Please don't hate me for how long this has taken me. I have no excuse other than I'm lazy and unmotivated :/
3
Isabelle shrank back against the wall, self-preservation overcoming the urge to see what was going on.
Where the fuck is Simon?!
'I only have one question. Where is Harvey Dent?' the Joker continued and Isabelle shuddered.
Damn you Simon. You knew I hated fundraisers. Fuckfuckfuckfuck.
'I'll settle for his loved ones.'
'We're not intimidated by thugs,' came Simon's voice. Isabelle paled. What was he doing?! She started to push through the crowd, ignoring the voice in her head that told her she was being a complete idiot.
'No?' she heard the Joker murmur. 'That's brave.'
Isabelle was almost there. She could just glimpse Simon through the crowd, standing stock-still. She couldn't see the Joker. Come on, almost there.
'You show me a brave man,' the Joker continued, 'and I'll show you a dead one.'
He swung his gun up and shot Simon point blank. Simon fell backwards, a perfect circle in the middle of his forehead. Isabelle screamed and fell to her knees at the edge of the crowd.
The Joker cocked his head. 'I know that scream. If it isn't poor old Bells.'
Isabelle couldn't take her eyes off Simon, lifeless on the floor. She could hear a high-pitched sound, and then realised it was her. She crawled to his body, reaching out with shaking fingers. He was so still. He looked like he was sleeping, except for trickle of blood creeping down his cheekbone. Isabelle felt tears running down her face, but she didn't care that her makeup was running. She didn't care that the Joker wasn't even five feet away. At that moment all she cared about was the body of her best and only friend, lost to her. Because of him.
Isabelle lifted her head. 'You bastard!' she screamed, jumping to her feet. 'How could you!'
The Joker looked amused, which only made Isabelle angrier. Not thinking about the consequences, or the fact that he had a loaded gun in his hand, she made a fist and punched him in face with all of her strength.
Or at least she tried to.
The Joker caught her arm mid-throw and wrenched it against her back, pinning Isabelle to his chest. Isabelle shuddered, and stilled. She could feel a knife pressed against her neck and his breath in her ear.
'You know Bells, after our first meeting I thought you might have wised up,' he murmured with a slight giggle.
The knife tapped against her skin.
'Did you like my carving?' he asked.
'Fuck you,' Isabelle hissed. 'Why can't you just leave me alone?'
The Joker's grip on her arm tightened, and Isabelle whimpered, hot streaks of pain shooting down her shoulder.
'You do have an attitude, don't you? One day it might just get you killed.'
He turned his head to look at Simon. 'Or that guy.'
Enraged, Isabelle threw her head back. It collided with the Jokers chin, and he stumbled back slightly. She heard him laugh. 'A little fight in you. I like that.'
'Then you're going to love me.'
Isabelle could feel a sudden flurry of motion behind her and the Joker was wrenched away, the knife grazing her neck. Confused, Isabelle turned around.
No way. Seriously?
It was Batman. He slugged the Joker in the arm, disarming him, and grabbed the head of the henchman that came after him, using him as a ram to knockout the next one that tried to take a shot. Isabelle edged away, shaking, trying to get as far away from the fighting as possible. She could hear the movement in front of her, but her eyes were blurry with tears of shock and pain over Simon's death. Simon, whose body they were stepping on and around in their fight, his beautiful suit now dirty and torn. Isabelle felt perplexed. She felt like she needed to stop the fight and remind them that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong and that Simon was lying dead on the floor.
The fighting paused and Isabelle looked up at the sudden silence. Batman was standing directly in front of her, staring at the Joker. He had a woman in his arms, Rachel Dawes, and a gun pointed at her head.
'Drop the gun,' the Batman said, standing stock-still.
'Oh, sure,' the Joker said, breathing heavily, 'Just take off your mask and show us all who you are.'
Rachel struggled in his arms, shaking her head, her face ashen. The Joker raised the gun behind him and shot out the window, dragging Rachel behind him and holding her over the edge.
'Let her go,' said Batman gruffly, muscled tensed.
The Joker cocked his head. 'Very poor choice of words.'
And he let her go.
Screaming, Rachel dropped. The Batman dived out of the window after her. The Joker stared him, his head tilted to the side. His men, groaning, picked themselves up off the floor.
'What about Dent?' one asked, adjusting his mask, before popping his shoulder back into its socket with a slight groan.
The Joker hummed. 'I'm a man of my word,' he said, adjusting his sleeves. He noticed Isabelle at the edge of the crowd, hair askew and hands shaking. Isabelle looked up and met his gaze. The Joker motioned to a goon next to him. 'Bring the girl.'
Fuck no!
Isabelle frantically scrambled backwards into the press of bodies as the man in the clown mask came towards her. She was surrounded by terrified guests, but not one moved to help her. The goon snatched at the halter of her dress, dragging her back towards the elevator doors. Isabelle screamed in fury, writhing and twisting, trying to throw him off. The heels of her shoes scrabbled for purchase on the floor and her nails scratched uselessly at his hands. He threw her into the elevator, and the doors closed with a calm swoosh. Huddling in the corner, Isabelle locked her arms around her knees, her ponytail swinging to hide her face. Too late she heard the footsteps towards her, and felt a prick on her arm. Confused, she looked down. A hypodermic needle stuck out of the crease of her elbow. Her eyes blurring, Isabelle looked up at the Joker.
'You drugged me,' she slurred accusingly.
