The Batman stood over the woman he had just shot, in the same ski mask he had seen her in before. He remembered her..she had once kicked him down an elevator shaft. She worked for the Joker. He wasn't expecting an extra person here. The first one of the Joker's men the Batman took out here at this abandoned metal factory, under the threat of death, told the Batman that there were six men in total hired to secure the place. The Batman had taken out five..the sixth one guarding the room with the explosives was found unconscious and on the ground. The only person who could be here was the Joker, or so the Batman thought. He had fired at the sign of movement, and it ended up being the red haired woman.
The girl was missing and the bomb had been disengaged.
He had the gun, designed to fire the needles with the Joker's laughing poison. Programmed to automatically empty the syringe into the victim. He fired it as soon as he saw the figure come into view.
The Joker came into the room, seemingly caught off guard at what he was seeing.
"Drop your weapon," the Batman said to the Joker who seemed not to hear him. He was staring at the woman convulsing on the floor. "Now!"
The sound of the gun hitting the floor resounded before the Joker spoke.
"What have you done?" he asked the Batman.
"On your knees!" the Batman ordered, aiming the next needle at the Joker's neck. "Hands out!"
"You poisoned her," the Joker said and kneeled, holding his hands up with his palms forward.
The Batman was surprised at how cooperate the Joker was being. He must have had something up his sleeve.
"That was meant for you," the Batman said. "But fortunately, there are two more shots here."
The Batman looked at the Joker, waiting for the word play..the mind games. But the Joker wasn't looking at him at all, and didn't seem to be concerned with the deadly weapon aimed straight at him. He gaze was fixed on the woman, who's breathing was turning into wheezing.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" the Joker asked solemnly.
The Batman glared at him. Sirens could be heard in the distance. The Batman took a deep breath before speaking.
"Where is the girl?" he asked the Joker. "Where is the child?"
"She got away," the Joker answered.
The Batman did not believe him.
"She escaped," the Joker said absently, still looking at the woman on the floor who had stopped moving.
The Batman tossed a pair of handcuffs to the Joker. "Cuff yourself to the pole there."
"Do something," the Joker said while staring at her, his voice different than the Batman had ever heard it. He was pleading.
"Cuff yourself. Or the police find you laughing yourself to death in the next few minutes," the Batman said.
The Joker grabbed the cuff and slapped it onto his wrist and then to the pole.
"I did what you asked," the Joker said as the Batman pulled at the chain on the cuff to make sure it was secure. "Now help her."
The Batman knew it was likely too late for the woman. It had not been his fault. He had not intentionally killed her. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The police would take her to the hospital, but it was likely she would not make it. There was nothing he could do for this criminal. The Batman turned to leave.
"Never thought you would become so much like me," the Joker said in a voice that was much more familiar to the Batman. "To kill an innocent person and walk away like nothing happened."
"No one that works for you is innocent," the Batman said.
"What if I told you..." the Joker said, licking his lips. "That I forced her to work for me-"
The Batman kept walking to the door.
"That I told her," the Joker shouted louder as the Batman went further away. "That I would kill children if she didn't."
The Batman froze. The words that the Joker had just said hit him like a ton of bricks. The Joker continued to talk, seeing that he had the Batman's attention. Perhaps the Batman had constructed some type of antidote? He needed to keep talking.
"She's a good person," the Joker said. "An otherwise law abiding citizen. With a soft spot for the children-"
The Batman remembered the words Adriana said to him...she had been so distressed. She gave him the hypothetical situation..what if the Joker threatened to kill children if he didn't take off his mask? He told her he would take off his mask. She asked another question. What if the Joker forced him to work for him under the same threat? He told her..he would sooner kill him.
There was no way that this woman could be Adriana.
He turned, his cape creating a loud whipping sound as he spun and stepped over the woman, praying that it was just a coincidence. His back was to the Joker as he knelt down.
The Joker looked at his back. the Batman and his cape large enough to conceal her completely.
The Batman reached down and lifted the bottom of the ski mask to reveal lips that had gone blue. He pulled the mask up higher and over her head. It was her.
He willed himself not to react, not wanting to give anything away to the Joker. No hints...no clues that he knew this woman. He pressed his lips together to contain his emotion as he lifted her into him arms. She was barely breathing.
The Joker saw nothing but the Batman's back and her feet dangling by the side of his right arm as his disappeared out of the door.
.
.
.
Once the Batman was gone the Joker began the violent struggle against the handcuffs. They were so tight that he could not even dislocate his thumb to get out of them. He let out a loud groan of frustration as the sounds of the police came closer.
The cuffs seemed to be nothing compared to the thoughts in his mind. He wanted to stop thinking but he couldn't.
