Harley, Jake, Ivy, Frost, and Ace all stood in complete silence and don't seem to breathe as they stare at the Joker on a gurney.
There were tubes going to him to keep him alive as he thawed out. The Joker has been on ice, so to speak, for over nine months. Seeing him out of his cryogenic tank again was a surreal moment for all of them. Truthfully, they never really thought they would see this day. It felt like they were welcoming the patriarch back home again.
But the Joker wasn't out of the woods just yet. It would still be a long road before he was in the clear. Complications could still arise from the hypothermia. It would probably be several days before Jake could take him off life support machines. There was a chance that he wouldn't function on his own. It depended on how the surgery went. The Joker would need the function of his brain for survival without the machines.
If the brain function wasn't there, he wouldn't get a chance to recover. He would die. But if he came through it all, it would still be several more days before his eyes could open. But that was when the real battle would begin. Thats when they would know how much recovery there would be for him. At that time Jake would be able to assess how much brain activity J had, and how much of a recovery they could hope for.
Jake had told them that the Joker would definitely have muscle atrophy. They would have to exercise his muscles for him several times a day. After that's seen to, the real therapy would begin. The Joker would be equivalent to a newborn infant. He would be very weak with almost no control of his muscles. Things as simple as raising an arm or head would be impossible in the beginning. It would take a lot of physical therapy to get him back on his feet again.
But that was only part of his therapy. He wouldn't be able to speak or communicate at all. He would completely have to relearn how. Jake warns them that this would most likely be very frustrating for J. Jake would show Ivy how to do the speech therapy and he would handle the physical therapy.
The Joker's recovery time would depend entirely on how things went during the surgery. One wrong slice with the scalpel could make the Joker retarded or worse, a vegetable. Things were very tedious when dealing with the left frontal lobe. But Jake was hopeful. He knew that his twins surgery went far better than he had expected. Operating on frozen tissue made the procedure about fifty times easier. And Jake has confidence in the work he had done.
But for now, they all had to play the waiting game. Their breaths were bated. Their fingers were crossed. They each pray to a god they've forsaken. Their minds try to stay positive. They all try to comfort one another. They all keep one another reassured. They knew the Joker would fight his way through this. He had to. Things were falling apart without him. And no one but the Joker could unravel what had been done. Only he could deal with Jason.
Sal Maroni had once told the Joker that one man couldn't couldn't run the crime in Gotham. That was why there had been the five families. But the Joker did control the crime in Gotham, and he did it solo. He did it because they told him he couldn't. He had proven to every criminal in Gotham that he had something none of them did. He had unprecedented power because he knew which hands to grease, and which ones to blackmail. His genius level intellect couldn't be surpassed. Only the Riddler's intelligence rivaled the Joker's.
But it's doubtful that anyone but the Joker could run the city. It was pretty obvious that Jason wasn't up to the task. He was only destroying the established order that the Joker had worked so hard to achieve. The Joker had given Jason a lot of responsibility and power. Far more than Jason could handle. More than the little shit deserved.
The Joker had thought Jason could handle things after his demise. He had worked so hard to train the kid. The Joker had seen so much of himself in Jason. Jason had had almost the same kind of childhood as J. They were both street kids, orphaned at about the same age. They both had remarkable survival skills. They both had turned to petty crime to survive. And they both had an anger that could make or break everything. The Joker had thought Jason could be everything he was, but he was so wrong.
****************
Jason sat nervously in a chair staring at the old green tiled wall.
He found it a bit ironic that the asylum would make the walls harder for the crazies to bash their heads against. Jason was currently bound by a straight jacket and his ankles were chained to the floor under his chair. This was to be his first therapy session with Dr. Collins. Jason's talked to a psychiatrist before. Bruce had sent him to one right after he adopted him. So Jason had an idea of what to expect.
However, Jason can't be himself, he had to be the Joker. Luckily, Jason had read all of Arkham's files on J when he was working with Bruce. Jason had read those extensive files on J many many times. He had needed to know why Bruce spent so much time focusing on the Joker. Now he knows it was love that kept Bruce so obsessed.
Back then, reading the files, it seemed as if everything the Joker told the shrinks was pure bullshit. But now Jason knows that it actually wasn't. J actually told the truth about a lot of things. He just scrambled the order of the facts and told his past through a series of jokes and daydreams. There truth was right there in the files, it always had been. It's just that no one had deciphered it. Bruce had once told Jason that the Joker didn't lie as much as people thought. The Joker liked the attention and glory of his crimes and gladly admitted to them.
