Disclaimer: Batman, all his associated worlds and the characters within them are not mine.
Warnings: Violence, swearing, slash, rape and the Joker is in this fic. Though this chapter is pretty tame.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, lost my motivation and muse again. Heeere it is, enoy and review.
Chapter 7
It was amazing how vast old Arkham truly was. It had a system of tunnels and passageways so complex only one person had ever memorised them fully and he was the man who built them.
The original Arkham Asylum had been a modified manor house founded by Amadeus Arkham over 80 years ago. It's believed the man worked away at the basement until it became this great leviathan, filled it with cells and patrolled them every night despite the absence of patients. Eventually he was locked in one of them and died.
The manor had been adjusted and knocked away over time. Arkham was filled with more modern furnishings, security and cells now, barely resembling its original state though some of the psychologist's offices still held the distinct looks of the old Arkham manor.
The only un-touched remains were the basement where he now stood, following Harley on a nonsensical route through the dimly lit corridors. Their only guidance seemed to be a smudged, swirling pathway painted with what Jonathan assumed was face paint. The various smiley faces and repeated writings of 'Ha Ha' scratched into walls left no doubt as to who had left the trail.
Jonathan knew that they'd never have been found by any Arkham staff. Most don't know of old Arkham and those that do tend to stay away, making it the perfect place for hiding anything that needs to be hidden.
Ready or not....
Jonathan looked sharply to his right as he heard a voice. He cursed himself for reacting in front of Harley but luckily she hadn't noticed, still engrossed in following the smears of paint. He immediately silenced the foolish thoughts of horror stories psychologists would tell each other about Arkham's ghost wandering old Arkham and focused his attention on following Harley. He noticed she wore her hair in two bunches like a child. She was an odd girl. Maybe he'd have a chance to gas her before he got away from the Joker.
"I like your hair," Jonathan pushed up his mask slightly so he wasn't speaking through the voice changer. He didn't want to frighten her. Not yet anyway. She looked over her shoulder, looking away from the trail for the first time since they'd left the room, with a surprised look that quickly changed to a bright smile. She stopped walking as they reached a corner and turned to face him.
"Thanks! I kinda thought it wasn't very professional..." she trailed off, touching the ends of one of her bunches and twiddling the hairs between her fingers.
"No no, it's lovely," Jonathan assured her, speaking softly and smiling. He reached out and lightly stroked his fingers through the bunch she was fiddling with, making sure to brush his hand ever so slightly against hers. Her face was shocked for a moment before she looked downwards and giggled erratically, blushing a deep pink that looked slightly odd against the usual sickly pallor of her skin. Jonathan smiled, fighting the smirk that threatened to overtake his features.
Since Harley now seemed incapable of doing anything but stare at Jonathan, he decided to draw her attention to the wall behind her.
"Harley, I think we're getting close to the exit," he pointed to the wall and more specifically to the writing scrawled across it.
The inscription 'Almost there!' painted in red and black with a menagerie of arrows pointing down the corridor adorned the wall. Harley looked at it then wordlessly began to follow the trail again.
It wasn't long until they were climbing the irregular assortment of spiral and normal stairways up to the door that lead to a disused, unmonitored back room of Arkham Asylum. He knew it was unmonitored because he had set up the fake camera and recorded the footage that continually looped in the security closet, showing the room to be empty and dull.
They climbed through the door that led to a space below the floor of the room above. From there Jonathan could see a patch of light where the Joker had left the trap door open for them. He and Harley climbed through the trap door into the light of the back room, dusting themselves off as they reached the strangely brightly lit room above. Jonathan hadn't realised how dark the tunnels of old Arkham were. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Jonathan could see a man sitting in the corner of the room, shuffling a pack of cards and humming tunelessly. He looked up at them and a smile stretched his scars.
"Hello Harleen, Jonathan," The Joker nodded to them, flicking his cards into one hand with a dramatic flourish and pocketing them. Harley clapped and laughed at the simple trick and the Joker took a bow. Jonathan was happy to have his mask so he could hide his disgusted expression.
The Joker checked his watch and giggled excitedly.
He wasn't wearing his normal clown paint, though his skin was stained from the constant layer of paint and his eyes and mouth still held dark circles and a slight tinge of red. The Joker also wasn't wearing his typical clothes, instead sporting an Arkham guard's uniform. He pushed his hair up and placed a cap on his head, completing his look. He looked at his watch again.
