"Look, Ricard," DeMarco said to Damien. "It's been a long couple days. Maybe we both should just go home for a few hours...just to rest and eat a decent meal-"

He was trying to get his friend to take things into perspective. Perhaps they both needed to step away from the Joker situation for some time.

"You think this fatigue speaking?" Damien said to him. "I saw what I saw."

"It doesn't make sense man," DeMarco said.

"Come with me," Damien said and led DeMarco to the interrogation room where the Joker was sitting stoically again. Another cop was in the room, along with the two guarding the door.

"Looks like you put him through a fucking meat grinder," the cop laughed and looked at Damien.

"Give us a minute," Damien said, dismissively and the cop left quickly.

Both Damien and DeMarco walked over to the Joker quietly. The Joker didn't even look up at them. DeMarco held his breath. Damien did not seem afraid of the Joker at all.

Damien walked behind the Joker and grabbed his hair, pushing his head to the side to expose the markings on his neck. The Joker didn't seem care what he was doing. He assumed he was about to get another beat-down. DeMarco raised his eyebrows as Damien slapped the Joker on the back of the head before they left the room and the third cop went back inside.

"You saw it," Damien said.

"Yeah..." DeMarco said, still stunned at how Damien had physically handled the Joker. The Joker had not reacted, not even a little. "But that doesn't mean anything. Does it?"

"It means he had a weakness," Damien said.

Demarco didn't feel totally convinced.

"Go and get him some food," Damien said. "Real food. Might get him to talk."

.

.

.

"Did you know," Adriana was alone hospital room and spoke on the landline phone to Sidi. "That I was pregnant?"

"Yes," Sidi said, above a chopping sound in the background. She was slicing vegetables.

"You didn't tell me.." Adriana said.

"Well, you were quite distressed when you were here," Sidi said. "I saw no reason to cause you more worry."

"Sidi...you should have told me."

"How are the babies?" Sidi asked.

"Babies?" Adriana asked. "Oh...right. There's just one...on embryo. I had an ectopic pregnancy. So I lost...I mean...one of the embryos had to be removed."

"And your other child survived," Sidi said.

"Did you know this would happen?" Adriana asked her.

"The movement of the crystal showed pregnancy. One male, one female. The movement for the female was very weak, meaning she would not likely survive," Sidi said. "There was no way for me to know when you would lose one of them. It happened very early then."

"Yeah..." Adriana said. She didn't want to know the gender. She didn't want to know anything about it. "Is this why my gift is gone? Because I'm pregnant?"

"Yes, child," Sidi anwered.

"But...that's not possible. No one's had this happen..my grandmother would have told me..she would have mentioned-" Adriana said.

"No," Sidi said. "Your gift is distorted and unpredictable as I told you. This is a consequence. But at last you know for the next eight months you will be safe from your gift harming you."

Adriana rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, pushing the red dyed hair that had fallen forward onto her forehead back.

"So you're saying..." she thought carefully about how she would ask the question. "Once I'm not pregnant anymore, my gift will come back. And everything can go back to normal.."

"You mean once you give birth?" Sidi clarified. "Yes, once you give birth, you will no longer be without your abilities."

"I mean..." Adriana said, pulling her knees up and resting her forehead on them, holding the phone on her ear. She decided to repeat herself. "Once I'm not pregnant anymore."

"I see," Sidi said as if she was not happy. "Yes. Once you aren't pregnant anymore it should return."

"Alright," Adriana said weakly.

"You will not be able to go through with it," Sidi said. "The boy will live. Very strong movement. He will live."

"What?" Adriana said. "I will do what I need to. And please stop calling it...he. It's an embryo."

"Your son will live," Sidi said.

"Look.." Adriana said, trying to refrain from yelling. "I...I have to go okay?"she ended the call.

Adriana immediately felt a wave of nausea and got up carefully from the bed. She made it to the bathroom and closed the door. Nothing came up. She sat by the toilet and closed her eyes. She would do what she needed to. She opened her eyes when she heard someone tapping on the door.

"Everything okay?" she heard Bruce say from outside the door.

"You can come in," she said and he opened the door.

"What's wrong?" he said and knelt by her on the floor. "Are you in pain? Should I get the doctor?"

"No..no...just nausea," she said. "No pain."

"Good," Bruce said with relief. "I mean, nausea is not good but-"

"I know," Adriana said and looked down.

Bruce sat beside her.

"Dr. Kapoor," Adriana said. "He's skilled in many areas of medicine."

"Yes," Bruce said.

Adriana looked into Bruce's eyes.

