Chapter 20: The Verdict
It all happened so fast. One minute Jester and Joker were trying to make there escape via the fire escape. And the next Joker was lying on the floor motionless. His unconscious body shook with the current still passing through him and Jester shouted at the cop holding the other end of the taser, to stop.
"Put your hands above your head, lady!" said the cop pointing the taser at Jester now. Joker stirred slightly at her feet but made no move to stand. The voice that would usually tell her to run was quiet as she looked down at Joker's figure. He hadn't left her behind when she was shot, he easily could have but he didn't. His voice was running through her head repeating over and over "We stay together".
She dropped her knife to the ground and raised her hands over her head. The cops rushed forward to handcuff her in an instant. For the second time in two days Scarlett and Jack were bundled into a police van.
"I'm sorry," Scarlett said softly as she watched Joker raise his head and look around. He was now handcuffed and sitting in the back of a police van.
"Don't be," he muttered quietly. She waited for him to spring them out, come up with another brilliant plan, but it never came and he looked at her with a small smile as the van came to a halt and they were led into the Gotham's MCU.
They were bundled into Gordon's cage rather unceremoniously. Jester looked around it was still somewhat dishevelled from the explosion a few weeks ago and some of the walls were still broken down and one end of MCU was completely cordoned off. That had been the area the fat thug had been taken just before Joker set off the bomb inside of him, so Jester could only imagine what a state it was in.
James Gordon entered and looked over the two clowns in his MCU holding and sighed. He had no idea the Joker had already corrupted so many.
"I haven't got time for the clowns. I have Harvey Dent's memorial to organise and now that we are actively hunting Batman, I need to do a press conference. Turner, you interview the girl and don't even bother with the Joker, just take them to court with the evidence of what happened last time he was here." said Gordon, he pulled his glasses from his face and squeezed the bridge of his nose. He shook his head in dismay and disappeared from the room again.
The officer called Turner was a skinny man with a long face and scruffy ginger hair. He looked over at the two clowns in the cage and sighed.
"Open it up," Turner said to the guard, who unlocked the door and reached in to grab Jester by her handcuffs. Jester looked at Joker desperately as she was pulled from the cage but he just sat on the bench nonchalantly and winked at her.
"Play nice Jester," he said laughing. She laughed slightly and he grinned.
She was placed in the interrogation room alone and she waited for Turner, it was cold in there and the room echoed with every little noise.
Turner entered and took a deep breath, though he was glad he was not interviewing the Joker, he did not find this woman any less intimating. She looked up at him and grinned widely, inwardly he shivered.
"What's your name" he began shakily and the clown laughed loudly.
"Really, that's your opening question! You know my name otherwise, you wouldn't have come to my house." Jester said her eyebrows raised.
"Okay then Scarlett, I'd like to ask you what you have been up to recently," he began again.
"You dare say that NAME!" Jester screamed but quickly her face returned to a sweet smile and Turner swallowed hard.
"And recently, I've just been doing a bit of this, a bit of that. You, know the usual," she said nonchalantly.
"Your DNA has been linked to at least 3 murders," said Turner.
"Yes, I suppose it would have been. But you know those people weren't very nice. Or something like that." Jester said laughing loudly again.
"So you and the Joker, what are you like boyfriend and girlfriend?" Turner asked and Jester went quiet and turned her head to the side slightly.
"You know, I've never liked to label things, but we have been known to spend the night together. But why would you ask something like that, are you envious Detective Turner?" Jester cooed.
"Who is the Joker?" Turner asked shaking off her question.
"How would I know?" Jester replied holding her hands up and shrugging her shoulders.
"He must have told you something, anything at all about himself? You said you slept together, he must have said something!" Exclaimed Turner, he visibly jumped as she let out an ear-splitting cackle.
"Have you met him? You really think he is the type of guy to share" Jester said still laughing.
"If you tell us anything. We would be able to help you with your own case, give a reduced sentence or at least a nicer cell because the way you are going I think Arkham is your best bet" Turner sighed. Jester didn't reply and again Turner sighed.
"I spoke to your old boss. She said you were nice, she said you were respectable. She didn't believe me when I told her what you had done" Turner said to her shaking his head, but the girl in front of him simply smiled.
"You can't be all bad, there must be a real you still in there" he continued and again Jester cackled.
"This is the real me! You can't trust her description, you can never really know someone not fully. Deep down everyone has the capacity to be bad, you just need to find the right motivation for them to find it. I mean how many of your friends turned out to really be working with the Joker?" Jester laughed.
"That's not the same, they were corrupted with money by the mob," growled Turner.
"There is no such thing as corruption, there is only motivation. Look at Gotham's white knight. Don't tell me he didn't kill those people because I know he did." said Jester grinning again.
It went on like that for another ten minutes until finally Turner gave up and left Jester in the interrogation room alone. She wasn't sure that they would go to court somehow. Arkham's padded cells seemed to be getting nearer and nearer and for the first time in a very long time, Scarlett was terrified and she did not like it.
For around about six hours Joker and Jester were kept at the MCU until finally, a call came in, they would not be going to court they crimes had been judged as well as evidence given. It was decided by the Mayor and a governing body, this was a clear-cut case for Arkham Asylum. There would be no trial, no court case and no option to appeal.
When the 'men in white coats' came and Jester and Joker were dragged away the police station took a sigh of relief. The ride to the asylum was strange, Joker was laughing more than usual and Jester laughed along, though she didn't truly know why.
When they arrived they were separated from one another almost immediately. Jester was taken to a room were her weapons, boots and anything other than her clothes were taken from her before she was shut inside and left in the silence. A few moments later a large burly looking woman entered the room with a straight jacket in her hand. She dropped the straight jacket on the table and raised her eyebrows at the clown in front of her.
"Drop your pants and bend over." demanded the burly woman.
"I beg your pardon, you know I really don't swing that way," said Jester with a giggle.
"I've been ordered to give you a cavity search, so we can do this the easy way or the hard way."
Jester began to cackle but the woman seemed undisturbed by the insanity and simply moved closer. Jester stopped laughing as she realised this woman was not kidding.
Jester thrashed and screamed but she was held face down on the table by the enormous woman, and as her hands began their search, a new kind of scream escaped Jester's lips. Somewhere across the Asylum, Joker heard and his insides turned.