Chapter 8: For the Better
Chapter 8: For the Better
“Excellent shot Bruce,” said Doctor Alejandro as the ball landed in the hole.
“I try,” said Bruce, grinning, “Sometimes I get lucky.”
“I know what you mean. Just last week some of the inmates were nearly bouncing off the walls. Now I’m constantly getting calls from Arkham saying that they’re as calm as anything. Sometimes things just click.”
As he said this Alejandro tapped his ball and it went smoothly through the grass to land in the cup.
“So it’s true what I’ve been hearing about Arkham lately?” asked Bruce, lining up for his next shot.
“I don’t know what you could have heard. But if it was anything about the inmates calming down, I’d say that the rumors have been confirmed. They seem to be better adjusted, more polite, happier, and in some of the more normal once I’d almost say that they’re nicer than some of my neighbors.”
“How’s Harvey?”
“Surprisingly well. In fact he’s actually stopped carrying around that coin of his.”
“What about the more dangerous ones? Ivy, Croc, the Joker?”
“You seem rather curious.”
“Why shouldn’t I been? They are people after all.”
“You’re right, sometimes I think people forget that about them. They’re actually doing better as well. Ivy has taken to meditation, Croc has started bird watching and even the Joker seems less violent than before.”
“Any idea why the sudden change?”
“Honestly Bruce I’m just as confused as you are. Most of them keep talking about these little visitors in the night but we can’t get much out of them accept a name, maybe a brief story or two. Croc calls his visitor Shy. He says she’s the one who got him interested in bird watching. As for the Joker, he doesn’t seem to mention his little visitor at all, and if we bring it up he gets very quiet. I’d be worried about them if it weren’t for the change in their behavior. If these little visitors do have something to do with it I’d love a hundred more of them.”
“You’re not going to be releasing anyp- anyone from Arkham yet, are you?”
“Don’t worry Bruce. We don’t let anyone out until we’re a hundred and ten percent sure they are sane and ready to reintegrate into society.”
“Good just so I know I can sleep a little safer tonight,” said Bruce, sending the ball flying.
Dr. Alejandro exited the elevator and greeted one of his nurses, “How are the patients doing today?”
“Honestly Dr. I don’t even know what to say, we let them out for their free time today and Scarecrow started a square dance a couple minutes later.”
“A square dance?”
“They turned on the radio. Since then they’ve been laughing and singing. Listen.”
Dr. Alejandro put his clipboard down and walked up to the window to see into the inmate’s free-time area.
Poison Ivy was sitting on the floor cross-legged doing some kind of chant, while Dr. Crane was sitting off to one side eating an apple and Two-face, Harley, Croc, Bane, and another inmate Alejandro couldn’t identify were singing a song.
“Who’s the one in the center?” asked Dr. Alejandro.
“I said the same thing when I saw him this morning,” said the nurse, “It’s the Joker.”
Alejandro’s eyes widened in shock as he recognized that the person in the center of it all, singing the loudest, with the happiest smile on his face was indeed the Joker.
Because I love to make you smile, smile, smile, yes I do.
It fills my heart with sunshine all the while, yes it does.
Cause’ all I really need’s a smile, smile, smile, from these happy friends of mine.
The song stopped playing on the radio and the announcer came on.
“That was The Smile Song as you probably all know,” she said, “Umm, we’ll be taking a short break now to ahh…”
Another, more cheerful, voice broke in saying, “Recalibrate the song thingies. No need to worry though, nothing suspicious is happening. Perfectly normal radio-y things going on here.”
“Right… Well, we’ll be right back after this.”
The radio cut to static and the inmates sat down and started talking pleasantly amongst themselves.
“What happened to him?” asked Dr. Alejandro, still staring at the Joker.
“We have no idea. But whatever it was, it must have happened sometime last night.”
“The little visitors,” said Alejandro under his breath.
“What was that Dr.?” asked the nurse.
“Have the inmates said anything more about their ‘little visitors’?”
