Chapter 15 Assumptions

There were only two things on Alice's mind.

One: "I can't fucking breathe" and two: "now he has a gun."

Her eyes stared down the barrel of a sleek black Beretta as she violently clawed at the bloodied foot crushing her throat. Things just got a whole lot worse. Not only was the Joker choking her with his foot but he was now holding a gun to her face.

Fear engulfed Alice, filling up every portion of her body and burning deep into her bones. This kind of fear was paralyzing, one that stopped you form thinking, moving, and breathing. Fear like this rendered you from feeling anything else no matter how hard you tried. It was a selfish emotion and it only left room for pure instinct. When fear like this is coursing through your body you don't have time to think about the repercussions of your actions, your only thoughts are consumed by trying to stay alive.

The lethality of her situation had sunken in and she knew what she needed to do. She needed to surrender. She stopped thrashing and clawing and laid there completely still, not moving a muscle, not even blinking.

Of course surrendering was a sign of weakness and it went against her prideful nature, but surrendering was her only option, if she wanted to stay alive that is. And of course she didn't have time to think all of this through because the only thing she was thinking was 'Stay alive. Stay alive. Stay alive.'

The Joker had all power over Alice, she was completely helpless. There was no way she could have managed to escape his vice like foot and avoid being shot in the head, there just wasn't a way. If there was a way she would have gone that root but trying to overpower him out of the question.

"Mmm smart girl." The Joker growled at her instinctual stillness.

He removed his foot from her throat and pocketed the gun into his purple great coat.

Alice gasped for air and instinctively reached for her throat trying to soothe the bruising pain. The oxygen hit her lungs hard and sent a rush of life through her whole body. She automatically started to stand up and she regained her balance and sense of feeling rather quickly, but her mind was still chanting 'Stay alive. Stay alive…'

Despite her physical pain and her rather annoying blank thoughts she glared at the Joker with fury evident in her eyes. He matched her stare with a malevolent grin that stretched ear to ear clearly showing his amusement.

She wanted to smack that smug look off his face so bad. But seeing that her last attempt at physical harm got her a gun in her face and a foot on her throat she immediately trashed the idea. Instead she continued her game of silent chicken, staring at him, waiting for him to speak.

"Now Alice," he sighed, "haven't you learned that hitting people isn't nice?" He sarcastically raised his eyebrows giving her a moment to respond. "Or did your daddy never teach you that?" he let out a loud laugh that made Alice snarl her lip in disgust. He continued anyway trying to stifle his giggles.

"So eh let's try this again shall we? Oh and since you can't seem to understand what I want you to do, I'm going to tell you." His voice darkened to a low growl and he quickly reached his hand behind her neck grabbing a fist full of hair. He pulled it taught exposing her bruised neck and leaned in close, eyes moving everywhere and tongue darting rapidly over his crimson lips.

Alice inhaled sharply at his grip and grimaced in pain. His smell was overpowering and unlike her dream he smelt vile. The combination of blood, sweat, and stale cigarettes made her sick and the lingering smell of whisky didn't help either.

"You are going to come with me and you are not going to try and escape or…or…" his eyes darted side to side and his lips smacked together "or you'll regret it. You got that much?"

Alice rolled her eyes in response and his grip on her hair tightened making her gasp a little.

"Oh and no more questions." His voice deepened again and he moved his face closer to hers, noses almost touching. "Reason or no reason you're eh coming with me." He nodded furiously.

Alice gulped. Here she was again left with no other option then to comply. No other option then to just give in. She hated that so much, she hated that she was helpless when it came to him and that there was absolutely nothing she could do to save herself.

The Joker changed his position so that he was standing behind Alice still tightly gripping her hair. He shoved her forward pushing her across the room and out the door, using the fistful of hair to steer her like horse.

He directed them out of the house and into the brisk city air where a white van was sitting idly. Franticly he opened the back two doors and pushed Alice in.

"Ow! What the fuc-" before she could finish her sentence he slammed the doors shut leaving her alone in the empty gutted van.

There was no light and nothing to secure her in place. She would have argued that it was unsafe to be back there but the partition blocked her from the Joker and whoever was in the driver's seat.

The van lurched forward and buzzed down the street, Alice slid around the back with each sharp turn making her head collide with the metal walls. It hurt like a bitch.

As she attempted to stand to bang on the partition the van braked sending her straight on her face, it was like they were doing this on purpose.

"Fuck you!" she yelled as the van sped up again.

Alice grunted and decided that is was best to just sit down and try her hardest to avoid being knocked around.

She leaded against the cold metal and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. It was pointless to try and guess what the Joker wanted to do with her or where they were going. After all he made it very clear that he didn't necessarily have a reason for any of this. Instead, her thoughts seemed to gravitate towards the events that just transpired.

All the blood and torn flesh she witnessed burned in her brain. She had never seen anything like that before. Of course she had witnessed her fair share of murders and committed some as well but she never saw that much death in one sitting. It was strange though, how she felt so numb. The gruesome sight did nothing to her.

Her thoughts shifted and rendered on who caused all that death. And to her surprise when she thought about him she felt everything but numb. He caused rage to course through her body and adrenaline to pump through her veins. He made her feel petrified and fearless all at the same time. It was like he was some kind of drug that woke her from numbness. But maybe that's what happens when someone is threatening your life, maybe anyone with a gun can make a numb person feel something. But then again maybe it was the thin string of sanity and instinct that was holding Alice together, just waiting and begging to finally snap.

