Chapter 3

Harleen frowned as she stood in front of the heavy metal door. It was already dark outside and most of the day staff had gone home already. The door was dull grey and uninteresting. The red light above the door was off.

She bit her lip absentmindedly as she stared at the door, as if waiting for it to reveal its secrets. She had decided to stay a bit longer to familiarise herself with her new work environment and patients, so when the opportunity had presented itself, she had gone back to the electro shock room to find out what had disconcerted her before.

The corridor was poorly lit and empty. No one else was coming here today, all the patients received treatment during the day and the next session would be at 8:30am tomorrow.

Tilting her head to the side, she grew a bit irritated. Whatever had caused her unease earlier was gone. Exhaling she walked forward and used her key card to unlock the therapy room.

With a hiss the metal door swung open to reveal a dark room with various equipment lining the walls and an empty bed in the centre. The moonlight cast long shadows and Harleen walked forwards, fingertips running over medical equipment as she slowly wound her way around the room.

Pausing when she came to the large device at the end of the row, she raised a brow as she read the voltage gauge. The machine was off and the needle at 0, but the upper limit was high, too high to be safe.

Stepping away from the machine she turned to the empty bed in the centre of the room. Thick unbuckled bindings hung loosely from the sides, ready to restrain a patient if necessarily.

The room felt dead and dull to her as looking down at the thin beige plastic mattress dispassionately. Her irrational agitated feelings from earlier were gone. Inhaling slowly through her mouth she considered the last possible option.

He had been here.

Dr James hadn't known which patient was in the room when they had come by on the tour.

It had been the Joker.

She had felt his presence through the bond; it was the only thing that explained her sudden unease at the time.

She shivered and reached forwards, lightly resting her slim fingers on the cracked plastic mattress. It was cold to the touch; all remnants of body heat had dissipated hours earlier. She pulled her hand back irritated at her own irrational expectation at feeling some kind of evidence that he had been here.

She spun around and clenched her fists scowling. What the hell was she doing, behaving like some pathetic lovesick schoolgirl trying to get closer to her crush. Disgust marred her features as she ran a tongue along her teeth, lost in thought when her eyes rested on the inert machine and she stiffened.

They had used it on him.

Hurt him.

Her body froze as her narrowed eyes bored into the shadowed machine, only her breathing speeding up gave away her rising anger. How much voltage had they used on him? Did he suffer burns? Permanent brain damage?

Sharp rage simmered in her veins, but she refused to let red cloud her vision. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically as she considered the situation. She hadn't cared before: the poor quality of care, the lax standards, the likely patient abuse; it had all just meant she could get away with skirting the rules if necessary or maybe even use it blackmail someone.

Harleen might be doctor and she did her job caring for patients exceptionally well, playing the role of the empathetic doctor to a T, but she had never actually cared about them before.

With deliberate care she uncurled her fists as Harley paced about, snarling in the back of her mind like a rabid dog. Exhaling slowly, the tension in her shoulders melted away as she came to a simple conclusion. Someone was going to die.

High pitched wailing tore her from her murderous thoughts and she glanced sideways at the open door to see the flashing red light from the alarm spilling into the room from the corridor. Either violence had broken out or someone was attempting an escape. That or someone had burnt their pot noodles in the microwave.

Bowing her head she closed her eyes, taking a moment to get both her own savage urges, and Harley's, under control with the promise of later violence once she found out who had hurt him. There was a time and place for a violent outbursts and it wasn't now. Swallowing she breathed out shakily as she repressed herself, only moving when Harley was firmly leashed in a dark corner in her mind again.

Opening her eyes, her expression smoothed into one of calm control and she reached up to readjust her glasses slightly. Unhurried she stepped back into the red lit corridor, making sure close the metal door behind her. It locked automatically with a hiss.

Still no one in sight she decided to walk back to the main entrance, from there on she could head to the fire assembly point if necessary. Hopefully it was a drill or something minor. She didn't have time for this shit right now. She was still struggling to supress the worst of her anger.

Heels clicking she headed down the corridor when the alarm stopped as suddenly as it had started. Frowning she paused slightly before continuing on. Devoid of the red flashing lights, the corridor was as dank and poorly lit as before.

Coming up the entrance hall, she heard voices up and she paused by the door to listen for a second. The voices were muted but it sounded like staff. Opening the door she took in the sight of numerous healthcare workers and security personal milling about talking in hushed voices.

"Oh hey Harleen, did you hear?" Jake, the security guard from before, jogged up to her, morbid excitement flashed in his eyes.

"No what's going on? Did someone try to break out?" she asked drawing her eyebrows together uncertainly, a nervous quiver threading into her voice.

"Ah no no, don't worry, you're safe, nothing major like a riot" he attempted a short laugh which fell flat as his face sobered "I mean it is major, I'm sorry I didn't mean to be insensitive with Dr Travis being dead and all-"

"Wait, what? Who's dead? How did that happen-" she made sure to sound both shocked and a bit fearful as she spoke quickly.

