Adriana opened her eyes. She was in a hospital.
She rotated her head to the left and saw Bruce sitting on a chair by the bed with his forehead down on her hand. He was asleep.
A doctor walked into the room and saw that she was awake.
"Hello," he said to her, sounding relieved. "I am Dr. Kapoor-"
His voice woke Bruce woke up suddenly and he looked around confused for a split second before looking a Adriana.
"Adriana...Adriana..." he said. "You're awake-"
"Yeah," she said, her throat very dry.
Bruce embraced her. She closed her eyes as he hugged her.
She remembered everything up until she was shot with the needle and began to laugh. Bruce would know by now that she had been working for the Joker. He clearly knew that she was the woman with the red hair who had kicked him down an elevator shaft and had been part of the Joker's team. She wondered if he was angry with her...and if he was, he was hiding it well. He seemed overjoyed.
"Which hospital are we in?" she asked.
"We're not in a hospital," Bruce said. "We're in my medical facility."
The doctor had been working for him for over 15 years. An entire floor in the hotel he owned was dedicated to his own secret medical facility. His penthouse was one floor above. Bruce had never told Dr. Kapoor that he was the Batman. Not explicitly. But he was sure that the man knew the truth after all of these years of injuries that he had treated. Dr. Kapoor knew everything.
The doctor had a wide range of specialties. He could do it all. Bruce paid him millions a year, and he spent most of his time researching. Bruce was his only patient, which even though Bruce was regularly injured, left him a great deal of free time.
Having a new patient, other than Bruce, was actually exciting to him. He looked into her eyes and mouth with a light and asked her to follow his finger with eyes. He made sure she could tell him her name and date of birth and where she was from.
He asked her countless questions. If she had a headache, if she was dizzy, if she had any pain.
"I feel okay," she said. "I don't have any pain, just my throat is a little sore."
"Miraculous," Dr. Kapoor said. "You were injected with a very toxic compound. Your body's ability to deal with toxic chemical compounds..I've never seen anything like it. You required blood a blood transfusion which was the only thing that would alleviate the symptoms of what you were given."
Bruce had not created an antidote. That would likely have taken years to develop. Instead, when he acquired the compound after stealing it from the Joker, he handed a couple of samples of it over to his doctor who ran tests on rabbits. The only thing that seemed to prolong their lives was a blood transfusion after the poison was administered. And even then, they still ended up dying.
"Wow..." Adriana said and they were both quiet, looking at her. "I'm okay.."
"Yes," Dr. Kapoor said and noticed Adriana was touching the area where the small bandage on her lower abdomen was under the thin hospital gown.
She could feel the adhesive whenever she inhaled.
"What's this?" she asked feeling it.
"I needed to perform a small procedure," Dr. Kapoor said.
"A procedure?" she asked.
"Yes," he said. "A minor surgery-"
"What's wrong?" Adriana asked and looked at Bruce for answers.
"He's a very ethical doctor," Bruce said. "Dr. Kapoor has kept everything confidential..even from me...patient privilege."
"Is it alright if we discuss your medical information with Mr. Wayne present?" Dr. Kapoor asked.
"Yeah...sure whatever," Adriana answered. "Am I sick?"
"No," Dr. Kapoor said. "I needed to perform a laparoscopic procedure to remove an embryo from your left fallopian tube. After performing an ultrasound I was able to see-"
"Wait..." Adriana stopped him. "What? An embryo? I was...I was pregnant?"
Bruce looked at the doctor and then at Adriana quietly. This was news to him.
"An ectopic pregancy..." she murmured.
"Your initial bloodwork did show positive for pregnancy," the doctor went on. "I did perform an ultrasound. It showed you were experiencing what is known as a heterotropic pregancy. It means that there was an embryo in the fallopian tube which needed to be removed and another viable one implanted in the uterus," the doctor explained.
"Does that mean..." Adriana said, feeling numb. "I'm still pregnant?"
"Yes," the doctor answered. "You are. About five weeks along."
She looked down.
"I didn't...have any symptoms for the ectopic pregnancy," she muttered.
"Yes, it was caught early," the doctor said, seeing that she did not seem happy.
He handed her a shiny dark paper. An image of the ultrasound. All she could see was a tiny dark spot in the middle of the grey and black image. She looked at it blankly, feeling nothing.
"Do you have any other questions you'd like to ask?" the doctor asked Adriana.
She just stared at the ultrasound image and did not respond.
"Would you give us a minute, doctor?" Bruce asked him.
"Of course," he said and left.
"Adriana," Bruce squeezed her hand. "Congratulations."
"Please don't congratulate me," she said quietly. "This is...a mistake..."
