(I do not own the Batman characters or Katherine, Katlyn, Katelynn, or Chelsea. But I do own Amber, Caleb, Gatsby, and Tommy Tetch. What does the Joker have in store for our nurse, Amber? Read on to find out! Hope you enjoy it!)
[Song Suggestions for this chapter]
~ 'Man Smart (Woman Smarter)' by Harry Belafonte (listen during Nigma's lessons with Katherine)
~ 'Wild Woman' by Imelda May (listen during the cafeteria scene)
Chapter Four
Full House
October 2nd, 2011
The next morning, Dr. Arkham called for Amber to meet him in his office. I shouldn't have shoved a paint bucket on the Joker's head. Now he's going to fire me, she thought as she walked the asylum halls. Too soon she found herself standing in front of the door marked with his name. She took a few deep, nervous breaths then knocked on his door.
"Come in," he called. Amber pushed the door open and found the back of his chair facing her. It swiveled around to reveal Arkham with his hands together and fingertips pressed to his lips. A very grave look was on his face. "I've been waiting for twenty minutes," he told her.
"I'm sorry, sir; but one of the patients I was giving medicine to thought he was a banana and I was a monkey…things got rough," Amber explained.
Arkham motioned for her to take a seat, which she did immediately. He eyed her for a moment before speaking. "I wanted to talk to you about your performance here. You've been with us for a month now, right?"
"A month and one day. Two days if you're counting today."
Arkham nodded. "Which is why it surprises me to have heard the things I have from others concerning you."
Amber shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Like what?"
"Things that make me question if I made the right decision about having you as a spare nurse. Miss Johnson, by reading these reports, it is quite clear to me that you can no longer continue as you are."
Amber closed her eyes. Here it comes.
"Miss Johnson, you're being promoted to a higher position of nursing here. You'll be given assigned patients to take care of; you'll no longer do the jobs that get thrown at you."
Amber's eyes flew open. Huh? "Really?"
Arkham nodded, smiling. "You'll be assigned to some of the residents in the High Level Criminally Insane Ward."
Amber wasn't silent for very long. She leapt to her feet. "Why do I have to be assigned with the most dangerous criminals in the asylum?" she burst. "I'm not even a year old! I've only been here for a month!"
"And one day."
"Two days!"
"Sorry; two days. But a months and two days is like two years in Arkham Asylum years. Not very many of our staff stays this long."
Amber plopped back into the chair and her bottom lip protruded out a bit. "But why me?"
"Because they like you," Dr. Arkham told her.
Amber stared at him, brow furrowed, mouth slightly open. She blinked a few times before closing her mouth and swallowing. "Come again?" she asked, uncertain if she had heard him correctly.
The doctor pulled out a file and flipped it open. "According to these letters –,"
Amber's green eyes looked up from the file to Arkham's face. "Letters?" she repeated.
He looked over the rims of his glasses at the young nurse. "Every month, we have the patients write letters to me and I look over them with the Board to see what techniques are working and what is not."
He picked up a small stack of letters and held them up for him to read. "In their letters, they practically praise you and condemn the rest of the staff. They say, and I'm telling you what the patients themselves wrote, Pamela Isely and Harleen Quinzel say you're like 'the sister they never had'. Jervis Tetch says that you're 'absolutely charming'. Jonathan Crane thinks you're 'an angel', Katherine and Caleb say you're 'like a mother', Edward Nigma says…," he paused and squinted to make sure he was reading correctly.
He shrugged and continued. "Nigma says you are 'like the nice ex-girlfriend who actually kept her word and stayed friends'. The Joker said you're 'like the nagging wife who means well that the husband feels no inclination to kill and loves all the same', and Harvey Dent couldn't decide what to call you, flipped his coin and decided not to tell us."
Amber was silent as she soaked in all the information. "They said that?" she asked in disbelief.
"Indeed. I don't want you to think I'm dumping them on you, but I'm trying to do what I think is best for the rest of the staff. With the other nurses and orderlies, these patients have harassed them, assaulted them, and yes, some have even been killed." Amber's eyes snapped up to meet his, but she said nothing. "They may have harassed you at the start, but not in the extreme measures they have done to others. If I place them with a nurse that they like, I'm sure it will be not only beneficial to them, but to the rest of the asylum."
Amber sighed and ran a hand through her golden-brown hair. "I don't know, Dr. Arkham –,"
"I'll give you a raise in your pay."
