Disclaimer: I do not own Batman, or any of the characters from the comics or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Arkham Asylum. I knew this place. Everything i me told me I knew everything about it and the criminals it housed, and had housed, but I couldn't fathom why. Here I seemed so dead, but every time I walked by one of the cells, and i stared in at the captive faces a part of me lit up, and it was like I was myself. I knew everything about them, but I couldn't remember a single thing about myself. No doubts as to why I'm in here then. Of course, the fact that they had found me screaming naked in the middle of the street didn't help.
The man in front of me listened quietly, eyes determinedly focused on a small notebook he held out on his crossed legs, nodding and occasionally jotting down tidbits here and there as I tried to explain to him what was gong through my head. At last he looked up and with a short "Thank You, I think we made some progress", I was dismissed and sent back to my cell. The guard escorted me through a series of winding passage ways chatting casually with me as we walked back and forth. I'd only been here a week or so, but according to them I was the most compliant and as they put it the most "normal" person they had to watch over. So it was no surprise that they occasionally let me stand by myself in the halls while they took restroom breaks. They trusted me, I was a small girl of 109 lb., and was no threat to anyone. Some of the guards blatantly told me I was pretty, but I never saw it. I was short and thin with no chance of inheriting any kind of bust. I had thick dark hair, causing the guards to call me "crow", which I kept short cut to keep off my neck. I had bright colored green eyes which were hard to see through the small small almond shape, and dark stubby eyelashes. One of the guards, and Irish immigrant named Owen, told me the shape was called "mono-lid", and although it was typically found in Asians, that he had seen a lot of that shape when he ran into people from Scotland. Recently, Owen had made a habit of retrieving me from my cell for a few hours for a few games of poker with the other guards.
Of course being excepted by the guards wasn't always a good thing. True, they had become some of my closest friends, as far as I could remember, but most my time was spent in a cell or with the other inmates. The Riddler, or Nigma as he had asked me to call him, was the only one who really spoke openly to me. He didn't seem crazy to me, but when I asked Owen he would never give me any straight answers as to what he had done. Edward Nigma, was a tall lean man, with chest nut colored hair, that had an almost reddish tinge under the florescent lights. He wasn't what you called "friendly", but he was polite and very curious about my memory loss. He wasn't eager to share any of his past, which he informed me he could recall most accurately, but he did let it slip once of a time his father had beaten him for being smarter than he was.
Nigma was just one end of the spectrum, and even though most tried their best to ignore me, a select few tried their best to terrorize me almost every chance they got. An oddly deformed man by the alias "Killer Croc", and one who the guards told me was a former psychologist, made it an everyday routine to play practical jokes on me. They weren't too terrible, but I would choose Croc's pranks over the "Scarecrow"'. Croc's were a child's pranks and easy to brush off things like, throwing food, or tripping you in the hall. Scarecrow's pranks were far more frightening. His were well thought out, and meant to hurt. They were the kind that left you nervous and thinking about them all day long. Like once, I had gone into the showers by myself, there were only a few other girls in the ward, and they had finished leaving me in their by myself. I had stripped to take a shower, folding my clothes to the side and heading into the vacant tiled room, walking to the first faucet I saw and turning it on. The room was a large brown tiled room, that smelled oddly like ammonia and mildew. There were six faucets jutting out of the wall on either sides and no curtains, so that the guards could make sure there were no concealed weapons. I had only dipped my hands in the warm water, when I heard the sound of foots steps and a faint click before the room went completely black. I stood there frozen in place, listening for any signs of other life. A light padding across the floor let me know I wasn't alone. I had felt something rush past me and pull my hair, so I flung my arms out hoping to do some damage to my attacker. The wind was knocked out of me though when a large hard body tackled me to the floor and crushed me me into the ground. I summoned what strength I could and screamed as loud as possible. Seconds later the weight was gone, and the lights flicked on as the guards rushed in to see what was the matter. The culprit had vanished. I couldn't prove it, but the knowing smirk on Scarecrow's face told me he had something to do with it. How could someone so pretty be so mean?
"Caw! Caw!" I rolled my eyes and stilled my feet. I heard Owen's footsteps close the gap behind me.
"Hey Carrion Crow, where you headed?" The name didn't bother me after all I couldn't remember my own, and I would never tell him but I enjoyed the sound of his voice.
