Before I say anything, I revised all of my chapters, and fixed them up a bit, just incase you want to go back and refresh your memory or something. But onto the previous chapter…thank you so much for the reviews/alerts/favorites! You guys are honestly the best, and it's what keeps me going when it comes to writing! I apologize for my past chapters being short, so I'm going to make it up, and this chapter will be much longer for you. So I hope you enjoy and remember to review! I respond to all of my reviews because it really feeds the fire (the more reviews I get the more I want to write) but anyway onto the chapter!
"Mommy?" the small girl whispered as she walked slowly down the large corridor. Her soft brown eyes studying the walls of Wayne Manor, where they were covered with huge portraits, flags, and weapons. Her small hands grabbed the bottom of her velvet navy blue dress, trying to find some way to comfort herself.
"Mom?" she called out again. There was only silence to answer her. A warm tear slowly traveled down her cheek, feeling lost and hopeless. She fell to her knees on the red carpet, beginning to cry.
"Eilish?" he mother's voice finally called. Eilish sprang to her feet at the sound of her mother's voice. She turned around to see her mother standing by the door to the banquet room, her long black gown barely touching the floor.
"Mommy!" Eilish ran over to her mother who crouched down, letting her fly into her arms. Her tears were stronger now as she buried her chin into her mother's neck.
"Zachary left me all alone." She pouted, feeling her mother gently rub her back.
"Oh, now now there's no need to cry Eilish." Her mother said now stroking her daughter's soft brown hair. "You're stronger then that."
"But I missed you, Mommy."
"I missed you too."
Eilish's eyes shot open, only to be blinded by a bright light that could have been mistaken for the sun. She winced, closing her eyes and turning her head away from the powerful beam. She grit her teeth, letting her eyes adjust and her body slowly wake up. As she became more conscience, she soon began to feel pain and throbbing all over her body, mainly in the back of her head. Her heart skipped a beat as she then remembered why. The bus…Victoria…The Joker. Forgetting the light, she opened her eyes and quickly tried to sit up.
"Ahh!" she screeched, placing her hand over the back of her head.
"Not so fast!" she suddenly heard a voice say. Regaining her vision, she looked over to where the unfamiliar voice had come from. Confused, she was then looking at an old man…a doctor. He quickly came to her side; placing his hand behind her head and guiding her slowly back down the metal table she had been laying on. As his face became clearer, she then recognized the man.
"The b-bank…" she mumbled, watching as he walked towards a counter across from the table. He had been the old man outside of the bank, the one who had told her not to go inside. Confused, she watched his every move.
"Now, now dear let me just change your IV fluids then we-."
"H-Hospital?" her heart was racing. Could it be? Did someone find me? Am I free?
"Well...I wouldn't call it that." The man chuckled, bringing a cold bag of fluid over to the table. She watched as he unhooked an empty bag, and replaced it with the one he had.
"Alright now, let's get you up." He placed his hand between her shoulder blades, helping her sit up fully on the table. Trying to ignore the pain beating behind her head and now in her ankle, she got a chance to examine the room, which seemed to be a doctor's office. She looked down at her body; she was wearing a pair of blue scrub pants, and a black t-shirt. She felt a sharp sting on the top of her right hand as she grabbed the table for support, looking down to see the IV taped to her hand.
"Your foot seemed to swell down on it's own, I assume you've injured it before." she heard him say as she continued to look around confused.
"Where…where am I?" she asked faintly, ignoring his question. His face looked sad for a moment, his circular glasses shining against the light. He had white hair sticking out around his head, and the top of his head was completely bald.
"Maybe it would help if I explained to you just who I am." He suggested, looking down at the table and folding his hands in front of him. "I'm Dr. Charles Kippiano, graduated from the University of Gotham Medical School, retired about 13 years ago after working at Arkham. But you can call me Kippy. I work for the mob, of course only treating their injuries that is." She was shocked, but after all that has happened, she realized she had no reason to be.
"Is that why you were at the bank?" Eilish asked, letting her feet slide off the side of the table. Her quick movement only made the pain worse.
"Well, I was actually in the bank while it was being robbed, but the Joker had spotted me out thankfully, and let me leave before I had become apart of whatever mess he was going to make." He said as if the Joker was merely a good friend of his. And that's what scared her, maybe he was. "In fact, he should be down here any minute now." He turned away and began cleaning up the countertop that had been covered in bloody bandages, tools, and rubber gloves. Her eyes widened in fear.