"I'll do it."
…
They had been gathered into one of the group therapy rooms and told Dr. Arkham had an announcement for them. The Joker and Nigma sat on the front row of seats that had been set up for them, facing the front of the room. The Joker twisted his neck around to see who was inside. Harley sat beside him to his left, the Riddler to his right; Crane sat directly behind him. Katherine was by the Riddler and Katlyn by her. Chelsea, Caleb, Tommy, Jervis, Ivy, and Dent were there as well. Everyone who he'd involved in his little scheme. The Joker grinned and turned back to the front.
A finger tapped on his shoulder and Crane leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "Remind me again, clown, why I had to write that sappy message that was a perfume scented marker away from being a love letter?"
The Joker's grin widened, and he lazily slouched in his seat with a sigh. "Becaaause it wouldn't have worked unless we all pitched in," he answered.
"Why must we have Nurse Johnson as our assigned nurse?"
"How many nurses in this asylum are like Amber? Hm? None. She gives more freedom than anyone else and she doesn't even realize it. Like you said, Crane, she's soft."
Crane gazed at him with narrowed eyes. "…This is about the socks, isn't it?"
"No!" the Joker insisted a bit too quickly. "Look, the socks are symbolic; alright?
"Symbolic," Crane repeated, unconvinced.
The Joker gestured with his hands, scrambling for words. "Theeeey're symbolic for other things we could do if we have her as our personal nurse."
"Who's to say it even worked?"
The clown and Nigma exchanged a glance with each other then turned their eyes forward. "It will," the Joker assured Crane. If it didn't, he'd never live down all the nice things he'd written about Amber. And Crane would make sure of it.
The door opened and Dr. Arkham entered the room followed closely by Amber. The Joker gave a flirtatious wink when she glanced his way which earned him a look of offense from her and an elbow to the ribs from Harley. "Oh, I'm just messing with her, Harls," he assured.
Harley pursed her lips. "Yeah, that bettah be all yer doin'."
Dr. Arkham's unease about speaking to the Gotham Rogues without the safety of them being confined to their cells was evident in the number of guards he had in the room. There had to be at least three for each patient. Arkham stalled for a moment by clearing his throat and shifted his weight back and forth from the balls of his feet to his toes.
"You okay there, doc?" Amber whispered low enough for only him to hear.
"I can't recall ever having all of them together in one room before. At least, not when they were unrestrained."
"Think of them as rebellious high schoolers if that helps."
"Right, right, right," Arkham muttered, nodding at her words. "Very dangerous, murderous, clinically insane rebellious high schoolers…"
"Dr. Arkham," Amber prodded.
Arkham took a deep breath and began. "I know this isn't a regular occurrence for you to be pulled from your cells at random. But I wanted you all present so I could inform you that no longer will you have various orderlies and nurses attending to you. Instead you will have one main attendee. Starting today, you are now under the sole charge of Nurse Amber Johnson."
Putting aside their vast differences for a brief moment, the Joker and Nigma fist bumped each other quietly without looking away from Dr. Arkham. "You got lucky," Crane grumbled.
"Ugh; what is that awful buzzing in my ear?" the Joker asked, feigning an annoyed voice. He stuck a finger in his ear and jimmied it around a bit. "It's so annoying."
"Is it a fly, Puddin'?" Harley asked, oblivious.
"No, it's more like a bird; a Crane to be exact."
Dr. Arkham stepped back to give Amber the floor. Her hands began to tremble, so she clasped the tightly before her as if she meant to open her sentence with a cheerful clap. "Well, I thought that for our first day together we could go outside to the courtyard," she suggested.
Katlyn jumped up from her seat with a fist raised in the air. "Yes!" she shouted.
Dr. Arkham turned to Amber with a smile that appeared a little too forced for her to draw any comfort from. "Good luck," he said, then hurried out of the room.
Instantly, Amber became aware that everyone was staring at her. She faced them and gave a smile that she hoped was more convincing than the one Arkham had given her. "Weeeell, if everyone would get in line at the door, we could head out to the courtyard."
Katlyn's chair toppled over in her wake to get to the door. Katherine looked at the empty chair beside her and up at Katlyn. "How'd you get over there so fast?" she asked.
Everyone else moved leisurely out of their seats to line up behind Katlyn. Dent grumbled something about lines being for kids. "If that's how you feel about it, Mr. Dent, then maybe you'd rather remain inside while we got out? Afterall," Amber added, "outside recreation is kid stuff too."
