"Are you watching this?" Bruce asked Lucius as soon as he answered is cell phone.
"The whole city is watching," Lucius told Bruce.
It was the middle of the night but the news coverage on every channel was focused on the brawl ensuing at Gotham Stadium. Helicopter cameras showed the stadium which was empty apart from a few figures that could be seen.
"I counted 8," Bruce said to Lucius.
"So did I," Lucius replied.
Eight drugged people, fighting and attacking each other. Fighting and attacking Shade.
"I can't stand here and do nothing," Bruce said.
"She's doing well," Lucius said. "Look...she's taken one down-"
"There are too many," Bruce said and watched as she flipped a second man over a balcony. The fall was high, and he would have broken bones, but it was clear that he was still alive and trying without much success to get up after the fall.
"She can do this," Lucius assured Bruce.
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Bruce held Adriana as she cried. She returned home and had collapsed in to his arms. He could feel her exhaustion. He knew it well. He had felt this way countless times before. Vigilantism was not for the faint of heart. He remembered fighting with all of his soul, giving all of the energy and will in his body..willing it not to break him.
"Adriana," Bruce said as her cries quieted. "Are you hurt?"
She lifted her head from his lap as they sat on the couch. Bruce could see that she had not even considered that she might be hurt. Adrenaline made him forget to check on himself countless times.
"No..." she said. "No I don't think so...I'm sore but I don't think I have injuries."
She closed her eyes, trying to pay attention to how her body felt.
"Yeah...yeah I'm okay," she told Bruce.
"Okay," Bruce said.
He watched her sit with her eyes closed. She was remembering everything that had happened.
"You did amazing," Bruce assured her.
She nodded, eyes still closed. But then she began to shake her head.
"Maybe you were right.." she said. "You and Jack. Someone is doing this.."
"I agree," Bruce told her.
"Why were there so many of them? All at once? In one place?" Adriana asked.
"I do not know, but this is best left to the police," Bruce told her. "Our efforts are best used to trying to locate the source of this drug."
"But you have people working on that around the clock and we are no closer to finding out anything," she said.
She was right, and Bruce had no argument against what she said. All that he knew was that he wanted to to stop fighting this losing battle. All the lives she saved would eventually be lost because it seemed the drug and its effects could not be cleared by the body.
"You think what I'm doing is pointless," Adriana said.
"I never said that," he said.
"I can't hear your thoughts but I know that's what you are thinking."
Bruce looked away. "I can't entirely disagree, although I would never say it like that," Bruce said.
"Not to my face anyway," Adriana sighed.
"I love you," Bruce said to her and touched the dark wig she was wearing.
She pulled it off, not caring about the glue around the hairline tearing at her skin, and tossed it at the coffee table.
"I love you too," she said and then looked at him in the eye. "Which is why...I was hoping we could continue our discussion we were having before I left."
"Adriana," Bruce said. "You must be exhausted."
"I'm never too exhausted to care about you," she said. "You're still taking Vicodin and I'm worried you could develop a dependence-"
"It was just a twinge, Adriana," Bruce told her. "A slight twinge in my knee and I had one pill left."
He was lying again. It was so strange. Adriana was not used to him lying to her.
"I thought I heard more pills in that bottle when you put it down," Adriana said.
"You didn't," Bruce told her firmly. "The pain is going away and I won't require any more opiates. I appreciate your attentiveness and love, my dear, but this isn't a dependence. Nor would it ever become one. Do you honestly believe I would allow something like that to happen?"
Adriana suddenly felt guilty. But she knew what she heard. There were more pills in the bottle.
"No.." she said. "No..I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Bruce said and kissed her.
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The next morning before Bruce woke up Adriana went to check the bottle in his desk. It was gone.
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"May I ask what you are doing?" Dr. Kapoor started Adriana by asking.
"Oh," Adriana said. "I didn't know you'd be here today."
They were in the pharmacy of the private medical facility, still maintained below the penthouse apartment downtown where Adriana and Bruce used to live.
"I was just...counting some pills...doing inventory," she said.
"May I ask why?" the doctor asked her.
Adriana sat down the tray she was holding and turned to the doctor.
"Did you refill Bruce's prescription of Vicodin?" she asked.
"I can see you've looked through the records on the computer here," the doctor said, noticing what was on the screen. "There were no refills. Nor would there be."
Adriana sighed.
"Well...all the pills are here..all accounted for," Adriana said. "None are missing. I'm sorry..I guess I've just been a little paranoid. Ugh...Me siento tan estúpida.."
"Pardon?" the doctor asked.
"I was just saying..I feel very stupid," Adriana laughed and started to pills away.
"Adriana," the doctor said, watching. "Forgive me, but I still do not understand why you are here."
"Last night I saw Bruce take one of these," Adriana said. "I guess he still had some left over from when you prescribed them...and he said it was his last pill but I thought there were more in the bottle...I thought I heard more pills. I'm just silly and..I'm sorry for all this mess here. I'll put everything back I promise."
"Were there more pills?" the doctor asked and adjusted his glasses.
"I don't know," Adriana said. "The bottle was gone when I tried to check. He must have tossed it since it was empty."
"It's been a couple of weeks," the doctor said. "Even if it was his last pill and he's been spacing them for some reason, I would not advise taking the pills I prescribed him for this long."
"I...I don't want to make something out of nothing," Adriana said. "If it was his last one..it should be okay-"
"He is still in pain if he was willing to take such a strong medication," the doctor said. "I will need to see him either way."
Adriana sighed.
"So...he's going to know that I was here checking on the pills," Adriana said. "And that I told you about the dose he took last night."
