Summary: Two villains go head to head with a child psychiatrist and by extension, Bruce Wayne, caught in the middle.

Detailed Summary: Faith Rennes is a child psychiatrist and indulges in biochemistry as a hobby. Her ties to Bruce Wayne, her past history and the current secret she has been hiding ever since coming to Gotham are all about to come out into the harsh light of day to be examined, revealed and exploited when she's assigned a new patient -who isn't a child. To make things worse, she voluntarily takes on a research project on top of everything else going on, unable to resist the temptation of Project Titan.

Featuring: The Joker, Batman/Bruce Wayne and Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane and more.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing, it all belongs to D.C.

A/N: This is my first Batman fan fic and a serious stray from my usual fandoms, so be gentle with me! I'll be honest: I know very little about Batman in terms of everything but the movies, those I have memorized fairly well, which works out as this story is set in Nolan-verse. All my info is taken from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight along with some help from Wikis.

01/08/12: Alright, I got swept up in Arkham Aslyum and Arkham City (got them as a bundle for Xmas) and began rethinking this story. So... everything has been rewritten though the changes aren't really noticeable until chapter 4. Movie-based, game-based, but set in Nolan-verse because cartoony writing really isn't my thing, so hopefully this comes out as realistic as possible.

Spoilers: Probably.

1: Unpleasant

"This is idiotic."

"Dr. Rennes, if you feel that you are… somehow unable to do this, be it from a lack of experience or fear, then that is fine. I'm sure I can find someone with the ability to handle the case."

Faith Rennes knew that Warden Quincy Sharp, head of the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane –or simply Arkham Asylum- was trying to provoke her. His emphasis on experience and fear was a barb that was doubled. He was playing on her ego with the jab at experience as well as hinting she might be a coward.

Also, she refused to play games with this odious, pompous little man who fancied himelf her boss. He might have had the label of 'warden' but Arkham Asylum operated via a board these days, with him at the helm as a figurehead for the most part. His power only went so far, something Faith was sure he hated passionately.

As she was also on the board and considered a lead authority in her area as well as a highly respected public figure, she rarely felt compelled to allow him to intimidate her with his 'authority'. Quincy Sharp was no psychiatrist, therapist, or any other type of doctor even if he liked to present himself as such. He was an imbecile who was using his position at Arkham to further his political aspirations.

Other than the fact that he was legally insane, Faith sometimes missed Dr. Crane as the head psychiatrist of Arkham. Disregarding his criminal and very unethical tendencies, he had at least known what he was doing.

Not that she would ever voice that outside her own head, it wouldn't have been very politically correct these days.

In the two years since Crane had gone completely mental a lot had changed on the island. Billionaire Bruce Wayne had stepped in with his checkbook to help with not only the repairs needed to make Arkham inhabitable again after Crane had released not only his fear toxin but the inmates being held on the island.

That was bad enough, but when you factored in that island was not only home to the Aslyum and its correlating buildings but also the Narrows –a type of slum that was inhabited by both the extremely poor of Gotham but also criminals, well… Crane had proven himself to be perhaps not insane but definitely evil. Or at least that was what his current doctor –he had gone through quite the string of them since being apprehended after months on the run- had said.

Of course the repairs had been put on hold during the Joker's brief but memorable reign of terror, and then the better part of the rest of the year had been spent in quickly rebuilding in order to hold two of Gotham's most notorious. The Scarecrow and the Joker, both men caught by the Batman.

"My experience is not the issue." Faith said flatly, staring at Quincy from cool, slate gray eyes. "The issue is that I work with children, not sociopathic adults."

"Are you refusing to make an exception in this case?"

She was sorely tempted to rub her temples, feeling a headache blooming and let out a resigned sigh. While Quincy couldn't force her into taking the case, or fire her, he could –unfortunately- make her life miserable. "I will look at the case file."

"It's on your desk." Quincy said in a smug tone.

She wanted nothing more than to wipe that look off his face with the palm of her hand but instead contented herself with giving him a steely smile. "Of course."

"You don't seem to be in the best of moods tonight."

"Hmm?" Faith looked up from the oysters she was contemplating, meeting a familiar pair of warm brown eyes across the table.

