Chapter Eleven- Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum

"You got it?" I asked immediately sitting in my usual position, opposite of him. Turned out that Boles hadn't crept into my cell in the middle of the night to end my life, like I had thought the bastard would do, and frankly that was a miracle.

"I've got it." His put a clenched fist on the table, hiding the paperclip within it. "Remember-"

"Seriously, do we have to this again?" I sighed, "I get it. I won't double cross you, save your breath."

Crane glared at me from under his thick glasses, and dropped the paperclip onto my side of the table. I swiped it up in one easy motion, hiding it my own fist under the table. Carefully looking around to make sure that no Guards witnessed anything. As usual, they were clueless.

"Ten minutes. Outside Maximum Security. If you aren't there, the plan goes on without you."

"I'll be there." I promised.

Crane smirked, "That's what you think. You haven't ever met Killer Croc yet, you don't know what he's capable of."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I said, rolling my eyes. Then immediately wondering an important detail of the plan, "How will you know when the ten minutes are up?"

I had suddenly noticed that he wasn't wearing any watch, and I hadn't seen a clock decorated on any of the corridors in this place.

"I will leave when I get tired of waiting." He told me truthfully.

I grimaced. My ten minutes to get in and out of the lower levels had drastically shortened in length.

"You better be counting the seconds in your head." I told him, not trusting him to wait for me at all.

Crane just stared expressionlessly at me, not helping to restore any level of faith I had for him in me. It was clear to me that it wasn't him who had to worry about me double-crossing him, it was me that should be concerned. I was starting to doubt that he was going to wait even a minute for my arrival. He seemed sure that the Croc was going to murder me on site, so therefore to his mind, waiting would only be a waste of time.

"You better wait." I demanded of him, my voice low and tense.

"I'll wait." He tried to give me a reassuring smile that ended up looking more like a sneer, which succeeded in only making me grow more alarmed. I prayed for a second miracle. "Do you remember the way?"

"Backdoors, turn right, down two flights, along a corridor and turn right. I've got this so long as you have the distraction."

Crane tilted his head down and stayed silent, staring at the table.

I frowned at his peculiar behaviour, and tried to snap him out of it, "Eh, Crane-"

"Wrong." He snapped up, staring at me with wide and alert eyes. "It's Scarecrow."

Well that was a sure as hell way to give a person a heart attack.

Before I could even think he was going to try and attack me again, Scarecrow was gone. He sprung up from our table, leaving it, taking his tray with him, and walked straight over to the monster posse. Scarecrow ignored the threats of the Guards, who tried to quickly get him back into his seat before an incident would occur. But all of them were far to far away to stop or prevent anything from happening.

I watched the scene play out before me with avid anticipation.

Scarecrow dumped the remaining contents of his tray over one of the gang members. They stood up in surprise at all the food that had been thrown over them. As the jumped out of their seat, Scarecrow violently smashed the tray down on their head, knocking them straight out. The thump of their head falling to the table echoing through the hall causing everyone to stop eating.

The rest of the posse looked up to him in amazement, thinking that they had found their new leader. Their weak minds forcing them to follow the strongest person in proximity, giving them an unstable form of protection.

But there hope for an new dictator was short lived when Scarecrow smashed his tray into another posse member's face, breaking their nose.

"Hey!" shouted the nearest Guard, who weaved in between the tables to get close enough to break up the fight. "Quit it, there!"

The rest of the posse jumped up from their seats in an effort to try and defend themselves, both from Scarecrow's attacks and the Guard rushing over, who clutched onto his baton threatening to use it.

Scarecrow sensing the nearby Guard, threw his tray like a Frisbee in his direction.

It was spot on target.

The tray hit the Guard smack in the middle of the face, causing him to fall to immediately to the floor. The impact having thrown him off balance.

Some of the more coherent inmates, sensing an opportunity for revenge for all the wrongs enacted on them by the Guards, pounced from their seats and pounded over to the weak and vulnerable Guard who was recovering from the shock on the floor. The mob that swarmed around him wanted blood. And it wasn't too long until you could taste the copper in the air. I was tempted to join into the chaos myself, but managed to withhold, still surveying the situation.