The Joker, Nigma, Crane, Jervis, Tommy, and Caleb all waited to hear Dent's response. Dent's undamaged ear turned red as he coughed and scuffed his toe on the floor. "Ya know, Dr. Leland's been telling me to embrace my inner child," he mumbled. "Doc's orders."
"Good save, Harv," the Joker taunted.
….
Five minutes had not even passed by before Katherine and Katlyn started to harass the two silent guards who stood at the doors leading back into the asylum.
"Hey, Katherine, look at this!" Katlyn squealed. "They're like those British guards outside of the Queen's palace; watch!" She proceeded to make all sorts of faces at them, poke their arms, and spout all kinds of ridiculous nonsense in the hopes of getting a reaction out of them.
Katherine, having watched her minion's failings, decided to try her hand at it. She looked around to see if Nurse Johnson was watching. The young woman was too busy trying to calm Caleb down from another panic attack, brought on by Crane, to notice. Picking up a long stick, Katherine wielded just as the Queen's guard held their guns. She marched up to the guards, saluted, then squeezed herself to be standing in the middle of them. She set her face into a hard stare, mimicking their expressions. A few seconds passed and Katherine grew tired of her game. Moving with utmost slowness, she brought up her stick and poked arm of the guard to her right. Nothing happened. She repeated the motion. Still no response. "Move; dang it," she whispered. Motionless. Oh! Wait, one of them blinked! …Or had it been her blinking?
"Katherine; stop poking the guards!" Amber shouted. Katherine maintained eye contact as she deliberately…disobeyed. "Wha –? What did I just say! Step away from the guards, Katherine!"
Katherine scoffed with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "Yes, mother," she muttered, walking away from the much-abused guards. She glanced down at the stick in her hands and tried to twirl it like a baton, but it slipped out of her grasp and it flew into the air. "Oops," Katherine said, not exactly concerned, as she followed its flight with her eyes…until she saw where it was heading towards Nigma. Time seemed to slow as Katherine stretched out a hand, powerless to stop it. "Noooooooooo!" Wow, even her voice sounded like it was in slow-motion.
Just as the stick was about to collided with the back of Nigma's head, he suddenly lifted his hand and grabbed it. Katherine's mouth dropped. "He's a freakin' ninja!" Twirling the stick around to get a better grip, Nigma turned to face her as he rest the top of the stick on his shoulder as if nothing happened. Katherine stared, still slack-jawed. "Dude…That. Was. Awesome! Teach me your ways, oh, Great and Beautiful One!" she cried while dropping to her knees and clasping her hands together.
Nigma chuckled. "I would, but due to a certain incident involving my cane, it was taken from me. Just like our privileges to wear our normal clothes," he said sadly.
Katherine pouted and looked up at the sky. "Oh, cruel Fate! Why did you bestow upon us such tragedy?" she cried.
The Riddler sighed in agreement, then felt the familiar niggle in his brain when an idea was about to spring into his head. He glanced back at Nurse Johnson, the stick, then back at her. A smile worked its way onto his lips. "Oh, Nurse Johnsooon," he sang out.
…
After assuring her several times that all he would do with his cane would be to teach Katherine some tricks and after crossing his heart and something about sticking a needle in his eye, Amber finally went to her supervisors to ask for the release of Nigma's cane for the day. He doubted he'd have been able to get it if any other nurse had requested for the cane. Maybe the clown was right about having Miss Johnson for a nurse after all?
Miss? Nigma doubled-checked by quickly glancing at Nurse Johnson's hand. The piece of jewelry on her ring finger was most definitely a purity ring. So yes; Miss.
Returning his attention to the matter at hand, Nigma held his golden question mark cane in his right while the top rested on his shoulder. He marched back and forth in front of Katherine, who stood at attention like a soldier. "To master the art of cane handling, you must be willing and eager to learn!" he informed his pupil. "Are you willing?"
"I am willing!"
"Are you eager?"
"I am eager!"
"What was that soldier?"
"I. Am. Willing!"
Nigma stopped in front of her and brought the end of his cane down to the concrete with a loud 'clack!' "Good; let's begin."
At the far end of the courtyard, Amber stood with her charges while keeping a wary eye on the Riddler and Katherine. "This could go really badly," she muttered to herself.
