Love in the Dark

Jonathan and I arrived at the Hampton restaurant, finding Bruce sitting in a private section. I hugged him, and said, "Hi Bruce!"

"Hello, Bethy. It's good to see you out and about."

"It feels so good to be out of that apartment."

"Please, have a seat."

Jonathan and I sat down and we placed our drink orders. I ordered an unsweetened ice tea, not wanting to ruin my recovering health with alcohol. I ordered a light salad to start things off, then thought I'd move to sea food. Jonathan and Bruce were talking about something that had to do with Arkham, a new wing or room. I listened to the conversation and tried to look interested, but failed. I took another bite of my salad, then started to feel sick. Shit. I excused myself and went to the restroom. I waited for about three minutes, but the feeling had passed. I leaned against the counter and looked at myself in the mirror, then saw the woman watching me in the background. Straightening up, I smiled at her reflection, "Hello."

"Hello. Are you alright?" Her voice had a very nasal New York accent to it.

"Yes. I'm... recovering from a sickness is all."

"Well, ain't that a shame."

"I know right? I hate being sick."

"Aren't you sitting with Mister Wayne?"

Turning to her I said, "Yes. He's a good friend of mine."

"And did I see Jonathan Crane come with you?"

"Yes. He's my boyfriend."

"Well, congratulations."

"Thank you."

"I use to work with him you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But I moved on to better things."

I smiled.

"Could you tell him that Arleen Quinzel said hi?"

"Sure! I would love to relay the message."

"Fantastic."

I smiled at her again and left the bathroom. Sitting back at the table Jonathan turned to me, "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I um... ran into someone in the restroom, she said that she worked with you."

Jonathan's brow furrowed, "Who?"

"She said her name was... Arleen Quinzel? She told me to tell you hi." Both men looked like they had seen a ghost. "What?"

"Arleen?"

"Yes."

"Q-Quinzel?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We need to go," Bruce stood.

"What? We haven't even gotten our food yet-"

"Bethy, Arleen Quinzel was an intern at Arkham... she worked on the Joker case.... Now she works for the Joker."

"What?"

"Arleen is Harley-Quinn."

My eyes widened, that's why the accent had sounded familiar. I stood and Jonathan wrapped his arm around me, and the three of us made our condolences to the hostess, and made to leave the building. We managed to reach the entrance way, when we spotted the Joker and his thugs entering. Bruce lead us a different way, going to a side door, but it was no use. We were stopped by a man in a clown mask. Holding the gun up, Bruce pushed it aside and punch him. The three of us walked out of the hotel and Bruce lead us to where we parked the cars. Jonathan let go of me and walked around to the driver's side and got in, unlocking the doors as he closed his. I opened mine, then felt an arm wrap around my waist, "Where do you think you're going, my pretty?"

I screamed as I saw the purple suit sleeve, and Jonathan struggled to get out of the car as I was dragged away. More men came and blocked him off from me as I was taken to a car. After being shoved in the back seat, I watched as the Joker ordered people around, then got in the car as well. The driver, Harley-Quinn, took off speeding down the road. The Joker laughed as we spun around a corner, almost hitting pedestrians.

"How are you, tonight," asked the Joker.

"I've been better."

The Joker laughed, "You have a sense of humor, I like that."

"What do you want?"

"You seem pretty close to Bruce Wayne... why?"

"We're friends."

Harley-Quinn laughed, "Ya hear that Mista' J? They're friends!"

"Shut up, Harley." Turning to me he said, "How are things with you and the Scarecrow?"

"Jonathan and I are fine."

"'Jonathan and I are fine.'" The Joker gave the shrill laugh, "You're not afraid he's going to relapse?"

I frowned, "Jonathan is not going to relapse."

Another shrill laugh.

"Please, what do you want with me?"

"I want... to use you... as a little... leverage."

"For what?"

He backhanded me, "Stop asking questions! Harley, the gag!"

Harley-Quinn messed with something in the front of the car, then tossed it back, it was a small grenade with the pin out. The Joker took it and clamped it in my mouth. I held down tightly with my teeth as tears formed in my eyes. I prayed to God that it didn't go off.

"Now, we're going to go to a little warehouse for a while... you're going to stay with us, until I'm ready to use you. Ya' got that?"

I nodded. Tears falling down my face.

"Good."

