As she lay curled up on the mattress, Adriana thought of where she had gone wrong. How she had ended up in this situation. Hours were passing and she had no idea if anyone even knew anything was wrong yet. No one was even looking for her yet, she told herself.
She remembered pulling over in her car, teary eyes, emotional and barely able to see. She blamed herself for not paying attention. She was a vigilante. She was strong and capable. But somehow, she had ended up here. An abducted victim. Her mouth felt dry. She was hungry, thirsty, tired and sweaty.
It was getting dark outside. She didn't want to spend the night here. She thought of her son and if she would ever see him again. If he would grow up without her. The thought broke her heart. She couldn't think that way. She needed to be strong.
She thought of Bruce. Their last moments together had been so distressing. He had angered her so much. But as she lay here remembering the argument, she could see the fear in his eyes. Fear for his son. Even though it was clear that his son was fine, he had not been harmed at all, Bruce had an irrational fear of him being hurt or killed that Adriana was having a hard time understanding.
It seemed like Bruce had been waiting for something bad to happen. And it terrified him.
Adriana shifted her weight on the bed and tried to turn her head to look out of the window behind her. The sun was gone. The sky was almost completely dark.
She needed comfort in this moment. She needed an escape.
The Joker. As soon as she thought of him, felt the room around her disappear. She felt safe.
She remembered his smile. He never smiled for very long. A smile like a shooting star. His smiles were always there one second, and gone the next. A flash. But while they were there, they were absolutely brilliant. The comfort of remembering his smile allowed her to finally sleep. She drifted off.
"Shhh.." Adriana heard a voice whisper. The breath on her ear carrying the unfamiliar voice startled her enough to make her wake up immediately.
She began to twist and fight against the ropes binding her arms when she realized the man who had played the cop was in the bed laying behind her and was groping her chest. It had to have been a nightmare, or she had been sleeping so deeply that she had not even been awakened when he got into the bed.
"No-" she tried to say but he clasped a hand over her mouth.
"If you're quiet, this will be quicker and less painful," he said into her ear. "Or we can drag this out while I muffle you. Your choice."
Adriana tried to breathe but she felt like she couldn't. This was a nightmare.
"Nod if you understand," he whispered into her ear.
She had no choice. Her hands and feet were bound. Passively letting this happen or fighting in vain, those were her only choices. She felt her eyes fill with tears.
She nodded and he lowered his hand from her mouth slowly.
She noticed that he had been whispering. Why would he whisper?
He wanted her quiet, she guessed. The man he was working for, the one with the mask and electronic voice box, didn't know he was doing this. That must have been the reason, since there was no other logical explanation. They seemed to be in the middle of the woods, out of earshot of anyone else. The masked man was the only other person here. Perhaps he was sleeping, and he didn't want to disturb his boss. She had no way to tell. Being without her gift was awful.
"Good," he said and grabbed the back of her neck.
He pressed down on her neck and for a moment she was worried he would break it. Her face went into the sheets, and she felt herself being suffocated as he pulled on her pants. After a few seconds without air, she decided that blacking out at this moment wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen.
