P o s s e s s i v e m u c h ? Batmanxjoker

16- MR.ALFRED

Alfred felt bad for lying to Bruce, but he felt it was necessary if it was the only way to get Bruce to go to Venice and leave him alone with the Joker. Alfred was determined on finding the truth, the truth only Joker could tell him. He didn't think of himself as a detective or overly smart but he was willing to do whatever he could. Alfred also thought it good for Bruce's mental health, well at least he hoped it was.

Going down to the bat cave had become a daily occurrence for the butler, in the morning he would give the Joker a big breakfast, medium dinner and come back with a big dinner, he continuously checked up on the Joker. The first three days were undoubtedly awkwardly, not a lot of words were exchanged, Alfred was rather awkward and cautiously, moving around the Joker, though his main goal was to help he kept his distance. He tried to speak to the clown but got no answer. As the days went past and the Joker regained his strength Alfred couldn't help but wonder why the clown wasn't hell bent on escape, every time the butler turned his back he had at least waited for the Joker to hit him over the head and escape but it never came.

Why hasn't he escaped? Alfred thought one afternoon, Joker looked at least healthy enough to escape, there was no doubt Joker could fight him and overpower but Joker didn't. He just sat there staring at the floor. Alfred was quick to notice Joker was distant, often looking at something or zoning out, his responses to questions were short, speaking only when he needed to speak. Alfred thought perhaps it was a hormonal change or effect of the toxin Bruce had explained but it was something deeper Alfred was sure of it.

Had Bruce done this? The thought crossed Alfred's mind; it was scary. I hope he hadn't.

The Joker at least to say wasn't feeling himself at all, his paranoia had increased and so had his night terrors, he did his best not to fall too deep into sleep for he was afraid his mind would be plagued with them. His motivation had diminished almost entirely, he didn't even acknowledge Alfred as he would come down to the bat cave, the prospect of escaping the bat cave was no longer on his mind, for his anxiety dictated what he did. He felt no energy the past few days. He found himself sinking through reality and memories, remembering past incidents. Ever since Batman had triggered his memories the clown had not felt the same.

Alfred knew he wasn't fine, not fine at all. And Joker knew he wasn't fine himself.

This stuck out one particular day, when Alfred wasn't careful about the tray he was carrying, and Joker once again had forgotten where he was.

It was in the afternoon when Alfred had approached the Joker with a bowl of soup and a glass of water. Alfred had set the tray down on the table, clumsily he had walked to the other side to hand the Joker the water when he tripped on a small object on the floor. He tripped but not hard enough to fall. The glass fell at Joker's feet, smashing and water spreading across the ground. The Joker looked at the glass pieces, the smash had surprisingly awakened from his trance. Blank minded and not really thinking, he quickly deciding to pick it up.

Alfred looked at him sceptical, fearful he could use the glass to cut him but to his dismay all the Joker did was round up the glass in a small pile, it surprised the butler. He looked at the Joker who was collecting the glass so nonchalantly with his fingers.

He's cleaning it up, well I never would have thought.

"Don't worry about it, I'll clean it up." Alfred found himself saying, his butler instincts kicking in, Joker ignored the comment and kept picking the glass with his bare hands. A glass cut against his hand, Joker winced quietly, retracting his hand for a short while but went about picking the glass again, he ignored the prick. Alfred continued to warn against picking up the glass, but the pleads fell silent on the Joker's ears.