Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you're ready for this one! *Heads up, some scenes involve death or take place in a hospital morgue*
Chapter Sixteen: Another Cold, Dead Corpse
Nick leaned against the hood of the black hearse with his ankles crossed, waiting. He reached into his pocket to retrieve a cigarette and proceeded to light it while he watched the coroner's van pull up to the back exit of the hospital.
"Sir, I'm sorry but you can't smoke here," a voice said from behind him.
He turned around to face a hospital employee that had approached him. She wore a plastic apron and "Morgue Attendant" was printed in large letters on her I.D. badge.
He smothered out the embers on the pavement and replied, "Ah, I'm sorry about that. I guess I didn't know."
"Well there's a sign," she said, pointing at the large no smoking symbol posted nearby. "Are you here for a pick up?"
"Uh, yeah. Seems like there's been a delay," he answered, looking toward the entrance.
"Oh, do you have a release form?" she asked.
He patted the pockets of his black slacks and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Yep, here ya go," he said, handing it to her.
Her eyes scanned the document for a moment before she said, "Ok, I'll check the list. Special religious requests can get held up sometimes. Give me a moment."
Nick let out a deep breath and eyed the employee while she walked away. Then he reached into another pocket for his phone to type out a message.
Joker's phone buzzed in his pocket while the police officer stationed outside Q's room unlocked the door and opened it. He and Nora followed, stepping into the dimly lit room and closing the door behind them. A machine quietly monitored his vital signs, displayed on a screen next to a reclined bed where Q laid dressed in a hospital gown, looking almost ten pounds lighter with a bundle of wires attached to his chest. His right wrist was handcuffed to the bed rail and his left had an IV catheter placed with a name band that read, "Nadir Almasi". He opened his eyes and they grew wide for a moment before he forced a relaxed expression on his face.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Almasi," said Nora.
He nodded and replied, "Afternoon, doc."
She kept eye contact with him as she continued, "I'm Doctor Foster. Peter and I are here to get you prepped for your thrombectomy and take you down to the Cath lab. Are you ready?"
Q gazed back at her, reading the intense look in her eyes and nodded again slowly before the cop spoke up, "I'll need to go with you."
"Yes you've made that clear, officer," she quipped.
"Hey, you don't get to speak to me that way. This man may be your patient but it's also my responsibility to make sure that this piece of shit goes from this hospital and into custody, nowhere else. I'm in charge here, not you," the flustered officer stated, pointing his finger at her.
Nora felt anger bubbling up inside her but kept a poised expression and turned to face him. Her eyes shifted to Joker as he stood behind the man, his hand wrapped around the switchblade from his pocket as he kept his eyes on Nora. Then she focused her gaze back on the officer to read his badge.
"Officer Donoghue, I understand the need for due process but wouldn't you rather he was alive for that?" she told him calmly. "If that clot in his leg dislodges and ends up in his lungs, he'll likely die. Could you uncuff him for me please?"
"Look, I don't like you and I don't really care but Commissioner would have my ass so alright. But I will be accompanying him and you will stay quiet about it," he huffed.
Then he muttered curses as he reached for his keys to lean over the bed and unlock Q's handcuffs. Before he could straighten himself back up, Joker pulled the officer's arm behind his back to then pin him against his chest with the switchblade at his throat.
"Sshh sh sh shh. Make a souund and you're done for. Got i-t?" Joker hissed in his ear.
The cop breathed heavily and started to tremble as he carefully nodded. Q smirked from his bed and rubbed his freed wrist.
"Look, we have somewhere to be and you're in our way," said Nora. "Personally, I think you're awfully self-righteous, I don't like you either and I certainly don't trust you."
Joker chuckled and said, "So what'll it be, officer? Easy way or hard way? Hm?"
Officer Donoghue gulped against the knife blade and answered, "There is no easy way. But if you kill me, they'll catch you before you're outta here. I promise you. Blood everywhere, it would give you away."
