[A/N: I apologize ahead of time if there are any grammar/spelling mistakes, this took a lot for me to type up, my longest chapter yet, yay
and I do hope you enjoy this particular chap. and have been while reading, reviews are loved and welcomed; also, I've been thinking of making a second installment of this story, just basically what happens next with Jessie here :D what do you, folks, think? Should I? And just so there's no confusion, Marissa Garcia is Mr. Antonio Garica's daughter, Mr. Garica was mentioned before, just to let you know; and if you'd read my one other batman story "Pretty Girl" I will have more of Marissa, just in case you want to know more about her or the others :) hope you enjoy this chapter :D there's only one more I'm going to be doing I believe~*]
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`I felt sick now, my stomach was churning and all these old women that were trying to talk my ears off were just plain nauseating. All the questions of 'Oh, isn't it just wonderful that Bruce took you in, dearie' or 'Now, dear, don't smile to much, some men find that unattractive--' Blah. Blah. Blah. I saw Ms. Sparkle near by. Well, her name was Amber, and like I think she was married to Wayne before but they divorced, and now she just hangs around him. Jeez, talk about not getting over someone. But she was really pretty, Gotham's main magazine covers apparently didn't lie about their stuff.
But they had two kids too. Dakota and Cassandra. Bruce wanted me to meet them, and why he'd want to foster a kid while he already had two biological kids I don't know. But I've already met Dakota, he goes to my school but Cassandra...Guess I was going to meet her soon. This was stupid. I didn't like wearing this dress at all. It was all violet and poofy like, I was no Cinderella or Snow White, believe me. Oy vey.
Earlier, Alfie had took me around town to shops and to some museums to pass time. Wayne did say I could buy a few things, actually that's all he really said when I called on the limo phone. Oh yeah. I got to ride in a limo. That was flippin' awesome. I had never been in a limo before but I had seen one.
I sighed and walked over to the nearest window, looking out at downtown Gotham City, there were cars speeding on by on the ground below and people were buzzing about like insects. A bored sigh escaped my mouth as I put a hand up on the window, it was cold but it felt really nice. My eyes flashed up to the dark sky, bright stars twinkled and it made me smile. I looked back over to my side, at all the people at the ball. Some were dancing, others talking.
Near by I saw a man enter and he looked fancy too. He had on a expensive looking suit, and looked like someone who could be the Anti-James Bond. Probably in his forties or something.
Oh crap...that was Mr. Garcia. I remembered him from when my dad, well...my adoptive Dad came home with him one time. For some reason Mr. Garcia was pleased with him at the time, not like before though. Then Garcia walked over to Ms. Cesar, she was Amber's boss I think. But she was well known in Gotham. Hmm.
My hair was down, and had been curled thanks to Ms. Garcia, well her name was Marissa but I knew she was Joan's mom, plus she was Garcia's daughter creepily enough. Joan went to my school too like Dakota. Joan was nice actually to me, but we didn't talk that much. I didn't talk to anyone really. She had it all nice to, making it look almost Marylin Munroe style but a little bit longer. She did my make up too, which was awesome. I think I'd want her to adopt me if I could.
That's when I let my eyes cast over to Wayne, who was getting googly eyes from three different women at the same time. He looked tired and I noticed that he had a smudge on his face...it looked like ash or something but I couldn't tell from here. Well, whatever. He was always getting into trouble, running in with people he shouldn't even be around. Not someone like him. Robbie was different somehow from the others.
I walked over then to a more hidden area, I didn't feel like chatting with anyone right now. Why couldn't it just rain? That'd be nice. The room was getting to smothering, and for some reason I felt someone was staring at me in there. So I just walked over near where the main bathroom was, about to go in until I felt a presence behind me, quickly my movements stopped and I froze.
"You're quite the loner, arentcha?" I heard a familiar voice say, a wide grin spread on my lips and I turned around then, my hair moving slightly, my hands fluttering to tuck it behind my ears before going back to my hips.
"Robbie." He chuckled as I nearly tackled him with a hug then and he, to be honest, held me a little longer than a friend should but then he still had his arms around me as I grinned up at him "Did you get invited or something?"
