Arkham Talks
Taped patient interviews by one Dr. Mina Lee.
Tape Box - 2
Sessions with Weylan Jones, Jonathan Crane and Pamela Isley
Dr. Lee had done fairly well for the first month of her new job.
No missing fingers, no mental breakdowns. She's lived through a couple of break-outs and a riot. Once Lee was sure she caught sight of Batman's cape. She works Monday through Thursday, leaving the island and going back to her apartment for the weekends.
She never loses sight of the fact her patients are hardened criminals, and many times they are also killers. Most will never be cured but if she can make them even a bit less dangerous…
===
Weylan Jones – Tenth Session
The noise of the recorder turning on was accompanied by a yawn from Lee.
"You okay?" asked Lee, stifling a second yawn.
"Bored, Doc," said Croc, "and hell, I'm surprised you showed up."
"Well when you get a call at three in morning from Arkham there's no going back to sleep. Besides I don't mind coming in if you want to talk, or play checkers."
This apparently surprised Mr. Jones because there was silence.
"If I had to swim over, I'd be in trouble," Lee commented to herself.
"Can't swim, Doc?"
"No, although I wish I could. Do you like swimming?"
"Hell yeah, I spend more time in the water than out."
Lee leaned back in her chair and smiled.
"Don't you get cold?"
"Naw, I'm used to it. Damn if this scaly hide is good for much else."
"Then, if not cold, lonely?"
Jones gave a derisive snort at that.
"More like hungry" he said with a chuckle.
Lee was less than amused and didn't say anything at all. Croc stopped laughing awkwardly in the silence. She shook her head and shrugged.
"I don't know, is it really that bad to like company? It's… entertaining at least to talk –or play cards—with people, you have to admit that."
"To be honest Doc, not many people wanna stick around a predator so there ain't much of a basis for comparing them."
"Well now you do, so what's more valuable to you, being a predator or having someone to stave off the maddening boredom?"
===
Dr. Mina Lee, Personal Log Fourteen.
"Weylan Jones was asking for me on a Sunday night at three in the morning. I went in, tired, and was surprised to see him anticipating my arrival. I fear that his isolation has left him so bored that he has begun to rely on me for entertainment. He has little to do in the sewer; I should speak to a superior about getting him some way to pass the time. I have visited him more than any other patient but there is usually little in the way of talking."
Lee yawned and rubbed her face with her hands, wiping her watery eyes. She hadn't slept the night before and was feeling the strain.
"I know that most of the patients can never be cured, I have no illusions about that. However, the damage they do when they escape can be lessened."
She grumbled.
"…and they do escape a lot."
===
Jonathan Crane – Sixth Session
Sometimes during her sessions with Dr. Crane, Lee forgot to turn the tape on immediately. He tended to launch right into a discussion the moment she sat down. This one had been put off until well after their time should have ended.
"-but isn't the purpose of fear to keep someone alive? It is a perversion of its nature to use it specifically to kill."
"How can we learn more about something without testing all of its potential?"
"It is no longer fear you are studying when you take the research to such extremes that the emotion no longer remotely performs as it is supposed to. When was the last time you had a goal for your experiments? Something you were working towards with usable results?"
That gave him pause, he shifted in his seat.
"Excuse me ma'am, you've gone over your allotted time by an hour now," said a guard in the background, "I need to escort Crane to his cell."
"Can I have ten more minutes?" asked Dr. Lee.
"I'm sorry ma'am."
There was a brief scuffle as the two guards approached Crane. Then a sound of glass breaking and a scream. Heavy breathing, a few knocking noises and then shoes crunching on broken shards.
Lee stumbled back until her shoulders hit the table.
There was a brief struggle before she stopped moving, going still as if that would somehow disinterest her attacker. She was deathly afraid but reacted to it like a deer in headlights, silently and with a stunned expression.
"Well Mina, this is exciting," said Crane "I wonder how long it will take them to notice this disruption. They're probably already sending guards."
She said nothing, didn't even look him in the eye. He leaned in and observed her reaction with keen interest.
"What are you afraid of, Mina?"
Her eyes rolled up to lock onto his face.
"Right now? You."
===
Dr. Mina Lee, Personal Log Fifteen.
When Lee turned on her personal with some trouble, her hand audibly fumbling with the buttons.
"You know… today was very funny day…" Lee's voice was slurred "Crane killed the two guards watching our session."
She drank more.
"Then he tried to ferret out my fears," said Lee, "it was thoroughly… shaking."
The cup clinked on the table, empty, and Lee sighed. For a few seconds she shuffled around in her desk and took out a cigarette. With deliberate slowness and precision she lit it and took a drag.
Lee pinched her brows together and rubbed her temples, then exhaled a slow steady stream.
"I won't be intimidated off by him, goddammit. "
===
Pamela Isley – First Session
The tape flicked on and Lee carefully sat down, face placid.
"Hello, my name is -"
"Dr. Mina Lee."
There was a brief silence.
"I overheard it from the flowers, please, call me Ivy."
"Alright Ivy, feel free to call me whatever you wish."
"Just Mina then."
"Ivy, may I ask you about your cause?"
This seemed to get Isley animated, her hair picked up its movement and she leaned forwards.
"Anything you want."
"When was the last time you donated to any kind of 'save the green planet' charity?"
This question didn't exactly make Isley look sullen so much as anxious.
"I haven't… in a long time."
"Do you think you are doing more to help with your current activities?"
===
Dr. Lee Lee, Personal Log Sixteen.
"Pamela is an interesting woman, sometimes she seems to be purely psychotic and sociopathic – towards humans at least – and yet there's still a spark in there, somewhere."
Lee flipped through some older folders and took out a picture.
"She does seem to show at least some empathy for Harleen Quinzel, another sometimes inmate. It should also be noted that having the ability to care about plants shows that the ability to care is still there."
Lee carefully replaced the photo and she took a sip of wine.
"I will always be looking over my shoulder for a dagger here, or in this case a poison thorn. Isley is a killer, there is no doubt about that, and she is so jaded that getting close to her is nigh impossible."
Disclaimer.
I do not own, profit from, take credit or claimany content related to Batman. This applies throughout all of my works of fiction.