"You sure about that?" Nora asked as she eyed the ECG cart Joker had rolled in with them. Sitting on the second shelf of the cart was an old-school manual defibrillator with two paddles. She took a couple of steps toward the machine and hit the power switch, bringing it to life. Then she looked the officer in the eyes as sweat began to drip down his temple before she turned back to the device and hit the charge button with the joules set to maximum, causing it to emit a high pitched beep. A devilish grin stretched over Joker's face.
"So it's the hard way thenn," Joker growled.
"You won't get away," Donoghue spat, his voice shaking as Nora stared at him and took the paddles in her hands. A red light blinked on and flashed "DEFIBRILLATE".
"We'll see," she replied. "Let go and stand back."
Joker released the man, pushing him forward for Nora to slam the metal paddles on either side of his chest then squeeze her thumbs over buttons on the handles. A sound like something heavy had slapped him across the chest echoed through the room and the officer's body jolted upward violently before falling limp to the floor.
Joker and Q watched as Nora dropped the paddles and stooped down to put her ear to his chest. She could feel the vibration of his heart twitching rapidly in his chest. Then she put two fingers against the side of his neck. Nothing. Ventricular fibrillation. He'll go into cardiac arrest soon unless he's shocked again. He'll die. She sat on her knees on the cold floor and stared at him. There was a push to grab the paddles and try to shock him back into normal rhythm but something was holding her back.
"What's the verdic-t, doc?" asked Joker.
Her eyes shifted from the dying officer to Joker. He gazed back at her, his eyes drawing all of the adrenaline inducing power that he'd given her up to the surface. He'd shown her what she was capable of. Take what was once order and with the push of a button, it becomes chaos. No one was exempt, not the cop, not even herself. That feeling holding her back and telling her to leave the man there, do nothing, intensified. It's done. Leave him.
Suddenly she stood up and said, "Let's go."
Joker dragged the cop's body into the bathroom to close the door and break the lock while Nora took the catheter out of Q's arm. Then she slowly opened the door to the hallway. Business as usual carried on outside, the busy hospital staff caring very little about anything that wasn't their current task. She nodded that the coast was clear before she and Joker unlocked the wheels on either side of Q's bed and started to roll it out of his room. They passed through some double doors before going down a long hall and making a left. The further from his room they got, the more Nora felt excitement that they were getting closer to freedom battle with her worry that they'd be discovered. A right turn and they reached another elevator where Joker swiped his badge. The doors opened and they pulled the bed into the empty elevator car. Once the doors shut, Joker began to giggle loudly before reaching over Q and grabbing Nora's face. He pulled his mask down and then hers to kiss her. Nora's lips smiled against his before leaning in and returning the kiss. Q raised his eyebrows as he watched them.
Joker released her lips and said, "That. Was. Fantastic. You truly are remark-able, doll face."
"Thanks J," she said, smiling back at him.
Nora's worry suddenly faded. Taking matters into her own hands had never felt so good. She'd faced tense situations before, sure. She'd also been responsible for both life and death before. But not for a person. The way she saw it, she traded his life for Q's. Q deserved it more.
"Thank you," Q said quietly.
Nora looked at him and smiled as Joker replied, "No, uh, need for thanks. How are ya holdin' up, Nadir?"
Q looked down at his hands before answering, "I'm ok. In a bit of pain. Have a little less of my liver than before."
"I'm so sorry this happened. It's my fault," Nora said, grabbing his hand.
A confused expression came over his face and Q said, "No. No it's not. The dickhead who shot me, it's his fault, not yours."
"Mmm well you needn't worry about him," Joker chuckled, checking the message on his phone.
The elevator doors opened while Joker and Nora pulled their masks back over their faces and the three of them remained quiet as they rolled the bed down a quiet hall.
