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With The Joker, anything was possible.
Unless, of course, Batman got to The Joker first.
Bruce Wayne'd head slumped forward. He'd have to stop this and go to bed, any minute
now.
Any minute now.
Winter opened his eyes.
There had been no explosion, no bullet.
The Joker pressed the cold muzzle of the revolver against Winter's forehead and pulled
the trigger two more times. The hammer clicked on empty cylinders.
"Bang, bang," The Joker said as he pulled the revolver away.
"What are you doing to me?" Winter whispered.
"To whom?" The Joker replied graciously. "You don't exist anymore, do you? As I
recall it, you are no longer with us." He stepped back and waved at Dr. Andrews, who
now stood beside him. "We do have a new guest, however."
The doctor must have walked in while Winter had his eyes closed. Any small hope
Winter had had vanished the instant the doctor arrived. The electrical shocks always
started a moment later.
"There is no more Steven Winter," The Joker said.
"I don't see a Steven Winter," the doctor agreed.
"Doctor," The Joker asked, "if you will give him the injection?"
"Gladly." The doctor stepped forward. By now, Winter knew better than to flinch
away from the hypodermic needle.
"From this moment forward," the doctor remarked pleasantly as he grabbed Winter's
forearm, "you are Batman."
16
"Rise and shine!"
What? Dick Grayson groaned. What time was it? He felt like he hadn't slept at all.
There was light coming in from the small windows that ran along the upper third of one of
the walls, but that light was faint and tinged with pink, as if it was barely dawn.
He looked at his wrist. He sat up and saw his clothes where he had folded them neatly
on the table the night before. It wasn't there, either. His watch was gone.
He swung his feet off the old army cot and looked up at Tom, the group leader from the
night before, who seemed to be watching him with some amusement.
"Hey!" Dick complained as he lifted his clothes to make sure there was nothing
underneath. "Somebody took my watch!"
"Nobody stole anything, Dick," Tom explained patiently. "We put your watch in our
safe box after you fell asleep. We don't want any artificial distractions like time interfering
with our business for the church."
Dick had almost had enough of this. "So I can't have my watch?"
"Oh, certainly," Tom replied with far too much good cheer for this hour of the morning.
"We'll give it to you when you leave. But while you're participating in church activities, it
stays in the box. That's one of the rules around here."
Dick nodded. He had to be careful. He was so tired he might say something he'd
regret. He had to act as open as possible until he had a chance to explore the church.
The other men---mostly fellows around Dick's age---who had slept in this huge room
were up and walking around, retrieving their clothes from pegs on the walls. Dick guessed
there were close to three dozen people in here, with no place for privacy and maybe only a
hook on the wall for private possessions.
Besides watches, Dick wondered if there was anything else church members weren't
allowed to have. He quietly checked his pants as he pulled them on. The wallet still
bulged slightly in the back pocket. So they hadn't taken that. Dick would have to wait
until he was alone to check inside his wallet to see if they'd taken anything inside.
He unsuccessfully tried to stifle a yawn. He was so groggy, he didn't know how he
could stand.
"So!" Tom called to everybody in the room. "How about some breakfast?"
That sounded good. Dick realized he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon,
hours before he'd come to the church. That could be half of his problem right there. With
a good breakfast in him, he should be able to think much more clearly, even shake off this
grogginess.
He lined up with the others on one side of the room.
"We have a special treat for you this morning," Tom announced when everyone was in
his place. "We ended up making far too much for the party last night. So, this morning
we get to eat the leftovers!"
Everybody around Dick cheered as if that was the greatest news they had ever heard.
Dick hadn't really gotten a good look at the refreshments from the night before. The
spread must be pretty elaborate to get this sort of reaction.
Tom unlocked and opened the door. The others followed him out into the hall,
marching single file. As they paraded out of the room, everybody sang a repetitive,
four-line out of the room, everybody sang a repetitive, four-line song about how happy they
were it was morning.
In a funny sort of way, this all reminded Dick of summer camp.
They walked back to the main hall where the party had been held the night before. A
women's group, maybe slightly smaller than the men's contingent, waited patiently on the
far side of the hall for the males to file in. Sharon smiled and waved at Dick as he
stumbled into the room. How could she be so bright and happy this early in the morning?
Could she have discovered something in this church's philosophy that actually worked?
Dick looked over at the table, heaped with last night's frosted baked goods, and a pair of
clear glass bowls filled with a bright pink liquid. Apparently, they were going to eat these
sugary sweets and drink warm punch for breakfast. There wasn't everything else. And
this was what everybody was so excited about?
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