Quick Author's Note:

Special thanks to aethea for my awesome new covers!!! 

Enjoy the next chapter, lovelies!

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Jester’s POV

I treaded backwards slowly, pointing the gun towards the hostage’s temple. Her tears dripped onto me.

Gross.

I kept my eyes on the Dynamic Douchebags. Their hands remained in the air and they were helpless as I walked out the door—with a hostage, Scarecrow and Riddler.

Mission Complete

As soon as we made it through the door way, I made a run for the police cruiser that I had crashed into the building. That was the only way we were getting out without being caught.

“Let’s Go!” I yelled as I crawled into the driver’s seat and impatiently waited for Riddler and Scarecrow to crawl in.

“Here” I said, handing the pistol to the Riddler and shoving the hostage in his direction. Scarecrow was clearly too drowsy to be on Batman patrol, he looked as though he was going to pass out again.

“You’re giving me your only weapon?” Riddler asked, it was clear were his mind was. I held back my sarcastic comments as I put the cruiser in reverse and slammed on the gas pedal, making everyone’s stomachs lurch.

“Don’t get any ideas” I yelled at Riddler. “Besides it wouldn’t do that much good anyway”.

He looked as though he was going to say something else but I didn’t have time to worry about him, Batman was in hot pursuit of us. His precious Batmobile was practically on the bumper of the police cruiser.

I let out a slew of curses and tried to maintain control of the car. I had done everything Joker wanted me to do; successfully make a distraction, bring back Riddler and raise a little hell. My greatest fear was that Batman would catch me and ruin the whole plan…or was it? After the incident with Scarecrow and his fear gas, nothing seemed to be right anymore. Everything felt so foggy and confusing.

Snap out of it, Jester.

I had to keep myself concentrated, I kept my eyes focused on the road and took as many evasive maneuvers as I could to keep the Batmobile from spinning my stolen car out of control.

“Please…just let me go” the nurse being held hostage begged.

I couldn’t see it but I was sure that a smile had come across Riddler’s face as he responded “What a poor choice of words, but if it’s what you want.”

He swiftly kicked open the door on his side and threw the struggling hostage out.

She tumbled across the road, and landed in a heap. Batman had to swerve to avoid her. I knew he would stop, there was no way he could leave her on the side of the road. This meant that he would have to stop following us and I could safely return Riddler to the Joker.

Relieve flooded over me as I watched the Batmobile pull over and the Caped Crusader come to aid the hostage. I couldn’t watch the scene for long as I sped forward and it vanished from the rear-view mirror.

After successfully crashing three other police cruisers that were after us, we reached the docks. I forced the cruiser to come to an abrupt stop.

  After kicking the door open and hopping out, I watched Nigma helped the dreary Scarecrow out.

I let out a content sigh, I had done it.

Then I noticed Riddler still had the pistol that I gave him to manage the hostage.

“Give me the gun, Riddler” I commanded, glaring at him with untrustworthy eyes. His soft blue eyes looked at the pistol in his hands and then back to me. He spun the gun around his finger, then he handed it to me. I smiled with sarcastic gratitude.

“Oh don’t worry, dear. I don’t have to kill you. In the end, you’ll kill yourself” He taunted.

I didn’t have time for his theatrics. I wrapped Scarecrow’s other arm around me and helped carry him on the boat.

When we got to the lower deck, everything looked exactly how it did before I had left. Gotham’s deadliest criminals all sat around a small table, it looked like the average everyday get together…except with more machine guns.

“Oh sweetie, you’re back!” Joker swooned. “We were just talking about you” He laughed maniacally. Harley embraced me in a hug and the crocodile man grunted. Then Joker addressed my two companions.

First he turned to Scarecrow.

“Crane, you look like a hyena’s chew toy…and I know what that looks like. Have a drink, kid.” Joker said laughing, pouring an alcoholic beverage for Scarecrow. Then he turned to Riddler.

“Eddie, Riddler, pal. What was the big idea? Running off like that?” Joker interrogated lightly.

Riddler glared back, his clear rage unyielding. “You pushed me, Joker! You know that I am a high-class criminal and I refuse to continue working with you until you admit it!” He argued like a child.

Everyone at the table let out irritated sighs. Ivy rolled her green eyes dramatically, the sudden movement made me realize how similar my eyes were to hers.

“Just do it, Joker. We don’t have time for this. Batman was probably following them, he could be here any minute” Poison Ivy stated with exasperation.

“Freeze, start ‘er up” Joker commanded in reference to the boat; also successfully avoiding Riddler’s demand for recognition.

Mr. Freeze, the ice man, stood up from the table. His presence was menacing as he was at least six feet tall and clad in a massive metal suit that appeared to be sustaining his body temperature at freezing levels.

Riddler interjected the Joker’s commands angrily by saying “Sit down, Freeze. I’m not giving any of you the passwords until Joker admits that I deserve to be here”

The Joker was clearly losing his patience, he grabbed the collar of the Riddler’s shirt. “Lucky for you, I happen to be an expert on making people talk” Joker said, his charming side quickly turning to the maniacal one.

Scarecrow, who had hardly said a word since we returned, suddenly became alive and shouted “Batman! He’s here!”

Panic spread across everyone’s face.

What if the Batman ruined everything?

Joker took the leadership role once again and said “Clayface, we need you to stall him”.

I had nearly forgot about the man who could morph himself to look like anyone he wanted. I watched as he changed his shape to match the image of the Gotham City mayor, Mayor Hill.

“Showtime” He said and he ran out to the top deck.

“Freeze start the boat” Joker commanded once more as he began to pour more drinks.

I took a seat and waited for the boat’s motor to start. The boat heaved forward when it did.

By this point, the rest of the ‘Rogue’s Gallery’ where on the top deck except for Harley, me, Scarecrow, Riddler and Ivy.

There was a string of shouts and loud noises that I could hear in the distance, I suddenly realized that I had no clue what was going on. I turned to Harley, she seemed like the only person that I could really trust.

“Where are we going?” I asked questioningly. “Surely, Batman will catch up to us once he figures out Clayface is impersonating the mayor.”

Harley opened her mouth to answer my question but she was interrupted.

The boat rocked vigorously, for a moment I thought it was going to capsize. I peered out the window, my body was shaking and I tried to tell myself that I was not afraid.

Batman was piloting his very own speedboat and he was gaining on us.

I’m going to drown at the hands of the Batman.

My breathing intensified and I closed my eyes. Finally, I gained my serenity. I looked at Harley, she too had a mix of panic and peace on her face.

“He’s going to catch us!” I shouted, trying to figure out what to do.

The response that I got was not from Harley. Joker had come down from the top deck. He answered my questions.

“He won’t catch us in time” He began to spew laughter.

My mind was not comprehending what he was talking about. I just looked at him, puzzled.

“Oh little Jester, we’re going to the one place where Batman will finally get his reckoning. We’re going to the one place where my genius will finally show. We’re going home.” He said.

I thought about it for a minute and attempted to not look stupid. The boat kept rocking over the waves. I was still worried that we were all going to drown. Then it hit me, I knew were home was.

Arkham Asylum.