"Or it could be funny," the Joker said, smiling. "Someone could lose an eye."
Amber winced. "That actually didn't make it onto my list of worries but thank you ever so much for added to it."
The Joker winked while clicking his tongue. "No problem, sweetheart."
Amber rolled her eyes and sighed. Why him? Why did he have to be assigned to me,she wondered. Dr. Arkham took it as a good sign that the Joker let her live, but the odds were that the Joker probably thought that she was just fun to mess with. Taking a moment to mentally go over how many patients she had, Amber nearly blanched when it totaled up to twelve. Twelve charges that included the topmost dangerous criminals in Gotham. Yipee.
"When moving a cane, or any kind of staff-like weapon for that matter, in a defensive propeller-like motion in front of you; it's important that you grip the staff in the middle with the back of your hand facing up. Then, have your other hand cross the one gripping the staff a little above the wrist. Like so." Nigma arranged Katherine's hands to be in the proper positions. "Now you twist the hand holding the staff counter-clockwise until it lands in the palm of your other hand. Now here's the tricky part; once the staff has changed hands, you have to shift the position of the hand that is no longer holder the staff."
Seeing the slightly lost look on Katherine's face, Nigma gave her an understanding smile and stood back. "Watch closely." He carried out his instructions very slowly, showing her the shifts and changes as they occurred, then gradually increased the pace so that she would see how it looked in real-time. By the end of it, Katherine was vibrating with excitement. "Think you've got that?" he asked. Katherine nodded. "Right then. Now you give it a go."
Katherine glanced at the stick in her hands. She could do this. She could totally do this. Mr. Riddler believed she could, so there was no reason why she couldn't, right? Taking a deep breath, Katherine began twisting the stick clockwise. "Counter-clockwise!" Edward hurried to remind her, but it was too late. She lost control of the stick and succeeded in smacking the end of it against Edward's nose.
"Ah! I'm so sorry, Mr. Riddler! I didn't mean to –!" She moved to help him. He extended his cane so that the top of it kept her at bay while he cupped a hand to his nose.
"No! No, thank you! I'm quite alright," he groaned and bent over as he tried to ignore the throbbing pain as well as the peals of laughter coming from the other end of the courtyard.
Amber gave the Joker a light slap on the arm without thinking about who she was standing next to. "Hush, he could really be hurt!"
"All the better!" he cackled.
Amber huffed in disgust and jogged over Nigma and Katherine. Katherine was desperately trying to lean past the cane Nigma kept resolutely extended between them as he remained bent over in pain. "Mr. Nigma, I'm really sorry! Please tell me your beautiful face isn't marred for life!"
"Katherine, back up." Amber ordered. "Give us a minute." She knelt in front of Edward. "Are you okay?"
Edward lifted his face, revealing a very bloody nose that was already beginning to swell. "Do I look okay?" he retorted. Amber's mouth formed an 'O' in surprise.
Looking at Katherine and Katlyn, Amber opened her mouth to speak when Katlyn suddenly pointed at her friends and screeched, "She did it!"
Katherine looked aghast. "Traitor!" she exclaimed.
"Girls, I'm not asking who did it."
The two friends blinked. Katherine eyed Katlyn. "You sold me out before knowing what she was going to ask?" Katlyn looked down sheepishly. "Some minion you are!"
A static-filled squawk was heard from the walkie-talkie clipped to Amber's hip. Her name was being called by Security Officer Titus. "This is Nurse Johnson," she answered.
"We've got another patient for you."
Amber's thumb hit the respond button with full force. "You're joking?" she exclaimed.
"Nope; meet us in the recreation room."
"But –!"
"Over and out." Shkrrr.
Amber stood there, slack jawed as she stared at the mute walkie-talkie in her hand.
"Another loony to join our tunes?"
Amber jumped about four feet in the air and whirled around to find the Joker grinning at her. She clipped the device back to its place on her hip. "Seems like it," she grumbled.
"They must have a lot of confidence in your orderly skills to be handing over sooo many of us to you," the Joker remarked with a sly grin.
Amber frowned. "Don't think I'm an idiot, Joker. I know you had something to do with all of you being assigned to me."
The Joker placed a hand on his chest and fluttered his lashes. "Whaaa?" he asked, oozing with fake innocence. "Little ol' me?"
"Hey, don't mind me; just bleeding from the nose," Nigma interrupted, a hand cupped under his nose to catch the blood dripping from his nostrils.
