A/N: moving right along...

~A maniac messiah

Destruction is his game

A beautiful liar

Love for him is pain~

~Thirty Second to Mars~

Bruce woke the next morning by a knock on the door to his room. He was taken into a big communal shower area that was thankfully empty. He stood under the cold spray, scrubbing his skin as quickly as he could. By the time he was done, his skin felt numb. He dressed in the clean uniform and waited for the orderly to escort him.

The Breakfast was bland, eggs rubbery and toast slightly burnt. He ate as much as his stomach could handle. He was then escorted to meet with his new doctor. Joan Leland sat behind her desk and smiled when Bruce was brought in.

"Good to see you again Mr. Wayne. Please have a seat and we will get started."

Bruce moved to the chair and sat, watching the orderly close the door behind him. He looked back at the doctor he had spoken to at the police department.

"How are you today Mr. Wayne?" She asked.

"Fine, call me Bruce."

"Ok Bruce, was there anything you'd like to talk about before we get started today?"

He looked at her, then shook his head. "No, not really."

"That's fine, I would like to go over what will happen during your stay here." She smiled again.

Bruce just looked at her, waiting.

She cleared her throat and started. "First we will be going over some questions and I beg you please answer honestly. These will help us determine what course of treatment that would best help you."

He nodded.

She smiled and continued. "Once we have that finished, you and I will meet twice a week to go over any progress or setbacks. I believe that we can get you back to a better place mentally. Since you are not a violent offender, you will be moved to Ward B, on the first floor. You will be allowed to move freely within the ward. Your door will only lock at lights out."

Bruce was surprised at that, but just nodded his understanding.

"If you become combative or a danger to yourself or others, you will be transferred to a more restrictive ward. We have plenty of room thanks to your many donations over the years."

Bruce laughed at that. Once he had calmed back down, she continued.

"You are on a minimum 3 month maximum 9 months with us. If you follow all of your therapy regimen and actively participate, you could be out of here as early as 3 months and a day."

She sipped her coffee and looked back at Bruce.

"Do you have any questions for me now?"

Bruce digested the information she had given him. It was pretty straight forward. He did have questions but it had nothing to do with anything she had just told him.

"What happened yesterday? I felt the building shake."

She looked at him for a full minute before she relaxed her shoulders and sighed. "I guess it will be okay to tell you, you may hear about it later. Joker decided to blow up half the city. Thankfully, he didn't mess with Arkham or Blackgate. He didn't mess with the hospitals either." She said almost as an afterthought.

Bruce sat there, the feeling of calm was still around him. It was what he had expected. "I tried to warn them, but they wouldn't listen." He said.

"Yes, well, let's steer clear of talk about The Joker for now. I don't think that subject would be conductive to your recovery."

He shrugged. "It's not my problem anymore." He said.

"Mr. Wayne, it was never your problem. He is the police's problem." She corrected him.

"You are absolutely right Doctor." He said.

Bruce answered all of her questions, and watched as she took notes. By the end of the session he was fighting the urge to yawn. Joan smiled and stood from the desk.

"Now Bruce, the orderly will take you to the medical area and they will draw blood and check you over. Then He will walk you to your ward. Once he shows you your room, you are free to familiarize yourself with the rest of the area."

Bruce stood, and they walked to her office door together. "Okay."

She reached and squeezed his elbow, "I will see you in a few days."

The orderly was standing at the door waiting for them. Bruce followed him to the small clinic area. They drew three vials of blood and slapped a bandage on his arm. He watched the nurses give him strange sideways glances. He ignored them.

"This way." The orderly told him, walking him into a long brightly lit hallway. At the end was cross section of hallway. There was a sign high on the wall, one way led to ward B the other was to ward D. They turned towards Ward B and met a metal gate. The security behind the desk buzzed open the gate and they continued through.

They stopped in front a door and the orderly pointed. "This is you. You have toiletries inside in a shower caddy, take them with you to showers in the morning and drop them back off in here after. If you take them to the recreation area, they will be taken. No food allowed in the rooms, keep in the designated food area. You will be given clean clothes after your shower every day."

Bruce stepped into the room. It was large, walls beige. There was a small table and stool. He turned back to the man.

"Feel free to walk around." The man turned and left Bruce in his new room.

Joker spend the next few days in his home watching the impact the explosions had on the city. The first two days it was nonstop coverage of rubble and replays of his face. Once the newness had worn off, it was news as usual with small segments going to recovery efforts. Joker was pleased with how it all went down.

All of the bombs had gone off, that fact was surprising. Usually with as many people as he had handling explosives, you usually had some duds. There had been casualties, a few of his people hadn't gotten far enough away from the blast radius before detonation. Small price to pay for the cause. Everything turned out beautifully.

He had sent Red home, since he would be here with Peach and the baby. He found himself bouncing the bundle of joy most of the day. Whenever it wasn't eating actually. Joker found that he didn't mind it. It slept most of the day and when it cried he handed it off to his wife.

He spend the first night watching the TV, but last night he had been using his free time to decide what else he could do. He really needed to see what impact this would all have on the city. But he could cultivate ideas.

Right now he was pacing the floor in the living room, with the little jellybean asleep on his shoulder. The news droned on in the background, Peach was upstairs sleeping. His mind was all over the place, he wanted to be back in the city, seeing it all first hand. His phone buzzed in his pocket, he reached for the small burner phone, and looked at the screen.

He had some of his more skilled people working in special jobs, giving him a pair of eyes practically everywhere. This was a message from one of those people.

"Wayne is settled in Ward B."

