In the Mind of Madness

Terror like ice water rocketed inside Kenna’s veins, her hands clutching instinctively for the handle of the door. It wouldn’t turn. She regretted all the shouting; it had given away where she was.

What the hell had The Joker locked her in there with? Did he have a mutant creature stored away to release on Gotham when they least expected it? Maybe she was his test subject. She almost wished she hadn’t acted the way she had if it meant spending the night in a dark room with some unseen danger.

Kenna was trying to feel her way along the wall when the something spoke, almost scaring her into shrieking.

“H-…hello?”

Standing still, Kenna made a face. That wasn’t a nightmare voice. It was a teenage boy with an Irish – oh! It was O’Dwyer’s son. So that was why The Joker told her to be careful what she wished for. Now she was in there with him.

“Is someone there?” the boy spoke again, sounding frightened.

Kenna cleared her throat and answered into the darkness, trying to sound calm so she wouldn’t freak him out even more. “I’m here. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Who are you?”

The sound of his voice was coming from somewhere in front of her, so Kenna began to carefully edge towards it. “Uh…Kenna. Who are you?”

“Brawley…Are you that woman from the news?”

Grimacing, Kenna felt her hand hit what she guessed was the sink. “Unfortunately. Are you the Irishman’s son?”

“No, actually I’m the Frenchman’s son. Can’t you tell?” he was being sarcastic, probably referring to his obvious brogue.

Rolling her eyes, Kenna skimmed her fingers along the wall. It was hard not to be disgusted at touching the dirty bathroom surfaces. It was the bathroom The Joker’s henchmen used, but the light switch had to be around there somewhere, so she gritted her teeth and kept searching. Sure enough after Kenna felt around for a few moments, touching something unpleasantly sticky in the process, she found the familiar shape of a switch. She flipped it on, blinking against the harsh yellow light that came on. A hiss came from the shabby green stalls, where Kenna could now see legs under the walls.

“Thas’ really bright.” grumbled the kid’s voice, which Kenna walked towards.

The kid was skinny and dirty, crumpled up like a dead spider around the toilet he was handcuffed to. His jeans and black t-shirt were smudged with dirt and blood had dried on his forehead and cheek from a gash near his temple. The purple bruise surrounding it told Kenna he’d been hit on the head. He really did look like the Irishman, with his square jaw and flaming red hair. Also his pale skin was coated with freckles on nearly every available surface.

“Hello.” said Kenna when she realized he was scrutinizing her in return. “How are you?”

Tugging at the handcuffs, Brawley grinned up at her. “Wonderful. And you?”

“Been better.” Kenna returned the smile. It was nice to see a fresh face. “Would you like me to clean you up a little?” she offered because she knew there wasn’t much else she could do.

The boy sighed and shrugged. “Might as well.”

Kenna went back over to the sink, first washing her own hands off before pulling her sweatshirt over her head to use as a washcloth. It was think black material with holes in the elbows, borrowed from Darla. She might be a little chilly without it in the unheated warehouse, but she had a white tank top on underneath.

“You wouldn’t happen to have the key to these handcuffs would ya?”

Returning to the stall, sweatshirt damp with warm water, Kenna shook her head. “Sorry, but no.”

“Ah well.” Brawley watched Kenna with only mild suspicion as she knelt next to him. “I suppose I should be thankful fer company and light after four days alone in the dark.”

“Four days.” Kenna growled under her breath, beginning to gently wipe away the brown blood from the boy’s cheek. “If I’d known I would have tried to do something sooner.”

Brawley raised an eyebrow at her. “So this was supposed to be a rescue, then?”

“Didn’t you see my white steed?” Kenna chuckled, gradually moving closer to the cut. “I said tried. Tell me if I’m hurting you.”

“It’s fine.”

Kenna could feel his eyes on her, so she kept talking. “So…what’s up with your dad?”

“He’s an arsehole.” when Kenna looked over in surprise Brawley snorted. “I love the guy more than anythin’, don’t get me wrong, but he’s reckless as well as ambitious. Doesn’t really think things through.”

“Like stealing from a lunatic?”

It was Brawley’s turn to look shocked then. “Ya think he’s a lunatic? Don’t ya work for him?”

“You really shouldn’t believe everything they say on the Gotham news.” Kenna scowled a little as she removed the dirt from the kid’s chin.

“I kind of suspected it wasn’t true. Ya don’t really look the type.”

Kenna smiled again, sitting back on her knees. “Thanks, kid. There…you look better.”

“Cool…You should also know that they always use this really bad picture of you on the news.”

Laughing, Kenna moved so she was sitting cross-legged. “Really?”

“Yeah, you’re making this really disgusted face. It doesn’t do ya justice.”

She couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, but Kenna thought that maybe a teenager had just hit on her a little. Feeling a mixture of flattered and uncomfortable, Kenna looked down at her lap and coughed.

“Um, but yeah…The Joker and I don’t get along.”

Brawley shifted to try and find a comfortable position squished between the toilet and the wall. “I think I heard the two a ya yelling a couple days ago, an’ I definitely heard it just now. Why’s he got ya here if all ya do is fight? Don’t make sense.”

“Tell me about it. It doesn’t make sense.” pausing, Kenna stared down at her hands for a moment. “Truly, I don’t know the reason I’m here…but I know he enjoys controlling me, making me upset. He’s the most awful – he hasn’t hurt you as he?”

Brawley shook his head. “Knocked me in the head real good with a big ol’ gun, but I’ve had plenty worse.”

After staring rather incredulously at him for a second, Kenna voiced her thoughts. “How old are you?”

“I’ll be sixteen in March.” he said proudly.