"Right! Sorry, Edward." Amber motioned for them to follow and joined the rest of their group. "Alright people, we're gonna have to cut this short and go back inside due to an injury and the surprise addition to our social circle. You'll be taken to the cafeteria for lunch while I go and get Edward tended to and pick up the newbie." She clapped her hands once. "Single file, people! Now!" she ordered.
Two lines were formed. One with the Joker in the lead and one with Katherine in the lead. Amber face palmed herself again. "Single file, single file! That means one line!" The two lines merged. "That's better," she pointed ahead, "Alright! Forward, march!" The only two who actually marched were Katlyn and Katherine. They were soon joined by six guards to take them to the cafeteria.
"Okay, Nigma, follow me," Amber told him and led the way to the medical station. She stayed with him until she was sure the bleeding had stopped and sent him with two armed guards to be escorted to the cafeteria.
Jogging to the recreation room, she ignored a group of orderlies as they tried to subdue a patient from his ranting of a 'scarecrow'. All in a day's work at Arkham Asylum.
Amber pushed through the doors and immediately spotted Dr. Arkham. He and two orderlies were with a girl who looked about Katherine's age, which by Katherine's records, said she was nineteen.
The new girl was about Amber's height with sandy blond hair and crazed brown eyes. Her complexion was a bit darker than the other residents of the asylum, so she must have lived in a sunnier place than Gotham City. Her head jerked around to look at everything at once while a big smile was on her face for no particular reason. She seemed … excited to be there.
"Ah, Nurse Johnson, there you are. This is your new patient," Dr. Arkham informed her.
Amber gave him a tight smile that she hoped he could detect the meaning of but softened it as she turned to the girl. "Hello, I'm Nurse Johnson. I'm going to be looking after you while you're with us. What's your name?" she asked.
"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na; Batman!" the girl sang loudly.
For a moment, all Amber could do was just stare at her, not quite comprehending what she'd heard. "What?" she asked, confused.
"Oh yeah, you heard me right!" The girl struck a dramatic pose. "I am Batman!"
Amber turned to look up at Dr. Arkham who wore an uneasy expression on his face. "She's, uh, delusional," he explained.
No, duh, Sherlock! I don't need a freakin' doctorate degree to figure that one out, Amber thought angrily. Out loud, she merely gave Dr. Arkham a strained smile and said, "You don't say."
"Her name's Katelynn. Here," Dr. Arkham said, handing over a file. "All her pertinent information you'll need is in there."
"Thanks," Amber muttered, skimming over the first page for the basics like her date of birth, full name, age, and diagnosis. Looking up, Amber noticed something was tied around Katelynn's neck. It was a black cape. "Uh, what's with the cape?" she asked.
"Hm?" He frowned when he saw it. "How did she get that again? I thought we took it away?"
"Na na na na na na na na; Batman!"
Amber took a deep breath to control herself before speaking. "Just…what exactly is she delusional about?" she asked.
"She thinks… she's Batman."
"Batman? She thinks she's Batman?"
"Yes."
"Mmh-hmm… Excuse me for a moment."
Amber walked to a supplies closet, opened it, and stepped inside. An angry scream of frustration resonated from within. After another few seconds of silence, she stepped back out and smiled at Katelynn. "Okay, Katelynn. I'm going to take you to the cafeteria now for lunch, okay? But first, we have to take the cape because it's not allowed in there," she explained.
Katelynn clutched the ends of her cape and went wide-eyed. "No! I have to have it with me! It's my secret identity!"
Amber lifted an eyebrow. "Honey, how can your identity be a secret if you're not covering your face?" she asked. In Katelynn wrapped the cape around her in a Dracula-like fashion as held up her cloth-covered arm to hide the lower half of her face. Amber sighed and held out her hand. "Give me the cape."
Katelynn let out a shriek. "Nooo! You can't have it! I am Batman!"
Amber looked up at the two orderlies and nodded. They nodded back to show they understood. Before Katelynn knew what was happening, the orderlies tackled her to the ground. "GAH!" she screeched as they pulled the cape from her.
One of the orderlies handed the cape to Amber while he struggled to keep Katelynn pinned to the floor. Amber tossed the cape to Dr. Arkham. "Go, man! Run!" she urged.
