Welcome to the Madness

Narrator's POV.
Tonight is a drenched night. The Joker is apprehended and is now currently getting transferred back to Arkham Asylum, hopefully for good. I won’t hope too much, too many times the Joker escaped Arkham's security and cause chaos and destruction upon the city of Gotham.

This is the introduction to all of the chaos, not in Gotham, but on Arkham Island.

The rain poured the city and the thunder rolling continuously in the night sky. Mist and fog cloaked the entire city in a mysterious silhouette with the buildings' lights shone brightly across the river. Lightning flashed in various locations at different times and different patterns. The citizens of Gotham, human and Eponian alike, sheltered inside their homes, protected by the wrath of nature in a form of a storm.

Unknowing to the sleeping citizens, sirens blared from the other side of Gotham at City Hall. The Mayor was about to resign his term for a mayoral campaign but a certain criminal decided to end his life by the explosion of a bomb.
The criminal's real name is unknown. No origin, no name, no occupation, no family, nothing. He had no other alias; he'd just appear into Gotham at the worst time.

He is a human, like myself, with literal white skin and red lips. Painted on smile with lipstick or paint. Purple tailcoat with matching pants. A yellow collared shirt with a green bow tie and wilted flower. Alongside, he had green hair. The most terrifying and dangerous feature of the Joker is his green eyes.

The eye has six forms with fifteen different variations. When the eye is open, the man is contented, surprised, appalled, or any other emotion that involves a form of shock or anxiety, positive or negative.

When the eye closes, he is angry, depressed, envious, or any other emotion that involves a form of negative energy.

His eyes, those endless portals of madness and hatred and death and destruction: the green irises glow whenever in a dark silhouette, giving the darkness an ominous and evil presence. Those eyes are blank, filled with nothing but pure hate and evil.

He'll laugh at anything, from bad jokes to death of millions, even billions. He cares absolutely nothing to anyone whatsoever, he'll lie like the Devil, he laughs like the sickest jester, and he kills like the lowest criminal.

In my Rogue Gallery, a collection of weaponry or items and statues of my enemies, he is the King in my Gallery. He goes by the Clown Prince of Crime, The Comeback King, The Ace of Knaves, The The Clown Prince of Chaos, the Jester of Genocide.

Whenever he looks at you, you will be staring into those atrocious gateways; you will see every horrible crime he had ever committed throughout the past years. Crime has never been this horrendous and elevated before.

It's a repeated cycle, he breaks out of Arkham, creates havoc and decimation, I show up, stop him, and dropped him back to the institution.

It'll never end, not unless one of us ends up dead. That's the point of this war between us: I cannot kill him without becoming like him and he cannot kill me because he'll lose the only person that can keep up with him.

He goes by: The Joker.

Tonight, I apprehended the Joker from City Hall, sparing the Mayor’s life. What I don’t like tonight is that the Joker is a persistent, stubborn, chaotic, and evil individual who will never give up this war that is going on for nearly eleven years right now, eleven years of my Batman duty.

This night, he gave up, almost without a fight. I’ll figure it out when I drop him off on Arkham Island. As I drove my Batmobile through the city, a Royal Guard officer called her other companions about the capture, "All units, head back to Gotham City Hall. Batman has apprehended the Joker, Joker is now en route to Arkham Island."

I drove my vehicle past several police officers and headed to my rogue gallery, the infamous Arkham Asylum as I drove past the sign. "ARKHAM: Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates."

As I continue to drive towards the massive asylum, I ignored the insane clown’s random spouting and talking, either to himself or to me, "Stand back, fool, I got a bomb! Oh, wait, ha!"

Ignoring my captive's incessant noise, I arrived at the Asylum's gates, stone angels with lanterns guarding the iron gates, leading towards the massive institution.

Finally, I could drop off this annoying clown and probably catch some peace, but since the Joker gave up easily, I have to keep a closer eye on him.

"Hey, Bats, aren’t you coming with me, for a little romantic dinner in the loony bin? I hope you don’t have too much time on your hands.” He asked.

His only response was silence.

