Love Lost, Love Home

Chapter Nine: Surviving Arkham

"Rowan!" I looked up. Dad and Dick were here! Dad finally moved the debris off of my leg. As soon as it was gone, I curled in on myself. "Rowan, Sis, are you alright?!" Dick asked. I couldn't even register that he was there.

"Joker...Jason...not my fault...it's not my fault...I'm not like you..." I was shaking and sobbing, I wasn't holding myself together at all.

"Bruce, this isn't good. I think she's breaking down." Dick said.

"How bad? Is it something we can help her with?" He asked. Dick lightly touched my shoulder. I screamed and thrashed around. Dick jumped back, then sighed.

"No. I think seeing what happened to Jason and being tortured by Joker is making her break down completely. Bruce...she needs to go to Arkham." He said. Dad's face hardened.

"Absolutely not. I'm not putting her in there." He said, and gently helped me stand. I was limping out, however, I stopped. "Rowan?" He gently asked.

"No...no, leave me alone!! My name isn't Ace, I'm not yours!! STOP LAUGHING!!!" I screamed, holding my head in my hands.

"Bruce he's traumatized her too badly. We can't help her. The doctors at Arkham are the only people who can. There's good people in there that can help her." Dick said. Dad sighed.

"...You're right. I just don't want her to think that I abandoned her there." He said, picking me up. Dick placed a hand on his shoulder.

"She won't. She needs help, Bruce." He said. Dad nodded, and together, they took me to Arkham, after changing my clothes first. Dad told them what happened, and then he and Dick quickly went home so that, when the Arkham staff called him. He and Dick came in as themselves, and watched as I was observed and evaluated. They definitely wanted to keep me. So, Dad and Dick hugged me, signed the papers, and left. I was settled in my room. It wasn't that bad, it was a lot nicer than the ones the super criminals had. There was a bed, nicer than the ones in the high security area, a rug, a wardrobe, a bathroom, and a door that locked from my side, but all the doctors had a key for it. I also had one of the big, bullet proof glass windows that all the cells had. I looked up when the door opened. A woman with dark brown hair in a bun walked in. I looked up at her from my curled up position on my bed.

"Hello Sweetheart. My name is Dr. Penelope Young. You can call me Dr. Penny if you like. Your name is Rowan Annalise Wayne, right?" She asked. I nodded. "So, what happened?" She asked. "Your Father says you were attacked by the Joker. Did you purposely go find him, like he said?" She asked. I nodded again. "Why?"

"...He killed my fiance." I mumbled. "I...I thought I could take him." I whispered. She nodded.

"But you underestimated him?" She asked. I nodded. "Alright. Here, I'm going to give you a physical look over. Is that okay?" She asked. I nodded. She looked me over, finding a ton of cuts and bruises, before finally coming to my right leg. She gasped. "Sweetheart, we need to get you to Medical right away!" She said. I frowned, looking down at my leg, but Dr. Penny stopped me. "No, don't look! We'll get you taken care of, Rowan." She said. She helped me stand on my good leg, ready to get into a wheelchair. Suddenly, I heard the Joker's laugh! I froze. I went completely rigid. I couldn't move. Mentally, I just collapsed in on myself, trying to protect my mind from further mental damage. "Rowan? Rowan, are you okay?" She asked. Then she saw the Joker being pulled past by guards. Thankfully, he didn't notice me, and once I couldn't hear him anymore, I relaxed, and came back to myself. "Rowan, what happened?" She asked, grabbing a clipboard.

"I-I don't know. I just...froze. My mind went blank, and I couldn't breath!" I whispered. She nodded and wrote it down.

"Okay. I'm gonna put in your file that you need to be kept away from the Joker. He acts as a trigger for your mind to freeze. Your mind collapses in on itself and blocks everything else out to protect itself from further damage." She said. I nodded. She helped me sit down in the wheelchair and I was taken down to the Medical building. There, the doctor looked at my leg, determined that it would be paralyzed and useless, so they went ahead and amputated it. After that, Dr. Penny tried to help me, but I was making very slow progress. She had told me though, that that was okay. That I had been horribly traumatized by what the Joker had done to me, and it was just taking my mind a long time to register that it was safe, therefore allowing it to heal. I had been at Arkham for a month, when the guards decided to take me to the Rec Room. They had seen my file, but ignored the part that said to keep me away from the Joker. They walked me down to the Room to socialize. I was wearing the typical Arkham outfit, a beige shirt and pants, and a sock with rubber stoppers on the bottom. Once I got in there, I saw the Riddler and the Penguin playing chess, Two-Face reading a book, and Poison Ivy watching TV. I decided that my safest bet was to go and watch TV with Ivy. So, I slowly made my way over to her, on crutches. I was also wearing a white patch over my eye, held in place by medical tape.