Nick nervously fidgeted with the car keys in his pocket as his eyes shifted between his watch and the exit doors. Another hearse and a van came and went, no sign of Joker or Nora.
The morgue attendant approached him again and said, "The death certificate went through about an hour ago so you're a bit early."
"Oh. Ok well no point in leaving now, I'll just wait here," Nick replied.
She nodded and said, "It shouldn't be long. The patient requested a Muslim funeral so we won't be doing anything to the body here, he should come straight through without any processing."
Nick felt his phone vibrate while she walked away and quickly pulled it from his pocket. He read, "have q. keep them busy. on our way." displayed on the screen.
Joker and Nora pushed Q's bed into an empty exam room not far from the elevator and closed the door.
"Show me your best impersonation of a corpse," said Joker as Nora took off her white coat and rolled a gurney out of the corner of the room. It had tall panels at the head and foot with a cover on top
"What?" asked Q.
Joker raised his eyebrows and said, "A corpse. A dead body. Someone without a pulse."
Q looked at the gurney Nora was rolling toward him and asked, "I have to get in that?"
"How else do you expect to just leave here? You're dead, no questions asked." Joker answered.
Nora pulled the stiff fabric cover off of the gurney to reveal a compartment big enough to fit an average sized man with a body bag inside. She unzipped the bag and laid it open on the gurney.
"You're serious," said Q.
"Dea-d serious," Joker answered in a deep voice.
Q stared at the body bag, the color slowly draining from his face while Nora said, "You won't be in there long. We'll go straight through the morgue and outside. Nick is waiting there so we need to hurry."
He kept his eyes on the gurney like he was staring his own mortality in the face while he pulled the covers off of himself and winced as he carefully sat up. Nora stepped up to his bed and crouched down to put one of his arms over her shoulder while Joker took the other arm over his. They stood him up and eased him onto the gurney. The plastic of the black body bag crinkled underneath him as he lifted his legs and slid them inside of it. He laid himself down with Joker's help, taking deep breaths through the strain it put on his tender abdomen. Then Joker placed a labeled tag from his pocket around his ankle while Nora pulled the white top sheet off of his bed and held it as she stood over him.
"Ok, do it," he said, putting his arms to his sides.
She cleared her throat and said, "Um, we gotta take that off," pointing at the flimsy gown he was wearing.
He raised his eyebrows at her, watching for any sign that she was kidding with him. But her expression remained unchanged.
"Sorry Q, corpses don't wear clothes," she said. "They might wanna confirm the identity of the body before we go. We can't risk anything looking suspicious."
He rolled his eyes and sighed heavily while he pulled the gown off of his body and tossed it aside as Nora averted her eyes.
Then she quickly laid the sheet over Q and tucked it under him before zipping up the body bag.
"Atta boy. Now this should be obvious to you, but don't move," Joker chuckled, leaning over the gurney.
They placed the cover back over the frame and slowly rolled the contraption out into the hallway. It wasn't long before they passed a hospital employee and Nora felt her own heart nearly stop, but she managed to keep her composure as they approached. She prepared herself to say something to them, explain where they were going, but upon recognizing the concealment gurney, they didn't look twice. The employee bowed his head and stood to the side to let them pass while Nora tried hard not to smile. Their plan was working. She and Joker made eye contact before continuing their journey to the elevators. A few people waited to board the elevator car, but again Joker and Nora were given priority to enter alone. She almost felt bad taking advantage of their respect for the dead.
Once again, when the doors slid shut, Joker broke into a fit of laughter. Nora joined him this time, the rush of their escape working perfectly making her almost as giddy as he was.
"What? Can I get outta here?" Q's muffled voice said from beneath the layers of fabric.
Joker stifled his laughter and answered, "No such luck, my friend. Now stop using up your, uh, precious oxy-gen."
He swiped his badge and hit the button for the basement. They kept straight faces once again and pulled the gurney out of the elevator toward another set of doors at the end of a dimly lit hallway labeled "MORGUE". Nora swiped her badge and pushed the double doors open.
