Joker POV

"Oops."

I watched in amusement as all the doors opened, and an alarm sounded, loudly buzzing in our ears. Immediately, Bat's head turned toward me, and I could see the rage and irritation in his eyes as they narrowed in my direction. I simply smiled widely and shrugged as a large quantity of guards burst into the room to subdue the patients who were screaming and trying to jam themselves out of the doors all at the same time.

Idiots.

I turned to see what kind of chaos was taking place behind me, but before I could look I found a strong hand wrapping around my bicep with such force that I cried out in pain, and I turned back to see Batman, a hand wrapped tightly around my arm, growling in my ear to 'Turn around and go', before he began pulling me out of the visitor's center. When we got outside I watched the Batmobile cover open, before Batman threw me roughly inside. I whacked my head on the headrest of my seat before I settled in properly. Batman jumped into the seat next to me, before he spoke, voice filled with anger, irritation, and venom, "I told you not to touch anything!"

"I didn't!"

"Then how do you explain that!" He pointed with a black gloved hand in the direction of the visitor's center, which was now being closed down and there were guards posted at the doors and patients running about the entryway. I simply shrugged, smiling and saying, "An accident?" It was more of a question than a statement, but I laughed anyway. Batman simply shook his head, turning back to the steering wheel, before typing something into the dashboard. I watched with interest, glancing from Bats back to the dashboard, then back to Bats, before I asked, unable to resist, "What are you doing?"

"Typing in coordinates."

I deadpanned, "Is it really that hard to give a full answer? Is it really that difficult to open your mouth and speak, Bats? I mean, I do it all the time!"

"Yeah you never shut up."

I rolled my eyes, "Anyway, WHAT. CO. ORDINATES?"

Batman stopped what he was doing with the dashboard and turned back to me, narrowing his eyes and casting me a glare. I simply stared back at him, and we stayed locked like that for a few moments before Batman huffed, finishing up and starting up the Batmobile, "The informant I was talking to, not that you were paying any attention, had some useful information. He gave me the location of an abandoned sanitarium that Strange is using as a base of operations."

I raised an eyebrow, "A sanitarium? Like Arkham?"

"Yes."

I nodded and fell silent as I thought. A sanitarium...I did not know of any sanitariums in Gotham other than Arkham Asylum. And I was there plenty of times and I was sure that was not were they were. I sat in silence as Bats drove the car.

It took a moment before I finally realized that we were driving right toward the harbor. I looked at Bats, ten back at the approaching drop into the water, then back at Bats. "Bats?" I was answered with silence. I tried again, a little more frantic this time, "Bats?! You know we left the road right?"

He continued driving.

"Seriously Bats, we're gonna fall into the harbor, turn around!" He still did not answer, so when the Batmobile went flying into the harbor I closed my eyes, wincing and awaiting the rush of water into the vehicle. But it never came. Instead there was a mechanical sound, and when I opened my eyes we were floating atop the harbor, a floatation device surrounding the Batmobile. I laughed, "Oh, I see, talk about a water kit, right Bats?"

He didn't get the joke, but I wasn't surprised. Either way I was too occupied with watching the Batmobile act like a boat to fully pa attention to him anyway.

After what seemed like half an hour, which was agony considering traveling with Batman really sucks because I might as well be traveling alone it's not like he participates in conversation, we arrived on an island, Batman pulling the Batmobile right up onto the side of it into a bunch of shrubbery. I scoffed, "Nice driving, Batman."

"Shut up Joker. Get out." He raised the cover as the words left his mouth, and then he simply sat staring at me for a long moment, before I lowered my eyebrows and spat, "What!?"

"Get. Out."

"Oh," I laughed, shaking my head and undoing my seat belt, "Silly me, I forgot." I hopped out of the Batmobile then, landing on the sandy ground beneath me and looking up at the large brick building before us. It was covered in vines and shrubbery, ivy plants growing into the decaying bricks and cracking some of them. I surveyed for a little bit before I heard Batman's gravely voice as he said, "Let's go Joker. Stay close."

