Tainted Minds
Chapter Four
As promised, Batman came back three hours later with the right equipment to give the Joker the medicine he needed. The bat wasn't very pleased to see he had hardly eaten half of the food he brought but left that worry aside while placing a metallic support to hang the medicine close to the bed. After arranging everything he gave the Joker a meaningful look, waiting for him to get closer and lie down on the bed.
"Can you inject this on yourself?" Batman asked
"No" he said in a defeated tone
"Lie down, it will take about one hour"
He did as requested, observing Batman remove his gloves in the process. It was a weird feeling to see his hands without gloves, it reminded him that under that black armor, there was a man. A man that harmed him too much recently, but nevertheless, a man. Batman noticed the Joker looking anxiously to the plastic bag hanging near his head.
"What is it?" Batman asked trying to hide his curiosity
"Oh… I'm just not a big fan of needles… and that's a hell lot of serum"
So Joker was afraid of needles, that was an interesting information.
"Unfortunately, there is no other way. But I think it will make you sleep in about 20 minutes"
Batman placed the needle properly and adjusted the right flow for the serum. It was awkward to have their skins touching, even if briefly, but he was glad the other man seemed to be more concerned with the needle than by their short contact.
"I'll wait until you sleep just to be sure the flow is ok"
The idea of falling asleep close to Batman was unsettling, he hated feeling vulnerable close to him. He was trying not to look at the needle in his arm but failed multiple times, he really wanted to get that thing off.
"Why do you hate it so much?" Batman finally asked after 10 minutes
"Let's just say people in Arkham don't trust me with pills. And they are not very gentle applying injections"
"Why don't they trust you?"
"I hid some sleep inducers I was supposed to take and later put them in the guard's coffee. That's how I got out the first time" he said amusing himself with the memory
Batman was trying to conceal a smile forming in the corner of his mouth. They really underestimated the Joker by not taking such small precautions. He always had a lot of work to capture him, he was ingenious and resourceful back then, nothing like the person he had been meeting in dark alleys recently.
"So they have been using injections with you ever since?" Batman asked
"No, it took them a while to learn. I continued to put pills in that guard's coffee… but just for fun, I found other ways to get out" he said in a mocking way, sounding a bit more like his old self.
"I can't believe they let the same guard take care of your cell after the first time" Batman said almost angry with people in Arkham for being so surprisingly stupid
"They didn't" he giggled a little "But I found out where he was reallocated to and kept sneaking things in his drinks"
Batman never had such a tough time keeping his poker face on. Normally, he would be pissed by how the Joker can be restless in his task of making everyone's life difficult, having the soul of a teenage punk to cause trouble combined with extreme sophistication to get away with it. But he really was the immovable object of Gotham's unstoppable force. Someone that couldn't be reasoned or negotiated with. Joker lived his life between the lines of extreme boredom and being overjoyed. Just like Batman himself by living the business lifestyle of Bruce Wayne during the day and the adrenaline of wearing his black armor at night.
Just as much as Joker, Batman wanted to wake up from this nightmare. He wanted to live in a world Rachel wasn't dead, a world he wasn't drowning in guilt for the horrible things he had done to another human being. He started all this because he wanted to protect the people of Gotham, but maybe Harvey was right, he lived long enough to see himself become a villain.
He looked at Joker, lying in bed with his eyes closed, wondering how hostile his mind could be to him to make him look so agitated in his sleep. But there was nothing he could do to fight the demons inside Joker's dreams. He came back an hour later, removed the needle from Joker's arm and wrote him another note for when he woke up. He had lived enough as Bruce Wayne for today, it was time to show Gotham his other face.
Author's note: Hello everyone! I tried to make this chapter a little "lighter".Thank you all for reading! Comments are always welcome. And if I don't update in the next days, Merry Christmas to you all!