Stitched Together

Chapter Nine
I Warned You

Doll glared at the officers around her from her position on the floor of her cell. She shared the cell with two male, low profile criminals. She felt insulted by this. She wondered if any of these cops understood who she was. All they saw was a scrawny little girl. She was beyond that. They needed to understand that she was much more than that. She was starting to get tired of playing the nice little prisoner.

She wasn't sure how many days passed as she set there. Her butt was numb from the cold floor but she refused to move. The men inside of her glanced at her every now and then. She glared back until they turned away. She leaned her head back on the cold metal bars behind her as she listened to Harvey Dent's press conference on the TV. She smiled when she heard him say to take The Batman in to custody. She was surprised when he admitted to being The Batman. She turned her head to the TV to see him being cuffed and lead out of the building.

“Gotham really is falling apart.” Doll muttered to herself as she turned her head back around. She missed Gotham and she was done playing nice. These officers needed to start treating her how Gordon did. Gordon knew what she was capable of first handed.

Doll opened her eyes at the noise around her got louder. Everyone seemed happy but on edge.

“Stand away all of you!” An overly familiar voice shouted. “I don't want anything for his mob lawyer to use. Do you understand?” Doll glanced over to the front entry way of the police department to see a very alive Jim Gordon. Turning to glace at the cell beside her she was a tad surprise when she saw no other then The Joker himself. He was sitting there with his trademark face paint and his custom made suit missing only his purple trench coat and gloves. He looked perfectly calm as he stared forward with his hands resting on his knees. She watched as he clapped when Mayor Garcia announced that Gordon would be the new commissioner.

Things calmed down a little after that. Gordon went home by order of the mayor and Doll continued to set a few feet from the man she wasn't quite sure how she felt about. One side of her wanted to just kill him because he was messing with her city. However another side of her wanted to keep him alive on the sole reason that he seemed to think like she did. Never had she met another person like her. Still he needed to learn that Gotham was hers and she didn't like to share. She glared as an officer pushed another prisoner into her already shared cell. The man stared at her with a look that made her wish she had knife to throw at him.

“Wow, I never knew getting locked up could be so good.” Said the new man as soon as the officer walked away. He was looking over Doll hungrily. “What's your name, baby?” He asked with a smirk. She assumed he was a nobody; probably in for hurting weak girls. He was in for a nasty surprise.

“If you step any closer to me I'm going to make sure you never have children. In your case I think that would be beneficial.” Doll warned with a smirk. She lazily stared up at him. He actually laughed at her.

“You think your real funny don't ya?” He asked taking a step closer to her. He was just a foot away from her. He stared down at her. When she looked up at him his eyes roomed over the scars on her face. Doll smirked at him.

“And you think your real smart don't ya?” Doll mocked him. His fist clenched as he moved in closer to her. Doll shrugged. “Well, I warned you.” She said before kicking him right in between the legs. He gasped and grasped his manhood and Doll actually saw tears in his eyes.

“What the hell?” He wheezed out followed by a string of curse words.

“I warned you.” She said with a shrug of her shoulders. She stared at him as he crouched on the floor in pain. A minute later an officer came to check what all the noise was about. The officer first glanced at The Joker who was sitting in the same position but was now staring at Doll, then the officer turned to Doll and the man on the floor.

“What the hell did you do to him?” The officer asked her.

“I kicked where the sun doesn’t shine...well it defiantly doesn't shine there anymore.” She answered with a giggle.

“I thought you told Gordon you were going to behave?” The officer asked her. Obviously he had heard the deal she had made with Gordon.

“That deal was broken when your little friends cuffed me and locked me up in her with Curly, Larry, and Moe.” She told him nodding her head over to the man on the floor and the two other men she shared the cell with.

“Just stay quiet and don't cause any more trouble.” The officer warned her before walking away. Doll smirked as she watched him walk over to the other officers who were supposed to be watching them.

“You got a mean kick for a little girl.” A nasally voice said from behind her. The Joker had finally spoken up.

“Oh, I much more than a little girl.” Doll said staring up at the ceiling.

“You uh got a name?” He asked her.

“It's Doll.” She said as she finally turned her face to look at him through the bars. She saw his eyes widening just a tad in surprise when he finally got to look at her. His head tilted slightly as his eyes took in the scars that covered her face. She watched him as his tongue traced his own scars. “See something you like?” She asked as her fingers traced the scars around her mouth.

“I've heard of you.” He told her.

“Good for you, then you know this is my city and you're just number two.” She told before turning back around to ignore him.

“Well, she's a feisty one.” He muttered to himself.

