DISCLAIMER: I do not own Young Justice. Anyone telling you otherwise should be shot on sight. Heck, don't even wait that long.
IMPORTANT NOTE PLEASE READ BEFORE BEGINING: This story is a SEQUEL to my previous Young Justice fanfic "Worst Case Scenario." Please read the original before reading this one. Not only will you have no freaking idea what's going on, but this story contains significant spoilers for the original, and trust me, you're going to want to experience the first one spoiler-free.
Thank you.
Worst Case Scenario: Madhouse
Chapter 1: The Island
Gotham City
December 30, 02:38 EDT
The island was quiet.
This was a rare occurrence. The various inhabitants of the island were as rambunctious as college students, often staying up late into the night. And their guardians could not let the inhabitants out of their sight.
The island had had this purpose, or something like it, for over one hundred and fifty years as the city had grown up around it. In some ways, things had changed. The fences were electrified. Cameras dotted the grounds. The numbers of guardians had continued to increase, as did the number of inhabitants.
But in many ways, things were the same as they had been in the beginning. As large and metallic as the city had become, the island's purpose had remained the same.
It was were the city sent its damned.
The island had seen many things. Many cruelties. Every form of insanity imaginable, both from the inhabitants and the guardians. The island did not care.
As long as the city existed, the island would be needed. And as long as the island was needed, it would continue to serve its purpose.
The island did not notice the small boat that appeared at one of its old, abandoned docks. The island did not notice the cameras watching the dock deactivate, the sensors shut down. The island did not see the five humans step from the boat and onto the rotting wood. It did not notice the woman in the white coat walking out to meet them.
The island did not care.
Arkham Island had seen far stranger things.
The woman looked around nervously as the new arrivals approached her. All of the cameras were down, but if somehow anyone saw them...
"Is everything prepared?" asked one of the men, bald with a short greyish beard, his grip tightening on the metallic attaché case handcuffed to his right arm.
"Y-yes, Professor Strange" said the woman. "I deactivated security on this part of the island just like you asked. No one knows you're here. The patient is in Interview Room 401. Security won't notice for at least an hour."
"Wonderful, Penelope" said Hugo Strange, smiling and adjusting his white lab coat. "A job well done."
"Is that all?" she asked.
"For the moment" said Strange, walking forwards. "Gentlemen, this is Dr. Penelope Young, a new resident psychologist at Arkham Asylum, and an old student of mine."
Young nodded. "I wouldn't be here without your help, Professor."
"No you wouldn't" said Strange, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I advise you to remember that. Now come along. We have business to attend to."
"I really should get back to my rounds" Young said.
"Nonsense" replied Strange. "It is the graveyard shift. You will not be missed if you take a minute to indulge me."
"A-alright" Young stammered. "Whatever you say, Professor."
"That's a good girl" said Strange, walking off of the dock. "Gentlemen?" he said to his companions, gesturing for them to follow. Young found them to be strange. They were wearing blue uniforms with caps just like the normal asylum guards, but one of them (the one with dirt-brown hair) looked around blankly, barely watching where he was stepping. The second one had dark hair and a short goatee and was carrying another metal case. He was glaring at her like he was suspicious. Yeah, because she was the one breaking into a maximum-security mental facility. The third was a big guy (by normal human standards, not meta-human standards) with greyish hair and a beard. He was smiling to himself in a confident manner, which unnerved Young more than the suspicious guy. Lastly, there was the weird one. Guy number four had pale, almost greyish skin and weird catlike eyes. He seemed to be smiling to himself as well as he pulled down his cap, concealing any hair he might have.
"Are you coming, Penelope?" Strange asked.
"Uh, yes" said Young, realizing that she was staring. She hurried (while simultaneously trying to look like she wasn't hurrying) to catch up.
"Excuse me, Professor" she said, pulling him aside as they entered the hallways of the asylum. "I thought you said you just needed to speak with the patient for a covert research project. Why do you need them?" She pointed her head in the direction of the other four men.
The black haired man seemed to hear her and scowled, but Strange dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
"I assure you, Penelope, that nothing untoward is going on. We merely require some information that only this particular patient can provide."
"Y-you're not breaking him out, are you?" Young asked. "That wasn't a part of the deal!"
