Chapter Six:
New Impressions
Over the past three weeks I've learned to love doing progress reports; because I have so much progress to report! I have seen some significant changes in the behavior of my two patients. If I keep working as hard with them as I am now, I think that I can have them declared sane in a couple of weeks. I've doubled our session times together and I'm thinking of asking for an additional thirty-minute session slot for each patient on Fridays; but I might be over doing it. They do need their reflection time after all.
As I'm finishing up the last of this week's progress report, I hear three light taps on my office door. Guy suavely strolls in the room and takes a seat opposite me, leaning back in the chair and bringing his feet up to rest on my desk. I look up from my work for a moment to give him a teasing disapproving look. "Make yourself at home, why don't you…"
"Well, don't mind if I do." Guy brings one hand behind his head and the other produces a green apple from somewhere in his lab coat. He takes a really loud bite and chews it slowly and obnoxiously. I give him another disapproving look that immediately changes into a smirk when I throw my pen, hitting him right on his forehead.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"For being an ass." I smile and grab another pen from the many that I have in a mug on my desk.
"An ass? Me? But I was just doing what you said." Guy takes another loud obnoxious bite. I roll my eyes and focus on finishing my report.
"What's that?" Guy ask in-between bites. "You doing a progress report?"
"Yup. I'm almost done."
"Good. 'Cause I didn't come here just to annoy you. I need a favor."
"Oh? What do you need from me?"
"Well, one of my patients suffers from gynophobia and I think that he's progressed enough to meet a woman in a controlled setting."
"I don't mind helping you out but are you sure he's ready? I don't have being strangled or bludgeoned on my list of things to do today."
"I know, I know. Taking him into the co-ed ward last month was a huge mistake. He took a bigger step than he could handle and that's my fault. But, I think that if I control the meeting this time, and limit his exposure to one woman alone, I think that he could handle the encounter in a positive way."
"Okay. I trust your judgement. When do you want me to meet him?"
"Today if you're not busy. I don't want to make this meeting a big thing because that would just freak him out. I just want you to come with me outside of his cell and say hi."
"That's it?"
"Yeah. Just a quick and simple meet and greet. I want him to take baby steps."
"Alright, I can do that. Let me just finish dotting these I's and crossing these T's."
Guy and I sit in a comfortable silence for the next ten minutes while I finish up my progress report. By the time Guy finishes eating his apple and throws out the core, I've finished my report and am ready to go.
"I'm done. We can go now." Guy and I rise from our seats and leave my office to head down to the men's ward. When I close the door behind Guy, I make sure to lock it. This is a new habit of mine. I don't want any new surprises waiting for me when I get back. Not that locking the door helps, but, it makes me feel safer. It shouldn't because when the Joker left that beautiful bouquet in my office, the door had been locked; so, locking the door won't prevent him from entering again.
Speaking of that beautiful bouquet, I was a little melancholy earlier today because when I visited my office this morning, the bouquet was gone. I had left a note telling the cleaning crew not to touch it but I guess the flowers have become so withered and brown that they decided to ignore my note and just toss the decaying plants anyway. I wasn't ready to throw them out yet. I had just grown accustomed to their sour aroma. I guess the cleaning crew thought it was a health hazard keeping the flowers out any longer because I will admit, their scent was really questionable. I guess I should thank them for doing what I couldn't because for the last two weeks I knew that those flowers needed to be thrown away, but I didn't have the heart to do it.
"So how's the packing coming along?" Guy asks as we climb down several flights of stairs.
"Eh, I'm working pretty slowly. I have a couple of things put away here and there, but I can't say that I've finished boxing up an entire room yet."
"Seriously? You are slow. I've got my living room and half of my bedroom stuff packed up already. Have you been binge watching another TV show again?"
"Of course not! I learned my lesson last time, remember? Now I only watch two episodes a day."
"Good girl." Guy pats my head roughly with each syllable and I playfully punch him in the shoulder to get him to stop.
"To be honest, I've really been busy with coming up with different methods to advance my patients' progress towards sanity."