I didn't answer him, but I followed silently. I got a creepy feeling from this place, it prickled under my skin and made me nervous as we trudged up the slippery bank and onto more solid ground. In front of us was a courtyard, small in space with a tiny broken fountain in the middle, the water long dried up. All that it held now was some nasty rainwater and mosquito larvae. It might have been beautiful at one time or another, but not anymore. It was then that I felt Batman tap me on the shoulder, and point to my right. I followed his finger with my gaze until it settled upon a worn out metal door, that looked reinforced, the small glass window wet into it reinforced as well. I raised an eyebrow as I walked over toward it, hearing a warning growl from Batman. I reached out, and gazed into the smeared and dirty glass, hoping to maybe see something inside. It was dark, and I could barely make anything out when Batman asked, "Do you see anything?"

"No, not really, it's so dark in there I don't even think a Bat could see!"

"Bats are blind Joker."

I rolled my eyes. Another hit and miss. It was then that something hit the glass. I jumped back in surprise with a yelp, tripping over my own feet and landing on my arse with a thud. Batman was over in a second, eyes wide and searching as he looked at me with concern, gaze shifting between the door and myself. I tried to steady my breathing, as I laughed it off, brushing myself off and standing back up, all the while Batman's gaze burning into me. "It was nothing, it was silly. I just scared myself is all."

Batman gazed at me incredulously, eying me up and down, before turning away to gaze around himself. I took a deep breath, reluctant to admit that I had lied. Something was very wrong here, and I didn't like it. "Joker," I turned as my name was called, "We need to get in there."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

"Come with me. We'll go in through the roof."

"Who goes in through a roof? Seriously, there's no front door? I-" I was grabbed roughly by the waist as I was grappled up to the roof with him. He landed first, rather roughly on the shingled roof, hauling me up upon it with him so he'd be sure I wouldn't loose my footing and fall. We settled on the slanted roof, and I stayed in a crouched position. The height was dizzying. I could see the entire island from my perch, and it was rather small with a small courtyard and then a helipad. The building itself was more tall than long, and I guessed it had quite a few floors. When I turned back around, Bats was gone. "Bats?" I called out, looking around. His deep brash voice came from over the other side of the rooftop, "Over here Joker; pay attention."

"I was paying attention, I'll have you know." I walked carefully over to where I heard his voice emanate from. I caught myself with my hand as a tile slipped out from under me, crashing to the courtyard below. "Whoa, that'd be an unpleasant ending," I mumbled to myself, as I grabbed the edge of the roof and lowered myself into an open window of the top floor. Bats was already inside, awaiting me. It was shadowed, but not dark inside the sanitarium, thanks to the daylight. It was even worse inside than it was outside. It was damp, and the walls had been eaten away by the age and plants. There were curls of ivy and plants sprouting from the walls and floors, the wallpaper peeling away, the floor peeling also, and doors out of place and windows broken.

I found it hard to believe that this had once been a place like Arkham.

"Come on Joker, I don't think there's anything up here. We'll head down to the lower floors. It's more likely they'd be operating down there."

"Sure, sure..." I followed absentmindedly, gazing around. The creepy feeling returned to me, and I felt my hair stand on end as we walked down the hall. I followed Batman closely behind, and it was so quiet. The only sounds that filled my ears were the sounds of our footsteps; his heavy booted footfalls, and the almost silent clicks of my expensive Italian shoes. I wanted so much to voice my discomfort, but I stayed silent instead, swallowing my words and continuing down the hall. After we were halfway down the hall, Batman said, "You holding up okay?"

"Fine, thanks. It's just super creepy abandoned asylum. Nothing scary about that, nope, nu-uh, nothing-"

"Jokerrr..." It was a verbal warning. I huffed, staying silent once more. We took another turn, and found the stair well. We descended slowly, and then suddenly it was dark. The door we had walked through at the top of the stairs slammed shut, and I couldn't help but let out a scream that was cut off almost immediately by Batman's gloved hand wrapping itself around my mouth tightly. "Quiet." I looked up to see his eyes glowing, and I knew he was using his detective vision to see what I could not. "Calm down," He whispered, "There's nothing here we're alone."

I nodded slowly at him with large eyes, before he slowly removed his hand from my mouth, continuing to talk, "I'm going to hold onto your arm, you are going to follow. We are going to head down the stairs and exit the stairwell, understand?"

"Yes Bats, I'm blind right now not stupid." I wished that he could see my irritated stare, but he could not. I felt him grasp my wrist, and we began slowly descending the stairs. After a few steps I miscalculated, sliding down a step and slamming my body into Batman. I hit him with force, and he slipped down a step, and I felt him wrench my arm as he steadied me, placing me back on the correct step.

