"No, no, little one," Adriana said to Arsenio as she bathed him. He kept trying to stand in the tub and she was worried that he would slip. As soon as she said the words to him, he sat down.

He picked up a toy when she turned to grab the baby shampoo bottle. She washed his hair as he played with a squishy red ball in his hands.

"Huuwayaaa..." she sang a Somali nursery song to him as she wiped the bubbles going down his forehead.

"Maaaa..." he said, looking down at the glittery ball.

"Can you tilt your head back, mi hijo?" she asked. He obeyed.

She knew that he was gifted and so did Bruce. They had gotten used to to him understanding what he was asked even though Evelyn, his nanny, was shocked by it every day. As she rinsed his hair she thought about the task she and Lucius had to complete in just a couple hours time. The possibilities of what they would find worried her. She tried not to think about it.

.

.

.

Adriana crossed the street in front of the hotel where she and Bruce lived on foot. The streets of Gotham were busy even though it was almost ten at night. It was a beautiful, warm, late spring night. She found Lucius' car parked across the street and walked onto the side walk. She opened the passenger side door and got in quickly.

"There you are," Lucius said. "I was beginning to think you'd changed your mind."

"No," she said. "I just had to wait for Bruce to get in the shower. I couldn't think of a lie about why I have to go out at this hour...when I go back I'll just tell him I was...stopping an abduction."

Lucius looked at her.

"What?" she said. "It's not a lie. I'm just not telling him that it's me doing it and not Shade. Plus...he lied to my face about this whole thing."

"Right then," Lucius said as she put on her seat belt. "Let's go."

They drove down the streets of Gotham, lively and full of people. Adriana looked out the window at them, living their normal lives, unable to believe what she had ahead of her tonight. Suddenly, she felt incredibly nervous. She felt her knee bouncing quickly as she looked around outside. They finally made it to the shipping yard and Lucius's vehicle was let in by security automatically. They didn't stop the car or ask him to lower his windows, which were dark enough to conceal that she was also in the car.

"He'll know we were here," she said.

"Bruce will know that I was here," Lucius said. "And I will have a reason why for him in the morning if he asks about it, which I doubt that he will."

"Okay," she said, her voice shaking with nerves.

The shipping yard was expansive and it took several minutes for Lucius to reach the exact container that doubled as an elevator down to the former Batcave. Once he parked, Adriana realized that she couldn't move. She didn't use her gift at all. Intentionally, she kept her mind guarded...totally walled off. Part of her didn't want to know.

"Are you ready?" Lucius asked her. "Adriana?"

"Lucius," she said, her voice frail. "I don't think I can do this."

Lucius was patient and quiet and waited for her to say more. She blinked her eyes slowly and looked out the front window at the shipping container.

"What if..." she asked. "What if he's dead?...Long dead?"

"Then," Lucius said and took her hand. "I think that is something that you need to know."

She nodded, wearily. "If he is...what do we do?"

"We will take care of it," he said. "I came prepared for that."

"So," she said and looked around towards the back window. "You have...what? A body bag and gloves?"

He didn't answer.

"Okay," she nodded. "Okay...let's just get it over with."

"Adriana," Lucius said. "I think it's best if you go alone."

"What?" she said and took off her seat belt. "No! I need you to go with me-"

"That will confuse him," Lucius said. "He's been there alone for over a year. The state of his mind right now...we don't want to bombard him. I will be waiting here. You need to explain to him that you have a friend outside."

"Lucius do you really think it's that bad? He's been in prison before...in solitary...at Arkham-"

"This isn't prison release, Adriana," Lucius said. "This is..."

He looked out at the container in front of them solemnly. She could see the wisdom and sadness in his eyes. Even he had never had to witness something like this.

"This is much more delicate. Take this," he said and handed her what looked like a regular ink pen. "It's a laser. It should cut through the chain on him. Be very careful with it."

"Okay," she said, stalling and not wanting to get out. "Okay..."

"Take your time."

"No," she said and reached to open the door. "I want to get it over with."

"Wait just a moment," Lucius said and reached in front of her to open the glove box. He pulled out a pistol.

"What's this for?" she asked as he handed it to her.

