(I'm so happy that I've gotten the people who've read this to laugh out loud. Weeeeell, now I have some bad news for you. Yeah; something that with put a damper on the consistency of my stories' updates; I've not only got to perform in a musical nearly every night for the past for weeks, but I'm also going to be going into training for a new job. That's good news for me, bad for you. I'm gonna try my hardest though to keep up with updating but I can't make any promises because I'm not sure if I could keep them. Being a person of their word is the Joker's job. So, without further ado; I present to you the next chapter of this hilarious story! *applauds*)

[Songs suggestions and mentions for Chapter Three]

~ 'Raise Your Glass' by P!nk

~ 'Can't Take My Eyes Off of You' by John Lloyd Young

~ 'The Joker' by The Steve Miller Band

Chapter Three

Make Yourself at Home

October 1st, 2011

Exactly a month later, Amber was well trained in the ways of the Asylum. Joan told her that she was ready to take on the patients herself…hopefully. Of course, there had been days when Joan wasn't sure if Amber would be ready, but the girl pulled it off.

On the first day of the following month, Amber walked into the building with her iPod's earphones in her ears and music jammin'. She did a few little dance steps down the empty hall, singing aloud to one of her favorite songs.

"So raise your glass if you are wrong in all the right ways, all my underdogs –!"

A throat cleared rather loudly behind her. Amber's green eyes widened, and she sucked in her lips before slowly turning. Her stomach flopped when she saw Doctor Arkham standing in the adjoining hall, watching her. He inclined his head. "Nurse Amber…"

"Dr. Arkham…"

He sighed and continued on his way, leaving a very red-faced Amber. She quickly clicked her iPod off and went to go clock in. She ran into Joan while she slid her card and alerted the front desk she was there. "Ready for your first day without me?" she asked. Amber gave a nervous smile that made Joan laugh. "You'll be fine," she assured the younger woman.

"I bet you say that to all the saps who work here," Amber said good humoredly.

Joan closed her locker and smiled. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Looking at her watch, Amber found it was time to go to the cafeteria to supervise breakfast. The moment she entered the cafeteria a loud voice called out to her.

"Weeell, look who's here without her mentor!"

Amber looked to see the Joker across the cafeteria smiling broadly at her. By his side were Harley and Chelsea, both grinning stupidly at him. After letting her feel miserable about switching sides for several days, the Joker had let Harley join him again. He and the girls were carrying their breakfast trays as they walked towards Amber.

Why are they coming towards me, Amber wondered nervously? Looking to her left, she discovered that the Joker's 'team' were seated at the table by her.

"Hi-ya, toots," Scarface greeted.

Amber caught herself giving a meek wave as she remembered some of Joan's advice. "Don't be meek or nervous. Hold yourself up confidently and speak like you have authority. Let them think you know what's going on…even if you don't have a clue."

Straightening up, Amber gave Scarface and Arnold a confident smile. "Good morning, boys."

"Good morning, Nurse Johnson," Jervis Tetch said with a small bow at the waist.

"Good morning to you too, Mr. Tetch," she replied.

The Joker took the seat reserved for him, which left one empty space by his side. Chelsea and Harley looked at one another and in the blink of an eye, rushed for it. Everyone at the table seemed to be oblivious to the pull-and-shove game going on over the seat. The Joker calmly ate breakfast as Chelsea pulled Harley back by the collar of her shirt while balancing her tray in the other hand. She seemed to have a clear shot until Harley came from the side and shoved her with her shoulder. Chelsea retaliated by sticking her foot out and tripping Harley.

Harley took a big fall and her milk carton went flying into the air, landing nicely on the Joker's tray. He blinked at it and looked up at the ceiling curiously. Shrugging, he opened the milk carton and downed it in one swig. Harley picked herself off the floor and saw Chelsea's butt about to sit down. She stretched out her arm and held a plastic spork prong up. When Chelsea's rear contacted the prongs, she shot up with a howl and moved away from the seat so she could walk the pain off.

Harley quickly sat down in the seat and grinned triumphantly at no one in particular. She happened to look up at Nurse Amber to see her eyebrow lifted and lips pursed in disapproval. Harley smiled innocently at her and went to attending to her Puddin's every whim.