The air suddenly felt colder, like they'd stepped outside on a chill morning, causing a shiver to run down Nora's back. The strong smell of disinfectant mixed with some other chemical odor burned her nostrils. They passed through a room with a tiled floor and a series of small metal doors along the walls. Refrigerated compartments. Multiple had labels indicating they were occupied with bodies awaiting either identification by family or autopsy if they had died under suspicious circumstances. In a place like Gotham, it was more often the latter.
The next hallway led to more sterilized rooms where attendants prepared bodies for their next stop in the long chain of events before leaving the place. It gave Nora the creeps. They swiftly passed all of them, heading for the exit.
"Can I help you?" a voice said from behind them.
They turned around to face a morgue attendant wearing rubber boots and a face shield with specks of blood on it.
Nora's stomach churned a bit before answering, "Yes, um, we have a religious exemption."
"Release form?" he asked curtly, thrusting out his gloved hand.
Joker pulled a folded paper from his pocket and handed it over, the seemingly bored attendant not noticing a piercing stare from the pair of dark eyes in front of him as he took it.
After inspecting the document, he narrowed his eyes with suspicion and said, "Alright, I gotta check the tag."
Nora noticed Joker's brow furrowing above his mask as the man blocking their path rolled the gurney into an empty examination room that was even colder than the hallway, giving her goosebumps. She pushed the fear that was threatening to consume her aside and allowed her anger to take over. They made it that far, they weren't leaving empty handed. Nora followed Joker's lead, seeing a glint in his eye when she passed him.
The attendant removed the plastic shield from his face before he set the break on the gurney and pulled the cover off. Then he gripped the zipper and opened the body bag. Don't move, Q. Don't move. He pulled the sheet up by Q's feet to read the tag around his ankle before dropping it and thumbing through the forms on his clip board. Nora clenched her fists behind her back as she kept her eyes focused on the sheet. The shape of Q's body beneath it remained perfectly still as he took shallow breaths that she could only see when she looked carefully.
"Well Nadir Almasi hasn't been identified by his next of kin yet. We can't let him go until that happens," the attendant said, looking up from his clip board.
"No, the family was present at the time of death. You don't need to drag them down here for that," replied Nora.
The man sighed and said, "Yes, I see that. But I don't care. I have a protocol to go by. No family I.D. means he goes into refrigeration until that happens."
Nora's heart started pounding and she fought to keep her voice calm, "That really isn't necessary. They were just here when his death certificate was signed."
"Then it'll be easy to get them back here," he said.
He turned around to pick up the receiver from the phone mounted on the wall. But before he could dial it, Joker quickly had him in a tight head lock.
"So you see, uh, friend, youu aren't as important as you think you are," Joker said, as he flung him around to pin him against the wall, bringing them face to face with each other. "You could easily be jus-t another… col-d, dea-d corpse, like Nadir here. Just one litt-le cu-t in the right pl-ace," he growled brining his switchblade up against the man's belly.
The petrified man opened his mouth, but couldn't make a sound as Joker slowly pulled his mask down from his mouth and the man's eyes were drawn to his mangled scars. He began to hyperventilate in Joker's grip as Nora watched from behind him, her expression harsh and unyielding. She pulled down her own mask when his eyes darted toward her.
"O-Oh my god," he stuttered.
Joker smirked a little and said casually, "Hm, funny. You seem awfully afraid of death for being, uh, surrounded by it every day. Maybe you know too much. What happens after blood ceases to reach that brain of yours? Hm? Nothing. Nothing happens. That's what is soo terri-fying," pressing the knife a little harder against the man's abdomen as he spoke.
Tears streamed down from the attendant's eyes as helplessly clutched Joker's arm against his chest. "Please. Don't," he huffed.
"Don't wha-t?" Joker asked, raising his eyebrows.
