I love writing for crazy people! It's so much fun! They can virtually say anything I want them to and it's totally legit. Isn't it great? So I wanted to post this yesterday, but it wasn't finished yet, so...too bad. But here it is now! It's the longest chapter so far, but I'm not sure if it's as good as the last ones. As guess I'll know when you guys review, right? *wink wink*

Lost-Remembrance pointed out to me that in the last chapter, I spelled Gotham wrong. I know it's not really a big deal, but I do apologize. I know how annoying it is to read a story with spelling errors. IT DRIVES ME NUTS! It will happen no longer.

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

"And here we...go."

At this point, he fully accepted the fact that he was crazy.

Granted, he had always acknowledged it. The whole of GCPD doesn't just throw you in the loony bin on a strange whim. What finally hit the hammer to the nail, though, was when he went back…of his own free will.

Who the hell breaks in to Arkham?

Yeah. He was crazy.

But the whole damn city was, too, so that was just fine.

He also completely conceded to his own idiocy. The chances were that the scatterbrained, bats in the belfry, mad as a hatter, agent of anarchy he was looking for would turn him down cold with a feral smile. At this point, though, it was the only path he had left to turn down. Only this man had what he was looking for; all the pieces had fallen into place except this one. Plus, with all the attention his break-in was grabbing, he might just be able to kill two birds with one stone.

Therefore, that particularly drab and cryptic afternoon found him sneaking into Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane in the guise of a prim and proper security guard. The real guards on the inside already had a few moles in their ranks, so getting past security was a synch. All he had to do was cut the power lines and Arkham's residents would do the work from there.

His ploy was risky, he supposed, and the tiny, itty bitty, miniscule spec of sanity in the deepest part of his brain was rearing its ugly head again.

You know this is going to get bad, it said ominously.

"Shut up," he snapped. "What do you know?"

Enough to tell you that you're gonna get stuck in here again, just like these other sad fools, it shot back.

"My plan is FOOLPROOF! You're just jealous that you couldn't come up with one as brilliant as mine."

Yes, that's definitely it, it grumbled sarcastically. I'm incredibly envious of your insanity.

"I knew it!" he shouted, his voice echoing down the South ward halls. Then he paused. "Wait, you are me."

Exactly, and you're telling yourself that the freak-and-a-half you're searching for is only going to cause us trouble, it answered shrewdly.

"Shut up. No one asked you." He smashed the little voice back into its corner before it could reply and continued on down the dark hall. He would have gone to the files room on the second floor, but decided that it would be too risky. GCPD was probably already outside, forming a blockade. Like that would make any difference.

Instead, he decided to just look through all the rooms until he found who he was looking for. It shouldn't be that hard. The guy was infamous throughout the entire country. Unfortunately, his target was no where in the south ward, so he made his way to the security station, a wide grin on his face. The room was dark and full of unconscious guards. So the moles had done their job. Good. "Hmm, let's see how much chaos we can make," he mumbled, turned to the South wing mainframe. Licking his lips, he grabbed a crowbar out of a guard's hand and swung it hard, smashing into the machinery and causing it to go up in sparks and smoke. A few more brutish hits and the mechanism was as good as dead.

Silence had suddenly fallen down the hall, where the labyrinth of rooms lay. He paused and listened in giddy anticipation. A moment later, screaming and crying and hysterics exploded once more on the ward, but increased tenfold as the sounds of crashing and scraping doors joined the cacophony. His grin became a crooked-toothed leer and he sauntered out the door, the crowbar resting on his shoulder. "God save the queen," he murmured drolly into the shrieks echoing off the steel walls.

When he reentered the maze of steel-door rooms, he wasn't surprised to find the chaos that awaited him. Destroying the security system had, as expected, unlocked the doors and deactivated the electric barriers. Orange-clothed inmates swarmed the passageways in a horde so dense and wild it was almost suffocating. Some wore off-white strait jackets while with others it had been deemed unnecessary. Either way, an entire ward full of liberated and deranged psychopaths would terrify anyone else into shitting their pants. But for him, the bedlam was home sweet home. Chuckling, he moved through the savage, unruly crowd with a content smile on his face. The image looked sorely misplaced. But in madness, he found, his mind didn't seem so mad.

