A/N: Hey all! So this particular story will begin based off the canon comic Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. It is by far my favorite comic of all time and as I have an edition with a script I decided to create this little orgy of evil with our fave heroes thrown in. Yes, this is a Batman/Avengers/Captain America Crossover, but I am not labeling it as Batman at the moment because outside of part one, it will be more Avengers/CA oriented. No, you do not have to have any knowledge of Batman to read this, its just a bit more fun if you do. As always, leave any comments/opinions/questions in the reviews, I'll PM you any answers as long as they're under any account names. Please FAVE, FOLLOW, and (!) .REVIEW. (!) Enjoy!
(This is a repost as of May 2018)
Part 1: A Serious House on Serious Earth
Harriet looked down from the balcony of the asylum with a content smile on her face. Her nephew, Jeremiah, was walking amongst the hostages taking notes on their conditions, his furious scribbling only a drawing of more plans to make the asylum better.
Joker was dancing around the foyer with a phone fiddled in his hand, his crazed voice spewing demands to Gotham's finest. Harriet smiled and played her pen between two fingers absently as she watched her favorite inmate shout and whisper and tease and so on. Joker was amazing to watch and she wished her other experiments could turn out as well as he had.
In her current body, she was known as Jeremiah's niece, another doctor at Arkham that had turned to the darker side. She had been careful though, and no one knew of her experiments, the only crimes they were aware of were in actuality her moments of stress relief with her trusty scalpel that she kept capped behind her ear.
The inmates had taken over the asylum with her help, capturing almost a hundred hostages in the process. Only seventy remained now as the dead were on the roof, spelling out 'don't be naughty!' in a grave sort of way.
The idiots that called themselves guards were the ones to die, and she thought that it was quite deserved. Making a mockery of her father's desires like this, to not even try to keep up the guise of good security.
Of course, the gardener had been the next to go, because God, white roses surrounded by yellow tulips? Atrocious.
"We want the man-bat!" Joker cried and Harriet sighed.
"Joker, I have someone else in mind for you to add." She stated and the clown placed a hand over the phone.
"We want Captain America!" she cried, her smile wide and her eyes dark.
The women in the asylum rapidly nodded their heads and agreed, even some of the hostages swooned at the idea.
The hostages weren't really hostages if she were honest. Most of them were under her thumb, while the rest were doctors too devoted to their work.
Bad work, if she were honest.
Joker smiled at her and released the phone, holding it up to the ceiling, circling around the room.
The groups of inmates and hostages chanted, sometimes absently, "We want Captain America!"
Harvey shook his head, his deck of card exploding around him as he began to cry.
"You heard it, Jimmy! Those are our demands! Better hurry up because Miss Marjorie's pretty green eyes are looking like they'll look even better as pendants!"
He slammed down the phone with a sigh, "Someone clean Two-face up! He's shit himself again!"
Harvey's cries picked up in strength. Harriet sighed.
"Come now, we can't have this place looking a mess when our guests join us, can we?" She trailed off into her thoughts.
She turned her back on the groups the floor below and made her way to her lab in the attic. Sharky was getting hungry, Marjorie would do quite nicely.
Steve was with Sam when he got the call. They were on a morning run in Central Park when his phone rang and he picked it up.
A man was on the other end of the line. Steve didn't recognize his voice, but something about him seemed familiar almost.
"Captain, you are needed in Gotham. My name is Alfred Pennyworth and I have been tasked with asking for your help when it comes to the mutiny at Arkham Asylum." The man's voice was calm and even, but even Steve knew that this was grave if they were reaching out for someone other than the city's infamous 'Batman'.
But his thoughts were torn elsewhere at the mention of the man's name.
"Alfred? You didn't happen to be Jenson's brother, are you?" Steve asked and the man let out a long sigh.
"Yes, sir, I am unfortunately. But back to the task at hand, at the behest of Commissioner Jim Gordon to my master, Bruce Wayne, I have called to ask for your help."
Steve nodded even though the man couldn't see it. Sam narrowed his eyes at him.
It was a week since Bucky had pulled him out of the water and three days since he got out of the hospital. They were already searching for his metal armed soulmate, but the tide was turning cold, quickly.
Steve let out a breath, "What's the situation?"