The other surrounding Guards scrambled towards the horde to maintain order and save their colleague. The only thing they succeeded in doing was getting dragged into the growing mass. That's when the other Guards made the decision to whip out the Tasers and teargas. And that's when I made the decision to get out of there.

I sprinted over towards the backdoor which was now unguarded, climbing over tables and inmates, stomping somebody in the face who had grabbed onto my ankle. But despite the chaos, I managed to make it out the doors in one piece. It didn't mean that I didn't require a break, however. I bent down clutching onto my knees for support, as I tried to regain my breath. It looked like somebody was needing to work on their cardio fitness more regularly.

Fitting off the feeling of heavy lungs, I ran down the two flights of stairs, jumping the last four steps to cut my time. And raced towards his enclosure, well aware that the security cameras were turning, watching me sprint past, probably already informing security of the unknown presence in the hallway.

Two minutes, Crane had said. I had this easily, I hoped.

I got to what I assumed to be his cell. I say 'assumed' because it wasn't like any of the other cells in the Asylum. Firstly, the door was a staggering nine feet high, and without a barred window which let the inmate see out into the corridor. Instead, the door had a tiny latch at the bottom with a padlock, which is what the Guard's must have used to give the inmate his meals. Another difference was it was made of pure steel, and looked pretty thick too. The Asylum spared no expenses in keeping this creature locked away. Although, judging from what Crane had told me the other day, they hadn't exactly been the most successful.

I knocked politely on the door, "Anybody home?"

Whilst I leaned my ear against it, to listen in for a reply. A huge thump riveted through the door, sending me jumping backwards into the corridor with an earache. The steel door vibrated against its frame, despite its denseness. And suddenly, I had second doubts about my plan. Crane had a right to believe that I wouldn't be making it back to the meeting place.

I cursed at myself for not agreeing to go with Crane's original idea, but still started to work at the lock which held the dead bolt securely in place. It wasn't as if I had another option now. Listening with my other ear, which hadn't been assaulted, for the faint clicks that told me I was on the right tracks. If there was anything I understood completely in the whole World, it was how to pick a lock. It was an art form.

Under my breath, I faintly counted seconds, trying to work out how much time I had remaining.

Thirty two seconds. That was all it had taken to pick it. Still, I was disappointed. My lock picking skills had gotten rusty over the years. I'd need to get the knack of it again once I was freed, before I could get back into the burglary business like I had done as a teenager before the Morrisons' had found my secret stash of cash, and grounded me indefinitely- a punishment that only lasted two weeks.

They had been too soft, too caring. It was unbelievable how they had managed to survive living so purely in The Narrows, a place which saw some of Gotham's newest citizens stroll into by accident and tainted them forever. In a way, I was pleased that they had died from a car malfunction, and it hadn't been killed from any of the twisted hate acts that The Narrows were notorious for, acts that polluted the papers on a daily basis. It didn't mean that it wasn't any less painful for my heart, now that they were gone.

I undid the latch, and turned the heavy lever handle lock which the door had as another safety precaution.

I took a step back, ready to take off in a moment's notice. The flickering lights adding even more tension to my already jittery mind. I tried to believe that my heavy breathes were from the running, but my mind knew better. I was scared shitless.

The inmate behind the door opened the door slowly, the steel screeching as it scrapped against the floor. But when the door was fully open, all I saw was darkness. Killer Croc was hiding away inside his cell, refusing to step into the light.

I held my breath.

Then ever so slowly, he thumped towards the doorway. His heavy footsteps vibrating along the floor like an earthquake. First I witnessed a pair of webbed taloned feet, and then I looked up to see the most frightening site of my life.

