Face to Face
"Now Harvey, I want you to flip the coin," said Dr. Joan Leland, head of Arkham Asylum, holding up two cards. "Good side, I want you to take this green card. Or bad side, I want you to take the red one."
"Ok," said Two-Face slowly, taking his coin out of his pocket and flipping it into the air. He caught it and opened his hand. "It's bad side up," he murmured.
"So take this red card from me," said Dr. Leland, holding it out to him.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Two-Face shook his head. "No," he said firmly, taking the green one instead.
"Fascinating," said Dr. Leland, studying him. Then she smiled. "And very encouraging, Harvey," she said, writing something down in a notebook in front of her. "You say this ability to ignore the coin's commands started around Valentine's Day?"
"Yeah, I had gone to Brazil to get away from things," said Two-Face. "And I had picked up a woman in a bar, and the coin told me to…y'know, consummate things, but…I didn't. I just didn't want to, and it would have felt wrong to obey it. I…I told Pam…uh...Poison Ivy…I think it's because of her. I'm in love with her, even though she doesn't want me to be, but we're kinda casually together and…it's complicated," he finished.
"Yes, I'm very aware of the complicated relationships that seem to go on in this asylum," sighed Dr. Leland. "Joker and Harley spring to mind."
"They're not complicated – they're just nuts," retorted Two-Face. "It's different for Pammie and me. If it were up to me, I'd be happy for us to be a couple, to start a life and maybe a future together. But she…doesn't want that. But I just can't seem to get over her and move on, and now this happens…"
"Yes, she does appear to have been the catalyst," agreed Dr. Leland. "This seems to be one aspect of your life that you're not willing to just leave to chance, that you actually do want to fight for."
"So what should I do?" asked Two-Face.
"About Ivy? I don't know," said Dr. Leland. "She's not exactly the kind of person who changes her mind about things. You should talk to Harley."
"Because she's Pam's friend?" asked Two-Face, confused. "You think she can talk her into changing her mind about me?"
"Because she's in the same situation with the Joker," retorted Dr. Leland. "You should see how she copes."
Two-Face stared at her. "Are you saying I'm the Harley of our relationship?" he demanded.
"If you want to put it like that," agreed Dr. Leland, nodding. "But moving swiftly on, I'm very impressed by your incredible psychological progress in so short a time. You've been so dependent on the coin for every decision you've ever made, and now you're actually able to ignore it. To exert that kind of free will over something that's controlled your life for so long is almost astounding to me. It's like a complete transformation. And now that you don't have to depend on it, you can try making decisions for yourself. You can try choosing the person you want to be."
"Yeah…it's kinda scary to have that choice back," said Two-Face, slowly. "The coin always absolved me of any responsibility for my actions – I could blame the bad stuff I did on fate and chance. But now I have to take responsibility for my own decisions. That's almost terrifying – what if I keep choosing to do bad things?"
"We all choose to do bad things from time to time," said Dr. Leland. "I'm cheating on my diet all this week, for instance. That doesn't make me a bad person – it makes me human. Human beings make mistakes, and learn from them. I hope you can do that now, Harvey."
"I hope so too," agreed Two-Face, nodding. "Could you do me a favor?"
"Of course," said Dr. Leland.
"Can you…call Bruce Wayne?" he asked. "And tell him what's going on with me?"
"Why can't you do that?" asked Dr. Leland, puzzled. "I'm sure he'd like to hear the good news from you."
"I think it would be better coming from you – from someone in authority," replied Two-Face. "I don't know if Bruce would trust me to be able to judge myself when I say I'm getting better. I am mentally unstable, after all – maybe he'd think I was delusional."
"I'm sure he would never think that," said Dr. Leland. "Bruce is your friend, and friends support each other. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear about your progress."
"I hope so," agreed Two-Face. "I've made a lot of bad decisions where he's concerned but…Bruce is the best friend I've ever had, and he's never given up on me. I don't know how I can ever repay him for that."
"Friends don't expect payment, Harvey," said Dr. Leland. "And Bruce is a true friend. Which is actually kinda at odds with his reputation as a flighty and uncommitted playboy. I guess he has hidden depths after all, although you'd never know that from those celebrity gossip magazines. It's almost like he doesn't want people to know how loyal and loving he actually is for some reason, and this playboy thing is just a front to cover for something else, like some dark and terrible secret."
"I see why you might think that, but you're wrong," said Two-Face. "Bruce has a hard time getting close to people because of what happened to his parents, but there's nothing he won't do for the people he cares about. He cares very deeply, just not for many people, because he doesn't want to risk experiencing the trauma of losing the people he loves again, and the more people you love, the greater the risk of losing them. That's why he's flighty and uncommitted – he often is in relationships, but it comes from fear rather than malice. The only façade he puts on is that of being happy – I don't think he is deep down. But there's nothing Bruce and I don't know about each other, and trust me, he has no dark and terrible secret."