Dr. Arkham blinked at the material in his hands then glanced at the girl writhing on the floor. She let out a battle cry and that seemed to be the trigger to set him in motion. He dashed out of the room with the cape in hand. Katelynn thrashed about. "You don't understand! They can't know it's me!" she screamed.
Amber waited a few more moments for Dr. Arkham to put some distance between them before telling the orderlies to release Katelynn. They stared at Amber with wide eyes. "Are you crazy?" they shouted at once. She quirked an eyebrow at them. They reluctantly let Katelynn go and took a giant leap back from her.
Katelynn went surprisingly still. She sat up and stared at Amber, unblinking. "Where. Is. My. Cape?" she hissed.
"I don't know about you, but I'm famished. How about you come with me and eat some lunch; then we can look for your cape?" Amber suggested.
Katelynn gave Amber a long stare and the young nurse began to wonder if she was going to refuse. Suddenly the girl gave a bright smile. "Okay," Katelynn chirped and leapt to her feet.
When they arrived in the cafeteria and Amber had made sure Katelynn was seated with a tray of food, Amber went over to sit next to Joan. She collapsed in a chair and let her head hang back and her arms go limp. "Hard day?" Joan asked. Amber let out a low groan in reply. Joan chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes."
Amber sat up and leaned forward on the table by supporting her chin in her hands. "I've been assigned thirteen patients. Thirteen!"
Joan let out a low whistle. "Tough break," she commented.
"Is that even legal? It can't be allowed for one single staff member to be responsible for thirteen mentally unstable criminals at one time?"
Joan shrugged. "This is Arkham Asylum, child. The rules get a bit warped in here. We're short on resources we need to properly treat the patients and it should be no surprise to hear that not many businesses are eager to provide funding to an asylum for the criminally insane. Especially when we're housing the craziest and most deadly of them all. Thanks to Bruce Wayne's contributions though, we manage to get by.
"And even if funds weren't an issue, even with job shortages in the city people aren't busting down our doors to apply for jobs here. So, we're short staffed too. We must make do with what we have."
Amber let out a sigh, unable to argue. She scanned the faces in the cafeteria to confirm if her charges were all there and was glad to see that they were. That happiness was short lived when she took a longer look at Katelynn. She was sitting next to the Joker, who completely ignored her as he ate. She sat motionless and quiet.
Amber was beginning to wonder if she was alive, but the girl would occasionally blink, so there was still blood pumping. She kept her eyes on Katelynn, tuning out everything else. Something was about to happen; she could feel it.
Great. Not even two months on the job and I'm already developing 'Arkham Nurse Senses', Amber thought to herself.
As if a spring inside her had suddenly been released, Katelynn threw out her arms and broke into song, causing the Joker to flinch. "Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na; …Batman!"
"Bats!" Caleb screamed and jumped out of his seat. He collapsed onto the floor and writhed around, swatting at unseen things. "There's bats everywhere! Ah! Get 'em off! Get 'em off! Ah!"
Jumping onto the table, Katelynn continued singing her little Batman ditty. The Joker pulled his lunch tray off of the table as she started jumping up and down. "Kid, get down! I'm eating here!" he snapped.
Katelynn didn't seem to hear hm and kept on singing. "Batmaaaan!"
Amber cringed as she looked around at all the glaring patients in the room. Most of them had been put in Arkham Asylum because of Batman and they didn't appear to be incredibly happy that Katelynn was singing his praises.
"Um, Amber," Joan began.
"I'm on it," Amber acknowledged, getting out of her chair. She hurried over and tried to catch the girl's attention. "Katelynn!"
"What?"
Amber looked over her shoulder to see Katherine and the other Katlyn. Right; just what she needed. Patients with the same name. She'd have to deal with that latter. Amber waved away the Katlyn who was waiting for an answer. "Not you, not you," she explained.
Katherine and Katlyn exchanged looks before shrugging and sitting down at a table close by in order to watch the scene. The other Katelynn had taken off her shoes and tossed them away.
"Hey Katelynn, you need to sit back down, okay?"
Katelynn turned and scoffed at her. "Make me, warden." She started skipping along down the table. Amber jogged to catch up. "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Katelynn spun around, took a running start and slid back the way she came on her socks.
Amber quickly changed direction and nearly collided with the Joker and Harley. "Katelynn; get down now! You are not Batman!"
"Bats!" Caleb screeched at the top of his lungs and kicked his legs around.
