Chapter Twelve
Madeline snarled and roared, snapped and growled, and hissed and howled as she lay strapped to the chair. It was a huge chair especially designed for creatures like Madeline and Waylon. In fact, it was the same on from the Iron Heights prison airship Waylon had been experimented on before he caused it to crash into the Gotham River. Some scrappers had fished it out and it had been sold around Gotham in the underground markets for quite some time. Riddler had found it for sale and purchased it in time for Madeline's unwilling arrival at the Pinckney Orphanage. It was the perfect thing to keep her restrained, but seeing her struggling in vain to escape, pulling on the leather straps and thrashing her head about as she snapped at the air gave Waylon a chilling feeling right down to his bones. He hated seeing her like this. She was more animal than person, she didn't even act the slightest bit like the woman he loved.
"So what do we do now?" Riddler asked, standing next to Waylon as they watched Madeline try to break her bonds. They hadn't thought this far ahead yet and neither of them had any clue as to how they were going to return Madeline to her sanity. Riddler was smart but his expertises was robotics and technology, and while he did know a bit about the brain he was no physiatrist. Waylon did attempt to provide Riddler with an answer and ignored the question entirely, instead stepping forward and going as close to Madeline as he could get without her biting his face off.
"Madeline, it's me. Come on, you know me." He coaxed, begging her to somehow regain control over her mind, even if for a second. He knew that when he lost it reason never really worked to bring him back, but that was usually because he was too busy wreaking havoc to listen. He kind of wanted to try the lullaby song again but judging by her reaction last time it wouldn't help much, especially if she had to listen to his rendition again. As expected Madeline didn't suddenly return to her normal self but continued to snap and growl in protest of her restraint.
"Well that was helpful." Riddler sighed, and Waylon shot him a cruel glare. He was not in the mood for sarcasm. Riddler put his hands up in surrender and cautiously moved forward towards Madeline as well. He hopped up onto the table Waylon had dragged over since the restraining chair was so high up and Madeline was so tall poor Riddler was dwarfed by it all. He was careful not to get too close to Madeline's face but he did his best to examine her eyes.
"What are you doing?" Waylon growled, wary of anyone, even Riddler, getting too close to Madeline. No one was allowed close to her but him.
"It's amazing what the eyes can tell you." Riddler said casually, an off the hand comment. "But these eyes aren't showing signs of intelligent life. I don't know if there is anything in there."
"There has to be!" Waylon growled, a little too loudly and a little too abruptly to hide his panic. There had to be something inside her, a shred of her humanity left to bring to the surface. They'd turned her back into a human when they'd recaptured her at the theatre, she had to have her mind when she was back in human form. There had to be a way to get her human mind into her monster body.
There came loud banging from the doors to the basement and both of them turned to look at the metal doors they had bared shut.
"Let me in!" Jack demanded, hitting the doors from the other side with all his might. Riddler had turned the basement into a makeshift holding cell, but before he had done that it was originally the remains of Waylon's old room when he still lived at Pinckney Orphanage before the incident with Riddler. It had been one of the better places he'd lived in over the years, perhaps even better than his warehouse, although the lack of access to water could get a little annoying. The Wi-Fi had made it worthwhile though.
"I told you to keep an eye on the monitors!" Riddler ordered, scowling at the door as if it were Jack. They had decided it would be best to keep Jack away from Madeline until they restored her humanity, just in case the sight of seeing his sister acting like a monster tipped him over the edge. He was only young after all. Of course Jack had objected to this idea and was determined to see his sister regardless of how many locked got in his way. Thankfully, a locked door was all that was needed to keep him out.
"If I monitor the monitors does that not make me the monitor!" Jack protested in some feeble attempt to seem intellectual. Riddler rolled his eyes.
"Yes it does, so be a good monitor and go sit in my office!" Riddler snapped. There was a loud bang as Jack kicked the metal door, followed by faint cursing as he stomped back up the stairs to the office. Riddler sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, his patience tested.