The beast lived up to its name. The monster standing as tall as the doorway, with green scales instead of skin and hair, and muscle's wrestlers would have killed for. His teeth, which were like razors, prodded out from his mouth, bits off meat from previous meals stuck between them. Not even his own mother could have loved his face. He was the most fuck-ugly thing I had ever seen and ever would see. He was also the most terrifying.

"Who arrrreee yooouuu?" he hissed out, sending my nerves ablaze with fear. But he hadn't spoken specifically in my direction, his head moved around trying to sense where I was.

That's when I noticed it, his scar.

I had thought maybe his eyes were supposed to be red. It made sense. After all, nobody's skin is supposed to be green. But it wasn't that. His eyes were red from being bloodshot, and they were bloodshot because of the thick wound that cut through them horizontally. Somebody seemed to have come at him with a knife. It meant he couldn't see properly.

"Who did that to you?" I asked suddenly feeling guilty for judging him so badly to begin with, nobody would ask to look like that. I had momentarily forgotten that he did eat people for fun.

His head snapped towards me, locating me the second I opened my mouth.

"Ennnemmy." Was his one worded reply.

"Batman?"

He seemed to be more hated than the cops with Gotham's criminal underworld. But not with Killer Croc.

"Caaasssshhhh."

I swallowed a lump in my throat, the mystery of Cash's missing hand had been solved.

Killer Croc sniffed the air, and took a step forward out of his cell, causing me to take a step backwards and trap my back against the way.

"Tell me, strrrraaangerrr. Why shhhhooouldn't I killll yoouu?"

I frowned, confused. I had figured that saving him from his small cage would have been enough to get into anybody's good books.

"Other than the fact I just freed you?"

"I'm starrrvinggg."

Clearly not with him.

I stumbled, "Honestly, I don't have any meat on my bones. I'd taste awful! Why bother with a measly appetiser when you can go straight for mains?"

He launched forward making me scream, grabbing my arm with his clawed hands to hold me in place, and check I wasn't lying.

"Sooo muchhh bone, I won't eeeattt yoou." He confirmed, making me breathe out a deep sigh of relief. "But why shhoouldn't I killlll youuu?"

We were back at that again. My mind whirled at a hundred miles an hour, trying to think of valid reasons that an animal like him would accept.

"Because," I trailed off, still thinking. "I might be the only person in the World who gets you!"

"Whattt?" he turned his head to the side, utterly confused at my statement.

I started speaking, saying the first things that came into my head, hoping he wouldn't notice I was making this all up on the spot, "Me and you, we're the same. Society judges us both, but you know what? Fuck them! Is it my fault that I grew up in The Narrows? Of course not! How about morphine? I can't help but like it, it that so wrong of me? Hell no. And you! You like eating human flesh, what's so bad about that?"

I paused for a second, realising what I had just said, and scratching my neck with my free hand awkwardly. "Well, a lot of things actually. But it's not your fault you look like that. They laughed at you, treated you as an outsider, as a monster. So it's no wonder you act the way you do. You want revenge. I get that. So do I. So you see, you can't kill me because I want exactly the same thing as you. Payback. And we'll get it, we'll both get it."

Killer Croc thought before speaking, having to think of to words he was going to say. His sharp teeth meant talking was a pain for him, literally. Some blood dripped down from his chin where his teeth had scraped against his scales. And I thought I had had it bad in life.

"Yoouu know whattt ittt'sss like to beeee laughed at?" he asked, showing a new side of him. Hidden under his thick scales, he was secretly human too. Weirdly enough, it reminded me off the film Shrek. I guess that that meant I was Donkey.

"The man I want to kill has made a running joke of my whole life." I truthfully admitted. "But to do that, you've got to keep me alive. Think you can do that this one time, huh Waylon?"

Using his real name, nice touch, I complimented myself internally. Waiting patiently for his answer, with my eyebrow raised hopefully.

He let go of my arm, and I thanked my lucky stars.

"Gooood luckkkkk."

"Back at ya!" I grinned widely, always knowing that one day my big mouth would finally become responsible for talking me out of trouble.

Then I ran out of there, like a bat out of Hell. Not allowing him one second to change his mind.

