Thunder rumbled ominously from the heavy black clouds that loomed over the asylum as Jason was dragged down the halls. The guards flanking him had his upper arms in a tight grip, wrinkling his orange jumpsuit and no doubt leaving finger-shaped bruises on his paper white skin.
Dr. Morgan was giving him a debriefing of his interview with the Joker, telling him what was expected and his restrictions and- yadda yadda, whatever.
Jason scowled silently, not bothering to listen to the man. Dr. Goff glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and smirked arrogantly.
So you think you've won?
They now stood outside of the interview room. Warden Sharp had already arrived with the Joker and had remained behind to watch the proceedings. The balding man's thin lips twisted into an identical scowl upon seeing him. Jason's ire only burned hotter.
Goff smiled in his oily way. "Is everything ready, Warden?"
"Yes." He handed over a remote control that Jason recognized at once.
So that was how they were going to play.
The sneering doctor took it, flashing a triumphant smile at Morgan, ignoring the building intensity in the inmate's eyes. Dr. Morgan set his shoulders in resignation.
"Let's just get this over with." He turned away and entered the adjacent room without a single glance at Jason, defeated. The teen felt no sympathy. Spineless worm.
Goff smiled coldly at him and waggled the remote in a warning, mocking gesture.
"Do remember to behave, won't you?"
Jason let a hiss flow through his clenched teeth as the man passed by him. Sharp glared at him.
"Send him in. Be prepared for anything." He snapped at the guards. They nodded in unison before steering him through the door into a sea of white.
Jason's eyes reflexively filled with fluid as his pupils constricted, trying to protect themselves from the overwhelming light. He clenched his eyes for a deliberate moment, before blinking the water from under his lids.
As his vision cleared he found himself in an interview/interrogation room, just like the ones from the videos. A large two-way mirror was set into the left wall, and a scoping camera in the top right corner of the ceiling. It was almost like his cell, blindingly whitewashed so that even the smallest, hand-fashioned shiv would stand out starkly. Nothing could be hidden in here.
A stainless steel table was set in the middle of the room, flanked by two foldable chairs. One of which was occupied.
The Joker.
Face scrubbed of any trace greasepaint and cocooned in a straitjacket, the demon incarnate slouched lazily in his seat. Dark eyes locked him in their crosshairs with a paralyzing intensity, taking in his inmate attire in mind befuddlement. The Glasgow grin twitched and puckered as he smacked his lips.
"Uuh. I think you've got the ah,…wrong room, buddy. This one's ta-ken." If the Joker's hands weren't restrained in the straitjacket, he probably would be making a shooing motion. "I'm lookin' for fu-un tonight. So-"
"Burkely! Sit down!"
Jason's gaze flicked over to the two-way mirror in annoyance. The Joker raised his eyebrows.
"Ooh? So yah do belong here. Well, yah heard the man! Take a seat, uh…Bur-ke-ly." He rolled Jason's name on his tongue before making a face in a dissatisfied manner. "Burk-elly. Bur-kelly? Blegh. Got ah nickname er something?"
Jason momentarily considered if the Joker would recognize any of his aliases, before putting that thought away. Lies would do no good here. So the truth it would be.
"A whole wardrobe full. But I believe my original was Jason." He answered in his most comfortable monotone. Jason felt oddly calm as he deliberately placed himself in the chair in front of the Joker, the cold seeping through the orange cloth.
Finding peace in the face of certain death perhaps? His cynical side cooed.
He wondered what Morgan or Goff would think of his self-realization. Wet themselves with joy, maybe?
"Jasss-son. " a serpent's call. "I'll call you, Jace. We're going to b e the-ah, best of friends, right Jace?"
"I don't take you to be the 'friend' type, to be honest." Jason answered in a bored monotone. He could almost hear the men behind the mirror shifting in anticipation. The Joker's scars stretched obscenely in amusement.
"Something we, ah, have. In. Common." He smacked his lips. "Bit of, uh, a loner, ain'tcha? Jace." Jason's left brow twitched in annoyance. The nickname grated him. "People…bore you, don't they."
"No."
"Oh?"
"Just the world in general."
The clown leaned back in his seat to assess the young man.
"Ah. I seeee. Is that what you're, uh, in for? Making the woooorld, more interesting?"
"Just entertaining myself." Jason shook his head dismissively. "I don't have anything to prove." Like you.
Though the words were unsaid, the madman heard them as clearly as Jason did. He sucked his cheeks in, and let them go with a loud smack.
"Oooo, I gettcha now." The Joker purred, his black pits swirling darkly. "So that's what you're here furrr. Playing Doctor, are we?"
Jason wasn't perturbed. There was no point in trying to hide his intentions.
"Only cause they can't."
The Joker burst into a fit of laughter, his high-pitched cackles ricocheting off the blinding white walls as he threw his head back, each of his yellow teeth bared.
It was annoyingly loud.
"Patient to patient, eh? Gonna tell me what's…wrong with meeeeheeheehee~!" The Joker huffed through his giggles. Jason shrugged, knowing that Morgan was probably twisting in his seat.
"Physician heal thyself." He replied, wishing that he could bring his arms up to rest on the table.
This only amused the man further. "Exxx-actly!" He hooted. The clown probably would have been wagging his finger in Jason's face if it hadn't been for the straitjacket.
"Soo, gonna…diagnose my condition, Doc-tor?" He cooed at Jason from across the table, his stale breath making him want to gag. God, couldn't the guy brush his teeth once in a blue moon?
His face scrunched in disgust, Jason leaned back in a perfect copy of the Joker's posture and crossed his shackled ankles.
"I don't think you have a condition." At the man's raised eyebrow, he reiterated. "At least not one medicine can cure."
The harlequin scoffed and made a show of rolling his eyes. "So, I'm in-saaane~" but Jason cut him off.
"I don't think you're insane. In fact, you're almost frighteningly sane. But you do have a complex."
"Not something, I haven't, ah, heard befo-re." His companion sing-songed. It was the prelude to another episode. Maybe Jason would make the next interview tape.
"You. Are a Romantic."
The room went deathly still.
"Hah?" The Joker looked too bewildered to attack him. Yet.
"Get him out of there. Now."
The Joker's lips stretched in a lopsided leer.
"I think, you're the one, who has the, ah, con-di-tion. Jace."
"Sucks to your assmar." Jason muttered as he stared up at the blinding lights, waiting for the guards to yank him from the room like a landed fish.
"Sucks to your auntie."
Jason stiffened in shock, and slowly brought his head up to stare at the man. The Joker gazed back stoically.
"So does the Beastie live on the mountain?" The madman asked as the steel door behind Jason flew open.
"No." Cash's meaty hand gripped his shoulder painfully and lifted him to his feet.
And as Jason was dragged from the room, his eyes never left the Joker's.
"No. The Beast is just a man."
The door slammed shut.
Kudos to anyone who has been getting the references so far.