Chapter 2.

One week ago, Arkham Asylum, 20:55

"Heading home tonight?" Thomas Gavin has been a guard in Arkham Asylum for a few years now. He was a favourite one as well. Not much among the patients but certainly among the rest of the staff. He was a kind, and funny guy who always cared first for the others. And so it was a rather sad that his life was about to end this night. In Arkham, the day was supposed to end in 21:00, it was the time when all the patients were put into their cells to sleep and the whole facility started to calm down. Gavin was usually the one guard that would stay here the longest time to check on things, or the one who would frequently take the night shift, so the others didn't have to do it. He didn't have any family to spend his time with, and so he devoted his life to work, to keep the people in Gotham safe by keeping an eye on the criminals within these walls. Tonight, however, he was planning a nice, long sleep in his bed. Lately, the days in Arkham have been straining, especially after the Scarecrow's recent escape.

He was curently sitting in the security office with one of his fellow guards, Henry Jackson. Jackson was a big and strong man and it was no secret that he would rather work in Blackgate, but for now, he was stuck here.

"Yeah, Jackson, everything's good, you can go, I'll just do one last round around this wing and then I'm out of here." The two friends laughed together as the bigger one of them get up and left. Gavin sighed as the sudden silence filled the room, and then stood up too and walked out of the door to check on things one last time before he'll leave as well.

The corridor in front of the security room was quiet, save for the slow buzzing of a security camera near the entrance. It would be impossible for anyone to get into that office without being recorded, and yet, suddenly, the silent corridor was filled with soft footsteps...

Thomas knew immediately, as soon as he entered the security room to collect his things, that something wasn't right. But opening the door, he never had time to react, as suddenly something struck him from behind. Something small, and sharp. And then another. A minute later, he was lying on a the ground in a pool of his own blood, three bolts embedded in his back.

Arkham Asylum, 21:15

"And you say you just found him like this?" Henry Jackson genuinly shocked look was enough for his superiors to believe him, and still, the circumstances were more than strange. When mr. Jackson returned back to the office to take his forgotten car keys only minutes after he left his collegue there, he was devastated to find the man obviously murdered. It was a horrific sight, but the weird part is, the security feed from that time showed absolutely nothing, and absolutely no-one entering the room between the time officer Gavin left the room and time he returned to it, and the room window was too high, even if it would be possible to climb the wall at all. So the main question was, how could the murderer possibly get in the room without being seen?

"Perhaps some error in the security camera?" asked one of the other remaining guards. "No, impossible, I checked on any possible errors twice already. The camera is functioning normally."

"Then tell me how the killer got into the room! Or do you really want to start believing that he commited suicide by shoving three arrows in his own back?" Dr. Bartholomew was the last doctor in Arkham this evening and he was as horrified as everyone else. He was fond of mr. Gavin, and the terrible way he died combined with how many weird things were around his death, have moved him deeply.

"They are actually crossbow bolts." a deep voice sounded from the window, and the three men turned to see the Batman standing there. No-one was really surprised as to how he already knew about the tragedy here, and they were glad that he was here. Perhaps now the situation was going to be resolved.

"Have you seen this before, Batman?" the old psychiatrist asked. "No, but the others did. The Central Database has a lot of records of cases such as these. The crime happened but there was no-one seen around the crime scene by any witnesses or any security in the time of the crime. No-one has ever found out how she does that but..."

"She?"

"Yes, doctor. She is highly known mostly in Starling City and Metrolopolis, and I'm sure she's been doing business in Gotham before. The GCPD just didn't have any idea what was..."

The Batman suddenly stopped talking as he noticed the horrified expresions on the faces of the people before him, and he slowly turned around to look at the security monitors. Immediately, his eyes went wide open, as he saw the row of open doors on the monitor. He jumped to the keyboard and with a click he switched the view to another camera, facing another cell block. Then, all stepped away from the monitors in shock, as they saw the doors the cells slowly opening, one after one.

In that moment, the Batman was already on his way down there. By the time he arrived, most of the patients were already loose, but those were not his prime concerns. Beating them all out of his way, he ran to the only section of the asylum that only mattered at the moment. But as he rounded that last corner, he knew that he was already late. The Rogue Gallery's ward was emptied.