I charged up the stairs, taking two at a time, determined to get away from the monster as quickly as possible, and towards another one. But froze in panic when I heard a large number of footsteps pounding down the stairs. The Guards all halted when they met me. That had taken them way more than two minutes to get down.

"He's escaped." I told them, breaking the unbearably tense silence, trying not to smirk as my words were met by a wave of curses.

They all pushed past me, running down to meet their doom. All but one.

Frank Boles.

Of course it had to be him.

He sneered at me. Threatening me with his Taser to follow him and to not try any funny business. Left with no choice, I did so, knowing that whatever was going to happen to me from here on out, it wouldn't be good. Trust Boles to see to that.

My thoughts were confirmed as we entered into an empty electrotherapy room, and straight away he backhanded me across the face. This wouldn't be good at all.

"Lucky me. Old Boles will get to kill you himself." He sneered, before hitting me across the face again.

"Screw you!" I spat, my cheek burning from the sting of the slap. "I did not just successfully talk myself out of being murdered by a huge green creature, to die straight afterwards by you."

"Get on the chair." He pointed to the old faded psychiatric leather chair that sat in the middle of the room.

I refused, knowing what he was planning.

"What? You got a fetish for electricity or something?" I threw him a verbal jab, not confident enough to go for a physical one whilst the Taser was still in his hand. "First the Taser, then this."

"Sit in it." He demanded.

I stood my ground defiantly, "So you can torture and then kill me? Now, why would anybody sane do that?"

"You're far from sane. Sit in the chair before I beat you into a pulp and haul you into it myself," He snickered. "Coming to think of it, that option doesn't seem half bad."

I immediately jumped onto the seat.

Boles bound my limbs tightly to the chair with the scratchy leather straps. But an itch was the furthest thing in my mind when Boles took two electrodes and placed them on opposite sides of my temples, pressing down hard on my scalp in order to make them stick.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" I asked snarky, watching his brain churn to work out whether he was doing it correctly or not.

"I can always attach them to your eyeballs, if that's what you want." He snapped.

It shut me up, my mind filling with horrible images of what it would feel like to have your eyes explode inside of the sockets, it wasn't pretty.

But of course, my silence didn't last long. Especially when I noticed Boles struggling with the technological equipment.

"Have you tried switching it off and on again?" I queried, using my professional customer support member voice. It seemed that I really didn't know when to keep a lid on it.

Boles glared up at me, "Did you forget what I just said?"

"Just trying to help." I smiled innocently, moving my shoulders up. Focusing the rest of my energy on trying to keep my jittering left foot still. I didn't want Boles to see that I was piss scared.

He stared at the control panel for a few more moments, before turning a knob and flicking over a switch. A low droning sound filled the room. I cursed out silently, the stars had already abandoned me.

Boles leaned over the chair, hovering above my face, forcing me to breathe in his own vile air.

"We'll start of easy. And then we can work our way up." He told me. "The only way you're leaving this room is if you are dead, or a vegetable."

"Fuck yo-"

He flipped a switch.

My eyes clenched closed, and I opened my mouth to let out an all mighty scream.

The current that swept through my body, set all my nerves alight, and I felt them fry inside of me, burning to a charcoal crisp. I had thought being Tased had been bad, but compared with this, Tasers were candyfloss and ice cream. Something popped inside of my head, and I was so focused on the echoes of the bang it had created within me that I didn't notice when he had switched the voltage off.

"You enjoy that bitch?"

"Fuck y-"

I screeched again. Louder this time.

Round two was worse, by a tenfold. My muscles contracted in ways I never knew to be possible, fighting against the tight leather straps, cracking open some of my skin. The nerves which I thought had been fried felt like they were being scorched with a red hot poker. Tears fell from my scrunched up eyes, and I couldn't help but let out a sob in the middle of my shriek.

The voltage stopped charging through me, but my body kept twitching and brain hammered violently against my temple.

I opened my mouth to speak.

