"I'm quite busy," Bruce said to Lucius when he arrived at the penthouse.
"I can see that," Lucius said to Bruce, who was sitting on his couch watching TV. "I have a few documents that require your signature."
Bruce reached for the folder with one hand while still looking at the television. Bruce had been out of work for four days, and instead was focusing all of his attention on the trial. He felt there was nothing more he could do but wait for the jury, who was still sequestered.
"You may want to look over the last one," Lucius said.
"Yeah..yeah.." Bruce said, as if he wasn't paying attention.
"He's practically comatose," Adriana said to Lucius as she walked into the living room. "He hears nothing until after 5:30."
Lucius looked at Bruce sideways, and saw that she was right. He looked completely absorbed with the news.
"Hey Bruce," she said, testing him. "I'm thinking about going out for a walk."
"Yeah.." he murmured, not looking away from the screen. There were no new notices, reporters were just repeating details about the case that everyone knew by now.
"Want to come?" she asked. "It's nice and sunny out."
"Mmhm...right..." he said.
She laughed quietly and then grabbed her coat, with Lucius eyeing her and looking amused the entire time. She kicked off her slippers and pulled on her shoes before opening the front door.
"Hey," Bruce said, snapping out of it. "What are you doing?"
"I just told you, I'm going out for a walk," she said to him.
"What?" he asked and stood up. "Adriana, it isn't safe-"
"Bruce, Bruce," she said an removed her coat and walked over to him laughing. "I was only kidding."
His eyes were still open wide and he looked very serious.
"Come on, I was just playing around," she said and rested her hands on his shoulders, trying not to laugh. She could see Lucius was holding in his laughter too.
Bruce rolled his eyes at them both and sat down and went back to staring at the news. Adriana looked at Lucius.
"Lucius do you have a minute?" she asked Lucius and he nodded.
"Of course," he said and followed her.
She went into her bedroom and shut the door. Once they were alone, she went over the vent in the wall and pulled out her suit and the grapple gun.
"Can you take these for me?" she asked, while still on the floor in front of the vent. "I can't risk Alfred coming across this stuff."
"May I ask why these things are here?" he asked. "In the wall?"
"I needed them," she said. "And now I won't need them for a while."
"Adriana," Lucius said. "I see no reason why you still feel the need to keep this from Bruce."
She sat on the floor and looked up at him.
"If I tell him," she said. "Do you think he'll let me leave? I mean..he'll be able to see that I'm strong enough to handle myself-"
"No, he won't let you leave," Lucius said. "Your pregnancy being the main reason. And I was not suggesting you tell him only so that he would be comfortable with you going home. There is no longer a need to keep this secret."
"I'm still strong," she said. "I can do everything I did before. I don't think my pregnancy should matter and...I just don't think now is the best time to spring that on him, he's obviously very busy with...staring at the TV."
"He cares about what happens to you," Lucius told her.
"I know," Adriana said.
"He will shut off the TV," Lucius said.
Adriana shook her head.
"I believe you could tell him everything," Lucius said.
"What?" Adriana said. "You're referring to who my child's father is? That's insane. I'm never telling him or anyone else. It would only worry him more and...horrify him. I can't do that."
"I see," Lucius said, seeing she had made her decision. "How are you feeling about the trial?"0
"I mean...it is what it is," she said, looking down. "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about it."
"I know," Lucius said. "But I'm sure you must be feeling something."
"You want the truth?" she asked.
"I'd prefer it over a lie," he said and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Okay..." she said. "I feel helpless."
"Is that because you want to help him?" Lucius asked carefully.
"I..." she thought about it honestly. "I don't. I don't want to help him."
"Why not?" he asked.
"Because...I can't stop seeing those news reports...with the testimonials. So many people crying, holding up photos of loved ones," she said, trying to contain her emotion. She didn't want to cry. "And I know...he did all of those things. I know justice needs to be served. Every day I'm just trying not to think about it, but it's hard with Bruce playing those channels all damned day. I don't want to obstruct justice. I just..."
"You know that you could help him if you wanted to," Lucius said to her.
"Yes, and I guess I feel helpless because...part of me knows...if I wanted to, I could get him out. I'm strong enough, I'm smart enough.." she said. "I'm helpless because, I can't understand why I would want to free him. He's a dangerous person Lucius, you know that and I know that. He's...going to hurt more people if he ever gets out but I still have some hope...they won't give him capital punishment."
"You love him," Lucius deduced.
Adriana considered the word. She and the Joker had never said such words to each other..but it was how she felt.
"I...I guess I do," she said. "I don't know why. I don't know how I could let myself fall in love with someone like him..."
