Batman Fic: Walk-in

[xt1me]

So I'm on a Red Hood kick these days so I might as well write about him killing the Joker.

 

It might surprise some people but they do get walk-ins in Arkham Asylum.

Sure a lot of the inmates come by the way of prison transfers. Or delivered by the police or their lawyers. And you get others coming in with family, supportive or otherwise, to try and get them the help they need. As the only asylum available for the city, those that can't afford to leave Gotham or go to any fancy rehabs had nowhere else.

People coming in on their own, though not quite as common, happened frequently enough. You get the odd Rogue sometimes, checking back in or coming for a visit or a vacation or for whatever bizarre reason that made sense in their heads at the time. But you get others too, ones that know it's this or a bullet to the head. Ones with nowhere else to go. Ones that are desperate. People checking themselves in to Arkham Asylum aren't usually the ones that looked scared. They're usually the ones that have given up. No one picked Arkham as a first choice after all. It wasn’t unusual to see faces that looked dead in every way except that they were still breathing.

It's not even all that usual for them to come in covered in blood.
There was one woman that came in from a being caught in a gang shootout. She had gotten a cab straight from the hospital, still clutching the blanket her baby was wrapped in, dripping red from the remains of the damage the bullet had done as it had gone through the infant’s head.

 

Today's walk in was a tall man, young looking, possibly not even old enough to drink. Dark hair and light eyes. Muscled and healthy if not for the thousand-yard stare. He calmly walked up to the reception carrying a duffel bag.
For these kinds of people there's no words you can give them to help, so the receptionist knew just to fall back on vague professional pleasantries.

“Welcome to Arkham Asylum how can I help you today.”

“I'd like to check in.”

The young man opened the duffel bag, reaching inside he pulled out it’s contents and plunked it on the counter. It was so unexpected it took the receptionist moment to realize what she was looking at. She backed away rapidly, biting off a scream.

There on the desk was the severed head of the Joker. A bullet hole right between the eyes. Clutching desperately to her professionalism she trembled but managed to say, “P-please take a seat and we'll get you the intake forms.”
The man said nothing. He just walked over to the waiting area simply sat down. He stared at the wall opposite, not moving.

 

Avoiding the bloody mess, the receptionist hurriedly pressed the button for an orderly. One arrived quickly. It doesn't do to delay intakes for the asylum. The orderly that arrived was a no-nonsense older woman. She’d survived many years in Arkham by talking softly and taking no shit. She'd lived in Gotham all her life and knew how to keep moving no matter what the shock.
She only let herself give the smallest gasp at what she saw before a hurried whispered conversation with the receptionist.

“Contact Gotham PD for the head and give me the intake forms. I'll take care of this.”

Walking over to the young man she stopped a short distance away from him. He hadn't moved since he sat down. No fool she kept herself an arm’s length away from him and just called out.

“Sir?” There was no reply. “Sir, can you tell me your name?”

“Ja-“

The young man blinked, “You can - you can just call me Jay,” he said.

“OK Mr. Jay-” That got a reaction out of the young man, if only a small one.

“No. Uuh not that.” He glanced at the head on the desk, “uh no just, just call me Red. I never got to use that name anyway. I might as well use it now.”

The orderly didn't sigh with relief out loud but was thankful that the man was becoming more responsive.

“Redd then. Mr. Redd, do you have any ID?”

“Not any real ones,” he said taking out his wallet and looking through it. After a moment he handed over an ID. It said Harold Redding. The orderly wished this was an unusual occurrence but at least this one admitted it was a fake ID. It was good enough for the paperwork at least. She filled in the name as Jay Redd. Without even asking she ticked off the Joker trauma box. thinking a moment, she circled the option as well.

“Have you any allergies?” she continued.

“No, not that I’m aware of.” He replied. “Medication might not- I mean, can you not medicate me?”

“Medication is something you can talk to your doctor. As a volunteer patient you have the right of refusal to anything offer here.”

“Ok.”
“Anything we should be aware of? Triggers we can avoid?”

“I’m not good with needles,” he muttered, “and anyone come at me swinging I’ll fight back. Drugging me won’t help. I won’t start nothing, but I’ll stop things hard.”

