Descent

Chapter 26

Harleen stood there for a few moments dumbfounded that Eddie had given her a riddle with an obvious answer. That wasn't like him. He loved to make things like that harder than they needed to be. To test his adversaries to see just how smart they were.

This had been more of an in your face way of him telling her not to push J aside. To somehow help her see the broken man he was. The intrigue had Harleen wondering just what had happened from when Jason had gone missing to when the Joker had emerged from the shadows.

Sure she knew that he had witnessed the murder of his parents, that there was trauma left over from that. But he seemed adjusted when he had been out and about with Bruce.

Besides, at this point it was just speculation that Jason Todd and the Joker were one and the same. At least on her part.

But if what Edward said was true...if Pam, and now Selena were pushing her closer to the Joker she had to wonder why. Did they know the truth of his past? Was there some kind of super villain match making group? Besides what could they possibly hope gain from all of this? Did they all assume that she would break them out?

"Doc, I got Oswald. You want me to unshackle him?" Mateo's deep voice startled her from her thoughts.

She smiled at Ozzie and Mateo, trying to reassure them both that this was going to be a clam visit. "No. First session, he stays cuffed."

He sat Oswald in the chair closet to her desk and then turned to leave, but Harleen called him back.

"Matty, make sure Briggs doesn't hurt Eddie bringing him back to his cell. You know how he likes his accidents."

He nodded knowing that the Penguin would run right back and tell the Joker about Harleen's worry over Riddles. It would set him off worse than before. Especially since he still hadn't seen the doctor this week. There was no telling what the Joker would do when he heard about this, but Mateo was betting it would be bloody.

"Sure no problem, doc."

Harleen waited a moment until Mateo was gone and then turned to her patient. "Well, Oswald. Being this is our first session I'm going to start off with the basics."

He tugged at his pant legs, trying to find a comfortable compromise. Dr. Quinzel had in fact gotten him better fitting clothes, but they still were not up to his standards.

Gone were his three piece suites. Without a waist coat it was a bitch for him to keep him monocle on. Not to mention he keep misplacing the damn thing without his chain. But Arkham didn't allow you to have chains, or belts, or fucking shoelaces. Instead they turned gentlemen into street thugs, with their atrocious attire.

"Doctor, I can assure you my past is as boring as most. If not more so."

Her smile was warm, and it threw Oswald off. She wasn't even taking notes. They all took notes. Always scribbling away and never really hearing what you had to say. The woman before him was an odd creature indeed. He could see why Chuckles was drawn to her.

"I don't find anyone's past boring. As a matter of fact someone's past can paint a very detailed picture of who they are now."

Crossing his legs he settled in for what he hoped was an enlightening session. If his past is what she thought she wanted to hear then he would be a gentleman and oblige.

"Well, I was born Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot. My father died when I was just a baby and my mother became quite obsessed with me staying healthy."

Harleen hummed to let him know she was listening. Yet, she couldn't help but notice that he was noting his own history as if it was someone else's life. Oswald's detachment could mean a number of different things. But with his panache for enjoying the social scene it pointed to him being a sociopath. He was smooth too and that helped. 

If he wasn't convicted of his crimes Harleen would have thought that Oswald was just another well off man who owned some clubs in Gotham. He blended so well, it wasn't hard to see how he had gotten away with all he had for so long.

"My dear old mom, ran a bird shop. Being short and scrawny I was bullied so badly I became an introvert. Of course this facilitated my love of birds. So I would spend all my time at the shop with mom."

She leaned forward in her seat, thinking this might be the root to his problems with society. "Oswald, tell me about the bullying."

Her voice was soft and it drew his past pain out of him like a healing balm. Oswald wanted to tell her his darkest secrets, let her see the nightmares that plagued him as a child. Allow Dr. Quinzel to heal him the way some on the outside said she was curing Ivy and Riddles.

"As I said my dear, I was short and skinny. Not very athletic. It wasn't just the kids who were good for name calling, adults did it too."

He adjusted his monocle and went on. "Although it was the kids who chased me and beat me. Just like the Batman. Always chasing me. Always beating the hell out of me when a zap from a taser would do the trick."

Harleen heard the pain and loneliness behind his words. She also heard the same disdain for Batsy that her other patients had.

In her own way she could understand it. Hadn't her mother beat her when it wasn't necessary? Or worse still hadn't Jimmy forced her to do to him what other more willing women would have done. Instead they exerted their will upon those weaker than them to make themselves feel powerful.

"So you feel Batman is just another in a long line of bullies?"

Oswald made the most undignified sound Harleen had ever heard. "Another? No Batman isn't just another in the long line. He is the worst kind."

She eyed the man before her as she carefully worded her next question. "How so? You need to be more specific Oswald."

"Call me Ozzie, my dear."

Harleen nodded, "Go on, Ozzie."

Oswald stood and began to pace. Harleen allowed him that bit of freedom. He seemed to need it to get his thoughts in order. Most patients did their thinking better this way, and she never stopped them.

He made two circuits between the chair and window, finally turning back to face the doctor. Oswald opened his mouth a couple of times trying to say what exactly was on his mind. And there she sat perched on the edge of her seat just waiting for him to speak.

"Because he hides behind a mask. He uses the system to call what he does justice. Tell me who am I hurting by taking book? Or waking thugs worse than myself?"

"Well, you're breaking the law." Harleen tried to reason with him.

Oswald waved off her comment. "Of course I was. But was that any reason for the Bat to use excessive force?"

His words struck a chord within her. Harleen thought of all the times she hadn't wanted to go with Jimmy and how her mother had beat her because of it. Sure she had been disobedient, but that didn't give anyone the right to beat her senseless.

Shaking her head Harleen knew she needed to distance herself from what Ozzie had gone through. Theirs were two different stories. Ozzie was a criminal and she had been a hopeless little girl. No, they were two totally different people and she needed to stop allowing her patients to make her dislike Batman.

"I would like you to do some homework for me, so to speak..."

He eyed her as he leaned on the back of the chair. "Sure, doc."

"For our next session I would like you to draw a parallel between the bullies of your youth and those of your adulthood."

Harleen knew better than to use Batman as an example of the bullies he faced now. She was trying to treat Oswald, not feed into his paranoia that Batman was in fact just another bully.

"Consider it done."

Mateo came in and eyed the Penguin. He didn't like the fact that he was out of his seat and he knew damn well the boss wouldn't like it either. The Joker had given him strict orders that no other man was supposed to be trying to catch the doc's eye. And Mateo had a feeling that was just what the Penguin was trying to do.

"Everything ok here, doc?"

"Just fine. Ozzie is ready to head back now. Thank you for being so upfront in this session."

He bowed and cut a comical figure. "For a woman as fine as you, nothing is too much trouble."