Will You Be My Daddy? ~Joker Fanfiction~

Thirty-Four

Arkham was a mess by the time Batman finally got there.

It had taken him far too long to slice himself down from the vines and escape Ivy's greenhouse before any others decided to latch on to his freed limbs. He'd hopped into the Batmobile that had been thankfully untouched and sped down the city streets as fast as possible in order to reach Arkham in time.

Like I said, it was in pandemonium when he arrived. There was a massive hole in the wall, for starters. This he entered as he ignored the struggling orderlies and doctors that were still alive. Most of the guards were lying dead on the floor. There were even people rolling in laughter on the ground in some areas, probably as a result of the Joker gas. The gas had gone off in some areas while bombs had gone off in others. Seeing all the destruction just made Batman rush all the quicker down the halls to Joker's cell, knowing that he was gone, but feeling like he needed to confirm it somehow.

Just as he'd feared, the door was blown open and the cell was empty. Bruce slammed his fist against the wall in frustration, cursing under his breath. He sighed, deciding that it would be best to canvas the cells and see if anyone else had slipped away during the chaos.

With a heavy heart, he had to accept that Joker had slipped through his fingers like sand yet again, taking Madeline with him to who knows where. Back to square one.

At least, he thought that until he exited Joker's cell and heard the crying from across the hall. It sounded like very young sobs, too young to be a worker, and not psychotic enough to belong to one of the inmates. Could it be?

Bruce dashed down and across the hallway to the crying, which as he got closer he managed to trace back to Riddler's cell. He frantically entered the passcode into the pad, yanking the door open as soon as it beeped. To his utter relief, it was indeed Madeline that he found sobbing on the cell floor.

She looked up at him when he entered, her pink and swollen eyes and nose as well as her tear-stained face clueing him into just how long she'd been crying. How long has she been locked up here?

This was not the first time that Madeline looked at Batman with fear in her eyes, and it probably wouldn't be the last, either. She didn't trust him because of Joker, and that was unlikely to change. But something else had. Why did Joker leave her here? What did she do—or not do—to tick him off?

"Daddy left me!" She released a loud sob, not caring who gave her comfort after her world had shattered.

Bruce had already gathered that much, but what he didn't know was why. Why would Joker abandon his asset after everything he'd gone through to keep her and the obvious obsession he had with her? Surely he didn't get bored. But why then did he lock the girl he'd claimed as his daughter in the cell of the man who tried to kill her?

Nothing was making sense, but when Madeline curled in on herself from the sheer weight of her sadness, Batman was forced into action. He strode forward and picked up the crying girl, who surprisingly didn't protest, and instead turned further into his firm embrace. His strength reminded her of her daddy. Remembering him just made her cry all the harder, tears sliding freely down her face and onto Bruce's armor.

Batman carried Madeline through and out the wrecked facility, keeping her secure in his arms. She didn't open her eyes once, eventually crying herself to sleep like the first time he'd held her as Bruce Wayne.

Bruce sighed. He had no idea what he was going to do with this little girl. She had no living relatives, and there was no way he would ever put her into the monstrosity that was the orphan and foster care system. More likely than not, she would wind up right back on the streets again or worse. Gotham's orphans were the lost and forgotten, targets of all kinds of shady business once they came of a useful age. That life would be worse for Maddie than one with the Joker. At least in that situation she'd be relatively well taken care of and safe, at least from everyone but the Joker.