"So..." Damien said. "You have nothing to say?"
Adriana was quiet. She wanted to run.
"Say something!" he demanded.
"What do you want me to say?" she asked him.
"I want you to answer my questions," he said.
"I don't know," she said. "I don't know where he is or if he is alive. As far as I know, he's dead. I only know what I saw on the news."
"Adriana," Damien said. "You can tell me. You can tell me the truth. Has he contacted you?"
"No," Adriana said.
Damien took a step back and rubbed his chin.
"Were there others?" he asked her.
"Other what?" she asked.
"Damn its hard talking to you when you can't read my mind," he said with frustration. "Other victims."
"Victims of what?" she asked him.
"Sexual assault," Damien said.
Adriana looked away.
"You were still able to read thoughts," Damien said. "You'd know what he was doing."
Damien waited for her to say something.
"Look, Adriana. Whatever happened it's not your fault," Damien said.
"I don't want to talk about this with you-" she said.
"You're going to have to because there's no way I'm going to let that son of a bitch get away with what he's done. Don't you want justice? For what he's done to you?" Damien asked.
"He's dead," she said.
"No," Damien said. "There's more to this than the news stations are aware of, don't you see it?"
Adriana didn't answer him.
"Wayne know?" he asked her. "Does Wayne know you had that madman's kid? I still can't believe you went through with it-"
"Don't!" Adriana said, raising her voice at him. "Don't you dare mention my son ever again."
Damien looked at her and started to shake his head.
"I have proof here," he said. "Hard, documented proof. A DNA match with the Joker. You had his kid! He raped you and you act like you aren't afraid he could come back. You think Wayne could protect you? He's rich but he is a pampered pretty boy, not a fighter. He couldn't protect you if the Joker came back. Money never stopped the Joker from getting to anyone."
"Why are you doing this Damien?" she asked. "Why are you really doing this? For clout? For fame?"
"I care about you," he said.
Adriana huffed.
"Help me bring him in," Damien said.
"No," Adriana said and turned to walk away but Damien grabbed her arm. "Let go of me."
"Listen," Damien said. "I didn't want to have do to this...but I need bait."
"Bait?" she asked.
"If he hears that you've been...say..abducted," Damien said. "Maybe he will show himself. And since you're disappearing from the most high profile wedding in Gotham's history, I'm sure it will be all over the news in an hour-"
"Let me go," she said. "I'm not going to tell you again."
"I won't hurt you," Damien said. "Don't worry. And when he shows, I won't let him near you."
"What if your stupid plan doesn't work? What if he doesn't show?" she asked.
"You know I showed him a picture of you and he didn't name you. I beat the shit out of him and he didn't name you. He was protecting you," Damien said. ""If he doesn't show, then I will know for sure that either he's dead...or worse."
"Worse?" she asked.
"I don't know," Damien said. "Maybe someone's abducted him and is torturing him. He has a lot of enemies. But the more likely option is that he's out there laying low and will come to your rescue. Don't you want to help me? To bring your assailant to justice."
"No," she said. "Now let go of my arm, Damien. I don't want to have to hurt you."
"You?" he said and started to laugh. "Hurt me? Baby...you're a kitten. I won't hurt you, though. Now..let's go-"
As he began to pull her he was stunned at what happened next. Within a few seconds he was down on the ground with her knee in is back and his left arm twisted and bent behind him. The papers he had in his hand had fallen to the ground.
"Ah!" he screamed at the pain in his shoulder. "What the hell are you doing! Adri-"
"Listen," she hissed into his ear. "Stay the hell away from me. I don't know where he is, and you'd better be thankful that he doesn't know what you're doing because he would kill you and so would my husband."
"Wayne?" Damien laughed through the pain. "I'm not afraid of either one of-...Ahh!"
He screamed louder as his shoulder and wrist felt like they would break free from their joints and she put more pressure on him.
"But I bet you're afraid of me now," she said.
"Get..." he struggled to talk through the pain. "Please...please...let me go-"
"Stay the fuck away from us," she hissed.
"You had that monster's kid and you-" Damien said and then shouted in pain. Adriana didn't even care anymore if anyone heard him.
"I told you not to talk about my son," she said.
"Bitch!" he grunted in pain. "You will pay for this! The world will know the truth!"
"What?" she asked.