"And...I assume you don't want me to go anywhere...not to a normal hospital," she said. "Or a clinic or anything right now?"

Bruce looked confused.

"That assumption is correct," Bruce said. "We don't know why the Joker wanted you alive. He could have people looking for you. It's safest for you to stay here, out of sight, while I figure out what to do next."

Adriana nodded once.

"Why would you need to go to a clinic?" he asked. "We have everything you could need, medically, right here."

"So," Adriana said. "Has Dr. Kapoor ever performed an abortion?"

Bruce blinked once very quickly.

"Or maybe there's a pill or something," she said. "Is that available here?"

Adriana watched as Bruce's eyes drifted away.

"I can let him know you want to discuss your options here," he said. "If you would like."

"I would," Adriana said firmly. "Right away."

Bruce looked at her with a stoic expression. He pressed his lips together and stood up. Without saying a word he left the bathroom.

Once he was gone, Adriana leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Without warning, tears began to flow from her eyes. Her shoulders began to shake as she cried quietly. The door opened again.

Adriana began to wipe her tears quickly and looked up to see Bruce standing there.

"Did you-," Adriana said and wiped her cheek. "Tell him? That was fast."

"Adriana," Bruce said gently and knelt beside her. "I understand that this...is not my place. What you decide to do is your choice and I will support whatever decision you make."

Bruce placed a hand on top of hers that was resting on her knee.

"You have something to say?" Adriana asked him. "It's okay...just say it."

"I have something to ask," he said.

Adriana nodded.

"Are you absolutely sure?" he asked.

His eyes searched hers as he waited for her response. She could see it in his eyes that he had been telling the truth. He would support her in whatever she decided. After waiting a few seconds for an answer.

"I understand if you don't think this is the time to become a mother," Bruce said. "I can only imagine what you have been through recently. It doesn't sound like the circumstances surrounding your pregnancy were a dream situation. And since your child's father has died...you would be a single mother. I understand why you would want to make the decision to terminate. I just want to make sure that you...are entirely sure that this is what you want."

Adriana looked to her left. She was remembering something.

"Dream...situation," she repeated Bruce's words.

And then she remembered. The dreams she had. A child...a little boy. She remembered feeling a love for him she never knew existed.

"Oh Bruce," Adriana said and looked into Bruce's eyes. "He's...he's my son..."

"Son..." Bruce said. "You are five weeks along...it would take a while to be certain of the gender."

"It's a boy..." Adriana said. "My son. And he's...beautiful. He's perfect."

Bruce wasn't sure how she could know any of this.

"No Bruce," Adriana said and began to shake her head. "I wasn't sure. I just...wanted to get rid of everything that...No...I don't want and abortion. You...just helped me remember him. My son."

.

.

"Hot coffee...ice cold Sprite...fries...and a burger," DeMarco said to the Joker as he placed the food in front of him.

"Come on," Damien said as the Joker looked at the food suspiciously. It wasn't prison food, it was from the outside. "We're trying to be nice."

The Joker moved his hands to the can of soda. He lifted the cold drink with his undamaged hand and held it against the knuckles on the other hand which had doubled in size from swelling. The baton Damien had used to crush it was still in the Joker's sight, attached to Damien's hip.

"Good," Damien said. "We're making progress."

"Yup," DeMarco agreed.

"Give us the room, fellas," Damien said to the two officers keeping guard of the door.

"Three officers are supposed to be on post in this room at all-" one of the officers started to say.

"His chains are attached to the fucking floor, Bask," Damien said to one of them. "We'll be alright for ten minutes. Go and get a coffee, have a smoke."

The officers looked at each other and then nodded before leaving.

"Have some," Damien said and unwrapped the burger in front of the Joker.

The Joker looked down at it and then back at Damien.

"At least have some water," DeMarco pointed to the water bottle on the table. "You know the human body dies after three days without water. And you're on day two."

"Is that even true man?" Damien asked him with a laugh but stopped when he saw the Joker reach for the bottle and pull the cap off. He began to drink.

Damien and his colleague watched the Joker finish the entire bottle in a few gulps before sitting the empty bottle back down onto the table. DeMarco looked at Damien and the Damien decided it was time to talk.

"Tell us," Damien said to the Joker. "Who did that do your neck?"

The Joker squinted, not knowing that the cop was talking about. He assumed any bruises he had came from the beating he had just gotten half an hour ago. Damien pulled out a small pocket mirror and held it out to the Joker.

"Take it," Damien ordered. "Unless you want me to make both your hands the same."