"Oh..." Bruce said gently. "I see."
She sat the ultrasound down by her hip and turned to face Bruce so she wouldn't have to look at the image.
"I...didn't even know you were seeing someone," he said to her.
"I'm not," she said. All she could hear was his words."It's...over."
"The cop.." Bruce guessed.
"What?!" Adriana said loudly and sat up. "You think this is his baby? Hell no! What do you take me for!"
She was shouting but then realized what would he think of her if he knew the truth. She held her lower abdomen where she felt a bit of pain under the bandage from her movement in the reaction.
"I'm sorry," Bruce apologized and tried to calm her. "My mistake. I thought the two of you were trying to work things out."
"No," she said. "It's not his. I don't want to talk about it... this is just such a mistake."
"You don't have to talk to me.." Bruce said in as nice a way as he could. "But you should talk to...whoever you were seeing-"
"I can't," she said, feeling the urgent need to lie. "He's dead."
"Dead?" Bruce asked.
"Yes," Adriana said. "And he wasn't a great person. This is a mistake..."
"I am sorry," Bruce said, not sure of what else he could say to her.
"Don't be.." she said and stopped speaking as the memory arose. The clicking of the gun as he aimed it at her. "I guess you could consider him as nothing more than a sperm donor. That's now gone."
"Sperm donor," Bruce repeated her words. "Well," he laughed. "If you needed one of those I could have volunteered."
"Funny man," she smiled and leaned against the pillows behind her.
"I'm serious," he said.
"You're trying to cheer me up," she said. "I know you don't want kids."
"You don't know that," he smiled and kissed her hand. "I've never said that."
"Mmhm..." she said.
"So..you didn't know you were pregnant?" he asked.
"I..." she murmured. "I started to wonder if I was but...the situation...I mean it was so crazy that I thought it seemed impossible.."
"Crazy how?" he asked.
"Nothing.." she said. "Doesn't matter...it's over now. I don't want to think about it ever again."
"Alright," he said and looked like he wanted to talk about the elephant in the room but wasn't sure if it was okay to bring it up yet. He was careful. "I'm sorry that I poisoned you."
"You want to talk about...the Joker," she guessed correct. "And that I was working for him...Bruce I'm so sorry. He forced me to, I swear I didn't want to work for him. I let Pavla go, that's why I was there-"
"I know," Bruce stopped her.
"You do?" she asked. "I mean...you know what? What do you know?"
"He told me he forced you to work for him," Bruce said.
"What?...Why?" she asked. "Did you...torture him? Kill him? or-"
Bruce took a deep breath and sat up straight.
"No," he said. "I did not kill him or harm him. He is in police custody right now. And as for why he told me, I do not know. My best guess is that for some reason he does not want you dead. And usually that is not a good thing."
"Oh..." she said and looked down.
"In the Joker's case," Bruce said. "If he doesn't want someone dead it is because he wants to kill them himself. You let Pavla go. That was his way to get the governor. Even though the governor died of a heart attack...let's just say the Joker is not a logical man. I am sure he blames you for his plan falling apart."
Adriana looked away.
"You could have told me Adriana. I would have done everything in my power to protect you," he said.
She looked at him.
"This was my fault," he said.
"What?" she asked.
"The only reason he knows who you are is because of what I tasked you to do," he said. "I asked you to get close to him in the mental institution. To see his thoughts, how he operates."
Adriana almost corrected him. That wasn't how the Joker had gotten her to work for him. It was because she was going to fall to her death as Shade.
Adriana looked away again, the ultrasound in the corner of her vision. She could never let anyone know the truth or who the father of her child was.
"He's in police custody but that doesn't stop him from being a threat," Bruce said. "He killed Rachel while he was in custody."
"I'll be fine," she told him.
"Yes you will," Bruce said. "You will stay with me until it is safe for you to return home. I will protect you. It won't take long."
"For what?" she asked. "Won't take long for what?"
"Until I deal with him," Bruce said.
Adriana wanted to ask what that meant, but she realized she already knew.
.
.
.
"What the hell is that?" Damien asked DeMarco as he carried a tray of food to the interrogation room.
"Dinner?" DeMarco answered.
Damien grabbed the tray and dumped it's contents into the nearest trash can.
"Man.." DeMarco said.
"Gordon wants results, and gave me permission to do what's needed," Damien said.
"Did he?" DeMarco said. "If he gave you permission it was probably to rough him up a bit. Not starve him for over two days. We could get into serious shit for this-."
"Oh?" Damien asked. "No one is going to lose any sleep over the Joker not eating. Trust me. No one cares. We might even get promotions."