"Sorry," I giggled.

He did not respond.

We continued down the stairs at a slower pace than previously, and I took the steps with a lot more caution than I had previously. After a few more agonizing minutes of thinking that something was breathing down my neck, we emerged from the cramped stairwell and into a 'slightly brighter than the stairwell but really not all that better' hallway. I raised an eyebrow in confusion as we walked along, saying, "Weren't we trying to get down, Bats? Because this doesn't seem like floor number one."

I received an irritated do-you-have-no-common-sense huff, before he turned to look at me from the corner of his dark eye, hissing, "The stairs were out. We'll find another way down. Unless you wanted to fall down a few floors."

"No thank you, done enough a' that in the last couple months."

The silence was deafening once again. His footfalls were soft and quiet, whispers in the wind like the rest of this eerily quiet place. Mine were louder, but I attempted to quiet them. I didn't want to stick out to much. It was then that I heard a click toward my right, and I stopped and turned toward the closed door. It seemed like nothing was there, normal door, closed and rusted. I watched it closely for a few minutes to see if the clicking noise I had heard would come back, but it didn't, so I turned to catch up to Bats and that's when I saw it. The door handle turned slowly, like someone was about to open the door, but then the handle stopped, like the door was locked, and it jiggled several times. I stared with wide eyes at it, before calling to Batman who was a few feet down the hallway, "This is abandoned, right Bats?"

"Yes, Joker."

"Oh..." I watched the door with eyes disbelieving; I debated saying something to Bats, but decided against it, unsure if my cracked mind was playing tricks on me. So I simply turned away, jogging to catch up to Bats, all the while hearing the rattling of the door handle, like something wanted to escape. "Why do you ask?"

"What?" I asked, confused by what he meant. So he elaborated, "I said why did you ask if we were alone?"

I laughed, "Oh, no reason. I was just...curious." He eyed me suspiciously, before we trudged on. I ran into Batman hard, my face connecting with the hard kevlar of his back armor. "Ouch!" I cried out, rubbing my nose as my eyes began watering just a little bit. He turned around angrily, sending me a glare as he stepped aside muttering, "Watch were you're going, Joker," and motioning to a gaping hole in the wooden floor.

"Oh..." I gazed down into the hole on the floor, unsure of what it was I was expected to do. After a few moments of my gazing between Batman and the hole in the floor, he said in a voice cold as ice, "Give me your hand, I lower you in."

I simply gazed at him, with raised eyebrows and a reluctant smile crossing my features as I gazed once more down at the hole, and once more down at Batman. The image of the rattling door handle and whatever had bumped the glass at the door earlier rushed through my mind, and suddenly I was very reluctant. But what was I going to say, no? I didn't want to look like I was scared. So I simply nodded my head, taking a big gulp of terrified-shitless, and took his gloved hand in mine. I walked over to the edge, peering down into the hallway, and trying to see in both directions as I lowered myself down over the edge. "So, you're coming down right after me right? Because, I dunno what's in here; Are you positive we're actually al-"

"Joker..."

I fell silent, as I finally let go of the edge of the hole, and he lowered me slowly down into the shaded hallway. This hallway was just like the others, vines and ivy and rubble covering it, peeling wallpapers and rusty doors. At the end of the hallway on either side was a door, and one laid open, the darkness spilling from the room and into the hallway. My heart jumped to my chest, and I stared at the open door with eyes unwilling to look away. I took a few steps backward, gazing directly into the darkness, and I swore I saw something move when a light flickered on in a room a few feet ahead. I jerked in surprise, gazing at it disbelievingly as I heard Batman's heavy form land behind me. I pointed it out immediately, "Hey Bats, tell me I'm not the only one seeing that."

Batman looked in the direction of the light also, eyes scanning the light beaming out from under the door. "No, I see it too." He walked toward it cautiously, and I followed close behind, keeping an eye on the dark room ahead from the corner of my eye as we approached the door, the light streaming out from under it. This door looked different than the rest. It's handle seemed to have been brushed clean, and the door hinges seemed to have been used recently, the rust significantly lower than the rest of the doors I'd seen. Batman reached out tentatively, wrapping a gloved hand around the door and opening it slowly. To the surprise of both of us, who had expected it to be locked, it opened with ease, and as he opened it I got a wider view of the room. Inside sat a large oak desk and chair, and I could tell then were not as old as everything else, and recently used. The floor was still pretty dirty, but for the most part, it seemed as if this room had been used...and recently.

