She straightens her shirt, and then does it again. It's still crooked. She can't help herself and straightens it again. It's still crooked. Michelle's very aware that no matter how much she tries to fix it, it's always going to be crooked.
She still has no idea how long she's been here. Though, really, it's not bothering her all that much anymore. They've started feeding her again (it strikes her that she's using the term 'feeding', like she's some sort of caged animal, and it's kind of appropriate now that she thinks about it); nothing big, just whatever seems to be lying around (leftover fast food is what she mainly gets, and she guesses that whatever they don't eat, they throw to her like a begging dog). She's been hanging around in the same room since the Joker left her there, just waiting. She wishes there were a clock somewhere around here, idly, before returning to what's left of the burger joint soda. It's watery.
"Missy," She hears from the opening door, and rolls around in her seat to look, a mask of apathy on her face. It doesn't last, though, when the Joker walks in wearing a nurse's outfit. "This is on right, right?" The Joker asks her, fidgeting with the outfit, before looking at her face and noticing that she's turning quite ashen. She drops her drink, and doesn't look as it hits the floor. He snaps his fingers, getting her attention again. "Is it?"
"Erm…" She begins, her voice very weak and shaky, putting a hand over her mouth. "No, actually. Do I want to know?"
"Then come help me fix it," He snaps, impatiently, and she walks over somewhat dazedly, her fingers hovering over the outfit but not quite touching it, as she doesn't want to touch him. He taps his heeled foot a couple times, watching her awkwardly almost touching his nurse's outfit but deciding against it at the last moment, before grabbing her wrists and forcing her hands down on his shoulders. "There, you touched me. Now fix it."
"Al…right…" Michelle mumbles, her voice distant, as she starts trying to fix his crooked skirt. It's horribly weird and awkward and she kind of wants to die right now, but not quite enough to refuse to do it and let him kill her in some unspeakably painful manner. "Why…are you wearing a nurse's outfit, exactly?"
"Visiting someone in the hospital. Old friend, actually," He states, as she finishes righting his skirt and glances up at the wig on his head.
"Your wig is crooked."
"I don't walk around in drag very often."
"Surprise surprise," Michelle mutters under her breath as she reaches for his wig, but it's not quiet enough for him not to hear her and he grabs the finger he broke recently and breaks it again. She shrieks, and drops to her knees, before he taps his foot on the ground again, impatiently.
"We've got a schedule to keep, Missy. Tick tock, tick tock," Joker says distractedly, cracking his neck, and Michelle clutches her injured hand to her chest and uses the free one to straighten his wig, tears in her eyes as she does.
"You're fine…" She mumbles, and turns around to sit back in her chair, when he grabs her by the back of her shirt and starts dragging her down the hallway with him.
"Oh no, you're coming too," He states, and there's a distinctive tone of either excitement or impatience, Michelle can't tell which, and she just lets him drag her down the hallway. He stops at a room and shoves her into it roughly. "Change and get out here." He shuts the door as Michelle straightens, looking at the article of clothing on the table.
"Oh no, oh no I'm not wearing that thing, you're insane and I'm not going to argue about it because you're out of your fucking mind if you think I'm going to wear that!" Michelle wheels around towards the door, and when she throws it open to argue some more with him, he's giving her a deadpan stare.
"You have two minutes before I come in and do it myself."
She slams the door shut in his face. She's also out in one and a half, fully dressed. Her arms are crossed over her chest, tightly, and she's glaring at him as harshly as she possibly can, her heels clicking on the concrete as she walks out of the room as pissed as possible. She's wearing a nurse's outfit too, one identical to his, and he nods in approval.
"At least you look like a woman now. Come on," Joker grabs her by the upper arm, pulling her along, and she staggers after him, even angrier than before.
"What do you mean by that??" She shouts, indignation in her tone, but he doesn't answer her and merely drags her out to a van already set up with goons, and shoves her in. She trips and hits the floor of the van as he walks in and steps over her, moving to sit down.
"Clumsy clumsy," He teases, almost playfully, and Michelle just glares at him, before looking back at the goon sitting behind her and looking up her skirt. She snarls at him and he glances away, before she sits up on her knees and straightens out her skirt.
