Afraid of the Dark Title: Afraid of the Dark
Author: Celia Tracy (aka Rae Street, aka Rainfall)
Summary: Kami's in the clutches of the Joker.
Rating: PG-13 for violence
Status: WIP
Feedback: Flame or Fame; just let me know if you've read it... pretty please? :-)
Disclaimer: All Batman characters belong to DC Comics, and whoever else they belong to. Kami, Brute and Smokey are my own creations.
A/N: This is my first Batman Fanfic. Please let me know if I should change the rating from PG-13 to something else. Also, before anyone tells me that Batman would NEVER EVER get shot, I already know that. But the Plot Bunnies bounced around in my head for months on end until I finally broke down and wrote it! They made me write it! I swear!
=Chapter Three: Night of Terror= I had no idea what I was getting myself into, when I left my baseball bat at the warehouse that night. There wasn't time to find it after Smokey made me drop it... and I couldn't have held onto it anyway when I was helping Batman out of the warehouse. So I'd left it behind... inadvertently dropping an ‘ace' right into Joker's lap. The bat had my full name on it; Kamille Rebecca Hodges. And it had led the Joker right to me.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ I was floating in a numb cocoon, just between sleeping and waking. Darkness surrounded me, cold and disorienting. My brain was foggy; I couldn't focus, couldn't concentrate. But for some reason, I didn't mind. I felt safe there, content almost. I didn't want to wake up... I just wanted to stay there, where nothing could hurt me. But images of past events soon began to haunt me, swirling around in my head, a jumbled kaleidoscope of memories. Some memories were good, others I had tried so hard to put behind me. I was overwhelmed, afraid... I felt like I was drowning. I struggled against the drowning sensation, struggled to wake up. But I was trapped, just beyond waking. Trapped with my memories. Then more recent memories rose to the surface... of the Joker. A flash of him standing over the wounded Batman, gun pointed at Batman's head, finger pulling back on the trigger. Another flash of him, this time with his gun pointed at me as I sat in the driver's seat of the Batmobile, the wounded Batman at my side. The look in Joker's eyes still haunted me... a cold, hard glare, yet sparkling with such predatory joy; I'd never be able to forget that look as long as I lived.... no matter how hard I tried. I'd seen that look again, more recently, but my sleep fogged brain couldn't place the memory. "You're little display in the hall is going to cost you," Joker's cold voice echoed in my head. Once again I felt the sting of his slaps across my face, and my ears rang from the force of his blows. I jerked backwards from the memory, hitting my head painfully against something hard, metallic. I jolted awake, mentally cursing the new pain I was inflicted with. Even with the new pain however, I was relieved that I was finally awake. In that moment, I couldn't think of anything worse than being trapped in my memories. But my pain fogged mind slowly began giving way to clarity, and I soon realized just how wrong I was. I was in complete darkness, with no knowledge of where I was or how I had gotten there. I tried to open my eyes, to see if I could identify my surroundings... but something was covering them, keeping them closed. A blindfold. Fighting down a wave of panic, I hazily struggled to figure out my surroundings another way other than by sight. I was lying painfully on my side, my arms pulled behind me. They'd been in that position for so long, they'd fallen asleep. I tried to move a little, to relieve the pressure on the arm underneath me, but I couldn't. Rope bound my wrists and ankles; bruising, chafing, cutting off circulation. I couldn't feel my hands... they were numb, useless. A foul odor assailed my nostrils; a mixture of gasoline and burnt rubber... and something else; I didn't know what. Groaning, I realized my little trick of only breathing through my mouth to lessen my exposure to bad smells wouldn't work this time... my mouth had been taped shut. I was vaguely aware of motion; a bumpy, rocking motion, accompanied by a grinding sound in the floor below me. My stomach churned because of the motion and the smell, and I fought my urge to spew. There was nowhere for it to go, with my mouth being taped shut and all. And I really didn't want to add to the smell anyway. A sudden jolt snapped me into the air, and I crashed into something hard, metallic. Mentally cursing at the added pain, I finally understood what that other smell was... Car exhaust fumes. With this realization, memories of the evening's events came flooding back to me. My apartment... the Joker waiting for me... the beating I'd taken. I also realized then where I was... in the trunk of Joker's car. I'd been kidnapped. Another wave of panic crashed over me, and I struggled to calm down. Panic would not help me... it could only make things worse. And since I was now in the clutches of the Joker, I had to keep my wits about me... somehow... I don't know how much time had passed since my abduction, it seemed like I had been in that trunk for ages. I wondered what was going to happen to me, and shuddered at the thought. In due time I heard the squeak of brakes underneath me. The car slowed down a little, and I slid head first into the side of the trunk as the car turned a corner. Ouch. With another squeal of the brakes, the car jerked to a stop. All became silent and still, signaling to me that the car engine had turned off. The car rocked from side to side as my captors got out. The sound of car doors slamming, and muffled voices followed; but the voices were soon replaced by the crunching of footsteps on gravel. I listened in terror as the footsteps came closer, steadily making their way around the car before finally coming to rest just outside the trunk. A scraping sound could be heard as the person fumbled with the keys in the lock, and I fought another blind wave of panic. I was afraid of what they were going to do to me, so I did what I used to do when I was afraid... I played possum; forcing my body to relax and go limp, and hoped whoever opened the trunk wouldn't notice that my breathing was just a bit ragged. I hadn't played the possum bit since I was a kid; I hadn't felt the need to. I thought I was too grown up for it, that I should face my fears head on and be done with it. But fear is a strange thing. It's amazing how fear has the ability to turn grown adults back into scared children. The rusty hinges squealed their protest as the person finally lifted the hood of the trunk. I barely suppressed a shudder at the mournful sound, and forced myself to lie completely still. My heart leapt into my throat as unseen hands roughly grabbed me, yanking my from my small dark prison. I was unceremoniously thrown over a hard, broad shoulder -Maces, I could tell from his cologne-, and carried across the gravel into an unknown unseen building. I had to suppress a shudder as I heard the heavy metal door slam shut behind us. That sound seemed so ominously final to me... as if telling me I'd had my last taste of freedom... as if saying I would never leave that place alive.