Chapter three: The evil inside

Elle shut the door behind her; a small bang echoed through the corridors of the depressing mental hospital. A couple of people stared at her as she got out but all she could feel was emptiness and embarrassment; she knew that he was more aware of things then her, even though it was her job, but somehow he knew things that she would never think of, even if she got paid for sighed and then continued down the hall; a small lamp flickered as she approached it, she gazed up and noticed a huge number of dead flies inside of the white bowl, but also a couple of them wanting to get in. Wonder why they do that? Can't they see that their friends have died trying to get to the light? She shook her head and continued into a small room to the left and closed the door after her. To her surprise there were three men inside of it; one old man, leaning against the metal sink, one man sat on a chair in the corner of the room and one of the men was Bruce Wayne.

"Hey"

Bruce nodded in greeting and smiled. What is he doing here? This is Arkham not one of Bruce's co-op companies. She placed herself beside of the leaning man and reached after the small coffeemaker in the corner; she took a cup from the cabinet above and filled it with the steaming black liquid. The men eyed her; her white pantsuit reflected in their eyes and she knew that she was one of the only females allowed into Arkham, except the inmates off course. She stepped out of the room again and noticed that some of the Arkham staff was picking up the Joker. The large men held him in a leash, which was attached to his cuffs. When they passed the Joker smiled and mouthed "Tomorrow". She nodded, for what reason she didn't know, but it seemed as the right thing to do at the moment. She followed them with her gaze, and at the end of the corridor the man broke out laughing, a rather high pitched, sinister laugh that echoed through the hallway. I must find Dr. Greenway.

"The doctor will be with you in a sec"

She nodded to the old lady and sat down in one of the green chairs that had been placed towards the left wall in the small waiting room. A large man sat across from her, the huge amount of muscles on his arms nearly scared her, and to make it even worse he was wearing an orange inmate suit. He kept his gaze at his hands, which he rubbed once every 10th second. She moved her gaze to the doctor's door and hoped that he would be out soon. She had never worked at a mental institution before and because of that she was afraid of what these people were capable of doing. Earlier, she had promised herself that she would be strong and not scared, but she was still not used to the idea of meeting psycho criminals in the hallways. After a while the small white door leading into the doctor swung open and the slender man stepped out, his eyes glared empty into the air, as he had been brainwashed.

"Elle"

He turned around and she rushed up out of her chair and followed him into the room. She eyed backwards and noticed that the large man was staring at her, his green eyes meeting hers. She shrugged and then closed the door behind her. The large room was colored in a dark shade of grey, giving it a feeling of sorrow and sadness; she found it odd, why would you want your patients to feel sad?

"So Elle, how has it been?"

The doctor sat down behind a huge desk and then leaned over it. Elle slipped down in one of the black sofas that had been turned against the desk.

"Very good doctor"

He smiled and she met his gaze; he had light blue eyes and a crazy stare, nearly like he was a patient himself.

"So what do you think of our special guest? This Joker guy?"

"He's quite… extraordinary"

The man nodded.

"Yes, not entirely like other criminal"

She shook her head.

"No, not at all"

He smiled.

"That's what makes him interesting! God I wish that I could be his shrink!"

His eyes slid towards the ceiling and Elle followed them.

"To take part of his mind, of his darkest secrets"

The words surprised her.

"I haven't gotten that far into his mind, and I don't think i'll ever be"

He returned his gaze with a chocked expression.

"Oh really? Is it to hard for you peanut?"

This angered her, was everybody doubting her? Was she really that bad?

"Let me just stop you there mister! You do not want to go that deep, from what I have heard he has driven men insane!"

She sank into the sofa.

"Isn't that a sign doctor?"

He sighed.

"That might be, I'm sorry, I didn't think about that"

He leaned to his left and opened a drawer; with a small bang a folder landed on the area before her.

"In this file you will find everything we already know about him, all the things he has told the earlier shrinks"

She took the file and opened it; circa five pages had some kind of writing and the rest of it was blank.

"Yeah, he hasn't told us much"

She nodded.

"Have you been able to confirm anything?"

He met her gaze.

"No, that is the thing that bugs me, how can he been living a whole life invisible?"

She continued to read, one page had the title "Jack Napier"

"What's this?"

He inspected the page.

"Is this his real name?"

He shook his head and looked up at her.

"We don't know"

After that she had left his office she decided to end her day and go home; all of this was just a little bit too much, especially for a first day. She walked over the parking lot and noticed that her car wasn't where she had left it; a low growl rumbled in her throat as she turned around and entered the asylum once more. When she was in she hurried to the information desk and growled; a couple of people watched her, but she was too tired to actually care what they thought about her.

"Where is my car?"

The man behind the desk smiled at her and the pointed at the elevator.

"Go down to the underground parking lot and give this to the guard"

He handed her a small tag with the number 35 on it. She nodded and then walked towards the elevator, too tired to actually ask questions. She stepped into the elevator and then pushed the "down" button; suddenly a man rushed in and placed himself beside her; his black hair flowed as he passed her and she could smell the vague scent of musk oozing from the man. He nodded to her and then pushed the close button. The doors closed and the elevator started moving; she looked at him carefully and noticed that he seemed nervous. When the elevator reached the ground level he pushed his way out, even though they were alone.

"Excuse me ma'am"

His fast movement left a scent of musk lingering in the air, filling her nostrils and leading after her as she stepped out. The concrete walls in this section were filled with different signs leading to different areas in the huge complex; at one of the top signs the text said "Guard" and she followed that direction. She started to walk and listened as her footsteps echoed, giving her the sensation that she was going to be put down. How depressing. Suddenly another pair of footsteps started to echo; the other footsteps accelerated and soon it was like someone was running in the distance. She stopped and listened; heavy boots, not like the one people usually used around here. She listened as the footsteps slowly changed pace, from fast to slow, from slow to normal and then back around. She gazed at the corner before her and realized that she would meet the owner of the heavy boots behind it. When she turned around the corner a heavy blow hit her cheek; what the hell? She tumbled backwards and tried to focus on the person who hit her but the blow had affected her ability to see straight so the only thing she could see was the large structure of a man. He struck her again and this time she fell down to her knees, she tried to launch back, but he caught her hands and wrapped a rope around them.

"Be quiet"

She prepared herself to scream but the sound was muffled by something fuzzy and she could feel another blow hit her in the stomach.

"I said be quiet"

She could feel him picking her up and then everything went black. The last thing she remembered was the vague scent of musk.