This van ride is the most fucking uncomfortable ride in the history of Gotham, maybe even the world. Michelle is sure of this. She's in a nurse's uniform, and though she's not very pretty (she's rather plain, and she also has no makeup on and hasn't had a shower in a day or maybe two, so that explains some things), she's got nice legs and nice hips. In her opinion, anyway.
On the other side of the van is the Joker, in the same nurse's uniform, and apparently not used to closing his legs when he wears a skirt. Michelle accidentally gets an eyeful and then wishes she had a lighter to melt her eyes out of their sockets, or maybe an ice cream scoop to gouge them out with.
Nobody speaks. There's no need, because…well, what the fuck do you talk about in that sort of situation?
The van eventually (after a long eternity, it feels like) comes to a stop and they climb out, and Michelle recognizes Gotham General. There's a swarm of people panicking and rushing around, school buses being loaded with patients, policemen directing people around.
"Why did you need me to dress like this again?" Michelle asks, confusedly, as he steps out and straightens his skirt again.
"Because you need to lighten up. Play some dress-up now and then." Joker smiles at her a moment, almost as if he's trying to be charming, and she very, very nearly starts screaming "THIS IS THE JOKER HE'S RIGHT HERE COME KILL HIM FOR ME" at the top of her lungs, just to spite him. Oh, how close she is. But something tells her not to; it's cowardice, she knows, that not even pure rage can overcome, and she huffs and falls silent.
"Follow them," She hears Joker order her dismissively, as an unmasked goon puts a hand on her shoulder. "And wait for me to come back. Run, or make a scene, and…Oh, I don't need to tell you what'll happen, do I?" He flashes a smile, showing yellowed teeth, and she shivers noticeably. I'll make you suffer, his eyes almost seem to say, I'll make you wish I'd gutted you like a fish. She shakes her head, and he turns to walk towards the hospital. "Smart girl. Keep it that way."
The unmasked goon shoves her towards a large yellow school bus and she staggers, before straightening herself and looking as close to a strung-out nurse as possible. Michelle still has absolutely no idea why everyone is rushing around, or what's happening, but she'll probably learn soon enough and so just goes with it, letting the man lead her to a large yellow school bus and having her walk up into it. She walks to the back, down the alley of the sick and injured, ignoring the patients grabbing at her and trying to get the attention of the 'nurse', and sitting down in the very back. She watches out the window as the flow of people in and out of Gotham General slows to a trickle, before the building explodes for some reason or another. The explosion rocks the bus, and Michelle almost tips out of her seat, before a lone nurse walks away from the exploding building and into the bus she's sitting in. It's not too hard to guess who it is.
She looks to all the people on the bus and, for a fleeting moment, feels crushing pity for these poor people. The news team taking their seats, the patients, everyone here other than the redheaded nurse and the goons now standing up in the aisles as the bus pulls out of the lineup and onto another street.
"Welcome, welcome," the Joker greets them all as he pulls off his wig, and everyone instantly panics. Except Michelle, of course, but that's because she was expecting this. The goons standing behind Joker pull weapons and hold them in view, menacingly. "To our little party. You all, lucky dogs you are, are going to be helping us play our reindeer games." His tone drops from the false enthusiasm (is it even false at all? He might actually be happy about this) to his normal, serious one. "Anyone plays hero and we drop the women and children. So sit tight and enjoy the ride."
People are crying and muttering "This isn't happening" as the Joker walks merrily to the back of the bus and shoves Michelle, sitting next to her. "Enjoying yourself, Missy?" He asks, as she flattens herself against the window and doesn't make eye contact.
"Oh, I'm having a blast." She speaks in monotone, and he claps her on the shoulder.
"Good to hear. Michelle, do you like the Batman?" He asks her, and she does look at him now, suspiciously, shrinking away from the hand on her shoulder.
"I kind of prefer that Superman they've got in Metropolis, myself," She mumbles, and he cracks into high-pitched laughter that makes her shudder and everyone else in the bus jump.
"Oh, you." He gives her a shove, and it's hard enough to make her crack her head against the glass of the window, though he doesn't seem to notice. "No, really."
"I…guess?" Michelle rubs her head where it hit the glass, now for the first time noticing how puffy her (twice) broken finger looks against the rest of her hand. The Joker puts an arm around her shoulders, dragging her against his side and smiling in her face (it's still just as terrifying as the first time he grabbed a hold of her).
"Good, good! Would you like to meet him?"