"Can we just get rid of him already?" He grumbled, clearly at his wits end. Waylon was quite glad he didn't have to deal with Jack anymore. Not that Madeline was any easier to deal with. Madeline continued to grow and hiss at them but at least she had stopped snapping her jaws wildly once she'd seen that it was getting her nowhere.
"So who do we know in Gotham that can help with this sort of thing?" Riddler pondered, pulling out his phone to look at the contact list. It was amazing he had anyone's contact number, most people found him too annoying to deal with.
"What about Jervis, he does hypnosis or something doesn't he." Waylon suggested. He'd never really had much to do with Mad Hatter, or really seen the guy all that often, but he did remember watching something on TV a while back about hypnosis being used to help people remember things. Perhaps it could help Madeline remember who she was. Riddler didn't seem to impressed by the idea though.
"He's a bit crazy though isn't he?" Riddler suggested, trying to suggest the idea was a bad one. Waylon couldn't help but chuckle a little at what Riddler had said.
"Crazy? Aren't we all crazy?" He snorted, crossing his arms. As much as they argued they weren't insane, and as much as they hated Arkham, they were all at the very least a little crazy.
"Yes well I'm more of a 'Mad Scientist' kind of crazy." Riddler announced, not willing to put himself in the same category as Mad Hatter. "He's just... crazy. But I suppose it's worth a try."
"Okay, put him on the short list. Who else we got?" Waylon asked, not really sure who else in Gotham had professions aside from being criminals that could help their situation. "What about Scarecrow? Isn't he a doctor or something?"
"Yeah but he seems to have dropped off the map. Besides, last time we saw him he was scared of everything, I doubt he could help with giant crocodile lady over here." Riddler sighed, gesturing to Madeline who seemed to snarl back at him for the insult. "We could always try Harley."
"Harley?" Waylon queried, unsure on Riddler's thinking behind that suggestion. "How in the hell could Harley help."
"She used to be a psychiatrist at Arkham, remember? Before she went all 'crazy in love' for Joker." Riddler reminded, and Waylon did vaguely remember learning about that. That whole drama had happened shortly after he'd moved to Gotham and been hired by Black Mask, or rather Joker disguised as Black Mask. It was likely the reason Joker had escaped from Arkham the first time was because he'd convinced Harley to let him out after seducing her or doing whatever it was he did to make her fall for him.
"Depends on what she's doing now though?" Riddler added with dismay. "She might not want to help, regardless of if she can."
"If she doesn't want to help then I'll make her help." Waylon growled, perfectly fine with beating up anyone, even Harley, if it meant he could restore Madeline's sanity.
"I'll call her. She should be still in Gotham. I heard a rumour that she moved in with Catwoman." Riddler said with a slight hint of disapproval in his tone. He and Catwoman had a bit of bad history. Just over three and a half years ago during the crisis with Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight, Riddler had captured Catwoman and held her hostage with a series of puzzles laid out for Batman to solve in order to save her. As per usual, Batman had solved them all and freed Catwoman, then they had both taken Riddler down, destroying his mech suit and throwing him in the GCPD lock up. Waylon wasn't a fan of Catwoman either, but that was because she'd interfered when he had been about to kill Robin once and for all. That was when the two caped crusaders made a run for it and lead Waylon to the aviary and to Madeline, but he still disliked her.
As they waited for Harley and possibly Catwoman in tow, Riddler did some harmless tests on Madeline to check her vitals and stuff like that. Waylon was very cautious about it all however, and asked what every instrument did before Riddler used it.
"And what is that?" Waylon asked when Riddler produced two strange looking black paddles.
"Ah, brilliant question." Riddler beamed, actually happy that someone was inquiring about his devices and pretending it wasn't because Waylon was paranoid. "This is my own, personally designed and modified, portable X-Ray. All you do is hold up the paddles on either side of what you want to X-Ray, like so." Riddler demonstrated by holding the paddles either side of Madeline's head. Madeline didn't seem to like having the paddle in front of her face because she started to wriggle and snap again.
