Quiet.

Loud.

Light.

Dark.

Good.

Evil.

Frown.

I smiled at the sound of my doctor saying a 'dark' word, "Grin, beam, smile, which one do you want?"

They had taken me off the medication and were observing how my brain was responding. Of course, that meant that they had me strapped to my bed and blindfolded, but it was better than sleeping most of the day and being blurry-eyed the rest of the time.

They were forced to drug me; I was too violent of a patient for them to deal with. They were just being smart. If they hadn't, I probably would've killed another guard and a nurse in the first week or so. Yes, another guard. I had shot the one who was shoving me in my cell, with his own gun in fact. I was pretty proud of that, and got apparently developed a reputation because of it. At least, that's what Dr. Redmond told me.

I was in Arkham. Can you believe it? I had gotten into the one and only Arkham Asylum of Gotham City. It holds the most dangerous of Gotham's criminally insane. The police and my lawyer considered me just as dangerous as Two-Face, Penguin, and Poison Ivy, who had just recently escaped come to think of it. I, being the sadistic little maniac I am, considered it a compliment, even though life in a cell wasn't as easy as I thought it would be when I went on my little tangent that ended up causing the deaths of my dad and the neighbor's kids.

You think I'd be a little regretful, but I was I had conduct disorder that was going to morph me into a regret-less, non-sympathetic being that's technically only half-human. So, technically, I wouldn't feel any emotion at all. Isn't that what a sociopath is?

I asked Dr. Redmond that, but he said that 'sociopath' was a very un-proffesinal word to use, but he agreed in the end that it was. I could be a very good negotiator when I wanted to and knew enough about something. & I knew the human brain and psychoses like... well... like the back of my hand.

"You're making amazing progress Anne! Your reaction to being off the medication is remarkable!" His voice jerked me out of the little thought daze I found myself in for a moment.

"Is that good Doc?" I replied in my usual on-the-verge-of-laughing tone, that made our sessions shorter than all the other patients, well at least according to him.

"Yes, it's very good!" His voice was very calming to me. He sounded young and not fretful or stressed at all, which was a miracle in itself considering he had to talk to people like me and other psychos every single day, except Sunday, that was his day off.

One of the other patients screamed in the background as I shifted a little under the straps of my designated gurney. I could feel that the leather they were made of and they were a little loose, but not loose enough for me to move my hands around. The doctors knew me too well.

Get this, one of the reasons why the staff had blindfolded me was because I was smart enough to figure out a way to escape, which is also why they drugged me! Either that, or they were just lazy. But I'm pretty sure it was because I was, and still am, really smart. Isn't that funny? They were afraid of a fourteen-year-old girl!

"Why do I have to be blindfolded?" I complained again since the thought had come up.

"One, because you'd probably escape. Two, because your eyes haven't adjusted to the light yet."

"Why do they have to be-"

BANG!

I would've jumped if I wasn't strapped down! It sounded like a frick'n gunshot! But who could have gotten past all the cameras and the metal detectors and the guards without being caught? This place had more security than the frick'n white house! No one could have smuggled in a gun through all the metal detectors!

"What the..." Dr. Redmond's voice turned completely serious, and a little scared if I wasn't mistaken.

"Sick 'm Doc!" I encouraged with a blind smile as I heard him walk across the room and behind my head, to the door. I couldn't help but see the funny side of everything, that was my talent.

The doorknob turned and the hinges squeaked like it was a horror movie... and someone... laughed?

The laugh was unlike anything I'd ever heard before, but it was somehow so familiar to me. It was a loud, obnoxious, absolutely insane laughter that sent a chill down my spine for no apparent reason. I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd hears it before, but I couldn't put a name on the... laugh.

"What's up Doc?" The voice was also familiar. It was a man, but his tone of voice was just ridiculous! There was a joyous and half-sarcastic undertone to every word he said.

There was a gasp and then...

BANG!

My ears started ringing. It was a gunshot!

