Chapter 11 - Turn On The News
Aria's P.O.V.
Shortly after talking to Logan, Joker came back with three more men. He stops right in in front of me while I lower my head. Panic hits again as he grabs me by the arms, pulling me up to him as he turns me around so that my back is pressed against his chest.
"If youhaven't-ahnoticed by now, we have a guest. This.." He puts his chin on my head, inhaling my scent. "This isAri-ah."
The men all just stare at me blankly and don't say a word.
"Ari-ah, meet James, Luke, Henry and you've already met littleLogan-ah" I can't help but notice the spite and I wonder what Logan must have done to make Joker so angry, but his moodswings are so unpredictable that there probably is no particular reason.
"Hello."
Everyone just continues to stare at me and I can feel Joker growl behind me. "You've all got something on your ears? TheLady-uhsaid Hello."
The goons start to mumble their hellos, avoiding all eyecontact with us. Not that I can blame them.
Joker turns me back to face him. "I hope you've behaved well in my absence?"
"Yes, Sir." I immediately nod my head as he pulls me into the living room where the others have already made themselves comfortable.
Joker takes off his long purple coat and throws it on the armchair while letting himself fall onto the couch. He pats his thigh again gesturing for me to sit on the floor next to him.
Anger starts to built up inside me. Not only has he kidnapped me and most likely given me a concussion, but does he really have to treat me like a dog? However, I quickly remember who is standing right in front of me. Knowing that I have to play it save I take a seat next to him.
The news are on but it seems that the only one paying attention to the TV was Joker. The quality isn'tnecessarily the best, but it's good enough. The news are broadcasting a bank robbery where a school bus has been hijacked.
'Surely this must be the same robbery, Bruce and Elena told me about!'
"Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the interruption, but we received a last-minute report that we don't want to withhold from you."
With the announcement, the transmission cuts to a tall, blonde woman.
"Hello Gotham. This is Vicki Vale and telling you how it really is, and I know exactly what's going on in our city."
The Joker and his companions burst out laughing. "Does she even know how to spell the word truth?" Henry laughs.
"Today, I *was* going to tell you all about our new elected district attorney, the charming Harvey Dent."A picture of Harvey appears on the screen.
"But the lates story is just too good, not to talk about and it's about non other then a certain clown himself."
Vicki reports as she turns circles around her head with her index finger. A picture of Joker appears
And a few seconds later a picture of me.
That's the picture from my yearbook. How did this woman get my yearbook picture?
I've never really been so self-confident. I never thought of myself to be pretty or anything like that and the fact that so many people saw me now only made me more insecure.
"A few days ago, 17 year old high school graduate Aria Brooks, who just moved here, was kidnapped by none other than the homicidal FREAK, aka the Joker."
Joker straightens up even more, clenching his fists. "I'mNOT-AH FREAK!I'm Not! No, I'm Not!"
"According to witnesses, Joker broke into Bruce Wayne's Mansion on Friday while he and his girlfriend were out of the house. The girl was home alone. No man, no Batman in sight to rescue her, as Gotham's luxurious couple was dining with our new District Attorney and his lovely lady at Pascuale's Birstor at the time."
"Your sister is Wayne's girlfriend?" James asks in disbelieve.
"That brings us to today's report. Because as everyone knows, Joker has killed and terrorized more then enough people, but he has never kidnapped anyone before, let alone a 17-year-old girl. Which brings us to the question? What on earth is the madman planning to do with her? So far there has been neither a ransom demand nor a video. So what does the clown want? Could it be that Gotham's most feared man is not only a FREAK, but also a pedophile rapi..."
'BAM'
A scream escapes me as my arms immediately wrap around my head for protection. Before anyone could say anything, Vicki's report was interrupted by a bullet in the TV.
With my eyes wide open, I slowly turn my head and make the mistake of looking into Joker's eyes, which reflect nothing but hatred and madness. My heart threatens to burst out of my chest as he still keeps hold of the gun. His dark eyes bore into me, and I suddenly realize that the center of this man's attention was a very bad and dangerous place to be.
"James-uh."
"Yeah, boss?" the black man with the dreadlocks answered nervously.
"Get the car ready.Vicki Vale-ahhas just added herself on my kill-list." My eyes widened in fear. From what I have seen, Vicki was a self centerd egomanic just looking for attention and fame, but that still didn't mean that she deserved to die.
"Yes, boss!"
"You can't do that!" I whisper and wince inwardly realizing I just said that out loud. Joker tilts his head at an angle and his gaze hardens.
A few seconds later, the Joker jumps up from the couch and yanks me up to him. His fingers dig into my arm as as he drags me outside. My eyes squeeze shut at the sudden burst of sunlight followed by a fresh breeze. I never realized how much I appreciated things like sunshine until now. Continuing to look around, I realize that Joker's hideout is surrounded by forest.
'Damn!'I curse inwardly. This will make running away much harder.
I wince in shock as Joker's hand wraps around my shoulder. Fearful lookingup at him. At his nose, not his eyes. However, that's more that enough to send a shiver down my spine.
