Present day...

You were still cuffed to the bed. It had been...well, the truth was, at this point you could no longer differentiate time. Most "days" you slept. Most "nights" you slept. And even then, you were always fatigued. The body starts to suffer and shutdown after being forced to stay in the same position, day in and day out. Twice a "day", if you were lucky, someone would get you up. You'd get to take eleven steps to the bathroom. Four to the toilet. Three to the sink. And maybe a shower but only on rare occasions, depending on who was playing babysitter. Then it was right back to the bed. Your back ached. Your hips ached. Your shoulders ached. Your arms ached. And your wrist...Your wrist were the worse, by far. They were raw and starting to become infected from being cuffed .

Your body was changing, becoming unhealthy. You had lost a lot of weight. Your diet now consisted of left over junk food that Rocko and anyone else didn't eat. Your body was so malnutrition and in need of protein, that you had stop having your period. When it first stopped, you feared the absolute worse. You didn't think the math added up, but you had considered ways of terminating "it", if it had came to that. But after a while, it became apparent that it was only a side effect of how unhealthy you'd become and not a pregnancy. Having your body not functioning properly had never been such a well welcome relief.

Besides the Joker's goons doing the little bit, that needed to be done, to maintain life in you; no one bothered you. The Joker came and went, mostly only showering or watching TV. He'd watch the news for an hour, then go. He never, so much as, looked at you after that first day. You told yourself you were crazy for doing it but sometimes after seeing him you'd wondered, what did I do? What does it mean? Maybe something had truly started to break in you, that the company of a deranged but brilliant madman, who did nothing but harm you, was missed.

You would have days where you fantasized about escaping. Other days you'd think about eating your favorite food. Sometimes even dreaming about doing 'normal' everyday things was a fantasy worth escaping to. You'd woken up crying, one time, after having a dream about simply washing clothes at home. You knew, if something didn't change, you were going to die or lose your mind.

Depending on what came first, both were in close runnings.

Being no cause for trouble, you were becoming invisible. Your existence was becoming nothing. Until a moment came, out of some unknown place, deep in your soul. You literally couldn't take it anymore. Maybe it was just your last little bit of life coming to the surface, like the throes before death. Whatever it was, it would be the catalyst to change everything.

You laid there like normal, rotting away. Suddenly, you lifted your head and dragged yourself up. You wrapped your hands around the bars and shook the headbroad of the bed as hard as you could.

"HEEEEY! HHHHEEEYYY! Hey! Hey! HEYYY, someone!" You screamed and shook the headbroad. "HHEEY, ASSHOLES!"

"Someone fucking answer me!" You continued to make noise. "HHEEY! HEEY!"

You pulled yourself up to your knees and then flipped around so your feet and legs were pushing against the headbroad. Your wrist were bleeding and throbbing but you didn't care. You used your feet and kicked the headbroad against the wall as hard as you could, over and over.

"HEY! FUCK you guys! Heeey!" You heard an inaudible yell come from somewhere. It only made you scream louder and longer.

When one of them came through the door, you couldn't help but smile. You felt success.

"What the hell ya goin' on about?" It was Rocko.

"Rocko! Rocko, you have to-" You took a deep breath. You had over asserting yourself.

He turned to leave.

"WAIT! NO! Please don't. You have to..." You quickly glanced at the cuffs and shook them while speaking.

"...let me get up. Cuff me anywhere, anywhere but here." You pleaded.

As he started to leave again, you began to scream and show your ass again.

He quickly walked over to you, "You gotta shut up. Mister J, he'll kill you. He's been on the war path."

"No. You. Have. Move me!" Again you shook the headbroad. "You have too! Let me walk around for just five minutes. Please. Please, please-please-please."

"Look, calm down." Rocko was now pleading with you. He clearly didn't want to have to deal with the boss.

"I'll hush. Just get me OUT. OF. THIS. FUCKING. BED!" You kicked against the bed with each word you screamed.