The Joker stared at her back as she turned away from him. He had heard some of his men and the mob speak about Doll. Apparently this little girl could do much more then she looked like she could. The Joker was interested in seeing what she really was capable. He hoped the stories were all true. If they were this girl was a complete chaos maker. She knew how to have fun.

It was only a couple of hours later that a swarm of officers took The Joker away. She watched as they lead him to the familiar hallway that the interrogation rooms were in. She guessed that it was time for him to talk. Twenty minutes later she saw Gordon walk back in to the station.

“Back so soon Commissioner?” Doll called from her place on the floor. Gordon turned around at her question. His eyebrows rose when he saw her in the holding cell.

“What are you doing in there?” He asked confused.

“Your buddies didn't honor our deal. They didn't want to give me any special privileges.” Doll explained to him. “I never did get to meet The Batman.” She reminded him. Gordon gave a tired sigh. He didn't answer her, he just walked away. He had more important issue to address.

“Have fun!” She called out to him.

It wasn't much longer when she saw Gordon followed by several other officers run quickly out the door. Apparently whatever The Joker had told them it had ended badly for them. She clenched her teeth together when a man a few cells down from her started to complain loudly about chest pains. The officers finally opened the cell when the man collapsed on the floor. Quickly two paramedics started checking him over. From where she was sitting she could see a long scar running down the man’s chest. A moment later Doll heard ringing coming from the man’s chest. She stood up for the first time since she had been locked up. She glanced around the station knowingly. She moved as from away from the man as she could in her cell and took cover. Then the explosion happened. Doll giggled in spite of herself. She could feel her pulse pumping in excitement. Her insides were tingling with anticipation.

When the room settled Doll noticed The Joker and a Chinese man she didn't recognize. The man walked in front of him as The Joker pointed a gun at his back. He stopped when they reached Doll's cell. He pushed his hostage to the cell door as he peered down at her.

“Well hello again beautiful.” He told her as his tongue came out to lick his lips.

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” She told him as her blue gaze met his dark brown ones. He gave her a curious look before he stepped closer. He jingled a ring of keys so she could see them.

“You want some help getting out of this place?” He asked. She didn't have to answer because he stuck one of the keys in the lock and she heard it open. He stepped back as he opened the cell door. Doll stood up and walked out. She smiled. She was free. She gazed up at The Joker and gave him a questioning look.

“It would have been such a shame to leave you just locked up in there.” The Joker told her with a loud laugh as he shrugged.

“If you say so,” Doll told him. She started walking for the exit, leaving him behind. She turned around briefly and gave him a small bow. “Be seeing you around Joker.” She told him before she pushed opened the doors and made her way into the streets of Gotham.

A few days later Doll laughed until her sides her hurt when she saw the front page of the newspaper. Gotham had changed in those past few days. First The Joker was caught by The Batman and was strung upside down from a building for the SWAT to cut down. Second the citizens of Gotham now believed that Batman had murdered Harvey Dent as well as a few officers. What the citizens of Gotham didn't know was that it was actually their White Knight that murdered all the officers. Batman just took the blame for it. Doll couldn't control her giggles as she read the paper. The Joker was tucked away in Arkham somewhere. Doctor Rains was probably giving him the same treatment as she got or he would be soon.

Doll had settled back in to 'the house' with new henchman working for her. It wasn't hard to find corrupt people who wanted money in Gotham, the Narrows was crawling with them. She laid on the table in her room that served as a bedroom and an office. The walls were covered in newspaper clippings and knifes she had thrown and never retrieved. Doll stared at the ceiling as her head swam with new ideas for Gotham. Her finger tapped on the table top as they rested at her sides. The sound of them hitting the metal was soothing to her.

A knock on her door brought her out of her daze. “Um, hey boss I have your clothes.” Said one of her new recruits from the other side of the door. She smiled. She would finally have some better clothes. For three days she wore a pair of black pants with a maroon button down dress shirt. It was better than her Arkham uniform but it just wasn't the same. Finally she would have her custom made clothing back. It would make everything back to normal.

Doll opened the door to find the henchman who she believed his name to be Ronny or Tommy. She was sure it was something like that. He stood there holding a cardboard box in front of him. He snapped to attention when the door opened. She stared at him for a moment. The man reminded her of Tanner. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. Tanner was loyal but sometimes she really did enjoy killing her employees. Ronny or Tommy always studied her. From day one he started learning how to live with her successfully. She wondered if he would last as long as Tanner did. She let out a giggle when she thought of Tanner rotting away in a prison cell somewhere. She bet he wished now he hadn't been so loyal.