At about that time Nigma, Katherine, and Katlyn began to pass by the table. Nigma's original two henchwomen, Echo and Query, had recently been shipped off to Black Gate Prison much to the delight of Katherine and Katlyn. The two of them had easily slipped into the roles of being the loyal subjects of Nigma and practically adored him.

"Well, if it isn't the Clown Prince of Crime and his little bottle-blond friend," Katherine said.

Harley frowned. "Hey, I happen to look better as a blond than as a –,"

"Please don't say your natural hair color. You'll insult all women with that type of hair."

Harley's frown deepened. "Puddin'!"

The Joker sighed and delivered a saying he had to repeatedly deliver in order to get Harley to do what he wanted or shut her up. "Don't listen to her, pooh, you're my one of a kind Harlequin." Harley squealed and gave him a death-like squeeze of a hug. "Harley! Eek! Release," the Joker wheezed.

"Sorry, Puddin'," she apologized. Harley stuck her tongue out at Katherine and waited for a reaction.

Katlyn looked up at her tall friend. What'cha gonna say now, she wondered.

Katherine smirked at Harley. "Did you know that there's a shrimp out there called a Harlequin shrimp? It's really ugly too."

Harley pursed her lips at Katherine and lifted her nose in the air. "I'm gonna ignore that comment," she said haughtily.

Katherine shrugged. "Whatever you say, shrimp."

Harley slammed both hands on the table and pushed herself up. "All right; that's it!" she cried.

Amber was there in a flash. "Harley, sit down! Katherine, keep moving!" she ordered in a voice none of them expected.

Everyone stared at her in surprise and silence, too taken aback at the sudden change in her demeanor. This wasn't the same nervous young woman whom they'd written off as no different than the many other orderlies that had come before her.

The Joker ran an appraising eye over Amber, as if reconsidering something. A few seconds of tense silence passed before he looked at everyone's faces. He licked his lips and said, "Well, you heard the lady."

Harley turned her head to look at him. "But Mistah J –!"

"Harley," he warned.

The Riddler put a hand on Katherine's shoulder. "Come along, Katherine."

Katherine smiled sweetly at him and went stone faced at Harley. "I've got my eyes on you, Quinn," she hissed. She walked with Nigma to another table.

Katlyn lingered behind and glanced at Harley. She lifted two fingers to point at her eyes and then at Harley then scampered off to catch up with Nigma and Katherine. "Man, that little Munchkin gives me the creeps," Harley said with a shiver.

"Nurse Johnson?"

Amber turned to find an orderly holding a clipboard in his hand. "Yes?" Amber said curiously.

"You're assigned to medication duty today," he told her. Amber took the clipboard from him and looked at the list of people she had to give medication to. "After breakfast we'll be sending the patients who take their meds in the morning back to their cells. Those are the ones you take care of for today." He turned and left without another word.

"Rude," Amber mumbled. She turned her attention back to the list and scanned the names more carefully. When she got to the Js she froze. No! That's why the guy left in a hurry. He didn't want to be around when she found out that the Joker was on the list.

She hoped giving patients A-I their meds would take forever. She hoped one of them would have an epic mental break down while she tried to give them their pills; that way they'd send someone else to continue while she took care of the problem. But as luck would have it, no one did.

Phft. Figures.

She paused in front of the Joker's cell and peered inside. A part of her hoped he had tried to escape during transitions. Instead, she found him lying in bed with his hands behind his head. Upon seeing Amber, he pulled an arm away from his head and wiggled his fingers at her. She sighed and entered the code to open the glass door, grateful for the guard assigned to watch over her while she went about her task.

"Time to take your pills."

"Ah, Amber, it's been a long time since we talked one on one."

Amber hoped he wouldn't give her any trouble and just take the pills. One look at the mischievous gleam in his eyes and she knew that wouldn't happen. Sigh. She needed to stop hoping and start praying.

She held out the plastic cup that contained his meds and waited for him to take it. But he never did.

"You know, Amber –,"

"That's Nurse Amber to you."

"Nurse Amber." He sat up and scooted to sit on the edge of his bed, hands flittering about as he talked. "You kinda surprised us during breakfast with that little outburst. It almost sounded like you weren't scared of us. I almost believed it for a second."

"Just take your meds, Joker."

The Joker wet his lips and pretended to think about it. "Uuuuuh…No," he answered.

