Arkham Days

We stood up off the sofa, making our way towards Scarecrow. Crane stood hair ruffled, with his back pressed against the door, and his glasses clutched in his hand.



"How bad are things?" Croc grunted.



"Devastatingly." Crane eyes locked with mine briefly before turning his head back towards Waylon. "The prisoners are taking up with the clown, he's using fear in ways I only studied about. He has them wrapped around his fingers. Even the guards are obeying his every wish."



"So...we gettin' out or what?" Croc leaned forward, tail twitching with excitement.



"Well, if that psycho's plan works I'm certainly not stickin' around." The Scarecrow smirked as Croc let out a low menacing chuckle. I looked back and forth between them.



"What plan? What exactly is going on?" They both turned to me, looking as though they had forgot I was still there.



"The Joker, he's planning to escape and he's taking all the inmates with him. They're buying everything he says." Crane walked to me, grasping my arms and pulling me towards him. "When the time comes we'll have to move fast."



I stared back and forth between them. The Joker had only been here one day and already he was planning an escape? The guy must be so far out of his mind that he really did belong in one of those padded rooms, and as far as I was concerned so did the two in front of me. They had already bought everything the Joker had said. Well, I wasn't and as stubborn as I knew I could be I wasn't budging. A gasp escaped my lips, as they both reached out seizing a shoulder each and dashing to the side of the door. I felt a callused clasp over my mouth stifling my cries of fury. Pounding rushing feet passed by the door. The steps were too heavy for that of the inmates light slip on shoes, they were definitely guards. We stood to the side a moment until the footsteps had faded completely. I jerked my arms out of their hold rushing away from them and turning around. I could feel my face burning, so I knew I had to be beet red by now.



"What do you think you're doing?!" I hadn't meant to scream. They winced their eyes glancing at the door to see if anyone had heard and was coming back. "Escaping? That's crazy! All that will happen is they will find you again. Not to mention what exactly do you plan to do once your out?! Your faces will be plastered everywhere! Everyone will be on guard scanning every face they see until they find you. And that is only if you escape! This place is not ridiculously huge, but it's on an island! I mean we are only on one quarter of the island the other parts." I shivered at the thought.



"The other parts?" Croc cut in. "Lucky, you've never been over there. I used to be chained in the basement in the Arkham Intensive Treatment area. Looks like something out of House on Haunted Hill."*



"I'm well aware of where we are, and as for the public? That's no problem for me," Scarecrow cocked his head to the side a smirk on his lips. " I've eluded police custody before."



"You don't think I'll be walking down the street do you?" Croc's tail gave a wide swing, knocking over a trash can. Scarecrow rolled his eyes, turning his head to his partner.



"Careful with that thing."



"Sorry." Croc lowered his head looking slightly a bashed. It was funny, I'd never seen him look anything but sinister. "So what's the plan?"



"We go about things like normal."Crane's voice took on it's normal smooth demeanor. "See the doctors, play nice with the guards, and then if Joker's plan works, and we see an opening we take it. We get out of here, and back to life. As for you," he turned towards me closing the few steps between us, "you'll stay quiet about it, and when I tell you you're coming with us." Croc gave a toothy grin lifting a hand to give a mocking wave. Crane turned his head towards Waylon, and with a jerk of his head motioned him out of the room.



"My clothes are a little big on you." I looked down at the baggy shirt and pants held up by some rope. "I'll try to get your clothes back. In the mean time you have an appointment with Dr. Quinzel."



"Quinzel? That's not my doctor. "I grabbed his arm stopping him from leaving. "My doctor is Dr. Rhyne." He shrugged wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me into him.



"Well, Dr. Rhyne is out. Apparently he had some problems with one of his patients and won't be back in for a while." I didn't need one guess to figure out which patient it was that had given him "problems". "Don't worry though, I'll be close by."



I nodded, and after I deep breath I turned to the door. My fingers had barely grazed the handle when I was violently turned in the opposite direction only to run into a pair of soft lips.



I stood there dumbfounded as his lips pressed against mine. With as much force as he had had in turning me around the kiss was not what I would have expected. His lips were soft and molded easily against mine. My hands shot out to push against his chest, but his arms were locked tightly around my back keeping me locked in place. His lips parted lightly against mine, my mouth following suit of its own accord. He pulled back looking down at me.



"You kissed back."



"Not on purpose." I tried to glare, I really did, but it was impossible. I was too embarrassed to look anything but red and puffy. He pulled his hand up ruffling my hair, an action which seemed to grow in popularity given my height. He moved past me pulling the door open and walking into the hallway to meet back with Croc.



"Oh," he turned back, "you'll need to be especially careful now so no wondering off by yourself. Stay around me." It was odd seeing him without his trade mark smirk plastered across his face. It was almost disturbing to see him genuinely smiling, I couldn't tell whether this was a trust worthy face or not. Owen certainly never thought so. "If I can't be there stay with Croc or at the very least Riddler. Now get to your appointment."



I shot past him making my way down the hall to the common room. I saw on the far wall two guards standing at the main door. I started towards them when out of the corner of my eyes I caught sight of the bright red and my feet stopped in mid stride. The Joker had been in my room.


Author's Notes

*the line of Croc's is actually referencing the new Arkham Asylum video game. I don't know about you, but I've already pre-ordered my collectors edition. It comes with -

Arkham Journal- 48 pages on the inmates
The game and behind the scenes disc
Code for extras
Full color manual
and 14" Batarang with stand.

It's 100.00 which seems like a lot, but considering that Halo 3 had a special edition with a master chief head for 100 and the head alone is worth 100 now I think it's worth it. Not to mention I can find plenty of uses for a Batarang