The Boss
Ana
The night air was warm and calm; while the moon peered down on Gotham to hear all its secrets. The faint noise of breaking waves whispered from the harbour, and the city docks quietly tried to listen. The shaky pants of a young woman overtook the city's murmurs. She weakly walked beside the waters, with the dock's warehouses staring at her presence.
Further down the row of warehouses, hiding in the shadows where the moon can't see, was a yellow school bus. Four men sat inside, soundlessly waiting. One of them glanced at his watch.
"We've got 20 minutes before he arrives, Boss," stated a henchman. He looked over to his Boss, who was sitting in the driver's seat. He appeared to ignore the guy as he stared out the window, continuously opening and closing his flick knife.
The henchman awkwardly looked to another accomplice that sat opposite him, across the bus aisle.
"I can't believe he pulled off the bank heist," he whispered to the other henchman.
"I know, especially considering how he's…", the other man started, but was interrupted by a third henchman clearing his throat. The third henchman, that sat behind the Boss in the driver's seat, turned around to face them. He shook his head, instigating the other two to lower theirs as if they had been told off like school children. The third henchman was more muscular than the others, his dark auburn beard didn't hide the stern look on his face. The two young, skinnier henchmen knew that he could break them like twigs if the Boss wanted him to do so. He turned back around and cautiously leaned closer to the man in the driver's seat.
"Boss are you sure this weapons dealer is going to show?" queried the man.
"Of course, all he cares about is money," he said still staring out the window in front of him and clicking his knife. "Besides, if he doesn't…" the man turned to face his men. His face darkened in the shadows but still revealed the paintwork smeared upon it. His eyes were gaping black holes, his skin as white as death, and his mouth stretched further as it proclaimed its horrific disfigurement of a Glasgow Smile. He grinned an unnerving, yellow-toothed smile, as he brought his knife up to his face and clicked it open, implying a gruesome death for the man who was keeping them waiting. The two henchmen sitting further down the bus nodded their heads and smirked. The third henchman's gaze suddenly fell upon something passed his Boss, way out in front of the bus's path. The bus looked passed the warehouses sitting on either side and gazed upon the harbour. Gotham's skyline could be seen in the distance.
"Boss?" bringing the disturbance to his Boss' attention, the man turned back to see the same sight. A woman was walking wearily across their view, she was shivering. The four men just stared at her.
The woman let out a sharp exhale and keeled over clutching her stomach. Oblivious to the people watching her from the shadows, she turned to face the water. The sounds of the gently lapping waves soothed her increasing headache, but her stomach started hurting more. She let out a shaky sigh and exhaustingly stood back up. She looked up at the moon as it reflected its vanity into the harbour. She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself but her shivering wouldn't allow it. She opened her eyes, with a blank gaze.
"What's she doing?" asked one of the henchmen in the back.
"She looks cold," stated the one behind the Boss.
"No no no, it's 100 degrees outside. She's not shivering from the cold," reviewed the Boss as he watched her intently.
"She looks familiar," the skinnier henchman noticed her clothing. "Hey, I know her! She was one of my clients, that is until she couldn't afford my product anymore. Dumb bitch would do anything for another taste," he chuckled.
"Hmmm," The Boss sucked on his horrific Glasgow scars. Without warning, the men watched as the girl threw herself into the water, she didn't come back up. The Boss raised an eyebrow, there was stunned silence throughout the bus. Suddenly, it was broken by the Boss' giggling.
"I believe, a spot on our team has just become available," The Boss looked to the henchman sitting directly behind him. "Duncan, grab the girl before she drowns herself," the Boss nonchalantly ordered. Duncan, the muscular henchman, gave a confused expression but immediately stood up and followed the Boss' instructions.
He ran off the bus and towards the water, whilst the Boss and the henchmen casually walked behind. There was a second of hesitation, and then Duncan dove into the water. With only the moonlight identifying the girl's location, he eventually found her unconscious form and pulled her up to the surface.
The sudden impact of the night air clutched onto her damp body, waking the woman up. She started coughing up water as Duncan threw her onto the unyielding concrete ground. She stared up at her potential rescuers.
"Hello there," spoke the Boss, the woman gasped a trembled breath. The figure that loomed over her was terrifyingly unnatural with the war paint spread on his face. His grey suit was tattered and frayed, he appeared incomplete with his unbalanced makeup and clothes. "You know, I find killing yourself by drowning is too easy," He knelt over her and revealed his switchblade. "A knife, however, is a lot more fun," The girl, still shivering, stared at the knife and then at the man.