"Like I said..." he said, with obligation in his voice. "I came prepared."

She tucked the gun into the back of her jeans and prayed to God that she wouldn't need it. Once more, she looked at Lucius before stepping out. The sound of the gravel under her shoes was the loudest thing she could hear. The yard was dark and there were a few lights in the distance so she could barely see her way to the door.

Once she was in the elevator and on the platform, she felt like she was having a panic attack. Her breathing became uncontrollably loud in the elevator shaft. Eventually she saw that the platform had reached the ceiling of the empty Batcave. It was dark. It lowered more and more until it stopped in the ground.

She lingered on the platform, trying to wrap her head around what she was doing. The faint glow of light came from behind her. She stepped off of the platform, afraid to turn around. A series of heart palpitations hit her as she rotated her body slowly.

She saw the enormous black box first, bigger than a tank. She turned more and saw the shine of the thick chain on the ground, about forty yards away. The only light on was directly above him. She almost felt like her brain tapped out when she saw him, as she was almost unable to understand what she was seeing.

He was seated on the floor, leaned against the wall. The first thing that she noticed was hair. He was sitting with his head drooped forward and his hair was almost touching his thighs. From where she was standing she could also see that he also had a long beard. She wasn't sure if it was the distance away that he was but he looked incredibly small and thin.

Slowly, she began to approach him. He wasn't moving at all, but she knew that he was alive. She walked as quietly as she could until she was a few feet away from him. He had a though and she heard it. He could hear her breathing. He was used to complete silence and now he was hearing the very faint sound of breath.

He lifted his head slowly and looked at her. When she saw his eyes, it was then that she came to the realization that it really was him. She wanted to remain as calm as possible and not startle him but when she saw his eyes her hand immediately shot up and grabbed her chest. He didn't seem startled at all. She noticed a great amount of swelling on the left side of his face, which appeared to be a dental abscess. It looked painful.

Somehow, she had been expecting, that if he was alive..that he would be happy the moment that he saw her. That he would be relived to be rescued at last. But he didn't seem to be. He looked at her blankly. And although he didn't make any facial expression, she got the feeling that he was annoyed. He looked away from her and placed his hands on the floor and began to pull himself to his feet using the edge of the sink he was sitting next to. He moved like a man in his 90's, which she assumed was from having nothing to sit or lay on other than the concrete floor beneath him. She was sure that no one would recognize him as the Joker. The matted facial hair covered up most of his scars. He looked like any homeless man in Gotham.

Once he was standing, she noticed how thin he was. She could quite clearly see his hip bones through the pants that he was wearing. The abscess in his jaw had prevented him from eating enough for a long time. He turned to the sink and began to splash his face with water. Over and over and over again. He had done it over one hundred times when she finally began to cry with her hand over her mouth, not making a sound.

When he stopped he turned back and looked surprised that she was there. He leaned against the wall and slid down the floor. She wiped her eyes quickly, not wanting to let him see that she was crying and distressed.

"Go back," he said finally. His voice almost sending her into tears again. His voice was even and calm.

"Go back?" she whispered.

"Yes," he said.

"Back where?" she asked. She was afraid to see his thoughts. Maybe he wanted her to leave...he didn't want to be rescued?

"Back..." he said and shut his eyes for a few seconds as a wave of pain radiated through his head from the jaw infection. Once it passed he looked at her again. "Back wherever...people like you go...when they die."

She fought tears. "I'm not dead...I'm here."

"Yes," he said. "You always say that. You're in the wrong place. This is hell."

Then she understood. She went into his thoughts and memories. He had hallucinated and seen her hundreds of times before down here.

"Listen," she said softly and knelt in front of him. "I know..the Batman put you here. I didn't know you were here..locked up. I want to get you out of here...we can leave. I'm really here. You're not imagining me."

He sighed.

She pulled out the pen and felt his eyes on her as she turned on the laser. She carefully aimed the red beam of light at the chain below the shackle on his ankle. The smell of melting metal in the smoke it released hit her nose but she continued to carefully cut the chain. Once it was cut she felt him grab her upper arm.