Now Jason could see the truth behind the Joker's therapy notes. He saw the whole truth lying right in front of them. The Joker told them details in a way that the therapists quickly dismissed. He gave them facts that seemed grandiose. Dreams of grandeur fit many of the Joker's false diagnoses. It was pure genius how the Joker twisted the psychiatrists minds to see the truth as a pack of lies. Now it was Jason's turn to carry on the tradition.
When Dr. Collins enters the room Jason pulls a smile to his face, "Good morning doctor."
The doctor just nods as he takes a seat and flips open a folder. "We need an official name to put on your file, can you tell me your real name?"
"Joker," Jason smiles.
"But do you know the name you were born with?" The doctor stares at him with a cliche psychiatric poker stare.
"Um, Joseph," Jason looks to the side and up as to be concentrating.
"Joseph?" Dr. Collins sits up attentively, "And your last name?"
"Kerr."
The doctor quickly grabs his pen and starts writing down the name Jason has given him. About halfway through the doctor stops and looks at what he's written. With a frown on his face he looks up at Jason. "That's very clever. Joseph Kerr. Joe Kerr. Joker. I get it. So are you saying that you refuse to answer the question?"
"Mmmm, yeah. Why not?" Jason looks at him attentively.
"Fine Mr. Joker it is," the doctor sighs.
"Mr. Joker was my father," Jason shakes his head in disgust, "Please call me Mr. J, most do."
"Very well then Mr. J, it says in your chart quite often that you hear voices. Do you, right now or in the last twenty four hours, heard a voice that only you can hear?" The doctor asks as he watches very closely for Jason's emotions to surface. Waiting for any hint of what he might have been thinking.
Jason quickly brings on a smile to mask his true thoughts. Jason didn't hear voices. The Joker had tried very hard to give them to him with shocks. But Jason's mind didn't fracture the way that his had. But Jason knows that it's best to say yes. It helped support his presumed insanity. Thereby making him look innocent in the courts. Because he wasn't aware that what he did was wrong. He was sick. He just needed a good doctor, and some medication, then he could walk around amongst the general public.
"Yes, I've heard them since I was eight," Jason nods as he smiles.
"Could you describe them to me?" The doctor then asks.
Jason's smile remained as he thought. He had asked his brother what the voices sounded like. The Joker told him that it was actually only one voice, but the voice had three very distinctive pitches. But when it's in regards to his insanity he would always say it was three separate ones. Three voices was better than one when you were pleading insanity. The Joker was able to demonstrate what he heard in his head for Jason.
"Well, one talks with a low growling tone. One is higher pitched, and sounds kind of hyper. Then there's one that's just normal and average sounding," Jason says with a persistent smile.
"Do they have names?" Dr. Collins then asks him.
Jason quirks his stubbly green brow, "They're not exactly pets doc. Do you feel that I should give them names Dr. Collins?"
The doctor sits back in his chair and rests his index finger over his mouth, "Would you like to name them Mr. J?"
Jason shows his silver teeth, "Not especially."
"Mr. J, would you say that you're a criminal?" The doctor changes the subject.
Jason shrugs, his smile grows, "Would you like me to say that I am doctor?"
But Dr. Collins was gonna play his little game for now. "Would it please you to say you're a criminal?"
Jason stares from behind his fixed smile. "I dunno, guess it depends on who I'm talking to. You know how you can't tell some people anything, because they go run and tell everyone."
"Would you tell me you're a criminal?" The doc keeps on his best poker face.
"Sure, if you really want me to," he carelessly shrugs.
"A lot of people call you a criminal, are they right or wrong?" The doctor tries his best to weasel a straight answer out of him.
"Well doc, it's like when they say 'beauty is in the eyes of the beholder'," Jason leans back.
"So you disagree then? You think you're a criminal?" The doctor tries.
"What's a criminal? A mother with four kids and one on the way parks in a handicapped space long enough to run in for a couple items. It's against the law to park in a handicapped space without the proper plates. Does this make her a criminal?" Jason smirks internally in complete defiance.
"Well, it's a misdemeanor crime, they don't usually call those offenses criminal," the doctor explains. "The crimes they've changed you with are mostly felony offences. Do you think felons are criminals?"
"Well I dunno doc. Is a man with a normal balanced household, the obligatory wife, two kids, and a golden retriever, a criminal if somebody rapes his daughter and he shoots off their balls without killing them?" Jason cocks his head.
The doctor sighs and runs his hand down his face. "You aren't going to make this easy, are you?"
Jason grins, "Well, I'm a man that feels that their job should challenge them. Hahaha."