An Unlikely Encounter ch.26

CHAPTER 26

I woke up to the sounds of voices.

My head.

Oh God, my head was in the process of murdering me. I felt each pulse of blood coursing into my head, and each throb was the equivalent of someone kicking me. Hard.

I groaned in pain and rolled over, the sheets made noise as I turned.

My eyes flew open.

"Sheets?" I thought, "Who put sheets on me?"

A loud gasp sounded through the room, and suddenly a shadow passed over my eyes. I was still in a state of mild confusion, and I had not at all expected someone to respond to me.

"Babe!" the shadow exclaimed, "You're alright! Thank Jesus; you scared the shit out of me! If you ever pull something like that again I'll kill you myself!"

That voice. I know that voice . . . but . . .

I turned over and opened my eyes. The light blinded me at first, but thankfully, the entity's shadow quickly passed over my face to help me see.

The familiar pleasant dark haired, cocoa skinned woman, who wore the angriest, worried look I'd ever seen greeted me.

"Roxanne?" I asked after a moment. My heart rising.

"What the fuck girl!" She exploded.

My eyes widened. What? Did I get her name wrong or something? Why was she so mad?

She began to flail her arms around at me, gesturing incoherently and getting herself all flustered. I couldn't really comprehend what she was trying to convey to me; she just appeared to be babbling about something.

"Girl," I said tiredly, "What are you babbling about now?"

Roxy sighed loudly and began again. Slowly.

"You." She pointed to me, "Put me," She pointed to herself, "Through hell,"

"And how exactly did I manage to pull off such a feat?" I asked tiredly. I'm sure my voice sounded raspy and weak. I really needed water.

Roxanne read my mind, because she handed me a tall glass of water before responding.

"Oh I don't know . . ." Roxanne rolled her eyes, "I seem to recall my BEST FRIEND getting kidnapped by the Joker, going missing for, you know a MONTH, stressing me the hell out, and leading me to believe that you died!" Her voice was getting shrill and tears collected in her eyes.

Just like that, I remembered everything, the bank robbery, the kidnapping, the time with the Joker, the thing I had to do at Wayne Enterprises, meeting Bruce, betraying him, and then . . . absolutely nothing.

I sat up for a moment, and then collapsed back on the bed, almost throwing up from the dizziness.

"Oh no you don't. You are taking it easy for a few days. I'm sure you know by now that you have a bad concussion?" Roxanne said it like I was actually planning on trying that again.

"Girl, wait," I said, panic rising in my throat, "What happened? How did I get here?"

That's when I finally looked around the room; my eyes widened in surprise. I recognized NOTHING of this room.

I was in a rather large room, where the walls were painted a dark Periwinkle and were covered with various abstract paintings with modern styled lamplights sticking out of the walls. There was a floor-to-ceiling window to my left, and when I looked out of it, I could tell that it was nighttime.

When I actually saw my bed, I almost did a double take at the sheer size of it. It was circular and looked like it could hold about ten to fifteen people, and each could attain a considerable amount of elbowroom. The covers and pillows were various shades of brown and white, and they were all soft and silky and fluffy under my fingertips. The floors were carpeted, and pure white. Random furniture was scattered around, including a big leather armchair that had clothing and books and other items haphazardly flung onto it.

I assume that that's where Roxanne had been.

I was so utterly confused.

"Where ARE we?"

Roxanne's eyebrows lifted.

"Katherine Harleen Quinzel. Do you not remember anything that happened?" She sounded completely incredulous.

"I—I—" I stuttered, trying to form a competent response. As I tried to think back to the events before I passed out, my head would begin to throb angrily and I would grow nauseous.

"Okay, Okay, there's no need to go into an epileptic fit now," Roxanne said good-naturedly, apparently amused by my pain.

I couldn't help but chuckle with her though. She always had that effect on me.

"I'm glad you're taking so much joy in my pain, girl," She just laughed harder.

"Katherine, excuse me for finding humor in something for the first time in weeks. Honestly. You deserved it,"

"What?" I was horrified. "She hadn't laughed at all the whole time I was gone? And it's my
fault?"

"What the fuck do you mean what? Did you think I was out partying and laughing merrily while you went through who-knows-what at the mercy of the most notorious killer in the world?" Roxanne asked exasperatedly.

"Babe, I—"

"No girl! Why didn't you contact me? Why didn't you give me some sort of indication that you were ok? I fell into a catatonic depression while you were gone! I have the anti-depressants my doctor prescribed to me to prove it too!"

I gaped at her.

After she said that, it looked like all the energy suddenly left her body. She put her face with her hands and glanced at me through her dark eyes.

"When I saw you collapse after crushing the device at that party in Wayne Enterprises, I thought that somehow you died, and I just—"

"Wait," My heart began pumping loudly in my ears, "What did you just say? I did what? Does that—does that mean that you were there? How the hell did you see that?"

Roxanne exhaled loudly. "Wow, you REALLY don't remember anything,"

It wasn't a question, and I just nodded silently, holding my breath.

"Get comfy. This is a long story."

FLASHBACK


The Joker began to laugh hysterically as Katherine collapsed to the floor. The sound echoed through the room, and no one moved a muscle.