In all honesty though she felt extremely conflicted with her current predicament, of course she was completely enraged, the Joker had no right to just kill all of her men and then take her against her will, it just wasn't fair. But on the other hand, the narcissist in her couldn't help but be flattered by the grand gesture. He went out of his way to make sure each one of her henchmen had a slit in their throats, just so he could make sure that Alice had no one. This slightly disturbed her though, she shouldn't be feeling flattered by the fact that he committed mass murder, that just wasn't normal, but then again she wasn't normal.

She sighed and continued to mull over her current situation, weighing out the pros and cons. That's when she came to the realization that this wasn't all that bad. Yeah she had been kidnapped, yeah she had a bruised windpipe and sore ribs, and yeah all her henchmen were dead. But things could have been worse. She could have been in jail, she could have been dead, or worst of all she could have been still trying to mask herself under a veil of false normalcy.

At least here, in the back of the Jokers van, she could be herself and really that was enough for Alice. She didn't need her men, they were a great help, but they weren't necessarily vital to her. As long as she had herself she was fine.

Like she had decided before, she wouldn't let herself be afraid of the Joker. This was all a game and she was determined to win. Despite if he had the upper hand she would still try her best to keep her held high and her dignity in tack. All in all Alice was looking pretty optimistic about the whole situation. Despite her pessimistic views on the world she was always a glass half full kind of girl, always trying to find a way to benefit herself out of situations. But little did she know that her opponent was of a totally different nature. He was neither pessimist nor optimist. He didn't see the glass half full or half empty. He was the one to tip the glass over.

After about an hour of twists and turns the van halted to a stop and stood idly for a minute before the engine was shut off. Alice immediately stood up as she heard the front doors slam shut. She backed up to the partition anticipating for her doors to be flung open as well.

She was right. The doors flung open and flooded the dark van with the sickly orange glow of a street light. It blinded Alice for a brief moment but her eyes adjusted quickly, revealing that the person who opened the doors wasn't the Joker.

Instead it was a guy that Alice had never seen before. He was tall and lanky. His cut facial features were deeply shadowed by the street lamp giving him an almost skeleton look. He had short dark brown hair that was styled in a James Dean fashion and he had pricing sea green eyes that were illuminated, almost iridescent, like a cat's. He looked ghostly and cast an empty gaze on Alice who simply stared back.

"You weren't kidding boss, she is quite the looker indeed." His voice was deep and unexpected; it didn't match his rather malnourished look. He smiled approvingly and nodded his head looking Alice up and down.

With that the Joker was immediately at the mystery man's side staring at Alice as well with a deep malevolent grin. She eyed the both of them apprehensively with her back against the van wall feeling like a cadged animal at a zoo.

The Joker turned to face the green eyed man and slapped a hand on his shoulder a little roughly. "I told you Arlo she is beautiful." He drawled burning his gaze into Alice who remained silent and still.

They were right though, Alice was beautiful. But not the kind of beautiful that was empty and vein. She possessed the kind of beauty that haunts you and makes you believe in some kind of god. Her beauty was unique and timeless.

To start, her eyes were a deep rusty brown that looked almost red in the orange light. Her pouty and full lips matched the red in her eyes and the beauty mark that rested above them gave her an air of ethnicity. Her newly jet black hair contrasted her stark pale skin giving her a flawless porcelain sheen, and her thick eyebrows framed her face perfectly and added to her naturally sultry stare. She was ethereal and breathtaking.

But her cheeks were hollow and hues of purple and blue rested under eyes, they matched the yellowing bruises on her neck. Her collar bones jutted out along with the bones that lined her chest. She looked tired and worn out, almost cancerous. Her recent change in life style caught up with her and usually that would easily diminish someone's beauty but it did the complete opposite to Alice. It gave her an edge.

The Joker looked at Alice catching her watchful gaze. He narrowed his eyes,

"Lets go." He said sharp and fast pressing his lips together.

Alice didn't even have time to respond before the Joker was in the van and gripping her arm like a vice. It was sure to leave a bruise. He dragged her out of the trunk and she lost her footing, tripping and landing hard on the rocky gravel. Arlo took a step back moving out of the way.

The Joker, who was still gripping Alice's arm, yanked her up forcible making her whimper in pain. She was standing now and managed to ignore the bruising pain in her arm to take in their new surroundings.

They were in a large gravel parking lot that was scattered with flickering street lights. The sight of tall city buildings glowed in the distance and the streets that surrounded them were empty and dark. Usually Gotham never slept and the streets were always filled with cars and people but these streets were eerie and you could almost see dark figures lurking in the shadows. Alice took all of it in and concluded that this could only mean one thing, they were in the Narrows.

More immediately though, she recognized the building across the gravel lot. It resembled some type of theater or venue; it was abandon though and looked extremely neglected. But before she could analyze it any further the Joker was pulling her along towards it with Arlo follow close behind. The Joker walked fast, taking long strides and furiously looking all around, keeping his head low. Alice tried to keep up but struggled to match his pace and his hand gripped harder and harder as they neared the side entrance.

However she did manage to take into consideration that this decrypted place might be her new home, and no matter how uneasy that made her feel, she refused to let it bother her. Instead she decided to keep her head held high and just go with the flow, what was the worst that could happen?