Chapter 24

Sunday morning the power came back on, which was a blessing as the temperatures were already beginning to rise. We got Victor back in his cell without incident, although he didn't look particularly happy about it. I could see the snow plows in the distance clearing off the Tri-Gate bridge so hopefully before long the rest of the staff would be able to make it in to relieve us. The thought of leaving, for me, was bittersweet. The one thing I loved the most was right here in this asylum. Did I just say love? In my heart of hearts, I knew that was exactly what this was. I had always been quick to love, which was why I was so careful about who I dated in the past. Mr. J was just the perfect guy for me. It was crazy, I know, but the heart wants what the heart wants and mine wanted Mr. J body and soul. He was so smart; I may have a PH D but his mind ran circles around mine. He made me laugh like I haven't laughed in years, maybe ever and that body, just wow. Yup, I had it bad.

I headed straight for the employee lounge to brew some coffee. I had gotten a total of maybe seven hours sleep the whole weekend and my ass was dragging. Mahreen was there when I walked in and she was already working on the coffee situation.

"Good morning Harley. I spoke with Dr. Arkham this morning and help is on the way. We should be home in our own beds by noon." I pulled open the refrigerator and rummaged around until I located some creamer.

"Well that's good, I need at least a full eight hours of sleep so I can be fresh for my session with Joker on Monday." Mahreen poured two cups of coffee and handed me one.

"Oh, you're not coming in tomorrow. The director gave us a mandatory day off to recuperate. I told him how harrowing this whole situation was and he wants us fresh before we resume sessions." I hope it didn't show on my face how disappointed I was. I was really looking forward to having two hours alone with my Puddin, and now I'd have to wait three whole days? I was very put out over that bit of news.

We got to work distributing meds. I gave Mr. J placebos again. The shrink in me knew he actually needed the anti-psychotics, but the lover in me knew that they often caused erectile dysfunction and/or spontaneous ejaculation so I guess I was being a little short-sighted and selfish just then. We finished our rounds at about ten and that's when the rest of the staff slowly started rolling in. I was exhausted, it was a good kind of exhausted but I knew I must have looked like hell. I've always needed a minimum of six hours of sleep a night to function and the lack of it was taking its toll. I had a crick in my neck and my back ached from two nights of sleeping on the floor, among other things.

I found an excuse to go back to I.T. before I left for the day and stopped at Mr. J's cell. He was pacing the small space and looked a little out of sorts. His brow was furrowed and he was holding his chin in his fingers as if deep in thought. I stood there watching him until he stopped his pacing, and turned to look at me.

"What?" he shrieked. I was a little taken aback at the harshness of his tone.

"I just wanted to let you know that our Monday session has been cancelled. We'll be resuming on Wednesday, ok Mr. J?" He waved his hands in the air in a shooing gesture.

"Yes, yes. Fine."

I felt a pain in the middle of my chest. Was he mad at me? Did I do something wrong? He resumed his pacing. His face was screwed up in what could have been frustration or concentration it was hard to tell.

"I-is everything o-okay Mr. J?" He turned and stared daggers at me.

"It would be if I could just have five minutes alone to think you twit!" he shouted, "Now run along already!" He went back to pacing again. He reminded me of a caged tiger just then, he seemed like he was in total predatory mode.

"O-okay Mr. J. I'll see you Wednesday then." I said weakly. He didn't acknowledge me so I turned and walked away. I held it together until I made it to my office where I fell to my knees and bawled into my hands. I had to have done something wrong for him to speak to me that way, right? But what was it? Our weekend had been blissful, he seemed to have liked it as much as I did. Was he mad because Jerry cancelled our session, or was something else bothering him?

Eventually the staff made it in and I was able to go back to my apartment building. I grabbed my mail from the box in the lobby and headed up to my floor. The light on my answering machine was blinking. I had three messages, one from Dick apologizing for not calling sooner, one from my mom and one from Di telling me to watch Good Morning Gotham tomorrow. I couldn't call anyone back just then; I was feeling terribly depressed. I changed into my pajamas and bathrobe, made coffee and turned on the news.

As I fixed my coffee and made some toast I heard something unusual on the news. I walked into the other room, turned up the volume and listened to the report.

"This is Vicky Vale, with a GNN News special report. Panic spreads throughout the city as a new threat emerges. "Get smart Batman" is the message from the costumed super villain known as the Riddler. Television and radio signals throughout the city were hacked last night to deliver the following message."

They cut to a video feed of Edward Nygma, The Riddler, wearing full villain regalia. His suit was green underneath which he wore a deep purple button down and a green tie covered in purple question marks. He wore a black mask tied around ginger hair and sideburns topped with a green fedora with a purple band. He carried a gold cane in the shape of a question mark.

"Hello again Gotham! It is I, The Riddler, back to needle your noggins. I'm here to deliver a message to our dear Dark Knight. I know you're watching Batman, so pay attention. I have a series of crimes planned throughout our fair city and the only way to catch me is to get smart! Solve my riddles and you may be able to stop the crime. I don't give you much hope, but you can certainly try.

