Disclaimer: Batman is owned by DC Comics and whoever else owns it. I in no way claim it as my own; I'm just borrowing. Any OCs are mine and the plot is also mine, except for anything from TDK.
A/N: Another chapter done. Yaaay!
Queen Takes Pawn
by Syrenia
Chapter Eight - Possibilities
Chelsie woke up abruptly, eyes flying open without care before she sat up with super speed on a very comfortable bed.
Stormy eyes trailed around her, finding unfamiliar surroundings, much to her dismay.
But what stood out most, and foretold the name of her captor as well, was the color scheme to the bedroom she was in.
'Purple and green,' Chelsie thought with a loathsome scowl.
The last thing she could remember was taking a powerful sedative after a couple of nights without any sleep. Apparently, she and Crow had been too keyed up for their active brains to slow down into a state of rest.
She looked around, noticing the walls were painted purple with green borders on the top and bottom of each, purple flowers with yellow centers lining the green borders in alternating up and down patterns.
She would have said it were nice, but the flowers gave the room a Scooby-Doo van feel for some odd reason. Chelsie hated that van, though she never knew quite why.
Looking down at the bed, she saw green sheets with a purple comforter, green flowers with yellow centers on it in horizontal, wavy patterns, somewhat matching the look of the wall borders.
"Who does his interior decorating?" she pondered aloud with a small grin, despite herself.
Eyes traveling back up, she gazed at the minimal furniture of the room, noting dresser drawers of alternating colors. The top drawer was purple, the two parted knobs shaped like flowers and green, the centers yellow. The next drawer was green with purple flower knobs with yellow centers. And so on the pattern went to make four large drawers in total, the rest of the wooden dresser drawers purple.
Mounted on the wall to her right was a large flat screen TV, the woman impressed he'd bothered to buy such an expensive item when he would likely have to flee from his hideout at any time, considering the Batman might find him.
On the farthest end of that wall, away from the bed, was a door that probably led to a closet, the door shut.
She then saw an open bathroom door to the left on the same wall that the head of the bed rested against, but didn't bother to get up and look.
'...Three guesses, Chels, but we're certainly not in Kansas anymore, my dear Toto,' crooned Crow from within the confines of their shared brain with a happy grin etched into her tone.
Chelsie sighed deeply, 'I take it you know why the Joker has kidnapped us.'
'Bzzt!' Crow buzzed in return with a little giggle. 'I'm just as clueless as you, sweetheart, and that's really sayin' somethin'.'
The brunette host groaned outwardly at her alter's joke before rubbing her forehead with frustration.
Chelsie didn't even know if it were day or night outside the bedroom walls, but she supposed that even the Joker would have sent someone to wake her if it was daylight. After all, she hadn't been harmed, so extra rest was not necessary.
A sudden knock at the door in a little, familiar tune startled her from her thoughts, eyes tearing up from the bed to the wooden door that was painted purple with a green flower that had a yellow center on it.
She cleared her throat, then awkwardly called, "Come in!"
Soon, something beeped, the doorknob turned and the door pushed open to reveal the Clown Prince of Crime himself who walked in. Closing the door, he activated what had to be a lock on the door via a small electrical panel that rested beside the doorway.
"Can I ask a question?" Chelsie asked warily, but was brave enough to speak.
He turned around and she noticed his wide grin; he seemed in a good mood.
'He probably just killed somethin',' Crow offered an explanation, laughing lightly at her own half joke.
"You just di-d," the Joker answered, Chelsie's shoulders slumping in defeat.
"I can't argue with that logic," she groaned, receiving a fit of laughter from the diabolical clown.
He calmed down abruptly, walking closer to the foot of the bed.
"Shoot, Chels," he allowed finally, exaggeratedly motioning for her to commence the actual question.
"This is standard, boring procedure, but I have to ask why you've kidnapped us," the woman drawled out, hating to go through the whole rigmarole like some normal hostage.
He tilted his head, puzzled at why she had to ask.
"Because you're, uh... mine," he answered, as if it were obvious.
"This," said the clown, gesturing all around the room, "is your new home-uh."
