As the sun began to set, Adriana waited on a rooftop across the street from Panax Jewelers. Meanwhile, the Joker was across town waiting by Angari. The city was still a mess many days after Gotham's hero had been exposed as allegedly, a criminal. Anarchy was setting in, and Adriana hoped that in a few days everything would return to normal.
Helicopter search lights shined above, mostly as a deterrent for anyone who was thinking about criminal activity tonight. Looting and burglary had become rampant after dark.
Adriana thought of Bruce as she stared ahead. He was wasting away and she didn't understand why. The city became darker and darker and she realized as a group of teens arrived and went around to the back of the building that she wouldn't be the one meeting the Catwoman tonight.
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The Joker waited behind the closed jewelry shop until it was dark. He hid in between a dumpster and a metal gate until he heard someone coming. It was her. And she was exactly how Adriana had described her. She wore a black shiny catsuit, a mask covering her mid face and the headpiece she was wearing made her resemble a cat.
The woman's movements were confident, as though she knew she was never going to get caught. The shop owners had put a large padlock on the back door in an effort to prevent the night thieves from coming in. The Joker watched her easily remove the lock before going in. He waited a while longer. She would be disabling the cameras. He didn't know how good she was, but based on how quickly she had gotten around the padlock, she would do this just as quickly.
After a few minutes he went in quietly through the back door. He looked around for her, hearing and seeing nothing, but she was there. He could feel it.
She was behind him and he knew it without even turning around. He walked over to a case of diamond bracelets and looked down as though he was interested in stealing them. He felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of his head.
"Freeze," she said. Her voice was smooth and feminine.
He obeyed and raised both hands.
"Are you a cop?" he asked, knowing the answer.
"Are you?" she asked.
"No..." he said. "I was just interested in a few of these."
"So you're here to steal?" she asked him.
"Depends," he answered.
"Turn around," she ordered.
He turned slowly. They were both masked. The ski mask covered his entire face but he could see her mouth.
"Keep your hands up," she told him. "Tell me, what do you plan to do with these pretty things once you've taken them?"
"Hmm.." he said thoughtfully and then in the blink of an eye he easily wrestled the gun away from her. "I thought I'd toss them off the bridge."
"Are you going to shoot me?" she asked.
"Nah," he said and tossed the gun at her.
"You're joking," she said.
"Nope," he replied.
"Why would you toss diamonds away?" she asked.
"I have no use for them," he said. "And neither do any of the customers who frequent a place like this."
He saw the side of her lips barely move into what looked like a smile.
"They're worth a great deal of money," she said.
"You're right," he told her. "Maybe I'll sell them and give to the addict's shelter."
She stopped smiling and he realized she wondered if he was serious.
"I'm not joking by the way," he said. He was manipulating her and knew this type of plan was exactly what she was doing. "All this valuable merchandise sitting here doing nothing, while there are people out there barely surviving."
She raised the gun to him again, pointing it at his chest.
"Take off the mask," she told him.
"Or you'll shoot?" he asked.
"Depends on if I like what I see," she replied.
He placed a thumb under his chin to catch the fabric. Revealing his face after removing a mask was something programmed in his mind to be unpleasant. People would recoil, scream, run, or look at him with shock. He pulled the mask off quickly.
The woman placed one hand on her hip and lowered the gun.
"Well, well," she said as though she was impressed. "You're a pretty thing aren't you?"
A question he had never been asked before.
"What are you planning to do with your haul?" he asked, ignoring the question.
"I know some people that could use the assistance," she said.
He nodded. " I assumed you were working for someone who wanted you to steal."
"Why would you assume such a thing?" she asked plainly.
"You just...look like an employee," he said. "One who works for others."
She could tell he was trying to antagonize her but couldn't understand why. She didn't know him.
"Perhaps I am," she said. "But we all have the same goal in mind."
"Right," he nodded. "To fight the rich. To bring them down."
"Maybe," she shrugged in such a way they he knew the answer was definitely a yes.
"The wealthiest man in Gotham..Bruce Wayne," the Joker said. "I wonder what it would take to bring him down."
"Well he's a big fish," the woman said boredly. "And a dull one at that. Predictable, typical business man type, you know. The way to get to the big fish is to work your way up. Whatever we take here will hurt all the way up the chain. And by the way, the safe is mine. Interfere and I will shoot you."
The Joker raised his eyebrows innocently and went back over to the case of bracelets.
"What are you waiting for?" the Catwoman asked. She was waiting for him to break it, to prove that he was really a criminal. "Don't be a pussycat."
He gave her a smile, letting her know she had no idea who she was dealing with as he broke the glass with a single strike with his elbow.
She was surprised and again impressed. She approached the glass beside him and took his face with a single hand, her lips close to his.
"As you were," she smiled and left to break into the safe.
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"You weren't supposed to actually steal!" Adriana said when she saw what the Joker had taken. She was still dressed as Shade.
"I had to or she would have known I was there to get to her," he told her.
"Great..." Adriana said. "I'll have to return this stuff tomorrow...we'd better hope there's no footage."
