Chapter Six: Not Done Yet

'Bruce is going to go apeshit,' Lindsey mused as she, Monica, and Dominic waited after school at the lakeside boat docks owned by Angela's father. They had each gotten a text from John saying they needed to talk.

Soon enough, Aubrey and Ian arrived.

"Hey guys," Aubrey greeted sweetly, "Is John here yet?"

"And is there any point to this?" Ian added angrily. Lindsey reframed from smirking at the polar opposite pair. Aubrey was short, blond, sunny, sweet, and happy while Ian was tall, wore all black, and had a scowl permanently etched on his face. She had to wonder how exactly Aubrey was able to befriend him.

"Yes, Gregor, there is a point to this," John sneered as he and Angela approached the group.

Monica folded her arms and leaned against a crate behind her, "Can we get to it?"

John glared at her before speaking again, "Obviously, something freaky is going on-"

"Not you too," Monica groaned, "Did Barbie brainwash you into thinking the Joker was going to come after each one of us who survived his attack at Nick's?"

Angela spat out, "It's too big of a coincidence to pass off as nothing. How about you open your eyes instead of your mouth for once?"

"Ok," Monica retorted with a fake smile in a mock cheery tone of voice, "Right after you open your ears instead of your legs for once. We are not going to be picked off by the clowns."

John pushed Angela back before she could charge at Monica. "You can catfight later," he hissed, "Right now, we need to figure out how to not be killed."

Ian grunted, "By being out here at sunset? Great thinking jockstrap."

Aubrey put a hand on Ian's arm and said calmly, "John, I understand, but what can we do? All we're doing now is fighting."

Ian glared at John, who glared right back, and announced, "Exactly. I'm leaving." He pivoted on his heel and trudged back toward his car. Aubrey sent the others an apologetic look before running after him.

Lindsey watched as John's anger turned to relief. He almost smiled as he told them, "Ok…ok, that's good. Those two will be next and we'll have more time-"

"What is wrong with you?" Monica shouted. Lindsey thought about trying to calm her, but had the feeling the effort would be futile. To her left, Dominic was rocking back and forth, looking as if he were about to cry.

She glanced over to where Monica, John, and Angela were arguing and directed her attention back to the quiet boy. She gently placed her hand over his, "Dominic?"

"I can't die like this," he choked out, "I can't…I…I have a scholarship to Harvard law…to be killed like Claire and Nick…that's, it's just the worst way to go!"

Lindsey stared up at Monica long enough for her to feel eyes on her and turn away from the other two. Lindsey nodded toward Dominic, who was nearing his breaking point.

John and Angela quieted as Monica approached Dominic. Before she could try to say any soothing words, he jumped up to his feet, pulling a gun out of his pocket.

Lindsey scampered backwards until she hit another crate. Angela tried to cling to John but he shoved her aside. She went to stand next to Lindsey instead.

"Dom," Monica started, "Why do you have a gun?"

Dominic by now was hyperventilating, "I can't…Monica, I can't let him take my life…I gotta do it before he does."

"Give me the gun, man," John ordered in a surprisingly soft and shaking tone. Dominic laughed nervously as he cocked the gun.

"Oh my God," Angela squeaked. After watching Monica and John try to wrestle the gun out of Dominic's hands for a few seconds longer, Lindsey decided she could no longer stand and wait to see if he would indeed shoot himself. She made a quick excuse to Angela before running off to where she parked her car.

Almost as soon as her blue Bug was in sight, Lindsey felt a harsh tug at her arm. A hand clamped over her mouth and was pulled back against a sturdy wall of chest.

"You won't want to miss this, little one," a scratchy male voice hissed in her ear, which Lindsey immediately recognized once again as the Joker's.

He easily yanked her petite frame roughly to the side so that Ian and Aubrey were in her line of sight. They were standing by a red car she assumed was Aubrey's. Ian was leaning against the hood and Aubrey was standing in front of him to the side of the car.

Before she knew it, Lindsey was watching as a black Sedan came speeding down the road and pinned Aubrey against her car. The Joker cackled and let Lindsey go as she screamed. He strutted over to Ian, who was being restrained by the man who drove the assaulting car.

Unable to watch this scene as well, Lindsey turned to go warn the rest of the group but froze at the sound of a gunshot.

Did it come from the Joker or Dominic?

She raced back to the docks, only to find a weeping Dominic with Monica rubbing his back, Angela squatting next to Monica, and John watching with a blank stare.

"Guys," Lindsey shouted, "It's Aubrey! And Ian! They're here!"

John's eyes narrowed in confusion, but Monica seemed to understand what Lindsey was saying. She reached up and shoved John, "They're being attacked! Go help!"

"Why can't you…"

"Damn it, John! Go!"