"Stop it, you're irritating her!" Waylon growled, sounding a bit like one of those overly cautious parents who were worried that the slightest thing would make their precious kid's head explode.
"She's a woman, she gets irritated by everything. It doesn't do anything to her so stop being so paranoid." Riddler sighed, ignoring Waylon's protests and holding the paddles up again. He clicked a button on the side and there was a flash of white light. The light didn't do Madeline any good either because it seemed to make her even more agitated. She starting roaring as she tried to free herself, yanking on the restraints with all her might. The flash didn't do Waylon any good either, he was blinded for a few seconds, and in those few seconds he felt the urge to just let loose and destroy everything. It was his automatic response when dangerously injured or disabled in anyway.
He managed to restrain himself however, and when his vision returned he fixed his angry gaze on Riddler who was printing out the X-ray picture from one of the paddles.
"Sorry. I should have told you to close your eyes." He said casually, as if he'd merely forgotten to tell Waylon to buy milk at the shops.
"Don't get comfortable Riddler. I could still kill you if I wanted to." Waylon snarled. He wasn't entirely sure how much truth was in that statement since he did consider the annoying little enigma to be a friend, but he had managed to kill the only woman he'd ever loved so what was the murder of a friend in comparison. Riddler froze up a little and looked a bit like someone who had just stubbed their toe, awaiting the pain to reach them. Then he very cautiously continued, but he didn't grumble to himself about Waylon being ungrateful or something of the like.
Waylon looked to Madeline who was still angrily recovering from the flash of the x-ray.
"I'm sorry." He found himself saying to her. It sounded rather pathetic and pleading, but he didn't know what else he could say or do.
"Hmm, that's odd." Riddler mumbled to himself, but it was deliberately loud enough for Waylon to hear.
"What?" He asked, moving over to the table where Riddler had the x-ray's laid out on the white background to illuminate them.
"There." Riddler said, pointing to a strange little square shape in Madeline's neck.
"What is that?" Waylon asked, peering at the shape but he couldn't make out what it was. Riddler squinted at the strange shape, narrowing his eyes into mere slits as his brilliant brain tried to figure out exactly what this thing was.
"It looks like... a microchip?" He suggested, not sounding convinced by his own conclusion.
"Is it to track her?" Waylon suggested, becoming irritated as he imagined these people, whoever they were, putting a microchip in Madeline as if she were a common dog. He was also irritated that if it was indeed a microchip then those people would be showing up soon to claim their property.
Riddler darted over to his equipment table quickly and picked up yet another device. Waylon rushed to stop him as the over eager genius went over to use it on Madeline.
"It's not going to blind her again is it?" Waylon worried, stepping between Riddler and Madeline.
"Relax, it's just a scanner I devised. It scans and identifies the purposes of most items of technology. It doesn't flash or do anything to blind her. It just beeps once or twice." Riddler explained with an exasperated sigh. "I hope beeping is okay?" Waylon eyed the device with suspicion but allowed Riddler to proceed. Sure enough, the device did only beep, and while that beep did irritated Madeline a little as it was beeping near her ear, she didn't flip out nearly as much as she did with the x-ray flash.
The device didn't tell them what it was straight away, it had to be uploaded into the computer before a program could run diagnostics. Once the computer had done its thing a list of technical terms popped up on the screen. Riddler read them quietly to himself as he went down the list. Waylon tried to read them as well but gave up after the first one. It didn't even seem like English the words were so technical.
"Well, it's not a tracking device." Riddler said after a short while, but he certainly didn't seem happy about that fact.
"Then what is it?" Waylon asked cautiously, suspecting that the truth might be worse. Riddler sighed and bit his lip, looking reluctant to answer.
"Well?" Waylon snarled, growing impatient. "What is it?"