"H-he's…here?" she began to panic, gripping the table for dear life.
"No need to be frightened, dear." He tried to comfort her, throwing his garbage into a small bin.
"I'm sure if he really wanted to harm you, he wouldn't have brought you to me." He explained. She gave him a confused look.
"He brought me…here?" she asked softly, trying her best to put the pieces to the puzzle together in her head.
"A few days ago actually."
"Days?" She screeched, finding it unbelievable that she had been out for such a long time.
"Your head took a lot of damage." He explained, soon turning towards her.
"That…it did." The Joker's eerie voice soon rang in her ears. She felt her face turn white as she looked over at the door to see The Joker leaning against the frame, his arms crossed, and his eyes fixated on her.
"Ahh, Joker." Kippy greeted him happily. The Joker's eyes continued to glare at her. "She only just woke up, once her IV fluid is finished she should be feeling a lot better." She then forced herself to look away from him, listening to Kippy turn the faucet on and wash his hands.
"Ya know…Kip." The sound of his voice only made her shudder. "That ah…garbage looks pretty full." She looked up to see Kippy glance over at the garbage he had just thrown his paper towel in. "Why don't you go…take it out." The Joker growled at him. Eilish's heart sank as she watched Kippy grab the garbage, wishing he would stay with her so that she didn't have be alone with this…animal.
(MCU)
"My daughter and her friends have been missing for days…and you can't tell me ANYTHING?" Mr. Jordan slammed his fist down hard on the Commissioner's desk, rattling his coffee mug. Gordon sighed, calmly placing his hands out in front of him.
"We're doing the best we can, I mean…Major Crimes Unit usually doesn't handle cases such as this, and with the construction going on here, we're pretty tied up." He tried to assure him. Mr. Jordan folded his arms furiously and began to rub to his temples.
"I just…you can't…argh." He growled and turned away from the commissioner wishing he could take back everything he had said to Eilish.
"Listen…I have two kids of my own…I can understand how you must feel, which is why when I tell you we are trying our best…I mean it." Gordon said as he stood up from his desk, feeling bad for the man.
"Well…you have my number." Mr. Jordan then grabbed his brief case and quickly left his office, slamming the door behind him.
Gordon slumped back into his chair, feeling a cool breeze against the back of his neck. He rolled his eyes as his phone that began to ring soon interrupted his moment of peace.
"Gordon."
"It's Ramirez…you might want to come downstairs…we have a visitor" He quickly hung up the phone and grabbed his jacket, throwing it on and walking out of his office, avoiding the construction workers that took up more of the building then officers…thanks to the Joker.
Gordon finally made it to the entrance of the building only to see a group of officers, a secretary, and Mr. Jordan, surrounding someone on a bench. Confused, Gordon pushed past everyone only to see a girl being treated by a paramedic. Her skin was sweaty and dirty, and there was a handcuff bound to her wrist.
"Her name is Maria…she was one of the missing girls."
(The Narrows)
Eilish watched in fear as Kippy passed the Joker through the door. His eyes then looked over at her as he pushed himself off of the doorframe.
"So Sleeping Beauty…you're awake." He grinned amused at himself, sliding his gloved hands into his purple pencil striped pants. He slowly began to make his way over to the table, stopping in front of her to cup her chin between his fingers. "It's just…too bad you didn't need a prince," his tongue quickly ran against the inside of his lower lip, "to kiss you."
Disgusted, she pushed her head to the side, pulling her chin away from his grip.
"You're nothing like a prince." She scoffed at him with anger, listening to his dark chuckle.
"Do you…ah…know what they call me around here, doll face?" he leaned his face so close to hers that she could smell his freshly applied, thick makeup. His fingertips then gently grabbed her jaw, forcing her to look at him.
"They call me The Clown Prince of Crime." He growled, baring and gritting his teeth. She pulled her jaw away from his grasp once more.
"Congratulations." She hissed sarcastically, angry and mortified, trying not to do something that would get her knocked out for weeks.
"Aww…what's the matter hmm pussycat? Tell me…who are you missing most," his hands placed themselves on the table, leaning his face close, "your friend, who's tied up nice and snug in the trunk of a car…" she gasped and looked away, folding her arms insecurely across her stomach, trying not to cry, "or…" she closed her eyes down hard as she felt the warmth of his breath tickle her ear, "your mother."