"You work too hard. I mean, what's the rush?" Well for one, I don't want to lose the Joker to another doctor, and vice versa; I don't want to lose another doctor to the Joker.
"I guess I just really want to see my patients get out of here and live normal lives again. I care about them."
"It's hard not to care isn't it? Even when you don't want to, it somehow always happens. It must be a doctor/patient thing."
"Or maybe you and I are just softies?" I smile and Guy smiles back.
"Maybe."
"Well anyway, I could come over on Saturday and help you finish packing, if you want."
"Are you kidding? You're the one that needs help not me."
I laugh. "Fine. Come help me on Saturday and I'll go help you out Sunday."
"Alright, but we really need to finish by Tuesday, at least. We need to be in that apartment by next weekend."
"I know, I know. I promise that I will really buckle down and finish packing in time."
Guy and I reach the men's ward where he swipes his employee identification card to get us both past the first gate. We have to pass through a metal detector before a guard is allowed to buzz us past the second and final gate. The guard currently on duty looks me up and down questionably. "I've never seen you before. Do you have authorization to be down here miss? You didn't swipe at the first gate."
"Sorry. I didn't think I had to. I'm here with Dr. Kopski to visit one of his patients." The guard still looks a bit skeptical but he buzzes me in anyway. It's good to know that security is on top of their job and not just lazily allowing anyone to pass through. The patients in this ward are a bit violent so security has to be good on this level. Guy told me that each patient in this ward has committed murder in some way or form.
I have to admit that it pisses me off that Guy was given a higher level patient than I was. We started this job at the same time and I even have better qualifications for this job than he does; I should have been given patients on the same level as him. I guess back then, Dr. Arkham didn't think that I could handle violent patients because I'm a woman. That's alright though; I'll soon prove everyone wrong once I have the Joker as my patient.
When Guy and I have passed through both gates of security, we walk down a long hallway until we reach the main double doors which houses the male patients on the other side of it. Guy graciously opens the door for me. "My patient's cell is all the way at the far end of the ward so be prepared to have every single one of these guys ogle you on the way there."
I nod and square my shoulders a bit as I come into sight to the patients. There are two long rows of cell after cell on each wall. Looking up, there is a second floor of cells above the ground rows. Guards look down from the railings and nod whenever we make eye contact. The patients' cells in this ward are very different from the cells in the minimum security ward where my patients are kept. The cells up in minimum are regular barred cells that you'd find in any prison; the patients there even share cells if they're well enough to. Here, the cells are cavities in the walls that have a large air holed glass wall instead of the typical jailbird barred wall. This ward definitely resembles a mental institution better than the minimum security ward does, but, it also emits a more intimidating aura than the minimum does.
As Guy and I pass each cell, I hear cat-call after cat-call being directed towards me. These patients are whistling and hooting as if they haven't seen a real woman in years. As we continue to walk, I lean a little closer towards Guy. "Have any of these men seen a woman since they've been here? Are female doctors and nurses not allowed to work with them?"
"Oh they are. And they do. It's just that none of them ever come through here. Whenever they have session time or need medical attention, the guards take the patients out to where ever they need to be. Women don't usually have to step foot in this ward."
"Well that explains it."
Before we reach the end of the ward, Guy stops me in my tracks. "Do you mind waiting here while I have a quick word with my patient? I want to prep him a bit."
"Of course Guy, go ahead." I wave him off and watch as he stops outside of a cell to talk to the patient in it. The other patients are too loud so I can't hear what they're saying. I give up on trying to interpret their conversation and let my eyes scope out the long room. There are a lot of patients here. Those that can see me are staring at me unashamed that they are being caught doing so. I look away from them and let my eyes rest on the huge caged elevator at the very end of the long room. It looks very old and rusty. I wonder if it even works anymore. As I look closer, I notice that the thick cord that pulls the elevator up and down is moving. I think someone is using the elevator right now; so I guess it does work.
After watching the cord vibrate and pull for a while, the clanks and groans of the ascending elevator are faintly heard and grow louder and louder as it reaches this floor. When it finally arrives, a big metal box pulls into the barred cage and a soft 'ding' sounds. The caged door opens up along with the elevator doors to reveal a group of nine guards surrounded by a large green creature.