Chelsie could have died right then and there; after all, her heart stopped beating for the longest second in the history of time before it rose and got caught in her throat, the brunette swallowing the lump which fell back into place.
He tilted his head to the other side, "No nee-d to look so serious, Chels."
"Well, I didn't expect to be a permanent resident is all," she told him honestly, playing off a casual tone as she regained her unaffected attitude.
"What did you, ah, thin-k you were... a hostage?" he asked, giggling at the suggestion.
"Actually, yeah, I did," answered Chelsie with a weak smile and a timid gaze. "I don't keep tabs on Crow... I thought she might've pissed you off... And plus, there's the whole kidnapping me issue..."
'I'm not crazy enough to piss that guy off! He's flippin' bonkers!' protested Crow indignantly.
Chelsie ignored the alter ego, watching the Joker carefully.
"The, ah... kidnapping part couldn't... be avoid-ed," the clown replied, drumming the fingers of one hand to his pants leg and scratching his scalp with the other as he looked for the right words to explain himself.
Usually, he wasn't at a loss for words, but how could he just come out and say 'oh, I was afraid you wouldn't come willingly, so I just kidnapped you instead... but it's all for your own good!' without looking stupid?
Chelsie sighed, putting together the dots in a moment of clarity, "You kidnapped me because you thought I wouldn't come willingly..."
"Would you-- I mean, ah... would you have?" he asked nervously, shifting his weight to one foot.
"No," she answered, blunt and honest, knowing the consequence might be deadly if he didn't like that reply, so she added an explanation. "I don't like getting cut like Crow does, and I certainly don't feel like getting killed because of one of your moods that I myself probably couldn't sway you from like she could. And then there's the point that I'm supposed to be, at the least, helping Jonathan's... business."
A brief, fiery anger passed in his eyes at the mention of the other man's name before he returned to a rather happy mood as if nothing had happened.
"Listen, kiddo," he began, striding over to her side of the bed and taking a seat close to her, "you need to forget all abou-t Jonny boy..."
Reaching up, his gloved hand tucked her bangs behind her ear with gentleness she didn't know he had in him, the Joker adding, "He's out of the pic-ture, capiche? He's, ah... not goin' to be a... a problem for you anymore-uh."
His fingers trailed her jawline, thumb softly petting her pink lips as his eyes watched the slow, drawn-out act.
"You need to, um... simply forge-t he ever exist-ed," he reaffirmed the idea, eyes trailing up to her stormy orbs, his tongue subconciously licking over the scars of his mouth.
"But... I still don't understand the purpose of all of this," she said thoughtfully, staring off to the side.
"No matter how much she admires your ideas, Crow can't betray her own creator that she's dedicated all of her work to," Chelsie explained.
He roughly gripped her chin, shaking her head up and down once before her eyes met his dark gaze.
"Crow needs to remember... who taught her everythin-g," he returned insistently, smacking his lips and taking a deep, loud breath before reiterating. "I, uh... think she'll find I'm... much more recipient to her devotion."
"I'm sure she heard the message," Chelsie assured him, "but that doesn't explain why you've kidnapped us. And unless you want to dance around the question some more before we get down to the root of the matter, you might as well explain it to us, because, frankly, not even Crow knows why we're here."
He let go of her chin, patting her cheek none too gently which showed his impatience, "Because you're both mine, dollfac-e, just like I told you before-ah."
He grinned at her blank gaze; she really didn't get it.
"That's why I love you, kid," the clown told her, stroking her cheek before patting it once more.
Then he slipped out his favorite knife, flicking open the blade.
Chelsie froze, staring at the weapon before her eyes shot up to his deep brown gaze, the woman asking with some trepidation, "What're you gonna do?"
"We, uh... have to give you a little... just a liiittle mar-k," he told her, thumb and forefinger expressing just how little he considered it.
"Why?" she questioned warily, leaning away from the blade.
"I can't have other men taking you for themselves, dollfac-e," explained the Joker, eyes trailing over her body in search of a good place to make his mark.
She shivered; why was he acting possessive?
None of this fit together well in her naive mind.
Brown eyes trailed over her as her thoughts raced, his hand playing with his knife as he thought over the possibilities...