A Happy Family of Freaks: A Batfam Fanfic

Introductions

     "Ah. Mr. Wayne. I was wondering when you'd arrive. The patient is this way. Please follow me" The man in the lab coat says, leading the three other men down a hallway. One has his dark hair slicked down and a flawless black suit without a speck of dirt or lint. The other two are dressed more casually. The one on the left has a dark blue dress shirt on, the bottom tucked into his khakis. His hair was combed but didn't look to have any hairspray in it. The other is far more casual, wearing just blue jeans and a black and red hoodie. It had a Batman symbol on the front, so the guy must be a fan or something. His hair was spiked up in the front, the white streak very visible. He most definitely used either hairspray or gel.

     The doctor leads the trio down the winding hallways of the building, the security getting more and more strict the further they go. Eventually, they reached a sizeable vault-like door with the words 'HIGH THREAT CONTAINMENT' on it. After giving the door a retinal scan, it opens and the four men walk in. Inside was the strangest assortment of celled people the trio had ever seen, or at least it seemed that way to everyone else. They passed what looked to be a half-man/half-crocodile hybrid, a woman with dark green hair carefully tending to a flower, a guy in glasses writing in a notebook that had a question mark on the cover.

     "Bruce" a familiar voice catches the suit-wearing man's attention. He turns his head to look at the man sitting on his cell bed. There were burn scars all over the left side of his body, and he had a coin gripped tightly in his hand.

     "Harvey. It's been a while" Mr. Wayne says, looking at his old friend.

     Two-Face looks down for a moment, before turning back to the billionaire. "I'm guessing you're here for Doe"

     "Who?"

     "That's what he calls himself, Mr. Wayne. John Doe." The nearby doctor confirms.

    "Just. . ." Harvey takes a moment, before stating, "Go easy on him. He's had it a lot worse than the rest of us" The scarred man lays down on his bed, his hand hanging off the bed as he flips his coin.

     Despite the obvious confusion on the billionaire's face, the doctor had started to walk away, so he begrudgingly turns away from his former friend and follows. After a little bit of walking, they finally reach a cell at the very end of the corridor.

      Inside was a lanky teen with bright green hair and a bone-white face. It looks like he's wearing makeup, but if he had makeup on,  why was it on his legs and feet? The teen had on a straitjacket, and two guards stood next to the door of his cell holding automatic rifles. They looked to be an AK variant, though the specifics aren't clear.

     "Ah, Bruce Wayne! To what do I owe the pleasure?" The teen asks, a wide grin on his face. The grin was all too familiar to the three arriving men, though no one else in the room knew it. However, the teen's smile was different. There wasn't a sadistic look in his eyes, or even a hint of malice. The teen just looked genuinely happy to see the billionaire.

     Bruce observes the teen for a bit before turning to the doctor. "What's with the straightjacket?"

     However, John chimes in before the man can answer. "It was at my own request. Sometimes, I just have the urge to. . . actually, nevermind. I don't think you'd want the details" he chuckles softly as he lays back down on his bed, turning his head to the side to keep looking at the billionaire.

     Mr. Wayne just looks at the boy before turning to the doctor. "I take it you've already received the paperwork?" He asks, and the doctor just nods. "We're just going to have our specialist look him over one more time before proceeding"

     John is obviously confused, and opens his mouth to ask a question when a cheerful, feminine voice from the side cuts him off.

     "Brucie here's gonna foster you for a bit, Bambi. Just need to make sure you're ready before you leave this cage" The woman says, her skin white like Johns, but her hair was certainly different. There was a mix of red and green in it, and the colors were at the ends of her pigtails while the rest of it was a regular blonde.

     However, the boy seems genuinely alarmed at the idea. "Absolutely not, Harley. I'm not going anywhere. For Christ's sake, Jamie lost a two fingers because of me and I nearly killed Thomas" He says, sitting up and scooting back on his bed away from the door. "And stop calling me that. It got old months ago"

      The two guards, who still remained silent, could be seen giving the boy a sympathetic glance, even the one who, upon closer examination, can be seen as missing the pinky and ring finger on his right hand.

     "Well, you can't stay here forever. You're still a kid, and you need to at least try to have a normal life," Harley says, though she immediately freezes just as the words leave her mouth.

     John's head had instantly snapped over to look at her. "What. Did I Say. About Those. Two. Words?" He asks, a small frown forming on his face. Despite how the three newcomers had seen numerous dangerous and downright twisted things in their lives, that frown as well as the empty look in his eyes sent a genuine chill down their spines. 

    "Sorry. It slipped out. But you've been doing a lot better. Your last relapse was over a month ago, and you haven't had an outburst in 2 weeks. Brucie will keep an eye on you, so just try to enjoy yourself as best you can" Harley says softly, and after a few seconds John very slowly stands up and walks to the door of his cell. 

     "Open cell H-1" The guard, who apparently was named Jamie, orders into the radio on his shoulder, and after a second or two it opens. The boy walks out, his bare feet flexing a bit as he gets used to the cold stone, which was a huge difference from the carpet of his cell. The other guard, Thomas, carefully takes the straitjacket off of the boy, having hung his rifle from his shoulder as he does. 

     After John is freed and shakes his arms off a bit, he feels a hand on his shoulder as Jamie leads him along, following the doctor and three visitors to the main lobby. The guard knew that the boy would be more comfortable if he had someone physically holding onto him to keep him in line.

     Reaching the lobby, John sits down while Harley asks him some basic questions. Since his answers haven't changed from the last time, she gives the doctor a thumbs up. Nodding, the man gives Mr. Wayne a copy of the paperwork that had been filled out by the billionaire, who places a hand on John's back and gently leads him out of Arkham. Taking him down to the large limousine that was waiting outside, he lets the one of the other men get in first before allowing John inside, the boy being flanked on both sides while Bruce sits in in the seat across from them. 

     John just looks out the window, staring at the city as they drive through. It felt odd, almost wrong, to see so many beautiful things.