Bruce Wayne was staring at her, an almost amused smile playing his lips. "What's going on in that head of yours, Faith?" He wondered aloud, tracing the tip of his finger around the rim of his champagne flute. "I can never tell."

"Now Bruce, please tell me you're not going to try to analyze me."

"Not until dessert, at least." He raised his glass, toasting her before taking a sip. "Why aren't you eating? You love oysters."

"I suppose I'm not hungry tonight." Faith murmured, pulling her gaze from his and took a small drink of her own champagne, just for something to do besides pretend to be interested in her food. That charade was over. She liked Bruce but he was more observant than he had originally let on.

Her initial impression of him when they had first been introduced was that he was a playboy with a passing interest in helping with the restoration of Arkham Island and possibly the Narrows. She figured he wanted to impress someone or the public in general, drawing that conclusion from his reputation as an idiot billionaire with a taste for spending obscene amounts of money and having a different model on his arm every week.

As time went on, she realized there was more to Bruce Wayne then his money and his penchant for tall, leggy blondes. He was genuinely interested in the rebuilding of the Asylum and surrounding buildings as well as interested in her own personal work in the children's psychiatric ward. He had become an official patron of the Arkham's children psychiatric center.

It didn't take long for Faith to realize that Bruce needed an outlet, something to distract himself from the loss of his friend Rachel Dawes, something he was still grieving over. So when he wasn't busy with his philandering or company, and whatever else he did when he wasn't around her, he spent time with her in the clinic.

Or at least, that was how it started.

In the nearly two years' time they had known each other, they had gone from casual acquaintances to rather good friends. Instead of him popping into the clinic a few hours or so every other week, he now came on a regular basis, usually bringing volunteers with him. Since this was Bruce Wayne, he also brought the stalkerazzi and the attention of the press.

That in itself was both a good thing and a bad thing as it drew unwanted attention to herself but much needed attention to the clinic. Even though the ward was technically a part of the Arkham system, it wasn't as widely advertised as the rest of the 'services' Arkham offered. Since Bruce was publically endorsing it, so were other rich Gothamites. It had become almost a trend to donate money; it would have been sickening if not for the fact that she was too practical to care where the money came from so long as it came.

Then, factor in that they went out to dinner together every week, schedules providing-, that just seemed to add fuel to the flames. One week they were dating, the next Bruce was cheating on her, and the following they were back together. It was almost amusing, almost.

"Not even for something with an ungodly amount of chocolate in it?" Bruce asked teasingly, drawing her attention back to him.

"Mmm, maybe I am a bit hungry." Faith allowed, pulling her hands away from the table as he gestured for the waiter to remove their plates. "Quincy gave me a new case today."

That explained her lack of an appetite. Bruce knew Faith despised the director of Arkham Asylum, who treated her like his inferior even though she had been there longer than he had and was well known in her field.

Quincy didn't like Faith any better than she liked him and a lot of that had to do with the fact that Bruce had donated a generous amount of money towards the renovation of the asylum, continued donating and then becoming a recognized patron. What really bothered Quincy was that Bruce had chosen to associate himself with the children's ward instead of one of the others, Faith's ward.

Bruce had also been the one to suggest that Arkham needed a board of directors, not just a single director. He had cited Crane as the person reason, a head of power who had abused his position. A board would curb that and keep the 'man in charge' in line. Quincy hadn't liked that one bit as it meddled a bit with his political aspirations. Nor had he appreciated Faith's appointment to the board, another suggestion of Bruce's. He had viewed that as a type of ultimatum, accept her or lose my patronage.

"What is it this time? A child who thinks he's the second coming?" Bruce asked, knowing it was bad taste as well as horrible humor to bring that up but he couldn't help it. One of her cases at the asylum was a boy, aged 13, who honestly thought he was Jesus Christ and had even tried converting Faith on a number of occasions.

Faith did not find that amusing as the boy in question had also murdered his parents while they slept, claiming they were demons from hell sent to corrupt him and turn him from his path of offering universal redemption.

Bruce, admittedly, sometimes had a warped sense of humor.

"No, actually, it's not a child at all."

"Not a child?"

Faith took a deep breath. "Quincy has given me the Joker."