BD: Music

Batman Drabbles

A collection of stories that were too short to call one-shots.

----------------
I do not own any of the characters. They belong to DC Comics. This was written purely for fun.
----------------

Music

   'We needed the car. We needed the car,' Jonathan Crane kept telling himself. That didn't stop him from tightening his death-grip on the steering wheel of the vehicle he and Jervis had stolen to escape from Gotham.

   It wasn't until they had passed the city limits that Crane noticed the fuzzy pink dice hanging from the rearview mirror. He continued to glare back and forth from the open country road to the obnoxious dice, his irritation going up a notch each time he did so.
   
   His eyes shot to Jervis.

   The Mad Hatter, out of costume for the sake of not being recognized, was staring out the passenger window at the beginnings of the sunrise on the countryside. His eyes drifted to the mirror from time to time to check if the police were on their tail before settling back on the horizon.

   Jonathan's eyes began to move back to the road, but not before they locked on the fuzzy dice again. With an aggravated growl, he ripped the dice from the rearview mirror and threw it deeper into the car.

   Jervis had glanced over at the Scarecrow when he had made a noise, breaking the silence in the car. Both men sat staring out the windshield for several moments, one bored and the other ready to snap. Despite his eyes being locked on the road, Jonathan could tell Jervis was glancing over at him, then back to the road, and then back to him again.

   "What?" Crane finally snapped, his eyes shooting over to the blonde man.

   Jervis looked over at him again. "Would it distract you if I turned on the radio?" he asked.

   Jonathan glared over at him. "No, you may not turn on the radio." When Jervis gave him a questioning eye, he gestured violently at the broken radio antenna beyond the windshield. "Do you not remember the cops shooting at us?! They took off the radio antenna!" He turned to scowl at the open road before them.

   Jervis sat silently for a moment, his blue eyes on what was left of the antenna, before he broke into a grin. "Well," he reached over Jonathan and pulled out the collection of CDs in the visor, "let's see what the fine young miss listens to."

   He heard Jonathan grumble something under his breath, but decided to ignore it. "It's going to be a long ride, Jonathan. Anything would be better than silence."

   "Are you afraid of silence?" Jonathan asked in a low voice, shooting the Mad Hatter a devious eye and a wicked grin.

   Jervis rolled his eyes and began to look through the CDs. He flipped past quite a number of them before he spoke again. "Well, I could be wrong..."

   "What?"

   "This girl's taste in music is ridiculous," Jervis remarked with a huff as he continued looking through the collection. "The static from that broken radio would be more preferable than this stuff and nonsense."

   Jonathan risked a look over at the disk Jervis was currently looking at. He made a face when he saw the group of young males supposedly making "seductive" faces. His eyes darted back to the road.

   Jervis held the disk up for Jonathan to see more clearly. "Would you like to listen to love-sick teenage pop?" he asked politely.

   "Whose idea was it to steal this car?" Jonathan growled.

   "Hey, the cops and the Bat were after us. We didn't exactly have time to browse," Jervis said as he kept looking through the disks. "Besides, this was the first car that was unlocked."

   "And the windows were down," Jonathan pointed out.

   Jervis looked up. "You'd think parents would teach their kids better, living in Gotham..."

   Silence filled the vehicle again. Jonathan was silently cursing the owner of the vehicle when a "hmm" sounded from the Englishman in the passenger seat.

   Jervis showed the driver the CD. It was a plain silver disk with the exception of a frown-y face drawn in permanent marker scrawled across the front. "I can safely say my curiosity is piqued."

   Jonathan looked from the CD to Jervis, a skeptical and somewhat nervous look on his face. Still, he couldn't deny that he was curious too.

   Since there was no objection, Jervis cautiously put the disk into the player. They both tensed, unsure if they wanted to hear whatever was about to be poured out of the car's speakers.

   Both men jumped slightly when an electric guitar backed by a heavy drum beat blasted through the car, the volume remarkably high. Jervis searched for the volume button as the introduction to the song loudly continued.

   His search ended abruptly when a male voice began to sing in the most nasally and whiny of voices. Jervis instantly began laughing madly.

   With the Hatter otherwise occupied, Jonathan fumbled to eject the disk before his ears began to bleed. The atrocious singing finally came to a stop as Crane ripped the disk away from the player. Jervis continued to cackle in his seat as Jonathan rolled down the window. He flung the disk from the speeding car.

   "Oh dear..." Jervis finally said between fits of giggling. He glanced over at Jonathan. "I think that must have been her "angry CD"."

   Jonathan shot Jervis a glare, which made him start giggling again.

   Jervis managed to stifle his laughter. "I vote for silence," he said at long last.

   "I vote we burn this abomination of a vehicle the first chance we get," Jonathan declared.

   Jervis chuckled. "I think that's the only appropriate thing we can do with this beastly car," he agreed.

........................................................................................................................

   Reports of a car fire reached Gotham that night after the local police force of a neighboring town was able to match the vehicle to the description of a stolen car from the city. The firefighters weren't able to stop the rabid flames in time. All that was left of the car was a charred metal shell.