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Oof! Talk about ouch... did Mace REALLY have to drop me so hard? It knocked the wind right out of me. Well, at least I was on the ground now, instead of draped upside down over Mace's shoulder like a limp noodle. Good ole solid concrete... Now if only the room would stop spinning. Of course, with the wind knocked out of me and the blood rushing from my head, I now felt about as effective as a limp noodle. Yep, that's me... ole "limp noodle" Kami, who has the (insert sarcastic tone here) "amazing" ability to leap 20 feet high at a single shadow, fantastically overreact in nearly every situation, play possum to a T at the first sign of trouble, and entangle myself in ridiculously unbelievable scrapes... like this one. How do I get myself into these situations? More importantly, how do I get myself OUT of this situation? Now that's a good question... and I haven't the foggiest idea. I didn't have much time to mull that question over any longer... someone was walking this way. I lay perfectly still as the footsteps came to a stop near my side... trying not to cringe as an unseen shoe lightly kicked me in the side. "She's not awake yet?" the Joker asked. I didn't hear Mace answer, but he must've shook his head or something, ‘cause the Joker continued speaking. "Then we'll to have to do something about that, won't we?" Joker replied ominously. Unseen hands lifted me from the floor; and I held back a groan as a shoulder dug deep into my already bruised stomach. The person carried me for a few feet, then let me drop; but this time, to my absolute horror, I didn't hit the ground. Oh, no... this was something much worse. I mentally screamed when I plunged into over five feet of cold, icy, WATER. Water rushed up my nose, stealing whatever air I had left in my lungs. I began thrashing around, trying to wriggle free of my bonds, trying desperately to reach the surface. No, please, anything but this! I don't want to drown... please, don't let me drown! Try as I might, I could not reach the surface. The will to fight quickly left my body, and I stopped thrashing. I began fading into darkness.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Hard hands grabbed my shoulders, and pulled me from my near watery grave. I soon found myself shivering, coughing and sputtering on solid ground once more. At least someone had had the decency to remove my gag, so I could get the water out of my lungs. I lay there on the concrete, gasping, until more hands pulled me up into a sitting position. I felt my blindfold being lifted from my eyes, and found myself staring into the smiling face of the Joker, less than an inch away from mine. "Oh good, you're awake!" he said, amusement in his voice. "Just in time for my friends and I to welcome you to Casa de Joker... your new home. I do hope you'll enjoy you're stay here... after all, you're going to be here for a very long time." he said with that infuriating grin. Horrified at what I'd just been put through, and wary of what was sure to come, I completely snapped. "Yeah?" I sputtered angrily, "Well you and your friends can take a flying leap off the nearest skyscraper..." The Joker shoved the gag back in my mouth. Why is it that when my adrenalin is pumping, I can never keep my big mouth shut? I winced at the look on Joker's face. He was still smiling, but his eyes had grown steely cold. "Naughty, naughty," Joker said. "After all the trouble I went through to return your bat to you, this is how you repay me? What a brat like you needs is a time out... doesn't she boys?" he said over his shoulder. "Right, boss," Smokey said. Smokey and Mace were standing a few feet away... I didn't see any sign of Brute. Must be somewhere else in the building. Smokey was playing with his lighter, flicking it on and off. Mace was ever-silent; his cold, green eyes trained on me... it seemed as though he were taking in my every move, every emotion on my face. I shuddered. "If you're going to act like a baby," the Joker continued, "You're going to be treated like one. Put her in with the other babies, boys... Harley's babies, that is," he ended with a high pitched laugh. Mace came forward, scooped me up, and hauled me across the room toward a metal door. Smokey followed close behind. High pitched whines were coming from behind it, and I was terrified of what lay inside. Smokey opened the door, and I let out a muffled shriek as two wild somethings rushed at us from the darkened room. They were jerked back suddenly into the middle of the room by their chains, laying there on the floor whimpering and snarling. Hyenas. And they were acting as though they hadn't been fed for a couple of days. They were sticking me in there? Utter terror filled me as Mace dumped me just inside the doorway, and swung the door closed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Once again I found myself in utter darkness. Not a peep of light shone into my cell... for that was exactly what I was in... a windowless, concrete cell. A prison. One which I shared with two hungry, wild animals. The hyenas had recovered, and were now rattling their chains trying to get closer to me. I scooted myself sideways until I backed into the right corner near the door, as far away from the hyenas as I could get. But it was still too close for comfort. I could still hear them less than five feet away, desperately tugging away at those chains. I prayed that the chains wouldn't give way. Cold, wet, shivering and hungry, I curled up in that corner, and did my best to settle in for the most miserable night of my life.
TBC in Chapter Four