"P-Please don't k-kill me," the man choked out.
Joker rolled his eyes up to the ceiling as he pretended to think about it before he answered.
"Since you asked so nice-ly," he said as he let go of the attendant to grab the back of his head. Then he slammed it down hard against the metal table, then letting him fall to the floor.
Q spoke from beneath the sheet, "Can I move now?"
"No!" Joker and Nora said in unison.
Then they pulled their masks back up and Nora zipped the body bag as Joker pushed the attendant's body out of sight underneath the metal supplies table. He felt for a pulse on the man's wrist for a moment.
"Hm. Oops," he giggled before dropping the lifeless wrist and standing to help Nora with the gurney cover. It was obvious that her was grinning at her from behind his mask. She couldn't help but grin back. All things considered, leaving behind a body count of two wasn't too bad.
They hurried back into the less frigid hallway that was now fortunately unoccupied. The foot of the gurney pushed the hinged exit doors open, ushering a relieving blast of warm summer air as they made it outside. The last bit of daylight was starting to fade. The hearse was parked at the bottom of a ramp that Joker and Nora rolled the gurney down. As they approached, Nora saw Nick chatting up a female morgue attendant. Smooth.
"Ah! There you are!" he called to them, throwing his hand into the air.
Nick turned to the woman and whispered something in her ear, making her giggle and playfully slap him on the arm. He handed her a small piece of paper before she passed Joker and Nora, avoiding eye contact with her cheeks showing a hue of pink. He opened the back doors of the hearse and rolled the stretcher out from the rack inside while Joker raised his eyebrows at him and Nora smirked.
He stopped to look at them and said, "What?"
"You sly fox," Joker chuckled.
"Nuh uh, no, you said keep them busy. So I did. There's nothing written on that," he replied.
"Mmmhm. Ok, Romeo," said Joker as he and Nora giggled and lifted the cover from the gurney.
Nick chuckled when he saw the body bag and said, "Hi, Q. Comfortable?"
A muffled, "No," was barely audible from inside the bag.
The three of them carefully lifted it to heave him from the gurney onto the stretcher before pushing it back into the hearse.
Nora shoved the hospital gurney back toward the ramp before she and Joker jumped into the back of the hearse. Nick hustled to the driver's seat and started the engine to swiftly pull away from the building, making their escape.
Joker unzipped the body bag at the top and pulled down the sheet from Q's face, who's eyes shifted toward him.
"You make an ex-cellent corpse, Q," Joker teased.
Q blinked and said, "I'd like to put some clothes on now."
"So modest! Don't worry, we're takin' you home," Joker replied.
Nora took the surgery cap off of her head and smiled at them. It hadn't been very long but she was starting feel like these men were some sort of dysfunctional family to her. She didn't really have any family left at that point. Her parents had passed on and she didn't have any other living relatives that she was aware of. It looked as though this was her new life. She was ok with that.
She suddenly gasped when the hearse turned a corner to come face to face with a line of police cars blocking the road, the flashing red and blue lights coming on and nearly blinding them. Nick slammed on the breaks and put the car in reverse to attempt to go back but the wheels skidded in place beneath the heavy vehicle while two police cars pulled forward to block the path behind them. Nora's heart started pounding and she felt nauseous. No no no no! She looked to Joker whose expression fell into a scowl as he watched officers get out of their cars to duck behind the open doors with their guns drawn.
"Freeze! Stay where you are and no one gets hurt!" boomed a voice over a megaphone.
"What do we do?" asked Nora.
Joker remained silent for a moment, staring at the wall of officers in front of them. Then he quietly said, "We get arrested. You'll be taken into protective custody. You were kidnapped and held against your will."
Nora's eye widened and she shook her head, "No! No that's not going to happen!"
Joker reached out to hold her face, "You need to tell them I made you do those things. I forced you."
Nora couldn't speak. She only closed her eyes and shook her head in Joker's hands as a tear rolled down her cheek.