He had aimed the gun at her. And told her that he was going to kill her. All because she had gotten in his way. He wanted revenge on the governor and assumed the tale about him being hospitalized was just a lie. He had no way to be sure. Yes, if it was true the child would have been killed. He was a man of his word after all.
But he had pulled the trigger. Even though the chamber in his revolver had been empty, she didn't know that. She closed her eyes, accepting her fate. She had believed that he would actually kill her.
Why would the Batman create an antidote? His intention was to kill. If he had one he would have used it then and there. Adriana would die and his last words to her were that he would kill her if he saw her again. She was likely already dead now or would be in the next few minutes. She had stopped moving, the color of her hands had changed as she lay on the floor. She was gone.
As the police flooded into the room, he felt like he could hear them shouting at him.
A cop came behind him and struck him in the leg to bring him to his knees by the pipe he was cuffed to. He felt he deserved the pain. He didn't know what he was feeling. The word 'regret' had never meant anything to him before.
.
.
.
It seemed that every officer in Gotham was at the main precinct that night as the Joker was brought in. The Joker remembered the last time he was arrested. The police were happy...applauding...he could see it in their faces. Success.
Things were different now. They all looked incredibly serious and on edge.
They led him immediately to an interrogation room after removing his jacket and shoes and patting him down, keeping him away from the other inmates. He sat in the room for what felt like hours. Two guards eyed him intently, as if waiting every second for something to happen. Waiting for him to leap up and break the chains and charge at them.
The Joker leaned forward and watched them grow tense, hands on their guns. He placed his elbows on the table and interlaced his fingers, and then leaned his forehead against his hands. He shut his eyes.
For a long while he ignored the sounds in the room. People coming and going. He kept his face against his hands and his eyes closed. No one needed to say anything to him. He wasn't sure why he was being kept in an interrogation room since there was no information they wanted out of him. The girl had gotten away. None of it was worth it.
"Rise and shine," he heard a voice say angrily.
He ignored the voice and waited. If they wanted to lead him off the Arkham or prison or wherever he would feel them unlocking the chains on his arms and legs. He felt nothing and kept his eyes shut.
"Rise!" the voice shouted, as whoever was speaking slammed a fist down onto the table, shaking it.
The Joker looked up slowly, and saw the slight disappointment on the man's face. He was expecting to startle him by slamming down on the table, but could see that it hadn't worked.
He recognized the man. Some months ago he had been detained after trying to escape a mental facility..the place where he had first met Adriana...this man liked to flex and show off. He had given him a black eye. Police brutality was fun for him and he didn't know when to quit. But the Joker knew that at the very least, he knew who Adriana was.
D. Ricard. The Joker looked at the name badge.
"No sleep for the evil," Damien Ricard said to him.
"I don't think he was sleep, man," the officer next to him..A. DeMarco said.
"What else was he doing?" Damien laughed. "Praying? Rise and shine you son of a bitch."
The Joker leaned back in the chair and already could see their disappointment. They wanted mind games, they wanted him to try them, the try to manipulate them. But he was disinterested and quiet.
"Nothing to say?" Damien said as Commissioner Gordon came in and the guards at the door left as two new ones came in. None of them would be guarding the Joker for more than two hours at a time. They wanted to keep them fresh. "Don't want your phone call?"
"Blackgate Prison can take him in 72 hours," Gordon said.
"Got it," Damien said.
"I want eyes on him at all times," Gordon told Damien. "No less than three pairs."
"I can stay here all night," Damien said and sat across from the Joker. "He's not getting away this time."
Gordon nodded and looked at the Joker.
He had only interacted with a man a handful of times before but something was off this time. Whenever he was in custody the Joker was always very lucid and present, energetic, with a great deal to say. In all previous instances, he almost seemed happy to be detained because he seemed to have a knowing that he was above it all. He always seemed like he knew a secret that no one would be able to guess. He had always lived up to his name. The Joker.
This time he was unresponsive and sullen. He didn't look any of them in the eye. Eye contact was a weapon for the Joker because he knew that it made other uncomfortable.
Damien glanced at the Commissioner, who was looking at the Joker like he was trying figure out what was up...like he was trying to solve a puzzle.
"See me in the observation room," Gordon finally said to Damien. "DeMarco, eyes open."
Damien followed Gordon into the crowded observation room. Eight officers lounged around and looked through the one way glass at the Joker sitting at the table.
"Give us the room, please," Gordon said to them. They cleared out quickly.
Damien waited for Gordon to speak but he looked through the glass at the Joker.
"What do you see?" Gordon asked Damien.
"A sociopath," Damien said and looked ahead.
Gordon looked at Damien, letting him know he needed to look closer.
"Hmm," Damien said and looked as two other officers went into the room and began taunting the Joker... who did not react. "He's docile. Passive. Almost like his mind isn't here. Which is...uncharacteristic...as far as we have seen."