"Doctor Redmond?" I called. I was pretty sure he didn't carry a gun around, but if he was shot, then I was stuck, and I couldn't really do anything else. "Doc?"

"The doctors out, sweetheart," the man's voice, and then laughter, came from right above me, just as a very strong aroma of cologne and sweat filled my nose and I almost choked.

Either this guy was a big-shot, or completely blew his budget because I could tell Sharvine cologne from a mile away and it was really expensive!

I coughed once and then choked out, "Try only putting two sprays on next time instead of the whole bottle!"

"Ha! I wish I could!" This guy was very lighthearted, anyone else would've blew up.

I felt the strap on my forehead loosen and as soon as it was off I immediately lifted my head up as far as I could.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The man laughed and began untying my blindfold.

"Who are you?" He shot back.

"My name is Anne Zaro. I'm fourteen and a quarter, I think, and I'm a sociopath with a history of violence, blood on my hands, and a price on my forehead at one point."

"A Sociopath, huh? You can't classify yourself as one of those until-"

"I'm eighteen?" I interrupted, "but I've done everything needed to be one!" It almost sounded like I was whining.

"It's a very un-proffesinal classification anyway. They told me I was one at one point. Ah, memories, aren't they cloudy!"

Finally, he slipped the blindfold off and my eyes fluttered open.

The first thing I saw was white, which turned out to be the walls, and then purple.

After a second, my vision sharpened and I realized I was looking at a suit, a purple suit, with an orange tie that was practically screaming for attention.

Then I looked up, at the face of a killer, a smiling, white-faced, green-eyed, green-haired, killer with an elongated jawline and a lipstick-covered, hyper-extended smile.

That's when I recognized him. He was one of Gotham's most strategic, and creative, killer of all time, The Joker. & he was helping me escape!

He was grinning like mad and had an expression that made me think he was expecting me to be surprised for some reason.

Well, I was somewhat surprised, in fact I almost shrieked at his clown-like appearance, but for some reason he didn't scare me. Neither did the fact that he had killed Dr. Redmond. Killing didn't surprise me, after all, I was a killer myself.

The first thing I ended up saying to him was, "Why?"

As he squatted down and began un-clipping the straps around my chest, he replied, "Well, I'm not sure yet."

"You're not sure?" He had a very thoughtful look on his face.

"Well Red told me you'd be a suitable replacement."

"Who?"

He chuckled. "Red. You know her as Poison. . . Poison Ivy."

"Poison Ivy?" She was actually the only one of Batman's foes that had powers that didn't come from a gadget or, in Joker's case, pure insanity! She could control plants, which was an odd power, come to think of it, but she used it right.

"Ya, we call her Red."

Oh god! Was I going to get caught up in all this?

Quite suddenly, my head started swimming and I felt really sick.

This was all happening so fast! There was a complete psychopath helping me escape from this Hell, who had just killed the only person I had talked to in the last two months. What was going to happen? What was he gonna do? WHY WAS HE DOING THIS?

My stomach churned and I gagged for no reason.

The Joker stared at me for a second before saying, "Are you okay?"

I gagged again and answered, "No!" before turning away from him nearly throwing up.

That's when I remembered why he sounded so familiar, I had seen him before!

I ran the scene through my head, trying to clear my mind.

It was about a year ago, in the summer. The sun was blazing and I was riding my bike to the Gallows, no, in the Gallows, which was what everyone calls the bad part of town.

It's secluded from the rest of the city, it's an island in the bay. The only way to get there is to go across a bridge, so that's exactly what I did.

My mom always said it was too dangerous to ride or walk in the Gallows, but of course, I went against her, as usual.

I was going over there because my friend Joey lived there. He was the sweetest kid in the world and he didn't deserve to live there, but his dad was jobless and they were barely getting by with the unemployment checks.

Anyways, I had gotten across the bridge and was cutting through an alleyway to get to Joey's apartments. It was completely consumed by the shadows of the brick buildings on both sides of me. They were so tall, and I stopped to look at the clotheslines up ahead against the smoggy blue sky.