"Always the strong and silent type, well then, let’s see we can break your silence: Are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there-" I hit her in the face with the back of my fist, but as usual, she continues to yap at the mouth.

As I was ready to hit him again, I sighed in relief that I arrived at the Intensive Treatment building doors, I exited my vehicle and grabbed the Joker's shoulders and carry him inside the building.

The mechanical doors opened automatically when the Joker and I walked in the building. Lights shone as we entered the entrance of the asylum and the tiles and bricks appear to be clean from the last attempts this clown escaped.
A hallway lined with Arkham security guards, all guns aiming at Joker, in front of the Intensive Treatment lobby, is the Warden, Amelia Cinch.

She is a tall light cyan Unicorn female Eponian with a mane and tail in multiple shades of purple, neatly tied in a bun. Violet eyes behind a pair of angular glasses, a dark blue business wear, with a red broach on her blue undershirt, and carrying a cane with a ruby with the Arkham insignia in it.

Beside her is a tall Earth pony with black hair, wearing an Arkham uniform. On his left eye is a scar and a glass eye. His name is Officer Frank Boles.

On Cinch's right is a human male, same height as Boles, bald, dark mustache, Caucasian, his name is William North.

Behind North was a teenaged Earth female Eponian in a white lab coat, white collared shirt and black overalls. Her fur coat is a pastel green. Mane and tail are black with pastel indigo and blue streaks. A green hue can be seen in the black. Fetlocks of a clydesdale horse. Black hooves and nails.

She was different compared to Warden Cinch. Her muzzle and fangs are smaller. Five fingers instead of the usual four. She is Half-Eponian.

What surprised me was her eyes. Pale green irises with pale grey pupils. Always with a blank stare. She's blind. What is a blind Eponian doing here as an intern?

They do not look delighted to see Joker; no one was, for he is the bane in Gotham. I brought him in, ignoring the security guards.

Joker looked at Cinch and chuckled, "Hey, Cinchie. Love what you've done with the place."

He gave the teen intern a glance.

"That's 'Warden' Cinch to you." Warden Cinch corrected, adjusting her broach. She glanced at Officer Boles, "Boles."

Officer Boles walked toward Joker. Joker smiled, "Yo, Frank-ay. How's the wife and kids? Ya miss me?"

Boles violently grabbed Joker's collar, "Shut it, Clown! A lot of people here really want to talk to you."

He took Joker from me and escorted him to a gurney, the other two officers were standing next to.

"Really. I don't mind walking." Joker told the officers.

The officers turned him and strapped him on to the gurney. "Not so tight, boys. You'll crease the suit." Joker laughed.

"Get that filthy degenerate out of here." Warden Cinch told the officers.

"Warden, something's not right." I decided to speak up, then started walking, "I'm going with him."

I followed the officers, the intern and Joker into the hallway, that lead into Intensive Treatment.

I turned to Officer North, "Is Commisioner Gordon here yet?"

Officer North nodded, "Yes, sir. He's... err... just waiting for you down at Patient Handover. He got here just before you did."

Warden Cinch grabbed the intern's arm and pulled her away from the group, "Miss. Piper, I strongly advise that you do not accompany this psychopath to see how we handle patient transfers."

'Piper'... One of my best employees, at Wayne Enterprises, had that last name. Ivan Robert Piper. Good worker and a good man. My wife shared the last name as well. Lorraine Susan Piper. A member of the circus with the Flying Graysons. She died over 13 years ago.

The intern pulled her arm out of Warden Cinch's grip, "I can handle myself. I used to be an inmate, remember?" Then she assured, "Besides, I'll be with Batman. If anything goes awry."

The lights switched on, as the intern, Miss. Piper, and I arrived on the elevator.

Joker smirked, "Cinchie loves his cameras. Hey, Cinchie! You getting my good side?" And he chuckled, "But heck, they're all good, aren't they?"

Warden Cinch rolled his eyes in disgust and spoke to Officer North, next to him, "I want him securely locked away this time. Another escape and I will lose support for my mayoral campaign."

