It's interesting to discover how fast one's emotions changed. On the way to the Stacked Deck from the motel ruins, the Joker had played with the radio of my ex's Toyota, wincing when it came to classical music. When he settled on a station, I reached over and changed it, grinning at the frustrated look that crossed his face. However, he'd notice the smile, and would start laughing, only to change the station back.
It was all in good fun, good nature's humor. I have to admit that I had fun.
But now, standing in the back alley behind the Stacked Deck with the Joker, waiting for Bob, Shaun, and Peter to bring Shaun's pals, I was a nervous wreck.
My hands shook with anxiety; I had to bury them in my pockets to hide them from the Joker. I resisted the urge to bite my lip or move with jerky movements. Actually, I was so still that I was stiff, leaning against the wall with my feet crossed at the ankles. Even with my head ducked down, I kept my eyes moving, darting between the ends of the alley, the back door, and the Joker.
"Shadow, you look nerv-ous." My eyes darted over to the Joker, and when I realized that he was talking to me, I turned my head to face him. "No, let me re-phrase that-ah. You are nervous." The Joker chuckled softly from his position in the middle of the alley, turned toward the back door. He was looking at me over his shoulder, the Glasgow grin on his face.
"Anyone would be nervous around an unpredictable guy like you," I replied, trying to keep my voice steady.
"Unpre-dic-table?" he repeated, slowly turning to face me. "I like it-ah." The Joker bounded forward, trapping me against the wall, his hands beside my head, his face looming into mine. "Are you al-ways this nervous on the job?" I shook my head before I realized that I should have lied. The expression on my face wasn't missed by the Joker. He giggled excitedly, licking his lips. "I have the im-press-ion that-ah someone's been lying to me."
"Not if my life's on the line," I protested.
"You're a, ah, a good act-ress, I'll give you that-ah." He licked his lips again, his eyes darting off to the side before saying, "But-ah, I'm not convinced."
He was standing so close to me, his face right in mine. I felt his hot breath on my neck, and it made my skin itch. Clenching my fists tightly by my side, I growled, "Get outta my face."
"Defensive, aren't-ah we?" The Joker giggled, shifting his feet and closing the distance between us, pressing me against the wall. "You're really walking on the edge, Shadow."
"I'm aware," I deadpanned.
The Joker eyed me for a few seconds – seconds that felt agonizingly long. "A bit-ah of advice, Sha-dow," he said, "Don't bother lying to me. I'll find out-ah in the end. It's less pain-ful for you in the long run." He looked at me from under his brow, raising his eyebrows dramatically.
I nodded. "I'll keep that in mind," I said.
A grin broke out on his face. "You're young. I'm glad to, ah, to know that you can still be taught." He patted my cheek, hard.
I winced and glared at him, cold fury burning in my eyes. "Don't. Touch. Me."
The Joker's eyes narrowed as his tongue slid out slowly over his lips. "When you're ah-sleep, you don't-ah mind me, but, awake, you've got-ah quite a temp -er." His hand moved, gripping my chin roughly, his leather gloves rubbing against my skin. "Just-ah think for a moment, Shadow," he said, his voice sinister. "You've hurt-ah me many times, and I haven't come after you about it-ah." He tightened his grip, making my jaw hurt. "I could break you, if I want-ed."
I didn't doubt that he could. The Joker was a man who simply didn't care. He blew up buildings, robbed banks, chased down victims, killed people, created chaos…and he loved doing it. He had his sights on being the unpredictable Clown Prince of Crime, the most wanted and most feared criminal mastermind. If anyone got in his way, he'd kill them.
Why he bothered with someone like me, who was obviously rebellious and trained in a different fashion, I hadn't the slightest idea.
"Are you afraid?" he asked suddenly, the coldness leaving his voice as fast as it had come.
I kept my face emotionless as I shook my head.
The Joker's eyes hardened, but he couldn't pursue the thought since the back door banged open loudly.
"We got them, boss!" Shaun's cheerful voice called. "They couldn't move fast enough..." I glanced over the Joker's shoulder to see Shaun standing in the doorway, a surprised expression on his face, his eyes wide, and his mouth open in the "oh" shape.
I would have stepped away from the boss if I could, but with him still pressing me into the wall, I wasn't going anywhere. The Joker, fortunately, had the same idea thought.