"D... Did you pull me out of the water j… just to kill me," she asked as she quickly looked at the other men staring down at her. The scarred man kneeling over her suddenly burst out laughing, causing the girl to jump back. As his laughter subsided to giggles, he reached for something in his pocket and dropped it on the girl's soaking lap. It was a large bundle of bided cash.
"Looks good, doesn't it? But you're not interested in money are you? More the... uh thing it buys that comes in small bags, hmm?" The man stared at the girl while she stared at the money.
"Who… Who are you?" the girl trembled.
"He's the Joker," Duncan said, the girl looked up at him and then back to the Joker. She noticed how the makeup merged into a clown's expression. It only made him appear more frightening.
"Joker," the girl breathed. The Joker gave a small giggle.
"And what's your name?" he asked.
"Ana," the girl responded.
"Ana," The Joker repeated. He stood back up and returned to looming over her. "Well Ana, there is more where that came from…" he pointed to the money with his knife, and then put the knife back in his pocket, "…On my team," The Joker licked his scar.
"I… I don't understand," Ana shuddered. The Joker rolled his eyes, and reached behind himself to grab his pistol.
"If you work for me, you can buy heaps of that powdered product that makes you feel that little… euphoria. Oh and you won't die, tonight," The Joker explained as he flailed his gun around. Ana looked down at the money on her lap, it seemed so simple. Anything would be better than death, right? She gazed back up to the Joker and nodded her head. The Joker smirked as her hand slowly reached for the money.
"At ta ta!" The Joker swiftly pointed the gun at her, Ana gasped and put her hands back on the ground. "You need to prove that you can work for me first," The Joker leered at her.
"But how do I…" Ana frantically spoke, but was interrupted as the Joker leaned over and placed his pistol in her hand and cocked it for her, aiming it in his direction.
"Kill him," he simply stated. Ana's eyes widened.
"Wh… Who?" she breathed.
"Him," The Joker pointed to the henchman that had previously recognised her and sold her drugs. Ana's eyes narrowed slightly as she finally recognised him.
"Boss!" The skinny henchman alerted.
"Stay," The Joker commanded as if he was an untrained dog. Duncan raised his own pistol at the man.
"God dammit, Joker!" he cursed as his eyes frantically dictated whether he should run or not. "You fu…" his yell was cut short by a gunshot. As the man fell backwards, the three remaining men slowly gawked down at the girl holding the smoking gun. The Joker let out a chuckle.
"Do we have a deal?" He grinned. Ana exhaled heavily and calmly closed her eyes.
5 Years Later…
A mobile phone buzzed repeatedly, the vibration roared on the bedside table. Suddenly, a purring black cat hopped up onto the surface and sat on the phone, muffling the vibrating sound. Being pulled out of her slumber, Ana groaned and looked at where the noise was coming from.
"Get off Winston," she groggily spoke as she pushed the cat off the ringing phone and hit the snooze button.
After willing herself to get up, Ana hauled herself out of bed and got changed into a black blazer, black t-shirt, and black skinny jeans tucked into a pair of leather flat knee-high boots. She moved out of the bedroom and into her lounge/kitchen, sat down on her raggedy sofa and leaned over her scratched coffee table. She looked around her dark, dirty 1-bed apartment and sighed. Grabbing a small bag from her back pocket, she poured out a fine white power in a line on the table. Without hesitation, she sniffed the product up and let out a moan as she sat back. Ana's apartment lightened up, the cat's purrs grew louder, and the city outside her window was brought back to life. Ana smiled.
After applying some basic makeup and brushing her dry blonde hair, Ana left the apartment.
"Good morning, Elizabeth," called an elderly woman down the corridor.
"Mrs Bowman, good morning!" Ana smiled sweetly. "Are you going shopping?" Ana walked towards the woman.
"Oh yes dear, although I must run some errands first," Mrs Bowman explained as she rummaged through her handbag.
"Are you bringing the present I got you," Ana asked as she looked down at the shrunken woman. Mrs Bowman chuckled.
"Yes dear, I have my pepper spray," the old lady patted the compartment where the weapon sat in her beaded purse. "You do look after me, Elizabeth," she innocently smiled. Ana and Mrs Bowman walked out of the building together, then parted ways once outside.