The more the man talked the more a downtown Gotham accent crept in. It was much better than the flat way he was talking before.

“I don’t think I yell in my sleep no more, but I get nightmares a lot. I don’t know if that’s what you’re looking for.”

The orderly filled in notes in the paperwork.
“Could you tell me the events that led you into to coming here today? she asked gently.

 

“I just got back into Gotham.” He started “I had plans ya know I was gonna to go the whole super villain route. I mean if you can't beat ‘em join ‘em right? You can't stop crime but maybe you can control it. I had all these plans.” Jay stared off into space again.
“I was down at the docks. It's the middle of the day, I wasn't even in costume. It wasn't even reconnaissance, I was just getting the lay of the land. And he was there, just out in the open. Laughing. Always fucking laughing. I didn't even think. I just I shot him. I had all these plans, but he was right there.
He just dropped.
I think his goons were just as shocked as I was. Some of them ran. I took down the others. I'm pretty sure I didn't kill any of them. I don't know. Maybe they're still there.
But he was right there and then he was dead. I mean the plan was always for him to be dead just not like that.
And Batman wasn't even there.
Of course he wasn't, it was the middle of the day.
I just, I didn’t know what to do.”

He trailed off, “I don’t know what to do.”

“You cut off his head and came here.” The orderly prompted.

“I mean yeah, it's easier than lugging a body around. And the Joker always ends up back in Arkham right. Besides that's where murderers go in Gotham isn't it? Might as well be here. I got nothing else. So much for planning, right? I just – " his breathing started to pick up, "I just don't know what to do. What - what am I gonna do?”

“Breath with me it’s all right,” the orderly said gently. “You don’t need to know right now.”

Jay looked on the edge of a panic attack, so she made an executive decision.

“Let’s get you checked into a bed. We’ll we can finish the paperwork tomorrow.”

She gave a silent look at the receptionist. The woman nodded down at the patient uniform she had pulled out.
Turning back to the young man she stepped back and said gently, “Come with me OK.”

 

Jay followed her into the asylum stopping when he passed security gates and the alarm went off.

“Oh right,” he said, distracted.
He started taking things out of his pockets and placing them in the tray before the security gate. Some coins, his belt, a couple of guns, a lot of knives and some metal bits and pieces that the orderly didn’t know were. She did breathe a quiet sigh of relief that's man was voluntarily disarming himself though it might not be good for his mental health. He might still be in shock, but it was safer for the rest of them. She caught the eye of the two male orderlies at the end of the hall and nodded to them. Everything was OK for now. She led him into a room, handing him the hospital uniform. She stepped outside to let him get changed and quietly spoke with the other orderlies.

“Get him into a room on his own for now, I think this guy is one hair's breath away from going catatonic. It would be best for him to get a good night's sleep before we can figure out what kind of patient he is in the morning. I don't foresee any trouble tonight as long as no one disturbs him.”

She didn’t tell them why he came in. Rumors would probably fly soon enough.

She glanced into the room to see that Jay was just standing there after he had changed, not moving. She winced as she realized the man had checked back out. Opening the door, she called out, “Jay we're ready for you.”

There was no response from the man, but he did walk out of the room. She nodded to the other orderlies, “These men will bring you to were you'll sleep tonight, OK?”
Still no response but the man followed the orderlies readily enough. She was right, the guy had completely checked out. Whether it was shock or something worse was going to be for the doctors to decide.

She walked back to the reception to file the paperwork she had. The receptionist was on the phone. She looked up. “The cops are on their way. They're going to want to talk to the guy.”

The orderly shook her head, “That's not happening tonight. Tell them to try again tomorrow. We can give what we have but the guy’s locked down. We’re going to have to wait for a doctor.”

“And if Batman shows up?”

“Oh God no. If there’s one thing that's going to send this guy straight into catatonia it's a looming figure in the darkness. He’s not going to get any answers either. I'm serious, they can wait.”

“What are we going to do about this?” The receptionist gestured vaguely at the end of the desk trying not to look, “I mean it's evidence or something right?”

The orderly shuddered, “Just put a towel over it or something for now.” She laughed a little desperately “The Joker’s not our problem anymore.”

 

Wrote this in the slow times in work. don't tell anyone.