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Laughter in the Dark	By : FlameWolf666 Category: DC Verse Movies > The Dark Knight Views: 9317 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Dark Knight or the Batman franchise. This story is just for fun and no profit will be made from it.

Chapter List
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- 5
Author’s Note: Yeah, today’s gonna be hard for our lovely Psychologist.

Chapter Four: The Morning After
    Pain was the first sensation of the day. Groaning as agony exploded in the left side of her face, Marie slowly sat up and gingerly poked the swelling she knew would be there. Sure enough, her left eye had swollen completely shut despite the cold cloth. The bastard must have hit her really hard and she sighed in frustration. She was almost afraid to see what the damage looked like but she had to get ready for work. Gathering what courage she had, the young woman go to her feet and shuffled to her bathroom. As soon as she saw her reflection in the mirror she winced.
    The left side of her face looked like she had gone a few rounds with a professional boxer and Roger had only hit her once. Her eye was a swollen, alarmingly purple ball of swollen flesh. Some blood had even dribbled from her overly stressed skin and had dried on her wound, meaning she would have the unpleasant task of cleaning it. Grimacing at the sight of herself, the blonde doused a washcloth in cold water before getting to work. As the rough material moved over the sensitive, purple-black skin, Marie let out small, pained whimpers.
    After tending to her face and taking a quick shower, the Psychologist blowdried her hair as she decided to forgo any make-up today. All the make-up would do was draw even more attention to the huge shiner and bruising that she couldn’t hide. Combing her dirty blonde locks into a ponytail, Marie stalked out into her room to pull out a dress suit for today. The first thing her hands landed on was a purple suit that came with a green undershirt, the sight of it nearly making her snort in laughter from the irony of it. Shoving the purple suit to the side, she tugged out a rather fashionable looking black one. ‘At least it’ll match the bruise on my eye,’ she thought to herself sardonically as she began to pull it on.
    The steel door slid open with a loud clunk, revealing her actual door had been destroyed along with most of her apartment. At some point in the night, Roger must have awoken and had one of his PTSD flashbacks coupled with his rage towards her daring to hide from him. Pillows were tossed all over, most of them seeming to be ripped open by a knife or his bare hands. All of her furniture had either been upended or completely destroyed. Her kitchen was also in shambles, food, plates and the cupboards themselves thrown all over. Sighing at the damage but not surprised by it, Marie simply scanned the trashed apartment for any signs that her boyfriend was still there.
    The only sign he had ever been there besides the devastation was a small note taped to her apartment door. Heading to the door, she pulled off the note to see it was one of his many meaningless apologies. Crumpling up the paper and simply throwing it on the floor, Marie grabbed her purse, her keys and left her apartment. By the time she got back Roger would have sent in one of his many ‘cleaning crews’ and her apartment would look like it had never been destroyed, one of the very few perks of dating someone connected to Gotham’s underground. Slipping on a pair of sunglasses to avoid questions as she made her way to the parking garage, the Psychologist did her best to steel herself for the Hellish day that lay ahead.
    As she walked up to the looming building of Arkham, Marie found herself walking slower and slower. If she was late for her daily appointment with Dr. Crane there would be even more Hell to pay, making her put a little more speed into her strides. Opening the door, she slipped off her shades and winced at the receptionist’s staring. “Should I have extra security brought to the doc?” asked the brunette, her hazel eyes sympathetic.
    “No, you know that’ll only make things that much worse,” Marie sighed, giving the younger woman a tired grin. Katrina was an intern, about eighteen years old and had chosen to make friends with the blonde Psychologist. A fact that Marie honestly didn’t mind in the least. The more normal people she made friends with, the better. The younger woman only sighed before giving a small nod.
    “They just finished with the morning hygiene for the Level 5 patients. All reports returned positive. Even Joker behaved himself for his shower and tooth cleaning,” Katrina replied, deciding to revert back to normal and give the morning report. Yet another reason Marie honestly liked the young receptionist. No matter what she looked like the next day, the teen never asked questions or pressed the issue.
    “Well at least there’s that,” the blonde sighed before heading further into the huge building and towards her office to check in. It was all she could do to ignore the winces and whispers from the other doctors but she managed to hold her head high as she entered her spacious office and shut the door.
