"Did you hear?" Katherine Wilkens whispered as she sat down beside her best friend from university. Startling the blonde, Katherine reached over and grabbed the novel that was occupying her friend's attention. "The Joker is here! In Arkham!"
"The Joker?" Harleen Quinzel pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and starred at Katherine. "Wow, that must be what all the buzz is about." Harleen glanced around the lunch room as people we caught up in hushed, excited whispers. "When did he arrive? I haven't heard anything about it?"
Katherine grinned. "Last night." She reached into her lunch bag and pulled out an apple. "They're all waiting to see who Dr. Arkham will assign to his case." She wiggled her eyebrows at her friend. "Keep your fingers crossed for me, Harls." When Harleen rolled her eyes, Katherine let out a laugh. "What, like you wouldn't want to pick that green brain of his?"
"He's just….intense." A small shiver ran up Harleen's back. "Doesn't that worry you?" Before Katherine could respond, Harleen continued, "Plus, Dr. Arkham will proably cover it himself. It's an amazing opportunity that anyone would be a fool to pass up."
"Are you calling yourself a fool Harleen?" Katherine took a bite of her apple, allowing her red lips stick to smudge against it. "If Dr. Arkham came in here and asked you to follow The Joker's case – would you pass it up?"
Harleen heisted. "I'm..not sure." She reached over and grabbed her novel back. "I mean, he's definitely interesting, but I heard horror stories about what happened to his old doctors. I don't want my career to be destroyed this early. Hell, we're just starting off Katherine." Sighing, Harleen leaned back in the seat as the lunch room started to clear out. "Did you get a glimpse of him?"
Slowly, an ear splitting grin came across Katherine's face. "Only the green hair! He had like, a million guards around him." Katherine stood. "What a girl would do to pick his brain for a little bit."
"I'm sure he would just love that." Harleen laughed softly and followed Katherine. "If anyone could handle The Joker, it would be you. Toughest bitch I know." She teased, bumping shoulders with her friend.
"You watch, Harleen Quinzel. Dr. Arkham will let me work on The Joker's case, and thanks to his beautiful, psychotic mind – I'll be able to publish my first novel; The Laughing Joke: The Man vs The Clown."
"Catchy title." Harleen opened the lunch room door wide for her friend to pass through. "I'd buy it."
The common area was full of activity, for once. The news of The Joker created excitement with the other patients. Harleen was asked to help supervise the area as well as a few other members who were new to the team.
Harleen noticed one of her patients sitting off to the side at a table all by himself. He sat in his straight jacket, like Harleen usually saw him in. Today, he sat near the back, his eyes frantically searching the room.
"Toby?" she asked softly, approaching the young man.
The young man's eyes wandered until they rested on the blonde in front of him. A goofy grin crossed his face. "Doctor Quinzel!" he said happily, "I missed you!"
Harleen returned the smile. "It's nice to see you too, Toby." She sat down at the table across from the man who shifted uneasily in his seat, as if he only now noticed that his arms have been restricted. Harleen placed a hand on the table, catching his attention again. "I was told that you refused to take your medication today, why is that?"
"I can't, Doc. Makes my head all fuzzy." Toby looked around the common area at the other patients, his eye searching for someone. "I can't be fuzzy now."
"Why?" Harleen glanced around the common area quickly before returning her attention back to the man in front of her.
"Boss is here; I need to be in tip top shape." He whispered before he started to nod his head up and down, repeatedly. "Tip top, tip top, tip top." His body began to follow the motion of his nodding head.
Toby was a difficult case. Hardly any background information, his brain fried to the point where he had difficulty remembering his sessions the next day. But he liked Dr. Quinzel, her blonde hair reminded him up daisy's, and daisy's reminded Toby of summertime. Dr. Quinzel was warm sunshine in a place that was so cold.
"Toby." Harleen spoke, trying to regain his attention. "Who's your boss? Doctor Arkham?"
The laughter that came from the young man startled Harleen, who jumped back, pulling her hand off the table. "I like you Doc, you always make me laugh." He grinned at the young woman, learning forward, curiosity dancing in his eyes. "I hope he likes you too, so that you can stay."
Harleen began to feel uncomfortable, "Please Toby, just take your medication, ok?" and she stood, putting her hands into the pocket of her lab coat.
"Okie dokie Doctor Quinzel!" and he began to hum a small tune.
"You asked Dr. Arkham if you could follow The Joker's case?" Harleen stood in the doorway of the office, watching Katherine slouch over her desk, papers spread across her work space. Harleen saw a photo from underneath a file, where a flash of green was just barley showing. Her breath caught in her throat as she furrowed her brows at the young woman. "Katherine?"
Katherine glanced up, startled. "Jesus Harleen." She sat back in her chair, a hand on her heart. "You scared the shit out of me."
Harleen smiled slightly and walked into the office, closing the door behind her. "I thought you were off an hour ago?" Her fingers trailed across the papers, sliding the photo into her view.