"Let me go you son of a –"

"—ring around the rosy, what do you suppose we can do to fight the darkness—"

"—give it! Give it to me! AHHHHHHH! Give it—"

"—Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani—"

"—free! FREEdom, I love it—"

"—how many mushrooms can I stick up your nose before you sh—"

"—hee hee HEE HEE hee hee hee hee—"

He reached the door the separated the south from the east wing without any trouble. He made sure to avoid the more two-fisted 'patients' because, while he was a top rank criminal, hand-to-hand was not his strong suit. He slipped out a badge he had nicked off of one of the guards and slid it across the identifying screen, watching it accept him and unlock the door. Stupid security. They might as well just let all the convicts run free. He entered the east wing, which had been riled up by all the noise from next door and was now almost as overpowering as the south. He left the door open, knowing the escapees would find it eventually. They weren't idiots, after all. "The more the merrier," he sang cheerfully.

Once more, he wound through the passageways and looked for his guy in the dark. It shouldn't be too hard; the madman would be in the deepest, darkest corner of Arkham.

"—it's Two Face, with two two-faced faces. Got it? No, I don't, because we only have one—"

223…224…225…nope, nope, nope. The guy was there, though. He knew he was.

"—use light energy to drive the synthesis of organic molecules from carbon dioxide and—"

He had seen the article in the papers, big headlines and everything. It said, Batman does it again!, or something ridiculous like that. Stupid Bat. 230…231…232…

"—I'll rip your spleen out and squeeze out all the juices. Then I'll make some chocolate cake and use your blood and spleen juice as the icing—"

245…246…247…

248.

He knew it was this one. It was the only quiet one in the area and he had learned from experience that when this guy was quiet, he was plotting. Peering through the slit in the door, he saw nothing but thick black; he didn't need to see, though. Before he could speak, the other did.

"Well, well, well. Look what the crows dragged in." Hysterical chuckling followed, echoing eerily inside the metal and cement cell. "I know they didn't catch you. What, come to mingle with the poor, unfortunate souls?" More laughter. The man's cold, rough voice almost sent chills up his spine.

Almost.

"I'm here to propose a bargain," he said to the celled convict.

A shadow shifted from behind the door. "A bargain? Ooh, now I'm intrigued. What could humble ol' me possibly have to offer you?" Chuckling again.

"I'll let you out."

"Oh? And…"

"In return, I want access to your stash."

The man inside the dark cell hummed. "My stash? Now, now…what would you be referring to, my dear effigy friend? I have many."

"Which stash of yours do you think would possibly hold interest to me?"

"Oh, you want my goodies. And then you'll, uh, free me from my woeful incarceration. My, you're saccharine." Laughter rang from within, but this time, it was more malicious than before. "What's in it for me?"

He leaned forward against the door, scowling. "Isn't freedom enough?"

"Freedom? HAHAHAHAHA!" The sharp, wild cackles ricocheted off the walls and down the hall like machine gun fire. "The freedom in this town…it's all a big joke. There is no freedom. Not until they're as crazy as me. And they will be! Just watch. All these sane people…they're just one step away from being just like me. Only then can we be really free. When society isn't trying to shove their ideas of freedom down your throat."

He growled, frustrated with the raving lunatic (boy, was he a hypocrite). "Would you rather I just leave you here?"

Laughter mocked him again, loud and rash. "You have NOTHING to threaten me with."

He sighed, consenting. "What do you want?"

"I want…" Silence for a moment from within. Then, "Half."

"The profit?" he asked, giving a chuckle of his own. "You're insane."

He heard the man raise himself with an exaggerated sigh from wherever he had been seated and move toward the door. Eyes were suddenly looking into his, narrowed and searching and burning with an insane fire. "No, I'm not. Not. I'm not!"

Laughter again.

He tapped on the cell door with sharp, spastic fingers. "A quarter."

"Half."

"No. 25%."

"5/8."

"30%."