Amber's eye narrowed as she set her jaw and stared the Joker down. He calmly stared right back. "You will take your medication, or I will make you," she said through clenched teeth.

"And, uh, how do you plan on doing that, hm? Pin me down?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Take your meds." She extended the plastic cup to him and stared at him expectantly, one hand on her hip.

The Joker sighed like he was defeated and took the cup from her. "Geez, Amber, are you always this up tight?" he asked.

"Nurse Amber," she reminded him while folding her arms.

"Nurse Amber, right, right, right; listen," he wet his lips, "I feel like we should get on a first name basis with each other. What do ya say?" He gave her his most winning smile.

Amber tapped her index finger on her forearm. "I say you need to get over yourself." She promptly turned on her heel and left the cell.

The Joker waited until she was out of sight before tossing the pills in the sink and waving them goodbye. "I happen to like the voices in my head," he chuckled. He leapt onto his bed and waited for the guard who would escort him to his next destination of the day. Closing his eyes for a quick nap, he started thinking of some devious little ideas.

The clack, clack, clack of shoes made him open his eyes to see three guards ready to escort him. "Finally," the Joker cried, jumping up from his bed and frowning at them. "I've been waiting for hours!"

"It's been ten minutes."

"Oh…has it really? Oh well, take me away, gentlemen!" The Joker put his hands out theatrically for them to place the handcuffs on him. The guards grabbed him by the arms and shoved him against the wall while twisting his arms behind his back. "Oof! What part of gentleman did you miss?" he grumbled.

"Shut it, clown!"

"That's Clown of Prince of Crime to you, tubby." The guard self-consciously looked at his belly that overlapped his pants' waist belt and glared at the Joker. "Strawberry filled donuts can get to ya, can't they?" the Joker asked mockingly.

"You're gonna eat those words!"

"It appears you already have."

"GAAAAH!"

The guard reached out to grab his neck but was stopped by his two fellow men. "It's not worth it, Jeff; it's not worth it. Let's just take him to musical therapy, okay?"

Jeff muttered under his breath the entire time they walked the Joker to musical therapy. They uncuffed him and Jeff took pleasure in giving the Joker a hard shove into the room to join the other occupants. Blowing Jeff a taunting kiss, the Joker turned around and observed who else was in the room with him. Ugh, Nigma. Who else? Crane, Harley, Tommy Tetch, Katherine and her loyal minion, Katlyn. There were others, but he didn't know them; nor did he care.

He went to the chair next to Harley and glared at the person occupying the seat. The patient turned his head to look fearfully up at the Joker. "Move." The man jumped out of the seat and snatched an empty chair next to Crane.

Crane fixed him with an icy blue stare which made the patient whimper. "Are you afraid of me?" Crane asked.

"Crane, heel," the Riddler said.

Crane sighed as the music teacher stood in the middle of their circle. "Now, I'm sure all of you have heard of the healing power of music, right?" No one answered. "Well, I'm going to show you how music can help you through the confusion that you are facing and introduce you to the uplifting light that music brings! How does that sound?"

The Joker imitated the sound of a snore. Harley elbowed him in the ribs. The teacher went up to the black board and grabbed a piece of chalk. She began to write her name in that fancy, girly, way that her type usually did. "Show off," someone muttered.

"As you can see on the board, my name is Mrs. Melody," she stated.

"There's a shock," the Joker said in a bored tone. He received a glare from her.

"The first thing we'll be learning is how to express yourself by using your voice by singing," she informed them.

"You should know that, Joker," Nigma whispered loudly. His chuckles were cut off when the Joker yawned and stretched his arms which whacked Nigma in the back of the head. "Aw!"

"What did he mean by that, Puddin'?"

"Nothing; I have no idea."

"You know very well what I'm talking about!" Nigma insisted.

"I can assure you I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

Katherine clamped her hands over her ears. "My gosh! It never ends!" she yelled in a frustrated voice.

"Do too, too, too, too!"

"Do not, not, not, not infinity!"

"Do too infinity!"

"I already used that Nigma; you can't use it after it's already been used!"

The sudden ear shattering screech of nails being dragged across the black board made everyone cry out and cover their ears. Mrs. Melody waited until she saw everyone's mouths clamped shut in pain before she stopped. "Now, if you two would be so good as to explain what all the fuss is about?"