"It's a bomb." Catwoman said as she and Harley sauntered into the room out of nowhere. Both Waylon and Riddler were startled by their sudden arrival.
"How long have you been there?" Riddler snapped, uncomfortable to see Catwoman again. "And how did you get in. I locked the door." Waylon glared at the woman glad in black leather, the one who had interfered with his fight with Nightwing and Robin and cost him a victory.
"Long enough, your little assistant let us in." Catwoman beamed with a cheeky grin. "And I picked the lock on the basement door since you cruelly locked the poor boy out." Catwoman gave Jack, who appeared beside her now that the basement door was open, a warm hug. The kid certainly looked happy to have Catwoman's breast so close to his face and didn't rush to see the sister he had been trying to get in to see. Typical.
"How is it a bomb?" Waylon growled with suspicion. He didn't understand how a microchip could be a bomb. He looked to Riddler for the answer but all Riddler could do was acknowledge that Catwoman was indeed correct.
"Batman showed me the technology some time ago." Catwoman explained, releasing Jack from her embrace much to the kid's dismay. "It was from some government facility that had plans to create a task force of dangerous people. The project was shut down of course but it's not surprising that the technology got out to other secret facilities."
"I heard about it too once or twice when I worked at Arkham." Harley added. "They were thinkin' about getting it to make the patients comply. Nothin' makes people do what ya want better than a bomb in their neck." She giggled when she spoke about the prospect, but Waylon was feeling anything but amusement. Madeline had a bomb in her neck. A fucking bomb. When was it going to go off? How big was the explosion going to be? If it did go off could they save her or would it obliterate her? Was there any way to save her?
"Relax big guy." Harley said, noticing Waylon's anxiousness. "I'm sure Eddie can disable it or somethin'. Right Eddie?" Riddler was silent and thought for a moment, staring intently at the scan of the bomb. As he thought it over, Harley went over to Madeline. Waylon watched her cautiously, he didn't want someone as annoying as Harley to irritated Madeline any more than she already was.
"What did they do to you girl?" Harley asked, not hesitating to get up close to Madeline. Oddly enough Madeline didn't try to bite Harley's head off. Perhaps it was because Harley had a way with animals, she did own two hyenas after all.
"That's your girlfriend?" Catwoman sneered to Waylon, looking at Madeline with disgust. "Can't say you're punching out of your league." Waylon took her tone very personally and growled at her, baring his teeth so she got the message. Madeline was and always would be way out of his league, reptilian form or not, and anyone who insinuated that she was anything but stunning deserved a quick but painful death.
"Celina don't be so mean. Maddy's still sexy looking, in a kind of, scaly fetish sort of way." Harley called before Waylon could snap Catwoman's head off. "Plus when we make her human again, you'll see that she's super hot."
"We're focusing on bringing her humanity back at this point. Returning her to a human form comes after." Riddler corrected, still trying to figure out how to defuse the bomb. He'd scribbled a few things down on a notepad. It looked to be scientific gibberish but Waylon was sure it meant something to someone with more than one brain cell.
"Oh. Well. I guess that's why you called me huh?" Harley giggled, deliberately acting blonde. Waylon didn't understand why she still chose to act like a blonde bimbo when Joker was long dead. Why couldn't she just act like the intelligent woman she was.
Harley did a short examination of Madeline. Testing her responses to sound, certain images and phrases. She'd even shoved Jack within striking distance of Madeline but that had almost ended in the poor kid getting his head bitten off. At the end of her examination Harley looked doubtful that she could do anything, but she wasn't completely out of ideas.
"I think there is only one course of treatment I, as a professional psychiatrist, recommend." She announced, being a little over dramatic with her acting. It kind of irritated Waylon a bit, he wasn't in the mood for playing silly games. He wanted Madeline's humanity returned. He didn't want to waste time on theatrics for comedic value.
"And that is..?" Catwoman coaxed, also getting irritated with the overdramatic acting. Although, she was probably more concerned with being surrounded by people she had fought with on numerous occasions, and done so alongside Batman to say the least.