"6/8."

"You're supposed to go down, not up."

"But then I'd be lying. I'm, uh, ha ha ha, always a man of my word."

He snorted. "You're about as honest as the devil."

"Ok, look. You can, uh, threaten me with eternal abandonment and confinement to your own merry hearts content. But I can just as easily go to your, uh, boss and offer the same charming goodies without the middleman. You're the one needing help, remember? At this point, I'm, uh…holding all the cards." The man laughed long and savagely through the slit in the door. "So, what'll it be?"

He ran a frustrated hand through his greasy hair. "35%."

"40."

He paused. "Deal."

"Great!" The man clapped his hands together, rubbing them like a greedy child on Christmas. Suddenly, he turned serious. "I expect you to hold up your end of the deal. Dishonesty makes me a very cranky lunatic."

He raised his hand to eye level, revealing a small black remote in his hand.

"Ooh! What's that?"

He sharply pressed the button on the remote and explosions could be heard at a distance. "Detonator."

The cell doors unlocked with a rusty, sparking shriek. Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, the man in the strait jacket slammed the door open and stepped out with a mighty stride. "Ah, I love the sound of destruction in the morning."

"It's actually one in the afternoon."

"It's all the same, though, isn't it? Our diabolical plan will unfold no matter what time of day it is!" His laughter chilled the asylum air and almost threatened to hush the chaos that had broken out in the east wing.

He turned from his new 'associate' to the general direction of the north wing door, but stopped when he realized the man was not behind him. Turning, he studied the nut head, who was looking around at the ceiling with a massive, yellow-toothed grin on his face like he had never seen it before. "What, afraid you'll be homesick?"

The man snapped his head back down and locked eyes with him. "I think I'll stick around for a while. Arkham's just so much fun, you know!"

He glared. "There's no time. The Bat is probably already here somewhere. Unless you want to turn into bat feces—"

"AH! My dear, delusional dark knight," he mused. His smile turned into a leer. "What's a party without a crasher, right!" Screaming laughter pierced through the ruckus.

"If you break your deal—"

"Oh, keep your knickerbockers on, crow face," he cut him off, sneering. "Didn't I already say? Seeing as though you're committing the lawless transgression by breaking me out of the loony bin, it'll be my word we're trusting." He looked down at himself and began wriggling his arms, but the constricting white jacket prevented him from getting anywhere. Instead, he jumped toward his new partner, back turned, and asked, "Give a pal a hand, would ya?"

Sighing, he pulled out a six inch blade and tore down the middle of the jacket with impatient brutality. Grinning, the inmate ripped the white jacket off and waved it around over his head. "HAHAHAHA! Free as a fowl on a bright summers day! HAHAHA…holy heresy, I feel like the Riddler. YUCK!" He laughed and chattered incoherently some more amidst the chaos and noise.

"As much fun as it is to dance with the dark knight, I have a deadline to meet."

The loon snapped around to study him with an icy, unnerving look. "We're all civilized men here, right? As much fun as it must be to feel like you're in control, you're not. That's the truth, cold as turkey. The only real fun you can find in this godforsaken spit of dirt is making them feel like they are in control and then…then watching it blow up in their faces…like new years! You have to make sure the anarchy is following you, or there's no point in breaking out. Right? Right." He dug in his deep, dirty pocket for a moment, tongue stuck out to the side, before pulling something out and tossing it to him.

The other caught it between his fingers and studied it, intrigued. "What's this?"

"My card." He grinned manically. "Parting is such sweet sorrow! Don't worry, when it's time, we'll meet again."

"How the hell will I know how to contact you?"

"You'll find me. I'm impossible to miss. HAHAHAAAHA…!"

With that, the scatterbrained, bats in the belfry, mad as a hatter, agent of anarchy walked off into the horde of lunatics and vanished.

She had never been exposed to human institutions before.

Of course, she had read about them; instructors on Mars taught her of what a clinically insane person is and how to identify them as opposed to normal earthlings. Being in such close contact with them terrified her, though. Their emotions radiated off of them more intensely than anything else she had felt prior. In instances such as these, she was grateful that she did not have to enter their minds; even without doing so, she could tell how lost she would become in all of the chaotic thoughts. Their psyches crashed together in one massive, cacophonous wave, threatening to drown her in their madness.