The Riddler pointed at the Joker like a toddler who was about to tattle-tale. "The Clown sings like a canary!"

"Squealer," the Joker hissed.

Harley let out a giggle. "Eddie's joking, Mrs. Melody. We've both heard him sing before and as much as I love my Puddin', singing is not his forte."

"That's because you haven't heard him really sing…," Nigma said mysteriously.

Tommy's head perked up. "You can sing, boss?"

"No," the Joker said quickly.

"Oooh don't be so modest," Edward teased. He faced the teacher and the rest of the group, a big smirk on his face. "I came across him yesterday morning singing like he was in a Broadway musical. He didn't know I was there until he turned around and saw me." Nigma looked back at the Joker whose cheeks were becoming very red underneath the clown make-up. "By the way, the look on your face was priceless; I never knew your eyes could get so big."

"Shut up, Nigma."

"You know, you don't strike me as the type who would sing, 'Can't Take My Eyes Off of You.'"

Mrs. Melody positively it up. "I love that song! It takes a very talented voice to sing that song!" The Joker cut his eyes at Edward with a death glare. Mrs. Melody couldn't stop gushing out ideas. "Oh! I could ask Dr. Arkham to help sponsor a choir group and we could have you as the lead singer!"

The Joker's neck nearly snapped from how fast he turned his head to look at her. "The heck you will!" he shouted angrily.

"Oh, why not, Puddin'? And how come ya never told me you can sing?"

"Because he knew how insanely jealous you'd become if you saw all the women who'd throw themselves at him because of his golden voice," the Riddler taunted.

The Joker's eye twitched. "You can talk; you've never had a girl throw herself at you in yer life!"

Katherine scoffed. "Hey, I take offense to that!"

"You're not a girl, you're more like an It," the Joker said, off-handedly.

Katlyn stood up from her chair, a finger lifted in the air. "She takes even greater offense to that!"

"Katlyn, I can handle this," Katherine told her friend while having her sit down.

"Oh, okay," Katlyn mumbled.

"Thank you." Katherine pointed at the Joker. "I take even greater offense to that!" The Joker rolled his eyes and ignored her.

Crane adjusted his glasses. "Joker, do you have a fear of letting people know you can sing?" he asked.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know," the Joker scoffed back.

Nigma folded his arms over his chest. "What gives you the idea I've never had a girlfriend?"

The Joker tilted his head at him. "Dude, you're a nerd; I'm the bad boy. Bad boys get the girls, nerds don't. It's Nature's Law. You probably weren't even able to get a friend to go with you to prom!"

Edward's jaw snapped shut and he fixed the Joker with a glare. Tommy and Harley 'ooohed' at the insult. Edward stood from his chair and walked to the door. "Hey, you can't leave," Mrs. Melody hollered. Edward kept going. "Alright, alright; fine. You better go straight to your cell, mister!"

Edward turned to face her just as he reached the door. "Yes, Mrs. Melody," he replied darkly.

Mrs. Melody was frozen by his tone. Nigma stared at her, unmoving. "Um, alright, uh, I do believe some of you have art therapy next," she stuttered, finally looking away. The Riddler grinned and went through the door.

Nurse Amber had been assigned to go into the high-level security ward to check up on the inmates' cells while they were occupied with their activities. It was a routine search of every cell to make sure the patient wasn't hiding anything dangerous or illegal in the asylum. She had already checked Harvey Dent, Chelsea, Poison Ivy, and the Joker's cell and the only thing she found was a pair of colorfully wacky socks the Joker had hidden under the bed, wedged between the beams holding the mattress. After she checked to make sure nothing bad was possibly inside of them, she put them back and decided to let him keep it.

She got a shock in the next cell. Instead of finding it empty, she found the Riddler sitting on his bed. He was hunched over, clutching his head, with his elbows resting on his knees. He either didn't hear her come in or he chose to ignore her, because he didn't move.

"What are you doing here?" Amber asked. Edward lifted his head from his hands and looked up at her, but he said nothing. "Why aren't you with your group?" she questioned.

"Oh, stop fretting, it's not like I'm escaping. I decided to take leave of Mrs. Melody's music class and come back here to the solitude of my cell," Edward explained in a board tone of voice.

Amber leaned against the wall and gazed at him. "Who escorted you back?"