"Man..I don't feel right about staving anyone though-" DeMarco said.
"This isn't 'anyone' DeMarco," Damien said. "This is the one who was about to kill a child. For no fucking reason. And you think he deserves a roast beef sandwich?"
"Man...I guess not but still-" DeMarco told Damien.
"He'll live," Damien said and walked into the interrogation room.
The Joker had been sitting at the table for two days with only a break every 4 hours to be escorted to the restroom. He hadn't slept, eaten, had anything to drink or laid down.
"We'll take him this time," Damien said to the guards and then then to the Joker. "Get up. Bathroom."
DeMarco went to unlock his chains that kept his attached to the floor.
.
.
.
"Wait here," Damien said to DeMarco.
"We're both supposed to go in with him," DeMarco said. "At least two pairs of eyes at all times..Gordon's order-"
"Wait. Here." Damien ordered, and pushed past DeMarco while pushing the Joker's back until they were in the restroom.
The Joker didn't seem to notice or care that this was the most opportune moment he had so far. Only one cop. He could have attempted to escape. Damien watched him as he walked over to the urinal.
"Make it quick," Damien said and stood by the door.
After a minute he was losing patience and walked over.
"Hurry it up. How in the hell do you have so much piss without drinking anything? I said make it quick," Damien said.
Damien stood by the urinal and happened to glance down and for a moment he felt a bit of insecurity and inferiority. Damien had a huge ego, and was aware of it, and somehow felt challenged by this newly quiet, docile man. He backed away and told the Joker again to hurry up.
Once he was done, the Joker walked over to the sink. He could see Damien in the mirror when he turned the water off. He shook his hands after cleaning them and turned around. Damien hit him so hard with his baton that he fell to the floor. The sound of the metal hitting his cheekbone echoed off of the tile walls.
The Joker looked up at him, the only paint remaining on his face was residual black around his eyes.
"Do something," Damien demanded and placed a hand on his gun. "I dare you."
He watched the Joker place a hand on the sink to stand. Once he was on his feet he looked down at Damien. It was Damien who felt looked down upon, even though the Joker had to look down at him because Damien was shorter. That didn't change the fact that it made Damien again, feel small. Looking downwards with a distant look in his eyes. The Joker was still and calm, even as a dark stream of blood from the hit began to slide down his face from his temple.
Damien couldn't take it. He swung again, hitting him on the back of the thigh, sending him down to the floor. He went into a frenzy, striking him over and over and over until he was out of breath and his arm and back muscles ached from beating him.
When he looked down there was blood spattered on the floor. Damien stepped around him and rinsed the baton at the sink.
"Get up," he said and kicked the Joker in the back.
The Joker's hand went up slowly to grab the sink again and once he gripped it, Damien brought the baton back down again over the Joker's knuckles. Damien took pleasure in the sound of fracturing the bones. His hand dropped back down and the fell onto his knees.
"Get the fuck up," Damien said, throwing the baton onto the floor in front of the Joker, tempting him.
He wasn't taking the bait.
Damien grabbed him by the shoulders, lifted him up, and slammed him against the wall. The Joker's eyes were vacant.
"You sure can take a beating," Damien said. "Nothing compared to what will happen to you at Blackgate. I made sure to let my people there know not to feed you either. Look at me, you son of a bitch."
The Joker's eyes drifted down and met Damien's. He looked like he didn't care at all. Damien shoved him against the wall again and then noticed something. A mark on his neck. A bruise from the beating? No...it was a very distinct and particular type of mark.
He pulled the Joker a few inches away from the wall and held his shirt in such a way that his top buttons would tear from the next hit. As the Joker staggered back after the strike, Damien kept a firm grip on the shirt. He didn't want to make it obvious that he was trying to get a better look at the mark on the Joker's skin. The top two buttons popped and he could see it. He could also see more. There was a second mark a bit lower, slightly more faded.
"Go," Damien said and pointed to the door. The Joker walked out stoically.
"Holy shit man," DeMarco said once the Joker was stood outside of the door and he saw his condition. "Fuck...I got no part of this-"
DeMarco looked around with paranoia.
"He's fine," Damien said and slapped the Joker on the back. "Aren't you buddy?"
Once the Joker was back in the interrogation room, Damien brought DeMarco with him to his desk.
"This is fucked up," DeMarco said.
"It worked," Damien said.
"Worked?" DeMarco asked. "So you got him to tell you why he's behaving like this? His plan?"
"Not a plan," Damien said.
"So...what did you get out of him?" DeMarco asked nervously.
"There's a woman," Damien said triumphantly. "And we are going to find out who she is."