Arkham Days

 

I stared in the mirror, green against green, waiting. Like staring myself down in the tiny mirror would do me any good. I closed my eyes hoping beyond hope that the next time I opened my eyes I would recognize the stranger staring back. Taking in a deep breath, I let the air brace my lungs, and then slowly let it escape out past my lips. Hesitantly, I cracked my eyes open.

 

"Damn." I sighed letting my head drop on my hands. I couldn't help the groan that escaped as I recalled just how little time I had left till my deal with the devil would be complete, and my life as "indentured servant" would commence.

 

I caught another glimpse of myself in the mirror, my dark hair tussled in my eyes from a few nights of not brushing. Now that I thought about it, not washing either. 

 

Great. So not only was I the crazy clueless idiot who went around making unreasonable deals with the local psychopath, but now I was the DIRTY crazy clueless idiot who went around making deals with psychopaths. Perfect. 

 

I ran my fingers through my short hair. Regardless of whether or not I could remember my identity was no reason to neglect cleanliness. 

 

"You, ma'am, are an idiot." I said peering back into the mirror. I glanced at the clock. Almost morning. The game would start again, the search for my identity would be on, and like the last few days I would more than likely wind up where I started, back in my cell muttering insults to myself over the sink.

 

"Talking to yourself now, Crow?" I spun on my heel to be greeted by the crooked grin of my Irish night guard, Owen. "Maybe you've been in here too long, eh?"

 

"What are you doing here?" I couldn't help the grin that parted my lips at the sight of him. "Your life not up par, you gotta slum it with inmates?"

 

My stomach gave a slight flutter, as he chuckle turning his head down to the ground, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. His eyes came up to meet mine, the stubble on his cheeks not quite enough to conceal the tiny dimples as his lips parted in a toothy grin. God, he had great teeth. 

 

"So, I hear you just can't keep out of trouble." I rolled my eyes. 

 

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm never any trouble. I just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." I turned away from him slightly, turning my nose up as though he had offended me with his comment.

 

"Not from what I hear." His steel-toed boots landed heavily on the ground with each step he took towards me. 

 

"Oh? I find it hard to believe you've heard anything." I smirked up at him as he peered down at me. 

 

"What makes you say that?"

 

"You'd have to actually come to work to hear things like that, which of course, are completely untrue."

 

"Word travels fast when you talk to walls, and walls hear ever-y-thing." His hand slid up my neck his fingers tugging lightly on the end of my ear. "You have pierced ears." 

 

"Do I?" I pulled my head from his hand swiveling against the sink to get a better look in the mirror. My fingers fidgeted with my ear lobe moving back and forth over the little punctured piece of flesh. "Guess they are. Never noticed."

 

"How can you not notice?" He shook his head.

 

 

"I don't know. I learn new things about myself everyday it seems." I grinned, turning, and walking around him.

 

"And where do you think your going?" He turned following me towards the glass door.

 

"Well, now that I have a guard here I can take a shower." He grinned walking up behind me and shoving me lightly out the door.

 

"Ah, so you're just using me, huh?"

 

"Pretty much." I walked out, not looking back. It wasn't far to the showers, but the few minutes there had been the most pleasant I'd had in a few days. I walked through the door. My fingers flicked towards the wall, turning the lights on and enveloping the room in dull lighting. I turned to see Owen standing behind me, motioning for me to lift my arms.

 

"Seriously?" 

 

"Come on, now. Can't have you doing anything shady in here." I rolled my eyes lifting my arms up, allowing him access. I bit my lip and stared up at the wall, trying to concentrate on anything, but the feel of his hands traveling across my waist and down the sides of my legs. Slipping his fingers under the hem of my pants, his calloused fingers wrapped around my ankles, before dipping down towards my feet. 

 

"Shoes." Before the word even fell from his lips I had begun slipping my feet from the thin canvased shoes. He briefly peered inside the shoes before, standing back up and nodding. "You're good. I'll be outside."

 

He turned and headed back out, as I turned and headed towards the nearest faucet. I stripped quickly and headed in. Grabbing the tiny bottle of shampoo and squeezing a generous amount I began lathering my hair.

 

Gosh I needed this! After the past couple days I was nothing but raw nerves.  It had crossed my mind once or twice to just try and back out. I mean really, what could he do inside a asylum with guards constantly watching our every moves? Or at least that's what I thought until it became painfully obvious that the Joker had methods of getting to people. To make matters worse, my list of friends were slowly dwindling. After I agreed, it seemed like everyone was avoiding, which I guessed was mainly due to the clown. Edward had agreed to help me, but it became fairly clear to me that the Joker had intimated him in some way. Every time the Joker came into the room, Edward would get really tense and hushed. Plus, I couldn't tell him everything about my sudden interest in my identity, but given Nigma's high intellect and the way he eyed me nervously at the end of each failed day, I knew he knew. Of course with the Joker watching my every move I couldn't confirm this. 

 

Edward wasn't the only one the Joker had gotten to. Jervis practically ran in the opposite direction every time he saw me. Oswald had been paroled. Catman and his posse also did their best to steer clear of me. That didn't bother me so much given we were never that close. What did bother me was that the two allies I was planning on being the most help, Scarecrow and Croc, couldn't seem to keep themselves out of solitaire long enough to be any help. The only people aside from Ed that had any interest in talking to me anymore were Dr. Rhyne, who I now know isn't really helping, and the newly inaugurated Maxiimillian Zeus. Yes, Zeus, like the greek god, who the man literally thought he was. The ruler of the Gods, he had told me, does not have time to spend with mere mortals. Oh ya, he's going to be sooooo much help. 

 

"Oh damn!" I squinted my eyes as the shampoo ran down my face, one eye burning from the contact. From behind me I could hear the door creak open. 

 

"Everything good in there?" Owen's voice echoed through the tile room.

 

"Ya, just some soap in my eye." I could hear his chuckle as the door closed. I turned, letting the water run the shampoo away from my eyes. 

 

Another day. I tried not to think more about it. I was just going to walk out of here, find Edward and start again. We hadn't had much luck making any progress. After all we were inmates. Not like we had all that many resources. We had asked others, but no one seemed willing to talk. If we had access to Dr. Rhyne's main office that would be one thing. We'd be able to plunder his files and get all the info we needed, but we'd already tried. There was no way for us to get there. The only ones who had access to that office were Dr. Rhyne and a few of the gua-----!!!!

 

Why hadn't I thought of it before?!

 

"OWEN!"

 

 

 

Author's Notes:

 

I am so sorry! I didn't realize I had let time get that far away from me. I'm back though. Trying to catch up and get things moving again. Half way through the next chapter, which is good, given this one was more filler than anything. Sorry again for that folks. Review and let me know what you think. Thank you for reading!