"Me, myself, and I," he snapped.

"You know you can't just leave when you want! Do you think this is some summer camp and you can…." She drifted off when she got a good look at the walls of his cell. Recently painted green question marks of all designs covered the surfaces. Some still had small lines of paint sliding down the wall. "Mr. Nigma… what is this?" Amber asked while pointing at the question marks.

Edward gave a fleeting glance at the marks and looked away. "Nothing," he replied quickly.

"Really? Because they look like question marks to me."

Nigma glanced at the wall again and studied them as if for the first time. "Why yes, it appears that way, doesn't it?"

"Mmmh-hmm. Did you draw these?"

"No."

"Did you paint these?"

Nigma paused. "You may be correct in assuming that…," he said slowly.

"Nigmaaaa."

"I'm sorry, but the walls needed to be decorated! I abhor these plain white walls!"

Amber arched an eyebrow at him. "Abhor?" she repeated.

Edward folded his arms and lifted his chin at her. "Oh, excuse me for using a word above your vocabulary," he said haughtily.

Amber's jaw dropped. "Excuse me," she scoffed.

Edward immediately regretted his words and decided to tell her the real problem. She hasn't called the guards yet, he thought to himself. "I apologize. I'm in a bit of a mood. The Joker was taunting me again." His lower lip slightly stuck out without him being aware of it, making him look like a little boy pouting.

Amber softened up and smiled sympathetically as she sat next to him on the bed. She put a hand on his shoulder. "He's just jealous of you," she said.

"He already gets all the girls, what has he got to be jealous over me about? I can't even remember most of my time in high school!"

Amber wrinkled her brow in confusion. "What about high school?"

Nigma gave a start, realizing he'd revealed a bit too much about himself. "N-nothing."

"Mr. Nigma…Is everything okay?"

"I…" He was about to dismiss her from his cell when he suddenly realized…she was sitting next to him in his cell. As if he weren't one of the most dangerous criminals in Gotham. And to add to it, she actually looked like she was concerned about him. Taking a deep breath, Nigma decided…why not? "A few years ago, I was suffering from amnesia. Couldn't remember a blasted thing! As time's gone by, I've managed to reclaim most of my memories, but…every now and again…I'm reminded that my mind's not whole yet. I'm faced with these blank spaces of time that I can't recall. Less than an hour ago, I was rudely reminded of this when the Joker made some jabs about how I probably couldn't have gotten a friend to agree to go to prom with me and I was about to prove him wrong when I realized…I can't remember my prom. I can't remember if I went, if I asked any of the girls I liked, if I even wanted to go…there's nothing there."

Nigma swallowed thickly, his Adams apple bobbing as he did so. He avoided looking at Amber, instead focusing on his clasped hands. "The Joker found out about my memory loss and loves to taunt me with it when it suits him. Because he knows that the thing that bothers me most – what drives me mad – is the knowledge that my brain is damaged. That I can't be who I used to be until it's completely fixed."

Amber was strangely still with a peculiar expression on her face. "Do you know where the Joker is at this moment?" she asked sweetly.

"I think he's in art therapy right now," Edward mumbled.

"Thank you." She gave him a comforting pat on the back and stood up from the bed. "Stay here, make yourself comfortable," she told him while locking his cell.

Edward sighed and stretched himself out on the bed with his hands behind his head. "Sure; why not? I'm not going anywhere at the moment."

Amber turned and the smile vanished from her face as a glare replaced it. She left the room and stormed down the hall to the double doors with 'Art Therapy' painted above them. The doors flew open and slammed closed behind her. "Joker!"

The Joker froze, hand in mid-air because he was in the process of painting the walls with murals of smiley faces, 'HA HA's, 'Batman Must Die!', and other little scribbles. The other patients in the room looked up from their canvases. Ivy, Crane, Caleb, Jervis, Chelsea, Harvey, Katherine, and Katlyn were among them.

Slowly, the Joker turned to face the owner of the voice that had called him so angrily. A grin appeared when he realized who it was. "Amberrrr! Baaabe," he said smoothly as she marched her way over to him. "It's so good to see you," he greeted.

Amber pointed at him sternly. "Don't start! Why did you say those things to Nigma?"

The Joker cocked his head to the side. "Which things would that be?"

"The ones about him never getting any girls."