"I don't want to do that to you," he said. "But you're going to fuck up my arm! And those papers aren't the only copies!"
She was quiet. She had angered him enough to the point that he wanted to expose her publicly. She didn't know what the hell to do.
"What do you want?" she asked. "Me to go with you? To try and catch the Joker if he's even alive?"
"No," Damien moaned in pain. "No..I've changed my mind. Fucker is probably dead! I want money."
"Money?" she asked.
"Yes," he said. "You're right, he probably wouldn't come for you. He's probably done the same shit to other women. He's probably a serial rapist. You probably didn't mean shit to him. I want money."
"How much?" she asked.
"Fifty million," he breathed.
"Fifty fucking million!" she shouted. "I don't have that!"
"You do now," Damien said. "Ask your new husband."
Adriana was quiet again. What other choice did she have?
"Fine," she said, fighting the urge to fully dislocate his arm. "Then you can never speak a word of this to anyone."
"Okay," he said. "Fifty million in cash and the world never has to know about you being attacked by the Joker-"
"Let's get one thing straight, you hideous bastard," Adriana said. "He never attacked me. I wanted him. Yes, you heard me right...I wanted him. And he was ten thousand times better than you in every single way possible. You'll get your money, but you'll also have to live with the fact that you pushed me into his arms. And I loved every fucking second of it."
.
.
.
"This is one my favorite places to visit in Canada and I am sure you can already see why," Bruce said to Adriana once they were in their hotel in Quebec.
Adriana smiled and took off her earrings. She sat on the loveseat in the room, trying to hide the fact that her hands were shaking. They had been married less than twelve hours and she already needed to ask him for fifty million dollars without being able to tell him why.
"Something's wrong," he said and sat beside her. "I can tell. You were quiet the whole plane ride."
"Yeah," she said. This would likely ruin their worse...end it.
She thought carefully about how to ask him. He looked at her so lovingly..everything would change if he knew the truth.
"It's...bad Bruce," she said to him. "And I don't want to ruin such a beautiful night-"
"Tell me," he said to her gently. "We are married now. We are together. We are a team."
She nodded once and looked down down.
"I'm...being blackmailed," she said.
"What?" he said, almost laughing. "Oh...you're serious. When did this happen?"
"A few hours ago, at the reception...someone was there, who knows something about me that can never be revealed. He agreed not to say anything if we...pay him," she said.
"Well," Bruce said and stood up. "How much do they want?"
"Oh..." she said and looked down at her hands. "Fifty million dollars."
"Okay," Bruce nodded and rubbed her arms.
"Okay?" she looked up and frowned. "That's it?"
"I've been blackmailed before, sweetheart," he said. "I know how this works. He'll likely go away for much less that fifty million."
Adriana was speechless.
"Naturally...you'll have to tell me what this person has on you. I need to have my lawyer draw up the contract for this person to sign," Bruce said. "And the situation will be handled."
"So...that's it? You'll pay him? Bruce..you don't even know what I've done," she said.
"I'll pay them because I love you," he said. "I don't care about the money. Now, tell me what this person is threatening to expose."
"I...can't tell you," she said.
"Adriana," he said and knelt in front of her, his hands on her hips. "You can tell me anything. Anything! You know that."
Adriana swallowed. She could not tell him this. There was no way he would accept it..
"The contract...what if he knows other things...surrounding my secret-" she said. "I mean he could sign and then say something else-"
"We'll have him agree not to disclose any personal information about you whatsoever," Bruce said. "My lawyers know how to make this an all encompassing arrangement."
"Bruce...I don't want to ruin this day..." she said again.
"So, then just tell me so we can put it behind us," he told her.
She nodded. Closed her eyes and spoke quietly.
"He knows..." she said, holding back tears.
"Go on..." he said.
She couldn't do it. She had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach when she considered telling him the truth. She could not tell him that Arsenio was the Joker's son.
"He knows that I'm a vigilante," she said, unable tell him Damien's threat.
"What?" Bruce asked.
Adriana looked into his eyes as he stood up
"What does that mean?" he asked, his mind refusing to put the pieces together.
"It means what I've said..." she said. This was the only other big secret that she had that would justify the amount of money being demanded.
She was silent while he thought about it.
"No..." he said.
"Yes," she whispered.
"This...can't be," he said.
"I'm Shade."