"I don't-ah like being kept wait-ing," the Joker growled, pushing off the wall casually, cocking his head as he half-turned. He did it in a way that would have convinced me that nothing 'exciting' was going on between us.
Shaun struggled to swallow, nervous. "S-Sorry, boss, won't happen again."
"It better not-ah."
Bob appeared, shoving Shaun aside. The Joker's victims followed in Bob's wake with Peter taking up the rear, the three of them looking wary at the sight of the guns in Bob and Peter's hands.
Out of Shaun's pals, I recognized Kevin and Bill right away. The former was eying Peter's gun that was close to his left arm, but he looked up. Upon seeing the Joker, his eyes widened in disbelief and fear, but when he noticed me, he glared at me, like he was blaming me for his current predicament. Bill was leaning against the unknown pal, his head drooping even though he struggled to hold it up.
I heard an unmistakable click as the Joker walked toward Shaun's pals, but his eyes were on the escaping Shaun who had stepped back to hide behind his friends. The Joker pushed aside Kevin and Bill to get to Shaun. Whimpering with fear, Shaun winced as the Joker leapt forward, grabbing him and pressing the switchblade to his mouth.
"Sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry-sorry," Shaun pleaded, trying to avoid the knife. The Joker placed a hand under Shaun's chin and jerked up. Shaun's head smashed into brick wall, and he cried out in pain before getting cut off as the Joker grasped his throat.
"First hour, Shaun, and you disappoint-ah me," the Joker growled, his voice menacing as his hand slowly tightened around the man's throat. Shaun struggled, his hands raking at the Joker's gloved one, but his attempts were in vain as the Joker was fixed upon killing him.
Unable to watch the man die slowly, I cleared my throat loudly, adding an inhuman growl at the end.
The Joker's shoulders drooped slightly as he heaved a sigh of frustration. He pushed Shaun back into the wall and released his throat, letting him hit the wall and collapse to the ground, gasping loudly for air. The Joker half-turned, ignoring Shaun as his attention averted to me, a treacherous gleam in his eyes.
The look stirred fear inside me, but I kept control over my expression, making devoid of emotion as I stared back at him. When he didn't move for several seconds, I help up my hands in mock surrender.
The Joker continued to stare at me.
"Um, boss." The Joker jerked his head toward Peter violently; his angry eyes meeting the man's and making him flinch. "The job…" Peter said, his voice lowering as he spoke in fear.
The Joker growled, and then turned back to Kevin, Bill, and the unknown guy. "I'll make this sim-ple," he said, irritably. "I'm in the need of, ah, of new guys. Either you're in or you're dead." He put away his switchblade and pulled out a semi-automatic, waving it around as a warning. "How 'bout it-ah, boys?" he asked. "The pay's good; you won't have to, ah, to play poker at places like here." He motioned to the nightclub behind them, and Bill, being drunk, actually turned his head to figure out what the Joker was talking about.
As soon as he turned his head back, the Joker fired. The nameless guy quickly released Bill, letting his body simply drop on the ground. Kevin's face hardened, though his eyes widened slightly in disbelief. Shaun, still sitting on the ground, looked sick, his eyes fixed on the sight of his dead buddy.
The Joker put the safety on the semi-automatic and tossed it over his shoulder. I caught it easily and watched as the Joker sauntered teasingly toward Shaun who's face drained of color. I couldn't help but respect the Joker for how he moved, so fluently, transferring fear in others.
The Joker crouched in front of Shaun and brought his face inches from the man, staring him down hard. "Don't. Disap-point me," he said. "Or you'll end up like your pal." Without waiting for an answer from the petrified Shaun, the Joker straightened and walked toward Kevin. "Ever had a, ah, a happy day in your life?" the Joker asked offhandedly.
Kevin looked confused, but his eyes widened as the Joker grabbed the back of his neck and threw him down to the ground, sidestepping to avoid falling down with him. As Kevin sprawled on the floor, the Joker turned to the unknown guy and set his hunched shoulders as he approached him.
He said something in a low voice, causing the Joker to stop in his tracks.
"Mind re-peat-ing that?" the Joker asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Cory," the guy replied, a bit louder. "It's my name."