Alfred let out another sigh, "All of the inmates at Arkham have taken over the asylum and they asked for Batman and uh… the women asked for you. The hostages and some of the inmates. Our technology detected about seventy hostages and almost a hundred and seventy inmates. Not all of them are violent, but most of them are and since Batman locked the rest of his main adversaries away… All of Gotham's demons are ready to play."
Steve met Sam's eyes, "I'm on my way, but I'm bringing a friend."
Alfred sighed for a last time, "As long as they can sneak in undetected, I'm sure you'll find a way."
They hung up.
Steve turned to Sam, "What's the weather like in Gotham?"
Sam scoffed, "That shithole? It's a void about fifty miles away from New York. No one goes there if they can avoid it."
Steve grinned and patted him on the shoulder. "Suit up, we've been called in to help the city's revered vigilante."
Steve let out a breath as he pulled up to the Asylum's gates where a dozen of Gotham's finest were guarding. The Asylum was perched on a hill about a dozen miles from anything but forest all around, the nearest thing being a run down nuclear waste facility. You could spot the city below in the distance, even through the fog that seemed to be permanent around the gates. He stepped out of the car, spotting the curtains move in the window closest to the roof.
Steve tapped his ear, "Sam?"
Sam responded from his position in the sky above the asylum.
"Cap, my God." His voice was horror filled and Steve looked down at his phone as a picture appeared on screen.
About a dozen or more mutilated corpses were rotting in the open air, their uniforms telling him that this was what had happened to the security on the grounds. They were arranged to spell out something, but it didn't really matter out what at this point.
He approached the man with the phone, the man placing it down when he spotted Steve.
He was a greying man who looked worse for the wear and probably older than he actually was. He stuck out his hand.
"Captain, my name is Jim Gordon, I'm the commissioner."
He felt a breeze pass by his shoulder, he turned, still taking the man's hand. A man in a bat suit was standing beside him, a black cape flowing out behind him. His suit was heavily armored and top of the line, with an array of weapons at his hip.
"Sorry I'm late, Commissioner, Captain. Problems out of town. What's up?"
"There's been a riot at Arkham Asylum, that's what's up." Jim said. "The inmates seized control of the building early this morning, we don't know how it happened. They're holding the Asylum staff hostage, making all kinds of crazy demands."
His eyes trailed to Steve, "We've had to send in furniture, store dummies, food, clothing…"
Batman sighed, "And?"
"They say there's only one final demand, thank god. They've been wanting to talk to you two personally." Jim drawled with a sigh that spoke volumes.
"I see," The vigilante muttered.
"Batman," the Commissioner stated, "Neither of you has to go in there. We can have the whole place bombed if necessary, the hostages appear to be willing, and it doesn't seem that-"
A scream came from one of the officers and they followed his pointed hand to the corpse of a woman hanging from the roof by a noose. Her torso had been carved open and all of her organs were missing, the skin still intact and flapping behind her in the wind. Something was hanging from her nec-
"God Almighty." Steve breathed and another cop vomited not too far off.
The phone rang.
Jim put it on speaker.
"Why helloooooo, Commissioner! As you can seeeee, you took too much time and well, we have a shark to feed and well- I just couldn't resist making such pretty necklaces!" A crazed man raved and Jim let out a growl, but Batman placed a hand over his shoulder to keep him quiet.
Batman spoke up, "Joker! Are you there? What do you want?"
"Well, helllllooooo, Big Boy! How's it hanging?"
"Don't waste my time, Joker. Just tell me what it is you want."
There was another bout of laughter, "I think you can guess… we want you and your star spangled pal, in here, with us, in the madhouse! Where you belong."
Batman took a breath, "And if we say no?"
There was a scratching sound over the receiver.
"Well… we have so many friends here, sweetheart. Say hello to Pearl."
"Oh Buh-Bat-Bat- ohhhh…" A woman's voice was heard and then it was gone. She was sobbing.
"Such a crybaby isn't she?" The Joker drawled before more scratching was heard.
"What's that noise? Can you hear it? Scratching…" Jim trailed, "What's he doing?"
"Pearl is nineteen years old."
More scratching.
"She just started working in the kitchens to earn some extra money. Pearl wants to be an artist. Don't yah Pearl?"
Another sob was heard followed by again, more scratching.
"She just drew me a beautiful house. She drew it with this pencil."
SCRIT!
"The one I've just sharpened. Open your eyes wide, Pearl! Beautiful. Blue. Oh."
