Body Count

"Well ... isn't that just ... precious."

Shane jerked awake from the first good sleep she'd had since leaving home, blinking through the thick darkness of the store room. The voice had come from the direction of the door. Turning her body slightly, her elbow resting on the hard concrete floor, she gazed at the small, blurry chink of light coming in from the hallway. Her mind still on the pleasant dream she'd been having, the gears in her head gummed up and turning reluctantly, she looked around for the culprit. The constant, smooth feeling of Daemyn's chest rising and falling pushed against her back, rocking her slightly. Evidently, the voice hadn't woken him up.

"Over here, Princess."

The voice was much closer now - almost right above her head, and there was an edge of menace to it. The word 'Princess' was uttered with such fury, such a dripping sense of resentment, she cringed.

"Oh, yes, thought you'd have a nice night with one of my misled clowns, hmm?" She squinted up at the source of the voice, trying hard to discern the vague outline of somebody leaning over her. The feeling of hot, heavy breathing hit her face. It smelled strongly of whiskey and rum. "Thought you could escape me?"

"No!" she said desperately. "That's not what I was trying to do!"

"There is no escape from this!" he continued, his voice quickly rising to the dangerous, rough pitch she feared so much. "This is everything, Shane! Everything to you! You don't have anything else! I am everything to you!"

One rough, violent hand gripped her collar and yanked her up. Just before she left the floor, she noticed that the breathing behind her had become more shallow, more constrained. But Daemyn remained silent. "Do you resent me?" The Joker growled in her ear, sending tremulous shivers down her spine.

"No," she said quietly, her fists clenched in a spasm of horror. "I don't resent you."

"Remember what I told you about liars ..." he said threateningly, his voice rising very slightly.

"I'm not lying." Her voice trembled a bit, but her face was set and calm. She was not lying.

A deep, growling sigh rumbled somewhere low in his throat. She could feel the vibration against her shoulder. And then, the telltale sound of his tongue sliding noisily along his lower lip reached her ears. The grip he had on her collar relaxed, but did not cease. "Which one?"

"Which ...?" she said, a lump rising in her throat.

"Clown." The tone of his voice worried her - it was still low, still rough, still menacing ... but the anger in it was no longer directed at her. She realized with a pang that he would now be staring over her shoulder, right down at Daemyn.

She hesitated. "I don't know his real name," she said truthfully.

Suddenly, painfully, her body was whipped around. She was now forced to stare straight down at Daemyn's unmoving figure, with a hand now clamped firmly on her upper right arm. The Joker knelt down, and Shane's knees bent obediently. They were now crouched down in front of the silent goon, The Joker's free hand grabbing her left elbow and pushing it forward.

"Take his mask off."

The lump in her throat now throbbing distressingly, her hands shaking with hardly suppressed fear, she reached forwards. Horrible images flashed one after the other through her mind, images of Daemyn being kicked and beaten by his fellow clowns, The Joker standing nearby, poised with a gun in hand and a cruel grin on his face. She choked.

"Come on ..." The Joker urged, nudging her arm forward.

Wishing she could do something more to help Daemyn, she reached forward and gently slipped the clown mask off of his face.

Daemyn was staring up at them, his eyes hard and staring, his face emotionless.

"Hmmm," said The Joker, his fingers tightening on her arm. "You."

Daemyn said nothing, but stared up at the two quietly, blinking from time to time.

"Shane," said The Boss, relinquishing his grip on her and shoving her away. "Get out."

"It wasn't his fault!" she said immediately, stumbling and landing at Daemyn's feet. "He didn't do anything!"

The Joker peered at her contentedly, puckering his lips somewhat, apparently thinking.

"It's my fault!" she went on, grasping the opportunity in his silence to speak further. "He didn't ask me to stay. I wanted to. It's my fault."

But he just laughed at her. "Oh, Shane! I don't blame you! No, no, no, you're innocent. He's the one ..." He took a hold of Daemyn's shirt sleeve now, shaking him roughly. "He's the one that's to blame."

"No!" she said, scrambling forward and placing herself defiantly between Daemyn and The Joker. "Don't hurt him ... I swear, it's my fault!"

"Do you want me to hit you, Princess?" He spoke in a tone of great interest, of awe, of derisiveness. "Do you?"

"No."

Shane and The Joker both turned towards Daemyn, who was now pushing himself fretfully into an upright position.

"Shut up -" Shane started, glaring at him, but The Joker interrupted her.

"No what, sir?" he said happily.

"She's lying." Shane made to speak out at this, but The Joker grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his chest. He placed a hand over her mouth. "I made her stay here. It's my fault, not hers, that she's here."

Shane was struggling wildly in The Joker's arms, but to no avail. He was well rested, but she was broken and battered.

"Really?"

"Yes. It's my fault." Daemyn repeated.

Shane was shouting now, her words muffled and distorted due to The Joker's hand. Her head whipped from side to side in frantic protest.

"Shane," said The Joker placidly. She stopped moving at once. "Sit over there, like a good little prisoner. Go on," He pushed her towards the wall. She crawled over, and turned so her back was to the brick wall. "And stay over there. I want you to watch this."

