Gulping, Sophie turned her gaze back around and could immediately feel the harsh glare of Dr. Fluffay's eyes as they fixated on her. Now feeling a bigger sense of hopelessness, Sophie hung her and silently followed him as they walked down the long hallway, blinking back tears. She couldn't escape the intense feeling of sadness, confusion, and nervousness that made her stomach hurt with each step deeper into the asylum she took.
The two orderlies behind her ignored the quiet sounds of sniffles she emitted as tears slowly rain down her face despite her desire to be tough and hide her feelings. Sophie's thoughts drifted sadly back to Ivy and Harley, her only two friends and confidants in the entire world. She wondered how they were fairing, but she figured they were probably fine, and maybe even enjoying themselves in their home-away-from-home. Wiping her eyes, Sophie wondered the most important thing: if they were thinking about her, too. Despite being separated only for an hour, Sophie was already beginning to miss Harley terribly and wished more than anything that she could see her. She had horrible flashbacks of Scarecrow's hired henchmen...how they had also ripped her from Harley's arms on the night they had ruthlessly kidnapped her. It was the second time someone had taken her away from Harley by force, and it was just as painful the second time around. Neither time had been pleasant, and Sophie's heart ached for Harley the more she thought about the terrible similarities. These thoughts didn't give Sophie any comfort as she remembered that Dr. Fluffay had told her she wasn't even going to be allowed to see Harley while she was "locked-up." This idea caused more tears to slip out of her eyes as she suddenly felt more alone and scared than ever before.
It wasn't long before one of the two orderlies spoke, but Sophie didn't turn around this time. She just continued to stare at the floor as tears dripped from her eyes and splashed onto the white tiles at her feet.
"Dr. Fluffay, it's almost time for the Blue Wing's wake up call," said the first.
"And the Pink Wing's not too long after," added the second, checking her watch.
Dr. Fluffay nodded his head. "Good, good. You take care of that, while I take care of our newest recruit and get her...all signed in."
Sophie did steal a glance at Dr. Fluffay, and she couldn't be entirely sure, but it seemed to her like he had a sinister glint in his eye. Almost as if the whole scenario amused him, somewhat. Somewhere deep inside her, she wished she had any of her gadgets on her person so she could hurl some toxin-infused gumballs at him and give him something to smile about...permanently, or use one of her Apple Bombs to explode him. But, she realized that he held the very bag she kept all her belongings in, and she thought...but soon reconsidered trying to get the bag out of his thick hands.
After the two orderlies dispersed to tend to their other duties, Sophie was left alone with Dr. Fluffay. Still wordlessly following behind him, she looked around at the countless gloomy doors with numbers scrawled on the tops overhead. A small window near the top of each door was the only thing that allowed the outsiders to see who...or what resided there, but Sophie was too short to see inside unless she jumped. If she were honest, she didn't have any desire to know who was living in that wing at that particular moment. In that section, Sophie noticed the numbers were painted with bright blue paint that shimmered in the dim lights overhead. Each door had a keyhole, and aside from the different numbers, they were almost indistinguishable from one another. Sophie began to get dizzy as her eyes focused on each identical door, but she blinked her eyes and followed Dr. Fluffay until they reached a door with the words "Files and Records" written in bold, black letters painted on it.
Dr. Fluffay didn't hesitate as he knocked on the door, and without waiting for an answer from inside, he turned the knob. As the door creaked open, Sophie saw a sleepy-looking man sitting behind a desk. A huge cup of coffee sat in front of him, the steam rising out of the chipped yellow mug that had the words, "Always keep Smiling!" written on it in faded brown writing.
"D-doctor Fluffay!" stammered the young man, jumping up from his desk the moment the door burst open. "I-I came into work just as soon as I got your call of the new arrival." He gulped as he held up the tiny blackboard with two letters and random numbers scrawled across it, ID: 10141956. "I-I made this just before you came. I drove so fast to get here as soon as possible, I almost got a speeding ticket on the way."
Dr. Fluffay made a low grunting sound as if this doctor's tale didn't interest him in the slightest. "Glad to see you know how to follow orders, Dr. O'Connell. That's the first step to being a good employee of AAJD. The Arkham Asylum Juvenile Department may be new, but with me as Head of Security, here, it's my job to make sure everyone...not only our young inmates follow orders just as well as you do." He paused. "I'm glad to see you're quickly finding your place around here."