"Electroshock therapy." Harley announced proudly, as if it was anything but the worst thing in the world Waylon could imagine.
"NO!" Waylon snapped with a more vicious and threatening growl than he had intended, not that it didn't summarise he hatred of the electroshock practice.
"Yes!" Riddler gasped with sudden realisation at the same time as Waylon's protest. "Of course, a controlled electric current should short circuit the explosive device. With minimal risk of detonation or leakage of acidic fluids."
"Kills two birds with one stone." Catwoman added with a smug grin.
"No, absolutely not!" Waylon growled, stepping in front of Madeline as if to protect her from their intentions. "No one is electrocuting Madeline!"
"They want to electrocute her?" Jack gasped, only just now catching on. He sounded shocked and outraged as well. At least Waylon wasn't alone on this.
"We're not going to electrocute her." Riddler sighed, sounding irritated with the level of stupidity in the room. "It's electroshock therapy, it's a controlled electrical current targeted to specific parts of the brain. It's been tested and modified over the years to provide maximum benefit with minimal damage."
"They do it more often than you think." Harley added, trying to be sympathetic to Jack's worries and totally ignoring Waylon's gripe with the treatment method. "They mainly use it to treat severe depression and other stuff. But if we do it right it should bring your sister's sanity back, provided that she still has some left."
"I do have some equipment I can modify to control the current, and I can hack into the Gotham power grid for the electricity we need." Riddler added, scribbling some more plans down on another piece of paper.
"Have you all gone mad?" Waylon interrupted as they began their plan to zap Madeline with electrify until her brain was fried beyond repair. He was genuinely concerned everyone in the room except for him had literally gone completely and utterly insane.
"It's the only way..." Riddler began, but Waylon cut him off.
"Have you all forgotten about Arkham?" Waylon asked with disbelieve, it certainly seemed that way. "About the countless times they'd strap you down to a table and zap your brain until you couldn't move! Because I certainly remember getting my brain scrambled on a daily basis, not being able to control my body for hours, sometimes days afterwards!"
"Waylon..."
"The only part I don't remember are the times in-between the electroshock therapy because all the zapping erased parts of my memory. They erased whole parts of my life, and for what? Research? Scientific advancement? Some twisted notion that it was helping me?"
"In all honesty, they did abuse the electroshock with you a little more than they should have..." Harley explained, trying to reason with Waylon, but he was having none of it.
"NO! You are NOT going to fry Madeline's brain! You are NOT going to erase her memories! You are NOT going to hurt her like they hurt me, and if you try I will tear you apart!"
Waylon turned his back to them and looked at Madeline, resting his hands on the sides of the chair he had been strapped down to countless times for endless sessions of getting his head violated by electric currents, the same chair that now held Madeline and threatened her with the same fate. Madeline growled low at him but it wasn't aggressive or threatening. He wanted her back so badly, but he didn't want her to go through what he had gone through. It was traumatic to say the least and what kind of a man would he be if he allowed the woman he loved to suffer such a fate. Then again, what kind of a man would he be if he left the woman he loved in this state. Not that it mattered either way, he wasn't a man, he was a monster.
"Look, Eddie. Me and Cat have to get going. We've got a flight to Hawaii booked." Harley said on the side to Riddler in a soft but slightly irritable voice. "Do you know how to do the ECT by yourself?"
"I believe I can yes, but I don't think it'll be happening any time soon." Riddler replied, and Waylon could hear a slight hint of despair in Riddler's voice. Even if it was the only way to bring Madeline back, Waylon just couldn't subject her to such torment.
"Okay. Come on Celina, let's go." Harley said, but Catwoman didn't budge. She glared at Waylon, or at least Waylon could feel her eyes piercing through the back of his head with disgust and distain.
"You're a coward." She said plainly, and Waylon spun around at the insult. How dare she.
