One Last Hour

The Joker's Game

The people of Gotham were watching the news. Why? Because the Joker had announced his new plan. A video and an envelope had been sent to the news, the police, and by extension, Batman. The video was played on the news at 11:30 pm.

***Video Start***

"Hello, Gotham." The Joker was sitting in a chair, behind a desk, in a yellow room," I know you missed me. And I'm sure you can't wait to see what FUN game I've come up with now. So, here I am to reveal my BIG plan." He stood up, sending his chair backward.

"In this game, we have twenty-four volunteers. And then we have the players. Batman and the police force. But mostly Batman." The Joker giggled lowly.

"The volunteers will be posted separately and randomly around the city. Each one will have their very own TIMED explosive. Every hour, one of these people will die."

"Boom." He mimed the explosion.

"And there's a twist. Three blocks of Gotham have been rigged to explode at midnight tomorrow. The only way to stop it is a KILL switch, as I like to call it. One of our happy volunteers has the device that will stop the bombs, but which one has it? Let's see if you can find out in TIME. HEHEHEHEHE!!!" The Joker brought a gun into the screen view and fired. The screen went black.

***Video End***

Inside the envelope were names of the "volunteers". It was up to the police to find the clues to where they were and which one had the kill switch.

Let the game begin.

Nancy's POV

I don't know exactly where I am. I know that I'm in a warehouse. It's cold and there's concrete everywhere. I've been tied up all night, and my muscles are cramped. My mouth is horribly dry, and my throat isn't much better. He had left the duct tape on.

I still don't know why he kidnapped me. But it doesn't really matter. It's incredibly obvious that, whatever the reason, I have almost no chance of survival.

There are undoubtedly other people in the same predicament. The Joker has never played with just one person, and even if he had decided to this time, he wouldn't choose a nobody like me. So I can only assume I'm part of a bigger game.

A crash draws my attention. I lift my head and see the Joker and several of his hired thugs walking toward me. The thugs are carrying boxes. Probably not a good sign.

"Morning, Doll." the Joker greets me. I glare at him. He takes no notice of it. Or perhaps he did and just doesn't care.

"Okay, boys. Set it up." He orders the men.

I watched as they started unpacking boxes. My heart stopped. They're unpacking explosives. Lots of explosives.

They start to create a half circle behind me. They're putting them all around my chair. There is no way that if they go off, I would not be blown to pieces.

"What's wrong, huh? You seem TENSE, doll. " the Joker mocks. I continue to glare. He chuckles slightly.

He then motions to someone that I haven't seen. A shorter, lanky man with glasses. He doesn't look like a normal thug. Too weak; not intimidating at all. He's too pale and his clothes are wrong. They're not dressy enough for a higher up and not down to earth enough for a fighter. So he must be hired on for a specific purpose. Also probably not a good sign.

He's carrying a camera and some wires. As well as something that looks like a digital timer.

A thug brings a camera stand and sets it ten feet in front of my chair. I watch, perplexed, as the man sets the camera on the stool. I can clearly see the lens pointing at me. The man hooks up some wires to the camera, fiddles with them for a second, and then attaches them to the timer. Whatever he did, it looks pretty complicated.