    Time seemed to pass much too fast and all too soon she found herself heading to Dr. Crane’s cell. Her heart beat a wild tempo in her chest as she tried to steel herself for the doctor’s reaction to her wound. The last time Roger had injured her this badly, Jonathan hadn’t taken it all that well. He had begun raving and very nearly choked the life out of her when he suddenly transitioned to ‘Scarecrow’. It had taken two guards to pry him off her throat while ‘Ol Joe helped her escape. Taking a deep breath and shoving her fear to the far back of her mind, the Psychologist swung the heavy metal door open and entered the small room.
    The former criminal’s head shot up, his friendly smile fading as his eyes took in the state of the left side of her face. “Dr. Jovian... I thought I advised you to leave that... that...,” he whispered, his voice growing more gruff and throaty and he spoke. The blue in his eyes also started to darken as his hands began to twitch.
    “Calm yourself Dr. Crane. I have told you more than once my relationships are none of your concern,” she replied, her voice stern and icy as she glared up at him with more confidence than she felt.
    “It becomes my business when the slime injures you! How much more will it take for you to leave him?! Will it take him killing you?!” he hissed, his voice becoming a guttural snarl as he began to stalk towards her.
    “Jonathan please! I don’t want to end this visit with you in restraints. What happens in my personal life is really none of your concern and worrying yourself about me will only impede your treatment,” Marie tried to reason, not daring to move. Despite how cool and distant her voice sounded, her heart was dancing a flamenco in her chest; nearly making it impossible for her to breath. Thankfully what she said seemed to give him enough time to wrest a tiny bit of control from the dark entity that shared his body.
    “No, no. I do not wish to harm you,” he hissed, his voice riding a thin line between normal and a deep, raspy husk.
    “Dr. Crane, do you think you can calm yourself enough to continue our session?” the determined female asked, her voice not giving away the fact that she wanted to run out of there as fast as she could. The painfully thin male in front of her twisted in place, a dark cackle ripping from his chest as he began to run his hands down his face.
    “Dr. Crane? Keh heh heh, noooooo,” came a deep, rattling growl as the former doctor twitched and undulated in front of her. The way his long limbs moved was unnatural, giving the stunned woman a deeply sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Looking at the man in front of her felt... wrong somehow.
    “Scarecrow?” she whispered tentatively, doing her level best to keep her fear and discomfort out of her voice. This was the first time she had ever heard the secondary personality talk. Usually the more violent manifestation was more interested in wringing the life out of her.
    “Yesssssss. Gooood goodgoodgoodgood!,” he crowed, clapping his hands in an unsettling manner while releasing peals of laughter that sounded more like screams. A bit unsettled by his odd behavior, Dr. Jovian began to subtly move towards the door. She wanted to be as close to escape as possible in case events turned even more dangerous.
    “You’ve been a naughty girrrl,” he growled, shuddering slightly with silent laughter as his glittering, now black eyes locked with hers.
    “How have I been naughty?” Marie asked in as neutral of a tone as she could muster. By some wonder her voice didn’t shake and she was able to meet the pure insanity of his gaze steadily. If she broke contact, she had a feeling something horrible would happen.
    “Yoooou, you’ve made us scared,” he hissed, his voice a near demonic growl that made her skin crawl with fear. What she saw before her acted and sounded nothing like Jonathan! Could this thing before her really just be another part of his personality?
    “Supposed to be afraaaid, not usssss. Naughty, naughty thing, naughty little pet,” the thing that wore Jonathan’s skin snarled, its voice an inhuman husk as it continued to run its fingers down his face.
    “I apologize for scaring you. I did not mean to cause you more trauma. I can assure you that I have taken proper measures to ensure my safety,” the blonde tried to reassure, slowly going to her knees in an effort to try to appear less threatening. She held up her open, empty palms and kept her gray gaze fixed steadily on his ebony one. Usually he would have had her by her throat by now so whatever happened next, she considered what was happening to be significant progress.
    Her prostrating herself had an odd effect on the male and he jittered in place, his breathing stuttering as his gaze became unsure. “Not right! Notrightnotright!” he snarled, tearing at his hair lightly as he began to pace. Looking at him with barely hidden confusion, Marie tried to soothe him with shushing noises. Instead of calming, he charged her, his long, unusually cold hands clasping on her bare upper arms.   His touch made her skin crawl and it took all the willpower she had within her to not squirm in his grasp.