"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't been, would I?" He quirked an eyebrow, he seemed smarter than before for some reason. It made me happy though to see him. He was a cool friend to have. But then I saw a sad look on his face, this made me scowl in annoyance, I folded my arms across my chest.
"What?"
"I've been thinking--" I giggled, then was shocked at myself that I actually giggled but I put that thought aside for now. I think Robbie blushed then but I couldn't tell he kept looking away from me, but he looked actually serious for once now. How odd.
"Be careful. That's dangerous." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, forcing a smile and that's the first time I noticed what he was wearing. It wasn't a suit or anything related to it. It was like he wasn't invited and I knew Wayne didn't like him. Not. One. Little. Bit.
"What's going on, Robbie?" I knew he hadn't been invited now, the look on Wayne's face had said it all.
"Can I talk with you?" He asked whispering this time, I glanced over to my right and saw Wayne looking over here with the most serious face that I had ever seen. That was totally not creepy, that was just freaky. But then I felt a tug on my left arm and looked back at Robbie, nodding quickly and blinking a few quick times as if in a daze.
He dragged me deeper down the hallway there, now I was totally more worried than before. But...I was Jessie. I never worried so...why was this so different than any time before?
~Meanwhile back at the GCPD~
Commissioner Jim Gordon sat at his desk, cleaning his glasses with handkerchief and sighed tiredly, he just wanted to go home now and rest but his mind kept thinking of all the cases he had going on, including the one of Jessica Hilton. Earlier Bruce Wayne had came in and talked with him about Jessie. He was worried that the Joker would break out of Arkham again quite soon for her but then he left in a hurry after Gordon had said they were going to protect her.
He didn't know why but he felt odd presence with Wayne, like something was there that he should have noticed but didn't. It frustrated Gordon to no end.
Gordon then put his glasses back on, putting the cloth back on the desk and leaned back in his chair, closing his eye lids, hoping to get a little bit of rest for the mean time until one of his cops busted in, slamming the door against the wall as they threw it open. Gordon sighed in annoyance then sat back up straight on his chair, his hands on his desk now as he cleared his throat, feeling a cough starting up but held it back.
"What is it?" He asked the newbie cop, the man simply cleared his own throat, clearly worried and handed over an envelope package, then quickly left "Hey, wai—Never mind." The man had already gone, shutting the door behind him and Gordon ripped open the package slowly, then looked in seeing a videotape and letter. What the--
Gordon got up from his seat, putting the letter on his desk and taking the video tape over towards the TV set that was in his room, pulling the small metal table that had the TV on top if it over to his desk and sat back down on his seat, leaning forward a little as he put the tape in the VCR set then turned the TV on with the remote, waiting for what was to come. He had no idea what to expect, it had not said who this was from and the cop hadn't stayed long enough to tell him either.
The TV screen popped on, fuzzy at first but then he saw something that made him gasp softly, the Joker was on the TV screen now. It looked as if this was being videotaped, which it probably was of course.
In the background of the Joker, it looked like he was still in Arkham Asylum, the walls were tiled with marble but had dirt and what looked to be blood on them, making them quite ugly and the Joker was very close to the screen now so it was hard to tell really to be honest, then the Joker backed up a few steps so Gordon could see all but below the Joker's knees now.
Joker had on his purple suit again and was holding a switchblade, which also looked like it had dry blood on it, holding this little gleaming object in his left hand. He wasn't wearing his gloves obviously. Gordon's eyes widen only slightly as he watched but he held his emotion in, just waiting to see what was to happen next. On the screen, the Joker licked his lips a couple times before blinking slowly, then letting his eye lids droop
"Hiiii." Joker greeted sheepishly, half grinning. He was mocking Gordon now "Uh, hey. Now I know that you're uh, probably mad at me right now, Gordon. But dontcha worry. I'll make sure that you get to see what's gonna go down at Wayne's ball."
He laughed then but it quickly cut off as some whimpers in the background were heard but Gordon saw no one, then a few screams, the person sounded like they were in pain. This made Joker frown sourly, his upper lip snarling slightly as he looked behind him, looking down then quickly back at the camera, holding up one finger with his right hand "Just give me one little minute, 'kay?"