She couldn't begin to image how Robin dealt with this on a daily basis.

Granted, he did not have the telepathic abilities that she possessed, but in reality, one could become overrun by the mad sensations without it. Like her other teammates, she had not forgotten the last Gotham mission they engaged in and what an utter failure it turned into. Clayface had been frightening to her, but now she realized that so many other, more dreadful criminals existed in this gothic city. That thought chilled her to the bone.

Her, Wally, and Kaldur pushed through the east wing door and entered a raging mad house. The sight of hundreds of insane criminals running about free almost made her turn back and run. She would not, though. Not after what had happened to Robin on their most recent mission. M'gann vowed that day that she would become stronger, wiser, and more aware so that such a thing would never happen again.

"Ho-ly shit," Wally muttered beside her. She could hear him clearly, even over the noise, for her thoughts reflected his almost perfectly.

The horde of inmates swarmed every which way like enraged ants out of a busted anthill. Darkling, the leers and grins and scowls were a sea of wraiths threatening to engulf her in their black, sinister clutches. She stepped back, brown eyes wide with unmasked terror. She couldn't do it. There was too much…too much hate, glee, fear, grief, madness…

M'gann.

The mental communication shattered her all-consuming fear.

It was Kaldur who had spoken. Do not lose courage. Together, we can face anything.

Shaking herself, she nodded. Right. I'm sorry.

Boldly, the three continued on into the horde, attempting to keep heart despite the dreadful odds. While some of the inmates approached them wildly, others didn't even acknowledge their presence. M'gann was grateful for this; it was hard enough to face their psyches, let alone their faces. To keep her mind off of the mounting dread, she observed their behavior on an objective scale. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to their actions. While one was slamming himself repeatedly into a concrete while, another sung I Once Loved a Lass at the top of his lungs. A few minutes of observing, though, and she wished she could plug her ears as chills raced across her arms.

"—men at some times are masters of their fates: the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but—"

"—la la da pa da le na da na! Ve va da pa da le na la dumda! La la da—"

"—it's so dark here. Why? Where did the sun go? Where? Where? Wh—"

"—IF THOSE DAMN GUARDS DON'T GIVE ME BACK MY MACHETTE, I'LL—"

"—can't find my brain. Has anyone seen it? Where are you, sweet little brain? I'll find you—"

She couldn't understand most of what they said, and she was thankful for this. The mind of a mad man was a deadly place to roam.

Hey, Rob, Wally suddenly said (or more appropriately, thought). She hoped the link was still connected to the other group.

Yeah? He answered.

What chances do you think we have of setting up security again? 'Cuz, um, it's pretty bad over here.

You can give it a try, Robin said. How successful you are depends on how our baddie took out the system. We're heading for the security room in the south wing now.

What would you advise us do concerning the roaming convicts? Kaldur asked.

I wouldn't try and take them out until you've got security and power back up. Otherwise, we're sitting ducks. If you shut the door behind you, then it locked and they won't get out for now, Robin answered.

Actually, Wally tagged on. I was more worried about us than the outside world.

Amusement drifted to them from Robin through the link. Most of them are confused schizophrenics, KF. Just stick to the empty hallways.

Gotcha.

The link fell somewhat silent after that. M'gann wished they would speak again and push aside the pounding fear that had rapidly begun to take hold. The insane did attack them, despite what Robin had said, but most approached them with the air of seeing something that wasn't really there.

When a savage looking man with long brown hair approached her with a busted pipe in hand, saying "Mommy, what are you doing here? I thought you hated me," M'gann swiped a frantic hand at him and he went soaring across the hall, slamming into the wall with a telepathic force that sent him to the floor, unconscious.

"I don't like it here," she whispered as they turned down a (thankfully) empty passageway.

"You're telling me," Wally answered, words quick with anxiety. "No wonder the Bats is so crazy."