"Let her up." His voice made both of you turned and look towards the doorway. "If she wants to play, then let her play, Rocko, my boy."

The Joker was standing there in purple pants, black shirt, green vest, white string tie and a purple hat. You couldn't see his eyes, due the shadow the hat cast, but you could see his grin.

"Yes'sir." Rocko replied.

"And Rocko..." His grin was gone.

Rocko's voice trembled, "Y-yes-s?"

"...Assertions about who I may or may not kill... Aren't yours to make." The threat was very clear, at to you. Rocko, not so much.

He turned around and left from view.

Rocko looked defeated as he unlocked one of your cuffs and removed it from around one of the bars on the headboard. You cringed and moaned as he recuffed it back onto you.

"I need to use the restroom." You demanded.

Rocko said nothing, only showing you toward it with his hand.

"No." He stopped you from closing the door.

"Leave it open." He ordered.

You made a point to stare him down as you used the toliet. It was your way of protesting. It was uncomfortable for the both of you, but you were feeling pretty frisky, having won a small battle. You washed your wrist as good as you could, the water burned them. You splashed water on your face and drank some from your cupped hands. Rocko must have taken pity on you. As you walked back to the door he stood blocking it.

"Hands." He ordered.

You held them out and he uncuffed them.

"Make it quick." He said pointing to the shower.

A smile crossed your face and you immediately began to undress, peeling out of the orange button down shirt. You turned the water on, letting it dance between your fingers as you waited for the temperature to warm up. You were so excited that once you felt the cold start to vanish, you climbed on in. For a moment, you allowed the water to just roll down over your face and tickle your body. Your arms wrapped around your trunk, giving yourself a hug, as you leaned against the shower wall. It was hard not to be overwhelmed by this small pleasure. Once you'd had your moment, you began to wash quickly, fearful of being forced out before you could finish. You took extra care as you washed your wrist. After finishing up washing everything thoroughly, you turned to let the water roll over your shoulders and down your back. You wanted to make sure to get ever bit of enjoyment out of this that you could. Your hand brushed against the J craved into your belly. It was healed and scared over. You had made a point to ignore it as much as you could. Tracing it with your finger, you looked down at. Then quickly placed your hand over it, putting it out of your mind.

You wiped the fog off the mirror. Staring back at you was someone different. You didn't quite look like yourself anymore. There was no longer any sparkle in your eyes , they looked tried and dark circles in cased them. Your face was thinner. Your lips had lost most of their healthy color. You tried running your fingers through your hair. Tiny little dreads were starting to form as a result of not being maintained. You noticed, that, overtime, you had lost all your earrings but one. Looking at its tiny reflection in the mirror, you shook your head and then took it out. A small white gold stud, in the shape of a little bird, rest between your finger and thumb. You couldn't help but laugh, foreshadowing gone unnoticed. You started to drop it down the drain but stopped. Holding it up and twisting it, you whispered to it, "you might just be my good luck." You put it back into your ear.

There was the orange shirt you had been living in, you tossed it aside. It could have easily been labeled toxic waste at this point. You glanced at the door. Rocko was near the door but looking at the TV. So instead of inquiring about clothes, you looked around. Your eyes landed on the gray pull over shirt. It was still on the towel rack, where you had hung it after having been given it in a ball of dirty clothes. You examined it. Besides the 0801 across the back and on the pocket, inside the collar was an iron-on tag: Arkham Asylum-Patient 0801-"unknown". You knew his history when it came to Arkham, everyone in Gotham did. You put your arms through the sleeves, as you pulled it over your head, your eyes closed from delight. Somehow, the shirt still smelled like him. There was something about his scent that appealed to you on a primal level. You couldn't help it.

'Woe is me, escape my fate' you thought, as you finished slipping the shirt on.

Walking out of the door, Rocko immediately looked up. He cuffed your hands back together, using care. You watched him as he made sure to leave a little more room between your wrist and the cuffs then before.

