Would You Destroy Something Perfect, in Order to Make It Beautiful?

It has been 5 long years, and Bruce and I are still dating, and they finally rebuilt Wayne Enterprises. On the first floor, they built a memorial for everyone that died. Other than that, they rebuilt it the same way as before, but put new technology in it, and added a few more floors.

Jack was still in prison, and I haven’t seen him since we had dinner. When I took the cab to Arkham to see him, I had a panic attack and bailed. I didn’t understand how I was going to barge in there and demand to see him. I missed him, I really did.

In order to see Jack and break him out of jail (maybe), I went to school to be a psychologist, specializing in the mind of freaks and why they did what he did, and what made them snap and go crazy was fascinating to me. Being half crazy myself, I knew most of it. I knew what it took to be insane.

The breaking out part of my plan was undecided. I didn’t know if I could go through with it without detection of the public or guards.

With Joker off the streets, Gotham has been less hectic. There was still crime, but it was amateur stuff. Bruce still went out as Batman, but sometimes he’d come back early because of the lack of crime.

Bruce and I stood in front of the new Wayne Enterprises building hand in hand. We were both in winter coats to block out the chill “month” air.

“Isn’t It beautiful?” Bruce asked as we looked up at the building.

“Yes. I’m glad its up again,” I told him. He squeezed my hand.

“When do you have to be at work?” he asked.

“10am,” I told him. Today was my first day of work at Arkham as a psychologist.

“Your car will be here soon then,” he said, and looked down at his watch. We turned around to face the road and pleaded, “Promise that you’ll be careful. These men are messed up,” after a moment he added, “Especially the Joker.”

“I want to see Joker. Maybe meet him. I just want to help them,” I answered as honestly as possible.

“I will never understand you. But that’s my I love you,” he admitted, leaning down to kiss the top of my head.

“I love you too,” I giggled.

“There’s your car,” he said, motioning to a black car that pulled up to the curb. Bruce and I walked over and Bruce opened the door for me. I kissed him on the lips and got in.

“Thanks Bruce,” I said. He smiled and shit the door behind me.

When I entered the building, I met with my boss, Dr. Preese. He was in his mid 50s, had graying hair and a long beard. He was an old friend of Bruce’s parents, which helped me get the job.

“Good morning Dr. Sumbers,” he greeted me as I entered his office.

“Good morning Dr. Preese,” I replied with a smile as we shook hands.

“How are you doing?” he asked as we both sat down.

“I’d doing fine. I’m excited to be here,” I replied.

“Good, good. Fresh out of school and ready to work. I like it,” he smiled. I gave him an awkward smile and waited for him to continue, “How about I take you on a tour to see the inmates?”

“Sure, I’d love to. Who am I going to be working with?” I asked.

“Not sure yet. I’ll let you pick after you see them,” he said and got up. I followed him upstairs and watched as the guard unlocked the gate leading to the holding cells.

I saw all the prisoners and found out what they did. After that, he took me up to the next floor which was marked as ‘high security’.

“How many people are up here?” I asked as he entered a code to unlock the door.

“Just one: That damn Joker,” he grunted. The door opened and we saw a hallway of heavily locked cells. The first one was the only one with a light and a guard out front. “Go looked,” he said. I slowly walked up to the doorway of the cell where there was a small square window. I looked in and saw Jack in a straight suit. He didn’t have any makeup on, and he was just sitting in the middle of the white padded room. My heart broke. There were no windows and the last time he had fresh air was probably when they brought him in. I should have thought of something else to get him out sooner.

“He seems harmless,” I said. Dr. Preese laughed.

“He’s not Dr. Sumbers. Do you want to interview him?” he asked. I couldn’t tell if we was making fun of me or not.

“I’d love to,” I accepted the challenge. He laughed and started to walk away. I took one last look at Jack and followed Dr. Preese. We went back to his office and he gave me a load of paperwork and set me up in an empty cubicle.

“How does 1pm sound?” he asked before he left.

“To meet with him?”

“Yes. Come to my office about 10 till,” he said and walked away.

I sat down and started to go through my paperwork. It was all really boring. I really didn’t want to do it. I wanted to go see Jack. At 12:45, I gathered my things and went to Dr. Preese’s office.

“Are you ready for a run down?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” I said and sat down across from him.

“You’re going to be interviewing him in one of the interrogation rooms on his floor, and there will be a camera in there, but there’s no sound unfortunately. There will be a guard outside if anything goes wrong. Sound good?” he asked.

“Yup,” I nodded my head. I had knots in my stomach and I felt like my whole body was shaking.

He lead me up the stairs and bid me good luck before retreating to his office. I walked up to the door and saw Jack looking pissed, sitting at the table. He didn’t have his straight jacket on anymore. The guard opened the door for me but when I walked in, Jack didn’t look up. I set my things down on the table and sat across from him.

“Hey Jack,” I said. At the sound of my voice, his head snapped up and he squinted at me.

“Lillee?” he asked incredulous. I nodded.

“Took you long enough. Been here for 5 years,” he grumbled.

“Cant get a PhD in psychology overnight,” I shot back.

“There were other ways. Could’ve blown this place up,” he mumbled, not making eye contact with me.

“What happened? How did Batman find you?” I asked.

“After you called, I thought about it, and I figured you wouldn’t lie to me, especially about that rat. But you know, I’ve had a long time to think about this… I…I think you’ve been working for him the whole time. You’re were a two timer,” he spat.

“Bruce is Batman,” I told him. He was quiet for a good 5 minutes as he thought over this.

“It makes sense. I had my theories, but I was never sure. I-”

“I didn’t help him that much when he was Batman. But a few days before you got in here, he asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes.”

“Are you still dating?” he asked.

“Yes,” I whispered, afraid to meet his eyes.

“So if you break me out, you lose Bruce and a life of normalcy. But if you don’t, I stay here forever and you go and live your life,” he said, weighing my options. He had an over all pissed look on his face. His eyebrows were furred and a frown. “I guess you’re going to choose him?” I sat there, unable to talk.

“Jack-”

“No, no, no. you’ll choose Bruce. Good over evil. that’s just how you are,” he growled.

“Then why did I go through all the trouble to go to school just to see you?” I asked.

“You tell me, toots,” he sighed, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest.

“What do you want?”

“Doesn’t matter what I want. You hold the cards,” he pointed out.

“Very helpful my dear friend,” I said.

“I try.”

“So do you not want to get out of here?” I asked.

“I do, but I don’t want you to ruin your life for me,” he answered in a small low whisper. I shook my head.

“I thought you were too selfish to care?” I asked.

“Not when it comes to you,” he said in a small voice. I was about to reply when there was a sharp knock on the door. I turned and saw Dr, Preese.

“I think that means my time is up,” I said, turned back to Jack. He didn’t say anything as I gathered my papers up and left. Dr. Preese had a smile on his face.

“How did it go?” he asked.

“Good I think.”

“You got him to talk. Only a few people have been able to get him to talk. I’m impressed. You should do the paperwork then you can meet with another prisoner,” he said. I did the paperwork and then met with another prisoner. Afterwards Dr. Preese sent me home.