Batman approached the desk, opening the drawers and shuffling through their contents as he searched, before calling to me, "Stand watch by the door."

"Okay," I exclaimed, saluting him, before I asked, "Wait, watch...for what?"

I received no answer as he continued his shuffling. I half expected something to crawl from the darkness and attack, but nothing happened and I giggled to myself for being so stupid. After a few more moments of listening to Bats' shuffling, he finally emerged from behind the desk, tucking a large file into his belt and saying, "Follow me."

I rolled my eyes, following him once more, and the thought of stepping on his cape returned as we walked slowly. It was then that something familiar caught my eye. Stains of red coated the floor, dotting several places in the hallway and seeping out from under several doors, staining some door handles, leaving hand prints on the walls and foot prints on the floors... "Uh, Bats..." He didn't answer me, so I grabbed his cape and tugged it saying once more, "Bats."

"What?!"

I pointed around toward the bloodstains, before I said, "Maybe we should get out of here, huh?" He looked at me for a long moment, before I said, "It wasn't me! So don't look over here!"

He simply rolled his eyes, "That's what we're dong. We're going to leave in a moment. I just want to do a complete sweep before we go. I wouldn't want to miss anything. By the way," He turned back to me with one of the most serious expressions I'd ever seen on him, "Do you know anyone named Dollmaker?"

I considered the name carefully, and it curled on the tip of my tongue as the name rang a familiarity in my shattered mind, but no, I didn't think I knew him personally; so I shook my head, "No, I don't know im'. But," I drawled, "I have heard the name before. I can't remember where, but it sounds vaguely familiar. If I'm correct...he's some kind of twisted serial killer or something. Hey, shouldn't you know this yourself, detective?"

He snorted at me, as we finally came to the open door of darkness. "We're going in there?" I asked, shuddering at the very thought of it as Batman responded with the affirmation I was dreading, "Yeah. It's the basement."

"Oh basement, great." I silently followed him as we descended into the darkness. It was not so dark that I could not see, and some light streamed in from cracks near the ceiling. But for the most part it was dark, and I began to follow him into the room but he put a hand up, whispering, "Stay there. It's dark."

"Obviously."

I was pushing it, but at this point I didn't really care. All I really wanted was to be free of this place and to get back to Gotham, where it was warm and safe and not as creepy and dark. I lost sight of him as his form melted into the darkness. I strained to see where he had went, but to no avail. I lost sight of him, and the only thing that I could see was a sea of shifting darkness. And then I saw it, something out of the corner of my eye, a dark silhouette, crawling toward me from the floor of the basement as I took another step back up. I watched, trying to figure out if it was Batman, who was crawling in my direction, perhaps injured or in need of help. But no, the closer it got the more I could see the absence of the pointy ears, the missing cape. My heart was immediately in my throat, and I went to say something, to call out to Batman, when I heard his voice echoing from somewhere in the darkness, "Run! Joker, run!"

That was all I needed to hear, and I took of like a bullet. I tripped going up the stairs, miscalculating the distance and scraping a shin on the concrete steps, making a mad scramble for the light emanating from the top. I gasped as I emerged out into the brighter hallway. My feet were back under me in a second, as I took off running for the other end, and never once did I look back, for I feared that if I did I might see something chasing me. As I got closer and closer to the door at the end of the hall, my foot caught on a fallen fixture and I went tumbling to the floor, smacking my head of the floor.

I yelped in pain, but forced myself back up and running again. I hit the door with force, wiggling the knob and trying to get it open, but it stayed shut tight, and I could just feel something coming up to me, and in a roar of fury I rammed myself into it, knocking the door from it's rusted hinges and barreling through like a cannon. The hall I had been in opened up into what I assume was it's main lobby, and that's when I spotted the door. The front door was directly in front of me, and I ran to it with determination, and it got closer and closer, and I reached out my hand to take the knob, and something struck me hard from behind. I went tumbling down, the doorknob slicing my eyebrow on the way down, before I struck the floor hard, the world around me spinning like crazy.

I turned to look at my attacker, and then everything went black.