Boles cut me off, "Careful bitch. My finger might slip again."

"Please." I croaked out, opening my eyes to try beg the sadistic fucker.

"Sorry, bitch. What was that? You'll have to speak up." He mocked, leaning over my face with his ear to try hear me properly, making me feel pathetic.

Even with my frazzled brain, I saw an opportunity and took it.

I snap my head up, biting onto his ear with my teeth.

It was Boles turn to yell, punching me in the stomach with fist in an attempt to make me let go. It only made me bite down harder. His blood began to fill me mouth, and I tried desperately not to choke on it so I wouldn't lose my hold. Boles tried wrestling out of my iron grip and gave an almighty tug away from me.

A ripping sound filled the room, as well as a yelp.

I spat the torn off ear to him, grinning triumphantly, feeling his blood drool down from my mouth. If I was going to die, at least he would be forced to remember me.

"You know what they say," I laughed, blood flowing down off my chin and tears coming out from my eyes. "Payback's a bitch!"

Boles clutched to the bloody side of his head in panic, not believing what had happened to him. His eyes briefly welling up. I think I may have broken him.

"That's it, bitch." He spluttered out, trying hard to sound tough but failing miserably. "Now you're going to get it."

I watched him turn the knob onto full power, and braced myself for impact.

But the shock never came.

What came next was Boles screaming again.

My head turned immediately to see what was happening. A small man, no bigger than five foot with flaming orange hair that matched his jumpsuit, had jumped onto Boles' back and was working hard to rip out Frank's other ear with his own teeth. The stranger had his short arms wrapped securely around Boles' throat trying to suffocate him, an attempt which was indeed working, as Boles' gasped for air to fill his lungs, trying to scratch the man's arms to force him to let go.

My first thought was that the shocks had messed with my brain, and this was all an illusion.

Thankfully this thought was proven to be incorrect.

Boles slumped to the floor unconscious, and my fellow inmate undid my leather straps after giving up on tearing Boles' other ear off. Saying to himself 'it's harder than it looks.'

I sat up slowly, my mind spinning. The room seemed ten times brighter and also looked to be on an axis, every minuet noise was louder, and there was a drumming in my ears that wouldn't quit. I hoped that these side effects would only be temporary.

The stranger winded me, running up and enclosing me in a tight hug. Despite his size, he was strong.

"Alice!" he shouted in glee.

I choked in response, not sure if he was trying to suffocate me like he had done with Boles.

"Alice!" He shouted again, releasing me from his grip and looking at me with enthused eyes. "Did you enjoy my cake, Alice? I stole it especially for you!"

Yet another mystery solved. I was proving out to be quite the detective today.

I stared at him cluelessly, wondering how he knew me and why he saved me. I had never seen him before in my life. I didn't even know his name.

"Of course," he slapped his face stupidily with realisation. "You don't know, Alice! I work for Black Mask, he asked me to look out for you. It's a good thing I got here when I did, otherwise we'd both be in trouble!"

I shuddered, not wanting to think about what that last shock would have done to my brain.

"Black Mask?" I questioned, not knowing who he was either. "Is he here too?"

"Of course not!" he laughed jovially, clutching onto his stomach as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. "He was going to break you out soon, looks like you got a head start on him. I'll take you to him when we are on the outside."

Despite this Black Mask saving my life and all, I didn't feel overly keen on meeting him. I made a secret decision to lose Crane, the Joker, and now this stranger, as soon as we were all free again. If he had a hold over Sharp, it meant he was trouble. And I was determine to lay low, until I could think of the perfect way to kill Sionis. I had a few ideas, but there is always room for improvement.

"I can't tell you how pleased I am to finally meet you, Alice!" he gushed, as if I were famous. "I've been searching for years! Imagine my surprise when Black Mask ordered me to watch over you in here. Why, it must've been fate!"

"Yeah, completely." I agreed half-heartedly, having no idea what he was on about but thought better than to offend him having just witness what had happened to Boles. "Sorry, and you are?"

