Chapter 3: Evil Inside
It was late, nearly ten o'clock at night. However, the main laboratory of Wayne Tech Labs was still lit. Victoria Star sat in front of a huge mega computer slightly dozing. She had no ambition to return to her apartment after her encounter with the Joker the previous night.
The screeching sound of the computer's printer broke Victoria's slumber. She groggily took the read out and made her way up the grated steps to the second level of the lab, which hung over the main laboratory, acting as a storage area.
Victoria scanned the shelves for samples and enzymes. Bioengineering was her specialty, she a certain skill in figuring out genetic and hereditary problems. Her current work was a growth enzyme for the treatment of systemic hypoplasim, a disorder that kept the famous Mary Dahl from aging. Victoria had offered her services after hearing her story. Yet the other possible applications of a growth enzyme were endless.
Victoria sighed, walking through the tall lines of jars and boxes. She pulled off a small vial of serum and turned to search for the next component in the experiment.
"Need a hand?" a familiar voice said in a dark tone.
Victoria froze, dropping the vial so that it shattered on the grated floor, spilling its contents on the table below.
The Joker advanced toward her down the shelves' aisle, his hands folded behind his back.
Victoria rounded on her heels and ran for the stairs, which were the only way down from the loft level of the lab. She turned the corner to see one of the Joker's henchmen blocking the stairs.
"I do hope you've reconsidered my offer…" Joker continued his advance on Victoria. "We could be great you know. We could rule this dismal town and have it all to ourselves."
Victoria leaned back on the railing of the left for support. Her breath came in short pants, a snarl growing on her flawless lips.
"Go back to your little slave girl in Arkham!" she burst, eyes glowing with rage, her body shaking. "I'll never be like you! Not in this lifetime, not ever!"
The Joker looked shocked, but smiled even wider. "Oh but you are… Even now, without all your pills and medications, the real you is coming out… Stop fighting it and join me."
"Stop it!" Victoria covered her ears and collapsed to her knees, the Joker right in front of her.
"Enough, Joker." The silhouette of Batman appeared against the moonlight from the large windows.
The Joker's eyes narrowed. "Why can't you just mind your own business!" He reached into his jacket and pulled out a revolver.
A batarang was there to meet the Joker's revolver, knocking it out of his hand making him double over holding his hand.
Victoria screamed in rage. Completely ignoring Batman, she lunged at the Joker, tackling him to the ground. Without a second thought, she began to pummel the Joker.
"Gah! Get 'er off me!" Joker cried at the sudden attack. "She's crazy!"
Batman jumped on the flailing Victoria, using all of his strength to raise her struggling body up over his head, away from the Joker. Batman's balance was thrown by Victoria's struggling and he toppled backwards, hitting the railing.
Victoria let out an ear-piercing scream as she fell over the edge. Her hand reached up in time to snag the bottom rung of the railing.
"Victoria!" It was the Joker who shouted and raced to the rail, reaching down for her hand. "Give me your hand!"
Victoria looked up at the Joker, fear in her eyes. "Jack…" she whispered and a glimmer of recognition came over her face.
Batman turned on his stomach to also reach for Victoria. "Reach, Victoria!"
Her fingers slipped, and Victoria screamed. Her scream was cut short by the crashing of her body on the lab table below.
"No!" Joker was hanging over the rail, gazing down at the woman he had once hoped to be his wife. Something inside of him seemed to fade away.
Batman quickly jumped to his feet and over the rail, landing next to Victoria's body. He, too, feared the worst. Placing two fingers on her throat, he felt the faint thump of a pulse. "She's alive…"
Outside the sound of police sirens rang and soon the Gotham police were swarming into the lab, along with the paramedics.
"She's lucky to be alive," Commissioner Gordon remarked as Batman and him watched Victoria's limp body being taken out on a stretcher.
"I'm still worried about the chemicals she fell into," Batman commented gravely. "Who knows how it will affect her."
"We'll have the best doctors taking care of her," Commissioner Gordon assured. "But I'm afraid the Joker's still at large…"
"Somehow, I feel he won't be causing much trouble for now…" Batman replied darkly.
"Well, I hope you're right…" Gordon looked up to see Batman had already disappeared. "I really hate it when he does that…"
"Are you sure there's nothing you can do for her, doctor?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne," the head doctor of Gotham General Hospital said looking at his clipboard. "But there's no way in telling what the chemicals she was exposed to will do. All we can do is hope for the best." He gave Bruce Wayne a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and left the hospital room.
Bruce turned to face the hospital bed. The body of Victoria laid limp under the aqua-blue hospital covers. She had been unconscious for two days and her body was beginning to fade. A deathly pale was growing under her bronzed skin. Her golden hair withered into a dull gray with streaks of black along with her nails which showed the same shade of gray.
Bruce pulled a chair next to his fiancé, wondering what the change on the outside would do to her. He grasped her hand, which mirrored the rest of her thinning body in that every bone now showed. In his head, he thought of how he could have prevented this. Guilt stained his mind and he remembered the night she fell, replaying the scene over and over.
A weak pressure squeezed Bruce's hand, calling him back to the hospital room. He looked at Victoria's face. Her sunken cheeks were covered in beads of sweat. Her teeth were clenched as if she was trying to contain some evil.
"Doctor!"