You're My Medication

I woke up the next morning to an empty bed. I guess J was too mad at me to sleep in the same room. Sighing, I got up and walked out into the living room. No one was there except for one of the new guys that I didn’t know the name of.

“Where is everyone?” I asked making myself a cup of coffee. The man looked up from the paper.
“The boss took everyone to a mob meeting. He said something about finishing old business. I was told to stay here with you,” he shrugged and looked back at the paper.

“Son of a…” I tossed my coffee cup into the sink not caring if it broke or not and ran to get in my car. I ignored the henchman yelling after me and I drove off.

“Where’s the stupid meeting?” I grumbled trying to remember what the blue print looked like. Surely the name had to be on the blueprint…

Aquage! Yes, it was an old water cleansing factory. I stayed on the highway looking for my next exit, but my cell phone ringing distracted me.

“Hello?”

“Why aren’t you at the base?” J growled from the other end.

“How would you even know if I was? You aren’t there,” I retorted and looked at the upcoming exit signs.

“Hank told me you ran out!” So Hank was that guy’s name.

“Yeah, well maybe you should include me in your stupid plans. You didn’t tell me the meeting was today!” I yelled back.

“You told me last night that you didn’t want to have any part in The Joker anymore. I thought that was clear enough!”

“I say a lot of stupid shit, Jack! But don’t just leave me out of everything! You could have a least woken me up before you left to say goodbye!” I screamed feeling my face turn red with anger. I don’t know why I was getting so worked up, but it felt like all my feelings were bursting forward.

“Don’t yell at me Nikki! I was just doing what you told me to!”

“I’ve had enough—“ I was cut off by another car slamming into the passenger side of my car. My car skidded into the concrete wall on the highway and pinned my door shut. All I felt was pain…

Blood dripped down from my forehead and I tried to wipe it away, but moving my arm hurt.

“NIKKI! NIKKI! WHAT HAPPENED?!” I could hear J yelling from the phone somewhere to my right. I looked around somewhat dazed and tried to reach for it. I winced feeling pain shoot up threw my arm, but I managed to grab my phone.

“J-Jack…”

“Nikki, what happened?!”

“Someone hit me. Ah, God that hurts… I don’t think anything is broken, but my door is pinned shut,” I mumbled looking around. From the corner of my eye, I saw someone get out of the car that hit me.

“Where are you?! I’m on my way!”

“Jack, it’s too late for that…” I whispered feeling like crying. The person that hit me walked slowly toward the passenger door.

“What’re you talking about? Where are you?!” J asked going into panic mode.

“Catwoman just got out of the car and George is with her…” I said softly. J was silent and then I heard him hitting or throwing things. I didn’t know which it was and it didn’t really matter.

“God dammit!” he yelled.

“Nikki, stay on the phone with me! What’re they doing?” he asked and I heard him start his car.

“They’re prying the passenger door off,” I said making eye contact with George. He grinned wickedly at me as Catwoman used her claws to cut the door off. She moved out of the way and let George sit beside me in the wrecked car. Our eyes never left each other.

“Jack, I’m really sorry that I yelled at you earlier…” I said my voice cracking somewhere in the middle. I couldn’t make out what Jack was saying, and George took the phone away from me slowly and listened to his son yell.

“Don’t worry Jacky boy, Nicole is in good hands.” He crushed the phone in his hand and let the broken pieces fall to the floor.

“Time to go,” he said smirking.

~*~

“Boss, what’s going on?!” Ruff yelled as The Joker floored the van. Ruff had never seen The Joker this mad. Sure, he got mad when Gordan took Nikki, but it wasn’t nearly as intense as it is now. This Joker scared him… a lot.

The Joker didn’t reply as he sped onto the highway. The mob meeting was long forgotten and all that he thought about was getting to Nikki before his dad did.

“Is that Nikki’s car?” Ruff asked pointing to a black Lexus off to the side of the road. There was a huge dent in the passenger side along with a missing door and the driver’s side was crushed into the wall.

The Joker hid the fear pooling in his gut and pulled the van over behind it.

“Look for anything that will tell us where Nikki is,” he told the men who were in the van with him. No one asked any questions did what they were told; Ruff and The Joker looked inside the car. The Joker noticed Nikki’s crushed cell phone in the floor board and her blood on the steering wheel.

“Boss…” The Joker looked over and saw Ruff holding an envelope.

“This was in the glove box,” he said handing it to the clown prince. The Joker tore it open and looked inside.

“Hickory dickory dock,

The mouse ran up the clock,

The clock struck 10,

The car blew up,

Hickory dickory dock.”

The Joker looked at the clocked and saw it was 2 minutes until 10.

“Get away from the car!” He grabbed Ruff harshly and yanked to take cover behind the van. The sound of the explosion caught most his men off guard, but none were wounded.

“What was that?!” Ruff yelled, but The Joker ignored him and kept reading the note left by George.

“What are you doing wasting time by a wrecked car when a present is waiting for you back at home?”

“Ruff, grab the guys. We have to get back to the base,” he growled and got into the driver’s seat in the van. He didn’t bother to check to see if all the men were accounted for before he drove away.

“Will you please explain what’s going on?” Ruff asked once they pulled up to the base and got out. The Joker stormed up to the front door and stared at the box that was taped shut.

“George took Nikki and this is a present from him…”