken chairs and chains which hung from the high ceiling. There was a dark corner on the far opposite side which the light didn't penetrate.
A few of the men were saying things to each other but Chelsea couldn't make out what it was, she was too busy staring at her surroundings in shock. She couldn't see any area which indicated people lived here though, which confused her.
The Joker who was watching her closely spoke, choosing his childish voice to do so "Ya like you're new place-sah, hrm?". He giggled and flapping his arms slightly when he saw the shock on her face, it obviously brought him great enjoyment to see her like this.
"O come on, smile Toots!" she forced a fake smile on her face not knowing why exactly. The others filed out the door and Chelsea continued to stare at the clown like he was crazy.
She was just about to speak when he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the door "Oh, ya should have seen the look on your face!" he expressed a little more calmly, but still far more excitedly than others would have done if they had said it to her.
He continued to drag her out of the door that they had entered through and Chelsea noticed the one next to it was now open. Relief flooded through her when she saw that through there an apartment-like area. The room itself had brown and green carpet with wallpapered dark brown walls. The doors were an almost-soothing forest green. It had the air of not being redecorated since it was first built.
There was no sunlight except for a trickle from an upstairs area above them. The florescent lights were just kicking in, they were also above them as both the upstairs area that Chelsea could see and this open space shared the same ceiling. The place smelled stale.
In the open plan living area there was a sitting area with chairs, a table and a few couches. She was surprised by how nice it actually was in there, although anything was nice after thinking she would be staying next door.
Some of the gang were grabbing beers out of the fridge, sitting on the couches and adjusting the television. They ignored her as the Joker moved around the room muttering something darkly to them all.
Looking around, Chelsea realised the building they were using was one of the early warehouses in the industrial area of Gotham. Here the workers produced parts or other items during the day in the factory space and then lived in the adjacent accommodation, usually with the bosses family living there upstairs as well. These days it was perfect for criminals so they could mix a little business and pleasure, so to speak.
Chelsea tuned back into what was going on around her. "Davies" the Joker snapped to a man who was sitting with his feet up on the table, a beer in hand. "Yeah, Boss?" he grunted.
"Show the newbie around" his voice was now business-like and low. With that he walked up a flight of stairs and disappeared. Chelsea heard footsteps and then a door slam. Man his mood could change quickly.
She looked over to Davies, he was tall with a stocky form, no neck and dark hair. He was wearing all black like all the other men. By the look on his face he definitely did not want to leave his comfy seat and beer to show the 'newbie' around.
In fact everyone in the room was staring at her, seemingly standing up for their friend. The news was droning on in the background but no one took any notice. They were quiet and staring at the woman with loathing on each of their faces. Chelsea stood there expectantly not knowing all of a sudden what to do with her hands. She decided to rest them beside her for now.
There were eight of them, all men. A few were quite skinny while others were fairly stocky. All had a rough, angry look about them like they had something to prove, or at least used to.
Chelsea shuffled on the spot not wanting to be the first one to speak. After a short time her wish was granted. "Just so know, Sweetheart" one started, taking one step forward and putting his beer down loudly on the table. He was clearly the oldest of the men and had his light, sandy coloured hair in a buzz cut. She'd earlier heard someone called him Rex, the name sounded like it had a story behind it and Chelsea had no desire to hear its origin tonight.
"We have earned our places here. By that I mean we have killed, robbed and been hated all our lives" he bared his teeth at this "and to tell you the truth, we don't like the fact you're here. We don't like the fact our boss has an interest in you. In short" he seemed to grow darker as he leant forward "We don't, like, you". The others were all staring at her just as intently as this man. They waited for her response.
"That's, ah" she was having trouble getting the words out of her constricted throat. Her face, neck and chest grew warm. "I hope, that...changes then". The Joker was right about his men not liking her. If he knew this would happen why didn't he introduce her or sit them down to warn them not to touch her? Why did he have to run off like that?
All the standing men in front of her took a step closer to the brunette. She stood her ground, freaking out inside. "And what are you going to do, Lovely, to change our minds? We've heard things. The Boss doesn't often give us details, we just do what he says. So, we, ah, compensate. Keep our ears close to the ground, ya know?". If he was trying to be intimidating he was succeeding.
"Maroni and the rest of them mobsters want you dead. When the mob want something they usually get it. We are all wondering, ya see, why they want this so badly?" he indicates to her, they don't break eye contact. "We know you won't answer so the next question is: As the mob always finish the job when a hit is out on someone, what makes you think you're any different?" a couple of the men call out in agreement with the blondes questioning. Others rub their knuckles seemingly pleased to be able to sit back and let this man do the questioning...and thinking.
Chelsea was going to be with these people a lot from now on so it was time to stand her ground.