"Oh I'm sorry." He snarled sarcastically. "I just assumed everyone here had experienced a little shock treatment. I forgot that your trips to Arkham were rather short. Guess it helps that all you had to do to get out was suck Batman off..." His insult was short lived as Catwoman's whip snapped around his neck. Waylon didn't try to fight it, for once he didn't feel like fighting, and just stood there holding his breath as the whip tightened around his neck. Catwoman's face was not one of offence however, or at least not completely, but more a bitter resentment brought about through betrayal or loss. She and Batman had been close, everyone knew that, and some did speculate that Catwoman loved Batman more than he loved her. His death would have been hard on her, but the expression on her face was one belonging to a woman who experienced rejection from the one person she loved. Waylon could sympathise with that. If Madeline suddenly turned around and rejected him, he would feel the same way.
"Easy there Celina. Don't piss off the big crocodile with all the sharp teeth, okay?" Harley tried to coax, but Catwoman was having none of it and tightened the whip. Waylon didn't budge. He could hold his breath for a very long time.
"You're being a coward." Catwoman snapped again. "You're too afraid to try and save her." Now Waylon's ears picked up and the blood started to rush a little faster and a little hotter in his veins. What did she mean by that?
"You are afraid of electroshock. You. And with good reason. They did abuse their positions at Arkham and fry you a little more for sadistic entertainment purposes than research or therapy." Catwoman theorized, but she was still more hostile than sympathetic. "But that was you. And years of that torture have rendered you afraid and weak, and selfish." Even Riddler was starting to back away a little, taking Jack with him alongside Harley. They were all wary of what would happen if Catwoman pushed Waylon too far, but as irritating and aggravating as her words were, Waylon was more curious as to her logic behind these accusations. He wouldn't kill her just yet.
"Look at her. Look at Madeline." Catwoman ordered, but Waylon didn't obey. "She's been turned into a beast, an animal that can do nothing more than roar and snap and hiss at everything. She can't even recognise her own brother. Now imagine that she is still inside there somewhere, what if she is trapped just beneath the surface watching herself act like a monster, desperate to escape and you won't try to set her free because you're afraid. And in refusing to put aside your fear for the woman you love you are being selfish beyond all reason." Waylon turned and glanced at Madeline, staring at her emerald green eyes. What if Catwoman was right and Madeline really was just behind those eyes. Desperate to escape and watching him turn down what could be her only way out. She'd hate him for denying her freedom. He owed it to her to help her in any way he could, heck, he was obligated to help her in any way he could. It was his fault she'd ended up like this.
Catwoman loosened the whip all of a sudden and before Waylon had chance to realise what had happened Catwoman was already walking out of the door. She'd made her point. No need for her to stay. But before she left she did stop in the doorway to the basement.
"If you love her you should do anything and everything to help her." She said plainly, and then disappeared up the steps with Harley in toe.
Waylon stood in silence for a short while, Riddler and Jack on the other side of the room still cautious about his temperament. Waylon gritted his teeth and looked at Madeline, staring intently to see if there was any sign of her behind those eyes. She had to be in there, and if she was then she'd want out, even if it meant enduring a bit of pain. Still, the electroshock could fuck her up like it had done to Waylon. It could even negatively affect her current condition and make her even more like Waylon, slowly devolving her into nothing more than an animal. He didn't want that to happen to her. She deserved to be happy.
"Edward." Waylon said calmly, so calmly in fact that it made Riddler jump.
"Yes?" Riddler replied cautiously, fearing an attack.
"Can you do the therapy?" He asked casually, as if he were merely asking a friend for a favour.
"Yes I believe I should be able to... No, I will be able to do it provided I get the equipment modified.
"Then let's do it." Waylon responded before Riddler had even finished speaking. "But Edward..."
"Y-Yes?"
"If you fail. I will kill you."
I know I know I know, I should have updated sooner I'm sorry. Updates will become more frequent as of the 27th of Feb when I am back at uni and away from Fallout 4.