"Well, I figured." The Joker shrugged and turned, grinning at me. However, something caught his eye, and he turned his head. Curious, I did to and saw something – or someone disappear around the corner.
Without wasting another second, I broke into a run, following the runaway, whoever it was. A chill ran through me as I ran, and strangely, I felt myself getting lighter and running faster. I didn't notice anything else as I was speeding around the corner and sprinting after the stranger.
The guy was trying to duck around a sharp corner, but I pounced on him from behind, knocking him headfirst onto the sidewalk. His head bounced off the cement sidewalk, and he cried out in pain. He fought me, but as he had a head wound, it wasn't hard to subdue him. I disarmed him, finding a knife and a gun on him, and used his gun – partnered with the Joker's – to get him to behave and head back to the back alley.
The Joker was waiting, and when he saw me with my prisoner, he grinned and started clapping his hands, on the verge of laughing. "I'm so proud of you, Shadow!" he exclaimed.
I didn't feel like answering. Instead, I just kicked the back of my prisoner's legs, forcing him down on his hands and knees before the Joker.
However, seeing this, the grin on the Joker's face vanished. "Now-now, Shadow, can't you be nice?"
"No, Joker, I can't," I said, in a detached voice.
He scowled at me, despite his scar-smile. I just rolled my eyes and then realized that besides me, my prisoner, and the Joker, only Peter and Shaun's pal Cory remained in the alleyway.
"Where's-?" I began.
"The car," the Joker replied quickly, already guessing what my question was. I scowled at him, and he smirked, licking his lips quickly before his eyes fell on my prisoner. He sauntered over and crouched down near the man, lifting his chin with a hand.
The man took one glance at the Joker and started whining loudly. I walked around him, standing to the side so I could see the man's face, and it didn't surprise me that he seemed to be on the verge of tears.
The Joker looked at him hard, his eyes slightly narrowed as he turned his head, giving him the sidelook. "Running away?" he drawled, "Because you heard something you weren't-ah supposed to hear?" The Joker clicked his tongue as he turned the man's head to the sides, as if he was examining how he looked. His switchblade clicked in his free hand, and the moment the blade touched the guy's skin, he burst into tears.
"Please, don't hurt me, Mr. Joker," the man pleaded as he sobbed. "I have a family. A wife. Brothers and sisters. I'll work for you, if that will spare my life. Please, just don't hurt me."
Instead of absorbing the man's fear, the Joker rejected it, even became angered by it. "Married?" he said, coldly. "No kids?"
The man, too afraid to think of how bizarre it was for the Joker to be asking about kids, only shook his head in response to the clown's question. I thought of how strange it was for the Joker to be asking a personal question like that. It was even stranger how he reacted toward the man's answer.
The Joker straightened suddenly, pulling the man with him, jerking the blade across the man's cheek. A cry of pain escaped the man's lips as blood seeped from the minor wound on his face, but he silenced as the Joker brought him face-to-face with him.
"Please," the man cried, "I have information! Please, I'll do anything!"
I watched the Joker, seeing his thoughts and emotions swirl in his eyes as he continued to stare the man down. His scars stretched as his mouth curved down in a frown as he turned his head slightly toward me. For a moment, his eyes flickered over to me, like he was asking me something, and I gave him a small shrug, spinning his gun in my hand casually.
His brow frowned, but he turned back to the man and smiled.
"What's your name?" the Joker asked, curiously.
"T-Ted," the man stuttered.
"What-ah kind of information do you have?"
"I work for Tommy Frost, a Mobster."
"Must be new to, ah, to Gotham. The Mob doesn't-ah exist here." The Joker's eyes flickered over in my direction to catch my reaction to this news. I must have looked disappointed because he chuckled softly before returning his attention to his victim. "Let me ask one question, Teddy. Where would Tommy be at this hour?"
The man sniffed as he looked over the Joker's head, trying to remember.
I glanced at my wristwatch. "It's about ten forty," I said to prompt the guy's memory.
"He has an appointment at the subway at eleven twenty," the man said, hesitantly. "Near Wayne Enterprises."
The Joker seemed to consider this for a moment. "Does he trust you with, ah, with such information, Teddy?" As he asked this, the Joker held out a hand toward me, and I tossed him his gun. "Be-cause if I were him, I wouldn't-ah." The Joker pushed Teddy away from him and then shot him in the chest.
