Chapter 9
Over the next several weeks I fell into a kind of routine. Work was going really well, in fact two of my patients would be discharged this Friday. I kept observing sessions with the Joker, taking notes, preparing my reports for Dr. Arkham. The Joker had been surprisingly compliant in sessions although so far I didn't believe a single story he'd told, and boy did he have some whoppers! I had managed to make a few friends among the staff. Dr. Alex Montez, a research scientist at Arkham had warmed up to me over coffee breaks in the employee lounge, Dr. Mahreen Zahir had been assisting me with one of my patients and we seemed to be getting on well and Adam Hendricks, the soft spoken security guard had actually stared confiding in me. It was nice to not feel as all alone as I had when I first started.
After work I continued to meet with Dick at least three times a week and I was starting to get pretty good. We had progressed through basic moves and were now up to intermediate. Dick, being familiar with my ability as a gymnast started incorporating more acrobatic moves into our routine. It was a gamble on his part that really payed off. It suited me. Dick was honest when he told me due to my size and strength I was unlikely able to beat a man unconscious so if possible I needed to focus on getting away, and get away I did. Dick was good but I was really fast and my bouncing, flipping and tumbling around made it much harder for him to land a blow or get me in a hold. I started lifting light weights too, in fact I had a set of ten pound dumbbells in my desk drawer at work that I used between sessions.
Once I'd get back to my apartment at night I'd study the Joker's file and watch old interview tapes. I wanted to learn every joke, trick and game in his book. I started to realize some things about him that I wouldn't have based on his sessions so far. The tapes allowed me to pause and rewind when I needed so I could figure out his subtle body language. He was incredibly manipulative that much was clear. He was highly intelligent, scarily so, with aptitudes in science, chemistry and math. The way he enacted his plans on the Batman may seem irrational to the casual observer but he meticulously researched and brilliantly orchestrated these schemes. I began to question if he really were mentally ill or not. He obviously enjoyed inflicting pain and suffering on others but that on its own didn't necessarily constitute insanity. He had an ego the size of a small continent, in fact I don't recall ever meeting anyone else as egomaniacal in my entire life. But he was also an attention seeker, and that's what kept me up at night. What was so lacking in the Joker's life that he had to draw attention from everyone. He often hacks into the television networks and preempts their programming so he can have all of Gotham's eyes on him. Could it be loneliness? Is that why he pulls these elaborate, deadly pranks? Who does he talk to when he's not in Arkham? What is it exactly that drives this need for the attention of Gotham and the attention of the Batman?
The Batman, now there was a conundrum. What makes a guy dress up like a bat and fight crime? For that matter why hasn't he killed the Joker yet? I get his whole 'killing makes me the same as them' spiel, but wouldn't it save so many more innocent lives to break that code just once? The Joker has killed over a thousand people so far, surely one life to save another thousand is worth breaking your hokey vow? I didn't get it, that's for sure but I'd love the chance to analyze him someday.
The Christmas season came and went without too much fanfare. I went to Brooklyn to spend Hanukkah at my mom's. It was nice to see my little monkeys, Jen and Nicky but mom and Barry both ended up driving me up a wall so I cut my stay a little short. I took the time to drive out to Fishkill Correctional to see my dad before I headed back to Gotham. It still hurt every time I saw my dad in prison orange. He sat down in the visitor's booth across from me and picked up the receiver on the wall.
"Hiya pumpkin, how's my little princess?" His blue eyes were beginning to show his age and his brown hair had gone gray at the temples but otherwise he looked the same as ever.
"Hi daddy. Please don't call me princess, you know I hate it. How are you?"
"Well kiddo, not so good truth be told. Some ruffians here like giving your old man a hard time, knock me around a bit but that's prison for ya. Your mom tells me you're a fancy doctor in that big asylum they have in Gotham?"
"Yeah daddy, Arkham Asylum, it's good, I like it there." I could never forgive my dad for the things he did and that made it very hard for me to talk to him. I felt at a loss for words.
"How's your mama pumpkin? Oh, my darling Sharon, how I miss her so. She was the only woman I ever really loved. If only I could get out of here I'd go back to your mom and ask her to take me back so we can be a family again."
Since I was a little girl those were the words I had always been dying to hear. My eyes widened and teared up involuntarily. "Oh daddy, you don't know how happy it makes me to hear you say that!"
