It had to be at most 20 degrees outside and other than the thin plastic of the mask on my face and my sweatshirt, I had nothing to help keep me warm. I'd been chain smoking a pack of Newports the whole shift, the cig hanging loosely from my lips in the small opening of the mask and my rifle clutched in my red fists. My knuckles were cracked and bloody, but that wasn't new. Working with the Joker always ended up a little bloody. I wasn't complaining today though, even though I'd been shoved out into the cold of Arkham City, even though my brother was inside in the warm steel mill, even though I'd been on guard duty yesterday… I wasn't complaining today because I knew I didn't have it that bad. It could most definitely be a helluva lot worse.

"Ah, shit," Rufus muttered under his breath, his voice muted by the mask.

"Huh?" I turned to see what he was looking at and frowned, myself. A guy in a large overcoat was limping towards us from the road. He looked to be a new recruit. Rufus and I exchanged a glance of irritation and slight sympathy. It wouldn't be that bad out here if I didn't have to deal with the new guys… If you could even call them that.

"Hey!" The weak voice called. "Hey, you! I'm here to join Joker!"

"Yeah, we can tell…" Rufus muttered bitterly. "Come on, man, we'll take you to orientation."

The guy sighed, his breath puffing out in a white cloud. "Oh, thank God. They told me he took everybody in but… But I wasn't sure… I just had to come."

"Who were you with this whole time?" I asked the nameless man as I nodded to the snipers above me. They nodded in return, a signal that they were taking over the whole watch as we took this poor sucker inside.

The guy shook his head, his teeth chattering a bit. "Nobody. I've been on my own. Until yesterday I tried to avoid this gang shit. After going three days of eating out of garbage cans I realized I wouldn't last much longer. To be honest, I tried to go join Penguin." I cringed a bit. If the boss were here, he'd throw a fit at that.

"Hey, keep it down a bit. We don't like to talk about that guy, just in case."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry…" He lowered his voice slightly and continued, "I went to go join and, well… the bastard broke my goddamn nose." I snorted, noting the blood staining his upper lip and the bandage on top of his nose.

"Smooth, friend. Smooth."

"That's why I came here. Boy, am I glad Joker takes in anybody." Once again, I averted eye contact with him. Yeah, most days Joker was very accepting. He took in every soul in the City, weak, strong, white, black, rude, kind, he didn't care one bit. He took us all in, when he was feeling good… Today wasn't one of those days. Obviously we couldn't tell this bastard about it, and if so I would've had him run a long time ago. Today wasn't a good day for newbies. Today… Well… Today was the furnace. We remained silent for the rest of the walk into the steel mill, the only noise our footsteps on the concrete floors. Rufus slung his gun over his shoulder, relaxing tenfold now that we were inside, safe and warm. As safe as we'll ever be, I thought to myself sarcastically. "So where are we headed, anyway?"

"Joker likes to make sure his new guys are up to the challenge of being in the gang."

There was a slight nervous hesitation before he asked, "How does he do that?"

"That depends on his mood, my friend." I didn't ask him his name for one simple reason: Names made things too personal. I didn't like to get attached. Once I knew the name, I was haunted. The first time Joker had me slaughter a man, he made me shoot nails through his eyes. His name was Kevin. He had a daughter. She was three at the time. That was over a year ago, and the dreams were just as strong.

Rufus nodded, and I shook my head to get myself back in the zone. I'd slipped away from conversation and roped myself back in as Roof began to tell a story. "I remember back at the Asylum, my buddy was telling me a story about his initiation. Joker told him to hit his sister with a car."

"Did he do it?"

"He didn't have a sister, but Joker didn't care. So he chose some random chick on the street and plowed her down. Pretty sure he's still workin' for the Joker."

"That's not even the crazy stuff," I muttered.

"Sheesh. It's gettin' kinda hot back here. I guess it's always pretty warm in a steel mill, though, ami right?" I tugged on my own shirt collar, sweat starting to soak into the fabric. Funny, a few minutes ago I'd been frozen to the bone. A few more hallways and we'd be in the smelting chamber… After that, it was only a grab, a throw and a sizzle, and we'd be free to return to our posts. I sighed. It could be worse, man. You could be dead. Or starving. Or alone. But no, you're just givin' this guy a free pass outta here. That's not so bad, is it? No. This place is miserable…

A loud, shrill voice echoed from around the corner. "— sick, you moron! You're lucky I'm not just gonna rip off your lousy face and feed it to the goons! Get to work before I regret lettin' you live!" The guy between us stopped in surprise at the voice. Not the voice. Harley's voice. A very big difference.

"Is that… Her?"

"Yeah, man. That's her."

The stomp of boots approached us until finally Quinn herself appeared in our line of sight. She stopped and put her hands on her hips, looking at the guy with a raised blonde eyebrow. "Who's this, boys?"

"New recruit, Miss Quinn. Taking him to initiation," Rufus told her quickly and obediently. I noticed how much straighter he stood, squaring his shoulders up. Her red lips pursed into a mischievous smile and it was one of the moments when you could really see her beauty. She was a gorgeous girl, truly. But when her mouth began to unfurl into a wicked grin, a hyena smile, I shivered. The crazy was just beneath the surface and in that one little smile I could see the deaths of hundreds upon hundreds of people. Deaths that she had caused without batting an eyelash… She couldn't bat one. She was too busy staring with doe eyes at the Joker. My nose twitched in distaste. That would never make sense to me.

"Well! You three have fun, then. Hurry it up, though, we ain't got all day. Chop, chop." As she walked away, hips swaying like a super-model she clapped her hands and shouted behind her, "Places to explode, people to shoot!"

All three of us stood in silence until we couldn't hear her anymore and simultaneously let out a long breath. "That was horrifying."

"Yeah," I whispered, still worried she could hear. "She scares the shit out of me."

Rufus smiled. "I think she's kinda hot."

"You would," I snarked in reply and rolled my eyes. "Don't let the boss hear that, though. Shit, or her for that matter." For the first time in a long time, I let myself laugh. "Pretty sure she'd be the one to kill you for making a move. He'd just laugh and watch. Probly too sick to hold a gun anyway."

"Joker's never too sick to put somebody in their place. That's where you're wrong."

"We're almost there," I told the new guy. Sheesh. It was getting old calling him that. Maybe I'd just call him… Guy. I'd only be talking to him for a few more minutes anyway. Guy nodded, wiping his nose tenderly with his gloved hand. It was swollen and painful, stitched together on the top with fragile strings that looked as if they were about to break any minute. We'd be doing him a favor…

"Is this the furnace?" He asked, brow pulled low. We stayed quiet. He didn't really want an answer, he could tell by the sounds and the heat that he was right. "What's the initiation, anyway? Am I gonna have to walk on hot coals or somethin'? Heh." His nervous laugh was fake, and it was painfully obvious. Our footsteps slowed in sync and he walked a little further up, his hands hesitantly touching the railing and peaking over. Guy gasped and leaned back, the hot air blowing in his face like opening a running oven.

Roof and I exchanged a glance. It was now or never. We grabbed him, one arm each and lifted him high. His screams were barely registered as we threw him over the side. When he hit the fire below, it roared in appreciation and I glanced over at Rufus, watching the way the light bounced off his eyes and his glistening teeth. He was grinning.