(MCU)
"Contact her parents." Gordon commanded Ramirez.
"I already did." Mr. Jordan told him. Gordon nodded his head, then looked back to Maria who was shaking. One of the paramedics looked over their shoulder to Gordon, standing up and taking their rubber gloves off.
"She has a few bruises and lacerations on her arms, she told us she had been walking for days with nothing to eat and she does seem fairly fatigued." The paramedic then looked back at the scared girl. "I think most of the damage is mental."
Gordon nodded and dismissed both him and his partner, finally getting a chance to kneel down in front of the girl. He tried to comfort her by smiling, and gently laying his hand on top of her knee, but it only made her flinch. Gordon tried his best to look shocked at the situation, but after reviewing his surveillance cameras and watching her friend give the Joker a knife, he knew there was something odd going on when she suddenly went missing.
Standing up, Gordon turned towards Ramirez and Mr. Jordan.
"We can't question or take care of her here." Gordon explained, talking about half of the MCU being blown to pieces. Ramirez nodded her head.
"Call Arkham, ask the warden if we could admit her for a few days to recover and question her."
"Isn't Arkham used for criminals?" Mr. Jordan butted in.
"Not all cases, they have a separate facility we use incase we can't use ours." Gordon said. After seeing the look on Mr. Jordan's face, he then added, "this isn't the first time the Joker has bombed this place."
(The Narrows)
She could feel the blood rush to her face as he mentioned her. She slowly turned her head to face him, shock in her eyes.
"How…how did you know about her?" she asked softly.
"Oh…honey." A wide smile spread across his lips. "I know everything." Eilish pushed herself off of the table, despite her pain, and walk towards the countertop, folding her arms, and looking at the floor.
"Walking through the Narrows…all alone." He said as if he actually cared, but she could hear the hint of amusement in his voice. "If she looked anything like you," she could feel his presence behind her, "I'm sure there was more then one man who had their eye on her." Instead of being angry, she began to cry, feeling hot tears stream down her cheeks, trying not to listen to his words.
"Please…l-leave me alone." She was able to mumble through her cries.
"I'm afraid I just can't…do that. Ya see, you and I …ah…we made a deal." He growled at her, leaning his chin over her shoulder. "And whether you like it or not…you are going to do exactly what I say." She shuddered at the sound of his voice, knowing there was no way out of this.
"You belong to me now." He hissed into her ear.
"Boss I-." she suddenly looked over at the door, thankful to see Kippy walk in with a brown paper bag. He froze at the door afraid he had walked in at the wrong moment. "Sorry to interrupt, but Monty is here to see you." He placed the bag onto the countertop, then looked over at me, avoiding Joker's annoyed glare. "And you young lady, should really get your rest." She could see the sincerity in his eyes, as he placed his hands on her shoulders and guided her back to the table to lie down on. She looked at Joker, whose arms were crossed, watching as Kippy helped her back onto the table.
"Bring her upstairs when she's ready." The Joker snarled at him, as his eyes were still glued to hers. She broke contact by looking away, listening to him turn around and slam the office door behind him. Kippy raised his eyebrows at her as if she was a schoolgirl who had gotten into trouble.
"I brought you a few things to eat…do you haven appetite?" he asked, holding up the brown bag. She shook her head 'no'.
"You must eat something, your body is very weak." She then looked over at him, watching as he reached into the bag, pulling out a packet of crackers and holding out to her. She slowly took it from his hands, and began to open it.
(Arkham Asylum)
"I…I looked back just as Eilish was hit on the head…they were both on the ground and I…I just ran." Maria burst into tears in the bright white room interrogation room. She sat beside her parents who began to comfort her.
"Running away was the best thing you could have done to help them." Ramirez assured her as Gordon leaned against his chair thinking to himself.
"Did you happen to hear any of them talk about anything, do you remember what they looked like, what they were doing or, where they were going?" Ramirez asked, watching as Maria, wiped away at her tears.
"They all had masks on…clown masks…except the driver. But none of them said anything…besides the main one…but he only threatened us…he was more interested in Eilish." Ramirez nodded and looked over at Gordon, both of them knowing that the 'main one' she was talking about was the Joker, but she didn't need to know that just yet. "They also had bags with them."