"You have a kind heart." You spoke quietly. "Tha-"

He interrupted, "No but I got a few sisters. Hush."

You smirked. He did have kindness somewhere in there. Once done, he started leading you in the direction of the other door. Then he continued to lead you out into a small dark hallway. At one end, you could see an exit sign above a door. So close, you thought, as you stared at it.

"Don't think about it. Ya gotten it easy, kid. Don't go makin' things hard for yaself." He warned.

As he led you away from the exit, you passed two restrooms, a ladies and a gentlemans. Then the hallway made a 90° turn to the left, it opened up into a huge room. Immediately, you could tell it was a old abandoned strip club. The small apartment must have been rented out to make extra money or a place for the girls to...you shuddered to think. Looking around, the place had been transformed. Joker faces' were painted on old pictures of girls, that hung on the walls. There was different circus-like and fair-like stuff decorating the place. The Joker must have found the stuff humours. In the middle of the room, there were multiple tables, covered with tons of different kinds of equipment. Your eyes could see everything ranging from computers to weapons to rubber chickens. You were kind of impressed by what you saw, anyone would be. It looked like the Joker was preparing for one hell of a fight.

In the far corner, you recognize Rocko's brother and one other guy playing cards. From there, you scanned the room looking for him. He was far across the room, sitting down at a table, surrounded by more of the same. He appeared to be writing. He had taken his hat off and his green hair simmered when his head moved just right in the light. You were shoved in his direction. You looked at Rocko and he nodded toward the Joker.

"Go. The boss wants to talk." He nodded toward him again.

You looked to the Joker, then back to Rocko, hesitating to take a step. He shoved you once more, harder this time.

"OK-OK. I'm going!" You snapped hatefully at him.

It was loud enough that it made the Joker glance up at you. He watched you for a moment, then went right back to work.

You slowly walked, dreading each step the closer you got to him. Once you were half-way across the room you looked back to see Rocko, who was already back at the table with the other guys, getting ready to play a hand of cards. You stopped a few feet away from the Joker. You knew, he knew, you were there. So after waiting a minute or so you went around to the other side of the table, in order to look right at him. Finally he looked up at you, he started to look back down when his eyes landed on the shirt you wore. He stared at the 0801 on the pocket. You looked down at the number then back up at him. His lips were pressed together. He looked agitated by the sight of it. Lifting his eyebrow, he went back to writing out, what looked like to you, chemical formulas.

You said nothing, standing almost like you were at attention, as you watched him concentrate on his work. He kept his brow lowered as he scribbled across the paper, sometimes even squinting. Anytime he would squint, he'd also stick the very tip of his tongue out and rub his bottom lip with it. An explosion of laugher, from across the room, caused you to jump and caused the Joker to slam his pencil down loudly on the table. He cleared his throat then baring his teeth he slowly spun around in his chair. The goons instantly went silent and stood up. Joker sat there and scoured at them. Suddenly standing, he pulled a gun and began randomly shooting in their direction.

"Christ, boss." One of them yelled out, as they all ducked and ran for cover.

He stopped but only after he'd unloaded the whole clip. Lucky for them, he'd aimed poorly on proposed. He had gotten his point across.

"We didn't mean nothin' boss."

"For the love of everything funny! I get stuck with the biggest buffoons in Gotham!" He threw the empty gun at the men. It hit the table causing the poker chips to go flying.

"GET OUT!" His voice echoed.

"Sorry boss." Rocko looked like a bullied little kid on the playground as he and the others hurried out.

You were ducked behind the table that the Joker had been sitting at, peeking over the top of it, your finger tips holding onto the edge. You remained there as the Joker return to his chair in a huff. It was silent enough, so that when you moved, the chain between your cuffs jingling could be heard. The sound caused him to turned his head just slightly. He slowly spun around in his chair and smirked when he saw you. He leaned on the table with his elbows and crossed his fingers together, giving you a charismatic smile. You continued to watched him from over the top of the table. He motioned for you to stand up with one finger. You did so.