Sophie couldn't have known it, but this particular doctor was also new to the Asylum and was probably just as scared as she was.
Dr. O'Connell looked up at Dr. Fluffay, beads of sweat forming on his head. "Thanks, Dr. Fluffay," the young doctor stammered. "I'll...I'll take it from here if you don't mind. I-t's my job, after all."
Dr. Fluffay nodded. "Good," he said, stiffly. "I'll put her..." he paused, almost scoffing as he held up her pink shoulder bag and shook it in Sophie's face, mockingly. She could hear her precious bombs jangling around inside as they bumped into each other. "Toys in the holding closet with the other inmates' junk." He suddenly straightened up and turned his heavy gaze back at the doctor. "Don't dawdle. Just get her information into the system and I'll be back to get her settled in." As Dr. Fluffay turned to leave, he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "You have ten minutes, Doctor O'Connell." With that, the doctor left, slamming the door behind him.
Sophie, who was still feeling pretty bad about the whole situation, barely noticed how nervous the doctor was, and she quietly stood in front of him, awkwardly. Her eyes burned as she blinked, but she wasn't sure if the early morning hours were to blame, or if it was because of the many tears she had shed on the way there.
"We need to get some basic information so we can get you registered in the system, alright?" Dr. O'Connell's shaking voice broke the silence as he opened one of his desk drawers and took out a roll of measuring tape, a polaroid camera, and a silver marker pen.
Sophie eyed the camera curiously and took a step back, stumbling as she tripped over a tiny scale that was near the wall.
Dr. O'Connell's mouth slowly formed a tiny smirk as he watched Sophie's reaction. He cleared his throat. "Even you pint-sized inmates have to have mugshots, after all. But, first things first. Step up onto the scale, since you seem so eager to start with that."
Sophie hesitated, but she obeyed orders without protesting.
He glanced at the scale, then clicked open the marker pen and spoke out loud as he wrote on the blackboard just below the ID number. "Weight, 65 pounds." He grabbed the tape and instructed Sophie to stand against the wall. She did. Dr. O'Connell pulled the tape down and measured her, then tossed the tape measure onto the desk and wrote on the blackboard, again, as he spoke. "Height...hm. A little on the short side, I'd say. 4 feet, 4 inches." He clicked the cap on the marker and tossed it also onto the desk, and picked up the camera, oblivious to Sophie's eye-roll she'd done upon hearing his commentary on her height. "Are you ready to take your picture?"
Sophie answered in a monotone voice, showing no emotion at all. "Alright, Mister DeMille. I'm ready for my closeup."
Without even a crack of a smile, Dr. O'Connell quickly handed Sophie the little blackboard and snapped her picture. Almost instantly, the photo shot out of the bottom of the camera, and he pulled it out with one swipe. He walked over to his desk and sat down, opening the top drawer and pulling out a large manilla envelope with the words "PROPERTY OF ARKHAM ASYLUM JUVENILE DEPARTMENT" stamped on the front. As he tossed the envelope onto the top of his desk, he didn't bother to invite Sophie to take a seat in one of the empty chairs in front of him. Instead, he ignored her as he started typing on the computer. "I'll just get all your information into the system and we'll start your Arkham Case File immediately," he said, tapping on the envelope. "That way, we can keep track of all the progress you make."
"Whoopee," Sophie mumbled, quietly crossing her arms over her chest and looking down at the floor.
She remembered when, seven years ago, she watched as the workers at the orphanage did the same thing so they could start her "Orphan Case file." She felt a strange jolt of deja vu as she stood in front of the doctor watching him clink away on his computer.
"So, first off. State your name, please," said Dr. O'Connell, ignoring the sarcasm in Sophie's voice.
Sophie slowly looked up and stared up at him for a second. "M-my name?"
"Yes, your name," the doctor replied, haughtily. Sophie quickly noticed that he suddenly had a burst of confidence now that Dr. Fluffay was nowhere to be seen. "Your name. You do have a name, don't you?"
