I sighed ruefully and blew some of my black hair out of my eyes. Without my constant use of hair jell, my hair no longer stayed up in its regular spikes. I was sitting by myself in a padded cell in Arkham Asylum. I was tied securely to a chair, seeing as I would soon have my first so called Therapy Session.
I grinned as I contemplated this. Sure it would be annoying as hell, but what would my dearest mentor Batman say if he could see his protégé tied up like a total psycho? Imagining his reaction, I couldn't help but laugh.
"Is something funny Mr. Grayson?" My head snapped up as I heard my given name. I glared at the offender as she entered the room. Holy shit. As I took in her features, my frown instantly turned into a giant smile. My therapist was a young woman, probably only mid-20s, with gorgeous blond hair and a perfect figure.
"Well, hello beautiful. You must be insane to be wasting your good looks in this hell hole."
She coughed uncomfortably, her confidence and poise instantly gone. "Well, um, yes. You see I- I wanted to help those who, well, need it the most, and I thought, that um, here would be the best." I grinned; she had obviously very little experience. This would be so much fun.
I let out a short laugh and she started. "You're a newbie here, aren't you Miss…"
"Dr." she emphasized, "Dr. Evelyn Errett"
"Oh, I apologize Evy. I can call you that right?" I continued, not waiting for a response: it was best to try and maintain my control of the conversation. "Great. This is your first eval, isn't it?"
She just nodded as she tried to regain her composure. Looking up, she took in my appearance for the first time. I was obviously not what she expected. Instead of a hardened criminal, she was now faced with a teenage boy who had somehow managed to take control of the conversation. I noticed her staring and grinned.
"See something you like, Evy dearest?" I laughed, as she looked down and blushed. Ignoring the comment, she slowly walked over to the chair placed opposite mine and sat down. Taking a deep breath she looked up at me, "so, Ri– Richard"
"Robin" I interrupted, annoyed again. She looked at me, totally confused. My god, she was a moron. "Excuse me?" she questioned.
"Call me Robin, Evy; Richard Grayson died a long time ago." She just nodded again, now eager to proceed with my assumed cooperation. She must have honestly thought she could help me. "Very well, Robin. You are aware why you are here, I assume."
"Does it have something to do with the fact that I killed six people?" I questioned sarcastically. She ignored my tone and continued, with a smile. "Correct. I am here to ascertain–"
I was already annoyed with this chick. I could not sit through any more of this; she was actually taking this seriously.
"God, I can't do this Evy. You're actually trying to do this. Do you know anything about Arkham? Villains don't actually get helped here. Hell, most are barely here for a week. Then they all escape somehow and go back to their shitty lives. I mean, damn. It's pretty much just a short vacation."
"Now, Mr. Grayson–" I instantly tried to jump up from my seat, only to have my bindings hold me back. I continued my struggle for a few minutes as she watched horrified. "My name isn't Richard fucking Grayson. Everything about that life, everything is gone. Especially my parents."
She seemed to perk up at this piece of information. "Excellent point, Rich– er, Robin. How do you think they would feel about your new lifestyle and the crimes you committed?" I instantly froze; that was the one question I wanted to avoid. It brought back unwanted memories that now flooded my mind: memories of family, love, happiness. I saw my parents smiling together, laughing at jokes, living their lives. Guilt flooded through me as tears gradually appeared in my eyes.
That doctor, Dr. Evelyn seemed to smile slightly. She was thrilled – a breakthrough had seemingly occurred. "They wouldn't be proud of your actions, would they Richard?" I noticed her relapse to my old name, but ignored it and silently shook my head.
She sat perfectly still, waiting for a response. I gave a bitter laugh and finally spoke, "You know Dr. Evelyn, my mom used to criticize me for harming anything, even killing a spider got me yelled at. 'Every life is important Richard, everything' she would tell me." I paused, more tears emerging from my ears. "She's how I got my alias you know. She called me her Little Robin" I whispered.
She was scribbling down notes furiously. I could see the slight triumph in her eyes as she quickly finished what she was writing and looked back up at me. "And Batman too. I'm sure he cares for you too and is disappointed."
That slowed the tears. I stared into space as fresher memories appeared. My parents death, Zucco's arrogance, Batman's training. I remembered the need for vengeance consuming me. Slowly, one memory blocked all the others and filled my mind: killing Zucco – the adrenaline, the power, the thrill.
As I looked her, I saw the disappointment and anger in her eyes. She knew she had fucked up big time in bringing up Batman. "Oh yeah, Evy. I'm sure that asshole of a mentor is all broken up over my betrayal." I laughed again, cold and hard; the tears were long gone. She tried desperately to revert back to the old topic. "Just relax Richard. Think again of your paren–"
"Just shut the hell up Evelyn." I commanded, too aggravated to even use her pet name. "I don't want to remember anything. I actually like my life as Robin now and won't go back to being some weak little kid."
I settled back into my chair, trying to find a relaxing position despite my bindings. There was still a lot of time left to talk to her, but I had no intention of doing so.
Evy sighed, two hours of talking to an indifferent listener had put her in a shitty mood and it seemed like she was about ready to give up. She had tried everything to get a response from me, but I had continued to ignore her.
I couldn't help but grin slightly. The once confident doctor looked close to tears at her apparent failure. She hadn't been entirely unsuccessful though: her questioning about my parents reactions had evoked a strong response.
I had seriously questioned my new life for a short moment and that scared me. I wasn't going back, ever. At that point in my life I had been caring, nice, passive kid; I was a pushover. Now, I would always be in control: nothing could hurt me. The biggest thing motivating me to continue though was the thrill. Killing was like my drug, and I wasn't going to give it up.
"Richard." I sighed at her incessant use of my given name, but she continued once she saw that she had my attention. "You leave me no choice but to transfer you to another doctor."
"Oh, Evy! I'm so broken up. We've become so close." I cried out dramatically. She grimaced, looking like she was almost in pain. She rapidly flipped through pages that were behind her notes. "Hmm… You seem somewhat similar to the Joker," she mused and I grinned at the sound of my former mentor's nemesis.
"We could try that one intern: Harleen Quinzel?" she murmured to herself. The name immediately piqued my interest. I remembered one of Batman's conversations I had eavesdropped on concerning her. Batman had suspected that she had gone insane while studying the Joker. Rumors had suggested that she was planning to free the Joker somehow; supposedly she had fallen in love with him during their many sessions.
If I could somehow talk to her before she freed the Joker, I could escape with the two of them. Ignoring Evy, I slowly planned out my escape given this new turn of events. Seeing that she was once again being ignored, Evy got up and bid a quick farewell; she left the room with, no doubt, a feeling of disappointment.
I heard the lock click as she closed the cell door, reminding me of my current imprisonment, but it did nothing to diminish my mood. I knew I would be out of this Asylum soon. God I couldn't wait.
Yay! Chapter 4. Wow, this is turning into quite the project. I had only planned on it being like 3 chapters, but now I just kept thinking of stuff and so I'm on 5. Insane. So yeah, hope you liked it and thanks to the people who review because you totally make my day.