It was apparent that the entirety of the room wasn't aware of the purpose of that little device. It looked like everyone, including Batman, expected some sort of bomb to have gone off in the building, killing each and every one of them within mere seconds.

But nothing happened.

The Joker's laughter died down as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Oh, kinda blundered there, Kitty Kat," The Joker finally said, chuckling lightly.

Batman shifted in his place, looking to be subtly checking his body for any injuries.

"It's over Joker," Batman declared, speaking loudly and clearly, his deep gravelly voice carrying out across the room.

"Ha ha! Uh, au contraire, Bat-sy! See, I had the ingenious idea to get those geek squad nerds to install a self destruct proof reaction in the device!" The Joker said gleefully.

"That means that uh, you know, it can't really break,"

Batman lifted his chin up ever so slightly, a clear sign of his confidence and strength,

"You need to get your eyes checked Joker. She broke it. It's over," Batman said forcefully, finally deciding to rise from the floor ever so slowly; his cape billowing around him.

The Joker licked his lips and curled his fingers, acting highly irritated.

"Now, see Batsy, that's why you're such a party pooper! You tend to uh, not believe me when I. Say. Things." The Joker grinned, "Even if it shattered into itty. Bitty. Pieces. All over the floor, I could still—in a sense, set it uh, OFF."

Batman said nothing.

The Joker huffed in annoyance. "Oh, MUST I spell out everything to you? That little device over there? See it? Yeah, it was timed just in case it broke,"

The room grew heavy with the implications of that statement.

"Surprise . . . In about," The Joker checked his watch, "Thirty seconds, all of the information in this little oasis of fun will be transferred directly to me." A nasty smile spread across the Joker's face when he said that, "Won't that be absolutely swell?"

The Joker burst out into new peals of laughter as the room broke out into sharp gasps and cries of horror.

The entire city knew that Wayne Enterprises had ties to secret government projects, and were probably at this very moment collaborating on new weaponry for the special military forces. If the Joker managed to attain this vital information from the company . . .

No one saw Batman cross the room until the Joker's body once again made contact with the floor.

"Reverse it," Batman growled in the Joker's face, clutching the collar of his purple Jacket. The Joker only laughed in Batman's face.

Batman pulled back his arm to punch the Joker, but was kicked away by a goon that somehow got close enough to the pair to attack Batman. Everyone's eyebrows lifted up in shock. They were all familiar with the rumors of Batman's reflexes. So the idea that the goon could pull off such a feat spoke in volumes as to the current condition of their hero.

Suddenly, in the Joker's pocket came a loud buzzing.

The Joker reached into his coat, pulled out an old Motorola razor and flipped it open.

"Yeello . . . Oh, Fluffy! How's the family? . . . Oh, right. Sorry about that bub, but you know how dynamite is . . . yeah," The Joker's face darkened and he licked his lips, "Is. That. So? . . . hmm . . . whelp! You had a good run ol Fluffy, say hi to the big man for me huh?"

The Joker signaled to a goon to his right who nodded, and sent a quick text on his phone. The Joker didn't manage to flip his razor closed before the sound of a gunshot rang through the speaker.

No one knew what just happened. Apparently something had gone terribly wrong, but the people were not quite sure whether or not that it was a good thing or a bad thing for them.

The Joker looked calm. Too calm. He looked like how psychopaths did before they skinned someone alive or violently slaughtered their prey. There was no doubt that the Joker was furious. In fact, the inhabitants of the room began to try to inch away from the unstable man without attracting his attention.

But the Joker said nothing. He calmly walked around the room until he stopped in front of his previously abandoned monstrous gun, picking in up and scrutinizing it under his gaze. He then pointed the gun at the nearest person, who just happened to be the same goon that had been torturing one of the guests earlier.

The Goon dropped his heavy weapons and tried to make a run for it, but he didn't make it four steps before something similar to a sonic boom sounded, and the goon's body was reduced to nothing more but a smoldering pile of ashes on the floor.

The Joker had no time to react, because in that second, Batman appeared and ripped the gun from the Joker's hands, turned around, and hurled the powerful weapon out of the nearest window.

The glass shattered instantly when the gun collided with it, and the open air revealed the sounds of police sirens and ambulances heading towards Wayne Enterprises.

Batman and Joker stood face to face in a standoff, both acutely aware of the fact that no one was going to win tonight. Again.

They both stood like that for a few more heartbeats before a strange look crossed the Joker's face. The Joker curled his body upwards and stretched out his arms, yawning as he did so.

"You know Batsy," The Joker said, grinning, "All that plotting and scheming and yadda yadda yadda has me tired out! I think I'm gonna uh, turn myself in to the pigs. I'm sure that returning to my good ol comfy cell back in Arkham will do wonders for my delicate psyche."

Batman continued to say nothing. His body gave away no emotions and his lips were clenched together in a tight line.

"However," The Joker continued, "I will be taking back my little pet Kat over there," The Joker gestured towards Katherine who was still lying on her stomach on the floor motionless, no signs of life except for the steady rise and fall of her chest.