Then he dissapeared off screen, more screams heard that sounded horribly in pain more than ever before following after that, then only small whimpers. That following with what sounded like a dragging of a body or something greatly related to that. Oh my.
Joker appeared on the screen again then, licking his lips once more then with his right hand slicked his hair back a little, getting it out of his face for the moment then started to gesture to things as he talked again "As ya can see, I'm still uh...Well, in Arkham." He looked as if he wanted to throw up as he said the Asylum's name then grinned again, then nodded as if to give encouragement.
"But don't ya worry yourself, Gordon. You'll get stressed, and I heard that's not to good for the heart. I mean just look at the local Mafia gang, they're getting more and more stressed thanks to your little department. But that's not important. What is important is that I'm here to give little ol' you a message."
He moved the camera to the side, it revealed a tied up security guard, he looked quite dead from Gordon's perspective, beside the guard stood a grinning ear-to-ear Harley Quinn. Joker stood to the left of the tied up dead guard, letting his right hand entangle into the lifeless Guard's hair, tugging at it harshly as he looked back at the screen "I want ya to meet Thomas here. It took a lot of convincing but I finally got him to pull through. Tom then was just so nice to let me out of my cell for the night." He licked his lips as he looked back at the guard then just as fast back at the camera, leaning in a little bit as Harley giggled "Believe me, he won't be makin' that mistake again."
He quirked an eyebrow then "Now, all I was doin' was showin' your schemers out there that they were just pathetic in their attempts. I mean, have ya ever personally noticed this, Commish? No one panics when everything goes according to plan." He squinted then and looked over at Harley then back at the camera "Aren't I right, Harl?"
"Yeah, Mr. J, of course you are." Harley grinned slyly, her black painted lips dazzling nearly.
Joker looked around the room before looking back at the camera, letting go of the lifeless Gaurd's hair then switched the blade in his left hand to his right, pointing the knife against the Guard's left cheek, then pointing it at the camera accusingly.
"But YOU. You just had to ruin everything. You and your little pack of schemers there at the GCPD. But, I'm not judgin'. I'm just pointing out the obvious here when no one else will." Joker tilted his head to the side as if asking Gordon if he was wrong in that statement, grinning as he knew he wasn't then moved away from the guard and Harley, walking over to the camera, picking it up then so only Gordon could see his face now
"I just want you to know. When I say there's no hard feelings between us. That I mean it." He overproduced the 't' at the end "You think she's going to be normal, Gordon? Or what YOUbelieve to be normal? Hmm? Do ya?" His eye lids drooped again, his brown eyes darkening that made Gordon even more worried now, even though this was just a videotape and Gordon was in his office at the GCPD.
"She's not like you all there. She won't be with ya in the end, believe me. She can't stay away. You'll see. I'll show you." He grinned ear-to-ear then, laughing as the camera screen then switched to loud static, no other images showing. Not the Joker or anything. The end of the videotape.
Gordon looked over to the desk then, remembering there was a letter, he opened up and saw in bright red letters 'I'M A MAN OF MY WORD.', it looked as if it had been written in blood. Gordon dropped it as he quickly moved to his feet, shoving his chair back and then out of the office, slamming the door shut behind him, nearly running past some the desks until he was in the center of the room
"I need men at Bruce Wayne's penthouse! The whole building too! NOW!"
"Commissioner, what's going on?" One of them asked
"Just move! Get there as fast as you can! Joker's gonna be there!" People just stared at him for a moment "Move, people!" They quickly scurried to their feet and moved, Gordon sighed then, breathing heavily as he ran a hand through his hair then Howl was beside him. Gordon looked at him "What are you waiting for?" Howl quickly moved then past Gordon, who the moved himself. He had no real idea what to expect tonight but he knew it would not end well. That was all too clear right now.
~Meanwhile back at the Charity Ball~
`I stared at Robbie for a few moments before glancing away, my glittery eye lids drooping as Robbie sighed in front of me, clearly annoyed with me. I wasn't cooperating with him it seemed. And that was tickin' him off highly. But oh well. He'd get over it eventually. To be honest, he was tickin' me off too. He wouldn't get to the point already. Now that I wasn't already entertain as well at what he had already told me.