"Don't you recognise me?" his smile broke in half, a crazed bewildered look coming into his eyes. "I'm the Mad Hatter."

Oh shit. I drew the connections. The loon thought I was Alice, the real Alice. The Alice from the books.

"Haha. I was just messing with you." I lied, figuring that so long as he thought I was really her I was safe. I didn't want to know what he would do if he thought I was an impostor.

He smiled widely back at me, "That's my Alice, all ways so playful. We've got to get the gang together again for a Tea Party! Now, I met the White Rabbit, just the other day. But I can't tell you how rude he was! He bit my finger, so I stomped on his head! Really, now, what a way to treat an old friend!"

I smiled grimly, clearly I had made the right decision to play along with his delusion. But I panicked when I saw Boles stir his legs on the floor, quickly gaining consciousness again.

"Mad Hatter, don't you think we should maybe escape first?" I asked tactfully, not straying my eyes away from Frank.

"Marvellous idea!" he clapped his hands together excitedly, and then gave me one to help me off my seat.

I took it gratefully, but stumbled back down as the world span around me. I felt bile rise up in my mouth, and I was forced to swallow it. So much for escaping. I could hardly even move!

"Well, this won't do." He said to himself, before spotting something in the corner of the room and running over to it. It was a wheelchair, I tilted my head back in relief, feeling almost blessed. And then, launched myself into it.

"We've got to head to Maximum Security." I informed him not bothering to explain any further, as he wheeled me to the door. Mad Hatter didn't seem to be one who cared for details, if he had created his personality on the book's, which I'm guessing he had. He seemed over the moon to finally be with 'Alice', and that was more than enough for him.

"You bitch!" I heard Frank Boles mutter as he gained consciousness. That was when I had a brain wave.

"Wait!" I called out. "Grab Boles' keys."

The Mad Hatter congratulated me for having such a fast-thinking mind, then skipped over to Frank stealing his ring of keys, and punched him square in the face, sending Boles flying straight back to the land of Nod.

We were then well on our way to the rendezvous, already late.

"You waited, you actually waited!" I shouted in amazement, whilst the Mad Hatter wheeled me toward him, running. I could hear how out of breath he was from the sprint, but he hadn't once complained aloud. Despite doubting how harmless he was, he was really growing on me. He did have his uses. He was a servant and body guard all rolled into one, and frankly I could do with both.

Crane stood leaning against the door of the corridor, cleaning a dried blood stain off his glasses with a handkerchief. It had been well over ten minutes, but yet he still stayed. I wasn't sure whether to be thankful or suspicious. So I was a bit of both.

His orange jumpsuit was covered with dark splodges of red blood, none of which was his own. Crane's neatly slicked hair had also become ruffled up in the riot, causing it to stick up in random areas. I found it hard not to grin at his dishevelled appearance when he had always succeeded in looking so immaculate, it was refreshing to not be the only scruffy one in the squad.

Squad? I scoffed. What was happening to me? Maybe we'd all start making matching friendship bracelets, and have slumber parties with a set bed time. I couldn't imagine anything more horrific. I was a lone wolf. I didn't need any of them. Well maybe a little at the moment. But that wasn't the point. I didn't need friends. Not now, not ever. Especially not friends who were more than willing to murder you, or double-cross you like the Joker had. I think I'd manage better on my own.

"You're actually alive." He said impressed, before frowning when he noticed I was in a wheelchair.

"Yeah barely." I stated, the obvious but not bothering to elaborate. We didn't have time for small talk, and Crane wouldn't care for what had happened to me in my departure anyways.

"Who's this?" he questioned, putting back on his spectacles.

"He calls himself the Mad Hatter." I answered for him. Crane nodded in acknowledgement, seeming to recognise his alias. He'd probably read and memorised all the case files in Arkham for fun. It beat wallowing in boredom every day.

I held up the keys we collected from Boles' pocket, "We got the Master Key, ready to get him?"