Adriana pushed her hair back.
"Look Lucius," she said. "The best thing I can do is to try not to stress myself out right now. I need to focus on...growing a healthy baby, becoming a mother and moving forward with my life. I have to forget the past or at least find a way to stop thinking about it."
"I understand," Lucius said.
"So...can you take this stuff?" Adriana said and picked up her suit.
"The suit will fit in my briefcase," Lucius said. "The grapple gun on the other hand..."
"He won't even see you walk out with it," Adriana said. "I can find a plastic bag for you to put it in, he won't even notice."
"Well, I will try it," Lucius said. "If he asks what is in the bag, I won't lie to him."
"He won't ask," Adriana said and Lucius helped her to her feet. "Trust me, he doesn't notice anything right now, and unless your bag had the word 'Jury' written on the front he won't even see it. I'll find a bag for it."
Lucius was able to leave without incident, Adriana was right. Bruce didn't even notice the white plastic bag. Once Lucius was gone Adriana sat on the couch next to Bruce.
"Why don't you take a break," she said. "Eat something. I can hear your stomach growling."
"I can eat in three hours," Bruce said. It was 2:30 p.m. "The weekend starts tomorrow...They're doing everything outside of the box with this case. Maybe they will convene on the weekend if the jury reaches a decision. Or maybe even in the middle of the night-"
"That's very unlikely," she said. He didn't answer. He was back in his trance.
She walked into the kitchen and pulled a large salmon steak out of the freezer. She cooked it, along with broccoli and jasmine rice, and sat in on the table in front of Bruce. He didn't seem to notice it at first, but the smell caught his attention.
"Is the chef here?" Bruce asked and looked down at the plate. "Or did Alfred cook?"
"No," she answered. "I made that for you, now eat."
"Adriana," Bruce said. "You didn't have to do that."
"I know," she said and took some of the salmon onto the fork and raised it to his lips. "Eat."
He let his lips part and she put the fish into his mouth. He chewed it a bit and took the fork from her.
"Thank you," he said. "It's delicious."
"You're welcome," she smiled and went back into the kitchen to clean the pans.
He turned and watched her walk away. It was like he was looking at her for the first time, truly seeing her. He was falling for her.
.
.
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"I hear you worked for the Joker," Damien said to Chris as he left a bar.
"Who the hell are you?" Chris said and turned around in the dark parking lot. "I have no idea what you're talking about buddy."
"I'm just someone who is on a mission," Damien said while leaning on Chris's car. "Your fingerprints were found at the metal factory where a child was abducted a few weeks ago."
"What?" Chris said, beginning to panic. He didn't know that Damien was bluffing. Chris couldn't remember touching anything with bare hands that day.
"But I'm willing to forget all about that," Damien said. "And discard the evidence. If you tell me everything you know about the Joker."
"Wha...what do you want to know?" Chris asked, stuttering and looking around.
"Everything," Damien pulled out a notepad. "Let's go someplace quieter. There's a diner down the road."
Once they were in the diner, Damien ordered a coffee and Chris just continued looked around nervously.
"Where the hell did they get my prints? I tried not to touch anything and I was wearing gloves-" Chris said.
"That's neither here nor there," Damien said dismissively. "Tell me about the Joker and the woman he was seeing."
Chris frowned. It wasn't what he was expecting to be asked about.
"Sheena?" Chris asked.
"Yes," Damien said. A second confirmation of her name or alias. "Also, tell me the locations of any warehouses, storage facilities, or any other locations the Joker frequented. I will need to search them all."
"And...if you find my prints there, you'll get rid of them?" Chris asked. "Are you a cop?"
"Of course, I'll get rid of any evidence if it pertains to you, but only if you cooperate," Damien said. "And yes, I am a cop on a temporary leave for this assignment."
"Okay," Chris said immediately. It took him almost half an hour to tell Damien all of the locations where the Joker kept things stored. Weapons, money, miscellaneous items.
"Thank you," Damien said, looking at the long list. It would take him ages to do a thorough search of all of the locations alone. He considered asking DeMarco to help him later. "Tell me about Sheena. The woman working for him."
"What about her?" Chris asked. He felt a bit more protective over the information about her...he didn't want to give too much away. She had never given him a chance but on the last day that he saw her, she was unusually friendly. She had agreed to see a movie with him.
"Describe her for me," Damien said.
"Okay uh..." Chris said. It was her neck or his..and he did not want to go back to prison. "She was...bout 5'4 or 5'5''. Red hair, dark brown eyes, slim."
"Alright," Damien said. "Can you describe her face?"