He starred into the camera, a mix of furry and excitement written on his face. His smile showed the newly implanted metal teeth, thanks to the Batman, that lightened up the picture.
"What did you get yourself into Kat?"
"It took a lot of pleading, but he's giving me a two-month trial run. Said I have a lot of potential." Katherine laughed, running a hand through her brown locks, before finally pulling it into a ponytail. "I'm trying to understand everything before our first appointment tomorrow."
Harleen raised an eyebrow and pushed the picture back under the paper. "Tomorrow? Isn't that too soon?"
Katherine shrugged her shoulders. "Dr. Arkham wants to start right away. I'm doing some overtime now, but I'll go home soon. I promise."
Harleen sighed. "If you think you're ready for it."
"I am Harls. I'm not like you." At the look on her friends face, Katherine laughed. "You have too much of a big heart Harleen; you try to see the best in people." She began to shuffle the papers into one pile before placing them into the file. "The Joker has no good in him. He's evil from the start."
"No one is born evil." Harleen said softly, making her way to the door. "Please be careful, Kat, be on guard."
"Don't worry." Katherine smirked. "I'm like a rock, I'm hard to crack."
Harleen never heard a human-being scream as loud as Katherine did. It was bone chilling scream that was sure to haunt Harleen for the next couple of months.
Katherine fell out of office that was used to host sessions with dangerous patients. She collapsed onto the floor, hollowing in pain as she began to curl up into a ball, her hands covering her head.
Harleen, who was finishing her session, stepped into the hall to see the scene. She pushed past the crowd that began to form until she was close to her friend. "Katherine?" Harleen yelled and bent down.
"Move back." The guards above them said, pushing everyone back, blocking Katherine from facing the patient as they dragged up from the office.
The Joker's laugh, mixed with the horrid screaming from Katherine, made Harleen's stomach curl. She glanced over the guards shoulder an saw the green hair man grinning down at the crumpled girl on the floor, lipstick smeared across his face. He continued laughing while the guards roughly pulled him around the corner, until all you could hear was the distance laughter.
"Ms. Wilkens, we are just trying to help." A man from the medical team spoke, softly.
Katherine starred at them with confusion and horror until she met Harleen's eyes. "Har..Harleen." she began to sob again and reached her hand out, covered in blood, towards Harleen.
Harleen let out a gasp as she accepted the hand, as tears began to blur her own vision. The man from the medical team began to apply a gauze to Katherine's head where her ear used to be.
It wasn't lipstick that smudged The Joker's face. It was Katherine's blood from where he bit her ear off.
"He wanted to tell her a secret." Dr. Arkham sighed, removing his glasses, he rubbed his eyes. It was late into the evening and he finally gathered the doctors that were on that shift together in his office.
Harleen stood at the back, her arms crossed as she studied the uneasy glances of her co-workers who were once excited about The Joker entering Arkham, who now stood around the room praying that Dr. Arkham wouldn't choose them to be The Joker's personal doctor.
"I'm going to cover his case for now, but hopefully once he adjusts to Arkham and receives the right doses of medication, he can be transferred to someone else. Until then, he's on a 72 hour lock down where he will be watched constantly. No one is to go in contact with him, understood?"
There was a murmur of agreements before everyone started to shuffle out, tired of a long day of work.
"Quinzel." Dr. Arkham called out before she turned. "Stay for a moment, please."
Harleen nodded and said goodbye to a few co-workers who acknowledged her. "Yes Dr. Arkham."
"Katherine and you are the newest of our team, and I hate to ask you this after everything that happened, but I need someone to cover Katherine's patients. You and Katherine only have four each, am I correct?" Harleen nodded. "Would that be acceptable?"
"Of course, Dr. Arkham." Harleen gave a small smile. "It would be no problem."
Dr. Arkham nodded his head before sitting back down behind his desk. "The files are in Katherine's office; you have permission to access them. And The Joker's file-" he paused, before letting out a loud sigh.
"I'll bring it to you first thing in the morning." Harleen finished.
"Thanks Quinzel, go get some rest."
"Goodnight, Dr. Arkham."
And with a wave of his hand, Harleen was excused.
Katherine's office was a mess. She must have been in a rush before her meeting with The Joker. Harleen thought was she saw the client filed spread open on the desk. Harleen was thankful that she was the one to collect the file, as leaving a patient file out in the open is frowned upon.
Harleen sat behind the desk and began gather up the papers.
Real Name: Unknown
Hair Colour: Green
Eye Colour: Green
Height: 6ft 1in
Weight: 160lbs.
Harleen rolled her eyes and forcefully shoved the papers into the file and let it sit on the middle of the desk. Maybe Katherine was right. She thought. Maybe some people can't be saved. Maybe some people are born evil. She starred at the folder, her thoughts racing for an understanding. There had to be something that was the tipping point for him. What was his trigger?
Harleen looked at the clock on Katherine's desk. It read 12:03am.
Harleen opened the file.