"I just want you to understand--"
I looked back at him then, a frown on my lips, my eyes darkening "Understand what, Robbie?" He stared down at me, letting his left hand slowly move towards my face but I confusingly moved my head back and looked at him with a quirked eyebrow, watching him closely now. Why was he trying to touch me again?
My eyes casted over to the side as did his, both of us looking at everyone at the ball then I looked back at him, my eye lids still drooped as I moved forward. Hugging him around the waist again, letting my head rest on his chest and he hugged me back but then I just let go impulsively, shocked at my actions and walked deeper down the hall but Robbie pulled me back, I snapped at him but he just held me at arm's length.
"Why did you come if you weren't invited?"
I glared at him then, nearly snarling at him now but I couldn't help it. That was just who I was. It was getting cold all of a sudden, maybe someone had opened up a window or something. I didn't know nor did I care at the moment. Where was some matches when you needed them? But Robbie was just to determine to let me go as I tried to walk away, holding back the urge to swing at him. Okay, maybe every once in a while I wanted to slug the guy but it was. NOT. MY. FAULT. If you met Robbie, you'd know why I felt this way.
"I'm Crane's son, okay?!" He whispered harshly and I. Freakin'. Froze, people. I. FROZE. My head turned back and I stared at him, nearly twitching. How could someone miss that?! No one even looked over to us, at least not to my knowledge.
"What the hell's wrong with you?" I asked, my eyes still wide "That wasn't rhetorical, Robbie. Seriously. You can actually answer. What the hell's wrong with you?" He rolled his eyes and looked away, moving me against the wall, nearly putting a hand over my mouth but apparently he had learned that I bite.
And I bite hard too, ask those who have found out by experience. My hair was sticking up slightly now and I was mad now, Ms. Garcia had did it all pretty-pretty. Some would find this intimidating but to me, it just made me want to laugh almost. Almost.
"You don't just come out and---You just don't spring that on someone, okay?!" I whispered harshly and he just leaned down slightly and I plastered my head against the wall, hoping maybe it would be engulfed. To be one with the wall, folks. One. With. The. Wall.
What insane woman got with Crane of all people? That's what I want to know. But hey, maybe he was sexy or something and had a weird, interesting sexual fetish with burlap sacks? Maybe that's how he liked to roll but what do I know? I'm just Jessie.
"Well, it's not my fault Marissa banged him, is it?" Then he blinked slowly, looking as if he were about to throw up "Oh my go—Did I just say ban—Oh, I feel sick, man." He groaned"Ohhh, this is not good. No, seriously...That's just messed up to even think about." I shivered once in place, but then Robbie just had to look back at me and I twitched.
"Marissa Garcia is your...Mom?" I asked as if STILL confused "Marissa and Jonathan Crane...Jonathan Crane is your dad? That's just...messed up."
"Well, like. Your Dad's the Joker. The cross dresser with make-up." He protested with a quirked eyebrow "So like, yeah. In your face."
"Face. Paint." I disagreed "He wears. Face. Paint." I narrowed my eyebrows at him and he grinned slyly, leaning his face in and I twitched a little. What was this little freak up to now?
"Well, here we are. Freak to Freak." I swear I was gonna bite him very soon.
"Why didn't you tell me before, huh?!" I somehow managed to smack him on the face, he just chuckled and leaned in again as if about to kiss me, so yeah, I twitched again but then...
"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen." Joker's voice rang in my ears, both Robbie and I looked to the right then, seeing people parting away like the red sea.
Then Harley Quinn's giggle was heard, which echoed as well. I. Twitched. "Miss me?" Harley giggled, waving her shot gun about like a baton. I'm pretty sure that's not safe at all but whatever.
Robbie started to tug me down the hall but I protested, but then he just wrapped an arm around my waist, picking me up off the ground and walked down the hall away from all the yummy action. Last thing I saw was Harley apparently doing something wrong and got slapped by the Joker. Oh no, he didn't! No one slaps Harley but me!
I struggled in Robbie's grip, slamming my head backwards then somehow twisting my head back far enough to bite down on his shoulder. So yeah. He dropped me right away, I scurried up to my feet but he grabbed onto my left ankle and I tripped, hitting the ground with a small grunt. I growled under my breath and kicked at Robbie with my free foot. I didn't want to hurt him but I couldn't just let Joker do this. Not now. Now when Alfie was making me pancakes for breakfast!