"There isn't," he said.
"Okay.." Adriana said, trying to keep her voice down in the alley. "So..what happened? What did you learn."
"She's employed, working for someone, but it seems the diamond theft is her own personal decision. She enjoys it and steals to sell to give to others," he said.
"So you were right," she told him.
"Oh yes," he said. "And I gathered she knows nothing about the Batman and the Bruce Wayne being one and the same. In fact...I wonder if her superiors have any physical convincing evidence connecting the two."
"Anything else?" Adriana asked as she looked through the bag of stolen jewels.
"Hmm.." the Joker thought. "She intelligent, fast, skilled. But I'm sure you could take her."
"Really?" Adriana laughed.
"Yes," he answered seriously. "Although there's no reason to now. He's been exposed. And I don't think his identity as Bruce Wayne is likely to be exposed. She referred to him as a big fish. Her superiors probably want more."
"More like what?" Adriana asked.
"Maybe they have some personal vendetta," the Joker said. "Who knows. Not much we can do with what I learned from Miss Cat."
Adriana sighed. "So you don't think she's a threat?"
"Not at this time," he answered simply. "I can't speak for who she works for though."
"Maybe we should abduct her," Adriana said to him. "Get her to tell us more."
"She's seasoned," he said.
"What?" Adriana asked.
"She's been through torture before so she wouldn't be an easy one for you to break," he said. "For me though, it would be easy. But I assume if you don't want me stealing, you wouldn't want me to torture this woman."
"How do you know she's been tortured?"
"I can see it in her eyes."
"Well...okay that's true that I can't torture her I guess," Adriana said, seeing they had hit a wall. "So there's nothing more we can do."
"Unfortunately not."
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Adriana tried not to show her shock as Bruce pulled on his boxers after towel drying with a robe. She could see his hip bones. She acted like all was well and kept brushing her hair. When they were in bed she closed her eyes and kept thinking about what could be wrong with him.
A few more days had gone by and they hadn't had sex at all but Bruce looked calm, relaxed, and slept like a baby. She waited for him to fall asleep and then went up to the medical facility.
"Don't ask," she said to the Joker as he walked in on her waiting for a test result strip.
"He must be looking very sick," the Joker said when he saw the test box on the counter.
"Yes," Adriana said before collecting a second kit. "Could you clean this up? Would you mind?"
"Yep," he said as she left quickly.
Adriana watched Bruce sleeping peacefully. He was sleeping so well that he actually had a small smile on his lips. She sat the test box on the bathroom sink counter and opened it quietly before returning to the bedroom She used her fingers to part Bruce's lips and watched him flinch a bit. She took a testing swab and stuck in into his mouth and rubbed it along his lower gum line. As she moved to swipe the top as carefully as she could he woke up. Quickly, she snatched the stick out of his mouth and moved over to the tube sitting on the bedside table.
"What are you doing?" he asked and held his mouth.
He saw her move a small white stick into a tiny tube of fluid.
"Adriana?" he asked and reached to grab her arm but she walked away.
"Go back to sleep," she said and turned off the lamp.
"Hey," he said louder and left the bed, following her in the dark before turning the light on again.
"Stop!" she said as he bumped her arm. "You'll make me spill it."
"What is all this?" he said and looked at the tube. There was no label on it but he knew what it was. "Are you serious?"
"Yes!" she said. "You don't tell me anything and look at you! I can see your bones!"
"You're overreacting," he said, still waking up.
"You never initiate sex with me! Not since Sidi removed my gift and now you barely want to and want condoms all the time," she said. "Your behavior is bizarre!"
"That doesn't mean-" he started.
"What else am I supposed to think?" she asked. "You're going to weigh less than me soon."
"I'll be alright in a few days, I'll start gaining a bit more weight again," he said.
"How do you know that?" she said. "Is that when the medication kicks in?"
"I'm not sick," he said and looked at the tube and stick she was holding. "Look."
She looked down at the single line on the stick. Negative. With frustration she sat down on the edge of the bed and slapped the tube and stick down on the bedside table.
"I don't understand," Adriana said.
"It might be from some steroids I was taking," Bruce said. "This can happen in some people but I've stopped them so I should start gaining again."
Adriana looked at him appalled.
"Steroids?" she asked. "Since when do you use that?"
"It was just a trial run," he said, flat out lying to her and making up the drug side effects as he went. "But in some people it was shown to cause wasting."
"What? What is this drug called?" she asked.
"It's still in developmental stages," he told her.
"Well why-" she said, almost about to cry in frustration. "Why couldn't you just tell me that?"
"I'm sorry I didn't know that it would bother you this much," he said.
"How! I'm your wife and I love you and I've been worried out of my mind!" she said and grabbed his arm.
"I can see that," he said and picked up the test tube. "You thought I had HIV."
"You look like you have AIDS now," she said. "What was I to think?"
"I'm sorry my love," he told her. "I should have just come clean about it but I guess it was just a little embarrassing."
Adriana was laughing and shaking her head to herself. Embarrassing.