I flinched as Teddy lifelessly down to the ground, never to stand up again.
"What-ah are you thinking?"
I looked up to see that the Joker was talking to me, but hadn't taken his eyes away from the man on the ground. "Wondering what you plan on doing now," I said.
The Joker turned to me, looking unhappy. "What-ah did I tell you about me and plan-ning, Sha-dow?"
I smirked. "Sorry, Mist-ah J."
The Joker grinned and then looked over at Peter. "Go to, ah, to the subway. We'll meet-ah you there." Peter nodded and headed into the nightclub, hiding his gun in his jacket. "Can you guess what-ah we're doing, Shadow?" the Joker asked, in a teasing tone.
"Going home?" I guessed, a small smile on my face to show that I was joking. "Or maybe going after the wanna-be Mobster?"
The Joker giggled hysterically at that. "So witty, Shadow," he laughed. "I enjoy having you ah-round!"
With that, he ordered Cory to drive my Toyota, nearly chucking my keys at the new guy. I sat in the back of my car with the Joker, who had a hard time sitting still, being excited for the next part of the job.
"I like this job, I like it!" he said happily as Cory sped down the streets, headed for the subway station. After a fifteen-minute drive, we met Bob, Shaun, Kevin, and Peter at the station. I swear, as the Joker approached his guys, he was actually skipping with enthusiasm.
"Did one of you check down there?" the Joker asked. They shook their heads, and the Joker's excitement seemed to evaporate into the air instantly. "Why not-ah?" he demanded. "We can't go walking in without-ah knowing a bit of our enemy, can we?"
"We've done it before," Bob murmured.
"I'm sure we can handle it," Shaun said. By the looks of him, he seemed to have recovered from his near heart attack earlier.
The Joker threw a hard look in his direction, and in response, Shaun cowered away, a look of fear flashing across his face. Then, the Joker looked over at Peter, gesturing with a hand. Peter nodded and turned so abruptly that Shaun gave a little squeak of fright before realizing that Peter had ran past him, disappearing down the street.
I raised an eyebrow with curiosity, wondering what the Joker had told Peter to do. Sending him off on his own mission? I snorted. Trust in one guy?
Then, the Joker looked at me, and I realized that now it was my turn for his attention. He motioned me toward him with his hand, glancing at the others standing by. I hesitated, and when he gave an irritated jerk of two of his fingers, I jerked forward like I was a puppet held by the strings that the Joker held.
The Joker waited until I was in range before he grabbed my wrist, pulling me into him and replacing his arm around my shoulders, entrapping me. "I want you…to look ah-round for me, Shadow," he said in a low tone, like he didn't want the others listening.
As he spoke, he started walking me toward the stairs that would bring us down to the subway. Loudly, he said, "Stay put-ah, boys!" Then, he brought his mouth close to my ear, and his voice lowered again. "Don't disappoint me." He clicked open his switchblade in his hand as a warning, and then released me, spinning and walking away, leaving me by the stairs.
I blinked with surprise and glanced over my shoulder, slightly confused. I saw the Joker stopped and seemed to be slowly turning, like a warning to me, and I understood, turning back and heading down the stairs.
The Joker trusted me, on my second night working for him, to perform a little spying mission on my own. I didn't think that he would ever leave me alone to my own devices, to perform my own duties without him overseeing what I was doing. By letting me go, the Joker had proved that he trusted me not to run off again.
Trust…it was something I rarely gave someone, let alone gain someone else's trust. Trust wasn't something I took lightly. It was too serious of an emotion; one's life could depend on it. By the way he treated his henchmen; the Joker trusted none of them, not even Bob who obviously had been with him for awhile, managing to avoid getting killed for doing something wrong.
Well, maybe Peter managed something with the Joker if he was able to tell what the Joker wanted without him telling him. But that didn't matter to me. What mattered was the fact that the Joker was placing trust in me when he really shouldn't be.
Trust, in my opinion, was too dangerous to give, or to have.
As I neared the bottom of the stairs into the subway station, I formed a disguise to play. It was already going to be suspicious, with me being a young woman with a tore jacket, riding the subway late at night. I could play the role of a woman who's coming home late from work, but that would simply be too complicated with what I had on me – aka. Emergency money and my gun.
