The wind gave a mournful whistle as it sailed easily through the cracks in the window pane. The rain battered its poorly fitted glass, and it rattled in agony as it tried in vain to keep the dimly lit apartment protected.

A shabby apartment, strewn with paper works and take-away boxes was lit solely by a small energy saving lamp, which did nothing to cheer the mood of the day. It cast its weary glow over some books that were lay across the bed, being read by an avid reader.

The young woman hardly noticed the gloom anymore, when she was engrossed in her books the shabbiness and cold melted away into a fountain of words to which she lost herself completely. She had zoned out the arguing couple in the next door apartment, and the kids screaming in the one above. She didn't even hear the landlord banging on her door, ranting about last months rent. Her head was buried deep in her latest study.

Harleen Quinzel was a fresh post grad student, which would excuse the mess of her flat. She had moved to Gotham 4 years ago, and after completing her degree and masters in Psychology had moved into her own apartment.

Years of living in student halls had come easy, as she had to pay her own way through the cheap rent. But now she had graduated her attempts of finding a decent flat on her income hadn't been easy in a city like Gotham.

She shifted slightly on the bed, easing her leg out of the cramp. She fixed her dirty blond hair back into its original bun which had slipped out over the hours. After fixing her glasses, she went on reading.

After a rocky start, her shining hope in life was her grades at university, which had exceeded all of the students in her class, and rumoured to have excelled in the universities history of graduate students end of year marks.

Saying this, she had not made too many friends during her studies. She just had no time for it. The other girls wanted to go out, get wasted and get laid. Harleen had always despised these girls. She kept her head down, and worked.

In recognition of her efforts however, the university had granted her work experience at Gotham General Hospital. She had worked there until the recent bombings in January.

However, a colleague at the hospital had put her in touch with a new line of work, which in fact, started today.

Another light flashed across the grim apartment, the green flash of the alarm clock, dutifully let her know it was time to get ready.

Harleen jumped off the bed, quickly snapping back into the world around her. She stood for a moment, shaking her legs out and stretching.

She was a pretty girl, quite athletic as she ran quite a lot to release herself from work every so often. Yet she was a lonely person, and it showed in her face. She seldom smiled, even if it was a delight to see when she did. Even her landlord had given up telling her to 'smile once in a while'.

After getting showered and dressed, she put on some make up and did her hair in a neat bun on top of her head, to look more presentable. She pulled on a big coat and scarf and handled her umbrella ready to brave the outside.

As she turned the key to lock her door, she heard the door slam above her in the apartments above. She quickly spun round and sprinted down the staircase.

"Harleen! Oi, get your scrawny ass back here now, I want last months rent! HARLEEN!"

The thundering footsteps of the fat landlord came pounding after her, yet she outran him by far.

"Sorry Mr. Ramon, Ill get it to you by next weekend, I swear!" She shouted back, yet her voice trailed off as she got nearer the bottom. She heard him swearing, yet couldn't make out what it was exactly. Shutting the front door behind her, she smirked ever so slightly at the situation, and then walked onto the dark street.

The walk to her new job wasn't far, yet it was not a nice journey either. The street; or alley as she would call it; was trashed, full of bins and shadowy corners that would have put any citizen on their way to work on edge. Yet Harleen didn't seem to notice the squalor. She walked by with her cold hands shoved in her pockets, her head down and her umbrella pulled down the most it could be to shelter her from the howling rain.

It didn't take long for the wind to rip the umbrella from her hand, so she went most of the way without it.

Ten minutes later, she was near the outskirts of the city, where her suburbia had come to an end and the industrial estates began. Harleen walked past the glum factories with no identity and the sallow looking workers who barely noticed anything in their way until she reached her destination. This is when she final looked up.

The gates were tall, black, and immovable. They stood towering over her, almost challenging her to try and get past them. The rain thundered down on her eyes as she tried to squint up to the top of the bars, which proved almost impossible.

The building behind wasn't much different. It stood around 10 stories high, imitating the same bars on all the windows. The wall that went around the place was nearly as high as the gates, with barbs everywhere you could see. Not the nicest place to have your first real job. It looked like a death camp.

Yet Harleen felt a flicker of excitement, an excitement she rarely felt apart from the feeling her work made her feel. It was that hunger for that understanding of the unknown. The hunger that had drove her all these years to pursue what makes people the way they are, who they are and what they end up being.

The sign above the gates read 'ARKHAM ASYLUM'

She saw the security camera on the wall above fixate on her out the corner of her eye. Then, she jumped slightly as the speaker next to her crackled and spoke

'Name, Security Number, Password and Purpose'

She hesitated slightly. No one had informed her on how to actually enter the building. She knew Arkham was a kind of prison, but somehow she didn't think would look this intimidating.