"Oh, you know. I'm thinking Hawaii. I could use the change in scenery." I liked the sound of his laugh too. He smoothed his brown hair, his hand sliding down to scratch his chin while the other rested on his gun.
"Ya? You think you can tan?" I smiled. He was right, I was too pale to tan, I just burned and then freckled, then resumed my pale exterior.
"I have dreams too, you know?" He chuckled. " I would like to think I could be a busty brunette, with a delightful sun friendly caramel complexion."
"You have big dreams."
"It's all I have." We continued to walk down the hall. I kept my head down, but I felt a blush creep up into my cheeks as he continued to stare at me.
"Well, I have to go get some rest," he paused a moment shifting awkwardly in place. "So, I will...see you tonight!" I smiled back at him nodding, watching him rock on his feet a moment, before turning and leaving. I continued down the hall alone, and waved at the man by the door as he pulled open the door to let me through. The "Den" as it had come to be called, was unusually loud today as all the prisoners were gathered in the center shouting and screaming. Normally I would have ignored it, Croc was often prompting some kind of fight out of somebody, but over on the side wall, Croc leaned an eerily unhappy look on his face, and by his side was Scarecrow. I searched around, and found Nigma seated in his cell, our eyes locking for a brief moment before they turned back to the circle of villains.
Cautiously I approached the group sliding in between excited inmates who were pushing into each other and yelling jeers like a kind of mad mosh pit. I began to make out two figures in the center, two men. The one who was obviously winning, was a strange man who I'd never seen before. Who his foot shot out kicking the man on the ground causing him to yell. He was another inmate obviously he had greasy brown hair, which looked like it had recently attempted to be stained green. He was tall and lean, but with more definition than Nigma, and obviously much faster. What skin that was showing out form the Asylum's regulation uniform, what could only be described as white scrubs, was riddled with scars, the most obvious of which were carved across his face. The man crawled on the floor trying to get away from his attacker and it was only then that I recognized him. The man on the floor was Ted, the janitor for this wing, a nice man with a good temperament, gray hair, and a family to feed. His nose was bleeding and he couldn't escape his attacker due to the mass of prisoners which blocked his every escape. Before I had time to think I was rushing into the middle, my fist flying and connecting with the assailant's face. The crowd stopped it yelling, and everyone stared as we stood in the center my body trembling as I slowly began to realize what I had done. The man stared at me with a look that made me want to crawl back into the hall I had come from, and leave everything here behind.
"That-ah wasn't very nice." His voice gave me a chill, not just it's odd sound but the unusual way he pronounced his words.
"Neither is beating up an innocent man." I straightened my back trying to appear tough, but it only made him laugh.
"I guess that depends on your definition of innocent." He turned his head and as his eyes fell on the individual inmates surrounding us, they began to move away stumbling over each other in attempt to get away as fast as possible. The man approached me slowly coming in his faces inches from my own. He was truly frightening, and he was very aware of that.
"Well, sense you seem so eager to, ah, jump in between things," he smacked his lips. "May-ah-be, I should just carry on with you." I stood firm, trying to come up with a cleaver retort or at least something seemingly witty, when I felt an arm creep around my shoulders as I was pulled into someone.
"Not so fast Joker," I felt a chin rest on my head, and the smooth voice of Dr. Crane above me. "She's taken. Find your own." I watched the Joker lean back and laugh, before turning around, and walking away. I stood not sure what to think. Scarecrow, had never helped me before, why would he help me now? Was this another one of his tricks?
"I wouldn't relax quiet yet, if anything that'll only make him more determined." Crane had released my shoulder and walked around to my side.
"More determined about what?" I mentally winced as I heard my voice give a crack.
"More determined to kill you," Scarecrow glanced over at me, "or worse."
This is a little dabble. It was originally meant to be one of those "out of world" experiences, but the story doesn't seem to want to cooperate with my plans. I'm not quiet sure what the pairings are going to be, because I never planned to have Scarecrow play a larger part, but I'm not sure he likes the back light. I originally intended this to be another JOKER/OC to bid my time with in between updating my other stories Golden Years and Time to be Serious, and writing my own original piece. Well let me know what you think. Should I go on? Or delete it?