Chapter 1: Two Guys in a Lunatic Asylum
An: Here's the first chapter of my very first Batman Fanfiction and my very first mature Fanfiction to date. Enjoy!
It was a dark and stormy night in Gotham City, which was technically normal in some way or another. Rain was softly falling and the thunder and lightning have stopped a moment ago. At that moment, a dark silhouette moved across the roof of a building and looked over the edge of the roof. The figure was none other than the dark knight himself, Batman, and he was looking down and saw four police cars parked near the entrance to another building. He had gotten word that dead bodies of missing victims had been found and he wanted to see the remains himself so he could identify who the murderer was. He grasped onto his cape and glided down to the ground before walking into the building. He walked down a long hallway until he spotted a room up ahead and the opening was covered by two pieces of police tape, indicating that it was now a crime scene. There were two police officers standing nearby with grim expressions. When they caught sight of Batman walking up to them, one of the officers lifted the two pieces of tape up, allowing the dark knight to enter the room. Inside the room, there were four dead bodies positioned in chairs so that it looked like the corpses were sitting upright. Standing near the entrance to the room was Detective Harvey Bullock writing his report in a small notepad.
"Hell of a night, isn't it?" Bullock asked.
"What makes it different from any other night in Gotham?" Batman asked in return as he took out a flashlight and walked closer to the dead corpses.
"Nothing, nothing at all, I suppose. Commissioner Gordon thought that you might like to see this," Bullock replied.
"That's an interesting choice of words," Batman commented.
"Come again?"
"Why would I "like" to see this?"
"Well, I guess "need" would've been better for you, right? Anyway, before you came in, the coroner came in and inspected the corpses closely. He guessed that these poor saps have been dead for at least three weeks."
"What was the cause of these deaths, heart attack or murder?"
"Well, we won't know for sure until after the autopsies."
"They were murdered. What do you make of this?"
"What do I make of it? Well, three weeks ago, a dentist convention was held in the building just down the road."
"The same convention where a few of the conventioneers never returned home; just went missing. It wasn't long before their bank accounts were emptied and they themselves disappeared."
"And now I think we're standing in the mouth of that. Heh, that's an interesting choice of words, huh?"
Batman didn't respond to that since he was finishing up his inspection of the dead bodies. Aside from the fact that the bodies were dead and their bank accounts were emptied, they all had one thing in common: the corpses had rictus grins on their faces. Batman knew instantly who was behind the murders.
"Tell Gordon I need to talk to him," Batman spoke.
Bullock rubbed the back of his head uneasily. "Well, I would, but tonight's his father-daughter night with Barbara. When it comes to his daughter, you know he doesn't—"
"Have to be there," Batman said. "It's not Gordon himself I need to talk to, but the one who murdered these people."
"You mean, you know who did it?"
"No, but I have a good feeling of who it could be. Especially since all four of these corpses have rictus grins on their faces."
After getting a good look at all four of the bodies, Bullock's eyes widened in shock and realization, since he indeed knew which criminal would leave a calling card like that.
"You mean...?"
"Yes, tell Gordon I need to talk to him."
With that being said, the two left the crime scene, leaving the rotting, grinning corpses all alone.
In the park, it was still drizzling, but not as hard as it was earlier. The ground was wet and only a few drops of rain were falling every few seconds. There was only one person going through the park at that hour and it was the Police Commissioner's daughter, Barbara Gordon. Secretly, she helped Batman under the mantel of Batgirl and was currently his only partner at the time. Dick Grayson, also known as Nightwing, had left Gotham after having a falling out with Batman. And as for Time Drake, also known as Robin, he was tragically taken from them, something that stunned all members of the Bat Family immensely. Batman had tried a couple of times to discourage Barbara from continuing as Batgirl, but she stubbornly refused to quit. Barbara jogged through the park until she arrived back at her apartment complex. She stretched her legs out before she went up the stairs and into her room. After she closed the door, her phone rang, causing her to run over to it and answer it.
"Hello?" Barbara answered.
"Barbara, it's Dad," Gordon spoke from the other end.
"Hi, Dad, how's your day?" she asked.
"Not over yet, unfortunately," he responded. "I'm sorry, honey, but I won't be able to make it tonight. Something's come up."
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, there's nothing for you to worry about. A friend asked me for a favor."
"The special friend?"
"Yes, honey, the special friend."
Unknown to her father, Barbara had a smirk on her face when she subtly asked about Batman. Due to being Batgirl, she knew very well about the friendship between the two men. Afterwards, she hung up the phone and decided to relax on the couch.
On the other side of Gotham City, in the center of the area infamously known as the Narrows, the Batmobile drove down the road until it came to a large iron gate that stood in front of a large castle-like building. Batman got out of the Batmobile and glanced over to a plague that was placed on one of the brick-built posts. The plague read: ARKHAM ASYLUM, for the Criminally Insane. Batman then opened one of the doors to the gate and stepped inside the area. He then walked down the road that led to the asylum that stood only 20 yards ahead. Once he reached the asylum, he noticed that Commissioner Gordon was standing next to a policeman, sipping his coffee. Batman casually walked right past them and opened the doors to the asylum. Gordon handed the cup to the policeman before walking in after Batman.
"Do you mind telling me what this is about?" Gordon asked.
Batman didn't answer the Commissioner's question, but instead walked into the asylum and stopped by the front desk. The clerk at the desk was a young woman and she was surprised to see both Batman and Commissioner Gordon standing in front of her.
"We need to see one of the inmates," Batman said.
"Of course, go right through there," the woman pointed them in the direction of the inmate hallway.
"Thank you, ma'am," Gordon thanked her before walking in after the dark knight.
