I know this one isn't as long as the other one, but finals and stuff are taking up all my time! Haha. :) Well I hope you guys all like this one, and please please please review! That would make my day! :)

oh, and special thanks to allthelovers for the suggestion in the last chapter!

The Joker pulls me out of the building with a huge smile on his face.

"Well, that was easier than I thought." He laughs.

After a few steps, a van speeds through the parking lot, and I find myself sad to realize it's not Batman. It screeches to a halt in front of us, and Joker happy says, "Now the fun can start! Don't you agree Melanie?"

"I-I'm not sure what you mean..." I stammer.

"Well, first, we are going to get you some scars..." He pulls out a knife, and brings it toward my face.

"Please, no!" I say, trying to squirm away.

He grabs my hair and pulls me close to him, rubbing the knife gently across my cheek. The metal is cold against my skin and tears start streaming down my face.

"Why don't you want to match?" He says, pulling the knife away. "Do you think they're ugly?"

"N-no." I lied.

"Well there has to be a reason. However, we don't have time right now anyway. Don't worry; we can talk about it later." He opens the door of the van, and roughly shoves me in. He gets into the passenger seat, and the van jerks into motion and quickly leaves the parking lot. In the front seat, I see Joker pull out the trigger he has threated Batman with, and press the button.

"No!" I yelled, but no one heard me, because the sound of the explosion was deafening. I tried to think of the closest school, but was confused as I saw the reflection of the blast from behind us. I turned in my seat to see the building we had just left burning and smoking.

The Joker abruptly started laughing, and said, "What? Are you that worried about The Bat? You seriously need to choose whose side you're on. If you keep changing sides, people might think you're crazy. But then again, they say I'm crazy, and we know how wrong that is, now don't we?"

"I know you're a liar." I whispered.

"What?" Joker growled. "Stop the car."

The driver pulled over to the curb, and Joker got out, and was next to me in what seemed like an instant.

"What, uh, exactly, did you just say?" He leered.

Uh oh. Why did I have to say that? Why couldn't I have just stayed quiet?

"Don't make me angry." He threatened.

"I didn't mean anything." I say quietly.

"That's not what I asked. I said: What did you say?" He grabbed my hair again, and pulled me close to his face. His breath smells oddly of mint and I find myself intrigued instead of frightened.

"I said you were a liar." I said.

"Me? A liar?" He chuckles darkly and continues, "And what, uh, exactly did I lie about, hmmm?"

"You said you were blowing up a school, not the building we were in."

"Haha! That's what you are calling me a liar about? Uh, I believe I said I would blow up a school if you didn't come with me. And uh, you came. So I didn't lie about anything. I never said I was going to blow up that building and I never said I wasn't." He leans even closer and his mouth grazes my cheek, "Why? Are you uh, worried that the Bat didn't fly away in time? Hmm?"

"No." I say, trying to pull away. I can't help the mixed feelings when he is this close to me. The panic I have been feeling all night is making it hard to decide whether I actually want him closer, or if I should try running and screaming for help at the next opportunity.

He pulls me even closer though and says, "Don't worry. If I thought he would be stupid enough to stay, I wouldn't have even blown the building up! I need some sort of entertainment around here!"

"I knew it! My article is right! If he left, so would all of the criminals!"

"Now wait just one minute hun, Batman came here for a reason. He came because there was crime. Do you think it would all just magically erase if he left?"

"Well, no."

"See? You've gone against your own article. And I've only had you for five minutes! Now what do you want to do, hmm?" He wiggles his eyebrows like a villain in an old black and white movie.

"I want to go home." I say, and look out the window.

"Awww, but you just got here! Think of how happy it would make me if you could call my place home!"

"Never." I say flatly.

That seems to ruin his happy mood. He grabs my hair, and growls, "Well, we will just see about tha-t." He clicks the 't' into its own syllable. "Looks like we are just going to have to keep you around and show you what it's really like to be a bad guy."

The van stops, and Joker pulls me out of the van by my hair. He drags me to a door, and inside of what appears to be an abandoned warehouse. I'm dragged up the stairs and into an old office. He closes the door behind us and I hear the click of a lock. "Welcome home sweetie."

I look around and first think that it isn't as awful as you would imagine a lair would be. The floor is dark carpet, and there are pictures on the walls. There is a dresser on one side, and a queen-sized bed in the center.

Then the smell hits me. It smells like garbage and rotting flesh. I can hear flies buzzing somewhere close by. The air is warm and stale and I wonder if there's some sort of air conditioner somewhere. Or at the very least a can of Febreze somewhere.

I back up slowly and it seems to be an automatic reaction when suddenly, I bump into the Joker. His warm body startles me, and as I move to jump forward, he grabs me around the waist and says, "Isn't it wonderful? I cleaned up just for you."

I'm not really sure what to say, but I try and move away from him as subtly as possible.

"Lane! Didn't you hear what I said?" He snaps.

"Wh-what did you call me?"

"Well, every couple makes up pet names for each other. But since we are just getting to know each other now, I figure I would start out simple. How do you like it?"

Couple? Since when did that happen? I'm just a captive! Bait to lure Batman! Nothing more!

"We are not a couple! I yell, trying to break away. "You're a psycho!"

This seems to offend him even more, and he shoves me to the ground, which is a lot harder than it looks.

"Fine, girl. Than its isolation for you." Without another word, he is out the door, and I am left on the floor still not knowing what to do.

Who would have thought that this morning, I had woken up, had breakfast, and gone to work like any other day, not knowing that tonight, I would be at the Joker's so called 'home.'

It was just my luck...

There you go! Like I said, I know it's a little shorter, but I didn't want to take too long getting it up here! So what do you think is gonna happen next? Review please! :D