“It's about time. Did you pay the guy?” Doll asked him.

“Yes boss,” he answered quickly with a nod of his head. She took the box from him, she opened it and looked through the articles folded neatly inside to make sure everything was there. With a nod of approval she stared back at the man in front of her.

“Did you need anything else?” He asked her.

“No,” she answered before promptly turning around and walked back into her room then shut the door in his face.

She laid the box on the table she was recently laying on. Taking out the clothing she studied it carefully. It looked just like her old ones but a lot cleaner. A black ruffled skirt, a shirt that copied a tux like design with a bow-tie, maroon tights, and a new pair of shoes were tucked inside the box. She quickly removed the clothes she was wearing and tossed them randomly in a corner of her room. She sighed when she finished tying the laces on her shoes.

She walked down the stairs to find all of henchman watching television. She rolled her eyes, it was so typical. It was so boring. The only time Doll watched television was when she knew she was going to be mentioned.

“Hello, boys.” Doll greeted them with a large smile on her scared face. The boys snapped to attention quickly. “Now, first we need supplies and then I feel like Gotham citizens are to... comfortable. They think they’re so safe. Well, I want to show them that they still need to be afraid.” Doll explained to them.

“We going to go get money boss?” Asked one of them. She nodded briefly in his direction.

“We going to rob a bank?” Asked another.

“That's generally how I get my money.” She answered him with a warning tone.

“I heard about your last bank job.” The same man told her. Doll raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to go on. “You screwed up and the cops showed up. All the men got caught and put in prison for life. You went to the loony bin.”

“I see you did your homework.” Doll said in a low threatening voice. She walked up to where he sat. When she got closer he stood up from the couch and faced her.

“How do we know you’re not going to do the same thing to us?” The guy questioned her.

Doll leaned into him, her mouth right beside his ear. “You don't, but luckily for you, you won't have to worry about getting screwed over.” She said before standing back away from him.

“What are you talking about you crazy bitch!” He said angrily. She heard the men around him suck in their breath. The four other men knew what was about to happen. They were glad it wasn't them.

“I'm not crazy. I worked out my issues a long time ago.” She smiled at him before she pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and shot him once right between his eyes. He fell to the ground at her feet as she laughed and held her stomach.

“Any more questions?” She asked. Her answer was silence. “Good, someone clean up this mess. Be ready to go make some money tomorrow.” She told them before heading back to her room. Once she left, the four men let out the breath they had been holding and went to get rid of the dead man.

“Gordon?” An officer said getting the man behind the desk attention. Commissioner Gordon looked up at his name.

“What is it?” He asked as he rubbed his face tiredly.

“We just got a call about a bank robbery. Five people were killed at the scene.” He told him.

“You mean it already happened? Why didn't we get the call sooner?” Gordon questioned as he stood up from his desk and started out of his office.

“Gordon, it was Doll.” He informed him. Gordon sighed. He knew this would happen sooner or later. Doll had escaped the same night along with The Joker and Lau. He assumed The Joker had assisted in her escape. Gotham was in for a rude awakening. Just when the thought they were safe, Doll steps back on to her playground as she had called it. He hoped that even though Batman was seen as the villain now that Gordon could still count on him to help put Doll behind bars again.

Doll giggled as she looked at the money that was piled inside the house. She personally didn't care much about money but it was needed on some occasions. She did realize she couldn't kill everyone. Gun dealers were handy to keep alive and she had made some connections with other people who got her other supplies she needed.

Doll applied a fresh coat of paint to her scars as she stared in the old, dusty mirror that hung on the wall in her room. Straightening her shirt until she was satisfied and made her way downstairs where her men were waiting.

“Let's go! We don't want to keep the rich people waiting.” She smiled.

Tonight they were crashing the recently rebuilt Wayne Manor and Doll couldn’t wait. There was a party being thrown in honor of it.

'Rich people,' Doll scoffed to herself. 'They just look for any reason to show themselves off.'

When they arrived the man that stood in front of the door looked shocked and scared. Doll smiled dangerously at him.

“I don't think I'm on the list.” Doll told with a shake of her head. Her blonde hair swung behind her. “But I don't think anyone will mind.” She said before shooting him in the chest. She walked on the man's body as she stepped inside the mansion. She banged open the doors to the ball room and her men followed behind her holding their guns in warning to the party goers.

“Well hello Gotham's finest.” She greeted the shocked and terrified guests. She made her way closer to them. She smiled as they backed away from her as she moved closer. “Now don't be like that, I just want to join in on the fun.” She told them as she laughed loudly. She saw a blonde haired woman close to her jump at the sound.

