Death's a Joke.

The soft tube poured the pure oxygen from the canister into her nose as the heart monitor screened irregular heart beat patterns belonging to the body covered in blood soaked sheets. The main doctor pressed the pads of the Cardioversion to the pallid skin of her chest causing the shock to jerk through her body like a puppet having its strings pulled.

“Heart beat regularising, breathing rate returning to a normal pace; looks like we almost lost this one,” Mumbled a nurse referring to the patient while scribbling down notes from checking the several machines that covered the room.

The Joker pushed his tongue through the gap that once contained a tooth a few days ago before his little…‘meeting’ with Batboy. The gum was still a raw pink and the Joker was beginning to think it had become infected as his body involuntarily winched as he touched gum with a finger.

“All of you get your scrawny bodies out through that door,” Snarled the Joker in frustration as he held the right side of his jaw that had a throbbing pain coming from the top section. It only took a few seconds for all of the men to hurry out of the room.

The Joker hunched himself over the rusting tap that dripped to its own rhythm. As his eyes glared at the plughole his left arm shot up and snatched a dust covered glass from a cupboard. The warm water flowed into the glass until his purple gloved hand turned the tap once more. The same hand fumbled with another cupboard to retrieve table salt that had a money spider clinging onto it. His eyes never once looked up while doing this before he poured the salt into the water.

“Well, no time like the present,” Instructed the Joker’s voice in an almost sarcastic way as he swirled the liquid around causing a few drops to spill over the edge.

He pressed the glass to his lips and tipped the mixture into his mouth before swilling it around. As he went spit it out his mind seemed to wander to Ace for the first time since he had left her in the shop. His nails dug into his own flesh as he curled his hands into fists in anger that he felt an almost guilt and swallowed the water causing him to heave several times before being sick into the sink and falling to the ground in exhaustion while wiping the beats of sweat from his face.

“Boss can we come in? Boss? Are you okay?” Yelled a shaven headed boy as he noticed the Joker slumped slightly on the orange floor tiles.

“I-I’m fine, but find me that girl who goes by the name of Ace, now,” Mumbled the Joker as the sweat started to dry and his concentration became stronger.

Ace had been barely awake for a few minutes but her impatience to be able to walk meant she constantly fidgeted in between the fresh hospital sheets despite her body’s weakness that pulled her down like a heavily armoured suit.

The Joker had just re-applied his make-up after the goons had finally found out her location when one of them came shuffling over to inform him that everything way set up and ready on his command.