"Can you-." Before Ramirez could ask another question, Maria's father interrupted her.
"I think that's enough questions for one day…our daughter is very weak and exhausted." Gordon nodded.
"We're going to have to keep her here for a few days so she can be evaluated." Gordon began to explain.
"Keep her here? At Arkham? Our daughter is not crazy commissioner." Her father objected.
"Listen, your daughter has just been put through a very traumatizing experience, and it is mandatory that in a case such as this that has been brought to the MCU, that she must be admitted to Arkham, where she can rehabilitate with therapy and also keep her body levels healthy. She had been out on the street for days." Ramirez tried to explain. Her father nodded his head, although still unhappy. Ramirez and Gordon watched as the family left the room, Maria then being confronted by a few of Arkham's doctors.
"Joker is up to something." Ramirez turned to Gordon and said. Gordon rubbed his thumb against his mustache and nodded his head.
"I know. I just don't understand what he would want with three teenage girls."
"By the sounds of it, I don't think he wanted all of them." She said, organizing the stack of papers in front of her.
"Right…it seems like he was really just after Eilish, and the other two just happened to be there as well." Gordon stood up and placed his hands on his hips, taking in a long breath. "See if you can grab her school file, and anything you can about her parents." Ramirez nodded, grabbing the papers and leaving Gordon standing in the room, still trying to piece everything together.
(The Narrows)
Eilish watched as Kippy reached above her, taking down the now empty IV bag.
"Feeling any better?" he asked as he then slid the IV from her hand. She snickered at the question, wondering how he could even ask such a thing.
"Yeah…great." She replied sarcastically. She heard him sigh, handing her a pile of clothes that seemed to be taken right out of her closet.
"I know this isn't the greatest situation to be in," he began to say, fixing his glasses as she examined the clothes he had given her, "but you must make the best of it." He gave her a reassuring smile before leaving the room to let her change. She began to undress herself, feeling sick as she looked at the large bruises scattered across her skin. She then slipped on the dark denim jean shorts, along with a thin white long sleeved shirt. Confused as to why and how he had gotten a hold of her clothes, she looked at herself in the mirror, only wishing she was getting ready for school.
There was then a knock on the door.
"Are you ready?" she heard Kippy's muffled voice. She took a deep breath, and walked over to the door opening it to see Kippy waiting outside. He smiled at her.
"You look great!" he said kindly. She forced herself to smile politely, but 'great' was nothing she wanted to look like for the man she was about to see. Eilish then followed him up an old wooden staircase. There were two windows every time they had reached a floor, and every one of them had been boarded up with thin, uneven pieces of wood.
After what seemed to be hours, they finally reached the top floor of the building, where Kippy began to knock on the door. Eilish folded her arms, hoping that for some reason no one would answer. She then heard someone unlock the door, and swung it open. To her surprise, it wasn't the Joker who had answered the door, but the thug who had raped Victoria. She furrowed her eyes in disgust, folding her arms and looking away from him.
"Whadduh you want old man! Can't ya see I'm-." She looked over at the thug as he stopped yelling, realizing his eyes were studying her, a sly smile peering on his lips. "Oh…you've brought the girl." He bit down on her on his lower lip, folding his arms and looking at her with hunger in his eyes. Her heart started to race, hoping Kippy wouldn't leave her with him.
"Err…yes, is the Joker around?" Kippy asked, clearly disgusted by the thug as well. The thug narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah he's here…why don't ya go run along now and I'll take care of her." The thug looked over at Eilish once more, giving her a sickening smile. Kippy nodded his head, laying a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll be seeing you around." And with that he turned around and left. She then looked at the thug who moved to the side, extending his hand towards the door.
"Welcome home." He smiled sarcastically. She rolled her eyes, folding her arms and cautiously walking past him into the apartment. Her jaw slightly dropped, expecting to see a scummy place with bloodstains on the floor and wall. Instead, she walked into a nicely furnished apartment that seemed to be huge. The dark wooden floors were nicely polished against the dark purple walls, the living room she was standing in had long black leather couches that sat in front of one of the biggest TV's she had ever laid her eyes on to the right corner of the room. In front of her, on the other side of a purple pool table, she saw a large opening that lead to the kitchen, with black marble countertops, a giant fridge that looked like it could hold a few bodies, and a long black dinner table. To both the left and right side of the living room were two long hallways that she guessed had led to the bedrooms.
