"Adriana, you're early," Dr. Kapoor said.
The degree of stress Adriana was feeling made her clueless about what he was even talking about, but then she remembered she was supposed to have an appointment with him that afternoon about her night fevers and sweats.
"I need your help, Dr. Kapoor. Not for me , but for a...a friend. He's in really bad shape and he needs a doctor immediately. You're the only one I can trust," she told him. "It's really urgent. He doesn't have much time."
"Adriana," Dr. Kapoor said, seriously. "It sounds like your friend needs to go the hospital-"
"He cant," Adriana said, her voice raised but then she calmed it. "He really can't go to a hospital. It's not an option. Please..I'm begging you."
"Tell me what is problem is," Dr. Kapoor said.
"He has a very severe oral infection. It's really bad, he's unconscious. We gave him some antibiotics," Adriana explained as quickly as she could. "He has a high fever. It seems to be sepsis...Please, Dr. Kapoor."
The doctor stood quickly.
"I can try to help, but he really needs emergency care," Dr. Kapoor said. "Where is he?"
"He's.." Adriana said. "Underground. At the shipping yard. Where..the former Batcave was. I know it's never been said out loud.. explicitly to you, but I know that you know that Bruce is the Batman. He took one of his enemies prisoner and put him there, alone. He's been there over a year. You..you can't tell Bruce about this."
"He will need IV antibiotics," Dr. Kapoor said, surprisingly quickly. "And IV fluids. I will get them."
"Okay," Adriana said and followed him over to a storage cart. He handed her a few bags and walked to another.
"Does he have swelling," the doctor asked.
"He as a huge abscess," she told him.
The doctor nodded. She could see his thoughts. It sounded like he would need emergency surgery.
"He requires surgery," he said finally. "If the abscess is as bad as you say, it will need to be drained and the tooth removed most likely-"
"You do dental work," Adriana said. "You can help him right?"
"Well...here perhaps. I have surgical equipment," he said.
" Here..." Adriana thought aloud. There was no way to bring all the surgical equipment needed to the yard and underground in enough time and discreetly enough to perform the necessary procedures.
Adriana began to feel hopeless again but it did not last for long.
"Do you have a wheelchair?" she asked.
"Yes."
.
.
.
"This..." Dr. Kapoor said as he attached the IV to the Joker's arm. "Is far worse than I could have imagined."
He recognized the man he was responsible for treating as the Joker. The decay and infection was more extensive than what he thought it would be. He was surprised the man still had a pulse. He looked malnourished and thin. Perhaps his condition and the fact that he was still alive would be less surprising if he was more sturdy looking, but he had no fat or muscle on his body. Adriana stood beside him, holding the IV bag. The hospital wasn't an option.
"What do we do?" she asked.
"I will have to run several tests. We will have to take him back to the medical facility. Hopefully this hydration and antibiotic IV will give us a bit more time. I will do my best..but..."
"But what?" Adriana asked and both she and Lucius looked at the doctor.
"I don't think he is likely to survive the day," the doctor said.
Adriana's arm shook a bit as she held onto the bag. She looked down at the Joker. At this point, all that she could do was do her best and try to work through this.
"I can help you," Adriana said, willing to do whatever it took. "With the surgery..with whatever you have to do."
"Adriana, you aren't a medical professional," Lucius said.
"I know," she said. "But I can do it. I can do...many things. I have knowledge of almost all medical areas. Please, let me help."
"Okay," the doctor said, not questioning her. "But, taking him back to the hotel and up to the medical facility is very risky.. if he's recognized."
"It's okay...I have a plan," she said.
.
.
.
"What exactly are you planning to do?" Lucius asked Adriana as he parked in front of the hotel.
Both she and the doctor were in the back seat with the Joker, while Lucius drove. He was still unconscious and his head was resting on the back of the seat.
"Pull into the parking garage, Lucius," she said. " I have an idea."
Lucius obeyed and entered the hotel parking garage. Once they were inside and parked, Adriana took off her seatbelt and leaned forward to speak to Lucius.
"I'll be right back," she said. "Just wait here."
Before he could reply she slipped out of the car and I walked over to the entryway. She flung open the enormous steel door and walked into the hotel. After walking for a while she crossed the carpeted lobby and turned down a series of halls. Finally she reached the surveillance room. She opened the door and saw the two security guards watching the wall of screens which showed current surveillance footage from various areas in the hotel.
