Chapter One

It was just another shitty rainy day in Gotham. Great. I hated when it rained, especially when I worked in the Narrows. Being an intern at Arkham Asylum was already an awful job; I didn't need rain to make a crappy day even crappier.

I made my way to work on the tram. The Wayne family had built it almost twenty years ago. It was such a shame what happened to their kid Bruce. He was only a few years older than me when his parents were brutally murdered right in front of him. I remembered hearing about it on the news as a kid and being terrified of losing my mom. My dad had never been involved in my life and left us when I was just a baby, so I didn't care much about him. Little did I know I would end up losing my mother to cancer just a few years later.

After my mother died I was sent to live with my mother's brother, Uncle Jim. Jim Gordon was a Sergeant at the Major Crimes Unit, which made for an interesting childhood. I was always fascinated by the police scanners and who was locking up who. I honestly think that it was ultimately my obsession with crime and the psyche of those who committed them that drove me to become an intern at Arkham.

So there I was, twenty two years old, fresh out of college, and working at a hospital that was home to the most dangerous criminals in Gotham. I might complain about my job a lot, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't as happy as a pig in poop because I got to interact with all the fascinating people that I did on a daily basis.

As I got off the tram, I found myself feeling a bit maudlin. I hated leaving because it had such a gorgeous view of the city. It was nice to be reminded that despite all of the crime, Gotham was still capable of being an especially beautiful place. And I really hated giving up the view of the city for a view of Arkham. Arkham Asylum had to be the single most menacing building inside the city limits. Its stature was enough to make anyone feel overwhelmed, and that wasn't taking into account the oxidizing ironwork over the windows, the crumbling bricks, and the overall disrepair of the place. I always thought the most menacing part of the entire building was the ivy that grew up the side of the building. Partly because it reminded me of our horrible patient Pamela Isley, but also because it seemed to wrap itself around the building in a way that made the building itself look like it was wearing a straight jacket. It was almost like the ivy was the building's way of saying You'renevergoingtogetoutofthisplace.Honestly, the claustrophobia I felt every day as I walked into work was immense.

I scanned my ID badge and was buzzed in. I was greeted by my favorite co-worker, Stacey.

"Hey Jess," she said.

I smiled as I pinned my ID badge back to my chest. "Hey Stacey," I answered.

"How are you this fine morning?" she asked me sarcastically. I never knew how she managed to be so awake and perky every morning, and she knew that it killed me.

"I'm fine," I mumbled.

She walked over next to me and put her arms around my shoulders, shaking me. "C'mon now, Jess! That's no way to talk to your best friend!"

"Yeah Jess. That's no way to talk to your best friend," a voice said from behind us, freezing us in place. The voice was so cold and calculating that it could belong to only one man. I turned around to see none other than Dr. Johnathan Crane.

"Hello, Dr. Crane," I said, faking a smile as I ground my teeth.

"Hello Jessica, Stacey. Good morning to you both," he said, grinning at the pair of us with far too much teeth.

Even Stacey went silent. Dr. Crane creeped everyone out at Arkham, not just the patients. There was something off about him, and everyone knew it.

As he walked away Stacey whispered in my ear, "It's a damn shame he's so crazy. I mean, have you seen the guy?"

It was true, it couldn't denied. Sadly, Dr. Crane was kind of a hottie. At least he would be if he took off his glasses and stopped being so weird. But alas, he could never seem to manage normalcy. Then again, neither could I. I did work at an insane asylum, after all.

And with that I trudged off to see my first patient.

"Hi Maxie," I said to my first patient of the day, attempting to be a perky as possible.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Dr. Johnston? Call me Zeus."

"I'm not a doctor yet, Maxie. Still in grad school, remember?" He was silent.

"I'm not a doctor yet, Zeus."

He grinned, obviously quite happy with himself. "Ah, yes, that's right. Miss Johnston, then. Assuming you're not married?"

I frowned, "No, not yet. Still waiting for that special someone, you know?"

He looked me straight in the eyes, desperately trying to figure something out and then sighed. "What about that Batman fellow? Maybe you can marry him?" He laughed.

"Well…what do you think about the Batman, Ma-." I stopped mid sentence, immediately seeing the anger when I almost called him Maxie. "-Zeus?"

"I hate the guy" he snarled.

The Batman was the one who had put Maxie in Arkham in the first place. Normally Maxie wouldn't be in Arkham, seeing as his crimes weren't of a violent nature. But The Batman had sought out Jeremiah Arkham himself and urged us to put Maxie in maximum security. Oh, and the poor man thought that he was the Greek God, Zeus.

"Why do you hate him?" I asked.

"Why do you hate Hitler? It's the same thing."

I nodded as I jotted down some notes. He was growing bored. "How are you feeling today?"

"Fine. A little tired. I think the new medication they put me on is making me more exhausted than usual."

"We'll get that fixed for you right away," I assured him. He nodded as though he understood and trusted me to get it done.

The thing was I kind of liked Maxie. He was a little insane, sure, but overall he was a nice guy. Aside from the hate he harbored for The Batman, I was pretty sure that there was a mean bone in his body. He didn't belong in a place like Arkham. With the death of his wife and kids, who could blame the poor guy for going off the deep end? But with him being thrown in a place like Arkham with all the other crazies, it was hard to see how the poor guy was going to get any better.

"I'll go do that right now for you, okay Maxie?"

"My name is not Max!" he screamed. The outburst frightened me and I scurried out the door. I felt bad for leaving him without saying goodbye, but I didn't know what else to do.

Just then, security guard Aaron Cole came running to my side.

"You alright, Jess? I heard yelling."

"Yeah, I'm fine Aaron. Just a little misunderstanding."

"Oh. Okay…" he trailed off. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but I didn't have the time to wait around and chat. I was off to talk to my supervisor about changing Maxie's meds. Unfortunately, my supervisor happened to be Dr. Johnathan Crane.

I paused when I finally reached Dr. Crane's office. I went to knock on the door, but before my fist could even reach the wood, the door was flung open to reveal an angry looking woman leaving his office in a huff.

"Jessica! What do you need?" he cheerfully pondered. I hated when he was cheerful. It was just so… creepy.

"Umm…," I said, still in shock from having a woman storm out right in front of me.

"Oh, that," he said, "She was just some woman from the DA's office upset about Falcone. Now what did you want?"

"I was wondering if we could decrease Maximillian's meds. They're making him too tired."

"Yes, yes," he said animatedly. "Of course!"

"Thank you," I said as I turned for the door. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Jessicaaaa…?" he trailed off.

I turned around. "Yes, Dr. Crane?"

"Have a niceday."

Something about the way he said it made me shutter. I walked out of his office as quick as I could and got back to work.