'Observant,' he replied, crouching down in front of her.
Vision fading and muscles going slack, the last thing Isabelle knew was the Joker's smudged makeup and the touch of soft leather on her thigh.
The ground was cold and hard as Isabelle woke up, groggy and disorientated. Her fingers felt rough concrete.
I'm not tied to anything. This is already better than last time.
The room was dark, but Isabelle could see faint outlines of furniture. She stood slowly, carefully, a faint throbbing in the arm where the Joker had stabbed her with a fucking needle. Stretching out her arms, Isabelle stepped unsteadily towards the biggest object. Her hands touched soft fabric - a mattress. She felt around the edge and found a lamp. Isabelle switched it on, and the room was lit by a dim, flickering light. Isabelle raised her eyebrows. She was in an unfurnished room, with no windows, one door, and no chance of escape.
What the fuck.
Isabelle looked longingly at the mattress – even though she had just woken up she felt exhausted, and her muscles were still weak and wobbly. Isabelle couldn't allow herself to fall asleep though. She trusted the Joker about as far as she could throw him, and she wouldn't put it past him to kill her in her sleep.
A little voice in the back of her mind reminded her that the Joker had had plenty of time to kill her while she was unconscious, but that thought made her even more scared – what was he keeping her alive for?
More to the point, how long was she unconscious? She remembered him touching her thigh as she slowly drifted out of consciousness. Fear choked her.
Fuckfuckfuck.
Isabelle's hand crept to the hem of her dress. She didn't feel sore. Her fingers reached her underwear, and probed. Nothing. She was fine. Isabelle heaved a sigh of relief.
'I hope I'm not interrupting something,' came a voice from the shadows, and the Joker stepped into the light. Isabelle screamed and stepped backwards, her feet hitting the mattress. She fell back, and the Joker chuckled, looking down at her.
'Nice view.'
Isabelle's jaw clenched and she glared up at him. His greasy green hair swung in front off his face, and his grease paint was faded and cracked. He appeared to be wearing the same clothes as he was at Dent's fundraiser. This gave her hope; she probably hadn't been out long if he was still wearing the same clothes.
'What the fuck do you want with me?' she hissed, struggling into sitting position in front of him. He chuckled
'Well the boys wanted a plaything and you looked lonely,' the Joker said, stretching out his scars in a hideous grin.
Isabelle slapped him across the face. Hard. He fell backwards slightly before he caught himself.
Crap. Why would I do that? Why didn't he stop me like last time?
Isabelle scrambled backwards to the other end of the mattress, breathing hard. The Joker lifted a gloved hand to his cheek, looking at her with an unreadable expression. She saw his pupils dilate.
Oh shit.
Quick as a cat, he caught her hands with one of his and pinned them to the mattress, above her head. Isabelle shrieked and thrashed, kicking out at him. The Joker put at stop to that by sitting on her hips. She could feel the hardness of his erection, and she squeezed her eyes together, disgusted.
'Get the fuck off me,' she hissed. The Joker grinned, amused.
'You are brave, aren't you. You do remember what happens to brave people, don't you.'
Tears pooled in Isabelle eyes as she remembered Simon. Whimpering, she wriggled underneath him, trying to free herself. The Joker ground into her.
'Keep doing that,' he murmured, closing his eyes.
Repulsed, Isabelle froze. His eyes snapped open, bringing his gloved fingers to her hair, tucking a strand away behind her ear.
'Who was he anyway?' he asked conversationally, patting her lightly on the cheek with his spare hand. 'Was he your boyfriend?'
'Fuck you.'
The Joker shook his head. 'No, no, not boyfriend. Was your love unrequited, then? Poor, pathetic Bells.'
Isabelle cursed him with an eruption of expletives that she had not previously known she possessed. The Joker chuckled, amused with her outburst. She struggled to free her hands, but he was much stronger than his lanky frame would suggest, and her attempts were useless. The Joker murmured, 'You certainly have got a mouth on you, don't you? Curse at me one more time Bells.'
Isabelle heard the threat in his words, but couldn't help herself, 'Fuck you, let me go!'
The Joker gazed down at her, his eyes unreadable.
'I think it's time you met the boys. Get acquainted, like.'
Oh fuck. Fuck, me and my big mouth.
Still holding tightly to her wrists with one hand, with the other the Joker grabbed her long hair in its ponytail, and dragged her up to standing. Swaying slightly in the heels she was still wearing, Isabelle's hand went to her scalp, and she twisted, trying to free herself. The Joker didn't even notice.
'Come on,' he said, dragging her towards the door. Isabelle dug her nails into his gloves, but he didn't seem to feel it.
'Let me go, you fucker,' Isabelle swore, her teeth gritted. The Joker ignored her. Her heels scrabbled for purchased on the cement floor, but he was walking too fast. She hooked a leg around the doorframe as they passed it, and the Joker grunted, amused. With one hard yank her leg lost its hold and she stumbled head first into the wall opposite. Isabelle moaned, 'I don't think my head can take much more of this.'
The Joker barely looked at her as he continued pulling her down the hallway. He reached the door at the end and paused. Isabelle could hear sound filtering through the thin wood of the door. A television was on, and the sound of pool cues hitting marble balls was accompanied by the clink of glasses. The Joker turned to her slowly, and grinned, showing all of his teeth.
'Come and meet my boys,' he said, and Isabelle whimpered as he gave her hair a hard yank. He shoved the door open and dragged Isabelle through the opening.
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