A/N: So this was something I started writing quite a while ago, but I got stuck with it. I was sorting through some stuff, started reading it through and, became un-stuck I suppose. So here is a (sort-of) Joker-origin story for you all. Hope you enjoy!

(And of course, the Batman world doesn't belong to me, just my ocs).

The shattering of glass was the first sound she ever heard. And when she could force her eyes to open, an older woman frozen in shock was the first thing she saw, and the first thing she would remember.

Alice felt her eyes close again, too sore to keep them open any longer. She tried to speak, to reach out to the woman, but everything ached and all that escaped her lips was a half-hearted whimper.

The nurse's voice seemed hushed, Oh my Lord, oh my- I need a doctor in here!

"Honey, are you alright? Open your eyes again if you can hear me."

She tried for a long time to wake up again, but she kept slipping away. It was hard when she felt so exhausted. Finally, she did open her eyes again, and this time she saw the sun. Thin white curtains fluttered lightly where the woman had stood before.

Alice blinked and this time her eyes stayed open. Before she could try to call out there was the sound of a door opening on the other side of the small room.

"Welcome back to the world, Alice."

***

Welcome to Arkham…

…In Gotham's St. Bart's Hospital, a young woman has awoken from a long term coma… Eight years ago, we brought you the story of the brutal beating of 18-year old Alice Chelsea… After many long years, this miracle proves that God still has hope for the people of Gotham city… "Oh, yes, I would definitely say that such a recovery is almost unheard of"… Though the young woman has no immediate family in the area, well wishers have been …

"Are you hearing this Karl?" The forty-something man nodded at the small television when his partner walked into the cage. He hung up his jacket and turned to glance at the screen as his partner flicked through various news stations.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, I mean, I remember hearing about what happened to her a few years ago, before I was working security in this nuthouse. "

"So?"

"Well, it's good to hear is all. Nice to hear about something that doesn't involve hospitals being blown up, you know what I'm saying?"

Karl's eyes darkened as he recalled the events a half a year past, "I suppose, but when she sees the world she's woken up to… Well, maybe it's not such a great thing from her point of view, huh, Frank?"

The two security agents sat in silence as the news anchor moved on to a story about a possible Batman sighting when a small red light on the boards began to flash.

"Speak of the Devil himself… What is that bastard up to now?"

The men were armed and out of the cage in seconds, Frank only stopping to buzz open the third floor gate. When they reached the bend in the hall everything was quiet and nothing looked out of place. Two large orderlies jogged up the hall toward them from the opposite end. A silent red light flashed above one door, signalling that the emergency alarm had been pressed, but the room was all shut up. Karl pulled the keys from his belt as the others stepped in around him. He unlocked the door and swung it wide, stepping back for the others as he pulled out his Taser.

In the middle of the concrete floor, partially obscured by the low cot, was an unconscious woman.

"Is that?…"

"Doctor Meyers?" One of the orderlies stepped forward and lifted the woman's head, "What happened?"

The psychiatrist's eyes shot open and she reached up to press her hand to the swelling purple bruise over her right temple.

"Where is he, Doctor Meyers?"

"I - I came down to check in on him. I didn't think he would try anything; I planned to sedate him. I mean he… He hasn't slept in almost three days. Not since we moved him to solitary for- for hospitalizing another patient over the remote control…"

"Oh shit…" Karl pulled out the Walkie clipped to his belt and started calling codes out all over the Asylum. He and Frank ran back down the hall to their gate and skidded to a stop to see it swung out.

A search and lockdown were conducted, but by two in the morning nothing had been turned up. Guards from each level met in the main entranceway and no one had anything to say. It wasn't long before the head of the Asylum arrived, accompanied by Commissioner Gordon and a small group of police.

Frank and Karl met with Doctor Meyer and the Commissioner in the administrator's office. The white haired man sat at is desk, one hand pressed over his eyes.

Finally the administrator spoke, "So, what number was this again?"

Frank coughed, "Ah, that would be three, sir.

"Three… It took that man, under solitary confinement, constant supervision, and as many sedatives as we could legally give him, six months, and three attempts to break out of Arkham…"

The silence weighed on everyone in the room for an interminable amount of time before Commissioner Gordon cleared his throat, "I think we could all use a drink."