The Joker didn't raise the mirror. He tilted it up while it sat in his palm which was resting on the table. He tilted his head slightly and saw what the cop was looking at. A bright red passion mark, half hidden by his collar. The Joker handed the mirror back.

"So," Damien said inquisitively. "Who was it? Hm? Do you have a girlfriend?"

The Joker looked at Damien and then at DeMarco.

"No," the Joker said after a second. "I do not."

"He speaks!" Damien exclaimed.

"At last," DeMarco chimed in.

"So, where did those two hickeys come from?" Damien asked. The Joker didn't answer him.

Damien nudged DeMarco with an elbow. It was time to taunt him again. They wanted information.

"Yeah, who did that?" DeMarco asked. "Hey, Damien. Maybe you didn't ask the right question. She's probably a man."

"Right," Damien laughed. "So you have a boyfriend."

They both expected to the Joker to say something, to defend or explain himself, but he sat quietly.

"So he's gay," DeMarco said. The Joker ignored him. It wasn't something he had never heard before. He was thinking of her again..her jokes that first night.

.

"I knew you were gay," she joked before she fainted.

.

"I think it's a she," Damien said. "But the type of 'she' that might as well be a man. Am I right?"

The Joker looked into Damien's eyes. This officer wanted this information for a reason. To use it against him. He would never give him her name.

"You know, a she-male," Damien laughed. "DeMarco-I bet she's a one-eyed tranny with a hunchback missing her front teeth."

"A cross between that and a three-eyed water buffalo," DeMarco laughed too.

"Probably looks like Danny Devito in a Halloween wig," Damien went on.

"I bet she looks like a whole thumb-" DeMarco joked but the Joker cut him off.

"Tell us, does your girl boyfriend look as freakish as you do? She'd have to," Damien said.

"No," the Joker said.

He didn't want to answer their questions but his voice seemed to want to respond

"She is.." the Joker started to say.

Damien and DeMarco waited expectantly as the Joker's words stopped. The Joker began to think of how he was beginning to describe Adriana. She is...She...was. She was. She was dead. 'Is' is for the living. She was.

"She's what?" Damien asked.

"Beautiful," the Joker said his eyes not on either of them.

The officers couldn't help but laugh even though they actually tried not to. They needed to focus on getting the information from him, but they found his description hilarious.

"Sorry, man," Damien said finally. "That was just too funny."

"And sad," DeMarco said with sincerity. "I bet any woman willing to give you anything would be beautiful to you. She's probably a skeletal toothless crackhead that you have to pay a hefty sum. So addicted to drugs...so she would do anything. How terribly sad, man."

"Is that it?" Damien asked the Joker for answers. "She a streetwalker? You pay her?"

Damien didn't care how unfortunate this woman was, all he knew was that she was someone who had affected this madman. A weakness.

"Answer me," Damien said and casually sat his baton on the table as a threat.

The Joker didn't look afraid at all, but decided to answer the questions.

"No," he replied.

"No she's not a streetwalker or no you don't pay her?" DeMarco clarified.

"No," the Joker said. "And no."

"So she's not a prostitute," Damien asked the Joker.

"Nahh man," DeMarco chuckled and looked at the red mark on the side of the Joker's neck. "Prostitutes don't do all that."

Damien shot DeMarco a look.

"Not that I would know," DeMarco said quickly. "I mean, as far as I know. That's what I heard you know, I'm an officer of the law so I would never-"

"She a prostitute?" Damien cut Demarco off demanded again from the Joker.

"No," the Joker said again.

"Give us her name," Damien said.

After waiting for a response and not getting one, he lifted the baton. Still no response. He threw his arm back and brought the baton crashing down onto the Joker's other hand.

Damien and DeMarco looked at him with confusion. He did not react to the pain at all. Then Damien and DeMarco looked at each other. He would not give up the name. They would find her. They just needed more clues and beating information out of him would not work.

"Where is she?" Damien tried.

No answer. Damien looked to his left at DeMarco. The Joker looked at Damien.

As they continued to taunt him, he stayed quiet, again staying focused on the thoughts in his mind. He had killed countless people. There was no way he could remember them all. In this moment, he began to wonder...what do people do after someone dies? He could not stop thinking about her. He wanted to break out of this place, which he knew that he could easily do. In the current situation, he could easily get DeMarco's keys and free himself from the chains. He could take one of them hostage and get out of here. But the only place he wanted to leave and go to was...wherever she was. How did people get over this feeling? There was no way he could continue feeling this way forever. People crying after explosions, at funerals, during heists at the fear of a loved one dying...it had always been so funny to him. Death and mourning had been funny. Now it felt like an unbearable weight. He hated it. He began to feel regret. Regret for killing anyone. Did this feeling go away at some point? He never wanted to forget her but he wanted to feel normal again. His normal was the feeling of craving chaos..madness. Now he wanted nothing but silence.