The nurse was taken aback for a second, then shook her head, “No. However while the Joker did mention something about being ‘saved’ last night; he never mentioned who did the saving.”
“Have they said anything out of the ordinary (besides singing)? Any unusual phrases, or new names?”
The nurse looked at the inmates for a second and then said, “Now that you mention it several of them have accidentally dropped a rather unusual pronoun here and there.”
“What pronoun?”
“They’ll replace the second part in words like ‘nobody, anybody, everyone, and someone’ with the word ‘pony’.”
“You mean like any-pony?”
“Yes.”
“Strange. Keep an eye out for the next time they say it, and ask them about that.”
“Certainly, Doctor.”
“Oh and by the way nurse…”
“Yes?”
“You are looking lovely today.”
“Why thank you Dr.”
The nurse left with a smile on her face and Dr. Alejandro stood looking at the inmates for a couple more minutes. He never even noticed when he stared to smile.
Things really were changing for the better.
Batman stood on the ledge looking out over the city. From now on it would be safe from the lunatics who had once been its greatest threat.
Maybe even he had learned something in all of this…
But he’d never tell the white one that.
There was a rush of wind and someone stepped up behind him.
“How have things been going Bruce?”
Batman narrowed his eyes.
He knows how much I hate it when he calls me Bruce out in the open like that.
Then a smile spread across his face.
“Things have been better. Say, you wouldn’t mind doing me a favor would you?”
“What kind of a favor?”
“Nothing that large. There’s a small box up at my place. I was wondering if you could keep it safe for me for a little while. Somewhere I could get to it easily. Your apartment maybe.”
“Ok Bruce. That shouldn’t be a problem.”
The figure launched himself from the building with his usual flamboyance and flew off towards Wayne Manor red cape flapping in the wind.
“Good luck,” said Batman under his breath, trying to hold back a smile, “You’ll need it.”
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Silly silly Batman... you really think your going to "punish" Clark by sending him Sunbutt? Someone he likely can totally relate to in terms of having overwhelming power and responsibility and is the embodiment of the very thing that gives him power? Superman is for lack of a better term, super well adjusted Celly is someone he can relate to on even terms, he'll LOVE you for this.
Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh
6272081 Yes! That is probably why I am not going to be writing a sequel to this. Batman has problems. Superman... Not so much. The only thing I could really come up with was teaching Lex the magic of friendship, or Pinkie beating him at chess. Either way Supe's not going to learn much from old Sunbutt.
6272223 It's not that Supes has friendship problems, he has control problems
and honestly, giving Celestia to Clark basically gives him a power boost. solar radiation and all that.
and Luthor won't accept friendship, only subjugation and absolute power. sooo... Sombra or Tirek?
6272223 Sequel?
Great story. Definitely worth a 'thumbs up'.
Is there going to be a sequel?
Please please say yes!
SLFCM"OSUNOSICH:S
THANK YOU!! OH MYSFONSCOCISCMSCOS I LOVE THIS FIC!!
Sorry... for my over-the-top behavior.... I'm kinda.... feminine no-no topic stuff.... Sorry.
6412672 WE NEED A SEQUEL
6275896 SEQUEL!! WE NEED A SEQUEL!!! Btw, hi!
6272223 Then continue with our old friends! I need to see Hatter, tho...
6581852 He said he might not have time for one.
6581859 But he also told me that he's making a voice-over of the fanfic and will send me the link when it's done!
I count that as a sequel!
6581876 Oh. Okay.
LOVED IT! Great story and very well written.
Loved how you handled this story! I honestly didn't think it would be possible to reform the Joker but boy udid you prove me wrong! I absolutely loved this fic and will be looking forward to more of the stories you two create in the future! I especially loved the concept the fic was built around and hope to see more of it one day!
7069377 Thanks. Plus I've been giving a little more thought to the whole Superman crossover business. I'm not saying I'm going to do it. But I'm considering it.
Beautiful story
I think that a Superman crossover would be just awesome
Awesome story, great work, hope there is a sequel!