"Uh..." Chris said. He realized that he became so flustered and excited when she was around, he could barely remember the details. "I mean, I only saw it a couple times. We wore masks."
Damien looked at Chris impatiently.
"But she was uh..." Chris said. "She had a nice face."
"So you are saying this was an attractive woman," Damien said.
Chris was far less good looking than Brake, but even with his average looks he knew that Chris would be able to determine if she was attractive or not.
"Yeah," Chris said, finally relaxing a bit and nearly smiling.
"Did she ever reveal any details about herself to you? Last name? Where she lived anything?" Damien asked.
"No," Chris said. "That...would be stupid as hell...none of us did shit like that on the job."
"So you know nothing about her," Damien said. "You never spoke to her?"
"Yeah I asked her out a few times," Chris said. "She uh...well yeah she was out of my league but she gave it up to boss so I thought...maybe she's a wild free spirited chick you know? Anything goes kind of woman-"
"She was sleeping with your boss," Damien knew it was true by now. "The Joker."
"Yes," Chris said. "But that didn't bother me. I mean it would have if she wasn't such a hottie. Strange thing was that I never saw him pay her, when the rest of us got paid. I guess he wasn't paying her."
"Why wouldn't he pay her?" Damien asked.
"Don't know," Chris said and shrugged.
"Anything else you can remember?" Damien asked. "Anything at all."
Chris looked like he was thinking.
"He got real mad at her once," he said. "Boss."
"Oh?" Damien sat up. "Why?"
"She stopped our transport for a buy, said we were being set up," he said. "Turns out we were."
"Why would that make him angry?" Damien asked.
"She ehh...didn't really have an explanation for how she knew," he said. "She must have been CIA or FBI he said. But she said she wasn't. Refused to tell him how she knew anything about the setup."
Damien was intrigued. Was this woman government?
"Do you think that's possible?" Damien asked. "She was some kind of agent?"
"No," Chris told him. "I mean...maybe. It's possible"
If she had been undercover she would have been extracted once the Joker had been arrested and there would be no way for Damien to ever find out who she was.
"But I don't think she was," Chris said.
"Why not?" Damien asked.
"She could've called her people," he said. "She could have contacted them. There was only three of us there with the Joker. And if she was an agent why would she warn him about the trap? She would have been happy to see him locked up."
"Okay," Damien said, it made sense. "So you said he got angry with her. Then what? He just forgive her? Did he have a soft spot for her?"
"No," Chris said. "I mean we all thought he was gonna kill her. But he just fucked her."
Damien frowned.
"I mean we didn't even know they were a thing before then," Chris said.
"What makes you think that? She could have done that to prevent him from killing her," Damien said.
"Happened to fast," Chris said. "Boss is...smart. No woman would be able to trick him out of something suspicious like that in two minutes. They went in the surveillance office and two minutes later...like I told you."
Damien sighed and wrote a few more notes.
"She could have been assaulted," Damien said to Chris.
"Nahhh man," Chris said. "She liked him. I saw how she started looking at him. And when she came out of that office she didn't look like she just got attacked. Looked...real happy. Smiling a little and all that shit."
"And him?" Damien asked.
"Don't know, he looked the same as always," Chris said. "Except a little less paint on his face. Hair a little more jacked up than normal."
"Anything else you can tell me?" Damien asked.
"I got a question," Chris said.
Damien wasn't here to be the one answering questions. He knew Chris had no more info for him,
"What?" Damien asked.
"So she got away too? You're looking for her aren't you?" Chris said.
"Yes," Damien said. "Do you have a way to contact her?"
"Nope..." Chris said. "Wish I did. With boss locked up...might be my chance..."
"Thank you for your assistance," Damien said.
"Yeah so you're going to get rid of the prints right?" Chris asked.
"Of course," Damien told him.
.
.
.
"It's the middle of the night...I'm so tired of this..." one of the jurors said. "I just want to go home and be with my family."
"I know," the only juror who voted 'not guilty' replied. "But I can't just disregard facts and change my mind."
"You chose to disregard the people who died and regard the psychiatrists that took the stand, saying he's crazy," another juror replied.
"Look," she said back in defense. "I'm just doing what the law and constitution says...I don't know why an insane person can't be given capital punishment. If they could...my vote would be the same! It's not about whether he lives or dies or goes to asylum. It's about our duty."
"Whatever."
"Listen though! Can any one of you look me in the eyes right now and tell me that you wholeheartedly believe that man is sane? That he has control over his mind like any one of us? No! We have to let the judge know that we think he's insane.."
"Why! No one cares if he is insane! Maybe the system needs to be changed. It's not right! He could get out again!"
"He wont! Do you see the amount of security they have around him at all times? There's no way!"