What is that?! Is it human? I've heard that Arkham Asylum houses meta-humans but this is incredible! It's one thing to hear about it and then another to actually see one of these patients with my own eyes. The creature is too large for the little boxed elevator, so he is bent down and scrunched into the box with the other nine guards crammed in with him. The guards shuffle out first and then the creature ducks under the open door and squeezes his way through it. When he is finally free from the elevator, he stands straight and reveals how large he really is. He is enormous! Not only is he really tall, he also has a really large muscle build. This guy looks like he could knock anybody out with one punch easily. He has unusual green scaled skin coating his entire body. From what I can see, he has no body hair anywhere. His eyes are a dark shade of brown and they blink unusually from right to left instead of up and down. He looks like a cross between a lizard and a human.
The lizard man moves his neck from side and side to crack the kinks in his neck. He takes his time stretching himself out after the uncomfortable elevator ride which makes some of the guards visibly nervous. One of them standing behind the lizard man is holding a long police baton that he uses in a moment of courage to poke the lizard man. "Come on, get moving!" He shouts.
The lizard man growls and adopts an intimidating stance as he turns to the guard who poked him. The guard looks up into the creature's eyes and looks like he has just seen his life flash before his eyes. He swallows a lump in his throat and tries to recreate the same courage that he had a moment ago. "Come on. Y-y-you heard m-me. You n-need to get moving."
The lizard man hisses before he lunges at the guard. His thick sharp teeth sink into the guard's arm before he rips it off of his body with little effort. Blood flies everywhere and the guard falls, wailing out on the floor, screaming for medical attention. I stand at the edge of the room in complete shock. I'm watching everything happen as if I'm watching a movie. The lizard man didn't just rip off the guard's arm, he's actually eating it! He is literally gnawing and chewing on the bloody limb as if it were a normal afternoon snack! I can't believe what I'm seeing. My eyes stay locked onto the lizard man's mouth. I watch him chew and swallow every last bit of the guard's arm until he has completely consumed it. The other guards have been scrambling and running around, trying to reestablish order by shouting at the lizard man and trying to get his attention. Unfortunately, the lizard man isn't interested in listening to them, his eyes lock onto the guard's other arm. The bloodied amputated guard notices the look in the lizard man's eyes and anticipates what his next move is. He uses the arm he has left to pull himself slowly across the floor in a sad attempt to escape the lizard man's second assault.
"NO! Please, don't! I have kids! Don't do this!" The guard pleads for his life with no avail as the lizard man sinks his teeth into the guard's other arm. The other guards start hitting the lizard man as roughly as they can but he easily shakes them off with little trouble. One of the guards calls for back-up because none of them are equipped with anything strong enough to stun the creature. At this point, something in me snaps and my mind finally connects with the reality of what's happening. My feet move forward towards the scene before I lose my nerve and this new sense of clarity. I stop when my stilettos meet the thick pool of blood on the floor. I stand, shoulders squared, before the lizard man as his teeth retract from the guard's remaining arm as my presence immediately capture's the creature's full attention. His large eyes gorge into mine as he blinks in that peculiar right to left manner. I stare back at him, not giving anything away. At this moment, I can honestly say that I don't feel intimidated by him, and I'm not afraid of him.
"Who are you?" I ask, hopeful that he has the ability to speak. The creature hisses at me in an attempt to scare me and avoid my question. I don't move a muscle however, and the creature stares at me for a moment before he answers.
"I'm Killer Croc," the creature says in his deep, gravelly voice. I cross my arms and raise my eyebrows at him.
"Seriously? Is that really the name that your mother gave you?" A faint growl can be heard coming from his throat as he looks down with furrowed eyebrows. He seems to remember something private and painful. I unfold my arms and relax my shoulders a bit as I take two steps closer towards the lizard man. There's something about the way he looks right now that makes me take pity on him.
In a gentle voice, I attempt to soothe down his temper and bring his attention back to me. "So, what's your name?"
The creature takes a moment before he looks back at me and answers. "Waylon Jones."