John jogged back to the scene with Lindsey, but they were apparently too late. Aubrey was lying limp and lifeless on the ground. Lindsey looked down the road to see the black Sedan already driving off in the distance. Why hadn't the Batman come? Didn't he usually arrive at these types of crime scenes at exactly the right time?

John reached down and turned Ian on his back from his face down position on the road. He had been shot in the chest.

Lindsey began weeping, but John remained stoic. Both could only stare at the pair's gray, lifeless, unrecognizable forms even after only minutes of death. Aubrey's zombie like state made Lindsey yearn for the sunny sometimes annoyingly peppy Catholic girl and Ian's frightened, vulnerable face haunted her.

"Do you believe me now?" John asked quietly after a minute of tense silence. Lindsey nodded frantically. She wouldn't bother telling him she never did doubt his theory.

"I gotta go," she sobbed, "I'll get Gordon…we won't be getting reception out here."

John's eyes never left the alien versions of Ian and Aubrey as he nodded once to acknowledge that he heard her.

Lindsey stumbled back to her car and shakily started it. She pulled out and drove down in the opposite direction as the Sedan, which was driving toward the Narrows.

As she turned the corner to drive down the alleyway she used as a shortcut to the docks, she noticed a dark figure outlined by the sunset near the entrance. She stopped the car and approached the man. Sure enough, she was face to face with the Batman.

"Where were you?" she asked. When she got no response, she yelled, "Where the hell were you? Two people… two more people are dead! He killed them! You weren't there again!"

He remained unfazed by her tantrum and instead reached out to take her arms. She tried to push him away, but he managed to get her in a strong hold. Finding efforts futile, Lindsey stopped trying to fight him off and sobbed into his hard chest, "They're dead…he killed two more of us…oh God I could be next! I could be next."

"No, you won't" he answered strongly in his gravelly voice and held her out at arm's length, "I'll make sure of it."

Lindsey immediately had a recollection of what Bruce had promised her along those same lines but shook the feeling off. He anger at the proclaimed Dark Knight took precedence over familiarity toward him.

"Like you made sure of Aubrey and Ian's safety? Or Claire? Or Nick? You're just a man in a cape and armor! What the hell can you do?"

He disregarded her outburst and motioned toward her car, "Go home."

Lindsey wanted so much to continue telling him off, but felt the need to do just as he ordered. Not before informing Gordon, of course.

"Bruce you should've seen it," Lindsey said through tears when Bruce came back home and requested her side of the story he heard from Gordon, "The car…it just smashed her. He made me watch it!"

"Joker?" he asked softly, giving her shaking hands a gentle squeeze. Lindsey nodded, "I heard a gunshot when I went to get the others. I thought he'd be there, but he wasn't."

"Who?"

"Batman…I don't know, I just…I heard the gunshot and hoped…it sounds so stupid now," she reprimanded herself.

Bruce allowed her to cry on his shoulder, "It doesn't. It was beyond your control."

"The rest of them got home safe though, right?" she asked. He moved her so he could look her in the eyes, "Yes. That's the good news."

Lindsey sighed and looked down at the ground, "The bad news?"

"Principal Houser called," he started, "You and the rest of them have been declared a threat to other students."

"So I'm expelled?" Lindsey asked loudly, "How can he do this? Why can't he just close the school for a week or something? A student was murdered there! It's not our fault!"

Bruce silently allowed her to continue, not wanting to further upset her. She took a few deep breaths before asking, "What…what did you say when he told you?"

"I called your mother. She was outraged."

"What did you say?" she repeated gravely, "Anything?"

"Lindsey, there was nothing-"

"Just go," she whispered barely loud enough for him to hear. The quiet command was effective, though. He explained that he and Alfred would be out for an hour or two and that Abby should be asleep. She made no notion to show she heard him.

A round of thunder woke Lindsey up that night. The clock on her nightstand read 2:00 in the morning. She looked to her doorway, fully prepared for Abby to come sprinting in. She was deathly afraid of thunderstorms.

When her sister didn't show up, Lindsey grew concerned and padded into Abby's room.

"Oh shit," she whispered when she was greeted with a very messy but empty room. She ran into the neighboring rooms, checked the bathrooms, and her own room. In a panic she began to check the cabinets and closets.

"Abby?"

She shouted her name in each section of the penthouse, but to no avail. She then sprinted into the only room she hadn't checked, Bruce's room

"Abby? Please, come on say something," she begged, desperately choking back tears. How could she lose her sister in a supposed safe place?

A few whimpers brought the nearly hyperventilating girl's attention underneath the bed. Sure enough, she found a pair of teary nine-year-old eyes.

"Oh my God, Ab. You scared me! What are you doing?"

Abby's answer came in a rushed whisper, "Hiding from the clown people."

"Clown people?" Lindsey repeated skeptically. This wouldn't be the first little charade Abby pulled on her.