He takes a step towards me, forcing me to take a step backwards until my back hits the van. Joker puts his hand in front of me which hold a purple tie making my eyebrows arch in confusion.
"Since you've been such a goodgirl-ahso far, I'll let you decide." He licks his lip. "Option 1" He holds the tie in front of my face while giggling.
"Option 2:" with a thud, his laughter disappears as he reaches into his coat and pulls out his gun.
A scream catches in my throat as I press myself even closer to the van. "Option 1 ... please, sir..."
With a single sweep, Joker turns me around and puts the tie around my eyes while I desperately try to calm my heartbeat, which is pounding in my throat.
'Why is he blindfolding me?'A groan escapes me as he tightens the knot and pulls at my hair.
"We don't want to make it too easy for you. Hm?" His hands wrap around my shoulders while I force myself to remain calm and relaxed. I can hear the door to the van open, and without any warning to prepare myself, I am pushed into the vehicle. Barely catching my fall before a pair of hands wrap around my shoulders again and pulling me up into the seat.
Even blindfolded, Joker is clearly sitting next to me. There's no mistaking the unique smell of explosives, cigarettes and cologne. My head was screaming at me all the time to fight back, to scream, but I knew I couldn't risk it yet and to tell you the truth, I didn't know if I would be able to do anything at all against him. After all, he was almost 3 heads taller than me!
NO! I had to wait. In order to not get hurt by him I had to play along. Tears started to stream down my face because I was so scared of the thought of never seeing my sister again. This man was just so unpredictable, that I trusted him to shoot me in that very second just because he thought it was funny.
Joker puts an arm around me, which makes me jerk instinctively. He grabs me by the hair as I try to slide away from him and pulls me back to my original spot.
"Why are you doing this?"
"What? Oh! You mean the tie?," he giggles. "Listen,sweetie, I can't have you take note at every road we turn."
"I won't! I promise, I'm not good with directions and besides I'm not even familiar with the town. Please just let me go. I swear I won't tell anyone." But the only thing that my pleading gets me is Jokers grip tightening on me.
"Going back to the original script now?" his voice is filled with disapointment. "Now-ahbe a good girl, and I won't have to hurt ya. Got it?!"
I let my head sink in defead. "I-I'll behave."
"Good," He let out a pleasant sigh, happy that there was no more resistance. He got himself comoftable again, pulling me closer to him. My body stiffens at the sudden closeness.
"Ari-ah,"he growls.
"I'm sorry."
The ride lasted forever and I quickly lost track of time. Every time we turned, my body involuntarily leaned against Joker's, who pulled me even closer to him. At some point, he started to wrap my strands around his fingers and play with them. Occasionally he pulled on my hair, eliciting a pained moan from me until the car finally came to a halt.
"We're here!" the clown announces cheerfully next to me.
Joker pulls my "blindfold" off my face and also rips a few of my hair strands out in the process. I gently rub my eyes as they haven't quite adjusted to the bright surroundings yet.
We get out of the van and I realize that we're in the middle of Gotham. I desperately try to see if anything looks familiar, but unfortunatley I don't recocgnize anything. Although Bruce has taken the time to show me around the city, we've only seen a few spots and parts and even if I knew where we were, thanks to my geographical knowledge, I'd never be able to find my way back to the GCPD on my own.
Deep in thought, I don't notice that the Joker and his men have put the clown in a bin bag. 'I wonder what sick plan he's up to now?'
"Ari-ah?"I turn to him and shudder at the menacing look he gives me. "Betternot-ahforget your promise."
I nod quickly as James comes over to me with a rope in his hand. I silently plead with him not to do it out of fear that if I say anything I'll make Joker even angrier, but James pays no attention to my fear as he squeezes my wrists tightly and ties them shut. The rope cuts into my skin, but when I try to take a step back and create some space between us, James only pulls the rope tighter.
"Shut it, bitch! And you better not ruin this!" What was it with these men that they always called me bitch. If the situation were any different, I would give him a pice of my mind!
Luke, Henry and Malcome start to carry the Joker while James drags me behind the rest of the group. We reach a building as Malcome starts to pound on the door.
A middle-aged black men opens the door, looking suspisiously at the men in front of him? "Can I help ya?"
"We're here for the money" Henry answers.
"What money? And what'ya boys carring?"
"Joker." Luke states with a big grin and with that the man opens the door for us to enter.
"Guess the boss didn't have to wait all that long for the pice of shit." He calls two more of his men over to carry the Jokers body to their boss. And all of a sudden everything starts to make sense now. They think that Joker is dead?
Steven tugs on my rope bounded hands. "You make on peep girly, Joker will kill you!"
"Yo, Gambol! Somebody here for you. They say they've killed the Joker and they got this missing chick with them." the man who opend the door for us announces.
Gambol straightens up from his pool table, turning around to face us.
"Miss Brooks, I presume? My Apologize for your unfortunate involvment in all of this and that you've been greeted in my city by this FREAK." Gambol looks sharply at Steven. "Untie her right now!" Steven who clearly isn't too comfortable with the order decides to untie me either way.
