Arkham #0
By
Patrick name is Dr. Jeremiah Arkham, head of Arkham Asylum in Gotham City. All hell broke loose a week ago, when the inmates took over the Asylum, thanks to some idiot news crew wanting to do a stupid reality show about this hellhole, and a new lunatic calling himself Lock-Up. It was a hell of a week.
About fifteen inmates are dead, and two escaped, two women known as Tulip and Dead Alice. Tulip is a trigger happy woman who killed twenty people during her crime spree, but Batman stopped her when she targeted Mayor Marion Grange as one of her victims. As for Dead Alice, the damn Bat let her go. I don't know why yet, but I'm updating the files on all the surviving inmates as we speak.
"Computer, Give me info on all remaining inmates at Arkham Asylum," the Batman spoke to the Bat-Computer.
Scanning now
Batman stood in front of a huge computer that he updated after the whole Y2K thing. He had Oracle make certain that all files of all rouges, Metahumans, and lunatics were filed into the Batcave's database. With work with the JLA, and his own missions, the Dark Knight needed to make sure what he'll be dealing with.
Scanning completed
"Good," he said, as he drank some coffee that Alfred left on the table for those late nights on the job. "Start with the most dangerous to the less."
Yes, sir))
"Prelude to Madness"
Name: Joker
Real Name: Unknown. Maybe under the name Jack Napier
Other Aliases: Red Hood
Info: Rumors say that he was a washed up comedian, a hapless soul coerced by thugs to don the Red Hood persona following the death of his pregnant wife. He fell into a vat of toxic chemicals that turned him into a twisted clown. The weapon of his choice is his Joker Venom, which can turn innocent victims dead with permanent grins on their faces. The Joker was also behind the "death" of Batgirl, and the death of Jason Todd/ Robin II.
"Joker has changed thought the years, and is still most dangerous. I still anger at what he did to Barbra and Jason. I want Wayne Enterprises to keep secret to make the Joker's cell more secure this time. I don't want the clown to break out for a while. Continue."
Name: Riddler
Real Name: Edward Nigma
Other Aliases: E. Nigma
Info: In a contest at school, Nigma cheated on a puzzle after seeing the complete puzzle on his teacher's desk. Nigma cheated at puzzles, but approved with out cheating. Years later, Edward took a job at a video game company working on a game that outwits its' players with riddles the puzzles. Nigma's boss fired him due to the hype of fighter games. Taking to form of the Riddler, he kidnapped his boss, and…
"That's enough on Riddler. Ever since Arthur Brown became the Cluemaster, and began ripping off Nigma's trademark, they both are at each other's throats. I sure hope no one rip-offs Joker."
"Let's hope not, sir," Batman turned to see Alfred Pennyworth standing there with a tray of BLT sandwiches. "There are some for Master Tim for when he returns. I see that you're looking at you rogues gallery again."
"You heard about what I've been through at Arkham, right?" Batman asked the butler.
"Yes and no, Master Bruce," replied Alfred. "What I heard is that fifteen inmates are dead, and the man behind that damn reality show is in jail for starting that riot in the hellhole known as Arkham."
"Two inmates escaped from there as well, and I plan to find them," Batman said, as he bit into the sandwich. "The more dangerous of the two is Tulip, a gun crazed woman with the taste for shooting people to death. The other is known as Dead Alice, who is a Meta human that can predict who will die, and can talk to the dead. Alice is also innocent for a murder she didn't commit."
"God bless her soul if those lunatics did anything to her," prayed Alfred, as Batman got into the Batmobile.
"That's why I need to find Alice, before Tulip does anything bad to her." The Batman spoke, as he drove off into the darkness.
Mayor Marion Grange was tied to her chair in her den of her house, when two women attacked her bodyguards, and left them for dead. The servants were bound and gagged in the basement, as Tulip pointed her gun at Mayor Grange's head. Grange tried to scream, but her mouth was tapped up.
"I can't believe we've captured the fucking Mayor of Gotham City, Alice," said Tulip, as she took out a cigarette and put it between her lips. She looked at a long white haired girl who didn't have a violent bone in her body, kneeling at a corner wall.
"You shouldn't have killed the bodyguards," Dead Alice said in a soft voice. "I sensed that you were going to kill them, before you fired at them."
"Don't be such a fucking pussy, Alice," Tulip lit her cigarette. "We escaped Arkham during the riot. What else do you need?"
"I want to go home to my husband and little girl," Alice cried in tears. "I'm innocent, Tulip. I didn't kill them. I sense their deaths a mile away, but I didn't kill them."
"Will you shut the fuck up about you stupid parents?!" Tulip shouted to Alice. "Right now, I want to kill this bitch mayor for putting me in that rat's nest known as Arkham Asylum."
"No more killing, Tulip," Dead Alice said, as Tulip cocked the trigger of her gun at Grange's head. "No more death."
"Fuck you, pussy bitch," Tulip fired her gun at Dead Alice, as the bullet slammed into her body, landing her onto the floor.
Dead Alice is dead.
My name is Alice Warner, and I'm a Meta that can sense death coming to people a mile away. I was framed for the deaths of my parents by someone I trusted, I couldn't remember who. That's way I was sent to Arkham, because they thought I was insane, but I'm not. This is my story about what happened one week ago…
Next Time: See Dead Alice enter Arkham first hand, meet Tulip, and encounter a bevy of Batman most dangerous foes in Arkham # 1.
Author's Note: Weclome to the zero issue of my Arkham Asylum mini, which is the prelude to the real story at hand. Why a limited series about Batman's foes you ask? I kind of liked the Dark Knight's Rogues gallery, ever since Batman: TAS and in the comics. You may remember my short lived Harley & Ivy mini months back; I plan to go back to it after Arkham. Batman will be in this mini, as will almost all his villains to boot, so this will be a mature readers book. Sit back and enjoy my ride into madness.
Patrick Moore
December 01, 2006