That was the entire message. Joker put the phone back in the pocket he pulled it from and continues his pacing. Bruce was in the minimum security area. Joker, unfortunately, was not familiar with that part of the hospital.

He filed that information back for later. He had to get back to the issue at hand. The city right now is pulling together and trying to go through the rubble and still looking for any survivors. Then the cleanup would begin.

If the city officials would look at the big picture, Joker was helping improving the economy. Look at all the people working so hard. The construction companies were going to be making money on the rebuild. New life, being forcefully breathed into the city. It was like he was performing CPR on the worn out city. Oh, he liked that analogy. He chuckled to himself.

The baby started to squirm in his arms, he checked his watch. Lunchtime. He moved to go find his wife. He went up the stairs and into their room. The bed was empty, he moved to the bathroom and knocked lightly on the closed door.

He had learned his lesson the day before, barging in while she was in there. It was a bloody mess. He cringed at the memory. She had yelled at him about privacy and healing, he had turned without a word. He knocked now.

"Come in."

He opened the door. She was getting dressed, fresh from the shower.

"Is she hungry?" she asked.

"I think so." He said, still watching her.

Peach moved and took the baby, then headed straight into the room, nursing the baby as she grabbed things around the room.

"They have Bruce in minimum security." He said.

"Of course they do." She didn't even look up at him.

"I could possibly mess that up for him, I have people inside, get him in the rougher part of the hospital."

She stopped and turned to face him. Joker couldn't read the look on her face.

"No, let him think he's on the way out. If we are going to mess with him, we will strike then. Kill that last bit of hope for release." She said, a small smile gracing her face.

There she was, his devious and spiteful little vixen. You don't just hit 'em when they're down, you wait until it hurts the most. Then you devastate their existence. The girl just got it.

Joker smiled at her then made a decision. He needed to get back to the city and check out how things were at the funhouse, and decided he'd take the family out with him.

"When you, ah, finish," he pointed to the baby. "Get ready to go, we need to stop and check on the boys."

Her eyes lit up, "Yes sir." She said, making him chuckle at her.

Joker moved to get himself ready, knowing she'd probably be waiting on him. He grabbed his grease paint and dolled himself up, he would be wearing civilian clothes, but the face had to be made up. Can't look like he'd gone soft.

When he made his way down towards the garage, he saw his wife, waiting patiently for him. She had the folded stroller by the door. He frowned, this kid had more and more accessories tucked through the house. Peach was constantly surprising him with something new.

He watched her grab her bag and head to the garage, he followed, picking up the folded stroller and putting it in the trunk of the car. He got in and waited for her to finished getting the car seat attached. She finally slid into the passenger seat and they left.

The drive was uneventful, but once they got near the city limits, it was different. The city seemed mostly dead. Joker was tempted to get closer to the decimated ruins, but decided not to with the baby in the car. He headed towards amusement mile and into the parking area finally.

Once Peach had the baby in the stroller, they made their way to the fun house. The place was full, but everyone was just lying around. Joker frowned, that would not do. He needed to get these guys something to do until it was time for the next big thing.

Peach moved to the desk and parked the stroller there. She walked back to where Joker stood, surveying the crowd of guys.

"Why are they all here? Shouldn't they be out, I don't know, doing something?" she asked.

"My thoughts exactly." he said then stepped into the room.

He spoke loud enough that it would echo through the room. "Here I go and lay the city to ruins so you could pillage and plunder to your heart's content, and I find you all laying around playing video games?"

It was comical how the men jumped up and stumbled over themselves.

"Is this the thanks I get? I told you boys to get out and cause some trouble. Do you think trouble sleeps? Batman is away for a while, that means you only have to evade the fat and lazy GCPD."

The men began to move, most getting dressed and heading out without sparing a glance his way. Good. There were a few guys left. One's that were supposed to be there. They had either been hurt or incapacitated and had 'light duty' which meant they cleaned up and kept the place looking halfway livable.

He turned back to his wife. "That's better."

She laughed and sat at the desk. Joker was sending a text to Ace, letting him know to head their way. Joker had decided to start on the next thing on his agenda. This would take time, but he was sure it would be well worth it.

He moved around his wife grabbing the papers he would be needing. She didn't bother him or ask him for something to do, she just watched. He could live with that.

Ace came in and Peach jumped up to give him a hug. Joker swallowed down the small bite of jealousy that tried to rear its head. He really didn't like people touching his things. He grabbed the last of the paperwork as Peach showed off the baby. Joker watched the scene with a sour expression on his face.

"You two finished?" he finally growled when he had had a gut full.

Peach looked up at him. "Yes dear."

Ace chose to be silent.

"You two will be helping me with this next fun idea I have."

Ace nodded, knowing he would be part of it either way, Peach on the other hand was ecstatic. She practically bounced in place.

"We," he motioned between the three of them. "Will be working to punish Bruce Wayne."

Peach let out a small squeal, then seemed to deflate. "He's locked up, how can we get to him? I thought we were just going to mess up his release?"

"Oh, sweet naive wife, I have guards at Arkham on payroll. My insurance policy in case I get pinched again."

She smiled. "Okay, so what's the plan? Will we sneak in and kill him?" she asked.

Joker laughed when he noticed she had her fingers crossed. "Better." he said.

"What's better than that?" the confusion on her face was amusing.

"I've told you, It's better to break them down before you put them down for good."

The baby started to cry and Joker moved to pick it up without thinking. He held the small bundle in his arms, bouncing lightly, and turned back to Ace and his wife.

The baby seemed to quiet down instantly and he continued to explain what he had hashed out so far. The three of them set for a while going over the schematics and guard schedules. They had the start of the torture they would enact on Mr. Wayne, planned out.