"Riddle me this Batman! Under pressure is the only way I work and by myself is the only way I'm hurt. What am I? Run that around your noodle Batman and I'll give you another clue tomorrow. Goodnight Gotham!"

He took his hat off and waved it at the camera before the video feed cut off. They cut back to Vicky Vale in the studio.

"Will the Batman be able to stop this nefarious villain? We can only wait and hope. I am Vicky Vale, GNN News signing off."

Uh oh, I'm pretty sure I know what was bothering Mr. J this afternoon. If Riddler hacked all the TV stations Charlie must have seen it and told J when he got into work today. Joker hated the Riddler, and if he was challenging the Bat directly of course he'd be furious. I actually breathed a sigh of relief knowing he wasn't mad at me. He was pissed at Riddler! I suddenly felt lighter and a little bit giddy. So he yelled at me, so what, he was stressed that's all. He's a genius and I interrupted his thought process like a dope. It was my fault he yelled at me. Oh my Puddin still loved me. Well, liked me at least.

My train of thought suddenly derailed when I realized that I had seen that look on Mr. J's face before. I ran to the box of interview tapes, found the one I was looking for and popped it in the VCR. It was from a session with Dr. Cavenaugh from three years ago. It wasn't what he said in this session, it was the facial expressions, the way he moved. I rewound the tape and watched his body language very carefully. Yes, that's exactly it. My stomach dropped as I hit the stop button. This session was taped two days before he escaped from Arkham. He was planning a breakout and there was nothing I could do about it. What if I never saw him again? My heart was breaking into a thousand pieces. How would I find him? Would he even want me to find him? I dragged myself to my room and curled up in the fetal position on my bed feeling sorry for myself until I fell asleep.

I woke up around eight in the evening, still sad but not as much as earlier. I walked out to the living room and turned the TV on. The Riddler was on the screen again.

"Greetings and salutations citizens of Gotham! So Batman, did you solve my first clue yet? If you have brava! If not, then you have no chance with the next one. Riddle me this! When the day after tomorrow is yesterday, today will be as far from Wednesday as today was from Wednesday when the day before yesterday was tomorrow. What am I? Good luck, Caped Crusader!"

I jumped at the sound of my land line ringing. I muted the television and picked up the receiver.

"Hey scatterbrain! Did you get my message?" It was Di, it felt like it had been forever since I talked to her. I was really happy to hear her voice; I could use a friend right now.

"Hey Di, how the hell are ya? I've missed you."

"I know, sorry Harley. I've just been so busy! I know you'll see it on GMG tomorrow but I couldn't wait, I wanted to tell you myself!"

"Wha, tell me what Di?"

"My team has been working on finding a cure, so to speak, for psychopathy. We started with the amygdala, the fear processing area of the brain. We have developed a procedure to stimulate it and were successful in normalizing the activity. We are doing the same with the orbital frontal cortex which processes our decision making and the anterior insular cortex our empathy center. Harley we succeeded!"

I didn't really understand what she was talking about but I suddenly had a bad feeling.

"That's great Di. Um, think you can run that by me again in laymen's terms?" She scoffed.

"Harley, it means I'm one federal approval away from human trials! Through medicine and surgical science, we can cure people like the Joker!"

What? I didn't want the Joker cured. I loved him the way he was.

"Oh um that's, great Di. So how exactly does this all work?" She sounded excited to talk about her life's work. I was getting a sick feeling in my stomach.

"We implant tiny electrodes into the corresponding areas of the brain. The electrodes stimulate the abnormal areas and normalize the patient's brain chemistry."

"What are the side effects?"

"Well it doesn't work one hundred percent of the time. In primates we have had a few failures."

"What kind of failures Di?" She paused, "Di! What. Kind. Of. Failures?"

"Wellllll, if the procedure fails it has the same effect as a lobotomy." I was struck dumb. I couldn't believe this is what Di was so excited about. I thought it was a bad idea to poke around inside people's brains, especially brilliant brains like my Puddin's.

"Harley? Harl are you there?" I pushed those thoughts away.

"Di, sorry I gotta run. Congratulations I guess. Talk to you later." I didn't wait for her to reply, I hung up the phone and set it aside. Could this day get any worse?

I was completely stressed out and I decided a bath was in order. I soaked in the tub for over an hour. When the water started going cold I'd drain some and add more hot water. I didn't want to face reality right now because reality was sucking. I knew it was really bad when I caught myself considering opening up one of my scars. I decided I should get dressed and take the anxiety medication Jeremiah had prescribed me for my own good. After donning clean yoga pants and a t-shirt my phone started to ring again. Damn it Di, can't you take a hint? I picked up the phone.

"Yeah?"

"Harley? It's Joan don't be alarmed but the police will be at your apartment shortly. It's just a precaution."

"Joan, what the hell is going on?" I held my breath.

"The Joker has escaped."