I gave up and simply shoved my hands into my pockets, head down as I stepped into the station. At the machine, I fed it a twenty, calculating how much money was needed. Two dollars for each person. Twelve, fourteen dollars – if Peter returned while I was scouting – with leftovers. As I received my Charlie card, I wondered if the Joker would reimburse me. Doubt it, but it was an amusing scenario.
Using my card, I slipped into the station and then hid the card under the machine, poking out so that the Joker should notice it. If not, his loss, not mine.
Being close to eleven, there was a small amount of people riding the greenline. I didn't know any details for what I was looking for so I wandered, keeping a sharp lookout. Surely, the Joker must've known I hadn't seen Tommy Frost before.
I approached the redline just as it was coming in. I stopped at the sight of a thin cop stepping off the subway. He held the leashes of three big dogs. My eyes widened in surprise as I recognized the type.
Rottweilers…damn, I wanted them.
I leaned against a pillar, crouching and pretending to tie my shoelaces while looking around, like I was searching for someone…which I was. I kept track of the cop with the dogs.
It was curious how the cop had three of them. Wasn't the rule one cop, one dog? And it certainly didn't look like the dogs liked him, by the way they were snarling. It seemed like the dogs were in charge, fighting against the cop. I watched with a smirk on my face as the cop walked by me, panting with the effort of holding the Rottweilers. With how thin he was – and with how his clothing seemed too big for his size – I was convinced that the man holding the dogs wasn't a real cop.
I followed him, discreetly.
The fake cop approached a man wearing dark shades, fighting to pull the Rottweilers with him. I moved around them to hide behind a pillar nearby.
"For Mr. Frost," the cop told Shades.
Shades nodded and took the three leashes easily in one hand, pulling out a packet of bills. "Better by the clown's," Shades said.
"They are," the fake cop insisted. "Got them from the Pound."
Shades nodded and counted out the cop's money, before handing it over to him. "Get lost," he ordered, and the fake cop nodded before turning away to catch the subway going the opposite direction.
Shades pocketed his money, and after tucking harshly on the Rottweilers' leashes, he started off. I followed behind, making a curvy pathway through the pillars and the few people around.
Shades turned to take a set of stairs that would bring him off the redline. I was curious; meeting Mr. Frost in a restricted area? How fun!
Two men were waiting for him, and he had to flash his ID to pass them. Now that was a problem, but I realized that they were standing in the shadows, almost hidden from view.
A curious sensation raced through me, and I shivered as I felt a chilling breeze blow over my skin. I looked around, wondering where the breeze came from, but I couldn't find any source. I wasn't standing near any stairways to the outside world, and not a single subway train was going by.
I suppose it was instinct that I knew what it was and how to work it. I walked toward the two guys, holding onto my gun in case they stopped me, but as I stepped into the shadows, a wave of warmth washed over me. I walked right past the two men without them so much as looking at me.
When I stopped on the other side, I looked back at the two men with surprise. It was still shadowy on this side, but they should be able to see me, right?
I lifted my hand as if to wave at them when I caught sight of my hand. I blinked, seeing that my hand didn't look…solid. Transparent hands…in the shadows? I looked at my other hand to confirm it.
A strange giddiness came over me, and I leaped into the air, punching the air with a whoop!
The two men heard me and looked at me. "What the-?" one guy said while the other grabbed his gun and fired in my direction.
I swear the bullet the man fired was flying slowly. I could see it as it flew in my direction. I dropped to the ground, watching as it sailed over my head, missing me by inches. What was this? Time control?
I heard two rapid shots and rolled out of the way as the next two bullets hit my previous spot at natural speed. Without question, my reflexes kicked in, and I fired two shots in succession, hitting both men. I got one in the leg and the other in the shoulder, but it was good enough for me.
I scrambled to my feet and raced in the direction I thought Shades went in without any delay.
Shades wasn't far ahead of me, and I ran directly into him. As he turned, I cracked the guy in the nose, feeling the bone yield under my knuckles. Even as he stepped back in surprise and pain, I followed the punch with a knee into the groin.
Being in pain, Shades had released his hold on the leashes, and the Rottweilers raced forward, breaking away from me and him. I stared after them until I heard a gunshot and a short whimper. One of the dogs was down!
