The Joker Made Me Do It

Chapter Twentyseven

<Dick's POV>

"Bruce, what are we going to do?" I wondered out loud, trying my hardest not to panic. My training as Robin had taught me how to stay calm in terrible situations, but so far I was throwing that training out the window at the moment. "I don't know what's wrong with her. I don't know how to fix it, Bruce!"

Bruce just stared at me and then to Claire, unsure of what to do as well. What a sight! The famous dynamic duo without a plan. That's a first. And it's probably the worst timing as well. "To be honest... I don't know either Dick."

He didn't know either?? Batman, THE BATMAN, didn't know what to do? We were so screwed.

"Well I don't think we can just leave her on that table screaming at us." I replied, trying to be a bit humorous, but neither of us let out a laugh. Only Claire did, but I'd say they were more that of cackling rather than laughing. She was still screaming about how she wanted to kill us. "Should we have left her at Arkham, Bruce?"

He didn't hesitate at all to answer with, "no. They wouldn't be able to do anything as well. They'd just lock her in a room all day and that's all she'd be able to do. She'd probably end up hurting herself there too." He was blunt and I admired that about Bruce. For a long time I had really hated Bruce because he was never home, but when I found out he was Batman I understood that he had a duty and obviously I wanted in on it and since then I had learned to respect Bruce and look up to him. He was honestly a good person underneath the cape and the cowl, but his billionaire playboy image didn't help anything. That's how people saw him, just some pretty rich boy looking for sex. But that wasn't Bruce at all. Sure, he'd bring women home from events to keep up his act, but he'd just let them sleep in the guest room and they'd leave in the morning. Only occasionally had he actually slept with one of them. And how do I know that? Because if Bruce is working it with a woman, I can certainly hear them from my room and even the bat cave. Yeah, that's just how loud they are. I didn't even want to imagine that and brought my attention back to the screaming Claire on the table and Bruce waiting for a reply.

"But she could hurt herself anywhere, Bruce. Even here. You know that." He began to pace back and forth nervously ams felt myself control my breathing before I allowed myself to get out of control. I couldn't let that happen. Not in front of Claire. Not when she wanted to kill me. Well, I don't think it was her who wanted to, rather it was the Joker in her head.

"I'm not going to let that happen. We need to calm her down. I'm going to give her some Propofol. That will make her sleep for a while." Bruce said quietly, trying not to alert Claire so she wouldn't fight us, though she probably would anyway.

I sighed. "That can last days depending on the dose you give her! Why not lorazepam? That only lasts like eight hours." I tried to reason with him. Sedatives could be dangerous and I didn't want Claire out that long. We just needed to think of a plan before she would wake up.

"I'd rather her sleep longer. She needs the rest, we need time to think in peace, but we also need the rest as well. We won't get anything done being fatigued, Dick." Bruce argued softy back to me. I sighed once more and nodded my head. I knew he was right.

Bruce didn't say anything, but walked over to a cabinet slowly to pull out a case. He pulled a key out of his utility belt and unlocked the case, revealing small jars of the liquid sedatives and syringes. He took out a bottle and a syringe, closed and locked the case, then put it back in the cabinet and stalked back over with jar and syringe in hand. He quietly uncapped the needle and plunged it into the top of the bottle allowing the syringe to fill with the liquid. He then walked over to Claire, who was still screaming about how she was going to kill us, and I followed to hold Claire down while Bruce grabbed her arm. He held it up to him, searching for a vein, and when he could find one he quickly took the needle, stuck it in her skin, then injected the sedative into her blood stream. Within seconds Claire was out cold and I pulled my hands off of her to allow her to sleep peacefully.

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as I watched Claire's chest rise up and down slowly with each steady breath she took. Though the screaming had stopped, I couldn't imagine what was going on inside of her head and for that I felt terrible. She could be going through torture and there was no way for me to stop it.

"We need to eat." Bruce's deep voice startled me and pulled me out of my thoughts as we both made our way to the elevator and up to the manor.

I already knew the answer to my next question, but decided to ask anyway. "Can't we take off the restraints and let her sleep in one of the guest rooms, Bruce? It would be more comfortable. At least I'd think it would be." I murmured quietly.

"You know we can't." Bruce informed me and put a hand on my shoulder. "She could hurt herself or someone else, including us, Dick." I could tell he was feeling bad and experiencing conflicting emotions from the look on his face and in his eyes. He had always hated to let me down.

I looked up to Bruce with a pleading look to my eyes. "She can't hurt anyone if she's asleep. You know that."

"She could wake up." Bruce added and I knew that, but I had to fight back. "I can stay in there with her."

Bruce thought for a moment, but shook his head. "You need sleep." Was all he said, his hand still on my shoulder.

"I can watch her and then sleep. I'm used to staying up late when I'm tired. I know you are too."

Bruce seemed conflicted as he sorted through the information in his brain, before giving my one, curt nod and a quick "fine". We both turned around to make our way to the bat cave to get Claire and bring her upstairs. Now she could finally rest peacefully for the night.

Bruce unbuckled the restraints holding Claire to the table and I picked her unconscious figure up easily as Bruce led me to one of the many empty guest rooms and I put her gently on the bed, pulling a blanket over her to keep her warm.

Without a word, Bruce left the room, closing the door behind him, and I pulled up a chair next to Claire's bed and watched her as she slept. She looked so beautiful as she slept, her red hair was spread like a fan across her pillow, contrasting deeply with the white fabric, and her mouth was turned up into a permanent smile. Though the smile was plastered onto her face, she still looked immensely beautiful in my eyes. Her mouth was closed as she slept, but I could hear quiet noises coming out of her nose as she slept, but she certainly wasn't snoring. Her chest rose gently with each breath she took, and dropped as the air was pushed out of her lungs. Her hands were placed delicately on her stomach and I stared at her small, slim fingers, wishing to hold them, but not daring to bother her in her slumber.

There wasn't much to do, but watch Claire sleep and soon enough I found myself allowing sleep to take over, my eyes drooping as I struggled to stay awake just as I had promised Bruce. But in the end, my fatigue had won and I fell into a dreamless sleep.

<Claire's POV>

Bruce came at me with a needle and I struggled to keep it away from me. I didn't want it, I didn't want what ever he was going to push into me. I wanted to kill him, that's what I wanted! And I was going to do it!

I trashed against the restraints and Bruce unbuckled one and held out my arm and after a few moments her plunged the needle into it, injecting what ever had been in it, into me. Soon my struggling stopped as I found myself falling asleep against my will, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. My eyes closed, and I fell into darkness.

A familiar scene rose into the darkness with a carousel and a little girl riding on one of the many horses' backs. Her red ponytail flew behind her as she went round and round in circles. I small, old lady watched from the side, smiling and waving each time the girl came back around and I could hear the laughter and giggles from that little girl. She was me.

Then I watched in horror as billionaire Bruce Wayne and his adopted son, Dick Grayson, come from behind and stab my grandmother in the back over and over again, until she fell, blood everywhere and the little girl screaming bloody murder. I knew in the back of my mind, this was not how my grandmother died. She one day while I was in class at college and it was from old age, not from a stabbing. But I couldn't help but to believe the scene shown in front of me.

The people I was staying with, they killed my grandmother. And for that I would kill them back and get my revenge.