It was only appropriate.

"Answer me," Damien said loudly, breaking the Joker's daydream. "Describe her."

"She's a water buffalo, man," DeMarco said. "A hermaphrodite sea lion."

"I did," the Joker said.

"You said she's beautiful," Damien said and pulled out his phone. "But you could never get a truly beautiful woman. Not like the women I get. I get true beauties. Hot women. How about you rate her for us, on a normal human scale. Not a freak scale that's probably forgiving of obvious deformities."

Damien held up his phone, showing the Joker a picture of a woman with glasses and short brown hair. She appeared to be eating a muffin.

"She's a 5," Damien said. "For reference."

"Casey," DeMarco laughed and took Damien's phone from him. "I remember her. Pretty cute though."

"Yeah she was fun," Damien said.

"Why'd you two break up again? You forgot she existed or something?"

"Something like that," Damien said. "Had to ghost. Found something better."

He looked at the Joker again.

"Do you understand?" he asked. "This chick is a 5. Nothing wrong with her but plain.

"The album of conquests," DeMarco said and kept scrolling. "Sorry pal, you don't get to see the nudes."

The Joker looked like he couldn't have cared less.

"Oh, and this one, Rosalie mmm," DeMarco held up Damien's phone so the Joker could see. "Solid 8."

She was a beautiful woman with long curly red hair and fair skin. She was holding a glass of wine at a candlelit table.

"8.5," Damien laughed.

"Bit of a gold digger, if I remember right?" DeMarco said. "Wanted you to keep buying her bags-"

"Yeah," Damien said. "She was worth it though."

"Ah and this one," DeMarco nodded and recognized his former colleague. "Navarro."

He turned the phone to the Joker as quickly as he said the name. He only saw her for a split second before DeMarco looked at the phone again. The image of her, even though he had only seen it for a second, shocked him. It was if his prayers had been answered in this agonizing nightmare. He could still see it even though the image was no longer in front of him. She was sitting on a set of steps, her hair covering almost half of her face, but he could see that she was smiling. The picture must have been old..she looked much thinner and a bit tired, but stunning. The way she looked when he first saw her at the mental institution. It seemed the color of her eyes was much lighter then, if he wasn't imagining it..or maybe it was the lighting in the photo. In the picture, her irises were so pale they almost looked colorless. She had become much more radiant and beautiful with time...the way he remembered her. The opportunity to see her face so suddenly and unexpectedly made him think that perhaps, maybe, there was a God.

"Ahh, yes, Adriana," Damien laughed.

"This one I used to give a ten easy, except now..." DeMarco said thoughtfully and looked at the picture. The Joker and Damien looked at him expectantly.

"Except what?" Damien smiled.

"The last time I saw her," DeMarco started to say.

"Go on," Damien insisted, expecting a critique.

"That ass bumped her up to an eleven," DeMarco said and the two cops began to laugh. "Can't believe you cheated on that."

The Joker frowned at Damien. Clearly the man was more stupid than he looked.

"What can I say," Damien said and held his hands up. "I love the ladies."

"We all know," DeMarco laughed.

It occurred to the Joker that maybe this man had not yet received word of her death. The Batman would have gotten her to a hospital much faster than an ambulance. If she had been alive and was in the hospital right now, he was sure the Batman would have informed the them that she was a criminal. A dangerous criminal who had just been working for the Joker. The police would have come. She would have been ID'd by police by now.

Or if her body was with a hospital and she was dead, it would take some time to identify her. That was the most likely scenario. It was unlikely she carried any identification with her while on a mission to free the girl he had abducted.

"So tell us," Damien said to the Joker. "We gave you some examples. So rate your water buffalo. She a one? Two maybe?"

"She's a three at the most," DeMarco said to the Joker factually. "She a one, two, or a three?"

The Joker looked at them both for a minute before deciding that giving them a number would not give her away.

"Eleven," the Joker said.

Damien and DeMarco looked at each other seriously for several seconds and then Damien began to wrap up the burger they had put onto the table for the Joker to eat. He tossed the fries back into the paper bag.

"He has jokes. I can see we're getting nowhere," Damien said and stood taking the food with him.

"Just tell us what we want to know and you can eat," DeMarco said to the Joker.

"No," Damien said. "He's not going to tell us anything. But don't you worry, freak. We will find out who she is."