Aside from some distant laughing and agonizing cries, the asylum was eerily silent and some of the overhead lights flickered on and off. In one cell further down the hallway, a hand was desperately clawing on the outside of the door through the small, barred window. This hand belonged to none other than the former District Attorney, Harvey Dent, who now went by the name Two-Face, due to the left side of his face being burned. The reason why he was clawing at the door was because he was desperately trying to reach for his coin, since the silver dollar was what helped him make decisions. However, he stopped clawing when he heard footsteps walking by, and when he peeked out the window and saw it was his worst enemy, he snarled silently.
"Once I get that coin back and get out of here, I'll use it to help me decide your gruesome fate, Batman," Two-Face growled.
Batman and Gordon continued to walk down the hallway until they made a right turn and began walking down another hallway. In another one of the prison cells was a woman with dark green eyes, light green skin and red hair. This was another one of Batman's deadliest enemies, Pamela Isly, but more famously known as Poison Ivy, due to her extreme obsession with plants and deadly kiss. She was currently sitting on her bed and stroking the petals of some flowers that she kept close by in a flower pot. When Batman and Gordon walked by, she stopped stroking her flowers and went up to the window and looked down the hallway. When she caught sight of Batman, a wicked smirk crept onto her face.
"Well, well, a late-night rendezvous in Arkham, Batman? This evening just got very interesting," Poison Ivy smirked.
As Batman and Gordon continued walking through the asylum, Batman decided to take the time and explain to the Commissioner about the dead bodies from earlier.
"The corpses had rictus grins on their faces. We both know who that points to," Batman explained.
"But he's been in custody for over two years and the doctors swore that they saw him locked up in his cell all day," Gordon said. "If he did commit those murders, why would he then lock himself back into Arkham? It doesn't make sense."
"Nothing about his behavior makes sense at all. He could have over a thousand reasons for a psychopath," Batman said grimly.
"Still, it might be hard to prove that he might be responsible without proof," Gordon replied.
"He'll confess by the time I'm done with him," the Dark Knight spoke.
"But he's insane. It's a mistake to think you know what he'll do," the Commissioner responded.
After some more twists and turns, they arrived at a maximum-security cell with a security guard standing outside. The name plaque on the cell read, UNKNOWN, due to the fact the occupant had no real known name. Once Batman came close to the door, the guard instantly opened the door, allowing the Dark Knight to enter.
"I'm not only here because of what was found today. I'm here because there's something I need to do," Batman said as he stepped inside the cell and the guard shut the door.
Batman looked towards the inmate, who was sitting at a small table playing with a deck of cards. There was a single light shining in the center of the table, but the bulb was a little dim, keeping the face of the inmate in the shadows. However, even in the dark, Batman could tell who the inmate was: his archenemy, the Joker.
"There were these two guys in a lunatic asylum..."
Batman grabbed another chair from the side and sat down on the other side of the table and looked at the clown inmate across from him.
"Hello. I came to talk," Batman spoke softly.
The clown said nothing, but continued to quietly play with the deck of cards by putting a card onto a different stack. Batman assumed that this was a way of telling him to continue on the conversation.
"I've been thinking lately about you and me," Batman continued. "I've been thinking about how this war between us will end, and about which one of us will end up killing the other. Perhaps you'll kill me or perhaps I'll kill you; perhaps sooner or perhaps later; you're aware of that, aren't you?"
Once again, the clown said nothing and continued to stack the cards on the table. Batman slightly hung his head in disappointment and continued on with his statement.
"I just need to know for when that time comes, that I'd made a genuine attempt to talk things over, to try and avert the inevitable, just once," Batman said solemnly.
Still, the clown said nothing and it was starting to get on the dark knight's nerves. Without hesitation, Batman reached out and grabbed ahold of one of the clown's hands, which made the figure in the dark look up towards the Bat.
"Listen to me!" Batman spoke sternly. "This is life and death that I'm talking about here. Eventually, this might result in either my death or yours. Our relationship is fatal, but I don't want your murder on my..."
The clown then tore his hand away from the dark knight's grasp and rubbed it gently. Batman stopped speaking as he looked down and saw what seemed to be some white smears on his black glove. He could tell that something was off since the skin of the Joker was bleached white, and the clown never used white makeup. Fearing the worst, Batman reached forward and grabbed the clown by the collar of his prison uniform.
"Hey, wait! I've got rights! You aren't allowed to touch me!" the clown said fearfully.
Batman used some of his fingers to brush along the left cheek of the clown, which resulted in the white substance being rubbed off the face of the inmate. It soon became clear to the dark knight; the clown had escaped and put an imposter in his place. Batman was beyond livid with this new information.
"WHERE IS HE?!" Batman roared. "Do you realize what you've set free?! Do you understand what that monster is capable of?! Where is he?!"
Batman, with a firm grip still on the imposter's uniform, stood up and pushed the imposter into one of the walls of the cell for interrogation.
"Help! HELP!" the frightened imposter yelled.
Outside, Gordon and the guard heard the cries and instantly were taken aback by the sudden outburst from the Bat.
"Dear God, open that door!" Gordon ordered before the door opened and he went inside and walked up until he stood behind Batman. "What do you think you're doing? You the laws about mistreating inmates! If you harm one hair on his head—"
However, something was flung into the Commissioner's hands, and when he got a good look at what it was, he was surprised the see that he was holding a green wig. Soon, Gordon understood what has happened and the imposter was now at the mercy of the enraged dark knight.
"Now you sickening little slime, I'm going to ask you one last time: WHERE IS HE?!" Batman said with fire in his eyes.
AN: And there's the first chapter. Next time, we'll see an extended version of the Joker's backstory. Until then, catch ya later!