The voice came over the megaphone again, "Release Nora Hawthorne unharmed or we send in the SWAT." They were negotiating for her release. Someone must have recognized her at the hospital.
Nora's eyes flew open and shifted to Joker's before she tried to open the back door of the hearse.
"No no no! No ya don't!" her said, reaching to grab her arm.
She looked back at him, locking him in her gaze. The look in her eyes said everything. She was going to do this whether he liked it or not.
"Get out of here as fast as you can. If I'm out there, they won't fire at you. You can get away," she said.
Joker remained focused on her eyes, his stare unwavering as he moved to crouch in front of her at the back of the hearse, dropping to his knees. He wrapped his arms around her before capturing her lips with his. She embraced him tightly and kissed him back, taking in the sensation like it was her last chance, but hoping that it wasn't. Their mouths parted and they kept their noses pressed together.
"I'll find you," she said softly, before breaking out of his arms to open the door and jump out.
Nora ran in front of the hearse with her hands in the air, turning her face away from the bright lights shining at her. The officers called out for her to get on her knees and she quickly obliged. Behind her, the hearse backed up and plowed past the police cars in the road as they kept their guns aimed on it but didn't fire. Once it was gone, a few officers holstered their weapons and came running to Nora, helping her to her feet as she dropped her head into her hands and let silent tears stream from her eyes. Her body shook with unsteady breaths while they led her to a squad car and sat her in the back seat.
"You're safe now, Miss Hawthorne," the officer in the front of the car said.
She didn't respond, remaining still as the car pulled away. Her fingers laced into her hair while she squeezed her eyes shut. You knew this was bound to happen. It was too good to be true. Her chest ached and she pulled at the roots of her hair, more tears spilling down her face. The rest of the torturous ride went by with Nora in a daze, her mind foggy with emotion. She was unable to think. Then the car stopped and her door opened.
Before she could lift her head from her hands, a tight grip on her arm pulled her roughly out of the back seat and onto the pavement. Then a blow to her stomach left her gasping for air on the ground. A large hand pulled her up by her hair, causing her to choke on her saliva as she attempted to scream. A dark bag was then trust over her head and her arms bound by rope behind her back.
"Move," a deep voice said, jabbing the barrel of a gun into the small of her back.
She instinctually took a step forward as another hand pulled her by the collar of her scrubs through a doorway, making her trip and fall hard onto her knees. She whimpered before being dragged along the floor and crudely thrown into a chair where her ankles were tied to the legs. The bag was suddenly lifted from her head, pulling on her hair and sending a searing pain through her already sore scalp. Nora yelped and opened her eyes.
"Hello again, doc," said Maroni, sitting in a chair in front of her.
She glowered at him, her upper lip twitching like she smelled something rancid. They were in a small, dank room with a fluorescent light flickering slightly above them. Sal wore a perfectly pressed grey suit and yellow tie without a speck of filth on him, contrasting with their surroundings.
"Well here we are again. But now it looks like you need to be taught a lesson in who's boss. Am I right?" he said.
Nora said nothing, keeping her gazed fixed on his cold, lifeless eyes. He leaned forward so that his face was inches from hers. She tilted her head back and turned her chin up at him. He quickly grabbed it and yanked it down to face him.
"What's the matta, girly? You 'aint got the hots for me yet? I thought you were into bad boys," he mocked.
Nora struggled against her restraints and shouted, "You son of a bitch!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, his hand came up and slapped her fiercely across the face. "Have a temper now, do we?" he said.
She hung her head with her chin to her chest as Maroni stood from his chair and crossed the room to the door where two of his men stood.
"I'll leave you think about that attitude of yours," he said before closing the door.
The lock clicked and the lights shut off, leaving Nora in the dark, fighting the bile rising in her throat.
Song for this chapter: Wildfire by SBTRKT
A twist! Let me know what you think!