I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding in and smile at him, proud that he answered me.
"It's nice to meet you. My name is doctor Harleen Quinzel. Do you want to tell me why you ripped this man's arm off?" I nod towards the guard on the floor who has now fallen unconscious.
"He had it comin'."
I raise an eyebrow. "Did he?"
"Mmhmm. Pokey motha-fuckah."
I smile at his cussing; it's kind of cute. "You do realize that what you did was wrong right?"
Waylon doesn't answer. He just hisses. I let him contemplate his actions for a moment before I ask him what's really on my mind.
"Did you really have to eat his arm to teach him a lesson?"
"Yup." Ew.
"Why?"
"It's tasty."
"Really? Raw human meat is tasty to you?"
"Yup. You wanna try?" He reaches for the unconscious guard but I immediately take a step forward and stop him before he rips off his other arm.
"NO! No, thank you. I'll take your word for it." Waylon leans back and chuckles low and deep. I join him and laugh lightly until I notice a S.W.A.T. looking group of men creeping up quietly behind Waylon. My smile immediately drops when I realize that they want to stealthily knock him out.
"Hey, Waylon? You're ready to move on from this aren't you?" I need to get him moving. If the guards see him cooperating with me, then they'll have no need to knock him out.
Waylon looks at me with wide eyes. "Wow…"
I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "What is it?"
"Haven't heard someone else say my name in years." Aww! My need to protect him has just quadrupled. I need to get him moving.
I smile up at him. "Well, get used to it Waylon, because after today I'll be sure to have everyone in this facility address you by your birth given name. But, right now you have to promise me that you aren't going to eat any more of these guards. We need to get you to where you need to be. Will you cooperate with us?"
Waylon growls while he thinks about my proposition. "Fine."
I release a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
I walk to Waylon's side as he turns to make the long walk out of the men's ward. However, as soon as Waylon faces the direction of the S.W.A.T. looking team, one of them shoots him with a taser gun and Waylon falls to his knees and hisses in pain.
"What are you doing?! Stop it!" I shout angrily.
"We're sorry doctor," one of the guards answers. "But we've been given orders to take out the Croc."
"What? Why? He was cooperating! And don't call him Croc, his name is Waylon." The other guard stops tazing him so that another doctor can stick a needle of white serum into his neck. They're trying to put him to sleep so that they can transport him easily.
"Hey!" I scream at the doctor. "Stop that! It isn't necessary." I start marching towards the doctor but a pair of arms wraps around my waist and prevents me from moving any further.
Guy whispers in my ear. "Stop it Harleen. Let these people do their jobs."
"Do their jobs? Our jobs are to help and reform these patients. How are we supposed to do that when they can't even trust him to make it across the damn hallway?"
"Harleen, he ripped the guard's arm off. How can he be trusted after that?"
"He was provoked! That guard was being unnecessarily rough with him, so what did he expect would happen?" The doctor is flicking his needle and is getting ready to insert it in Waylon's neck.
"Hey, you! I said stop it! That isn't necessary!" I try, unsuccessfully, to squirm out of Guy's grasp but he is surprisingly stronger than he looks. I realize that Guy really isn't going to let me interfere with what's happening, so I decide to shout out an apology to Waylon because his changed behavior should not have been awarded this way. "I'm sorry Waylon. You don't deserve this."
The doctor with the white serum looks at me and seems to take pity on my situation. "I'm sorry Dr. Quinzel, but I've been given strict orders to sedate the patient."
"Strict orders? From who?"
"Me." A deep female voice answers from behind the crowd of the S.W.A.T. looking team. A dark skinned woman with short trimmed hair steps forward to address me properly.
"Hello Dr. Quinzel, my name is Amanda Waller and I'm here to collect this patient."
Guy releases me from his grip so that I can properly speak to this woman. I straighten out my coat before I respond to Ms. Waller.
"What do you mean you're here to collect him?"
"I'm transferring him to another facility where he will be receiving different treatment."
"Different treatment? Are you his new doctor?"
Ms. Waller smiles. "No. I am not a doctor."