The streets of Gotham roared during the morning rush hour. Ana hurriedly walked past the ruckus, holding a coffee carrier that contained six scolding hot coffees. As she left the busy streets, she eventually came upon the harbour. Ana admired the view of the unending water, as she continued to her destination. A derelict building which was 16 stories tall, and had dirty grey smeared across its walls. It stood high among the large warehouses but equalled in height with three neighbouring abandoned buildings. This side of the city was designated as the Narrows; a dark, forgotten place after the terrorist attacks that occurred 6 years prior. Currently, this area was not a top priority for the Mayor of Gotham.
Ana forcefully opened the front door to the lobby of the building, it let out a loud echo throughout the ground floor. The flaps of pigeons could be heard within this massive room as they were alarmed by the intruder. This floor was a large open area, with crates and barrels spread all over the place. The light from outside seeped through the boarded-up windows in small rays. The dust could be seen dancing dispassionately in the spotlights. Ana walked across the room, to the stairway out the back.
On the 12th floor of this decrepit building was a secret, which was hidden with more wooden planks and blackout curtains. After climbing a vast amount of stairs for the umpteenth time, Ana reached the 12th floor. The sounds of muffled voices started to become apparent. She walked down the dark corridor, using her memory as a guide. She came to a crossroad, she turned left. The muffled sounds grew clearer, and a dull light appeared in one of the rooms to the right; where a door had been torn off its hinges.
The voices came into sight, as a tattered one-bedroom apartment was revealed with several burly men sitting around the area. This fairly large flat had working electricity from an old generator a few floors below. The far walls concealed the windows to the outside world with planks and drapes. The television set against the far wall gave a fuzzy signal, as two henchmen were watching it on a sofa that had been found in one of the warehouses nearby.
Behind the sofa was an old wooden table with scratches, gunshots and stab wounds embedded within it. Along with a few knackered wooden chairs, which were being used by a few more henchmen. To the left of the entrance sat a small kitchen set-up, with only a working mini-refrigerator to quench the thirst of the men. To the right was the entrance to the bathroom, which was never used due to the dodgy plumbing connected to the building. In the top right corner was the entrance to a would-be bedroom, but instead, it was a storage room for weapons and other necessities. Most of the apartments on this floor were like this, but hardly any of them were being used right now.
"Alright! Cappuccino for Charles," Ana announced as she walked into the room and placed the coffee in front of the middle-aged greying man who was sitting at the dining table, reading a book. "Flat White for Drew… Where's Drew?" Ana looked around.
"He's on-call at the hospital today," Charles answered, whilst picking up his coffee without looking away from his book.
"Oh, then here you go," Ana placed the coffee in front of one of the henchmen and sat next to Charles, who was scratching his hair and muttering to himself. Ana rolled her eyes.
"Hot chocolate for Rex," she smirked as she handed the drink to the bald, tattooed man leaning by the kitchen.
"You know that's not what I wanted," Rex growled as he handed the cup back.
"I thought it was. It suits you, scolding at first but warm and sweet after a while," Ana mocked. Rex's unimpressed face glared at Ana, she returned it with a smirk. Immediately after, Rex crushed the cup in his hand, not caring about the searing temperature of the beverage.
"Terrifying," Ana sneered as she walked away. Rex stood up straight and began to stride after her.
"Rex," Charles simply called, causing Rex to stop and calm down. Ana gave a quick glance back to him and carried on her orders.
"Black Coffee for Duncan," Duncan stood up from the sofa and smiled.
"Cheers," he said as he took the drink from her. "We have some new recruits arriving soon," he reminded Ana.
"So soon?" she responded.
"Well after the last plot, we lost a lot of crazies," he sipped his drink.
"Oh no, are they more crazies or just thugs?" she asked.
"Debatable," He laughed. Ana looked down at the two remaining coffees, one of which was her Latte.
"Where is he?" she hesitantly asked.
"He's in the Vault," Duncan cleared his throat.
"So early," she cocked her head to the side. Duncan shrugged causing Ana to take a deep breath after nodding her head. She turned to leave the apartment, but Duncan gently touched her upper arm.
"Careful, he's not in a good mood," he warned. Ana looked up at Duncan, gave a kind smile and exited the room.