I broke into a run after them. No one was getting away from killing a dog as magnificent as a Rottweiler.
I was running so fast, I didn't see the man coming around from behind a pillar, holding an assault rifle. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground, shocking pain bursting from my forehead because the idiot missed my nose.
"Got one!" the guy called proudly. "Oh, it's a woman," he said in a lower tone. "Hope I didn't kill her…I work too much with so little pay…hm…"
I didn't know why he was talking to himself, but I could sense where his train of thought was going. Oh no he wasn't!
A chilling sensation rippled through me, riding along with a surge of adrenaline mixed with fury. The pull of gravity lessened on me. I opened my eyes, seeing everything through the purple haze. A pounding headache emerged from where the guy had hit me, but after a few seconds, even that faded into nothingness.
I sensed the man approaching, becoming aware of everything about him. His uneven breathing, his pounding heart, his grunt as he crouched beside me, the rustle of his clothes, his rifle touching the ground, his arms as they reached for me.
I placed my hands flat on the ground and pushed up. With gravity's pull lighter on me, I flew up to my feet and fell over the other way, with the miscalculation of needed strength. It didn't matter. I kicked off the ground with my feet, swinging my body so that I kicked the guy in the face, knocking him onto his back in the process.
I continued to swing on my hands before coming to my feet. Distantly in my head, the image of me balancing on my hands like B-Boys and B-Girls do flashed across my mind's eye before disappearing. I started running, hearing a clear whistle sounding nearby.
The restricted area opened up, and I slowed, hugging the wall as I neared the opening, keeping to the shadows to meld into them. I peeked around the corner.
Two groups of men faced one another, guns trained on the enemy. A set of five against a band of nine. The only two men who didn't have guns out where who I assumed to be Tommy Frost, and of course, the Joker.
"Trying to, ah, to steal my dogs, Tommy?" the Joker asked, conversationally.
Frost, who had a bodyguard behind him with a gun over his shoulder, trained on the Joker, smirked. "They're not yours, Joker," he said, smugly. "They're mine."
"Real-ly?" The Joker turned his head slightly, eyeing Tommy out of the corners of his eyes. "I don't-ah think so. They obeyed my whistle, not-ah yours."
I heard a quiet whimper of pain, and I looked over in the shadows. With the purple haze, I could see the three Rottweilers easily. One of them was lying on the ground, its leg outstretched as blood leaked from a gun wound. Without hesitation, I crept over, being quiet to avoid calling attention to myself.
The two Rottweilers protecting the wounded one growled warningly at me, but I came slowly, sliding down to their level but still moving toward the whimpering dog. The other two didn't stop me, and I couldn't help but pat their heads quickly and gently before reaching the third.
"And now one of your men has shot-ah one of my dogs," the Joker growled, angrily. "That's not-ah something I'm going to let you get away with."
"The Joker has feelings for dogs?" Frost chuckled. "Well, I suppose it works since you are one."
"I am." I glanced at Frost to see his eyes widen in surprise. He didn't expect the Joker to agree so callously with him. "How-ever, Tommy, do you know what dogs do when they don't like someone? Do you know what's the safest place from them?"
The Joker lifted a hand, making the Mobster's men jump, but the Joker only motioned his men to lower their weapons. "You wanna hint, Mr. Fr-ost-ah?" he asked. He pointed over Frost's shoulder, and when Frost turned, the massacre began.
Gunshots ricocheted off the walls, and lights flashed. The Rottweilers beside me dropped to their hunches, half-growling, half-whimpering. I ducked down, not knowing who was shooting who. Bullets bounded off the wall over my head, and I gasped, startled.
Then, the shooting stopped in the same fashion that it had started. I lifted my head cautiously and looked around.
One of the Joker's men was flat on his back, dead. The others – Bob, Shaun, and Cory, from what I could see – were sporting minor hits. So either Kevin or Peter was the dead guy on the ground. It didn't matter which it was; it was someone on the Joker's team.
I surveyed the other side, and my eyes widened. All nine of Mr. Frost's men were on the ground with blood seeping from head or chest wounds, all of them fatal. Mr. Frost seemed to have disappeared, same with the Joker.