When I got back up to my feet, I stumbled forward but stopped at the corner, looking over to the left, seeing Joker walking by the people here, holding a gun of his own while Harley sat on the floor, rubbing her face with her left hand while she still held her shotgun in her right hand. Why didn't she just shoot the guy? Oh yeah. That whole obsession thing and all that good stuff.
"Now, we can uh—do this the easy way." Joker told them, then he looked at Harley with a upset frown"Get up, Harl."
"W—Will do, Mr. J." Harley scurried to her feet but stumbled, the shotgun going off somehow and a bullet went into the floor, she giggled worriedly"Oopsie." She bit her left hand pointer finger, poor thing was afraid "Oy vey." She muttered under her breath, quickly moving over to the Joker, whom then looked back at the frighten guests. It was then that I wondered where Wayne had gone off to. He always seemed to dissapear when the action started up.
"Or the painful way. Your decision. Doesn't take much though to light up a penthouse, now does it?" Joker walked down then back to the middle of the room, he had some thugs around too, pointing guns at the people to make sure they stayed back and away from their Boss.
I frowned but moved behind a particular crowd of people, moving over beside a window, almost trying to hide now but when I glanced over to where I had been before, I saw Robbie looking around, pure worry on his face but then he ducked back. He hid well to be honest. I kept my head down as I could hear the echoing of the Joker's sigh. He was annoyed now. How great.
But then...
"Ah ha!" Joker laughed, again the crowd there parted like the red sea and I backed up, forgetting about the OPEN window behind me. Yeah. 'Cause even Jessie gets to be stupid like that. He neared me and I tripped on the long hem of my dress, falling to the floor and then I looked up seeing him hovering over me.
"Coop!"
Freakin' A. That's all I have to say. You already know who it is of course. Bubbly Harley came running up but then the Joker just hit her with the but of his gun and she fell to the ground, her nose bleeding now and she whimpered, looking up at him. He glared at her before looking back at me. I could see Alfie near by, his eyes watering and he was clearly worried. I looked back up at the Joker. I was worried too.
Someone then moved forward, making that mistake "Hey! Let her go--" A bullet going off sounded then, echoing all around the room. It made me jump in place, gasping softly under my breath. Everyone fell silent and then a thud of a body was heard a moment later. I saw a old man who looked to be in his sixties hit the floor, limp. Another person's life taken away...because of him. My heart beat was growing louder, but seemed to stutter every other beat.
Joker clicked his tongue and looked around, still standing in front of me "Anyone else want to uh—be a hero?" That's when I snapped. I got to my feet and attacked him, screaming loudly, clawing and hitting. Joker and I stumbled the floor, Harley crawling backwards in fear.
Joker tried to pin me down but I kicked his face and he then attacked with his gun but then out of no where, Harley jumped him and sadly, I was standing up at the moment and she hit me and I stumbled back. I slipped again on my dress hem and fell backwards out of the OPEN window. Quickly hitting a glass tinted roof, sliding down it quickly as I tried to grab onto anything, panicking. The glass of the roof hurt, it was rubbing harshly on my skin. It felt odd and painful.
I swung off of the tinted glass room then, trying to grab onto the ledge but my hands slipped and I was now falling down, screaming of course for once, wind blowing my hair everywhere as I saw I was going to land on the pavement below. Yeah. I was gonna die. Then I was tackled by something in mid-air. OW!
Oh yay. Bat-face is gonna save me. I kept screaming though, hanging onto him for dear life as we were both still falling to our agonizing deaths! But then I heard a swoosh noise and re-opened my eye lids, realizing I had shut them at some point and noticed black wings appearing behind Batman.
We glided side to side then, going down the street and I clung to Batman for dear life, as if he were life support to me. My fingers digging into the hard black rubber of the suit, and you can take that anyway you want. I really didn't feel like dying right now. And if that meant being with the Dark Knight for the mean time. Then yeah. I'm all for that. Now I was just breathing heavily as I closed my eye lids again. I didn't want to see anything right now but Batman kept a hold of me, landing them on top of a shorter building's roof top. As he stood there, still with me in his arms. I wasn't about to let go now.