"Crouching behind a table...That's not the little bird that was chirping so loudy just an hour ago." He relaxed back into the chair, keeping his elbows on the table.

"In fact, I'd just about given up on you. Allowing yourself to waste away in there." He grinned.

"But, now."

You stood staring at him. What could you say? There was nothing to say. He stared back at you for a long time.

"You wanted..." He got up and started to walk around the table, "...something."

Once beside you, he half-way stood and half-way sat on the table, making him almost eye level with you.

"...Yyeeesss?" He took your chin into his hand as he cooed out the word 'yes' in a charming manner.

He gently moved your chin back and forth a few times as he gazed at you.

"Hhmmmmm?" He wanted an answer.

"I-I..." He let your chin go as you started to talk. "...needed to stretch." He rested his elbow on his leg and leaned on it as he listened.

You nervously bounced your eyes around, looking at him and then quickly down at the floor and then back up to him.

"And have you, stretched enough?" He sounded so kind.

You hesitantly shook your head 'yes'.

"Well then!" He jumped up suddenly and full of energy, "That is just wonderful, isn't it?"

He spun around beside you and put his arm around your shoulders, pulling you in tightly against him.

Pulling you along with him as he started to walk.

"Let me show you around our trou à merde, then." He cheerfully announced, raising his other arm as if he was presenting the place to you.

His hand casually dangled over your shoulder as he walked you across the large room. He stopped at one of the tables. There was a collection of miscellaneous cell phones, tablets, wallets, jewelry and weapons. Once he'd picked up one of the guns from the table, he guilded you over to another table. This table had an array of bottles containing green liquid. There were a ton of spray cans also. Everything was labeled with "HA HA!" and smiley faces with Xs for eyes.

He used the gun to point as he spoke, "The infamous Joker Venom. All, of course, ranging from lethal to...very lethal." He laughed.

There were also a few flowers on the table. The same ones he wore on his lapel. The idea that you had rolled around on the floor before, fighting with this man, with something so deadly, so close, kind of made you feel sick to your stomach. You studied the items on the table. He grinned proudly. Then you felt a sting.

"What was that?" Panic was in your voice as your hand covered spot on your neck where the stinging sensation came from.

You had been stuck with a needle. You stepped back away from him as you held your neck. He tossed the syringe onto the table, giving you a smug smile as he crossed his arms behind his back.

"Can't have you running around here, unvaccinated. That would make me an irresponsible pet owner." He laughed. "There's a good girl."

You looked completely perplexed and it caused him to fake a frown.

"Oh, cheer up!" He threw his arms up.

"It's only anti-venom." He went to wrap his arm around you again but you pulled away.

He curled his lip and roughly grabbed your arm, pulling you to him. He then suddenly smiled again and put his arm around you, like he wanted.

"Would a thank you kill ya..." He mumbled.

He yanked you along. For some reason it made you feel bad. But you didn't have the courage to actually say 'thank you'. Then you silently screamed at yourself, are you crazy?

He still had the gun in one hand, waving it around as he continued to talked. You eyeballed it, from time to time, as he walked you around his lair.

"Eww, no touching." He pointed and made a face as the two of you walked by an old striper pole.

"You'd probably get a STD..."

Then he used a disappointing voice to add to the joke, "...and not the fun kind."

You couldn't help but snicker, which amused him.

He laughed and sqeezed your shoulder. After a few more steps the two of you were at the begining of the small hallway. He stopped.

"We have a dilemma, you and I, Pigeon." He looked down at you, while keeping his arm around you.

"You don't want to be chained up and I, believe it or not, can understand that. You want the wind in your hair, breeze on your face. But you have to understand my position too. If you decide to relinquish your post as my pet and tried to run off...Well, you see the problem." He grinned the whole time as he spoke.