It wasn't long until we were at the warehouse mentioned before. I was yanked out of the car, and the bomb was removed from my teeth. The Joker threw it in the air, and confetti exploded from it's insides. I don't know what was worse... the feeling of not knowing that there was small pieces of paper in side, or knowing that I wasn't in any real danger, for the time being. The Joker had his men tie me to a pillar, and I sat there while everyone pranced around. After an hour, the Joker leaned in with a camera and a pile of paper. Setting up a tripod he had Harley-Quinn place the paper up. They were que cards. The Joker turned on the camera and said, "Read the cards, pretty."

Tears streamed down my face as I read:

"Dear Batman,

If you are watching this, then at the time being, I'm not in any danger, but I will be. You have twenty minutes to figure out where I am now, or else I will be moved to a more dangerous location. I will be moved after every twenty minutes, to a situation even more dangerous than the one before it. Your time starts after I'm finished reading this... which is now."

The Joker turned off the camera and laughed. Leaning in he said, "Twenty minutes, and counting." He petted my hair then gave me a little slap before leaving.

Twenty minutes passed, and Batman didn't come. The Joker came over and put his face in mine, "Are you ready?"

I shook my head.

He laughed, "Come on! We're goin for a ride."

He picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder, and bouncing his way to a car. He opened the trunk and shoved me in side, and I banged on the hood, "Let me out!"

The car started and I could feel it driving away. The ride wasn't smooth. The car made turns so sharp I hit my head on the side, and bounced hitting me against the hood. I felt around for the tag that pops the trunk open in case one gets in this situation, and I found it. I held onto it, waiting for the car to stop. After about five minutes, it did. I tugged on the chord, the hood popped open, and I looked out and screamed. The trunk was dangling off of an exposed building. I looked around and found that the car was on a beam that had been lifted into the air. People gathered around below to see what was going on. They saw me, and everyone started to panic. I stepped out of the trunk, onto the beam, and I sat down. I gripped onto the edge for dear life, and then the car fell off the beam.

As I sat there, I felt a weird sensation, and discovered that the beam was moving. I looked down and saw Harley-Quinn controlling the crane that I was attached to. I freaked out as the beam started to swing, and I prayed for Batman to come save me. A searchlight was placed on me, and the people below were yelling.

Joker, do not continue with your plan.

I doubted that he would listen to them, and I was right, the beam took a violent swing, almost knocking me off. I moved over to the chords that were attached to each end of the beam, figuring that it would be more secure out here. I heard something hit the beam, and found a grappling hook wrapping itself around and around, then going tight. I was soon joined by Batman.

"Take my hand."

I reached for it, moving a little, but pulling away when the beam took another violent swing. Batman came closer and took my outstretched hand, pulling me to him once my hand was secure in his. I gripped onto him, and gasped as he jumped off of the beam. He reached up and another grappling hook shot off connecting to a building. He lowered me to safety before going after the Joker. Commissioner Gordon came over to me and held onto me as my shaky legs gave way.

"Bethany, are you okay?"

I nodded, "Why is it always me?"

"I don't know."

"I can't... feel my legs."

"Here." Swooping me into his arms, he made sure that my dress didn't expose anything, as he carried me to his car and set me on the hood. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was having dinner with Bruce and Jonathan... I was approached by Harley-Quinn in the bathroom, and then we left, and I was taken."

"You were approached by Harley-Quinn?"

"Well, she wasn't dressed up... she told me her name was Arleen Quinzel."

Gordon shook his head, "I've called Bruce and Jonathan, they're on their way."

I nodded, "Thank you."

He sat with me, made sure someone got me something to drink, then after sitting here for about five minutes, I saw Jonathan pushing his way through the crowd.

"Bethany!"

"Jonathan!"

He ran over to me and I pushed myself off of the car and into his arms. He held me tightly, petting the back of my head as I held onto him, "I'm so sorry I couldn't help you. I'm so sorry. I should have made sure that you were in the car before I did anything-"

"It's okay Jonathan. It's okay."

He let go of me, cupping my face in his hands and kissing me. I let him and then hugged close to him as the police took down my story again. We were soon joined by Bruce, who again pulled me away from Jonathan and hugged me. He asked me over and over again if I was okay, and when I said I was, he asked me if I was sure. Eventually I pulled away, and found my father.

"What do you think you were doing?" He asked.

"What?"

"What are you doing hanging with people like that?"

"Mister Elwood, I'm sorry, but I can't let you treat your daughter like this," Jonathan came over to me, "Bethany was with the two of us, then she was kidnapped. How dare you accuse her of putting herself willingly in this position."

My father looked like he had been slapped, and I turned away from him, "Gordon, are we finished here?"

"Yes."

"Come on, Jonathan... lets go home."

Jonathan held me close to him as he went to his car, and we drove to our apartment.