My eye lids flashed open and I saw everything was very still and I looked up at Batman then, he just stared at me "Are you alright?" Batman asked, also breathing heavily. I nodded quickly then, not verbally responding. I don't think I could talk if I tried right now.
He slowly moved me off of one arm, setting me on the roof top lightly, making sure I was sitting down and not standing up on purpose. He was still breathing heavily as he stepped away from me, as if he'd cause me pain if he was near me any more. I cleared my throat once, feeling a cough starting up but I held it back. My throat suddenly became dry and my head hurt but I stayed quiet. Didn't need Bat-face to scold me or something.
But what was going to happen to all those people back at the penthouse? I mean, Bats here just left them all alone with the Joker of all people. Even to a person like me, that's cold. And already one person had died to night, how many more had to for the Batman to be satisfied?
I kinda hoped that Harley would get out while she could, Joker wouldn't be happy with her after she jumped him like that to save me. I know she was just tryin' to help and all, wasn't really her fault I fell out the window. But then before I could stop myself, the words already ran out of my mouth before I had a chance to really think "You know for a ninja wannabe you're pretty cool when saving someone." He looked at me with a glare, walking off then walked off to the edge of the building roof
"Are you going to save those people? Bruce Wayne's in there!" I quickly stood up, nearly losing my balance but watched him stop, looking back at me slightly. Wait...Why did I care about Wayne again?
"Where do you think I was headed?" He turned around again, his back to me as he was clearly ready to jump
"But I didn't thank you for saving me." I protested, stepping forward once
"And you'll never have to." With that he jumped off, using his some kind of device and a long leather strap cord swung out from the device he held and Bat-face just moved throughout the city, apparently headed back to the penthouse. I ran over to the edge of the roof I was on, watching the Batman fly off like that then he was out of my view. Maybe I was wrong about him. A hand was on my shoulder then and impulsively I swung back with my left arm, hearing a scream of pain then. I stopped and turned around completely, looking at what or who I had hit.
There was a doubled over Robbie, how did he get here?! I gasped and my eyes widen, my hands slowly reached at his shoulders "Oh my gosh. I am so, so sorry." He groaned in pain but nodded, then just squeaked once before standing up. I slowly stood back up with him, licking my lips once and tried to smile
"Sorry." He stretched once and nodded one more time, then he looked behind me and dropped to the floor, yanking me down with him then flipped me over, covering his body with mine "What--" Then the only response was a loud squealing, zipping noise then a very loud explosion, it felt like my ear drums had busted then, my hair moving as the wind picked up harshly.
Robbie held onto my tightly and after everything seemed to get really creepily quiet, my ears began to ring and Robbie, still holding me, slowly helped me sit up. Smoke and ash on my face just as it was on him, I looked up and saw a tan colored like scrap of paper starting to float down then land in my lap. My hands, that were also dirty now too, unfolded the paper and I read what was on it.
'Joke's on you, kid.' I looked at Robbie then, slowly looking down and saw a metal shard sticking out of his stomach side, he shirt stained heavily with blood.
"Ro—Robbie? N—No. No, no, no." I panicked even more as he looked down and froze "Robbie, don't panic--" He was breathing quietly but I hoped that he wasn't going into shock but then he slowly laid back down on the roof, starting to cough now and that just made him bleed more, my hands fluttered over the rod then to his bloodstained shirt, blood sparkling on my hands now. I felt tears going down my face and I didn't dare to stop them. My eyes looked away and around quickly
"Somebody!" I screamed loudly "Help! Somebody, please! Help! We need help!" I whimpered looking back down at Robbie, actually crying now. Robbie slowly fluttered his eye lids
He tried to smile but then he coughed, cringing in pain but he kept his eyes on me the best he could "You look really pretty t—tonight, Jess." He whispered to me then his eye lids drooped shut, he was still breathing bu—but...it was so slow and quiet, and not that noticeable.
I tried to stop the bleeding, but then I stroked his face as I saw his body jerk a little as my hand bumped lightly against the metal rod, my cries stuttering as blood smeared slightly on his face, I bent over then, hovering him and I cradled his head in my lap, screaming then. Just letting my emotions take over me for once.
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