"Penelope, please, you're being hysterical" said Strange, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We are not hear to remove the patient from the asylum. He won't even leave the Interview Room."
"You promise?" Young asked, realizing that she was sounding like a six-year-old but not caring. If she assisted in a breakout at Arkham, her career would be over before it had begun.
"Of course" said Strange, giving a reassuring smile. "Would I lie to you?"
Young started to say "Of course not" but stopped halfway through. Strange ignored her and kept walking.
They had almost reached their destination when two uniformed guards rounded the corner.
"Dr. Young?" asked one of them, surprised and confused. "What are you doing down here? What's going on?"
The black-haired and grey-haired men both tensed, as if reaching for weapons, but Strange calmly put up his hand to stop them.
"Psimon?" he asked.
The grey-skinned guy gave another smirk and stepped forwards, pulling off his hat to reveal a somehow-transparent skull, brain clearly visible. Dr. Young suddenly got rather queasy.
"Psimon says that you both should go back to your patrol" the psychic said, staring at the guards. "You have not seen any of us, nor anything strange in this part of the facility."
"He's right" said one of the guards to the other, a blank look on his face. "I didn't see any of them."
"Neither did I" said the second guy. "Let's get back on patrol."
"Thank you both" said Psimon, replacing his cap as the two walked off as if nothing had happened. Dr. Young took a deep breath and willed her heart to slow back down to normal speeds. The black-haired man and grey-haired man relaxed, a cone of bluish ice retreating from the grey-haired man's hand. The last guy simply stood there, staring straight ahead and swaying slightly. He hadn't reacted the entire time.
"Come along" said Psimon, continuing on. The brown-haired man shuffled forwards, followed by the rest of the group.
Soon they reached their destination: Interview Room 401. It was really two rooms; the interview room proper and the observation room, equipped with a two-way mirror so that the doctors could keep an eye on the patient.
Said patient was a short man with disheveled blond hair, a standard orange Arkham jumpsuit and a small green top hat. Technically the hat was against regulations, the patient had proven so difficult to deal with without it that an exception was granted. He was sitting at a table (the only furniture in the room) looking around nervously.
"Well, let's not keep him waiting any longer" said Strange, walking up to the door. "Mr. Merlyn, Psimon, if you would take Penelope to the nearest security office and ensure that nothing... problematic occurs?"
"I-I really should stay here, with the patient" Young said.
"I assure you, Penelope, I have everything under control" said Strange. He paused for a moment. "I should warn you, though: These two do not have as much faith in you as I do. It would be wise to ensure that they had no reason to suspect that you might be a... problem."
"What would happen if they did?" Young asked, not sure if she wanted to know and VERY sure that she was getting into something way over her head.
"You know Psimon?" Strange said, gesturing to the other man. "Do you know what he is?"
Young took a breath. She'd never seen one in person, but the answer was obvious. "He's a psychic."
"Yes," agreed Strange. "Yes he is. So I would advise not upsetting him."
"Or he'll kill me with his mind?" Young asked. She really didn't want a yes answer, of course. She just wanted to be absolutely sure of what a terrible idea agreeing to this was.
"Don't be ridiculous" said Strange, stepping closer to her. "He would never do something like that to a former student of mine. He'd merely dig into your brain, uncover all of your worst fears and memories and play them back until you snap and, well, the doctor becomes the patient." Strange's face was a mere inch from hers. Psimon stood behind him, smiling to himself. "But that's not going to happen, is it, Penelope?"
"No, Professor" she squeaked.
"Wonderful!" said Strange, clapping his hands in delight. "Now, you should hurry along. It's about time I spoke with the patient."
Young nodded meekly and walked away, Psimon and the black-haired man ("Merlyn") on either side. The grey-haired and brown-haired men stayed behind. The brown-haired one staring blankly at a wall. Young really didn't know what his problem was, but she had other things to worry about.
"You sure know how to get a point across, Strange" said Joar Mahkent, AKA Icicle Sr.
"She's a good girl" said Strange as Young, Merlyn and Psimon disappeared down the hall. "She just needs a little... reinforcement every so often."
"Well, you better get talking to our boy in there" said Icicle, gesturing towards the patient on the other side of the two-way mirror. "I'll keep an eye on mister talkative over here." The brown-haired man continued to stare at the wall, apparently oblivious to their conversation.
