Straying out of Sanity

For the half hour it took to get to…wherever we were driving Mitch and I chatted quietly with our new 'friends', Jared, Paige and Hunter. About half of it was making fun of me for my little accident with the gun and the rest was mostly bored rambling.

We quieted as the back doors suddenly opened and we realized the van had stopped. But it wasn't The Joker or the guy from before that was driving. It was some completely new guy.

"Get out," he demanded and Hunter, nor the other two, seemed alarmed by his presence so Mitch and I ignored the randomness of the situation and followed the three out of the van.

The man slammed the doors once I was out and led us around to the front of the van where the guy driving, The Joker, and four new guys stood. The guy with absolutely no manners at all, along with Paige, Hunter and Jared joined the group while Mitch and I stayed a few feet away.

"I think you're gonna want to take this back," I heard Mitch whisper and I looked down to see the gun I had gave him in the van.

"Mitch, I'm gonna kill somebody with that thing, I have no idea how to use that."

"I think that's the point. Why else would Joker give this to you?" Mitch asked me and I looked up at him to see he was dead serious. I started to shake my head no in disbelief but Mitch thrust the gun into my hands and said, "Take it, if not for them or you, for me."

Sure I had no problem with carrying the gun with me but I sure as hell wasn't going to use it.

"Yo, dude, come on," one of the new guys said and both Mitch and myself looked over at the group.

"Jill, go with Hunter," the Joker said as he stepped into a trash bag. I raised an eyebrow at him as he did so and Mitch made his way over to them.

Hunter and one of the random new guys separated themselves from the group and I made my way over to them from my spot by the van. Hunter grabbed my arm, as soon as I was within reach, pulled me closer to him and said, "Whatever happens stay close to me," stressing the last part.

"Why?" I asked him.

"Because if anything happens to you I'm dead," he told me seriously and I furrowed my brows.

"Yeah, is there like… something between you two?" the random guy asked, messing with his gun as the three of us started off down the street.

"Between who?" I asked him.

"You and the Joker!" He said like I was stupid.

"No! Why would there be?" I asked him, trying to keep my voice down.

"He sure as hell doesn't want anything happening to you; he made that clear with Hunter when you were over with your boyfriend," the guy said.

"What…? Oh! No, Mitch isn't my boyfriend!" I told him and wrinkled my nose, "He's more like my brother if anything."

"Oh," the guy said and then smiled, "Well then in that case I'm Leo, it's a pleasure to meet you," the guy said, outstretching one of his hands.

I was a bit hesitant, and for good reason too, because as soon as I took his hand he leaned down and kissed mine. I immediately turned to Hunter, silently asking for help and he quickly came to my aide. "Whoa, whoa, dude, dude," he said as he made his way to the other side of me, between myself and Leo. "I got this," he then smirked. Well...he came to my aide for about two seconds. I buried my face in my hands as I sighed over the situation.

"We're just kidding Emma, relax," Hunter laughed and I half glared over at him.

"Emma? I thought your name was Jill?" Leo asked, now confused.

"Joker calls me Jill, I don't really know why because he didn't know my middle name was Jillian until I pretty much told him last night," I said.

"So he just decided to call you Jill?" Leo asked.

"I guess- What are we doing?" I asked suddenly as the guys tried to lead me down a dark back alley, especially when we were in one of the less, ahem, 'reputable' parts of Gotham.

"We're going to the back entrance to wait for the other guys to get in so we can follow them in once its clear and make sure nobody interferes with the uh...'meeting'," Hunter smiled at me as we started walking again. "Oh and Joker wanted you to have this," he added and handed me a switchblade, which I instantly recognized as my own that I had lost a few days ago in that fight with the thugs.

"How did...?" I started to ask, observing the knife with awe and confusion.

"How did what?" Hunter asked me.

"Never mind," I decided and tucked the knife into the hem of my capris, since I wasn't wearing my usual skirt and garter belt.

Following Leo and hunter into the shadows, we waited for a few minutes before Mitch came along with the rest of the new guys, carrying a garbage bag, as they came to a door five or so feet away from us and knocked.

The door was opened a few moments later and blocked out whoever had answered from my view. A few words were exchanged briefly and then one of the new men pulled a part of the trash bag away, revealing The Joker's 'lifeless' face. I raised my eyebrow at the situation and turned to look at Hunter and give him a questioning look. He didn't notice, however, because he was fully absorbed in watching the men.