"Adriana," the doctor said and placed an arm on her shoulder.
"Yes?" she asked.
"This pharmacy isn't the only place where Bruce could have acquired Vicodin," the doctor said. "You were right to come here and check and to bring this to my attention."
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"How was work?" Adriana asked as she trimmed Arsenio's nails.
"It went fine," Bruce said and kissed both Adriana and Arsenio. "And how was your day?"
"See Dak!" Arsenio answered. "Aya too!"
"Ah, you spent some time with your friend, Jack," Bruce said. "Saw Aymara. Have fun?"
Arsenio nodded and looked as Adriana clipped the nail on his thumb.
"And you, my love?" Bruce asked Adriana.
Truthfully, she was nervous. The entire day she had been worrying about Dr. Kapoor contacting Bruce.
"It was fine," she said.
"Good," Bruce said and kissed her again. "Did Dr. Kapoor call you?"
"No..." Adriana said. "Why would he call me?"
"He left me a message, he wants to see me first thing tomorrow but didn't say why," Bruce said. "I thought he may have told you. I called him on my way here and he didn't say much."
"Nope..he didn't tell me anything," Adriana said, pretending to be very distracted with the task of clipping Arsenio's tiny nails.
Bruce let out a long sigh.
"Well, we'll see tomorrow," Bruce said.
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"Those are pretty," Harri said to Adriana as the talked on a video call.
"Oh.." Adriana turned and saw Harri was looking at the vase full of red roses. "Bruce had them delivered earlier."
"So sweet," Harri said.
"Yes," Adriana said. "Thanks...hey I have to go run an errand."
"Errand? At this hour?" Harri laughed. "Well goodnight."
"Goodnight sis," Adriana said and hung up.
Bruce was at a business dinner and Adriana had no idea how long it would go but she kept thinking about the missing bottle of pills from Bruce's desk. The fact that the doctor would tell him their concerns about his usage of Vicodin in the morning made her incredibly anxious.
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"Sorry...for coming by unannounced like this," Adriana said to the Joker.
She had not even called before going to his apartment. She began to speak as soon as he opened the door. As he stood there waiting for an explanation, she wanted to turn around. Not because she was embarrassed or feeling like she was inconveniencing him. But because he was gorgeous. And it was not just physical beauty, there was a definite and undeniable chemistry. It was immediate.
Her thoughts became almost primal when she was around him. He was man, and she was woman. It was that simple, and it was balanced. A perfectly complete and divine union. No one else had ever made her feel that way. She hated the feeling. She was married and in love with Bruce.
The Joker stepped aside so that she could come in. She walked in quickly.
"Yes?" he said once the door was shut.
She felt like his eyes were piercing her, seeing straight through to her heart. Her hand flew up to cover it. A hand over her heart to sooth herself from his striking gaze. She thought things were getting better and that her desires for him were diminishing, but they just kept getting worse. Growing. Her hand was trembling.
"Adriana what is wrong?" he asked and took a step towards her, and she took a step back.
She couldn't answer. Her mind was racing. She was asking herself how to make it stop. How to ease the magnetism. Her stomach burned waves of fire through her abdomen.
"I..." Adriana said, needing a break. "Could I have some water?"
The Joker looked at her strangely for a millisecond before going to get her a drink. Once he was gone she felt her body relax and she nearly collapsed onto the couch. She sat slowly, mentally stabilizing herself and trying to regain control.
The Joker came back and handed her a tall glass of water with ice.
"Thanks," she said and began to drink.
The cold water seemed to assuage some of the fire within her.
The Joker looked at her curiously. It seemed that she had come with something to say but he didn't know what it was.
"Impressive work last night," he said, regarding her fight against eight drugged people at the stadium.
"Thanks," she said again, her voice meek. "It wasn't easy."
"Yeah..I figured," he said. and looked her hand as it trembled slightly as she sat down the glass on a small table beside her.
"I came here to ask you a favor," she said and looked up at him.
"Mmm," the Joker said, interested. "What do you need?"
"I know you and Bruce are supposed to go into police storage for the rest of the physical evidence next week," Adriana said. "But I think you and I should do it on our own. Tonight."
He frowned. "Why?"
"Bruce...needs surgery on his knee," Adriana said. "So..it's going to be us doing this."
"I spoke to Bruce earlier," the Joker said. "He didn't mention any of this change of plans."
"That's because..." Adriana said rubbing her forehead for a second. "He doesn't know about it."
"Ahh," the Joker said. "So this is where the favor comes in. You want me to do this behind his back."
"Yes," she answered.
"If he knows he needs surgery and won't be able to participate then why do we need to sneak around and do this?" the Joker asked. "Hm? Why not just tell him?"
"I..." Adriana said. "I can't tell you."
She wanted the distraction. She wanted to get this out of the way. She wanted to eliminate the risk of Bruce injuring himself any more. She needed to focus on something other than the doctor telling him that she had been counting pills worrying about him.
"The Batman and I are finally on good terms," the Joker said. "Arsenio is here almost every day. I get to see him almost daily now, Adriana. Bruce Wayne trusts me. We are friends. And you would like me to jeopardize all of that without a reason."
Adriana looked into his eyes, and he then was the one to feel pierced. Her eyes like a bow shot from an arrow. She was a loving woman, a good person, one he knew he could trust. Her beauty was astounding. Not only was she beautiful in his eyes, but she was precious, adorable. It was incredible how someone this sweet and enchanting was the same woman who fought like a gladiator on television less than 24 hours ago.
"Jack...please?" she asked him.
She was too captivating and lovable for the Joker to allow her to beg him for anything.
"Tonight?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied.
He gave her a single nod. They would do it.