"Very well" said Strange, picking up his attaché case and entering the room.
"Pardon the delay, Mr. Tetch" he said, walking in and putting the case on the table.
"You're late, you're late!" said Tetch. "You're very, very late!"
"Now, now, Jervis" said Strange. "I am precisely on time." He wasn't, but Tetch, lacking a clock, had no way of knowing that.
"Ah, yes, yes" said Tetch. "Terribly sorry. Is it tea time yet?"
"You will get tea once we are finished" said Strange. "First, I require your assistance with a serious problem."
"Where is Alice?" Tetch shouted, slamming his hands on the table with surprising force. "I need to find Alice!"
"You will" said Strange, using the tone one would adopt with a stubborn child. "But first, you need to do some work. Can you do that, Jervis?"
"Hatter!" shouted Tetch. "I'm the Hatter!" He sat back down and crossed his arms for a second before perking up. "What's the work?"
"I'm glad you asked" said Strange, opening the case and sliding it over in front of Tetch. Inside were around forty red objects. The uninformed eye would mistake them for oddly-shaped gems of some sort. Jervis Tetch was not uninformed.
"Ooh, very nice, very nice indeed!" he said, picking one up and handling it gently. "What craftsmanship! Organic, yet with decent circuitry... and is that magic I smell?" He paused as if he'd lost track of his train of thought. "But what does this have to do with me?"
"Jervis," Strange said, leaning forwards. "My friends and I have created these devices to throw a very special party for someone. The hardware is perfect. The only problem is the software. We are having difficulty programming them to properly react when they are used." Strange placed a small holocomputer on the table, revealing a complicated series of graphs and equations.
"Oh yes, oh yes, you're completely out of whack" said Tetch. "If you tried to use this, the Queen would have your head for sure!"
"Do you think you could help us with that?" Strange asked.
"I could" said Tetch. He was silent for a second, crossing his arms over his chest. "But I won't."
"Jervis..." said Strange, pulling something out a bag. "If you help us, I'll give you this." He lifted up a large silk top hat, twice as tall as Tetch's current one.
"Ooo! Give me, give me, give me!" Tetch begged.
"Only if you promise to help us" said Strange, holding the hat just out of Tetch's reach.
"I will! I will! I promise! I promise!"
"Very well, Jervis" said Strange, giving the shorter man his new hat. "Let's begin, shall we?"
Tetch nodded so vigorously that his new hat fell off, forcing him to grab and replace it. After readjusting it twice, he began looking over the holocomputer's code, making alterations here and there.
Strange looked back at the two-way mirror and gave Icicle a little nod.
The psychologist smiled. It wasn't quite the same as being Warden of the largest federal penitentiary in the country, but he was still contributing to the cause.
Operation Alcatraz was well underway.
Hello and welcome to Worst Case Scenario: Madhouse, the sequel to Worst Case Scenario: Not Madhouse!
If you're here from the original, welcome back! If you haven't read the original yet, did you read the text in big bold print labeled "Important Note" at the top of the page or what? Go read that one, then come back. Seriously, it's better for everyone if you do. You can find it in my profile.
Also in my profile, you can find yet another crudely-edited-together-some-time-ago poster! Well, the DeviantArt link, anyways.
This took a lot longer to start up than I thought it would. One of the big problems was figuring out who the last guy was on Strange's team. I needed someone with combat capabilities and some measure of leadership ability (or at least enough that the Light would put them in charge of grunts on a covert mission) and, ideally, a connection to the League of Shadows. Sportsmaster was the obvious choice, but I'd already just used him a ton in WCS, so I wanted someone else. Manta was out for the same reason and Deathstroke seemed like overkill for what's supposed to be a relatively minor role (introducing him into the universe properly requires him to be the MAIN antagonist of something). Plus, he usually works alone. I considered and dropped Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger and David Cain (that last one 'cause then everyone would start begging for Cassandra, plus he's too similar to YJ Sportsmaster) before finally settling on Merlyn. After all, we don't have nearly enough archers in this series, do we?
Dr. Penelope "Penny" Young is a psychiatrist created for the 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, which this story takes a fair amount of inspiration from.
In summary, I'm back and the fun can begin again!
Well, the fun for ME, at any rate...