ANGLERFISH

12

(Bruce's POV of the next day)

I smashed another vase as I yelled at the wall, "This is all my fault! Why the hell didn't I knock her out too!" I growled as I punched the tv. "Bruce, Lucius is on it, he's doing all he can to find Kiara." Rachel calmly said as she stood in the kitchen.

"Rachel! Now is not a good time to talk to me, please—just—" I huffed and fell to my knees and tried my best to keep my breathing steady. "How 'bout a cold bath with a glass of the best scotch, while me and Mr. Fox work, eh?" Alfred smiled as he lifted a bottle of whiskey off the liquor stand.

"Alfred, my cousin has been kidnapped and you want me to shower and get drunk?!" I stood up and threw another vase at the wall. Alfred became quiet and stood behind me. My chest raised and fell as I took aggressive deep breaths. The Joker took Kiara, he could be torturing her for crying out loud! The image of her tied to a chair in a dark room, crossed my mind and made me sick.

"Bruce, I just got a call from the reception desk at Kiara's apartment, The Joker went and asked for her apartment number! He even went into her apartment and walked out with bags of stuff." Rachel said as she covered her phone with her hand. "I'm going to find that son of a bitch and kill him." I sneered, walked to the door, and slammed it behind me. If someone was gonna find Kiara it was going to be me.

-

I took my helmet off and looked up at Kiara's apartment. I walked towards the doors and looked at the kid at reception. "Show me the camera footage of the last 24 hours." The boy nodded rapidly and began walking to a room. He inserted a key into the doorknob and opened the door. I walked towards the computer and saw it needed a password. I looked up at him and pointed at the computer screen.

"T—the password's 'Cameronisk00l69'." He stuttered, I paused, looked at the kid and scrunched my eyebrows. "I-I'll just put it in." He typed in his 'creative' password into the computer and left. I scanned the screen and watched as the footage showed him walking into the building in one camera, while in another it showed him picking at Kiara's door.

"That motherfucker." I growled and walked towards the elevators.

The doors opened, I walked out, and ran down the hall reaching Kiara's door. The door was already open, I walked in and saw nothing but a tv on the floor and an open fridge. He took everything. I grabbed my phone and began dialing Rachel's number, she picked up and had been crying. "Rach—Wait what's wrong?" I asked her as I walked towards Kiara's window.

"You haven't seen, have you?" She sniffled and began crying even worse. I grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels, and ended on Gotham City news. There was a dead body hanging from the flagpole in front of Kiara's work the body was a man—more specifically, Bracken. "—Isn't that Kiara's boyfriend!?" Rachel said on the other line. "Yes, it is." I huffed.

"Why would he kill him!? He didn't have to involve an innocent man into his mad-man plan!" She commented. "Police have released video footage found concealed on the body. I may say that some viewers may find the image disturbing." The news reporter displayed a face of disgust.

"People of Gotham—this is the beloved Kiara Wayne, family member of the known uh—wealthy and manly Bruce Wayne." He pointed the camera at Kiara's sleeping body in a bed. "—And this sweet sweet angel had been dating the devil in disguise. She had been dating a cheating asshole, who slept with a coworker! Now ain't that wrong, girls!" He cocked his head back and laughed, he then started walking down some stairs and busted open a door.

"Now, I gave Kiara the permission to get some payback on him—and let me just show you how she handled it." He turned the camera to Bracken's dead body laying there with a bag over his head and multiple bullet wounds. Kiara would never shoot someone just because they cheated on her! "You see, even the best people can become the worst—also count this 'poor soul' as another victim if Batsy doesn't take off his mask. See ya later, Gotham!" He maniacally laughed again as the screen returned to the reporter's face.

"Bruce, s—she wouldn't shoot someone, especially her boyfriend, right?" Rachel's soft voice said into my ear. "H-he probably killed him and said that she did instead." And with that I hung up and walked towards Kiara's room, there were multiple Haha's all over the walls while a paper was stabbed into the wall with a knife.

"Hello, Brucey!
I hope you saw my little video already!
I just wanted to remind you,
that if you try anything,
I will put your other loved ones at risk! You've been warned!!

xoxo - Joker

I took the knife out of the wall and threw it towards the other wall, that piece of shit was trying to hurt my family! I looked at Kiara's closet and found a photo of her and I playing in the snow. Kiara had just turned 14, and she said that the only thing she wanted to do was go to an open space and play with the snow. Alfred had taken the photo right before the snowball had hit my face that Kiara had thrown.

"Say cheese!" Alfred chuckled as he lifted the camera.

"Cheese!" I hugged Kiara and smiled. Kiara gave her famous ear to ear smile and looked at the camera.

"Got it!" Alfred laughed and gave me a thumbs up.

I backed away from Kiara and formed a snowball.

"Watch out Miss Kiara!" Alfred said as he covered his mouth with his blue mittens.

I aimed my arm towards her and threw the snowball at her head, she leaned back and threw one at my head.

"Oh! It's on now, Kiara!" I bent down and started to bundle some snow together.

I took the photo out of the frame and placed it in my pocket. I began pacing around the room when all of the sudden Lieutenant Gordon walked in and placed his hands on his hips. "I see we are a bit eager to find Kiara, Mr. Wayne." He gave me a slight chuckle as he walked towards the knife.

"My cousin has just been kidnapped by the most wanted criminal! I'm allowed to lash out!" I growled as I walked into the living room only to see less than 10 detectives taking photos and writing down notes. "Mr. Wayne I assure you, we will find Kiara and return her to you, safe and sound." He patted my shoulder and began walking towards Detective Ramirez. I walked out and stomped through the hallway, this 'Joker' was gonna get it, he was on my kill list. Kiara wasn't just my only family, she was the only thing that gave me a reason to live, she deserved everything, and if that meant keeping her safe and being overprotective, then so be it.

The Joker...I recognized him, from where, I don't know yet. But, I will once I find Kiara and lock her up forever, to keep her safe of course. I took out the photo and examined it, very carefully—and then it hit me.

"Hey, Kiara!" A blond boy smiled at Kiara as I aimed for her, but lowered my arm.

"Oh! Hey, wanna join?" Kiara smiled as she side-hugged him.

"Uh, yeah, I'm always up for some fun." He said as he grabbed a handful of snow.

I turned around and felt something hit my back, he had thrown the snowball at me.

I turned back and saw him covering his mouth, until Kiara started to die of laughter.

"Nice throw!" She high-fived him.

He then raised his hand behind her head and smashed a snowball on her beanie. "You aren't safe either!" He smirked as he began to run.

"Oh! You're so gonna get it!" She squealed as she began chasing him, forgetting I was even here.

I walked towards Alfred and stood there as I watched them smile and laugh as they rolled around in the snow.

He was The Joker. Kiara's so-called crush had turned psycho. He turned into a complete murderer and nut job. He became protective and obsessive over her once I saw that he was a bit clingy and told him to back off. That's probably when all the 'Joker' facade started, as he masked the desperation to see Kiara once more. But this was going to be the last time he ever had her hands on her, in his sight, and in his thoughts.

This kid was going to suffer—and I was going to make sure of it.

Jack.