Chapter 3

"Mr. Kaliban, would you please sit down?" I ask him, making my voice a little louder to match his.

"I will not!" he declares, clenching his bony hand into a fist.

Slowly, I begin to make my way around the table separating us, "Mr. Kaliban, what do you want?"

The lights above begin flickering again, more rapidly this time, and behind me the door rattles violently. Then, the lights begin shattering, I slide under the table and cover my head as the shards crash to the floor. The door finally bursts open and the security guard rushes in,

"Dr. K, are you alright?" he grabs my arm just as the last shards hit the ground.

I'm surprised he already knows me by name, "I'm fine, thank you."

We look around, Mr. Kaliban's vanished.

"Ugh, not again." he pulls out his walky-talky, "We've got an escaped patient in the Penitentiary, Cell Block B."

I walk over to where Mr. Kaliban just was. I lay my hands on his chair. It's warm, so mark one against him being an actual ghost.

I start walking back, when my foot catches onto a very thin string, nearly causing me to trip,

"What?"

I bend down and pick up the string. Upon reaching the floor, I realize that there are several strings lying on the ground, and even some that lead up to the ceiling. These must be what made Mr. Kaliban float in the air. The strings all seem to be pointing to the right, so they must have detached from him when he made a run for it. I follow the string and it leads me to a plain wall on the right side of the room. The door was locked when we were both in the room, and even if he had escaped through there, the security guard outside would have noticed. I start feeling around the wall until I find a slightly loose tile and push on it. The entire wall pushes back and slides away to reveal a dark staircase. I look behind me and see nobody's there. The smart thing would be to go and find a security guard to report this. I look outside and see the security guard is no where to be found. I turn back around into the office, where the staircase still sits, waiting. Would it be appropriate for me to investigate without a security guard present? I roll up one of my sleeves and carefully take my first step down. With no equipment or weapons, there's no way for me to defend myself, but it's not like I'm not already taking a risk by investigating by myself. I'm also trusting there's no traps here, because if Mr. Kaliban escaped down here so quickly and without much noise, there couldn't be any obstacles in his way. I slowly crawl deeper down the corridor, untrusting of every step. I soon begin to see a faint green glow at the end of the staircase, along with a pool of liquid. I get my first whiff of sewer stench, and my stomach and throat curl back in disgust. My foot hits the pool of liquid, soaking my shoe and giving my foot an uncomfortably damp feeling.

I look around, and see that yes, I am in the sewer passageways below the asylum. The small puddle I stepped in models as an example of the entire passageway floor that is either damp or housing puddles of various shapes and sizes. There are eerie green lights hanging from the equally damp stone walls, so at least I can watch my step. I begin walking down the path, keeping an eye out for any sign of Mr. Kaliban. Along the walls are various works of graffiti, similar to the one's found in Gotham City. "HA HA HA" written in messily applied green paint and similarly green and messy question marks are among the few of the illustrations included. Mr. Kaliban certainly isn't the only person who's been using these passageways. These must be how so many Arkham patients slip in and out of the asylum so often. It's really strange that the faculty hasn't discovered this place yet.

There's a turn coming up, and on the wall in the reflection of the green lanterns, I can see a shadow hunched over in the corner. I brace myself against the wall, and peer around the corner to see Mr. Kaliban hunched over a table full of scattered gadgets and mechanisms. This must be where he stashes all of his equipment.

He looks behind his shoulder and I swap back into my hiding space, hoping he didn't see me.

Seeing his shadow played against the wall, he doesn't move from his spot, but grunts and continues looking over his table. I know now's the time to strike.

I leap from behind the corner, and charge towards him, grabbing his neck and slamming it onto the table. There's a *pfffff* noise and the inflatable effigy I thought to be Mr. Kaliban falls to the ground, deflated.

Someone knocks me on the back, knocking me to the ground. A sharp pain sears through my upper back as I realize I've been hit with a wooden board. I turn around to see the real Mr. Kaliban in his Spook costume,

"We can't have you revealing our little secret." he declares, lifting up the board for another swing.

I scramble out of the way just in time as the board comes down and hits the stone floor, splashing spare bits of water everywhere.

I run over behind the table, and notice on it, a wrench lies among the clutter. I grab it, swinging it around once to brandish it. Spook swings with his board sideways, and I duck, as the board collides with the wall. I use this opportunity to attack, knocking him across the chest with the wrench. It sends him flying, hitting the wall and sliding to the ground.

Wrench still in hand, I cautiously approach Mr. Kaliban. I get close enough to him to reach out and remove his hood, revealing the skeletal features of Mr. Kaliban.

Footsteps echo along the sewer corridor, followed by flashlights and yelling. It must be the security guards,

"Dr. K?! Are you here?!" one of them calls out.

I huddle myself into the corner farthest away from Mr. Kaliban, "I'm here!" I call out.

The guards turn the corner, and rush to my aid.

"Oh, thank goodness." I coo, "I thought you were one ofthem."

They spot the wrench in my hand, as well as Mr. Kaliban lying unconscious on the floor. The security guard that'd been watching my interview puts a hand on my shoulder, "What happened?"

I contemplate whether working up a tear or two would be too much as I begin to sell my story, "He came back and kidnapped me, dragged me here. He was gonna kill me, he beat me with that wooden board. I had to defend myself, but...but I was so scared!"

"It's alright doctor. Everything's gonna be okay." the security guard assures me, helping me back onto my feet.

He escorts me back through the passageway to the asylum. I catch a glimpse of the name-tag on his uniform: Aaron Cash. I should remember that name, he's very considerate for a police officer.

"You know, thanks to you we've discovered this place." Mr. Cash comments as we begin to ascend the stairs leading back to the interview room.

"Anything I can do to help, officer." I reply, keeping my voice innocent and pleasant.

"Once we get this place locked down, you're gonna see prisoners escape a lot less often." he continues, "You deserve a promotion."

I can't help but smile, "It's promotion enough to know I'm safe."

We make it back up the the asylum where Dr. Whistler and Dr. Leland are waiting with more security guards.

"Oh, thank goodness you're alright." Dr. Leland proclaims, running in to hug me.

Dr. Whistler crosses her arms and smiles, "Some first day, am I right?"

"It has its ups and downs." I say as Dr. Leland releases me from her hug.

Just then, two more security guard come running up from the staircase, "You guys! We found that the sewer passageways leads to the Gotham Sewer System."

Mr. Cash turns around to address them, "What about Kaliban?"

"I left two of my guys to watch him, but when the rest of them got back, they were knocked out and Kaliban'd disappeared!"

There's a collective gasp in the room. Mr. Cash furrows his brow, he's clearly a senior officer whom the others look up to, "Continue the search for Kaliban. In the meantime, seal off the exit leading into the Gotham Sewer System. We can't risk anymore of these guys getting out."

Two security guards tentatively escort the doctors and I out of the interview room.

"Well, what now?" I ask them.

"They're putting us on lockdown in the manor for the rest of the night." Dr. Whistler explains.

"With Mr. Kaliban on the loose? Shouldn't they send us home?"

She shakes her head, "No. These kinds of things happen far too often to send everyone home for every instance."

Gee, it's really that bad?

We're escorted out of the Penitentiary, and through the courtyard. I look up over the hill at the Intensive Treatment building. The sky is dark and partly cloudy, but on the rooftop, I catch a faint glimpse of a dark figure in a cloak, just for a brief second. Then a cloud passes, and the figure has vanished.

Author's Notes: Villains currently on hold for request: Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Maxie Zeus, Cornelius Stirk, Scarecrow, and Killer Moth.