Chapter Fifteen: Another Lesson
"You don't know where the hell you're going do you?" Lindsey stated rhetorically from her slouched position against the dirt wall, "And you haven't told me who the hell you are and why the hell you're helping me."
"Using 'the hell' three times in a row tends to weaken your credibility," the man answered as he circled himself with his dying flashlight. Lindsey snorted and allowed herself to close her eyes. The man hadn't made one move when they encountered a fork in the tunnel.
The echoing sound of chilling laughter startled her out of her daze. The man's now dim flashlight brought the Joker into view. He shoved the man aside and approached Lindsey in the darkness.
"Cursing is a terrible habit. It taints such a pretty little mouth."
Lindsey gasped as she was yanked to her feet and pressed against the wall. The light from the flashlight was now just a pencil thin ray.
"Hey," the man started shakily, "Look…you just need her to get the batman here. You don't need to hurt her."
"You see, little one," the Joker continued, "The lesson I've been trying to teach you is one of etiquette. And good manners are lacking in our friend, James, right here. You know what that means, Leslie?"
Lindsey whimpered as the Joker's grip on her face and hair tightened. She heard the man he'd just called James emit a low growl at the mention of the name Leslie, but could think no further of it. Joker leaned in a whispered, "He's no friend of mine."
Lindsey was released just as the flashlight died, leaving all three in complete darkness. James screamed in pain, which caused Lindsey to blindly sprint in any direction, James's further anguished cries and sinister cackling only increasing her footfall.
"Why are we doing this? We didn't have to sneak out. My dad will send every SWAT team after us, not just Gotham's," Angela rambled nervously from the passenger seat of Monica's father's car, which she innocently "borrowed." When Monica didn't answer, Angela snapped, "Well?"
"These men ahead of us were wearing clown masks. They must be the clown men working for the Joker. We may have a shot at finding out where Lindsey is since the law can't. Now just shut up and let me…ah crap!"
Monica slammed the break as the hooded figure of a pedestrian came to view. The old Honda Accord skidded to a halt just inches away from the person. Monica dared to breathe and relinquish her white knuckled grip on the steering wheel long enough to shift the car into park. Angela slowly slid her hands down from their position over her eyes and face.
With his back to the girls, the walker moved at a sluggish pace down the street and up onto the sidewalk. Monica leaned her head back against her seat and emitted a few short, shaking laughs. Angela stared at the other girl incredulously before joining her.
Their relieved laughter was cut short by a large pick up truck slamming into the driver's side of the smaller car.
Lindsey cursed loudly and kicked the nearest wall. Not surprisingly, she was hopelessly lost in the pitch black tunnel.
"Son of a…give me daylight!" she grumbled weakly.
"I couldn't agree with you more," the Joker cut in, "This won't do at all." Lindsey flinched as a harsh light flicked on from behind her. The Joker stepped around her to reveal a video camera with a massive flashlight crudely duct taped on top.
"Now, your bat buddy is having some difficulty finding you. I'm very disappointed. We'll have to give him a little clue."
He turned the camera lens to face himself, "And that will not involve the uh, consciousness of the girl."
The left hook he delivered sent Lindsey to the ground, but very much conscious. Lying on her left side, she brought her right arm over her face as the luminescent beam hovered over her.
"But if she wishes to be stubborn, that's her decision. You know, little one, I really wish you had some more respect for yourself. Had you made it just a few feet more, you would've found yourself free in the old subway system your late friend spoke of."
Lindsey rolled further onto her side, nearly on her stomach as the Joker squatted over her. "Care to comment? You should be screaming for help right now. People might think you're faking this whole victim thing if there's no screaming."
Lindsey felt herself being rolled onto her back. The Joker stood up, still with one foot on either side of the girl. "Maybe I should be a teacher. With every step of our journey, I find more and more ways to incorporate little life's lessons. This one involves children and the whole concept of being seen and not heard."
He delivered a swift kick to Lindsey's stomach, causing her to cry out and groan in pain. "The opinions of the younglings are often necessary. Take this sweet apple dumpling here. She's in pain. She's making quite a bit of noise to show for it."
Lindsey was then yanked up to her feet, giving her a sense of déjà vu. She staggered when he let her go and could only stare as he spoke into the camera again. "Now, I'm expecting the Batman to show up within twelve hours or the remaining little ones like this duckling right here will die."
Lindsey's breath was caught in her throat as the Joker's laugh filled her ears. He stared down at her as he shut off the camera and hit the light.
Angela growled in frustration when her phone continued to lack any service. At the same time, her vision would sporadically blur resulting from her head making brute contact with the window upon the crash.