"He's cunning and scheming...scheming as we speak, I bet-"
"He's sick," she said. "And we all know it. It doesn't matter what the world thinks of our vote. What matters...is that we can look out family in the eye when this is all over. We can look at them with dignity and pride...knowing that we did what was right-"
"At least we get to look our family members in the eye. He's taken that away from so many-"
"Because of his mental illness..." another juror, who had been undecided until now. "I vote not-guilty."
"Ten guilty...two not," another tired juror said.
"I have to stick with my principles...and I thought you all would have principles too...the answer is simple. He's either insane...or he's not."
"We're going to be here all night, aren't we?"
"Looks like it."
.
.
.
"You finally shaved," Adriana said to Bruce on Saturday morning with a smile.
"You were right," he said. "I need to relax. Maybe once I stop obsessing, this will come to an end."
"Good," she said and touched his cheek, surprised that he was sitting at the kitchen table and not in front of the TV.
"Regular or turkey bacon, ma'am?" Bruce's chef asked Adriana.
"Can I have regular?" she asked and sat at the table.
"Of course," the chef responded.
Once the food had been served and the chef had left, Adriana picked up a slice of her bacon and took a bite.
"I'm glad you're actually eating", she said to Bruce as he ate his eggs. For once he was eating away from the TV.
He looked at her for a moment and smiled. He didn't have many friends, no close friends. The closest people in his life were Alfred and Lucius. When he missed sleep or meals due to extenuating circumstances that demanded his attention, they offered support but not in the same way she did. She cared, a lot.
He had never spent so much time in his penthouse. He never liked spending a lot of time at home, but she made it enjoyable. The penthouse, for once, was beginning to feel like a home. A warm and inviting place.
"I'm glad you're here", he replied.
As soon as he said the words he felt this phone vibrate. He pulled out his phone and look at it seriously.
"What's wrong?" Adriana asked him.
"The jury," Bruce replied. "They reached a decision."
Adriana stood up so fast that it actually made her a bit dizzy. He turned on the kitchen flatscreen TV. They both stood at in front of the TV and waited as the news showed the courthouse. There were crowds of people outside with signs.
"We just received word that at 7:15 morning the jury contacted the bailiff to announce that they have reached a unanimous vote in the case of The People of the City of Gotham versus the Joker," a news reporter said.
Adriana began to feel a bit more dizzy as the screen immediately switched over to the courtroom. It was overwhelming. So far she had been able to keep her emotions out of this whole thing. She knew the trial had to come to an end at some point but it was just so sudden and unexpected that it was happening now.
The judge entered the courtroom and then the jury filed in.
"Sir," the judge said to the Joker. "Will you please stand and face the jury?"
As soon as Adriana saw him she felt her legs getting weak. She could feel the entire city of Gotham holding its breath.
"Case Number BE432551, In the matter of the case of The People of The City of Gotham versus the Joker," a woman said holding a sheet of paper. "For the charge of 44 counts of first degree murder...we find the defendant..."
The city was as quiet as it had ever been.
"Not guilty, by reason of insanity. We the jury in the above entitled action, for the charge of 71 counts of second degree murder, find the defendant not guilty by reason of insanity. We the jury in the above entitled action, for the charge 83 counts of manslaughter, find the defendant not guilty by reason of insanity..."
Adriana felt her legs give out and Bruce's arms catching her before she could hit the floor.
.
.
.
"Is she okay?" Bruce asked his personal physician, Dr, Kapoor.
"She is going to be fine," the doctor said to Bruce, and Adriana, who had been insisting for the last half hour that she was fine. "Your blood pressure is a bit low and your iron is very low. Much lower than it was a few weeks ago. I will have to diagnose you with anemia, which is important to pay attention to during pregnancy especially. I will start you on a course of iron supplements. I would also encourage you to increase your red meat consumption."
"Okay..I will," she said.
The doctor nodded and left the room briefly.
"Sorry Bruce I didn't mean to scare you," she said to Bruce when the doctor was gone.
"It is alright," he said "I am just glad it isn't something serious and that this can be treated."
"Sorry..." she apologized again.
He nodded and looked away.
"They found him not guilty on all charges because of insanity.." Bruce said. "I don't understand it. He must have manipulated them somehow."
Adriana had a feeling that the jury had not been manipulated at all. She didn't know what to think. And Bruce was not the only one upset and confused.
Even though they were in a high-rise many stories above the city, as soon as the woman read the jury's decision Adriana could hear the city's outcry. She could hear a wailing, shouting and crying. The city ached, and no one was happy.
And even though Bruce was quiet now she could tell that he was the most unsettled of them all.