"Dr Travis" he said expectantly and after a second of looking at her blank expression he lightly hit himself in the head "Sorry, almost forgot it's your first day. I'm guessing you hadn't met him yet. Um, he was a nice guy I guess, bit quiet. Anyway, apparently he went to check on his patient to see how a new treatment was going and the patient went nuts; beat him to death" he shifted uncomfortably before exhaling "I haven't seen the footage but apparently it was really bloody. Took out 2 guards too, the ambulance already took them, but it looked bad when I saw them get carried out" he grimaced.

"How did they even get into a situation where a potentially violent patient had the opportunity to do that?" she frowned, unable to stop the slight irritation at the terrible standards from leaking into her voice. The talk of blood and death was making her supressed urges rise up again.

"Not sure" Jake flushed a bit "But you're right, the patient should never have had the opportunity to do that, but then again it was the Joker and he is notorious for-"

"What?" she interrupted harshly, gaze sharpening as she fixated on him with intense malice. Jake jerked back in surprise and fear, his wide-eyed expression snapping her out of her lapse in control.

Her expression eased "I'm sorry, it's just that-" she paused to inhale shakily and looked away, trying to look emotionally overwhelmed as she scrambled for an excuse "The Joker, he-, I was there during one of his attacks on Gotham. I saw people die because of him" not technically untrue, but also not the reason for her strong reaction at the mention of his name.

She looked up at Jake with watery eyes and he stepped forwards again, sympathy written across his expression. His hand hovered at his side uncertainly as if to reach out to comfort her but he didn't quite know how to go about doing it so he just nodded awkwardly.

"That must have been really scary. I'm sorry you had to go through that. He's a really crazy bastard" he said supportively, "But don't worry, he's locked away now so he can't hurt anyone" she almost smiled at the idiocy of that statement; he had clearly already done more than just hurt someone, all while being locked away.

"Yeah you're right" she nodded, smiling weakly "Do you know why he did it? Attack Dr Travis I mean?" she fished for information though she already had her suspicions.

"No idea" he shrugged scratching the back of his head frowning "The crazy bastard unnerves me with his fucking creepy laugh. Who knows why he does anything? But I guess that's why he's here" his eyes flickered around to see if anyone else was paying attention to them, before leaning in "If you ask me, they should just lock him up and throw away the key. I don't care if he's sick, he's a goddamn mass murder, and also it's not exactly the first doctor he's killed or put in the hospital"

Nodding calmly she cracked a smile, not even hinting at her internal battle to restrain Harley who was screaming obscenities and clawing for control. She was glad that she'd gotten herself under control before he said that or Harley might well have taken over and ripped his tongue out.

"Well I can't say I agree with that sentiment given my current occupation but I understand" she smiled wryly and Jake grinned back at her, opening his mouth to say something when the warden's voice rolled over the gathered staff members in the entrance hall.

"Hello everyone, as I'm sure you're all aware by now, there has been a fatal incident involving a patient and a staff member. 2 guards were also hospitalised but they are receiving treatment and will hopefully make a full recovery. I would like to assure you all that the situation is under control and you have nothing to worry about. The patient has been subdued and is being dealt with as we speak. Please return to your work, we will be taking measures to ensure your safety and to prevent this from happening again"

The warden stepped back and started talking to some people and the hubbub in the room grew again, but this time people slowly started filtering out of the room and back to their stations.

"Different incident, same speech" Jake rolled his eyes and looked back at her "Well nice seeing you again, I know this place isn't the safest work environment, but I hope you stick around" there was a slightly hopeful look in his eyes as he shifted his weight.

"Yes it nice seeing you and I think I will be here for at least a while longer" a humorous glint in her eye which he probably mistook for reciprocated interest as he grinned broadly. Saying goodbye, he walked away to join a group of security guards, a skip in his step.

She watched him for a second, he was a nice guy, but mediocre in every sense. Turning around she greeted a few more colleagues before heading back to her office to collect her things. It was time to go anyway.


Closing the door to her apartment behind her she leaned on the door and closed her eyes. Too many conflicting emotions whirled around inside her, threatening to break her perfectly crafted façade that she had built over the years.

She hadn't even seen him today and he had her insides tied up in knots. She scowled and pushed away from the door while Harley giggled in the back of her mind. Harleen really needed to get a better grip on her self-control.

Dumping her work things on the kitchen counter she walked into her bedroom and changed into workout clothes. Grabbing her wireless headphones she set her gymnastics playlist to shuffle and stepped onto the mats in her living room. She had converted it into a makeshift gym which she used daily, mainly to practice gymnastics in the mornings.

She had taken it up when she was 14 and had worked at it daily since then. It worked as both an outlet for her excess energy but also as a way to practice self-discipline to gain control over her less than savoury urges.

Setting the timer to 30 minutes she closed her eyes and went through the motions, stretching and bending before working her way up to flips and balancing in strenuous positions. Throwing herself into the workout, she was sweaty and breathing heavily when the timer went off.

Pulled out of almost trancelike state she tugged off her headphones, wiping some sweat from her brow as she went to turn off the incessant beeping.

She felt the light burn in her muscles as she stretched lightly for a cool down. Fully relaxed she padded to the bathroom to take a shower. Pausing she leaned in closer to the mirror and wiped away the makeup covering her mark to reveal the vibrant purple symbol on the side of her neck. Brushing her fingers over it lightly she briefly wondered what his mark looked like.


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