Monica on the other hand was still out cold. Angela tried once again to rouse her. "Monica, come on. I need your help," she pleaded, very lightly shaking her by the shoulder, "Mon, please!" No response.
"Shit," she cursed, observing that the truck had the Cruiser pinned between it and a broken light post that looked like it was about to topple over any given second. The thought on its own prompted Angela to devise an escape plan.
"Monica, get your ass up or I'll have to drag you out of here and if you become paralyzed for the rest of your life and try to sue me I will countersue you for being difficult!"
"Will you even be able to get your ass through the back window?" Monica grumbled in reply. Angela inwardly sighed in relief, but snapped back, "About freaking time, you idiot."
Monica only nodded with an eye roll before unclipping her seatbelt. Both girls had gotten to the back seat just as the light post began tipping.
"Shit, move it!" Monica ordered before hitting the rear window with an ice scraper. Angela assisted in pushing out the rest of the glass when Monica made a break and they managed to crawl onto the trunk just as the pole fell on top of both vehicles.
"See," Angela pointed out after a few seconds of the girls catching their breath on the sidewalk, "That would've been you."
Monica scoffed, "As if you would've figured out to use the scraper to bust the window? You'd be hitting it with your own head before that thought even occurred to you."
"At least I would've had a head you Sleeping…Ugly!"
"Sleeping Ugly?"
Angela glared at Monica before realizing the latter was laughing. "Oh shut up," she mumbled, which only sent Monica into a further fit of giggles. Angela was about to retort with a snippy comment, but a woman's voice sounded from the building they were sitting in front of.
"Girls, you best come in. The creeps come out this time of night."
The girls each whipped their heads around to see a woman who appeared to be in her early forties standing in the doorway of an old inn. She looked friendly enough, casually dressed in jeans and a sweater with auburn hair pulled halfway up. Angela immediately sprung to her feet and rushed inside. Monica followed hesitantly.
The woman nodded toward the wrecked vehicles, "Which one's your car?"
"The little one," Monica replied dryly as she stepped in through the doorway. The woman sighed and shut the door behind them, "I knew that pole would be trouble. I'm not sure whose truck that is though. I'll go ahead and call Ray for the tow truck."
Angela marveled at the quaint setup of the front lobby. While the inn was nothing exquisite, she would never have expected to find such a comfortable place in the Narrows. She took a seat comfortably on the couch stationed in front of a small TV, Monica glaring at her the whole time.
Monica, contrary to her companion, hadn't allowed herself to go at ease since regaining consciousness. She listened to the woman leave a message to "Ray" about the wreck and then set the phone back on the hook.
"Do you girls want me to call your parents first of the police?"
Angela by then had felt the effects of hitting her head against the window and was dosing off. Monica only stared at the woman, who then felt it necessary to introduce herself.
"I'm Serena Strauss. I own the place. Sort of a refuge for the poor unnative souls who get stranded here."
Monica nodded, "Um… could you hold off on either?"
Serena quirked an eyebrow and asked, "Any particular reason?"
"None that I think I can tell you."
Instead of being offended, Serena only snorted. "Oh, sweetheart, you remind me of me when I was your age. And that Ray right now in his 20 years."
"Who's this Ray dude?" Monica asked, more out of annoyance than curiosity. "Ray Bristol," Serena replied simply, "He's my nephew. He's got a repair shop a little ways from here – deeper into the Narrows…what'd you say your names are?"
"I didn't," Monica answered, seeming to grow more comfortable with the older woman, "Monica DuPriest. Blondie's Angela."
Serena fell silent, studying both girls. Monica immediately regretted not using some sort of alias. Curiously, the one emotion she could detect in Serena's now tense stance was fear. Of what, she could not possibly imagine.
"Sorry dear," she said after what felt like an eternity of silence, "I'll have to be calling someone- before Ray gets here."
Monica rushed over to where Serena was standing and grabbed the phone from her hands, "What are you talking about? And what the hell does this Ray asshole have to do with anything?"
"This Ray asshole has to do with everything," Serena snapped back as she set the phone on the hook again, "At least now. If you two are who I think you are, then you're here in some stupid suicidal attempt to save your little friend."
"How do you-"
Serena held up a shushing hand and placed the key on the countertop, "Just take your friend to room 12 upstairs. I'll explain everything there."
Monica glanced back at Angela, who was passed out on the couch. She then stared back up at Serena. There was no way to tell if this woman could be trusted as of yet, but Monica had declared to herself from the beginning that this Joker was not going to be the end of her.
She could only hope Lindsey and Angela had the same mindsets.
Oh how I do love confusing you!