Harley covered her ears and turned to Katherine. "Can't you shut him up?" she asked.
Katherine, also with her ears covered, shook her head. "I was never able to teach him that!" she replied.
Katelynn spun in a little circle on the table and started singing again. "Katelynn! Stop it!" Amber demanded.
"Make me!"
"You just might have to do that," Joan's voice said from Amber's right side. Amber turned to see the older woman holding out a syringe. "Ever had to use one of these on a patient?"
Amber shook her head. "But I will if I can't calm her down."
"Use all of it," Joan instructed her.
Amber nodded, taking it then nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt two strong hands pick her up by the waist and hoist her onto the table. She looked down to see the Joker. "Get up there and stop her!" he shouted.
Katelynn faced her and skipped over. "Are you going to sing with me, Nurse Johnson?" she asked excitedly.
"No, Katelynn, I'm –,"
"Then I have nothing to say to you! Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na; Batman!"
"That's it! You've left me no choice!" Amber pulled out a syringe and pounced on her. She uncapped the needle, checked for air bubbles, and drove it into Katelynn's arm.
"Ouch!" Katelynn yelped.
Amber got to her feet and looked down at the girl. "There; the tranquilizer should kick in soon," she said. Turning around, she found Nigma and Crane standing by, ready to help her down from the table; their way of thanking her. For a few seconds, Amber eyed them uncertainly before giving them a cautious smile and placed her hands in the hands they offered her. "Thank you, gentlemen."
"Suck ups," the Joker muttered loud enough for Crane and Nigma to hear.
"Aaaaaah! I can fly!" Katelynn cried. She extended her arms out and took a flying leap, landing directly in the Joker's arms. He looked just as surprised as she did. Katelynn laid her head against his shoulder and smiled adoringly at him. "My hero," she swooned.
"I've already got enough crazy groupies, thank you." The Joker dropped her without warning and stepped back as if she were a dead animal.
She shot up and started dancing like she was on a sugar rush. "Shouldn't that tranquilizer have kicked in by now?" Amber asked Joan, eyeing the hyper girl warily.
"Depends on the person, but usually –,"
Katelynn suddenly let out a yowl and collapsed. Everyone stared at her in silence.
"Is she dead?" Ivy asked.
Amber hurried over and knelt down beside the girl and felt at her neck for a pulse. She sighed in relief. "No, just sedated." Standing to her full height, she gave Katelynn's foot a nudge. Her body twitched violently, sending Amber leaping back and into the closest person's arms. Which happened to be the Joker's. Once the twitching stopped, it suddenly dawned on her who she was clinging to. Slowly, she turned her head to look at the Joker.
"Look, I accepted a long time ago that I've got animal magnetism, but why am I the one who always has women jumping into his arms?" he asked with a resigned sigh.
Amber kicked her feet around. "Put me down!" she demanded.
The Joker rolled his eyes as he lowered her down. "Geez, pick me up, put me down, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah; make up your minds!" he whined, but did as he was told.
Amber stood by and waited for two male orderlies to pick up Katelynn by the arms and start carrying her back to her cell. "I can't believe she thinks she's Batman," Amber muttered to herself.
"BATS!" Caleb howled from behind her.
She didn't even turn. Looking up at the ceiling, Amber exhaled loudly and snapped, "Caleb! If you don't calm down right now, I will paint a mural of the dead-gum Batman on your cell's wall!"
Absolute silence met her ears. Feeling a stab of regret, Amber turned to check on Caleb and found him on his knees before her. "Please don't do this to Caleb! Caleb will stop! See? Caleb is calm! Caleb is calm!" he begged. Of course, he was anything but calm, although he did stop screaming about bats.
Amber knelt to be at his level and pushed his clasped hands down. "Alright, Caleb, alright. Thank you for calming down. Now go finish your lunch."
"Caleb will go eat his lunch now." He leapt to his feet and scurried to his spot at the table.
Katherine blinked with her mouth agape as she looked from her brother to Nurse Amber. "Impossible!" she shouted. The young nurse gave a mysterious smile as she and Joan walked back to their table.
With their backs turned, Joan subtly held up her fist to Amber. "Nice work."
Amber gave a tired smile and bumped knuckles with Joan. "We make do, right?"
Joan exhaled a laugh through her nose. "Right."
(What did you think of Katelynn? Who's been your favorite character so far? You can answer these questions for me by reviewing! I'd really appreciate it!)