Kenna shook her head. Darla had been a little off on his age. “When I was sixteen my biggest concerns in life were split ends and getting my license.”

Brawley laughed a little bit. “Sounds like ya had a right boring life.”

“I miss my boring life.” Kenna sighed and cradled her head in her palms.

“No ya don’t.”

Raising an eyebrow at the teenager, Kenna narrowed her eyes a little. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Everybody that lives like we do – ya know, crazy – they can’t go back. They say they want to, and maybe they think they do, but they can’t.” Brawley thought for a moment, and then his eyes brightened. “Like in them Lord of the Rings movies. Did ya see them?”

Not sure where he was going with this, Kenna nodded. “Yeah. All three.”

“It’s like in the very last one. At the end the little guy that had the ring the whole time, he goes off on that boat into elf heaven or whatever the hell it is. ‘Cause after all the adventures an’ the evil crap he went through, he tried to go back to his little short people village and he didn’t know what to do. See what I mean?”

After a few moments, there was a slower nod from Kenna, her expression deep in thought. She hadn’t thought about that. It was making her feel increasingly distraught. Assuming that she ever got out of The Joker’s grasp, what was there for her? If she wasn’t put in jail what would she do? Where would she go? She couldn’t go back to Arkham; probably she couldn’t stay in Gotham at all.

Brawley saw her shoulders slumping and frowned. “Shit. I mean…I didn’t mean to make it sound all bad. It’s different for me, with my dad always having been the way he is. I’m sorry.”

“Uh, no. It’s okay.” Kenna’s grin was halfhearted, her resolve shaken to the core. “I know what you meant.”

“Sorry.” said Brawley, flushing a little. In his head he was cursing his big mouth. Definitely got that from his father.

There was a long and rather awkward silence where Kenna tried to keep all her thoughts in order and relatively positive so she wouldn’t have a nervous breakdown in front of the kid. Then she cleared her throat.

“What does your mom think of all this?”

Now Brawley looked a bit downtrodden. “Dunno. She left before I was old enough to remember her…or at least that’s what Da told me. I kind of think she was murdered.”

“That’s awful.” muttered Kenna, eyebrows furrowing. “Why do you think that?”

He shrugged. “S’the kinda stuff I’m used to.” Abruptly he gave her a grim look. “I hope my da doesn’t came after you for this.”

Kenna’s eyebrows rose. “Do you think he would?”

“Yes.”

The way he replied immediately didn’t make her feel better. Her pulse quickened at the thought of that giant man coming after her, but then she remembered who she was with and realized it probably wouldn’t be an issue. Even an imposing figure like O’Dwyer wouldn’t be able to get through The Joker. No one was scarier than him.

“I’m not worried.” Kenna waved her hand because the kid looked genuinely upset.

He shook his ginger head at her. “You might wanna be. I’m not tryin’ to scare ya or anything, but my da is…well, imagine a really overprotective parent, an’ then add crime lord into the mix and things can get intimidating.”

She didn’t really know what he meant, but Kenna elevated an eyebrow, trying to keep the mood light. “Haven’t you seen The Joker? The boogeyman checks his closet for The Joker when he goes to bed.”

That made the kid laugh. “I think yer talking about Chuck Norris.”

“Ghosts sit around the campfire and tell The Joker stories.”

He laughed even harder. “The Joker’s already been to Mars, thas’ why there’s no sign of life.”

Their combined mirth bounced off the walls, forcing the memory of the time she had laughed with The Joker into Kenna’s mind. Her smile fell and she crossed her arms. “It isn’t something we should joke about.”

“Why not? He wouldn’t be called ‘The Joker’ if he was meant to be taken seriously.”

Sighing, Kenna let her shoulder rest against the side of the stall. “I think that’s precisely why people should be afraid of him: he doesn’t take it seriously. There’s no remorse for the awful things he does.”

“But yer not scared of him.” It was a statement, Brawley watching her closely.

Kenna thought about it for a moment. “There are moments when I am, but I would never let him know. I guess I’m too proud.”

“Well, I bet thas’ why he likes you.”

That made her bark out a laugh, the sound almost painful and devoid of humor. “He doesn’t ‘like’ me. He despises me, and I feel the same way…”

Brawley voiced her thoughts. “Don’t make much sense for ‘im to keep ya here, then. I think yer in a lot deeper than ya know.”

“I’m not in anything.” Kenna said a little more irritably than she planned, then sighing and rubbing her eyes. “I’m sorry…I haven’t slept a whole lot lately.”

The kid nodded. “I know what ya mean. My arse is always asleep.”

They chuckled again, but Kenna felt bad. “Sorry I can’t get you out of this…I’m kind of trapped myself.” She begrudgingly admitted it. It didn’t feel good to say that she was a prisoner.

“Ah, it’s not your fault. It’s my da’s fault really.”

“No, it’s The Joker’s.” Letting her head join her arm on the wall, Kenna felt her eyelids drooping. “Does this place make you tired?”

Brawley nodded his head up at the ceiling. “It’s the bloody buzzing. Like white noise or whatever it is.”

“I think you’re right.” Kenna listened, and the feeble light overhead did buzz faintly. The sound started to invade the inside of her head, like a fly was trapped in there. “Ugh. I’d almost rather suffer his company than sit in here.”

“Try doing it for a few days.” grumbled Brawley, and Kenna lifted one corner of her mouth apologetically. “Ya could go to sleep, ya know. I would say I’d keep watch but I ain’t much good fer that, but I’ll wake ya up if he comes back.”

Yawning, Kenna shook her head ineffectively. “I’m fine…Just need to close my eyes for a second.”

“Yeah, alright.” Brawley snorted at her, and just a few seconds later Kenna fell asleep.