Vacation's over

Joker stared at his bandaged hands, seated in the dark corner of the room. The sound of a mechanical heart rate monitor beat consistently in his ear. His teeth clenched, his eyes dimmed with life. When he woke up a week ago, the first thing he checked was his fingers. 

Joker was still in a groggy state, but that was the first thing that came into his mind. His hand. After all, the memory and pain while someone crushed one of his fingers etched in his mind. He even remembered them cutting them one by one and how he screamed until his throat started bleeding. 

It was not a bad dream. 

Now that the medicines in his system were lower dosage, and he had rested enough, Joker had to come to terms with his missing fingers. He didn't have problems with his missing toes, but his hands… losing one of them was akin to a death sentence. 

"And here you are…" Joker let out a scoff, shifting his sharp eyes on the man lying unconscious on the bed. "Being kept alive."