Crane took the keys from my hand as his answer, and unlocked the Wing to enter Maximum Security. He held the door open as the Mad Hatter wheeled me inside. Turns out even sociopaths like Crane had the decency to be chivalrous. Who knew.

"Well, shit." Was the collective response.

The hallway seemed endless. There had to be at least two hundred cells, all tightly compacted together on both sides. There was no way we'd have time to check them all out, hunting for the Joker. It would be the equivalent of trying to find a needle in a stack of needles.

But I had spoken too soon.

Above the sounds of groans and painful yells, one noise rung above it all.

Laughter.

We followed it, rushing to the cell labelled 0801. All of us looking at each other, trying to clarify that we were at the right one. Something which was funny, given the Mad Hatter had no idea what we were doing anyways, but was overjoyed to be involved in the group.

"That you Joker?" I called, leaning forward on my chair listening out for the response.

"Well, it's about time Alice!" was the answer.

"It's him alright." I said to Crane, who immediately went to the lock, swinging the door wide open.

The Joker stood right behind the entrance, as if he had been expecting my arrival for quite some time. He immediately did a double take when he saw the two strangers, Crane and the Mad Hatter, instead of Boles, and me in a wheelchair, still without the strength to walk, and completely covered in cuts, bruises and blood.

He looked at them frowning, and back to me expectantly, demanding an answer.

"Boles' didn't pull through. We had to improvise." I told him wiping some of Frank's dried blood from my chin self consciously having forgotten it was there, before introducing him to the others. "This is Jonathan Crane, you'll probably know him-"

"Scarecrow." He finished, he seemed angry but he hid it with a laugh and a smile. Still, it was difficult to miss the hardness in his eyes.

I frowned, not expecting this. The Joker and Scarecrow were similar as in they both had a craving for violence and destruction, as well as a compulsive obsession with a man who dressed up as a Bat. It would've been a perfect match. They could've started their own fan club.

"And this," I said moving on, ignoring the bad vibes- they weren't my problem. "This, is the Mad Hatter."

The Joker no longer seemed to care who the others were, all of his attention focused on me.

"Why, Alice, are you in a wheelchair?" he asked, ignoring the others presence, having already lost interest, crouching his back to get nearer to me as if he was sharing a huge secret. "You get weak knees, before me. I did take your breath away last time we met."

Quite literally.

"I saved Alice!" the Mad Hatter interrupted, pleased with himself.

The Joker's attention snapped towards him, and he smiled sinisterly taking a step forward trying to intimidate.

"Really now?" he asked, feigning interest, his fingers twitching behind his back, ready for action. "And how-uh may that have happened?"

The Mad Hatter was clueless, and I was secretly concerned for him, but didn't come to the rescue. Every man for himself, and whatnot. It wasn't as if I could've been capable of preventing an attack anyways, I would have just made myself another target.

"They tried to fry her brains-" he begun.

The Joker face flickered with a trace of emotion and he looked down to me, now he was actually genuinely interested. But the story would have to wait, we didn't have the time.

"We should get moving." Crane suggested interrupting the Mad Hatter, but his words weren't a proposal, they were a demand.

We all agreed, and ran towards the exit of the Wing. The Mad Hatter having to work extra hard to keep the both of us up with Crane and the Joker, whose long limbs gave them a natural advantage.

We got there, and exited the double doors, coming to the stairs which led into the Main Hall. The stairs which should've been the route to freedom, becoming our next obstacle.

"Guys, who will we get me down?" I asked, suddenly concerned they'd all leave me for dead.

"We don't" Crane suggested, confirming that I had a right to be worried.

"We've got to help Alice!" the Mad Hatter protested, backing my corner.

Everybody turned to the Joker, apparently our group was part democracy. The only person's whose vote didn't count, being mine. Backwards fucks.

"It's simple. All we have to do is," he grinned coming round to the back of the wheelchair. "Give her a little—Push!"

And with that word, I was sent flying out my chair, tumbling down two full flights of stairs. My already bruised body becoming even more battered and blue. I collided with the floor painfully, it knocking the wind out of me. The wheelchair lay a few metres from my head, one of the wheels bent at an angle.

