chapter four is up and running. i must say, i haven't recieved any reviews for this yet and i know i'm new on here but i did expect at least one after i posted. so please, please, please review and give me some support here.

Disclaimer: i do not own the dark knight or the joker.

They had to get him in a straight jacket and give him a sedative before he was considered safe to be transported. The citizens of Gotham knew nothing of the transfer of the Joker to Arkham Asylum. The press only found out a day after when they managed to bribe a drunk off duty police officer. Though the media was still hysterical about the Joker's capture, the citizens of Gotham had breathed a deep sigh of relief at the news that he would be locked away in a nut house for the rest of his life.

--

A young girl of about 15 walked out of a Gloria Jeans coffee shop. She was brown haired and was quite large though not obese.

Though she was rather unremarkable in looks and intelligence, her father was quite the opposite. He was a well known and successful psychiatrist who worked with, and even cured, some of the worst lunatics in America. Known for his intelligence and charm, Dr. Dunn had currently been given the opportunity to work at Arkham Asylum, which had "so-called" incurable patients.

She glanced at the watch strapped to her wrist. "Crap" she said under her breath and quickly hurried to the pedestrian crossing which had just turned green. She was late for her train. She was new to this city, having had to move here with her father. Gotham was notorious for its crime, so she didn't want to wait around alone at a bus stop or catch a ride alone in a taxi. You had to keep looking behind your shoulder in Gotham.

--

Dr. Jared Dunn leant against the kitchen bench, sipping his coffee. The staff were settling down at the tables with their coffee and biscuits.

They were very eager to enjoy their coffee break today.

All the patients had been acting strangely. Some were running around like headless chickens. Others were cowering down under their bed and refused to come out even for breakfast. Many had to be sedated or put into straight jackets. The doctors couldn't understand what had come over them. Discussing it, there were a few good arguments among the flippant dismissals of some who believed that the inmates were just trying to cause trouble. At one table, three doctors were having a heated argument about the Joker having somehow caused the ruckus.

One known as Manny Black said, "The other patients must fear him, can't you see them hiding in the foetal position under their beds?"

Another elderly doctor called George Westron replied, "Not all of them are hiding, some of them are running around as though they are excited about having the Joker stay."

"What does the Joker have to do with anything, he's just another mentally disturbed person, he isn't any different to any other patient we have here, such as Crane or Nigma," reasoned Josephine Knight, one of only three female doctors working at the asylum.

"Yes, but the Joker only came here last night and the patients weren't acting strangely yesterday. Another point to note is that the Joker is markedly different from most if not all of the other patients here," Doctor Westron pointed out.

Doctor Knight retorted, "How is he different from any other patient? He wears something to cover his face, he is sadistic and has no disregard for human life, and as far as we know he is trying to make an impact on if not change our society. Some other patients here are also sadists or sociopaths, some wear masks and quite a few were trying to change their society."

"True," George conceded, "but what he aims to achieve seems to be completely different to the goals of the other patients. He apparently wants to show society that rules are unnecessary, a hindrance if you will, and he causes large amounts of chaos and anarchy. This is the complete opposite to all the other inmates. They, such as the Riddler want to create utopias, the perfect society. They all have some sort of order or logic in their ideas, they do what they do as a means of creating security for themselves. The Joker, as far as we know, wants none of that."

Doctor Manny Black who had been listening intently added, "The problem is that we don't know much, if anything of his motives or goals apart from what we have learnt from his recordings and police interviews. Once we get the chance to interview and assess him we may find that he has goals and insecurities are similar to all the other patients."

"Anyway," Josephine sighed, "we still don't know what is causing the odd behaviour of the patients."

The doctors remained silent, sipping their coffee thoughtfully.

All of the psychiatrists in the room turned towards the door as their employer, Dr. Arkham entered. He surveyed the room full of hopeful faces. He knew that all of the senior doctors were hoping that he would give them the new case.

Looking at Jared he commanded, "Dr. Dunn would you please come to my office."

Jared set down his coffee and walked out of the room accompanied by numerous stares of jealousy.

Entering the office he was told to take a seat in one of the comfortable chairs that stood before the desk. Doctor Arkham sat heavily in his leather armchair and folded his hands on his desk.

"Now I assume you know why I have called you in here," he asked, "the question is do you want to take on the Joker?"

Jared replied eagerly, "Yes. Yes of course I do. I have wanted to take him on ever since, well, ever since he was reported on the news."

The other doctor nodded pleased at his employee's enthusiasm but still a little concerned, "Take care though, if you have been watching him on the news then you will know that he is extremely dangerous. I don't want him to have any chance at escaping from his bondages and getting a hold of you, because as you know any small opportunity he gets he can cause a large amount of damage with. Did you hear about the police officer who had his eyes poked out?"

Jared remembered it. He had seen the poor man being put into an ambulance.

"Yes. It was lucky that help came so soon because otherwise that guy might have lost more than his eyes."

The doctor made a hum of agreement while slowly nodding his head.

"Well you understand the danger then. Just remember that it's better to be safe than sorry," he said and handed Dr. Dunn a thin yellow envelope.

"Lets see how long it takes for you to fill that up," he challenged and dismissed Jared who thanked him and walked out of the office with a large grin on his face.

--

Driving home, Jared thought about his new assignment, The Joker. He was a real lunatic according to the media and everyone who had come into contact with him. They said that it would be better for him and everyone else if he were given a lethal injection.

But Jared believed otherwise.

After reading his file he knew that the task of curing the Joker, or at least getting information on him would be very difficult. He could almost bet that if he was to succeed in cracking the Joker then he would get a very large pay packet in reward. Not to mention a good reference for his resume. He thought back to other patients that he had talked to.

He had kept an open mind to all that they had said and didn't tell them how stupid he thought some of their stories were. Eventually they got sick of talking nonsense and with a few of the right questions began talking about their lives, why they did things, what they dreamed about, what their past was like. Just by being patient he was able to get them to open up and he could then go ahead and ask questions and make suggestions. By using this technique he was able to cure patients who had been labelled as incurable by the asylums that housed them. Some patients were even released and had created a life for themselves.

Of course the Joker would never be allowed to be released.

At least, not in his current condition. It would be Jared's greatest achievement to be able to rehabilitate the Clown Prince of crime.

He was determined to succeed.

the girl will not be a love interest or any thing like that, she may appear again but she has no relevance to the plot of the story, and her only connection is that she is the daughter of the doctor who is treating the joker.

please, please, pleeeeaaaase review. i need to know what i need to improve as i know my writing isn't perfect, and i also want to know if you like the idea or anything about the story at all. it's like writing to a brick wall here!

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