7333003 Honestly, I was just writing at full speed at that moment, and the first thing that came into my head was "Derpy and Clayface! That's funny, right?"
What happened to Riddler "Edward Nygma"?
He is my favorite villain next to Joker and you completely forgot about him.
Did Twilight get him to reform or did he escape, you literally did two scenes with him and forgot about him dude.
C'mon i know he's not that popular but he deserves a chapter at least.
I thought that seeing Edward try to be more friendly would be interesting and entertaining.
7541446 Sorry about that. Nygma seemed like an easy convert to me, so I didn't devote as much time to him as I probably could have. And frankly I'm kind of glad I didn't because I couldn't do his voice very easily in the audio reading.
In hindsight I wish I could have added more to this story. But isn't that always the case?
7937476 I'm sorry you feel that way, but I stand by what I wrote.
Croc, Bane, Two-face and Clay-face are all tough and violent. They did not see kindness coming.
Poison Ivy is a environmental maniac, for that she gets the laid-back stoner.
The Joker is a mad genius who, while he appears oblivious, is highly focused on what's going on around him. He would, of course, hear what's going on outside his cell, and come up with a plan for how to deal with what he thinks is coming.
The last thing to would expect is someone as crazy as him, who doesn't want to secure him (like Batman), but rather cure him... at any cost!
She does whatever it takes to heal him, which first means breaking the insane shell he's built around himself.
Mostly, though, this was just meant to be a comedy fic to laugh at and enjoy for its nonsensical nature.
Sorry, if that's not what you were looking for. Still, I wish you the best.
Well, don't sell yourself short. I feel Pinkie was misused, but other than that, I enjoyed this, and I'm interested to read some of your other stories, seeing as you have a lot of very, shall we say, unexpected crossovers. :)
7939679 Thanks. The reason we chose those crossovers is because that's what we grew up with. Never had cable or TV, so our parents would just get us seasons of Gilligan's Island or MacGyver.
So when my sister and I started watching MLP and reading the fanfictions, Gilligan's Island was the first thing that came into my head when my sister suggested we write something.
By the way, I checked out your page and I've put several of your stories on my 'read it later' shelf.
I really need to start checking out fanfictions again.
7940338
I'll tell ya right now, my first fic ain't all that good. XD But I appreciate the interest!
nice! i hope ot read more
Huh? This didn't cause me any pain at all to read! OH GOD I'M DEAD! nope Or on drugs? nope
Neat.
8104659 Did it really look that dumb?
7957711 i hope ot write more.
8104838 Read a lot "dumb" things poorly written. Well... used to. When you're "forced" to humor people's cross-over fetishes, hope for sanity becomes a dream. You accept the nightmare. This was like walking though dark murder dungeon and into a friendly store to resupply. You are surprised because you figure it's all bad (cross-overs) and it doesn't make sense why there's a store in the middle of this death trap (cross-overs).
Batman is an universe that could mesh well with MLP:FiM. They're both nuts and are about the characters. What you did worked.
I absolutely love this. This is my second time reading it. It's really great
.
8104838
ok, now i need the super-sequel
how'd things go on the Big Blue Boyscout's end?
10153476
Working on that. It's the next story I'll be dropping.
10153486
sweet
Now that was a perfect story.
This story is well it's a funny concept yet somehow it borderlines to disturbing levels to the point I am creeped out actually.
This was absolutely brilliant.
Shame we never got any Jervis Tech, Mary Louise Dahl, or Arnold Wesker though.
Actually, would Hugo Strange be possible? Hmm.
Farmer Brown was never going to happen, although I do think he would hit off with the Apple Family.
And Roxy Rocket would be interesting to tackle. How do you convince someone there's more to life than stunts? Especially when they failed to do it in the actual show.
This was so good and I can't wait for the sequel!
AI Review: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/217075/ai-reviews/thread/522755/to-cure-insanity-please-insert-ponies-by-no-one-and-nobody-75-10