Raven

Inside the large SUV with its sleek interior and the radio on a low hum, the night seemed far away. The crime that ransacked the streets of Gotham were hidden behind the tinted windows of the vehicle though they were not forgotten. The night news was filtered through on the radio, the presenters voice barely audible over the noise of the engine, a fire raging on the east side of Gotham, by the abandoned warehouses, the body of a know criminal found dead, murdered in a side alley off the corner of tenth street. I cackled to myself, and the reflection of Raven cackled back. Dead, dead, dead….everyone died eventually. Soon, we would all be dead.

I could feel the Jokers gaze on me as I stared out the window, watching Gotham go by, the street lamps flickering in the black contacts in my eyes. I knew I angered him, I was a mystery causing him discomfort. I believe if I were anybody else he would already have had slit my throat and watched as the scarlet blood ran down my white neck.

His men were sitting in the back, I had claimed shot gun. They were tense, sitting quietly side by side. Their eyes kept flickering between their boss and me. They held their guns tight, and ready, waiting for an order, They were waiting for him to kill me. But he wouldn’t kill me. At least not tonight. I intrigued him and he wanted to know more.

I half smiled as my prediction came true. He licked his lips and his low voice was menacing, causing a beautiful chill to run down my spine, “Raven? How do you come to know…of me?”

I chuckled, “as we come to know of everybody these days, the television. Your face intrigued me…I wanted to know more. Ten arrests in the last two years. Fifty cases of mass murder. Twenty five cases of arson, thirty two armed burglaries. I must say, I was impressed.”

He smiled, his teeth glinting in the light, “I try my best. I am, after all. The Joker.”

He turned to me, and I didn’t really worry when he took his eyes off the road, “Tell me, Raven, are your stats as impressive as mine?”

I pursed my lips, “That’s for me to know, and you to find out. You can do your own dirty work…if you’re at all interested that is.”

I amused him, that much was true. He said nothing but I had seen it in his eyes as he turned away from me, concentrating on the road once more. I flicked the switch blade into my hands and immediately his men reacted, raising their guns and one emitting a strangled yell. I spared a look of disbelief in his direction, my eyes rolling and I gazed at The Joker, “Seriously, where do you find these guys? They’re useless.”

The Joker glanced at me, and at my blade which I was twirling around my fingers, “They’ll do…for now.”

I grinned, looking away from the men and back towards the street as the car slowed. We pulled a few hundred yards away from the bank. I yawned lazily, “wait here.”

The Joker and his men watched me warily as I got out of the car, my heels making a loud clicking noise of the hard pavement. I walked to the front of the car, bending down and with a good wrench peeled the licence plate off the front of the car. I did the same with the back, tossing the metal plates into the back, not caring as I hit one of the henchmen. He yelped and glared at me.

I looked at The Joker, his brown eyes staring at me intently, “we don’t want to be tracked. Now, if you come with me, I can show you how Raven does it.”

I turned, not pausing as the car doors opened and they jumped out hurrying after me. The Joker lengthened his stride, falling into pace beside me and I hid a smile. He didn’t want it to look like he was following me.

I skirted into the side alleys by the bank, catching hold of the ladder that scaled the wall. I started to climb, knowing they all had a good view of my backside. It was toned, so I had nothing to worry about. I sighed as I reached the fifth floor, on which lay a narrow stone balcony. After observing the building, I had noticed the escape door here was neither manned with a security guard or fixed with a security camera. It was simply luck.

I nodded to one of the men and he kicked the door in after being given the approval of the boss. I rolled my eyes but nevertheless, carved the way. I walked slowly through a deserted corridor, pausing before a corridor that I knew a camera was operating, which also happened to be right beside the security office. I signalled to the others to wait as I strode confidently across the hall, opening the door of the room. The man sitting by the computer screens was young, innocent. He glanced at me, his arm reaching for the walkie talkie on his belt, pausing slightly as his eyes raked my figure.

I pursed my lips, leaning against the doorframe, stroking a hand up my leg ,“You Kyle?” I purred, I could read his name tag.

He nodded, grinning as I walked closer to him, thinking his work buddies were playing a trick on him, giving him a stripper? Or just a naughty dance on his first night shift. I straddled him, the chair bending backwards as I my face drew close to his, my hot breath on his lips. He shivered underneath me as my finger lazily travelled up his thigh. “It’s your lucky day,” I whispered, placing my lips on his. He froze in shock, but relaxed into the kiss. It gave me time to reach into the belt around my waist, drawing out a syringe. I flipped the cap off, and Kyle gave a small gasp as I jabbed it into his neck, releasing the fluid into his bloodstream with immediate effect.

His head lolled back, his eyes closing as he fell into unconsciousness. I could have killed him, by gun or knife but I didn’t. He seemed too young, and I didn’t want to kill the innocent tonight.

“That was a dirty trick.”

I got off Kyle, turning to look at The Joker standing in the door. I smiled, as I lay the body of the boy in the corner of the room, and sat by the computer screens. The Joker came to stand beside me, watching my hands work the keyboard, zooming the camera’s into certain locations where security were present. This was too easy.