The Joker took a moment to think. His face suddenly lit up. "Ah! That one! What about it?"

"You knew what it would do!"

"I did?"

"How could you be so insensitive?"

The Joker giggled, arms extending out to his sides. "Have – ha hee ha ha – have you met me?"

"How would you like it if someone found out about an insecurity of yours and used it against you whenever they wanted?"

"Well," the Joker said in a business-like tone, arms dropping so that he could clasp his hands together. "First of all, I have no insecurities, cause I'm awesome like that." Amber rolled her eyes. "Second, for the sake of your argument, if that were to happen, I'd kill 'em." He opened his hands and shrugged. "Simple as that." He turned to continue working on his masterpiece. "Now, if you'll excuse me – oh!" He spun back around, snapping his fingers as something occurred to him. "I gotta ask. Just how delicate are those heartstrings of yours, babe, cause I got some stories I could tell you if it means you'll hold my hand and come to my defence like ya did for dear Eddie-kins." He clicked his teeth while giving her a wink and turned to the wall again. He failed to see the burning glare on Amber's face.

A bucket of green paint sat on a stool within hands reach. She looked at the back of the Joker's head seemed to study his hair. "You know Joker, your hair is starting to lose its greenish tint," she said.

He whirled around, hand reaching to touch the top of his head. "Really?" he asked.

"Yeah; let me help ya touch it up."

The next thing he knew, globs of wet green paint covered his head as Amber shoved the bucket onto his head. It hid his face from the bridge of his nose and up. Smiled with self-satisfaction, Amber shifted her weight onto one leg and placed a hand on her hip as paint oozed down the Joker's face, uniform, and the floor. The whole class 'ooohed' at once.

The Joker slowly reached up and lifted the bucket high enough that it no longer hid his eyes. A smile crept onto his face the longer he held Amber's stare. "Oh, I am sooo turned on right now," he said devilishly.

"Whoa! TMI," Katherine shouted.

"My ears," Katlyn screeched.

Amber, not getting the reaction she'd from the Joker, let out a frustrated yell, turned on her heel, and stomped away from the Joker.

"See ya later, baaabe," he called out in a sing-song tone.

Katherine shook her head. "You really think you're a lady's man, don't you?" she asked.

"Of course, I do; it says so in my song."

"Your song?"

"Yeah, 'The Joker' by Steve Miller Band. It clearly says, 'Some call me the gangster of love'."

"They must have been referring to another Joker, 'cause obviously –,"

"Hey," the Joker snapped.

Katherine shrugged and went on with her painting. "I'm just saying, you're no Casanova."

The Joker frowned and took a step towards her, but his foot slipped on the slippery paint covering the tiled floor, causing him to fall on his back. The bucket once again fell over his eyes. The patients erupted into laughter as he propped himself up with one elbow and slightly lifted the bucket to glare at them, prompting their immediate silence. The ruckus brought the art instructor, Gatsby, hurrying from the supply room, fearing the worst. When his eyes landed on the Joker, he huffed and folded his arms over his chest. "Mr. Joker; clean up this mess you made," he ordered.

The Joker's eyebrows shot up. "You think I would put a paint bucket on my head?"

"Yes; yes, I do."

"Look, Gassy –,"

"Gatsby!"

"Whatever. Look, I may be crazy, but honestly! Why would I put a paint bucket on my head?"

"I expect this mess to be cleaned up now."

The Joker carefully stood to his feet, paint still dripping from the bucket adorning his head. "I didn't do this!" His gaze fell upon Ivy. "Ivy! Ivy will tell you what happened! Tell 'im, Ivy."

The art instructor turned his eyes on Ivy and waited. Ivy put her paintbrush down and calmly met his stare. "It was the strangest thing; one second he's painting the walls, then next he starts talking to himself and puts a bucket over his head."

Gatsby turned to look at the Joker and found that the clown's right eye was twitching. The Joker pointed at Ivy. "Traitor," he hissed, "whatever happened to villains sticking with villains, huh?"

"I believe I'm what you call a villainess, and in case it escaped your attention; I don't like you!" Ivy resumed her painting while Katherine and Katlyn tried to smother their giggles. Chelsea glared at them, but it only increased their mirth.

The Joker heard them and fixed his glare on the two girls. "Hey; Squirt! Munchkin! Shut it," he demanded.

