Chapter 1

Mayor Gregory Lizen sat at his spacious desk, gazing out the glass wall to his right. His office had a beautiful view. Most of Gotham was out there below him. Its never-ending skyscrapers and businesses clustered together. It was always buzzing with activity, even at night. Unfortunately it was usually criminals who were active, but the mayor did all he could. Running a city this corrupted was hard work. He was a close friend to Bruce Wayne's father, and was a temporary businessman for Wayne Enterprises. Because of his close connections to all the big names in the city, he was first pick as mayor when Mayor Dickenson was assassinated a few years ago by the Joker. Thankfully, that lunatic is locked up forever at Arkham Asylum.

It is 8 AM right now, but Lizen got here at 7 like usual to set up the day's to-do list. It was pretty much finished now and he knew what to do in what order. Though he was organized and the citizens liked him, he wanted to hand his job to someone else. He felt that he didn't care enough for the citizens to stay as a mayor. The city was on the brink of going to hell anyway, if not already.

Lizen's secretary came in to give his daily cup of coffee and doughnut from the lobby. He thanked her and set his pen down. His secretary was a pretty young lady. Her name was Kathy Eglewood. She was in her early twenties and had a slim figure and blonde hair. She was a pleasure to work with. He never planned on doing anything with her, even though he was lonely. His wife divorced him right after he took the position as mayor. She was too scared for him and he wouldn't back down. She's now off in California somewhere, married to a much wealthier man.

Gregory Lizen's body hurt. It always hurt now, bone cancer rapidly spreading, plaguing everything. He was too young for cancer. He was 42 years old and led a very unfulfilling and painful life. He wanted a break, but he couldn't simply take the day off and go golfing somewhere. Being a mayor of Gotham was like being a prisoner. He couldn't go anywhere. Even if he wanted to he couldn't without cameras and microphones being shoved in his face. He was tired of Gotham. The city was beyond repair. Even Batman couldn't keep the streets spotless. Lizen needed to find someone to become the next mayor and fast. He needed to get away from this chaos. He reviewed his to-do list for the third time.

Not to his liking, he owed a visit to Arkahm Asylum today. He had to do a check-up on it. He had to make sure its prisoners were being shown some level of humanity and treated correctly. The facility must be up to standards. Though the Asylum was supposedly tight on security didn't mean the place never gave anyone the chills or nightmares. It was a scary place, and no one would want to go near there unless they had to. The mayor couldn't find anyone to offhand this task unfortunately, so it seemed it was just him going. Lizen could think of a million other things to do than taking a field trip to the asylum. He decided to go in the early afternoon. Hopefully the visit would only take an hour tops.

While the mayor was dreading his visit to the asylum, a buzzer sounded in the ignoble confinement, waking up every sleeping soul which laid in it. The guards immediately started to make their morning rounds in response. One of the older guards, Mike Cricket, was always in charge of checking the first floor of the maximum security wing. He was responsible for looking after 100 prisoners which all were equally unstable and menacing. The most dangerous of prisoners were kept in this wing and all of them managed to irritate and intimidate him, but only one truly frightened him. That prisoner was in the last jail cell at the end of the fifth row and was the craziest man ever known. Everyone called him the Joker and was locked here now for the sole reason of assassinating Mayor Dickenson.

The Joker was a horrible man with white make up on his face and green hair. He had scars upturned at the corners of his mouth, making it look like a heartless smile. He had no name, and not a hint of a record showing birth or any previous crimes. He was nonexistent until he visited Gotham a few years back. Why the judge didn't order him a death sentence is beyond anyone. Sure the man was crazy, but he had to have known the difference between right and wrong.

Mike Cricket was satisfied though as of now, seeing everyone arousing from their slumber. They were too tired to make a fuss, thus ensuring the guard some safety and peace. He glanced into the Joker's cell and stopped dead in his tracks.

The cell was empty.

The guard, sure it was from lack of sleep, blinked and looked closer into the cell. It was totally deserted. Confused and now afraid, he used his walkie-talkie to question another guard, but this one was higher up in the ranks. "Checking up on cellmate 370082…was he released?"

"Uh, that would be no."

"Was he moved at all?"

"No. He's still assigned to his same cell," replied the respondent

"He's not in the cell," Cricket finally alerted.

A troop of four guards and the chief marched down to meet Mike Cricket. The chief looked into the cell. He unlocked it and looked around again. Yup, the Joker was indeed gone. The chief slammed the door shut. Unsatisfied and now spooked, he ordered a lock down and a thorough search through the whole facility and grounds. He called up Commissioner Gordon with the bad news.

"He's gone? I thought you guys had the highest security! Did you run the security tapes? The mayor is supposed to be visiting the asylum today you know. " replied Gordon, clenching the phone tightly, his face white.

"Sorry sir. We're running the tapes now. Not a hint of an escape is shown." Chief Gladstone replied, baffled. "I don't know how this could have happened."

Commissioner Gordon's heart dropped. He leaned forward and closed his eyes. He could already feel a headache setting in. He took a deep breath, definitely not prepared for another round with this whacko. How did he escape and what was his plan?