I stare at her in confusion, not understanding her role in his transfer.
"So, where are you taking him?" I ask.
"I run a small correctional facility in Louisiana called Belle Reve. Right now, we're in need of patients like Mr. Jones here." Oh, I see. It must be a start-up facility looking for some high profile cases to raise their medical rankings.
"Now I understand. Forgive me for saying so Ms. Waller but, I still believe that sedating Mr. Jones was unnecessary."
"Thank you for your concern Dr. Quinzel but this is a customary precaution that I take with all of my new members. This has absolutely nothing to do with his behavior."
"I see…" It seems a bit extreme, but, if this is what she does with every new patient then I guess it's being done for a good reason.
"I have to say that you have impressed me Dr. Quinzel."
"I have?"
"You were able to talk Mr. Jones out of turning that guard into his afternoon snack. It takes a person with a certain kind of moxy -or as I like to call it- a certain kind of crazy, to be brave enough to confront a predator when he's out to kill. That crazy that you have in you, don't lose it. You're going to need it if you ever want to make anything of yourself in this life." Ms. Waller snaps her fingers and the large group of S.W.A.T. looking guards carry Waylon's unconscious body onto a stretcher and start wheeling him out of the ward. Ms. Waller follows behind them after she bids me farewell. "It was nice meeting you Dr. Quinzel. I'll be sure to let Dr. Arkham know of your efforts here."
"Um, thank you Ms. Waller. It was nice meeting you too."
Ms. Waller smiles before leaving but her smile does not reach her eyes. "Until we meet again."
Today has been a quiet Friday afternoon in comparison to yesterday's hectic incident. I heard that the guard who got his arm ripped off is still alive in the hospital in critical condition. I hope he survives.
Right now, I'm on my way to Dr. Arkham's office. When I went to the staff room earlier today to grab a cup of coffee, Dr. Leland found me and told me that Dr. Arkham wanted to have a word with me when I finished all of my sessions for the day. I'm sure he wants to discuss my actions yesterday. I wonder if Ms. Waller really did tell him what happened like she said she was going to. I'm not sure why, but, that woman has an untrustworthy vibe about her. I'm sort of doubting her sincerity towards my actions.
I finally reach Dr. Arkham's door and tap it three times to announce myself.
"Please, come in," Dr. Arkham calls from behind his desk.
I open the door and Dr. Arkham greets me with a smile. "Ah, just the person I wanted to see. Please, have a seat." I take my seat opposite him and cross my legs, placing my hands in my lap.
"I'm assuming you know why you're here?" He asks.
"To discuss what happened yesterday with Waylon Jones, correct?"
"Correct. I've brought you here to congratulate you. Yesterday evening, I received a kindly worded email from Ms. Amanda Waller commending you for your efforts in preventing Mr. Jones from devouring one of our security guards. She specifically emphasizes how much she admired your valor and psychiatric techniques in getting an unstable and uncontrollable patient like Mr. Jones to calm down and behave. This compliment is an enormous honor coming from Amanda Waller. I've known Ms. Waller for many years and she very rarely takes the time to commend one of my employees for their work. Your skills as a doctor must be greater than I imagined." Dr. Arkham folds his hands over his desk and leans forward, looking me directly in the eyes. A slow, somewhat wicked smile stretches across his face. "Harleen, this is exactly what I've been waiting for. This is what I've been waiting for you to show me; that you know how to take control of a dangerous situation and that you will not be intimidated or pushed over easily." Dr. Arkham pauses for a moment. "Harleen, I think you're ready."
Oh my God. My heart is pounding roughly in my chest. With wide eyes and a shaky voice, I ask the magic question to confirm my assumption.
"Ready for what?"
Dr. Arkham's grin widens. "I think you're ready for the Joker."
AN: Yay we finally made it! Harleen is going to meet the Joker in the next chapter! I am so excited to start writing it, it's going to be fun! I hope you guys liked Killer Croc and Amanda Waller's appearance, they are awesome characters that I couldn't resist adding to the story. I hope you all liked this chapter and leave reviews for it because they are greatly appreciated. I'll see you all in the next chapter! :)