The sound of breaking glass broke her train of thought. She told Abby to stay in the room and lock the door when she left. She tip toed out into the hallway and continued into the kitchen. Seeing no sign of intruders, she quickly pulled a knife from the drawer.

Lindsey ducked behind the counter when she heard approaching footsteps. Two male voices spoke to each other in hushed murmurs she couldn't fully comprehend as actual words.

She waited until she heard them pass her by before letting out a silent, shaking breath. Looking straight forward, she cringed and ducked further to the ground when she saw the mirror right in front of her.

Unfortunately, the men noticed it as well. One had come around on each side of the island and closed her in. Lindsey sprang to her feet and tried to push past the one nearest to the doorway, but he managed to catch her arm in a vice grip. She yelped and pushed the knife into his hand.

The man gasped in pain and released her. Lindsey immediately sprinted out of the kitchen, knowing the other one was right on her heals. She made a beeline for the living room and swung the door behind her, resulting in the satisfying sound of wood hitting the body behind her.

Using her borrowed time wisely, Lindsey ran straight for Bruce's office, shutting doors behind her and tossing things out of her way as she went.

She arrived at the almost pitch black office and searched for anything she could use as a weapon. As she was rushing around, she stepped on the hammer Bruce had been using to put his new desk together. She clamped a hand tight over her mouth to keep from yelling out in pain, feeling the bottom of her foot bleed. She picked the hammer up and held it to her as she scrambled under the desk.

A few seconds later, the door flew open. Both men came storming in.

"Well get the lights!"

"But if she's not here, she'll know where we are!"

"She's here, dumbass! Little bitch is gonna pay for this…"

Lindsey assumed the more hostile sounding one was the one she stabbed. She clutched the hammer closer to her chest and bit her lip at the stinging pain in her foot.

She listened as they rummaged through the room and began crawling out from under the desk as they approached. As soon as she saw the shadow of one, she jumped up and drove the claw end of the hammer into his stomach.

He doubled over in pain and the other one stood in shock. She used the stall to push past him and run back toward a spare room she remembered had a fire escape. The men had turned on the lights in the house as they chased after her, which was both good and bad for her.

She had been able to see their faces for what little good that did for her. They were both wearing clown masks, but she'd been able to hear their voices well enough. They sounded somewhat familiar, but she couldn't figure out where else she'd heard them.

Lindsey made a sharp turn down one of the hallways and ran straight into one of the clown men. Judging by the way he was cradling a bleeding hand, she concluded she'd hammered the "nice" one and was now face to face with the angrier one.

He growled and shoved her backwards into one of the guest bedrooms. She fell to the ground with her back against the bed. The man stalked up to her and pulled her up to her feet, only to shove her back onto the bed.

Lindsey screamed and lashed out at him, knowing what he could try to do. As he pushed her wrists flat against the sheets, she poised to jerk her knee between his legs, but soon found she didn't have to.

A gun shot stopped the both of them. Lindsey looked out from underneath her assailant to see another clown type figure standing in the doorway. This one however was wearing makeup instead of a mask. Lindsey immediately knew who he was.

"Now," he began as if he were lecturing a misbehaving kindergarten class, "Did I tell you to rape the girl?"

Lindsey attacker briefly glanced at her before looking back to the boss.

"No…" he answered softly.

"Then why are you still on top of her?"

"She stabbed me!"

The boss man eye's seems to darken. He raised his gun and promptly shot his follower instead of the wall as he had previously done.

Lindsey shouted in both horror and disgust as his blood sprayed on her from the fatal shot in the chest.

The Joker sighed and stashed away the gun, taking slow deliberate steps toward the frozen Lindsey.

"Do you know what I hate more than anything, Miss Brooks?"

Lindsey recoiled at the use of her name. The question was polite, but coming from him sounded more taunting and sinister. Still trying to catch her breath, she managed to shake her head in a negative response.

Joker finally stopped at the bed and roughly pulled her to her feet. "People without manners. Very irritating," he drawled, repeating himself from Nick's party.

But you just broke into the house.

Lindsey braced herself for the fatal blow. Claire, Nick, Aubrey, and Ian each died after an encounter with this man. Now here he was in her temporary home…with her little sister hiding somewhere else.

"Please don't hurt her," she pleaded in a hoarse whisper. The Joker chuckled, "The little ones aren't as pleasing. They don't take much blood loss to croak. You and that mouthy little friend of yours- I'm saving the both of you for last. By then, you'll be begging for it."

Lindsey could feel herself let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in at the sound of police sirens approaching.

Joker just chuckled and hissed in her ear, "You tell them I'm not done yet. Goodnight!"

Before Lindsey could question the "goodnight," he'd taken a step away from her, only to punch her across the face, sending her reeling back and hitting her head on the wooden bed frame. The last thing she heard before blacking out was the Joker's maniacal, bloodcurdling laugh.