"I would not say that with Robin listening," Kaldur advised calmly, but his eyes roamed the shadows absently like the devil was after them. "You do not know what he tells the Batman in private."

Robin's cackle echoed across the link (how is that even possible?). Yeah, Wally. You wouldn't want the big, bad Bat to get you.

Hey! I'm not the only one scared of him! he shouted indignantly. Right, guys?

Silence.

Amusement drifted faintly off of Superboy's psyche. I think it's just you.

Wally pouted and crossed his arms. Whatever.

The empty hall eventually led them to the security room. A few escapees roved about in the room, sniffing and beating at unconscious guards. Wally sped at them in a blur, grabbed them and slammed them into the wall, before returning to her side. The room was dark, but she could see that someone had been there prior to them and the inmates, most likely. There were no signs of wounds on the guards, so they had probably been gassed.

"Not good," she heard Kaldur say, breaking her from her observations.

She looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"We will not be setting up security anytime soon," he answered grimly, pointing to the far wall. She gasped.

The security mainframe had been completely destroyed. Wally sped over to it, poking at a loose piece of metal with his toe. "So…now what?"

Robin, Kaldur called telepathically.

It was a moment before he answered. I'm…assuming you just got to the security room, he finally answered distractedly.

Dude, this thing is toast. It looks like it was blown up, Wally tagged on, still rummaging through the pile of destruction.

He didn't just shut it down because he didn't want us to set it back up at all, Robin said, sounding as if he was speaking to himself. I am so not whelmed.

So what now? Artemis grumbled. We can't just leave all these lunatics to run around. They'll end up killing each other.

I'm trying to hack into North wing's security. I'm gonna see if I can reroute it to compensate for…He suddenly stopped.

What? Superboy growled. M'gann could figure from what she new of him that he needed to pound away at someone to feel as if they were making a difference.

Crap! Robin shouted. North wing just went down. How the hell is this guy getting through? He'd have to have…of course he does. There're guards lying around everywhere.

What are you—

Wally, the guy's just shut down North wing. He'll be heading for the front entrance now. Get there and wait for him.

Wally gave Kaldur and M'gann a nervous look before turning to the door and speeding out. On it.

Are you sure it's good for him to go alone? Artemis asked, for once sounding worried for the red-headed speedster.

Robin paused for a moment. You go with him, he finally decided.

Oh, so I have to put up with Kid Mouth alone in a hysterical asylum. Great, she grumbled as she went, but M'gann could tell she was happy to be able to protect him. Artemis would never admit that, though, not even to herself.

I've rerouted the West wing's security system to compensate for South, East, and North. It won't last long, just long enough. Everyone else try and get the lunatics back in cells. Just be careful and don't take on too many at once.

Right, Kaldur replied and nodded to M'gann. Together, they raced out of the room and back out into anarchy.

They paused at the edge of the horde, realizing for the first time just how much shit their team was in. This mission made the Clayface one look like child's play. If Batman had known it would be like this, M'gann was sure he wouldn't have sent them here alone. She had faith in her team, but in situations such as these, when they were facing what would give the Justice League a run for their money, she recognized the bleakness of the situation. The guards would have had the situation partly under control even before they arrived, but without them, there was no way her team would get out of this unscathed. Even with Gotham City Police Department outside forming a blockade, it was only backup, really. Relying on them would entail killing all of the escaped inmates and that was something no one wanted. The team had to take out all of these mad men before they escaped and killed someone or got killed themselves. Just glancing at the raving mass, she knew. They all knew.

They were in deep shit.

Kaldur pulled out his water blades and beat the first convict he saw back into an empty cell, slamming the door shut on the man before he even knew what hit him. With a rusted screech, the door locked automatically. Robin's expert hacking was the only thing giving them a chance. Nodding to her, they dove into the throng with grim determination.

M'gann used her telepathy to shove the weaker ones into cells, managing to shut multiple doors at once. In some cases, more than one inmate ended up in a cell, but she didn't really care at this point. With luck, they would beat each other unconscious. She came across threatening lunatics more frequently than she preferred and shoving wasn't enough to get them locked away. Somewhere down the hallway, she heard Kaldur fighting them off viciously, but could not risk turning to check on him. Doing that would no doubt cost her head.