"So, how's about we make a deal?" You stared ahead as he talked.

He then dangled the gun, by it's trigger guard, in front of you. You looked at it then you looked up at him.

"Take it. Let's see how much fight you've got left...And if it's enough..." He offered the gun, "I'll let you go."

He grinned, "Deal?"

You didn't hesitate. You grabbed the gun and elbowed him in the side. He laughed and let you get a few step away from him. You pointed the gun at him. The though that it wasn't loaded crossed your mind but only after the fact. It was too late. You'd already jump feet first into shit creek.

"Just let me go." You glanced toward to exit at the end of the hallway.

You were slowly backing up toward it. And he was slowly following you. He didn't seem worried at all and that worried you. You quickly glanced toward the exit and back to him. Can I make it? Is it even open? You quickly decided that you may have better luck running the other way and finding the front door. The guys left that way earlier. After a quick debate inside your head, you put the gun down, holding in front of you.

"I can't win this game. Not this time." You looked at him.

He stood there, very relaxed.

"I don't know but I'm pretty sure that door..." You glanced back quickly to the one behind you. "...There's no way it's unlocked. And even if I did make it pass you, I have no clue where the front door is."

You stepped toward him.

You slightly lifted the gun, "does it even have bullets?"

"Find out." His grin was evil as he said it.

You thought about it and that's exactly what he wanted. He wanted you distracted for a split second. Grabbing the chain between your cuffs and jerking it with extreme force, he had you. It happened so fast that you didn't stand a chance. The only thing you felt was intense pain from your both of your wrist before nothing. You were out. You had been slung around by the handcuffs and slammed violently into the wall. Your whole body being sent flying through the air and coming to an abrupt stop, knocked the air out of you and caused you to black out. You were a heap of dead weight on the floor.

He had used so much force, that the dry wall cracked when you made contact with the wall. He laughed as he looked down at you. Then he kneeled down over you and continuing to studied you.

"Pigeon, Pigeon, Pigeon." He shook his head as he looked at your unconscious body.

"I win." He whispered and started laughing.

He looked around and reached for the gun, picking it off the floor. He held it up and pulled the trigger. A 'bang' flag came rolling out of the end of it. He laughed.

"Well...It would have been funny." He mumbled and shrugged, then he tossed the gun back down.

He looked at you again, moving the hair out of your face. His eyes moved from your face, down toward your shirt. Reaching down, he pitched the pocket of it. He ran his thumb over the 0801 and curled up his nose up. Letting go of the shirt, he rubbed his fingers together like he was dusting off something gross. He leaned over you and grabbed your arms. Lifting you enough, he slipped one arm under your back. Then he slipped the other arm under your knees. From a squatting position, he lifted you to his chest as he stood up. Your feet dangled, your arms and hands rested in you lap. Your head fell back, allowing your hair to sway freely in the air. He carried you down the hall and back to your prison.

He headed toward the bed but stopped at hearing someone said 'Batman' on the TV. He turned toward the small TV and watched for a moment. It was another report on whether or not Batman helps or hurts the city. Apparently the bat was responsible for making some "arrest" last night.

The Joker squinted at the TV, "hem."

He was most unimpressed; whether it was the reporting or Batman or both, who knew.

Giving your body a small toss-like action, he bettered his grip on you while he continued to watch. Once the news story was over, he walked over to the bed and causally tossed your body down without care. Turning on a small lamp he looked at you. He attention immediately went to your wrists. Your skin was so red and inflamed. They were weeping a blood and what appeared to be pus, caused by an infection. He hooked his finger around the chain between the cuffs and lifted your hands, causing your arms to stretch out. After getting a closer look, he let go, letting arms fall.

He crossed his arms, tucking his head down with his chin resting on his fist, while he studied you. He appeared to be debating, shaking his 'yes'. After a moment, he exhaled deeply, put his arms down and got to work.