I was a dreamer and noticed small things like that. Joey always me a freak, but it was a habit I just couldn't break.

& that's when it happened.

"Girly, you should know better than to be wandering around on the bad side of town!" The voice, I shivered, was right behind me, his breath going down the back of my neck, and I froze.

Then he began to laugh this absolutely berserk laughter and I whispered, "What are you doing?"

"Escaping!" He replied simply before laughing again.

"Puddin'! Where'd you go?" A high-pitched, girl voice that reminded me of a child came from around the corner.

"I'm commin'!" He called and then added to me, "Don't be so serious, sweetheart!"

He laughed again and I kept staring straight as it faded away.

"Funny isn't it?" I said partly to myself and partly to Joker as I snapped back into reality and turned back to him with my eyes blazing and my cheeks burning, "How every time something good happens, there's always a catch?" I was just repeating what Joey had said to me when I got to his house and told him about what happened.

Joker took a step back from the table because he was done with the straps and, cocking his head, replied, "Then what's the catch for us meeting?"

I could practically see the wheels turning behind his eyes.

"I don't know yet," I lied, swinging my legs around the gurney.

Smiling, he said, "We better get out of here before the coppers come and get us!" He sounded so sarcastic I nearly laughed.

"I thought they were called the Police, no one says cops anymore!"

As he strode across the room, I couldn't help but notice how stringy he looked in that suit of his. I could see his leg muscles rippling with every step and the tendons in his forearm tugging at the edge of the sleeve. It was so strange how he could look so small, but yet be so... powerful!

As I hopped off the gurney, I stared at Dr. Redmond's face for the first time. It was lying in a pool of blood, but I didn't mind. He looked sensitive and kind, but he was dead now. His white coated was stained with bright red splotches, soaking up blood from the floor.

It should have been terrifying. It would have been alarming to anyone normal, or sane. But to me, it was a work of art. A beautiful picture of perfection. The color, his expression, it was perfect.

"Are you coming?" Joker called from the doorway.

"Ya." I looked up from the blood splattered floor and fallowed him through the open door in my bare feet and baggy, white, clothes.

The hallway looked exactly the same as when they hauled me in here, but it wasn't surprising considering I had only been in there for two months.

The whole hall was a dark-gray, mostly because of the paint they had put over the cement. It didn't go very well with the potted plants that were placed around every corner. Television monitors hung from the gray ceiling every few feet with a recording of Dr. Arkham himself saying something or another.

Patients are to take two pills twice a day unless prescribed otherwise...

I fallowed Joker closely, which was kind of hard since he walks really fast. I didn't really know why I was fallowing him besides the fact that he had set me free and I had no where else to go.

Considering that he set me and only me free, I figured I might be fun to see why he was doing all this.

The hallways were completely empty of any guards, which seemed odd, but reasonable considering I was fallowing a criminal genius!

After walking around three more corners, I finally got the sense to ask, "Where are we going?"

Joker chuckled and then answered with another question, "You know we're going out, but where are we going then? I honestly have no idea!"

"Going out?"

"Outside!"

We went around yet another corner and into the first, and main, room.

It would have been equal to a front hall if the asylum had been a house. Besides being gigantic, the only other thing that was really special about it was the cells, and the giant door leading somewhere else.

They lined both sides of the room, and were filled with the more 'famous' of Gotham's lunatics, like the Riddler was in there. The only reason I recognized him was all the green question marks painted on the walls of his cell.

Oh, and Bane was in there too. He was a monster of society, a medical experiment that went way off track. I always thought of him as Frankenstein's monster, he looked like him. He was really big and muscular, and -at that moment- chained to a wall. The mask he wore looked like one of those wrestler guys from Mexico, but there were tubes coming out of the back that I assumed were stuck to his head since they hadn't taken it off of him.

They took everyone's clothes off of them when they stick them in the cells.