They managed to work through three passageways with only minor scrapes and bruises. She now sported a bloody nose, having been punched in the face at one point by a burly bald man with a skull tattoo. Kaldur had a slightly-bleeding cut on his jaw where multiple hits with a jagged pipe had managed to break through his thick skin. They were sweaty and tired, breathing hard to try and calm nerves as well as heart rate. The hall they stood in now was empty, with all of the criminals once inhabiting it now behind bars. The screaming and laughing and sobbing continued, but behind bars, it suddenly seemed far more peaceful than it had when they first arrived.

Once again, M'gann found herself understand Robin and Batman more than she once had.

She looked at Kaldur, breathing hard still. "Should we keep moving?"

He nodded. "We have no time to waste. There are still convicts roaming about that should not be."

"I hope the others are okay," she mumbled as they began moving again quickly. I hope Superboy's okay, she thought secretly, but shielded the thought so the others would not hear it. She couldn't afford to distract them.

They had almost reached the end of the hall when Kaldur grabbed M'ganns shoulder, stopping her cold. She glanced up at him, brown eyes questioning, but he was studying something in front of them. She swiveled around to follow his gaze and froze as well. There was a man there, standing still and silent in the cloaking darkness at the mouth of the hall. She couldn't make out anything but a silhouette and dark, wild eyes. Something about this man sent chills up her spine where the others had not.

"So," the man finally spoke and his voice made her shiver. It was drawled and rough and sharp; she could almost picture that voice coming from the mouth of a devil. "The big, bad Bat sends kiddies to do a monster's job. Ha ha hee hee ha ho haaa…that's just RICH!" His laughter, high and savage and mad, echoed through the now-silent passageway. She took a step back, moving beside Kaldur for strength. This man frightened her. Terrified her beyond anything else. He wasn't normal, even compared to these other insane men.

"Who…who are you?" Kaldur called, his voice only faltering slightly. She always had admired his courage.

"Me? I think the real million dollar question here is who are you?" the man answered, mocking and deliberate. "This is…this is home. But you…you're far far far far far from home, aren't you?" He chuckled. "You think you can just barge in here uninvited like some half-crazed nut face wedding crasher? HA! HAHAHA! Well…this is Arkham, so…MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME!" His vicious laughter filled the air again, sending chills across her arms. "Oh, don't worry. I know we all have a tight schedule, right? Yours is making order, mine is making anarchy…it's all the same, though, isn't it? The more you try and control the world, the more it fights back. What do you think the American Revolution was? PROPAGANDA! It was a radical movement led by a filthy, tobacco-growing rich man who had too much time on his hands. They may have led the war, but it was the poor ignorant fools who paid for it. Life's a joke! The Bat and his Bird Boy are just one step away from learning that. Their, uh, their League of defenders, or whatever they call it…not far behind. HAHAHAHA!"

Kaldur opened his mouth to retort in defense of their mentors, but the man cut him off. "See, I'd love to stick around and have a nice chat over tea, but you know how it is…places to go, people to see, sanity to destroy. Tootles!" His mad laughter would haunt them forever.

M'gann barely caught the thing he had hurtled toward her before it hit her in the head. He was gone before she could toss it back, his chuckles fading with distance. Holding it cautiously in green fingers, she studied it with a bemused face. "What…I don't understand." Kaldur leaned over her shoulder to peer at it, a hand still tight on his blades.

It was a card. A white card from a deck of fifty two that she had seen earthlings play with. On the center danced a colorful figure in old-looking clothes.

A joker.

She dropped it, but it was too late to move away.

In an instant, the card exploded in a screaming mass of blue and crimson flames.

Tada! So, I'm sure you know by know who at least one of the bad guys is. After that cliffhanger, it should be pretty obvious. You could probably get the other bad guy too, if you look real close at the first scene. I make references to him.

Please continue to review. I thank you all for the great support I've gotten so far. I love advice and critizism. It makes me a better writer.