"Well" she started off confidently which counteracted the fear gripping her chest. "You're right, I won't tell you. But, I wouldn't be here if the boss didn't see a bit of you guys in me" her insides recoiled as she realised it was probably true.
"I went through a few tests to be here, so, give me a chance, see what I can do" she displayed open palms to them, she'd read somewhere, in what felt like an age ago, that it displaced sincerity or something "And, if you have a problem I'm sure the boss would be understanding and let you talk to him about your feelings". She gave them a small smile hoping they would return it. Instead they looked up at the sandy haired man, obviously seeing him as a leader when the man in purple wasn't around.
"Jokes?" he smirked, the others now they felt they had permission and did the same. "Something tells me you won't last long around here, Sweetheart" he continued "You may be used to the everyday people on the street. But us, the other gangs, you can't be so 'cute' with. We aren't you're everyday people, Love. Society doesn't want us. We will hurt you".
They heard a door slam upstairs followed by loud footsteps. Thankful for the distraction Chelsea turned towards the noise. The Joker walked down the staircase looking up at everyone. The men scrambled to watch the TV or get another beer from the fridge as he entered the area. If he could feel the tension in the air he didn't show it.
Sweeping over to the fridge and pulling out a large in descript brown bottle, he walked to over to where he was standing earlier, twisting off the bottle lid and pocketing it as he went. He had a very commanding aura when he was like this, Chelsea felt. Maybe back at the hideout he felt he didn't need to put up an entertainers act and felt a dark, firm hand would be better to get the job done? Or maybe this is what he's actually like?
He looked around at his men, all eyes on their unpredictable boss who stood with his shoulders slightly hunched over, raised somehow. "Bon-ding?" came his nasal drawl. He paused eyeing every crony, but no one responded. Some men looked fearful, others just at their feet.
He shook his head, setting his shoulders back and began walking up the stairs where he growled angrily not stopping "Just show her the place and lock her in the room!" above them the door slammed again.
At the bottom of the staircase Chelsea was shown a room they used for small meetings which was next to the little kitchen and at the base of the stairs. On the inside it shared a door into the warehouse.
On the other side of the living room where they had all been standing, opposite the kitchen, was a long room in which all of the cronies slept. They didn't take her in there.
At the far end of the open area was the staircase which took them up to a balcony style open hallway area which was littered with doors. There was a balustrade so you could look over and see downstairs but you couldn't see the doors along the corridor from downstairs.
As they reached the top of the stairs there was a door and they told her never to go in there, they didn't even know what was in there, or so they said. Next to that was a walk in cupboard with rows and rows of weapons. Davies reminded her there was a room next to their sleeping area where there were even more weapons. She was sure that was a threat more than anything.
After stepping out of that area Chelsea looked ahead along the corridor, if you kept walking and turned left you could go through a door which would take you out to the balcony in the warehouse.
They kept walking on and stopped outside the last door. There were bits lifted in the wood and parts chipped out of the frame where blades had obviously been thrown into them. "And this is the boss's room. You do NOT go in there under any circumstances". She nodded looking at the chunks of split wood. Inside, all was quiet from what she could tell.
"Now" Davies pulled her across to the door they had missed between the first one at the top of the stairs and the gun cupboard. "This is your room. Your bags are already in there. You're going to be locked in. Don't EVER try to break out of here" she nodded lightly wondering why she was being locked in if she was here under her own free will?
He opened the door and shoved her in. She stumbled and turned around ready to see the door slammed shut in her face. She heard the lock click, suddenly she felt caged, trapped. The feeling was mental and physical.
After a few minutes Chelsea gave up in her hope the door would be unlocked and looked around her room. There was yellow, peeling wallpaper that looked somewhat floral and a double bed on a decaying wooden frame. On the right wall there was a frosted window which was painted shut and a wall robe on the left hand wall. Next to this was a small en suite with a shower, basin and toilet. 'At least I have somewhere to wash' she thought.
She sat around for a few hours taking out her things that she had brought with her to this place. She had enough clothes to last her a while and she tidied up the whole room pretty quickly.
After a while it grew dark outside and Chelsea heard plates crashing down stairs. 'Good' she thought 'I'm starving'. Around an hour after this she had lost hope of joining the others for dinner. Back to sitting on her bed aimlessly she heard the key in the lock and jumped off the bed.
Davies silently walked forward with a plate of food, dropping it on her bed and in doing so letting a few peas roll into her blankets. Chelsea picked up the ham steak on her plate and twisted it scathingly in front of her face, it was stone cold and looked barely edible. She was about to give Davies a piece of her mind when she heard her door being locked again. "Shit..." she sighed.
