The Manipulator and the Innocent

Four.

Victoria was weak.  She was starving.  She could see her own ribs and hip bones.  Besides the deals and threats he'd had his guards make, The Joker never actually came in to the room and showed her he gave a shit about her eating.  She'd be surprised if he actually did – if he wasn't just demanding it to force his authority, as if she wasn't already aware of it.

Most days, Victoria merely laid on her side and stared at the wall.  It was no longer a matter of not wanting to eat, it was a matter of finding the energy to sit up or even reach the food.  But either way, she'd rather starve to death than stay with that monster. She'd come to terms with the fact that she'd never see her friends again, but she hadn't accepted her roll as his plaything. She was a person, not a doll. Sitting back and letting him use her was the last thing she wanted to do, but as of now, she didn't have much of a choice. She didn't know how long she'd been there, but she knew she wouldn't be let go any time soon.

J spent most hours in his office. He still hadn't figured out a way to get the little bitch to eat, but it wasn't his problem. Someone had told him that Brax had been communicating with her through the guards, but the rumor hadn't been confirmed. And until it had, he wasn't going to waste his punishments on his most trusted man.

Work had been coming by the minute lately. Papers to sign, websites to hack, people to kill. It was all just piling up on top of him. He'd considered going to take his stress out on Victoria once or twice, but he never found the time. Today, however, he rescheduled some things just to have a few hours to tease and play with her, then finally use her for his needs.

Barging into the training room, he walked confidently over to her cage, but stopped in his tracks when he saw her state.

Her bones stuck out everywhere. J could see her ribs, her pelvis, each individual bone in her fingers and the ones in her legs. She looked like a skeleton with skin stretched over her. And her food was just sitting outside of her cage.

"Well, what do we have here?" The Joker taunted, keeping his rage and fury inside for the moment. Victoria looked over at him with a bored glance. "Trying to starve yourself, huh? Rather die than spend time with the ole Jokster?" He laughed loudly, then swiftly unlocked the cage and yanked Victoria out by her neck.  Scowling at her lack of a collar, J tightened his grip on her neck and growled lowly.  "What the fuck do you think you're doing, doll?  I didn't bring you here so that you could kill yourself."

"You brought me here so you could kill me slowly, ruining every aspect of my life and my views on this world," she gasped through his harsh grip on her throat.  "And I refuse to give you that satisfaction."

Victoria could have sworn she saw his eyes soften, but she didn't dare fool herself so easily. Her expression hardened, her walls shooting up further as The Joker lifted a hand to cup the side of her face. "What am I going to do with you?" he mumbled. "Bring me the Chair. And a few cases from 143."

Her heart was nearly busting out of her ribs, but Victoria never got the chance to move.  J had her strapped down to a leather chair in a matter of seconds, her wrists, legs, head, and midsection held down by black strips of leather.  Another man came up and stuck a ball gag in her mouth before the pitiful guard from days ago stuck two clear plastic tubes up her nose and one into her right arm.  Freezing purple fluids began pumping into the attachment on her arm, causing her to shriek from behind the gag.  Her limbs twitched, her eyes twisting shut in agony as she desperately tried to wiggle away.  Victoria knew she was too weak to do any harm, but she wasn't going down without a fight.  This man had taken away her respect for people, her kindness, her smile... but he could never take her determination.

Whatever cold, burning "medicine" was being forcefully injected into her veins seemed to calm her down, and before she knew it, Victoria was lazily slumped in the chair.  Worry and fear still flooded the glazing of her bright eyes, but her body made no move to protect itself.