"Ya know princess, I bet with the people you know in that asylum, you could arrange for a transfer, you can treat me and discharge me, then I can run back to your mom and we'll all be together again. What do you say sweetheart? Think you can pull some strings for your old man?" My stomach dropped. I can't believe I allowed him to do this to me again.
"I can't believe you daddy! I come all the way here to see you and you purposely try manipulating me into getting you outta jail? You must think I'm pretty dumb if you really thought I'd fall for that line of crap!"
"It's not crap baby, I mean it, really."
"I'm not one of your gullible, lonely old widows. I knew it was a mistake to come here. Happy fucking Hanukkah Nick."
I slammed down the receiver and stormed out of the prison to the privacy of my car where I had a twenty-minute meltdown. Once I was able to collect myself I drove the three and a half hours back to Gotham making lists of shitty band names in my head for pretty much the whole ride. The band name thing is something I do when I'm extremely pissed off, it calms me for some reason. Like I said before my methods are unconventional.
I came home to Gotham on Sunday morning, two days after Christmas. I needed to do some work on my files but I had forgotten to bring them home with me. Still mildly pissed off at my dad and having nothing else to occupy my time, I decided to stop at Arkham briefly so I could grab my charts. I was dressed casually in jeans and boots with a red and black striped sweater, my hair was down and I wasn't wearing my glasses. No one seemed to even recognize me as I walked the halls. I set my car keys down on the couch next to my bag and went over to my desk to gather up the files and charts I needed. I started my computer and checked my email while I was there too. I replied to the few e-mails that seemed urgent, grabbed my files and my bag and left. I was almost out to the garage when I realized that I left my car keys in my office. Crap. I went to the nearest set of elevators and headed back up. There they were right where I left them on the couch. I could be so dizzy when I was distracted. I went back out to the elevators, pushed the button and waited. And waited. After five minutes had passed I decided to just take the stairs. I knew there were a set in the main building somewhere. Arkham is huge and I was still trying to find my way around. I finally located a stairwell and headed down. I knew something wasn't quite right when I got to the bottom and came out on the first floor. I was trying to get to the second floor but apparently this stairwell bypassed it. Probably as a safety measure for the doctors, since I was very close to Intensive Treatment.
As I walked down the hallway I heard voices coming towards me. I was about halfway down the hall when two orderlies turned the corner with the Joker in-between them. He was wearing a bathrobe and flip flops and apparently nothing else. I realized I was close to the men's showers and put two and two together. Joker saw me and grinned like the Cheshire Cat.
"Doc Harley, well don't we look fetching today! I feel so underdressed now!"
I really did not need to deal with this hyena right now. I started ticking off names. ToTo, Mookie Blaylock, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Hoobastank. It wasn't working.
"Good afternoon Mr. Joker. How was your holiday?" He chuckled meanly,
"Oh, just peachy. Arkham really knows how to make a fellow jolly at the holidays. The processed turkey and dehydrated potatoes are always such a treat! And the paper chains the droolers make in the day room during arts and crafts always make the hallways so festive! How was your Hanukkah, Doc? Get to spend time with your family?"
"It was fine, thank you."
"Well you don't sound fine, Doc. You don't really look fine either if you don't mind me saying. Why the long face, Doc? You know I hate long faces. Bad family reunion, princess?"
I needed to get the hell out of there, my emotions were already running high and Joker was purposely pushing my buttons.
"As I don't see how that's any of your business, I'll just be going now. Good day gentlemen."
As I went to push past the trio I suddenly felt a hand slap my ass as the Joker said,
"Oh lighten up toots, I'm just trying to liven up the place!"
I saw red. I didn't think, I just reacted. I spun on my heel and punched the Joker directly in the nose as hard as I could while I screamed.
"Keep your filthy mitts off me!" Then I punched him again "And that's for wrecking my car!" and as I punched him a final time I yelled, "and don't ever call me princess!"
The Joker howled with laughter as blood ran down his lips and chin dripping onto the bathrobe and floor.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you Doc!" He cackled, "I like a lady with a little fight in her, it turns me on!"
I couldn't even be appalled at what I'd just done because his taunts kept coming even after I spun back around and stomped down the hallway.
"Come on back, Doc! Come join me for a shower, I'll wash your back, how about it sweetheart?"
I could hear that maniacal laughter following me down the hall. I burst into the stairwell and literally ran up the stairs and out into the garage. I got in my car and headed home trying not to think about what I had just done, or what Doc Arkham was going to do to me for it. So I continued my list; Chumbawumba, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, Panic! At the Disco; all the way home.