"Surprised?" she flinched at the sound of the thug's voice as he closed the door. She then watched as he walked from behind her and towards the pool table where he leaned his back against, folding his arms and smiling at her.
It was the first time she was really able to study the thug she dreamed of never having to see again. He seemed to be about the same height as the Joker, possibly shorter, but his figure was bigger, his arms and torso beginning to remind her of the few football players she had regrettably dated. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and dark jeans, but it was his piercing light blue eyes though that were really menacing.
"I was expecting more of a dungeon." She replied, keeping her distance. He pursed his lips and nodded.
"What makes you think any of us would want to live in a dark, dirty, smelly dungeon?" he scoffed, his hands now placed on the pool table beside him.
"I guess it would just seem to fit all of you. You should be ashamed of what you did." She said angrily glaring at him, soon regretting it as he started walking over to her.
Eilish swallowed hard, standing her ground but at the same time praying she wouldn't be sent to Kippy again.
"It's no wonder the Joker picked you, he likes a challenge." Confused and angry at his words, she gave him her best threatening look that only made him chuckle. Only inches from her, his fingers grabbed a small piece of her hair and began to stroke it gently with his thumb.
"C'mon David leave her alone she doesn't need two faces floating around in her nightmares." A voice called from the right hallway. They both looked over towards the voice that had come from a shorter man she had never seen before. He was only a little taller then her and had short black hair. His face looked much older and so did his green eyes, one of them having a long scar over it. He was wearing a black leather jacket and what looked to be the same jeans as the thug she knew now as 'David'.
"Shut up Oscar!" David snarled at him. Eilish then watched as a sadistic smile spread onto his lips. "At least one of them will be handsome." He looked back at her and winked. She pushed his hand away and gave him a disgusted look, listening as Oscar laughed.
"I didn't know you felt that way about the Boss, David…I'll let him know when he gets back." Eilish felt relieved to know that he wasn't here, but at the same time anxious to know when he was going to be back.
"I swear to God Oscar he should've killed you with Vinny." David was now walking towards the kitchen, following Oscar. She stood there awkwardly, waiting for a gun to be pointed at her head, or handcuffs to be put on, but nothing came.
"Hey Girl! Stop looking like a lost puppy and get in here!" Oscar shouted from the kitchen. She blushed, completely confused at what was going on. As she walked slowly to the kitchen, she began trying to understand why she went from being mentally and physically abused, to feeling as if she was hanging out with two goons at a bar. As she entered the kitchen she was again amazed at how nice and huge it was. There was an island in the middle, next to the chef-style kitchen and long table, where David sat on one of the stools reading the paper and drinking coffee.
"Ya want some?" She watched as Oscar lifted his cup of coffee.
"Um…" she watched as they both stared at her, waiting for an answer. "N-no thanks."
"Listen Girl, I- hey what's your name anyway huh?" Oscar asked. She studied his face to see that he actually cared.
"Eilish." She said softly, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Oscar nodded approvingly, clapping his hands together and turning towards her.
"Right, right, I wasn't on the bus but I remember Boss mentioning you a few times." She cringed at the thought, her heart now racing as she began to worry.
"D-do you know what he wants...with me?" she asked him, fear glimmering in her eyes.
"I can't tell ya that, but I can tell ya that your future is looking pretty bright." He said, hoping what he meant was that he was going to let her go.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, let's just say girls don't usually last long around here. But hey, you've hit record time so I don't think you have anything to worry about." David let out a laugh at Oscar's words.
"And you thought I was scaring her? Married for 16 years and you still can't talk to a lady." David laughed at him. Oscar glared, ignoring his words and sipping more of his coffee.
"Anyway, he stepped out for a bit, not sure when he'll be coming back, but while we wait, are you hungry? Thirsty?"
"Jesus Oscar…" David said, slapping his palm against his forehead and looking almost embarrassed.
"What? I feel bad for the poor thing, God only knows what you guys did to her." Oscar defended himself. David rolled his eyes and got up, putting his mug into the sink.
"If you wanted to know Oscar, I would have been pleased to tell you." Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice coming from behind her. She watched as both David and Oscar looked at the man behind her in fear.
So! What do you think? The story is finally coming together and I can tell you guys that this is only the beginning, the good stuff hasn't even started and I can't for you guys to see what's going to happen! REVIEW!