    “On your feet! UpUp!” he screamed yanking her to her feet forcibly, his dark gaze fixed on her. Then his nose was burrowed in her neck as he inhaled deeply, his hands twitching on her arms spastically.
    Doing her level best not to go stiff or allow herself to shake, the Psychologist stayed perfectly still while the murderer holding her arms continued to take in her scent. Low, throaty growls left the thin male as he stayed latched to one spot on her neck, right above her jugular. “Afraaaaaid of usssss,” the thing masquerading as Dr. Crane snarled in a half accusing tone just before it ran his tongue over her flesh.
    “Yet not,” Scarecrow continued, sounding awed as he pulled back to look her over. Then he was sniffing her all over, resembling a puppy so much that she had to fight the horrible urge to giggle.
    “You... you trust,” it rattled before releasing her and taking several steps back. It looked like this knowledge caused a fair amount of distress, the thin form of Dr. Crane going to his knees and holding his head as he began to rock back and forth. As she watched the disturbing display, Marie wondered if she should leave or if she should approach her distressed patient.
    “Out!” Scarecrow snarled, making up her mind for her. Not wasting time to question things, Marie simply opened the door and fled the cell.
    Once she was safe, the young woman let out a small sigh before she made her way back to the offices. She had a few more hours before her meeting with Joker, more than enough time to get herself together and gather what courage she had left. At least with Jonathan she had a working idea of what to expect. Would the mass murderer even care about how she looked when she showed up for their appointment? Would the sight of her injuries cause some unwanted memories to surface? Would he fly into a rage on her behalf in an attempt to lower her guard around him? Her mind swimming with possibilities, Marie took a deep breath before flinging herself into her chair.
    Time always loves to speed by when you are dreading something. All too soon it was time for her to head to her new patient’s cell. She had spent hours agonizing over whether or not she should hide her injury under make-up and in the end she decided not to. Joker was anything but stupid and unobservant. He would be able to tell right away she was attempting to hide her injuries and she highly doubted someone like him would be happy about her attempts at duplicity. Then again, the man simply could just not care in the first place. In all honesty, she had no idea how he would react and had wanted to be as cautious as possible. Taking a moment to gather her racing thoughts, Dr. Jovian straightened her shoulders and began to walk back to the Level 5 quarters.
    In what seemed like mere seconds, Marie found herself faced with the metal door that led to the infamous ‘Clown Prince of crime’s’ cell. Taking a deep breath to slow her racing heart, the young woman entered the cell with as much confidence as she could muster. Thankfully he was facing away from her, fiddling with something on the far wall of his cell. “Good afternoon Joker,” she called in a quiet but jovial voice, desperately hoping she didn’t startle him.
    “Hey Doc! Been wonderin’ when you would be coming to visit! Things get so boring ‘round here,” he sighed in playful complaint, waving a hand over his shoulder at her. Then he was turning to grin at her and it was all she could do not to tense as his smile faded while a deadly look came into his green eyes.
    “What happened?” came a hissed question as he slowly turned to face her. The lines of his body spoke of murderous rages as his gaze fixed on the left side of her face.
    “I’m not at liberty to discuss my personal life with patients,” she sighed, her voice coming out lightly irritated despite how scared she was. The black around his eyes only served to draw more attention to the sparkling orbs as he glowered at her through his green dyed hair.
    “Yet you ask us ‘patients’ all sorts of questions about our personal lives. I’m only going to ask you one more time Dr. Jovian, what happened,” he bit out, a deadly edge to his voice as his hands flexed by his sides.
    When she failed to answer him within seconds, he charged her and slammed her against the wall. One of his arms pressed tightly against her throat as he brought his make-up coated, snarling face to mere inches of touching hers. “Ya see, I don’t take lightly when others but me play roughly with my toys. I said I won’t ask again, so tick-tock Doc,” he hissed, his arm flexing to cut off her air supply slightly. Just as her world faded to black, the door slammed open and Joker was ripped off her.
    “Ya can’t keep it from me forever!” was the last thing she heard before she knew no more.
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Laughter in the Dark