Despite being so thin he was incredibly strong and it actually hurt, but she did not react. He frowned in confusion and looked down at where he was gripping her arm. She felt his hand squeezing and releasing her upper arm, as if trying to see if she was really there.

"I'm here," she said and put the laser pen in her pocket. "We can leave.."

He began to inch away from her, not trusting her words.

"I promise it's okay," she said. "I won't hurt you."

He looked her up and down and examined the situation. Maybe this was it, and he would finally cross over into some eternal state of sleep. This was death. An angel coming to guide you to the other side.

"Yeah," he said. "Okay."

She fought the urge to help him to his feet as he used the sink again to stand. They began to walk back to the platform. He walked extremely slow and she could feel his thoughts. He was not used to walking in one direction for so many steps. It felt strange. The lighting was changing, which he noticed as well. It was getting darker as they moved towards the platform.

"Okay," she said. "Just step up."

He stepped up onto the platform. He was in an extreme amount of pain in all of his joints and jaw. She stepped on beside him and the platform began to ascend. The second it moved, he dropped to his knees. He looked around as though he was incredibly afraid and was trying to stabilize himself.

"It's okay, it's alright," she said, trying to calm him down but he had crawled to the edge of the platform and was trying to get off of it.

It was already moving into the elevator shaft and she knew that if she didn't pull him back on he would be gravely injured or killed. Using all of the strength she had she yanked him towards the center of the platform and tried to stop him from moving as they went up. As the elevator went into the shaft she could feel his paranoia. The space felt suffocatingly small after being in the same enormous room for over a year. He was trying to free himself from her arms but she held him securely. The elevator stopped and she let him go.

After holding him, she realized his body was incredibly hot. He had a very high fever.

"It's okay," she said. "See...we're safe."

He backed into the corner and looked at her as if she had betrayed him. He felt like the walls were closing in on him.

"We can go outside now," she said before opening the door. "I'm going to open the door, okay?"

"Open it," he demanded. "Let me out."

"Alright," she said and opened the door slowly.

Lucius was leaning against his car when she opened the door but stood upright immediately when he saw the door open. He walked over and saw her standing in the doorway. They made eye contact before he walked closer and saw the man standing inside. He found it difficult to believe that the person in front of him was the Joker. He looked like a very underweight and frail man with eyes darting around like a frightened prey animal.

The Joker looked at him and began to back away into the corner even further.

"It's okay, he's a friend," Adriana said, trying to get him to come out. "It's okay..take my hand."

He looked down at her hand and after a few moments he reached for it. At the same moment a helicopter with bight lights flew overhead. It startled him so much that lept back into the elevator.

"This.." Lucius said quietly to Adriana. "This isn't going to work."

"What do you mean?"

"Take him back down," Lucius said. "He is terrified. It's too much at once."

"No! Leave him here?" she asked, her slightly raised voice making the Joker leap again.

"No," Lucius said. "We will have to do this gradually."

"We can't! Look at him, he's sick and he has an infection and a fever and-"

"This won't work if we force him," Lucius said and looked back into the dark elevator shaft.

Adriana felt like she would cry again. She looked in the same direction that Lucius was and realized that he was right.

"He's sick," she repeated.

"I know," Lucius said, his voice telling her that he was trying to think. "We'll bring antibiotics. Tomorrow."

"Okay...okay..." she said, trying to remain calm. "I'll take him back."

"I'll wait," Lucius said.

Adriana and the Joker went back down in the elevator and he again dropped to his hands and knees as it moved. He crawled off and stood with great difficulty.

"I'm so sorry," she said, fighting tears. "I'm so sorry this happened-"

She stopped talking as he grabbed her face, pinching her above the eyebrows and cheekbones.

"You," he said as if suddenly realizing that she was real.

"Yes," she said. "I'm really here..."

"I..." he said and looked up into the elevator shaft. "Out there.."

"I know," she said. "It's okay. We'll try again-"

"No, no, no!" he said and backed away.

"Not now...later, when you're braver," she said.

He backed away even further and began to walk back to the sink. She followed him until he sat on the floor again.

"I'll come back tomorrow," she said. "First thing in the morning and I will have some medicine for your tooth. I promise."

He sat quietly, looking straight ahead.

"I promise," she repeated before leaving.