A Joke Gone Wrong

Prisoner to my Own Memories - Part One

The Joker's POV.

Watching her have an attack as powerful as she currently was, almost made me regret everything I had ever done to her.

　

Almost.

　

Do not mistake me for someone who has a guilty conscience, because I don't and would be more than willing to show whoever holds those thoughts just how un-guilty my conscience really is.

　

But watching her sit there, right next to me, shaking and mumbling 'why me' under her breath made something inside me ping. If it had of been any other human, I probably would have been looking at their gravestone without feeling the slightest hint of remorse, but this particular human stirred up emotions I hadn't felt in ... a long time. I shook my head, attempting to clear these thoughts from my already preoccupied mind. I shook her shoulder profusely, trying to bring her back to reality. Stubborn child that she always was, her mind wasn't letting her go easily. I couldn't even begin to imagine what must be going through her mind at this point but I could imagine that it wasn't pretty.

　

"Kate? Kate!" In a last ditch effort to break her out of the prison her mind was holding her in, I called her name. She continued shaking and rocking back and forth, completely unresponsive. I sighed and slipped my arms around her and lifted her off the seat. I stared down at her with my forehead creased as I watched the light fade from her eyes and her eyelids flutter shut. I sighed again and carried her slumbering form inside our compound. I carried her past the guards who opened the doors for me to sweep through with ease. I saw their questioning looks as I passed them but silenced whatever questions they had with a malicious glare which didn't match the grin that was permanently etched on my face. I applied my weight against a lever that made the door to our secret room open. Once inside, I placed her down on the dusty floor and pulled a thin blanket over her. She mumbled something indecipherable in her sleep as she rolled onto her side and curled into a ball. I turned on my heel and left the room before I could do something I would later regret. I pressed the lever again and the door swung shut, leaving her in complete darkness. I stared at the wall momentarily before turning around, feeling eyes on me.

　

"What?" I asked harshly as the guards all stared at me. None of them spoke but the message was clear. "Yes, I can carry this through. I don't need any of you bloody thinking I can't." A few of them flinched and I smiled. "Well, get on with it then." I barked harshly. They all scampered off to carry out our previously put in place orders. My smile grew as my ultimate revenge grew all the more closer. I then began to walk towards our recording studio where I had a little surprise for Kate and the citizens of Gotham City. I chuckled a little as I saw my plan unfold in a short display inside my head. My laughter only grew the further I walked.

The people of this crappy little town were about to be taught a lesson that they wouldn't soon forget. I banged open the door of the studio - which was really another barren concrete room with a single, bare light bulb, a camera on a tripod, and a rickety chair with buckles just the right size for an average sized teenage girl. I stretched and wriggled the buckles a bit to ensure that they hadn't stiffened or rusted in my absence. And then an earsplitting scream pierced the silence. I lifted my head in shock and knocked the chair over in my haste to find the source of disruption. Another scream followed promptly after the first, even longer and louder than the previous one. Only one thing was definite in my mind.

The scream was undeniably female.

Kate.