Katherine only laughed louder and fell off her stool. "I'm sorry; I can't take you seriously with that bucket on your head, dude," she wheezed between laughs.

The Joker looked at Gatsby to see he too was holding back a chuckle. "Your time will come," he whispered forebodingly. He spun around and headed for the bathroom to clean himself up.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! You cannot leave this room without an escort," Gatsby burst.

The Joker pointed to the dripping paint on his head. "Do you reeeally want to tell me what I can and cannot do right now?"

Gatsby took one look at the expression on the Joker's face and seemed to shrink. "No," he squeaked.

"That's what I thought." The Joker walked out of the room and the sounds of guards' voices shouting could be heard.

"It's the Joker!"

"He's escaping!"

"Get a tazor on him, now!"

"What? No! I'm not escaping!"

"Lower your weapon, now!"

"It's a paint bucket! What am I gonna do with a paint bucket?"

"I said put the weapon down!"

"Paint bucket! GAH!"

The slight crackling of electricity was heard and the sound of a body collapsing followed. Gatsby sighed. Now that he was gone, maybe things would be a little more peaceful.

"Hey, Caleb," Katherine called cheerfully. "Look what I painted!" She turned her canvas around to show Caleb. Bats were painted all over its surface.

"BATS," Caleb screeched.

Gatsby groaned. "Never a dull moment in Arkham Asylum. Never ever ever."

The Joker was barely conscious as the guards dragged him down the hall to his cell. His shoes made the occasional squeak as they scrapped against the floor. He was able to make out that they had just passed Nurse Amber and she paused in whatever she was doing to stare at hm in confusion. He gave her what he thought was a seductive grin but n his present state he looked drunk. "Hey; how you doin'?" he slurred.

Amber shook her head and walked away. The Joker craned his neck around to look up at the guards. "I think ya might have tazered me a little too much, eh?" he snickered. They ignored him the entire walk to his cell and threw him inside. He spent a few minutes giggling to himself before finally collapsing onto his bed.

"Just go loo-oo-ny, like an acid causality, or a moo-oo-nie-!"

"Oh my freakin' gosh! Stop it!"

The Joker lifted his head and looked at his right wall. "Is that you, Eddie?' he asked.

"…Are you drunk?"

Apparently, he still sounded strange. "Yeah, sure; I'm running a freakin' speak easy under my bed. We have parties every night at ten. Feel free to drop in."

"…You must have been tazered."

"Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!"

"I guess I won't be getting my nap any time soon," Nigma sighed mournfully.

The Joker grunted as he shifted onto his side. "Oh, don't be a baby. I'm getting a nap too. Just as soon as I change into my more comfortable socks." He extended his arm out to reach under the cot when the Riddler said, "That is, if they're still there." The arm froze. "What?" the Joker asked.

"Nurse Amber was here earlier doing the rooms check. She's a very thorough searcher that one. I watched her go through a cell and she's not a half-doer like the others."

The Joker rolled off his bed and stuck most of his upper body underneath it, searching for his precious socks. They were where he left them, but obviously had been moved. He grabbed them and crawled out from under the bed. The Joker sat on his mattress and stared at the socks. She let him keep the socks. He had lost many a pair of colorful socks to Arkham's staff. So why did she let him keep them?

"Joker?"

His ears perked up at the sound of Nigma's voice. He was curious as to why the Joker hadn't said a word yet. "She didn't take them," the Joker said.

The Riddler was quiet for a moment. "Hm…odd," he commented.

"What? The socks?"

"No, I mean, she's odd."

"How so?"

"She didn't call the guards when she found me in here and learned I didn't have an escort with me. She even…she even entered my cell and sat next to me to talk."

"…Really?"

Edward looked in the direction the Joker's voice was being heard. He recognized that hint in his tone. The Joker had an idea. He moved to his glass wall and looked at Crane's mirror into the Joker's cell. The Joker had moved to lean against his glass wall, his body turned to Nigma's cell.

"Nigma…how would you like to have thing a little…easier around here?"

Edward quirked an eyebrow. "How?" he asked slowly with suspicion.

"We have to write those letters to Arkham tonight, right?"

"Yes, and?"

"I'll tell everyone my idea then," he added with a mischievous grin. Edward watched as he went back to bed, grinning like a fool.