“What are you doing now?” he asked as I set the camera on each man, oblivious to the murderers who were watching them. The Joker’s Henchmen were positioned outside, keeping guard but no-body was coming this way.

I withdrew a small electronic device from within my belt, and smiled, “I was here four days ago, as my other half, on a …work meeting. I planted several small devices into the secure corridors. They’re almost invisible.”

I clicked the button, and on the camera we could see the small gas that started to leak out of the wall. I grinned, as within minutes the guards dropped, clutching their throats. It was a sleeping gas, none would wake for several hours.

I looked at the Joker, and I could see he was impressed. He licked his lips, looking at me questioningly. What next?

I rolled my shoulders, cracking my neck and rising from the swivel chair in front of the screens.

“Donny watch the cameras,” I ordered the shorter henchman, and walked out of the room, clicking my fingers at The Joker to follow me. I heard him growl quietly, unused to being ordered around, especially by a woman. I smiled, amused but led the way.

He walked beside me, the tails of his ridiculous purple coat flapping obnoxiously on either side of him. It was kind of annoying actually.

“Why didn’t you switch the camera’s off?” he asked quietly.
I shot a sideways look at him, and grinned, “I want Gotham to know who they’re dealing with…”

He grinned back at me, a sadistic smile plastered onto his face that looked unnatural, “Nothing like a bank robbery to etch your name into the Gotham Police Department memory.”

I snorted, “You’d know all about that.”

I stepped into the elevator and the silence of the journey up several floors was disrupted by quiet music playing sweetly from the stereo system installed into the mechanical transportation. I chewed quietly on my lip, aware that The Joker was training his eyes on me again. For a brief moment, I thought he was actually going to kill me.

The elevator doors opened and I stepped out gratefully. That small space had made me lose my nerve for a brief second. I think he knew it, and that would explain the triumphant smirk on his face.

I stopped outside vault 213, bending over the guard slumped on the ground, his glasses hanging off his face. I smiled, and took the card from his belt, swiping it through the machine by the door. The door opened without hesitation, the machinery trusting that we were suppose to be there.

The room was small and dark, filing cabinets lined the walls. I stood in the centre of the room, looking around, judging the cabinets. The Joker stood next to me, confused.

“What the hell is this? I thought we were after some money.”

All of a sudden, he grabbed me by the throat slamming me against the cabinets. I winced as pain ran up my back, and a strangled noise came from my mouth as he squeezed his hand tight around my trachea.

“This better not all be a trick,” he growled, his eyes inches from mine. They were crazed with madness, and I felt the back of my neck start to sweat. In fear or desire, I don’t know.

I struggled to breathe, let alone talk and I knew he would kill me with no regrets. My hands scratched against his uselessly and he smiled viciously and with a flick of his wrist I saw the gleam of a sharp silver dagger.

I took the last of my strength swinging my leg around, knocking him sideways and releasing his hold on me. I stumbled away, coughing and rubbing my throat.

“You know, this would be a whole lot easier if you stopped trying to fucking kill me,” I gasped, eyeing the blade in his hand.

He edged closer to me, and I kicked out again, this time hitting a cabinet shelving, causing it to roll out. Quickly, I bent over, lifting a box from the drawer that to anyone should have contained files. The Joker raised his eyebrows, forgetting his murderous attentions towards me. I placed the box on the ground, and indented the code into the keypad on the side of the box. A whirring sound was emitted and the lid popped open.

The Joker watched as I put my hand inside, withdrawing a chip. I smiled and placed it between my fingers, showing it to him.

“It’s a computer chip,” I explained, placing it inside a pocket in my belt, “containing 6.5 million dollars. With the right mind and computer skill, a person can transfer the money into their account. Fortunately, it happens to be my specialty."

I closed the box, placing it back inside the cabinet and walked out of the room, The Joker following. I could see he was thinking of the chip. There would be no point him stealing it off me. I knew he didn’t have the right mind on his team to transfer the money. I closed the door, replacing the guards card back in its rightful place and walked back to the security office.

The Joker was quiet and I didn’t trust him. I knew he was thinking of ways to work out the chip. He was greedy like that. He wanted it.

We collected the men, reaching the balcony we had come in on and we assembled onto it. The henchmen seemed to be waiting for us to descent down the ladder but I shared a knowing look with the Joker. He needed replacements, these guys were useless to him now. I had seen the meaning behind his words earlier in the car.

Without a sound, The Joker swiped his blade across one mans neck, as I pulled my gun out and in a split second, had passed a bullet through another’s skull and with the other hand pushed the last one off the side of the building. I didn’t watch as he fell, though The Joker did. I only heard the muffled thump as he landed, the sickening crunch of a broken body.

I knew the layout of this building and the buildings that surrounded. I knew how to pass from one to another and this way down was not the only one. Before The Joker had a chance to pull a gun on me, I was gone, disappearing into the shadows..