The Mad Hatter came running down after me, screeching as if he had been the one who got thrown, and the Joker came running down with him eager to see how much damage he had inflicted.

"I think my arm's broken." I complained, unable to move it from under me.

The Joker bent down a grabbed it, picking me up off my feet by it and making me stand up straight, oblivious to my screams of withering agony. Coloured dots entered my vision, and I had to fight to stay conscious.

He dropped it and smiled even wider, "Looks like you can stand after all."

I glared at him, "Would've saved me a lot of pain if you tested that theory before throwing me down the stairs."

He thought for a second, his eyes looking up to his head before looking down to me again.

"Where's the fun in that?" he whispered hotly into my ear, before laughing crazily.

Crane got to the bottom of the steps, and inspected it from afar.

"Only seems dislocated to me." He stated coolly.

"Gee, thanks for your professional opinion." I snapped at him, angry he was so unfazed about leaving me behind.

I had been right about not wanting to get attached. Currently, I hated them all.

He only shrugged, looking boredly at the Mad Hatter who stood hunched over the wheelchair, trying to re-position the broken wheel. At least one person in the team cared for my well-being. My soft spot growing for the delusional midget.

Then we all heard it. The sounds of shouts and footsteps.

That turned out to be all the motivation I needed to send me running after the others towards the front door, to freedom.

The door opened, and I was blinded with light. My pupils struggled to adjust to the sun's strength, having only been in artificial light for over a week. When they did adjust, I saw that it wasn't even that bright. The sky was cloudy, threatening to open and pour out rain, and Gotham was covered in its usual grey smog, from all the pollution done by its inhabitants. Still, the sight was so beautiful to me that it brought tears to my eyes.

The air may not have been completely fresh due to the smog, but it beat the stale air of Arkham by miles. I let my lungs fills up, savouring the taste, wondering why I had never noticed how clean it felt inside my body before. I was willing to relish in the moment, if the Mad Hatter hadn't reminded me of the escape plan by pushing me forward towards the others.

And we were off again, making our way towards Crane and the Joker who were standing next to one of the Asylum's inmate transporting vans. I witnessed the Joker pull an innocent guard who had been sat in the driver's seat, out of the window, by the scruff of his neck, tossing him onto the ground below.

I speed up, wanting to see what was happening.

"Wanna know how I got these scars?" the Joker asked the Guard, grabbing onto the man's blotted face with his filthy hands, and tilting his own face from side-to-side letting the light show the extent of the scars.

The Guard was too paralysed to move, still trying to comprehend that he had been snuck up on in his lunch break by the Joker who was supposed to be locked up. He clearly hadn't got the memo that there were multiple inmates on the loose.

Crane let Scarecrow out, who watched over the situation in delight, relishing in the man's fear.

"Is now seriously the time?" I said, exhausted from all the running and torture this day had entailed. Breakout films had made it look so easy. "Kill as many people as you want on the outside. We still aren't in the clear yet."

The sounds of Guards shouting from within the Asylum helped prove my point. The Joker still glared at me for interrupting his speech, and Crane glowered wanting to see how terrified the Guard was going to get. He'd already opened up his bowel, urine running down out of his trouser leg.

"You're right." He eventually admitted. "Shove him in the back, he's coming with us."

I rolled my eyes.

"Alice, where are we going?" the Mad Hatter asked me as if I was the one with all the answers.

Crane answered for me, "My place."

Well, this was going to be an eventful day. And it wasn't near finished yet.

Author's Note: Surprise double chapter upload! This is my longest chapter I've ever written by far, nearly twice as long as my usual one! The story's now well over 50,000 words- aiming to have it up to 120,000 by the time it is finished, that's the target at least so finger's crossed I manage. The next one's a quickie, not exactly a chapter but more of a set up. Just because I was originally going to go straight into Part Three, but thought I'd add an extra part to make it flow. I'll say no more! Enjoy!