Chapter 1.
Comfortable Accomendations.
"Please don't let me fall asleep
'Cause the Boogie Man will creep
Through my window in my room
Stab me with a broken broom
Please don't let me fall asleep
'Cause the Boogie Man will creep
Through my window, in my room
Sta-" BOOGIE WOOGIE WOOGIE!
- Boogie Woogie Wu / Insane Clown Posse
The Joker was eager for his vacation. Months, years, of planning for tonight. Didn't go exactly as planned of course, but J was sure that the ace he had been nurturing from up his sleeve would turn things around.
He wondered how Gotham would take it—the insanity of their One White Knight. He wondered what the infant monster was doing right now, like a proud mentor. His curiosity was eating him alive, But then, he couldn't exactly ask the officers in the armored vehicle currently making its way to Arkham Asylum, it didn't seem polite. Especially considering the glare from one of the three Blackgate Guards in the back of the vehicle with him, he held back a sigh at the pathetic attempt at intimidation, no need to piss them off yet, better to grey rock for now.
He kept his hands in his lap, eyes forward on the road ahead, until they arrived at Arkham Asylum. When the vehicle pulled over, and the door swung open, he looked out the back to survey the dilapidated, Fiendish-looking building.
It almost reminded him of a rabid dog's mouth, open wide, teeth sharp and ready to infect any injury they touch. Piss yellow light leaked out of barred windows, and molded stone made up the outside of the carnivorous-looking building, where the Scarecrow once did his work.
The place looked like someone's idea of hell, not his, really, but he supposed with all the death and suffering being inflicted upon people, that was what people expected in an afterlife of torment. He felt a small sense of relief when one of the guards grabbed him roughly, pushing him out the back, nearly face-first into the mud. He had always hated riding in the backseat, it made him nauseous.
He allowed himself to be pushed and prodded as the guards led him through the gates toward Arkham Asylum's main entrance.
He was walked to a relatively private room, given what he has expected, and he was ordered to strip down By one of the two empty-looking Orderlies at the desk. Part of him wanted to make a joke of the whole thing, laugh and tease, and maim, but instead, he stayed silent, eyes lowered while he peeled off the clothes that had begun sticking to his skin from the mix of dirt, sweat, blood, and the rain.
He had forgotten, though he doubted anyone else would ever forget, that his body more resembled a Ghoul than a man, a mass of bones covered by dirty, ragged hair, and scars that made his twisting muscle beneath look ghastly, alien in its newness. He was a monster masquerading as a Human being, and when he was nude there was no denying it. it was as if something dark and old and powerful had tried to make a man, a new Adam, but left the soul out, left the heart out. Left Him out to bleed his mud onto everyone who got too close.
He knew it didn't matter because he wasn't human, he never would be again. He couldn't feel shame or embarrassment, only rage. It came in waves, and at the moment it was a low tide where J merely felt like a snarky commentator simply watching through the eyes of the body he inhabited.
He shook his head, trying to keep the thoughts away as he performed the tasks required of him to ensure he didn't have any contraband. The previously rage-filled guard looked shaken in his presence now, walking him to the next room, with another, dead-eyed orderly by his side, still nude, to a wall of showers, soap in dispensers chest height at every Faucet.
"Dr. Arkham says he wants all that shit off your face Clown." The angry guard said with a voice that only barely revealed how terrified he was to be near the killer.
Joker was glad that all too soon the Blackgate Guards would be leaving, and he would not have to deal with such emotional people on the day-to-day.
J nearly groaned as the hot water hit him, the way it soothed the aches and pains in his chest and limbs was amazing. Hot water was a luxury He had not been afforded for many many moons. He worked the acrid-smelling soap into his skin, his hair, leaving it feeling stripped, and looking nearly blonde, with only a tinge of green. he worked the soap into his face, removing the grease paint and its comforting smell from him. Leaving only mild stains around his eyes from the black. As a final move before leaving the shower, he turned his open mouth up to the faucet, drinking a substantial amount and swishing the rest around in his mouth, ignoring the screaming pain from his split gums, broken teeth, and Cavities. When he spit, the water had turned a murky red-brown from the blood and tooth decay. A thought occurred to him, and he voiced it before he could prevent himself.
"Hey! Do patients get dental?"
The orderly immediately silenced him, with a loud, but emotionless, almost practiced in its neutrality, "QUI-ET" before handing him a towel, along with a plain powder blue T-shirt that felt like it was made of paper, and a matching pair of pants. He stared down at himself. They looked like… pajamas? He knew the outfits would be bad but they wanted him walking around in a pair of cheap pajamas. This is going to be embarrassing. He thought While slipping the flimsy garments on. Comfortable at least.
Once he finally made it to his Home Sweet Home (for the time being), he was once again, Pleasantly surprised. Much bigger than he had assumed. His own toilet, His own sink with a cup that looked and felt like it was made of silicone, a tiny tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush with a handle just big enough for a thumbprint, a cot with a pillow with no case, and a thick pad of fabric, sewn in such a way Joker imagined it would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to tie a noose with.
J was just happy to see he had a blanket at all and to see that he would have room to pace in front of his bed. the Lack of natural light was expected, as was the entire lack of privacy, one of the four walls of his new bedroom was made of what looked like glass, but if he had to guess would be something like Polycarbonate or some other bulletproof alternative. as he saw the small vents littered throughout the room he wondered if they would be used to release an Incapacitating agent- which would make more sense with the glass wall, but he wasn't entirely sure that was legal, or if the Arkham officials particularly cared about legality, despite what they may say about Crane now, he did go 'undetected' for an incredibly long amount of time.
Though he had plenty of time to think about that, for now, Joker Laid down on the cot, finding it far more comfortable than anyone with reasonable standards would, and began to breathe deeply, hoping to fall asleep despite the yellow-green flickering light, that he was beginning to get the feeling would be a pervasive annoyance for every moment of his long-awaited sabbatical.
He hoped without hope that sleep would be quieter than the buzzing from the fluorescents that were nearly vibrating his teeth in his gums.