Sophie narrowed her eyes at him before she spat her reply. "Yes. It's Sophie."
Dr. O'Connell glanced at Sophie's little blurry mugshot, which was slowly but surely coming into focus. He took out a thin black marker and wrote the word, "Sophie" on the white part at the bottom of the photo, then he turned and looked at her. "I need your full name."
Sophie pondered for a few seconds at what to say next. For many people, simply stating their full name was something they did almost automatically, seeing as your name was one of the most common things anyone is ever asked. Although, Sophie knew her life situation was anything but common, and throughout her 11 years on earth, she felt like she'd had more names, fake names...and temporary names than anyone.
Sophie could, technically, use any of the multiple names she'd had throughout her life, but the more she thought about it, the more she didn't feel like any of her "names" meant anything to her, anymore. Sure, her actual given name, of course, was Sophie Michelle Pieska, but Sophie felt she'd lost the connection to the name once she lost her "mother." Pieska was her mother's last name, after all, but Sophie knew Emilia Margot Pieska was no mother of hers, anymore. Not after the teen mom had abandoned her preschool-aged daughter on the street like a dog and vanished without a trace. Sophie wasn't at all sad to hear she had died not long after she dumped her daughter. Emilia's death died along with Sophie's allegiance to the name, and she was fine with both things.
During her five-year stint at the orphanage, Sophie had been adopted more times than she could remember and been given new names after new names to the point she couldn't even remember a single one. Either way, she knew that none of those families meant anything to her, anyway, since they had all hastily shoved her back to the orphanage one-by-one in the end. So, their names didn't matter, either, since they weren't hers.
Upon meeting Harley, Sophie simply introduced herself with the only other name she'd been accustomed to using...which was, ultimately, what had helped Harley hear the idea for her rogue name, "Sweetie Pie," even if using her "Pieska" had just been a simple formality at that point because she "needed" to use something.
Later on, Sophie had been adopted by her final family and had ultimately become Sophie Michelle Thurston, but Sophie knew that was only a minor detail. Sophie had made sure the Thurstson's name didn't carry on after she was...through with it. To her, "Thurston" was just a name she'd borrowed until she did what she needed to do, and her connections to that name were erased from her life just as quickly as her own mother was.
Then, she remembered that as Harley had registered Sophie for school, they had used another fake name for safety reasons, and she had become Sophie Michelle Quinn for the time being. Even though she had kept half the name given to her by her mother, that particular new name started to sound a tiny bit better to her ears for some reason. But, the more Sophie thought about it, the more that also didn't quite fit. Not fully, anyway.
Technically, "Quinn" was only Harley's rogue name, and Harley had just blurted out the first thing she could think of that couldn't link Sophie to any crimes or hiccups she'd had along the way. Sophie knew that "Quinn" wasn't Harley's actual name, anyway. It wasn't the name of the real woman. The woman behind the mask was someone different. Deep down, the woman hiding behind the makeup and mask was the real one...the one who had taken Sophie in, taken care of her, protected her, and loved her as if they were family. Harley was her family, now, after all, and Sophie loved her more than anyone in the world. Sophie knew that even if she now shared the rogue last name with Harley, her most treasured person on Earth, something still wasn't right. Something still didn't feel right.
"Name?" repeated Dr. O'Connell, almost in a huff as he held the marker pen in his hand at the ready.
Sophie closed her eyes and remembered the first day she had met Harley almost as if were yesterday. She could hear Harley's words echoing throughout her memory as if they were being spoken through a megaphone. "My real name's Harleen Quinzel. But, you can just call me Harley. Everyone does."
"Hello?" Dr. O'Connell loudly interrupted Sophie's daydream with much more annoyance than before. He tapped the marker pen on the picture, ready to complete it.
Sophie glanced down at the photo, and at that moment she saw her newly developed and crisp mugshot - her crazy hair, her crazy outfit, and the crazy look in her huge eyes that matched Harley's to a tee staring back at her. It was at that moment, she knew.
"Name?"
Sophie looked up at the doctor, her eyes filled with fire. "Sophie Harleen Quinzel."
"What was that?" the doctor repeated, turning an ear towards her.
"I said, my name is Sophie. Harleen. Quinzel."