"Come on," He opened the door and looked around before leaving, Harley and Jonathan following behind him. Jonathan took his mask off before he followed, not sure what the Joker had planned but assuming he was pretending to be a guard who had found him and Harley.
The Arkham hallways were unusually quiet and they found their way out of the back doors of the building without detection.
"Good ol' Arkham staff, so easily distracted," The Joker grinned as they walked towards a plain, faded black van. He opened the back doors and hopped in, helping Harley up as Jonathan climbed in. He put his mask back on as the Joker shut the door.
The Joker rapped on the walls of the van and it lurched into motion. Harley stumbled slightly at the sudden movement and Jonathan grabbed her arm to steady her. She looked up at him momentarily then ignored him, sitting down in the van just as the Joker had. She was good, Jonathan was impressed. She knew the Joker wouldn't be so pleased if he knew about Jonathan's offer to help her so she kept her distance, acting as normal. Jonathan sat down too and a thought struck him. He pushed his mask up to speak in his normal voice.
"Why did you put on a disguise if you knew we wouldn't be spotted?" He asked the Joker.
"I just like the jacket," The Joker replied, grinning again. Harley laughed a bit too loudly, a little too late and the Joker gave her an exasperated look. Jonathan pulled his mask back down.
"So, we will be going to one of my many hide outs but we're going on a nice little trip somewhere special first," The Joker smiled at Jonathan. Jonathan felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He knew he wouldn't like whatever the Joker was planning.
"Where are we going?" Harley asked.
"It's a surprise," She clapped excitedly again and Jonathan tried not to glare through his mask.
After a seemingly long journey where Jonathan declined an offer to play strip poker and watched the Joker beat Harley at a (no stripping involved) card game at least five times, the van stopped moving. The Joker laughed and grabbed Jonathan by his upper arm, yanking him to his feet and pushing the van doors open. He jumped down and pulled Jonathan carelessly with him. Jonathan felt his anger rising at this haphazard treatment and he could swear the Joker's long greasy green straggles of hair were clean cut and styled for just a moment before Jonathan landed painfully but on his feet. He looked at the Joker, who, despite lacking make-up, looked very much his normal self. He pushed it out of his mind and looked around. They were at the park. And most of the park was on fire.
The Joker laughed and threw his hat into the van, narrowly missing Harley who was jumping out at that moment and landing with much more grace than Jonathan. The Joker kept his vice like grip on Jonathan as he dragged him over to a clump of trees that had not yet ignited.
"Look here!" The Joker pointed into the trees where Jonathan saw two young children sitting amongst the branches.
"I guessed you were low enough to kill children," Jonathan spoke emotionlessly, though the voice changer in his mask distorted his tone. The Joker looked at him with an expression of pure delight and somehow laughed even more than normal. He was in hysterics. Harley touched Jonathan's shoulder gently and spoke quietly,
"There's nobody in those trees,"
Jonathan froze and looked again. He saw nothing. No one in the branches.
"Har-Harleen go- ha- get-it," The Joker managed to speak between laughing fits. This was evidently some kind of signal as Harley ran off towards the burning end of the park. The Joker pulled Jonathan along again in the same direction Harley had gone in. Jonathan kicked back to life after getting over his shock and tried to fight back against the Joker.
"Don't make this harder for yourself Scarecrow," The Joker, without even looking, casually flicked open a knife and slashed Jonathan's side. Nothing that would cause significant damage but enough to hurt and draw blood. Jonathan resisted reacting to the pain, gritting his teeth as blood slowly stained his Arkham uniform. It deterred Jonathan from struggling long enough for them to reach their destination. Harley came over, clutching the hand of a small boy who looked absolutely terrified. If Jonathan wasn't bleeding profusely he might have shown some interest. The boy had blonde hair and blue eyes and looked around 7 or 8.
"Oh he's adorable Joker, can we keep him?" Harley smiled as she brought the child over. At the mention of Joker the little boy whimpered. Then he saw Scarecrow and froze with terror. Jonathan smiled under his mask.
"This kid reminding you of anything Scarecrow?" The Joker asked, kneeling down to look at the boy face to face. Jonathan tried to ignore the Joker but every time he blinked the child's facial structure changed. It was only a small difference but Jonathan noticed immediately. Maybe it was the blood loss...
"Step away from the child Joker," The deep voice rang out past the crackling of the blazing fire around them. The Joker snapped up, taking a tight hold of Jonathan again and looking around, growling.
"Come out come out little bat,"
A/N: Review!