"Jesus no!" Batman yelled into the phone.
"You have half an hour. And bring a white stick." The Joker hung up.
"Oh, Jesus. That poor girl. Batman… I…" Jim seemed lost for words.
"I'm going in there." Batman breathed turning to Steve, "Are you?"
"Absolutely." Steve responded without pause.
"Jim, can we talk?" Batman turned to Jim and the older man nodded.
"You okay? You know you don't have to go in there. Let me organize a SWAT team or something." The Commissioner seemed tired, so very, very tired.
"No, this is something I have to do."
"Look," Jim said, "I can understand if even you're afraid. I mean, Arkham has a reputation…"
Steve wondered how bad a place this must be. He regretted not looking into it more.
He stepped away from the men and looked up toward the night sky. Sam was shielded from view but he still heard him breathing over the com in his ear.
He took a breath and stepped back to the men, knowing by their silence that they were done.
Batman redialled and spoke quickly.
He looked at Steve and Steve nodded. "We're coming in Joker, release the hostages."
The Joker let out a stream of cackles and the doors to the Asylum slammed open, only three dozen of the hostages coming out.
"You heard him folks! Hit the trail!"
The Joker appeared briefly, petting a brunette woman softly, "Bye Pearl. Let's do it again sometime!"
She walked away hollowly, her cheeks tearstained.
Batman let out a breath, "But what about her eyes? You said…"
The Joker let out a cackle.
"APRIL FOOLS! Ha ha ha hahahahahahahahahahaha!"
He took a loud breath, "Cheer up, honey pie! Listen, how many brittle bone babies does it take to-"
"Shut up." Batman growled.
"Oooh! At home to Mr. tetchy, are we? Loosen up, tight ass!" The Joker giggled, grabbing the man bat.
"Take your filthy hands off me!" Batman growled once more.
"What's the matter? Have I touched a nerve? How is the boy wonder? Started shaving yet?"
"Filthy degenerate!"
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Batty Crocker!"
"You're in the real world now and the lunatics have taken over the asylum. April, Sweet is coming in!" Joker cried as he entered.
They could hear him laughing from the inside, but the doors quickly slammed shut again.
He peeked his head out once more.
"Don't keep us waiting boys! Batsy knows what happens when we get bored!"
Steve took a breath and they broke through the doors.
"Come in! Come in! It's not often we have guests! We will be on our best behavior for guests, right Two-face?" A bald man crooned from a chair, singing his words.
A weeping moan flowed through the air next and they slid inside the madhouse, determined to put an end to it all.
Harriet walked down the stairwell, her tennis shoes squeaking shrilly into the air, her coat billowing around her as their guests entered. Her outfit had been exactly where she left it, sure it was covered in a little more blood than she'd able to ever get out, but that didn't matter as she scanned the guests.
Joker kept them busy as she slid to the bottom of the steps, stepping aside to reveal her to them, his cackling picking up as he began to dance around the room once more, humming demented carousel music under his breath.
"Hello, Batman. What a pleasure it is to see you once more! I dare say you look like you've put on weight. All muscle, I'm sure." She greeted, twirling her pen between her fingers again and again.
Batman's eyes narrowed on the scalpel still capped behind her ear but he did nothing only letting out a guttural, "Dr. Arkham, I'd say it was a pleasure, but it would be a lie."
Captain America's eyes roamed over her, noting the odd outfit she wore (her old cheerleading outfit from her most recent high school experience), and the lab coat. A confused look was in his eyes and she sent him a smile. She held out her hand, sighing when he didn't take it.
She pushed a white blonde curl behind her ear and took in his baby blue eyes and golden tan, the way he held himself. Cautious, open, but ready to fight.
She liked fighters. It made her job more fun, though for what she had planned for him, that didn't really matter.
"Ma'am? Are you a doctor here?"
She stilled at his words, the way in which he spoke them. She resumed her movements quickly though, denying herself any real reaction.
A flash of her original body, of the words that were written upon them. Two sets, but one vocalized just now before her. She weighed her words carefully, though it hardly mattered.
A/N: Hey ya'll! Be sure to tell me what you think below! Questions for this chapter: What's your first impression of the story? Of Harriet? How do you like the writing- quality wise or whether or not you think it suits the story or even if you like it/hate it? Do you have any critiques for this chapter? Let me know! Thanks for reading! :)