“Well, well aren't you just so lovely.” She said as she stepped up to the woman. She walked around the lady and studied her. The lady flinched away when Doll would get to close. It made Doll giggle.

The woman looked to be in her early forties and probably never worked a day in her life. Doll was sure her husband was in the crowd somewhere, must likely cowering in fear. Doll let out another fit of giggles. The woman shrunk back as Doll leaned in closer. She just loved how uncomfortable she could make people by just her presence.

“What do you want?” The woman whispered her eyes wide. Doll titled her head as her blue eye continued to stare at her.

“What do I want?” Doll giggled. She pretends to think about it as she took a step back from the lady. “Well,” She began as she took a switchblade from her coat pocket. She heard the woman take in a breath. “What I want,” She said and before anyone could move she had the woman in her grip, the blade pressed against her neck. “What I want is to play with The Batman and you see that seems to be a lot to ask for.” She whispered angrily in the woman’s ear. “You see you citizens drove him away before I got to play with him.” She said to the room as she pressed the blade harder to the woman’s throat. She saw a drop of blood trail down her neck. The lady whimpered and Doll could feel her body shake against her. Doll touched her finger in the trail of blood and brought her finger to the woman's cheek. She rubbed her finger down it leaving a blood trail that looked like a red tear streak. The woman whimpered pitifully the entire time.

Doll let the woman go and watched in satisfaction as the lady crumbled to the ground, tears streaming down her face mixing with the trail of blood Doll had drawn. Doll shook away the memory that crawled into her brain of Allison's mother. The lady looked almost identical to her. She even begged and cried just the same. Doll ignored the memory and forced back her attention back on the room of terrified people.

“Now, I know Batman just couldn't let all of you fine citizens die.” She rolled her eyes to look at the ceiling for a moment then back down to look at the guests. “Or you should hope so. If he doesn’t show in the next five minutes I'm going to make Wayne have to build another mansion. Good things he's rich.” Doll told them with a laugh as she walked around to stare at the party goers. Luckily for them Batman did show up and just in time. Doll was beginning to get impatient.

“You wanted me. Here I am.” The gruff voice that could only belong to Batman said. Doll turned around to face him a large grin spreading across her face and her blue eyes blazing. She was almost jumping for joy in her spot as she stared at him.

“I've waited so long for you dear. The only question I have is, can Batman hit a woman?” Doll said before she struck. She kicked him making him loose his balance but only for minute.

“You're just another criminal.” He said gruffly before throwing a punch at her. It sent her to the floor but she didn't show any pain. She stared up at him laughing as blood flowed from her now busted lip.

“According to the news you’re know better than I am!” She laughed. Batman was soon surrounded by fighting henchman. Doll watched as he punched his way through her men. She wasn't worried. Batman wouldn't let any innocent people die no matter what they thought of him. When all the men were knocked out Batman turned to focus on Doll.

“You're good.” She commented to him with a derange smile It was a second later though that she went in for her own attack. She kicked him again and the pulled out her trusty switchblade. “Good thing I'm better.”

Batman recovered from her blow quickly and they stared each other down. Doll looked down at her wrist pretending to look at a wristwatch that wasn't there.

“Now, now Batman as much as I enjoyed our little play date, I think its about past our bedtime.” She told him taping her wrist. “You see I left a present before I announced my arrival. It's a really explosive surprise if you get what I mean.” She said and to add to her point she pulled a detonator out of her pocket.

“Give me the detonator.” He said in his gruff voice.

“What's the fun in that?” Doll pouted before pulling out her semi-automatic pistol and pointed at the same woman she had held a knife to only a few minutes ago. “Step any closer and the lady gets her brains smeared all over the floor.” She warned him.

“You’re nothing but a coward who hides behind makeup and a gun.” He told her.

“Who's really hiding here? I'm not the one dressing up as a bat at night and playing citizen by day. I know exactly who I am... do you?” She mocked him as she squared her shoulders the gun still pointed at the woman. He moved closer to her and she fired her gun at the lady. She screamed as the bullet went into her shoulder. “Next time I aim at her head.” Doll warned him. She walked over to the woman who was grasping her bleeding shoulder. Doll pulled her up from the floor. No one moved or said a word. Doll walked backwards towards the front entrance with the lady in front of her.

“Nice playing with you Batman!” She called as she kicked open the doors behind her. She shoved the lady away from her and left as quickly as she came in. When Batman ran after her she was nowhere to be found. He found the detonator laying on the front steps with a note attached in large curvy writing.

It was fun playing with you.
I hope to see you real soon.
Tell Gordon I said hi.
Doll