When I realized that, I felt my gut clench with fear. Where was the Clown Prince of Crime? Surely he hadn't been shot and killed. The only way he could hide from my vision was if he was behind a pillar, but if he were on the ground, I'd see a leg or arm sticking out.
I heard a startled cry and turned my head to see Frost being slammed against the wall, near where I had appeared. A pillar blocked the one who had attacked him, but I had my speculation which was confirmed when I saw a purple gloved hand sticking a blade into Frost's mouth.
I heard and recognized the sound of the Joker's voice, but from where I was, I couldn't make out what he was saying to the frightened Mobster. The fear was obviously growing on Mr. Frost's face as the Joker continued to talk to him. Whatever the Joker was going to do, I didn't want to know.
I was about to turn my attention back to the wounded Rottweiler when the Joker giggled excitedly. "I have to ad-mit that it's been fun, Tommy," the Joker said loudly, "And it was a pleasure to meet-ah you." I saw Mr. Frost's eyes widened, and then, the Joker's arm jerked out to the side.
I saw the flash of the red blade and the blood flying and had to look away.
I was used to the sight of blood. With a job like mine, you had to be used to it. Professional criminal wasn't a job for weak-stomached people. I wouldn't have flinched if the guy had been shot in the head or something, but a knife…I shivered with revulsion. I wasn't friends with pain; it was too horrid for me to watch something like a switchblade severing someone's cheek.
The wounded Rottweiler whimpered in pain, and I tried to focus but the sight of the knife going through the cheek…
I found that I was breathing heavily, and my hands were shaking. Sweat started to drip down my face as a shiver ran through me, my throat burning. I lifted my arm, wiping my forehead with my sleeve as I leaned over the wounded dog. I reached for the dog's paw, but stopped myself, seeing that my hands were simply too shaky.
Giving up, I climbed to my feet, making the other two dogs whine. Their begging for help struck me to the core, but I still turned and walked away, heading back the way I had come.
I disappeared into the narrow hallway, moving swiftly with the need for fresh air. My chest was burning, my hands shaking, my head throbbing. The purple haze had gone at the sight of the bloodied knife, and the pull of gravity had returned to normal, making me feel heavier than usual.
I didn't hear the rapid footsteps behind me, and I didn't hear a voice. Instead, I felt the hand grabbing my upper arm, and I didn't fight as I was pulled back and turned around.
The Joker's eyes caught mine for a second, and I lowered mine to his necktie, unable to look at him. I saw his mouth twitch, almost forming a pout before smoothing out in a neutral line. He cupped my chin and tipped my head up, forcing me to look into his eyes.
When our eyes met, I felt something click in the back of my mind, but I didn't know what it was. We stared at one another several seconds that felt much longer than they really were. His gaze seemed to be telling me something that his stoical expression was hiding from me. I couldn't read his face, but his eyes…I sensed hidden secrets…secrets that I felt a desire to know. I wanted to know!
Our gaze held for another second, and then it broke as I looked away, unable to allow myself to fall under the Joker's spell.
"I need fresh air," I said quietly, turning away. The Joker still had a hold on my arm, and he pulled me back. I looked at him, but avoided his eyes.
The Joker's lips tightened into a very thin line, and then he sighed, relaxing them. He reached into his pocket and held out the Charlie card. Wordlessly, I took it from him.
He held me for another moment before releasing me, almost like he was reluctant to let go.
Slowly at first, I took steps backward, away from me. The Joker watched me without a trace of emotion on his face, but his eyes, even as I increased the distance between us, I could see his eyes flashing with his emotions.
I retreated into the shadows, feeling them cover me as I faded into them. The Joker's expression changed slightly with the emotion of curiosity, and that's when I turned and broke into a run, heading back to the redline, to the greenline, racing up the stairs, and breaking out into the night.
Lordlink13: Wow! Fine chapter if I do say so myself. Thank you all for your reviews, and please keep them coming. I'm counting days left of school that I have, and I'm excited. As a senior, I get to sign-out earlier than the other people, in which case I'll have to focus on getting ready for college and all. Fun stuff, but I'm looking forward to more time to work on this story. I'd like to finish it before college starts so that I could focus on that. So far, I hope you guys are really liking it. Keep your side of this bargain, and I'll keep up mine. Signing out...