I thank Mr. Gambol as he looks at the men behind me. "So. Dead. That's five hundret." Before my one and only chance flies by, I summon up all my courage and warn him. "Mr. Gambole, don't! It's a trap!" but my attempt to warn him is too late and with it my hope that he will get me out of this situation. Joker jumps up in a blink and grabs Gambol. The two men behind me grab Gambol's men and push them to the ground while Joker puts his knife in his mouth.
"How aboutalive-ah?" His eyes stare hard at me while my heart threatens to explode with fear. I can't do anything but to look on, frozen and helpless. I have just betrayed Joker and destroyed what little trust I have worked so hard to gain and I was terrified of the consequences I would surely have to face now.
"Do you wanna know how I got these scars? Hm?" He nods his head almost as if he's answering for Gambol. "You see my father was a drinker and afiend-ah. And one night he goes off crazier then usual, mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn't like that. Not. One.Bit-ah."
'Wait? Father?!'From the side I can see the blade starting to cut his cheek open slowly. I feel so helpless, but I know that beside pleading with Joker to spear his life, there isn't much that I can do.
"So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. He turns to me and says Why soserious-ah?He comes at me with the knife -Why so serious-ah?He sticks the blade in my mouth -Let's put a smile on that face aaand ..."
His cold eyes never leaving mine, telling me, that this is all on me.
"Why so serious?" he asks looking at me, whilest he ran his blade across Gamboles throat killing him immediately. His body slums to the ground his head in my direction as a shricked scream escapes me. My hand shoots up to my mouth to cover even more screams.
I've just withnessed a murder!
This can't be happening!
This can't possibly be real!
"Now, our organization is small, but we've got a lot of potentual for aggressive expansion. So which of you fine gentlemen would like to join our team?" The snapping of a pool stick brings me back into reality as I'm finally able to pry my eyes away from the dead body infront of me. Realizing that Joker has turned his attention towards the men that were being held to the ground by his goons I take every bit of courage that's left in me and throw myself towards the door. Running as fast I as can, before my feet come to a halt before a staircase.
Fuck! I curse to myself. Was it up or down? Up or down?
"NO!" I scream out as more tears kep on streaming down my face while I kick the staircase. The image of Gamboles lifeless body refusing to leave my mind. My mind not able to think straight and unfortunately I only realize what a fatal mistake I have made when I feel a hand in my hair pulling me backwards and my back pressed against the wall.
"WhyAri-ah? Why?WHYdid you do that?" Joker growls at me, but my mind is completely blank. Because I'm not responding right away his hand grips my jaw tightly forcing me to look at him. "ANSWER ME!"
"How.. How could you kill him?" He does't answer me making me even angrier. Who does he think he is demanding so much from me, when his done nothing but lie and denie me answers.
"WHY?" I scream at him my anger overpowering my mind and before I can even stop myself my palm connects with his scarred cheek. The sound of skin slapping skin brings me back to reality as my jaw drops slightly. A gap escapes me as I realize what I've just done. Joker doesn't even flinch, instead he looks at me with an eerie grin.
So much for my promise to be a good girl ... I knew I was in deep trouble.
"I'm .. I'm sorry.."
His hand shoots up to my throat in a crushing grip as he pushes me completley up against the wall lifting me slightly off my feet. My eyes starts to water as I despratley struggle to breath. My hands immediatley fly to his hands in an attempt to push him away. Scratching and clawing at his hands, but nothing seems to work.
"Don't," Joker emphasized the word in a quiet, threatening tone, "Talk to me like that. Ever.Again-ah." Trembling in fear,I desperatly try to catch a breath alreadly feeling my lips, arms, and legs starting to tremble hearing his demonic voice.
'Please!
Please stop!
I'm sorry.
Please, let go!'I wanted to mutter, but no sound would leave my lips.
There was something in his eyes, he enjoyed watching me suffer. My attempts of pleading, struggling, it unlocked some kind of special and sick amusment in him.
Tears were flowing down my face as my arms start to tingle even more and black dots start to apear in my vision.
But what frightened me even more, then being strangled by a psychotic killer clown, was what came next. Joker leans in close to my ear, sending shivers down my spine. "If you want to play rough,Ari-ah,I'm more than happy to play rough. But be warned,kid, you're not going to win this game..."
Finally I feel his grip lossing as I gasp desperatly for air. Right as I'm breathing in his knee connects with my rips knocking every last breath out of me. I drop to the ground coughing and clutching my rips as his foot connects anew with me body.
Joker leans down grabbing a fist full of my hair. "OhAri-ahyou have no idea of all the fun we're going tohave."
*A/N: Hey Guys. :)
Vicki screwed up big time. Will the Joker get her and how will the rest react when they see her report? Did we see a tint of jealousy sparking through Joker? What does he want with the Aria and does it even matter now that she has broken his trust? How will Joker punish her?
Huge thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read Madness Is The Key. I apperciate every single one of you. Please feel free to review, follow and share the story. *