After eating half her meal, she force fed herself most of it, she dumped the plate at the foot of her bed. She was bored. How could she be expected to stay here like this? Maybe she should have taken Commissioner Gordon up on his offer of protection? 'No, the mob would have found me and killed me before I knew what was happening'. She sighed again. After a while her lock clicked open but the door didn't budge.
Eventually Chelsea walked down stairs to leave her plate in the kitchen. The eight men were sitting around the table. The couch was now facing towards the door away from the stairs.
"So" Rex began "your boyfriend is one of us? Well, not the same boss, but you know, one of us".
"Yeah I guess is. And he's not my boyfriend" she stood defiantly, one hand on her hip.
"We heard he was, and from a, um, reliable source" he always looked so...smug.
"Well your source is wrong. I broke up with him. Once he wakes up from his coma, he'll know. All sorted". Chelsea walked over and placed her plate in the sink running some water over it. The people here really didn't seem to like doing the dishes, they were stacked everywhere on the bench top. She walked back and saw Rex looking at her up and down licking his lips suggestively. She shuddered and he put his finger up to his lips to 'shhh' her.
"Look blondy" she began, getting very angry, his smile fell and he shook his head. "We didn't get off on the right foot. For some reason you don't like me". She lent on the chair in front of her now she had reached the table. "I will be nice to you, I will work with you. However, I will not bend over fucking backwards to try to impress you!"
He stood up and the man next to him grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back into his chair again. He struggled, accepting it but raised his voice "You listen here-"
"No!" she screamed and looked upstairs, the Joker's door was shut. "You listen here! I'm not going to be bullied by you. I don't want to here in the first place, I've got the clown on my back, almost literally and-" the men all looked at each other scared now, some looked over the couch towards the door "I don't need you men giving me crap too! I'm either one of you or I'm not. If not..." she grabbed a gun from the pocket of the guy next to her and slid it across the table to Rex "then just get me now". They all looked from Rex to the gun, then to Chelsea. She looked around at all of them, not really feeling as courageous as she probably looked. "No takers? Then leave me the fuck alone". With this she walked upstairs. It was now time for her to go to bed.
From behind his men the Joker's head popped up over the couch as he looked up the stairs. Chelsea was already back into her room. He had been listening the whole time. How...interesting, he thought laying back down, mind still turning.
Chelsea woke up and groaned. She had been tossing and turning with occasional passages of sleep. It must have been around three in the morning.
Moonlight was spilling into her room, muted slightly by her frosted window. Then she saw it and sat up, suddenly more awake. About five feet from the end of her bed was the Joker sitting on a small wooden chair. He was just staring at her sitting low and leaning back in the chair, legs splayed. Her eyes were open wide in fear, had he finally decided to kill her? Looking she saw he didn't have knife in his hand but that could easily be in this jacket pocket.
"Um, hi?" she said shakily. He kept staring, unmoving. "Umm, how long have you been there?" she pulled the blankets right up to her neck and as she did this near the end of her bed she heard a pea or two drop to the ground, that didn't matter right now.
Finally he opened his mouth. "You talk in your sleep" he mumbled passively. She kept staring straight back at him.
"Ah, umm, ok. I didn't know that". Nothing. What a strange thing to say.
"Do you know what you said?" he almost whispered, slowly flicking a tongue over his lips. She shuddered at this action. Chelsea tried to remember what she was dreaming about, but she couldn't. All she could remember was waking up every so often throughout the night feeling restless but quickly getting back to sleep. "...no. I have no idea what I said".
He didn't move, he didn't even nod. The Joker was always scary when he was jumping around laughing or yelling manically. But this was something else, this was beyond just scary.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" she had to break the silence and was a little ashamed to hear how small and panicky her voice sounded all of a sudden.
Eventually he said "I'm going out tomorrow, I won't be back until the evening. Don't leave this room even if my men tell you to. Understand?" she nodded.
He didn't get up and leave like Chelsea thought he would. She knew she would have to indicate that the conversation was over. The conversation which he had obviously come in for. "I'm going to go back to sleep now" and she sank slowly lower into her covers not taking her eyes off him "I-I guess I'll see you tomorrow night". He didn't move.
Again neither broke the eye contact. "Go back to sleep" he urged, finally speaking again "I'll leave once you start a-snoozin'". He licked his lips again and had such a, was it almost peaceful? look on his face.
Glaring at him she then obediently dropped back down to her pillow and snuggled into her blankets.
Shaking in silent fear a tear ran down her face and dripped off her nose as she prayed that she'd reach the morning, this what not what she expected of her time here, nothing like it at all.
A/N: I'm not going to beg for reviews. I'm only going to say I've heard it's good karma! :D I hope you like it, let me know.