She walked back down the corridor, where she had just come from previously. Once back at the crossroads, she continued straight, which was the right-hand corridor when she first arrived. Walking past a few empty rooms with the doors torn out of the frames, she came across one on her left which stopped her in her tracks. Its pretentiousness showed off splats of dried blood, she eyed it up and down. Her gaze fell upon another door at the end of the corridor, a dim light flickered above it. She took a deep breath, swallowed the lump in her throat, and slowly moved forwards.
As she grew closer to the door, noises started to hit her ears. Grunts, groans, punches and yelps; and then the sickly infamous laugh. Ana used a great deal of willpower to remain calm. She arrived in front of the door, still holding the coffee. She reached to open the door, but she noticed that her hand was trembling slightly.
"Please! Don't! Plea…" shrieked a male's voice that was cut short by a gurgling noise. Ana hastily pulled her hand away and closed her eyes. She took another deep exhale and quickly walked away. Even after all this time, her mind still told her to walk faster, however, she wanted to appear brave to herself and tried to remain at a normal pace. Ana immediately regretted her decision, as she heard the door open behind her.
She took a deep breath and spun around. She was greeted by the Clown Prince of Crime himself, in his requisite outfit of a purple shirt and trousers, with a green waistcoat. His rolled-up sleeves revealed the blood on his bare hands, which had trickled up his forearms. His makeup was more dishevelled than usual, with blood splatter on the left side of his face.
"Good morning, Boss," Ana sternly spoke. The Joker strode towards her down the corridor but didn't seem to notice her. Ana quickly moved to the side as the Joker stormed passed her. "Boss?" she squeaked. The Joker abruptly twisted round to look down at her.
"Yes?" he asked tensely. Ana briefly swallowed her immediate fear and straightened up.
"Your Coffee. Extra extra extra strong, black, and with no sugar," she handed him his coffee. The Joker looked down at the coffee and scoffed. As he grabbed it, the blood on his hands left an eerie handprint on the cardboard cup.
"Correct again," he said as he sipped it.
"Of course," Ana nodded. The Joker wandered off down the corridor, Ana knew to follow him. When he entered the area where all the henchmen had gathered, the atmosphere shifted with vigilance. All the henchmen rose to their feet, Ana walked over and stood by Duncan near the sofa.
"Officer Tammaro has… uh brought to my attention that the Mob is on the move again," The Joker announced after taking another sip of his coffee. Ana recalled the man's screams previously.
"Oh! Was he your mole in the Major Crime Unit down at the station?" Ana asked with curiosity.
"Of course not," The Joker scoffed. He used this mole for valuable information on Police activities, no one knew who the mole was apart from the Joker. "However, he was their mole," The Joker announced. The henchman looked at one another in confusion.
"You found the Mob's infiltrator in the Police Department?" Rex asked with crossed arms. The Joker looked at him with raised eyebrows. Rex laughed, "That's brilliant, Boss!" he admired.
"Anyway," The Joker continued, "In two days, they're planning to haul shipments of class-A drugs in the dock, across the harbour." Ana's ears pricked at the sound of her favourite product. "I think we'll pay a little visit," The Joker grinned, initiating the henchmen to nod, call and laugh in agreement.
"Boss, the new recruits are arriving," spoke a voice on an intercom that sat in the Joker's trouser pocket. The Joker placed his coffee on the cracked kitchen counter to his left and answered the intercom.
"Bring them up," he ordered. He looked to Ana and Duncan, "Sort them out", he commanded and then strode off back down the corridor. Assumingly to the room with the blood-stained door. The pair looked at each other.
"You get the crazies this time, I had them last time" Ana simply said.
"Fine," Duncan breathed.
Several minutes passed, and a ruckus of multiple footsteps echoed down the corridor. Ana and Duncan sat on the sofa, they turned around to see a small crowd of people walk in.
"Here we go," Duncan said as he stood up. He approached the people who appeared dazed, fidgety and confused. Ana stood there watching him until something caught her eye. There was a fairly skinny, faded- brunette haired girl standing among them. Ana had been the only female to work in the gang. She walked over to her.
"Hi there," Ana said. The other girl beamed and grabbed Ana's hand to shake it.
"Hi! I'm Allison, but you can call me Allie!" She grinned. Ana was taken aback by her gleefulness.
"I'm Ana," Ana was rather unamused.
"I'm so excited to be here! When do we get started?" Allie continued to smile. Ana looked to Duncan, who was on the other side of the crowd.
"Why do I always get the crazies?" Ana mumbled.