"Yes," Gordon said. "I knew you would see it too."
"You think something is up?" Damien asked.
"Ricard," Gordon said. "I know something is up."
"Should we be worried?" Damien asked.
"No," Gordon replied.
"Why not?" Damien asked.
"Look at him."
Damien looked.
"There's a weakness here," Gordon went on. "And I need you to find out what it is. I need you to find out what is wrong with him. This can't just be about the governor. If we are honest with ourselves, it's only a matter of time before he escapes again. We need something. Whatever this..." Gordon pointed. "Is. We need to find out what it is."
"Gordon," Damien smiled. "I will find out what it is."
"I'm not sure we will get to the bottom of it, but we need to at least try."
"I can," Damien said. As long as you give me permission to use...all necessary force. I will do whatever it takes. I will beat it out of him if necessary. I will do whatever it takes-"
"Yes, yes. I just got a message..." Gordon said looking at his phone, distracting him from Damien's request. "The governor has died."
.
.
.
"Time to clear out boys," Damien said to the officers around the Joker, who was still sitting motionlessly and not speaking. The officers surrounding the Joker left and officer DeMarco stood. "You stay."
"Of course," DeMarco said.
Damien pulled out the chair next to DeMarco and looked at the Joker, who still was looking no one in the eye. The two guards near the door looked a little less on edge.
"I surely hope you enjoyed your last day of freedom," Damien said. "Last day the world will ever have to see that...monstrosity you call a face."
The Joker was responseless.
Damien nudged DeMarco who didn't get it at first and then realized that he was supposed to join in.
"Oh...right," DeMarco said. "Fucking hideous man. We're both going to need worker's comp after having to sit here and look at this shit for so long."
Damien resisted laughing. That was a good one, he thought.
"Is that why you're such a fucking lunatic?" Damien asked, trying to rile him up. "You have to wake up every morning and look at that mutated slop on the front of your skull every day? Wake up every day and look at the textbook definition of a freak?"
The Joker heard their words but every thing they were saying made him think of her. He never slept around her, he would always leave before she woke up. Maybe he should have at least once. He had never fallen asleep around anyone, even while in custody or asylum..he just stayed awake..and no one had ever fallen asleep around him...before her. She wasn't afraid to drift off with him there. Maybe should have..maybe he should have fallen asleep at least one time so that he could know what it was like to wake up and see her.
Regret.
"Tell me," Damien said. "What the fuck really happened to your face? I've heard you tell all kinds of stories. Why don't you tell us one of your sop stories now?"
"I rather hear about what happened to those fucked up teeth?" DeMarco laughed. "How does that shit even happen? Freak's never heard of toothpaste?"
"Wouldn't surprise me," Damien said. "Probably never brushes or showers."
Their words continued but all he could see was her. Standing in front of him as water flowed down her hair in the shower. Turning to face him with her eyes closed as water dripped down her face and tilting her head back slightly. Expecting a kiss. Her lips were warmer than the water around them.
"Meal time, sir," one of the officers at the door said and looked at his watch. "Should we page someone to bring a tray in here?"
"No," Damien said, realizing he was getting nowhere. He needed to prove himself to Gordon. "No food for this one. Can you even eat with teeth like that?"
She had a very healthy appetite..especially lately. Whenever she mentioned food and how much she wanted something, he felt obligated to get it for her. He didn't know why. He never care about anyone's pain, suffering, or hunger. But when she mentioned donuts, sardines, bison burgers, vanilla wafers, artichoke hearts...whatever it was, he could never stop hearing her mention it until he got it for her.
"I asked you a question," Damien shouted at the Joker.
"He's fucking deaf," DeMarco said. "And a mute now. Won't talk. Won't even laugh."
"Nope," Damien said and stood, walking over and slowly circling the Joker.
Laughter. Her kept hearing her laugh...her true laugh when she was happy. Her laughter when he asked her where the nail clippers were supposed to go. In the tortuous place...his mind...her genuine laugh was polluted by the last laugh he heard from her. The wheezing, painful, broken laugh of the poison. It was causing him so much agony, he didn't know what to do.
Damien's fist hit the Joker's face so hard, he snapped back into the present moment. Blood flew out of his mouth far enough to spray the grey brick wall beside him, several feet away. He felt like the hit woke him from a terrible dream. The pain felt like the punishment he needed.
The Joker finally looked Damien in the eyes and exhaled as if the pain was a relief.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? Huh?" Damien shouted. "Answer me! Speak motherfucker!"
Damien hit him again, sending a downward spill of blood onto the Joker's shirt. Damien looked at the paint on his knuckles and then struck again.
"Have it your way," Damien said. "We'll starve you out until you speak."