Chapter One: Several Encounters

Several hums sounded in the silence of the cell. The hums belonged to a, what would seem, innocent girl, who lay in depths of despair on the concrete ground of her cell, head resting neatly on her forearms. Who would realise the madhouse would be so.. boring. Usually, this was the time of day she'd try and flirt her way out of the cell or try and tease the guards standing around her cell. But today? They weren't even there. It would be fairly easy to escape, apart from the great big electric fence surrounding her. Hm. What to do, what to do.

Zap.

The glistening blue of the metal around her shut off, becoming a dull grey. Her eyes snapped open. They never turned off the electricity, not even to give her recorded patient interviews. She jumped up from her spot, her mind reeling as she ran to the door, overcome with dizziness. It must be a trap. "Who's there?" Footsteps sounded from all around her, but she couldn't see a figure.

Slam!

A figure dropped onto the meshy ceiling of the cell, the way he was crouching reminded her of a spider. A huge, red painted smile shone down on her, and out of surprise, she fell back onto the floor.

"Coo-wey! You know if you're ever in a scary movie, toots, you should never say 'who's there?', it's a death trap."

"Joker." She snarled angrily.

"Ah, she knows my name, must be a lucky day for me." He made his way down the side of the cell. His eyes were lingering on me. "Prettier than the goons mentioned."

"What do you want?" The girl turned her back to the Joker, folding her arms and shielding herself away from his creepy, leering eyes. Joker chuckled. She reminded him of a little child in a strop. Joker skipped around the round the cell, attempting to attract her attention as he spoke.

"I've been told a lot about you, little Reese Bridges." He emphasised her name, making her wince. "Red."

"How do you know my name?" She growled.

"That's unimportant, classified information. It seems that you have a little admirer here at Arkham." He laughed. His hands were linked through the cell, clutching onto it as he peered through the mesh. Red's cheeks flamed up. "Now I see why they call you Red." She leapt at the mesh, which Joker had unlinked himself from and cowered back. "Zeesh. Anger. Not good."

"What do you want, clown?" She asked, almost pouting.

"I need a favour."

"Why should I do anything for you?" She raised her eyebrow, before adding, "and why me?"

"You're the girl with the fire obsession, right?" He grinned, one might call a Devil's smile. She shivered.

"I don't do that shit anymore, Joker. I've changed." He reached into his pocket, before revealing a box of matches. He pulled out a single match and lit it.

"Are you sure?" He asked evilly. He held the flame at arms length from him, and Red's eyes followed it, mesmerised, as if she was in a trance. Her inner pyro was burning up, literally, if only she could touch it.. So.. Pretty.

Joker blew a little air on the match and it burnt out. "I didn't think so." Red snapped back to reality.

"So.. What do I get in return, if I help you?" She wondered aloud, as she began to pace up the cell.

And in a hoarse voice, he answered, "Your freedom."

Red began running. She had agreed to the Joker's proposition, and she hated going back on her word, but she didn't want any part of this. It had literally been minutes since the agreement and she had already been spotted, sprinting down the halls, by none other than Edward Nigma on the secret cameras he'd scattered all about the Asylum. Which he then passed the message onto Joker, but there was no turning back now, no matter what. If Joker caught her, he'd hand her over to Zsasz, or worse, Killer Croc.

Ding da ding dong. "Joker here. Find the girl. If she escapes, she'll ruin EVERYTHING! Also, any news on the Bat's whereabouts?"

Shit. The whole of Arkham Asylum was now searching for her.

Oop, shit, Zsasz. She hid behind the corner of the wall, and after a few seconds she peered round, to check on his whereabouts. Other than the homicidal murmuring to himself, he was placing a recently deceased guard with a slit throat in a realistic posture. She raised her eyebrow.

"..Let's put.. you.. Here." He said, lifting an arm and placing it on the keyboard on the desk, as if he were typing. With a second to spare, Red crept past him to the other corner of a wall. "Eh?" He said aloud, his eyes pricking up. He span around and scanned the room with those crazed eyes. Thinking he must be hearing things, he went back to his masterpiece. Red let out a sigh of relief and opened the unlocked door to one of the Doctors offices, maybe she'd find some sort of help there, a phone maybe? But instead, she found an older man sitting at his desk, a pen lightly touching the plain piece of paper.

"Excuse me? Doctor?" She said quietly, loud enough for him to hear, but not too loud to startle him. He was unresponsive, so Red walked closer to the desk, a lantern flickering. The paper he was writing on was filled with large lettering, written in red. We're all a little insane. "Sir?" She tried again, touching the chair lightly, which in return span around quickly. The body of a man was left posed, his eyes were rolled back into his head, his mouth gaping open, and a hole in his chest where his heart had been ripped out and thrown on the desk.

She was about to let out a blood-curdling scream, before a hand clamped over her mouth. "Shh- We wouldn't want to attract our dear Victor Zsasz, now would we?" He said softly, breathing in her scent. "Now tell me, what you're really afraid of?" His hand tightly placed over her mouth, he rolled her head to the left and gently pierced her neck with his needled glove. She let out a small gasp before he dropped her to the ground. Ooh Joker was going to be happy with this.

"And at the end of fear, oblivion."

A.N: Soo.. My first chapter! What do you think? More importantly, what do you think of Red? Is she.. cliche? Or anything? Do you like her?

So many questions I want to ask you all, AH. So if you've read this, please Review, cos you're all amazing.

So next chapter: A nightmare, Harley Quinn and a change of clothes.