"Mrs. Wayne," one of the guards said with great surprise as soon as he saw her.
She look at them both for a moment. "Would you mind leaving the room for a moment please?"
"Well.. We are on duty," he said.
"Yes, and you work for me. And I am giving you a break. Go outside and have a cigarette." She knew they both were smokers.
"Oh..okay," the other guard said.
Once they were gone Adriana hacked into the computer system. She found the cameras that she needed to focus on. Easily, she set the footage to loop after adjusting it. It would be on a loop for the next 15 minutes. Once she was done she made her way back to the parking garage as quickly as possible.
She opened up trunk of Lucius his car and pulled out the folded wheelchair that doctor Kapoor brought along. She unfolded it and rolled it over to the driver's side of the car and opened the back door. She froze as another car passed by them in the parking garage on it's way out. Once it was gone she ducked her head into the car.
"Lucius, do you have any sunglasses?" she asked.
He pulled out a pair and turned back from the front seat and handed them to her. She took them and placed them on the Joker's face. Doctor Kapoor and Lucius realized what she was doing. They helped her move him into the wheelchair. She grabbed the two blankets in the backseat and use them to cover his chest and lower face.
"We have to be quick," she said.
It was surprisingly easy and quick to get him onto the elevator and up to the restricted floor where the medical facility was. Once they were there Adriana felt like she could finally breathe. The doctor checked the Joker's blood pressure again and took some of his blood, left the room and returned. When he was done he took his temperature again and checked his pulse.
"Is there anything I can do?" Adriana asked him.
" I will have to do an x-ray immediately," he told her.
" I will get the cover," she said and saw the doctor's thoughts. He was wondering how she knew where the cover was.
Again they moved him over to an x-ray table where he could lay flat on his back. The X-ray scanned and his head and they waited for the results. Adriana looked around at all the of medical equipment around them. Bruce had given the doctor a limitless budget. All of the medical equipment that anyone could ever need was on this floor. There were even revolutionary and state-of-the-art new technology machinery the doctor was encouraged to buy.
The doctor the screen once the scan was complete. Lucius walked over behind him and Adriana followed.
"There is a lot that needs to be done here," the doctor said.
"Okay," Adriana said and looked at Lucius. " I know you have to go to work soon."
"Yes," he said. "I do."
"We'll be okay," she said. "Thank you so much for..helping with all this-"
"You have a lot of work ahead of you," Lucius said.
" I know. We can do it."
"Okay," Lucius said. "Well I will be off now. Keep me posted."
"I will," she said.
Lucia said goodbye to them both and left. Adriana saw the doctor taking the X-ray cover off the Joker's chest. He checked his pulse again and looked at Adriana.
" I do not want to scare you Adriana," the doctor carefully said to her. "But I believe it is very likely that he will crash at some point soon. The defibrillator is behind you. We will do everything that we can to save him."
Adriana gave him a shaky nod.
"We will need to sterilize ourselves before we begin," the doctor then explained as he looked into the Joker's mouth. "And then I will need to sedate him. This may be easier if we cut and remove some of the facial hair. Unfortunately, there is infection everywhere. We will have to extract all of his teeth and drain the abscess. Also it looks like we will have to remove some necrotic bone. If we are successful if will prevent the infection from spreading further. We will treat the entire area with Ozone gas to disinfect."
Adriana nodded nervously.
"He is septic and has some signs of kidney failure. The swelling in his feet..He will likely need dialysis. I'm sure his blood work will reflect this when it is complete. But first things first. We have the most up-to-date both lasers and Ozone gas to combat the infection immediately. Fortunately he does not seem to have endocarditis from what I can hear and see, so we will not have to perform a heart surgery. But I do believe his kidneys have been compromised."
"I understand," she said. "Do you really think we will need a defibrillator?"
"I hope not but if I am being honest with you it is very likely. The fact that he has survived this long means that he is strong. His temperature had already dropped a bit. I believe he is strong enough for surgery, and I believe we should sedate him now before he regains consciousness which will likely happen soon. I feel confident we can perform the extractions and the antibiotics we have administered are the strongest available. However these things can be unpredictable."
"Okay, she said. Let's do this."