"Eddy!" Joker exclaimed running up to the glass that separated the cell that held the Riddler from the rest of the room. I just stayed where I was and watched the scene unfold.

The Riddler got up from where he was sitting and faced Joker with an upset expression.

"You know how long I've been stuck in here?" He said in a muffled voice.

"A very long time, I'm guessing," Joker replied.

"Yes, a very very long time."

"Well, you should have thought about that when you got caught buddy!"

"Can't you let me out? I'll owe you big time!"

"No can do, I've already got an escapee on my hands!" Joker gestured to me as Riddler's green eyes focused on me for a moment.

"You-" Riddler swore. "What makes her so special?"

"Well... I'm not sure yet. It's a spur of the moment thing, ya see?"

"No I don't see. Hey chick!"

I stared at him blankly before replying, "What?"

He smiled and pressed his hands up against the glass. "Riddle me this;There was a girl in our town, silk an' satin was her gown. Gold an' velvet, silk an' satin. Guess her name. I've already said it three times."

He'd said it three times! The only word he said three times was ...and.. but he didn't... Anne! HA!"Anne?"

"You see how I did that? How I put your name in there? This one's smart, Joker, she might be a keeper."

"Wait, how do you know my name?"

He sighed. "Everyone knows your name! You're the youngest prisoner here! Wait no, patient."

I giggled as the Joker said, "Well, if we're gonna beat the fuzz, we better leave. Come on Anne, we'll give you a better name and chat later."

As if they were waiting for Joker to finish, about seventeen guards rushed through the door, guns pointed straight at us! & they weren't just any guards either, they were the maximum security guards. That meant that they were wearing helmets, bulletproof helmets and vests.

"Oh crap," I said, before directing a comment towards Joker, "I thought you took care of them!

He glared at me for a moment before replying, "I didn't say anything."

"PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND STAY WHERE YOU ARE! IF YOU MOVE, WE ARE AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT!" As the guard yelled, both me and the Joker began scooting closer to one another.

"We can here you know!" I shouted back, "Jeez, we're not deaf!"

Then a man pushed his way in between two of the guards and in front of everybody.

The first thing I noticed about him was his mustache. The second, was a realization, he was the Commissioner!

"James!" Joker said gleefully, "I've missed you!"

Commissioner Gordon did not look very pleased at Joker calling him by his first name. His expression mad me think of a mad dog, and just the thought of that made me smile.

"You are under arrest Joker, again."

"Oh come on Gordy!" Joker whined, but he ignored him.

Cocking his eyebrow, the Commissioner asked, "Now what are you doing here little girl?"

One of the guards behind him lowered his gun for a moment and I watched as he whispered: she's dangerous.

I could lip read, it was just a habit I had developed from sitting in the back of the classroom, watching people talk behind the teacher's back.

Gordon whispered back: She's just a kid.

I questioned quietly to Joker, "Do you have a knife I could throw?"

He chuckled softly and replied, "Is that a rhetorical question?"

"Give it."

"Slowly walk over here with your hands up!" Gordon said calmly.

I held out my hand behind Joker's back and felt the hilt of a knife in the palm of my hand.

As I gripped it and raised my left hand, Joker laughed and questioned, "You wanna hear a joke?"

Before anyone could bat an eyelash, I raised the knife and threw it straight at commissioner Gordon.

Unfortunately, he ducked and it hit the guy right behind him straight in the face, which was weird since he was wearing a mask, but as it turns out, the blade was ten inches long and went straight through the plastic of the helmet.

"Well," I started, "I guess we can say in confidence that that mask is not bulletproof."

The guard fell down to the ground, lifeless, and as usual, I felt nothing.

"OPEN FIRE!" Gordon yelled.

Before I could really do anything, Joker jumped in front of me and about twenty gunshots filled the room.

& talk about bad timing, I closed my eyes, fell to the floor and blacked out.

She's down!

Anne... I won't lose you too...