Tears began pouring down her dirty cheeks, but she couldn't see any way out of this. She watched as The Joker got slowly to his feet, stretching his limbs until several loud cracks echoed through the small space.

"Stand up!" he ordered the clown, jerking his head up towards the ceiling. Daemyn did so, slowly and laboriously. "Now ... for taking advantage of the little Princess over there ... I am going to hurt you."

With that, The Joker threw himself towards the swaying mass of flesh and broken bone that was Daemyn. His flying fist made resounding contact with his jaw, sending the goon flying into the wall. "Stay on your feet!" he said, dancing towards him and kicking him in the shin. "Come on. Come on." He kicked him over and over, making crunching contact with his ribs, his jaw, his back. "Get up."

Daemyn struggled silently to his feet, his lip bleeding anew, his face set in a mask of pain. He was taking his punishment quietly.

The Joker didn't seem to mind that his opponent was lying down and taking the beating. In fact, he appeared to quite enjoy himself. His fist shot forwards again, hitting Daemyn square in the forehead. And then his foot shot into his ribs. Another fist to the jaw. A fist to the temple. A foot to the spine. Anywhere he could reach, he was pummeling mercilessly.

"I'm not done yet!" he said, grabbing up a stray length of wood. He raised it above his head, and brought it swooping down onto Daemyn's head. It splintered when it hit his skull. And then The Joker kicked him again, with all his might, in the face. Blood spattered all over his shoe, all down Daemyn's shirt. Shane flinched with every pain-bringing blow The Joker paid him, tears falling from her glistening eyes.

"Come on, come on, come on ..." The Joker was muttering this to himself constantly, kicking and punching and growling. "Come on."

One particularly vicious blow to the ribs seemed to fell Daemyn for good. He went smashing into the floor, groaning and clutching his chest, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. Shane stared at him, her mouth agape, her eyes wide with fear.

"Does that hurt?" The Joker said calmly, kneeling down in front of Daemyn's shivering body. "Hmm? Does it?"

"Yes ..." he choked, blood spewing forth as the words left his mouth.

A chuckle rippled briefly from The Joker's throat, making Shane sure that he must be done now, but the laughter quickly died. "I'll show you real pain."

And he pulled a knife out of his jacket.

A sick feeling rose in Shane's gut, making her gag and sob. The knife glinted briefly in The Joker's firm grip before it was buried deep in Daemyn's leg.

A scream of pain echoed through the room, out the door, into the hallways. It battered Shane's ears. She put her hands over them, crying out in sympathy pains for Daemyn, shouts of pain escaping her lips almost simultaneously with his, as the knife was withdrawn and shoved into the other leg remorselessly.

Daemyn screamed.

Shane screamed.

The Joker laughed.

The knife appeared once more in the open air, gleaming dark ruby red and dripping thickly down his hand. He reversed his grip, so the blade was pointing down instead of up, and made an upward movement as though to prepare himself for the next blow.

"Stop!" Shane shouted, diving at The Joker and knocking the knife out of his hands. She was sure it wasn't her strength that allowed the weapon to fly from his hand, but more the fact that she had surprised him and his grip had slackened. "Stop hurting him!" she said, sobbing uncontrollably. Despite the tears running down her face, her face was screwed up with anger.

"Princess," he said, his voice heavy with astonishment. "I was only doing it for you."

She shook her head, which was pounding with a migraine. "I never said I wanted you to!" She was still on top of him, her knees on his thighs and her hands on his wrists to keep him away from that knife. She could hear Daemyn sobbing and groaning next to her.

"But ... Princess ..."

"But nothing!" she spat, seeing his confused expression and hating him more than she'd ever thought she could. "I don't believe you. I don't. I hate you."

Those last three words hung in the air, ringing in her ears, their meaning blazing in her eyes and boring into his. After a minute of stunned silence, he spoke.

"You hate me?" His brow was creased in confusion, and she could see pandemonium of several emotions behind his eyes. His grin was pulled down at the corners of his lips. "You can't. You're lying." There was something small and accusatory in his voice, which was drowned out by the desperation in it.

"I wouldn't lie to you," she said evenly.

His mouth opened in silent disbelief. He shook his head from side to side.

All of a sudden, Shane was on her feet. The Joker jumped to his, glancing down at Daemyn. "Come with me ..." He grabbed Shane's shoulder and dragged her into the empty hallway.

"You're just going to leave him there?" she asked incredulously.

"No ... I'll send someone in later. But listen!" He took a hold of both of her shoulders, staring her straight in the eye. "Do you really hate me?"

"I told you, I would never lie to you." Her eyes were shining with determined hostility.

"But ..." He ran his fingers through his unkempt hair, searching her face for some flaw, some sign of dishonesty. "I thought ..."

Having never seen The Joker in such a state of vulnerability, Shane remained silently interested.

"I thought ... you ..." The words on the tip of his tongue seemed to have to fight their way out of his mouth, and indeed, his eyes were shut tight and his teeth were clenched firmly together when he said, "I thought you loved me."

After a moment of silence between them, Shane sighed.

"There's a fine line between love and hate. You just crossed it."