Harleen pressed the intercom.

"Er..I don't have a security number but it's my first day here and I…"

The voice spoke over her.

"Please state your reason for entering and reporting officer."

She spoke a bit more confidently this time, annoyed at the voice for interrupting her.

"I'm meeting Dr. Murray; it's my first day at work here. I'm Harleen Quinzel."

The intercom didn't speak for a while, and she almost went to press the button before the noise stopped her. The gates made a huge beep before a small door in the gates opened stiffly.

"Enter"

Angry that security would have seen her jump, she stormed through the gate. She came to another barrier past the huge gates, which led into a security office. A man in a security uniform was waiting for her, looking smug. He looked her up and down as she brushed her already sodden hair out of her face and wiped under her eyes.

"First day of work then? You look a bit too…shall we say…delicate for this place? Shouldn't you still be in school?"

Harleen bristled at him in quiet anger, and the guard sensed it.

"Alright lovely, I'm only making conversation. Just such a dark place for such a pretty girl like you to be working. Lovely girl like you might see things she shouldn't."

"I'm sure ill be fine, thank you." She looked at him down her nose. "I've dealt with worse than this place." That was a bit of a lie, but she couldn't bear the thought of people thinking about her as an incapable girl. She saw the guard flick through some papers as she spoke, and saw a flash of a photograph with her face on it.

"Alright alright, calm down. Here's your security pass to get through the main doors, just swipe it through the box on the side. The pin is 44562. You will need this pass to get though reception; the code for that door is 89394. The password changes every day, you will have to get it from me."

Harleen sighed inwardly at this, liking the guard less and less. She went to leave through the other door before he stopped her again.

"Seriously though, good luck. I wouldn't set a foot in that place if you paid me. I'm happy in my little box here thank you!"

She thought of little box nailed shut with him inside, and it made her smile slightly, which the guard took as a good sign and bid her goodbye. She left the security office, and made her way up towards the steps of Arkham Asylum.

She jogged slightly and shielded her eyes from the rain lashing down. When she got to the doors, she swiped her first card through the box on the wall. The doors were steel and worn, made to keep people in. They felt horribly cold as she pushed them open.

Inside Arkham was no cheerier than the outside. The walls were grey and there were horrible strip lights that you only see in a hospital. Yet they still didn't seem to get rid of the shadowy corners of the reception room.

A woman behind a barred window sat shuffling some papers. She squinted over her glasses at Harleen when she approached.

"Hello. I'm Harleen Quinzel; I'm supposed to be meeting Dr. Murray in reception?"

The receptionist looked at her for a few moments before leaning over to her intercom. An echo of her voice could be heard around the empty corridors of the hospital around, asking Dr. Murray to present himself at reception.

Harleen smiled coldly and took a seat.

About 2 minutes wait in, a man came through the main doors dressed in a white lab coat and sporting a grey moustache, which had turned yellow from too much smoking. He was tall and well built, and looked like he had seen better days. Yet he had a kindly expression as he approached her.

"Ah Miss Quinzel I presume? A Pleasure to meet you."

The man seemed kind enough. He had a calm, steady voice and shook her hand firmly. Harleen liked it when people actually paid her proper attention.

"Shall we?"

He led her through the double doors after swiping and typing in his pin. The corridors were strip lighted, and they went on for ages. Something you would feel like you saw in a horror movie. There were no doctors posters on the walls, no notice boards, no coffee machines; it seemed as if the place had been deserted, which she would believe if there were not doctors, policemen and nurses wandering the lonely corridors.

Despite the regeneration of the city, and the masses of building work that had gone on with the new mayor's proposal to 'finally rid the city of filth'; they seemed to have overlooked this place.

It was so dark and haunting, any normal person would have lost their nerve. But Harleen never lost that twinge of excitement she had building up inside her.

"I hear from good authority that your work surpasses most in this field." Dr. Murray said, with no hint of mocking or doubt. "I have read a lot of your work; you certainly are skilled for one so young Miss Quinzel."

"Thank you." She said rather quietly, as she was busy scanning everything around her. "I take great pride in my work; it's the only thing I really love."

Dr Murray sounded like he sighed slightly, but smiled a little.

"That is good to know. Most young interns are gone by the first week. Let's hope you're up to a challenge!"

Oh I'm more than ready for a challenge... Harleen thought to herself. She had been eager to work in Arkham asylum or some kind of psychiatric practise ever since she began university. It was the human mind she was most interested in. She took pride in being an excellent judge of what kind of life someone had had, or what experience in life had led them to the paths they had taken.

Dr Murray led them into a small room of one of the long corridors, which was his office. It was slightly brighter in here, as it had no bars on the windows and smelt softly of tobacco. He offered a seat to Harleen as he sat at his desk.