Annie's POV:

The soles of his shoes clicked against the concrete floor. With his first step, he started to chuckle, then with each step he took his laughter grew.  “ha...ha..haha..hahaha…HAHAHAHAHAHAHA” With only a few steps, he was cackling hysterically right in my face.

His voice was shrill, high-pitched…insane. I began to squirm incessantly, I became desperate to be free. Fear rose inside me, I had never been more scared in my life. My squirming turned into a downright struggle. The Joker lunched out a pastey hand and grabbed me by the jaw.

Harley’s face gleamed with a twisted smile as the Joker leaned in and whispered in my ear, his hand clenching my jaw bone tightly.

“I think you’re going to like it here” whispered the maniacal clown as he licked his lips dramatically.

Harley began stroking the massive hyenas, their collars bore the names "Bud” and "Lou". She seemed to be in her own little world, a scary world.

“Now” he continued, as he finally pulled away from me and licked his lips again. “How about we get down to business, shall we?”

I remained stoic, trying to not let him get the best of me. I could feel the rage bubbling over inside me as I thought of my brother’s corpse lying on our apartment floor. I wanted revenge and I wanted it now, I could not bite my tongue any longer.

“Why didn’t you just kill me?” I asked, quaking with sheer rage.

“Kill you?” he sneered as he let out a high pitched squeal of delight. His dramatic makeup looked terrifying under the dim light.

“ Oh no! You don’t get to die…no, not yet.” He paced back and forth around the room as he said this, finally kneeling down by Harley and petting one of the hyenas.

“Why? Why me? Why did you kill my brother?” I yelled through gritted teeth, trying to swallow my fury and fear.

“Your brother? Oh is that who that was, well he got in my way…and I hate it when people get in my way.” His face had changed from a whimsical, light-hearted expression to a violent, gruesome one.

Cold sweat raced down my back. Fear had completely taken over my body. Why try to be tough? This man was insane, dangerously insane. He was going to subject me to all kinds of horrible torture and there was no one who could save me. I was going to die a cold, gruesome, lonely death in the lair of a mad man with stale jokes.

“You’re sick…” I muttered under my breath as the weight of my situation pressed its heavy toll on my mind.

A clenched fist whammed into my jaw, I felt the blood spurt out my nose. The Joker let out a benevolent cackle and as I looked up his whimsical demeanor had returned.

“Carefully dearie, no one comes into my house and insults me. That’s a lesson you better learn quickly because we’re going to be spending much time together…” The smile on his face literally stretched from ear to ear, his scars added to the effect. As I licked my lips and tasted blood, I knew that I was certainly in Hell.

Dick’s POV:

My hand shakily punched the keys on the computer in the Batcave. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this nervous. Thoughts raced through my head as I anxiously waited for the results of the blood sample I had taken from Annie’s apartment. What if it’s hers? What if he’s killed her? What if it’s all my fault?

I raced my hands through my unruly hair and tried not to panic. That’s when the results popped up on screen, nearly giving me a heart—attack.

Bruce came racing into the Batcave, still dressed in civilian clothes (if you call a five—thousand dollar tuxedo civilian clothes). “I came as soon as I got your call. What makes you think the Joker took her?” he asked, I could sense the sympathy in his voice.

He approached the lab table which held all the evidence I had collected so far. He picked up the plastic bag containing the hair of the Joker that I had found at Annie’s apartment. “I see” he said.

“and the blood?” he asked, trying to obtain all the facts before strategizing.

I finally pried my eyes away from the computer screen to look at him. “It’s not hers” I said, almost breathing out a sigh of relief. By checking her medical records at Gotham Medical Center, I knew Annie had an A+ blood type, the blood found at her apartment was A-. That only left one other person, her brother.

“Well at least that’s something to go one” Bruce said as he paced back and forth around the Batcave, trying to put all the pieces together. “Is that everything you’ve found so far?” he asked.

“No.” I said as I approached the lab table. “There’s this” I continued as I held up a plastic bag containing a playing card. “I found it on her father’s gravestone marker, I thought that might be a good place to look for clues after I left her apartment. I guess I was right.” The playing card was a joker, his calling card.

“We’ll find her, Dick. It’s only a matter of time.” Bruce said as he placed an encouraging hand on my shoulder. I pushed it off, feeling my anger and worry mix.

“But what if it’s too late? If he touches a hair on her head, I’ll kill him” I yelled, feeling so overcome by anger.

“We don’t kill and you know that, Dick” Bruce said, he never took attitude from anyone.

“Watch me” I replied as I hopped on my bike and sped out of the Batcave.