They were rushed in and as the door was closing Hunter quickly moved to catch it. He barely got there in time and let it close almost fully, with the handle turned all the way so it wouldn't lock on us. He put a finger over his lips and then motioned Leo and I over.

We did so quickly as he reopened the door slowly to peek inside. He then opened it enough so we could all slip into the deserted hall unnoticed. He made the door shut slowly so it wouldn't make any sound that could give us away.

Once the door closed he quickly made his way right, grabbing my arm and keeping me close to him, in between Leo and himself. We stopped at an intersecting hall where loud music was pouring from. He checked around the corner quickly before pulling me down it a few feet and then left onto a stairwell leading up. At the end of the hall I could see two huge bouncers and realized the music was from a dance floor and we were at some sort of night club.

Up the stairs we came to another hallway that intersected another, like before, and Hunter let go of my arm and pulled out his gun. Leo did the same and I was wondering if I should too but then remembered I told myself I wasn't going to use the gun. Plus I had my knife and I was at least evenly matched with any of these guys that had a gun... I think.

I felt for my switchblade in the hem of my capris, but decided to keep it there because I'd rather have Leo and Hunter do all of the work. I was also refraining from asking why they had pulled out their guns because there seemed to be no reason for them.

Until I heard the voices. People were coming at us but I couldn't tell from where. And it seemed like they were oblivious to our presence.

Hunter looked back to Leo and I and motioned us towards him as he leaned towards us. He spoke to us so quietly I could barely hear half the syllables he was pronouncing, "It'd be better if we didn't fire our guns. If we can get across the hallway we should be fine." And I had a bad feeling that whoever those voices belonged to were coming down the intersecting hall.

Hunter moved back from us and glanced back down the hall. He made a quick jerky movement out of… whoever's sight before glancing back again. This time, instead of pulling back, he darted across the hall, extremely quietly, and to the shelter of the other side.

Leo then moved in front of me, "We'll call you over when it's clear," he whispered in my ear as he did, and then checked down the hall as Hunter did. He didn't duck back like Hunter though, and he darted across too.

The voices were steadily growing louder, three of them to be exact.

Hunter leaned out into the hallway to check for me and then pulled himself back; I could barely hear the, "Shit," that left his lips, as he glared at Leo.

"What was that?" One of the voices asked suddenly, obviously hearing Hunter's obscenity too.

Hunter quickly whipped his head around, noticing he had been heard too, and then looked at me. I exhaled deeply, realizing we had just fucked up, as Hunter started motioning me backwards. Leo was already halfway down the hall that they were in as Hunter started frantically mouthing something to me.

"What?" I asked but barely heard the question myself.

He kept frantically motioning for me to go back so I took a few steps back, towards the stairs. But I still didn't know what he was trying to tell me. He was just opening and closing his mouth like a maniac as he too started backing up in his hallway, the way Leo had gone.

I had reached the top of the stairs now, still confused at what he was trying to say. The three men were very close now, and I unmistakably heard the cocking of guns.

"Jesus mother fucking Christ! Hide!" Hunter yelled at me and bolted down the hall after Leo. The three men started to obviously run, as their footsteps had picked up dramatically, as they shouted things like, "Down there!" and "Shit someone's got in!"

None of this meant anything to me and all I really cared about was not being found at the moment so I scrambled back down the top half of the stairs and stopped once I reached the landing in the middle where the stairs turned around and led down to the hallway below. I stood where I could barely see the place I was standing before, and quickly ducked out of sight when a man appeared and checked the top half of the staircase. I could then hear his footsteps carry on and I moved back to see he had gone. I made my way back to the second floor, keeping my left hand on the handle of my switchblade, and checked out into the hall. It was deserted by this time and I quickly made my way across to where Hunter and Leo were supposedly heading.

I had no idea where they had gone but I felt that I really needed to find them because I obviously had no idea what I was even doing here, let alone anyone else. I mean making sure nobody interferes with the 'meeting' could mean a lot of different shit. Throw The Joker into the mix and all those possibilities become very bad. I felt my heart lunge into my throat due to my thoughts and I quickened my pace down the hallway, checking into different rooms as discreetly as I could when I passed them, trying to find Hunter and Leo.

"Well, hello there," I heard a man say as I reached a tee in the halls.