I do not own Doctor Who or Justice League. Just making sure you all got that!

(Word of warning, it's an experiment, just take it as it goes… there IS a reason why, trust me.)


"John, could I have a word with you?"

During the morning shift, Nurse Aparecida approached the strange patient, who was now engrossed in a checkers game with another inmate, one of the (in)famous ones.

"Why, hello, Nurse! I most certainly can. Sorry, Jervis, I have to go with the Head Nurse", he excused to the small, balding man, who nodded in return, still focused in the pieces of the game.

Aparecida observed the scene quietly, only speaking when they arrived at the corridor to the lower security residents of the Asylum.

"It seems you have become quite friendly with most of our patients in the institute, Mr. Smith."

"Oh, you know, not all of them are that bad…", he started saying, but quickly notice she was giving him the look. "All right, the ones that get sent here because of…", John Smith motioned both hands on his head, pointing fingers upward, in a imitation of a certain infamous 'black pointy ears', "… are pretty much as dangerous as you can think, but they are not all confrontational. In fact, just respecting their boundaries and not showing fear does the trick. As you instructed your staff to do, so I've been seeing."

Her expression a mask, Aparecida took the comment into account of what she had seen John Smith doing.

The man was clearly delusional, as anyone could learn by talking with him for just five minutes, but Smith was most certainly not stupid.

Aparecida had warned the guards of both shifts to keep themselves smart around this patient, treating him like they would in regards to any one of the Bat-crowd.

In retrospect, she should have just increased his surveillance level a notch altogether.

"Like your friend, Jervis Tetch. Ever heard about his stories?", she carefully asked.

"Oh, yes, I have. The other patients, they talk about a lot of things. Most about the criminally insane portion of our population", John said in a lowering tone. "Most, about those that got sent here because of Gotham's 'Boogey Man'."

Aparecida was not enjoying the way John kept leading their talk. "Mr. Smith, allow me to be honest with you", she said objectively.

He smiled in return. "Only if you allow me to be childish, can't help myself these last years, comes with the package I suppose!"

"John", she said, in a more serious tone. Not reprimanding him, as the patient noticed, just asking him for attention, like a mother would. "What are you doing here?"

"Haven't you heard?", he asked smiling and fixing his spiky hair to all directions. "I'm crazy! Surely you have noticed that, by now."

'To hell with the politically correct', she thought. "Mr. Smith, there is 'crazy', and there is dealing with the wrong kind of crowd, here in Arkham. In my years of experience, I've only found two kind of people who tends to get closer to our… 'special cases': those with suicidal tendencies… and those who are just like them."

They had both stopped walking at this point.

John Smith stared at the Nurse. He knew how smart she was just by looking from afar, but, now, he could see how dangerously quick she was to get the personalities of those around her.

Aparecida was assessing him, checking his mood, his response to her behaviors.

She was so much like him, he realized, that he could not prevent a smile.

"And now you are asking yourself if I am really that dangerous. Am I scaring you, Head Nurse?", he said, in a soothing tone.

"Do you think I should be afraid, John?", she asked back.

"Of course not, you are not afraid of me", he commented, moving further from her and opening his arms. "You're just respecting my boundaries."

They both fell quiet.

Aparecida decided to go for the open approach.

"You look like an honest man to me, John Smith", she confessed. "But you worry me. The patients, even the worst ones, don't seem to care all that much about you, probably finding you nice and meek. Most of the medical staff do, as well. But that's what you want. You act odd like every patient, but it's the little things that you say, the way you observe the others, the tiniest details you leave shown, these are the things that make me insecure around you."

She quickly stabbed a finger at his chest. "And I don't like feeling insecure. Especially here. People depend on me, to make this a safe place to work at and to get treatment. Should I warn the security about you, John? You know Mr. Casey, he is not as lenient as I am. Are you going to be a trouble for us?"

John tilted his head, listening to the nurse quite intently, not afraid in the slightest from the shorter nurse.

He took a few moments to ponder what she had said, and he had to admit, she was quite a threat herself.

Or possibly a good candidate for...

"Mrs. Santos, you brilliant nurse", he said with a smile. "I am not looking for troubles, let me assure you. In fact, they usually find me, so I've been extra-careful of not letting them either. And for the 'why' I'm here… because this is the place I have to be at this particular moment. I most definitely have to be here."

He took a step back in the direction in which they came.

"And I most definitely have to go back to my game with Jervis, I promised the fellow a 'best-out-of-thirty-one', and the little weasel tries to cheat all the time!", he said overjoyed, already walking away.

"You did not give me a straight answer, John", Aparecida said firmly.

This made the patient stop and look back.

"You are right, Mrs. Santos. I tend to do that, you'll find I'm especially keen on this bad habit of mine... So, I can tell you this: John Smith… is not going to be a problem here", then he rubbed a finger in his nose. "You do have a lot of problems around you, as it is. You are probably aware of them, aren't you? Word of warning, Aparecida: you have to trust your feelings, now, more than ever."

And John Smith was gone, leaving the nurse with many more questions.


Sorry about the short chapter. Getting ideas on the 'digital paper' being a pain in the ass...

To be continued...