Chapter Twenty Four

Normal 0 false false false EN-CA X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Waiting for Batman to come was awful. The Joker was using me as his personal punching bag. Even though it felt nice, I didn’t want anyone to know that. Joker already knew, that was a given, but it was not anyone else’s concern. My head had just been smacked into the ground from Joker grabbing it and throwing it. I was starting to see stars. As he lifted up my head again, I saw a great black figure, and The Joker was thrown from me. I looked up to see Batman’s face set in a grim line.

“About time.” I muttered, causing The Joker to start laughing. Batman’s head snapped up, searching for where the sound came from. Well, I had to admit, this was pretty clever. Bruce – er, Batman, had no idea where The Joker was. Just as I was about to tell him, there was a whistle, and all the thugs came out from their hiding places. My god, there were DOZENS! There was no way Batman was going to be able to take them all down on his own. I jumped to my feet (well, tried to; Joker really did a number on me) and helped him. Even in my crippled state, I was still quite a match for the goons, and although I knocked them out slower than I usually would have, I was still a great help to Batman. Unfortunately, I was starting to slow down, due to the blow I had taken to the head. Great....I probably have a concussion. The Joker planned it this way. He didn’t want me to help Batman fight. He wanted him to die. When an awful pain overtook my leg (“coincidentally” the same one that Joker broke) I let out a wail (pained) and fell to the ground. Giving small whimpers, I looked down at my leg, and saw a bullet hole. Shit...A black gloved hand placed itself on my leg, and I looked up into the still masked face of Joker.

“Now that wasn’t very nice Rivvy Pivvy. If I had wanted you to fight my men, I would have said so. But instead, you had to break the rules. So I’m gonna ask you now, to stay here and be a good little girl. Got it?” I nodded my head obediently. He smirked, then stood up and went straight for the Batman.

I started crawling backwards, trying to avoid all the grunts and groans. I grabbed one of the jackets of a henchmen that I had knocked out, and ripped off the sleeve, using it as a tourniquet, trying to stop the blood flowing from my leg.

I felt myself being lifted off the ground, and before I even had a chance to scream, I was flying, up towards the ceiling. Batman had grabbed me and had used his rope gun thingy to lift us up. Once we were on the cross beams, he lifted me up bridal style and ran with me, towards the far window. Below us, The Joker and his henchmen were going nuts. I could hear a number of unfriendly curses being used.

“Cover your head.” Was what was growled in my ear. I raised my head and saw that we were five seconds from hitting the window. So I took my arms from Bruce’s neck and covered my head and face.

CRASH! Glass fell to the sidewalk below, hitting and damaging Bruce’s Jaguar.

“Hold on tight River.” Batman warned me in his gravel pit voice. He brought me around to his front, where I wrapped both arms around his neck, and wrapped my one good legs around his hips. Then he jumped. I buried my face in his cowl to keep myself from screaming. I didn’t have to worry though, because Batman touched his cape and it stiffened, allowing us to glide over the rooftops.

We landed in an alley not too far from where the warehouse was, and in it was his bike. He leaned me against it, then got on himself, and reached back to help me get on. It was hard, with an unworkable leg. But we finally managed it, and when he was sure that I was securely fastened to him, he took off, quite fast; to no avail. The Joker must have known where he was, because as soon as we pulled out of the alleyway, we were being pursued. By two transport trucks and two vans. Oh man, this sucked. I held on for dear life as Bruce weaved through dozens of cars, trying to get me to safety. Behind us, we could hear metal crunching and squealing as The Joker and his men ploughed through everything and everyone in their path. As I risked a look behind, I saw that only one of the trucks was behind us, and the other was nowhere to be seen. I turned my head towards the front again as I hear Batman curse, and then felt the entire motor bike swerve sharply to the left. Luckily, there were no cars where we were, because the bike had fallen on its side and was skidding towards a building.

Looking behind us, I saw what had made Batman swerve so suddenly. The other truck had taken a detour and cut right in front of us. An arm grabbed onto my waist and lifted me up, and as soon as the bike made impact with the building, Batman jumped off, with me in tow. He twisted in the air, consequently leaving him on the bottom when we landed. I rolled off him, crying out as my shot leg hit the pavement, hard. I looked to Batman, and saw that he was out cold. Oh no....I heard footsteps coming towards us, and who else was it, but The Joker himself. He was back in his normal purple attire, and had a crazy grin on his face. I stayed flat on my back. What good would it do to crawl away anyway?

As he got closer, he gave a yelp and jumped into the air, leaping over Batman. I watched him in fear. If Batman can’t stop him....who can?

He giggled at me holding my hurt leg, then opened his flick knife and kneeled over Batman’s unconscious form. He placed the knife in between Batman’s lips, and started to pull up the right side. Oh no, he was going to give Bruce a Glasgow smile...

“Wait!” I cried, not wanting Bruce to be the one revealed as Batman.

Joker looked at me, amused. “For what Little Birdie? Don’t tell me you have feelings for this Bat...do you?” He used a teasing tone, but there was a slight edge of threat to his words. I shook my head quickly, and said, “Please, don’t hurt him, please.” Joker looked at me, curiously.

“And, uh, what will I get in return, if I, um, don’t?”

“I bit my lip, knowing by the grin on his face what he was hoping I would answer. I thought quickly, and although this was condemning me for the rest of my life, I said it anyways, not wanting Bruce to be hurt.

“I-I’ll stay with you. I won’t run away ever again. I won’t try to, and.....I’ll.....kiss you....whenever you want.” I knew the last part was pretty pathetic, but The Joker seemed to light up at that. By the evil look that took over his face, I knew that he had something up his sleeve; and that I wasn’t going to like it.

“It’s a deal Dollface.” He gestured to his goons, and two of them came over and lifted me into the air. I hissed in pleasure when they didn’t take care to favour my leg, and I looked at them both in worry. They obviously didn’t know the difference between pain and pleasure, because they just carried on as if nothing had happened. The Joker giggled however, and said to me, “We’re going to have so much fun tonight Little Birdie.”