Warden Cinch is running for Mayor of Gotham. Her campaign of keeping the criminals in check has been winning the votes so far.

Joker's voice broke my thoughts, "Look at all this new security. How's a guy suppose to break outta here?"

Once the lift reached the lower level, a four-toned tune played then a female voice spoke from the speakers, "New patient in the Intensive Treatment Lobby. All non-essential staff to vacate the area."

Officer Louie Green stopped Miss. Piper from entering the scanning tunnel, "Sorry, Miss. Piper. But, you have to go now."

"She stays." I told him in a strong tone.

Officer Green hesitated, but stepped back, allowing Miss. Piper to follow. The security moved Joker into a metal detector room. Miss. Piper and I entered close behind.

"Oh, it's always nice to return to my sweet little, ha ha, hacienda." Joker sighed with a smile, then he looked at Miss. Piper and whispered very quietly, "Don't you think, Acie?"

"Miss. Piper. And no." She answered back in the same volume.

'Acie'... That was the nickname of Joker's hacker sidekick 'Ace'. No one knew her face or where she was. But, she offered to help me out, when I first encountered Joker.

The officers, Joker, Miss. Piper and I entered the metal detection room and waited for the scanner to activate.

"Tunnel's full. Start the scan." A deep, African-American voice spoke from the speakers.

It must've been Officer Aaron Cash. A loyal, and the best security officer in this damned facility.

"Scan initializing." The operator answered.

The machine started scanning and running down the tunnel.

"Y'know what? I preferred the good ol' cavity search. Much more personal." Joke said, as the scan ran by him.

"Joker!" Miss. Piper scolded.

"What? I'm being honest." Joker shrugged.

Miss. Piper rubbed the bridge of her nose with a sigh. The scan ran over Miss. Piper, Officer Boles and me. The scanner turned red and beeped in alarm.

"We got a red light. Multiple prohibited items." The operator alerted, switching the machine back on stand-by.

"I want Joker searched again!" Officer Cash shouted.

"It's not the patient. It's... er..." The operator tried to answer.

Joker looked at me and smiled, "Whatcha sneak in with you, Bats? C'mon. Tell me, tell me. Batarangs? Batclaws? Bat Snacks?"

I remained silent.

"Scan is green on Joker." The operator spoke up, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Open the gate. Get him outta there." Officer Cash shouted. The door opened and we mad our way out of the tunnel. "I want weapons on him at all times. Do not let him out of your sight." Officer Cash ordered the security.

"There'll be time enough for you later, Cash." Joker answered him, "Speaking of time, tick, tock, tick, tock. Is that a crocodile I hear?" Joker laughed, then looked over and saw Doctor Rachel Redheart, "What's up, Doc? Counsil me in for tomorrow, at 4. We've got a lot of catching up to do."

Doctor Rachel Redheart is one of the psychologists in the Asylum. An earth Eponian with a pale grey coat. Pink mane and tail tied in a neat bun. And sapphire eyes. Seemingly, cold and calculating, but is now afraid of Joker.

Why?

We continued walking down the hallway, then Warden Cinch's introduction video started playing on the screens.

Joker looked at the screens and smiled, "Oooh, it's my favorite show." He mocked, sounding like Warden Sharp, "'I'm Warden Idiot'. 'You'll never escape'."

Upon the other side of the gate, Joker's men from Blackgate noticed their leader and cheered, as they walked past us.

Joker looked at the bars, "I'm telling you, the state of the wiring in these federal facilities is... Shocking. My boys, over there, could have been hurt in that unfortunate fire."

Miss. Piper raised an eyebrow, "You care, why?"

"Loyalty is one of the best traits in a henchman, my dear." He answered.

We came to a stop as a doctor, a Zebran in light green scrubs, came in, "Just got to check your prisoner, Officer Boles."
"Whatever, just be quick." Boles answered.

"Only following procedure." The doctor shrugged, then looked over Joker, "Patient seems to be in satisfactory condition. Looks like he suffered minor lacerations, probably in the last two hours." Then he took a closer look at Joker, "There seems to be..."

Joker shot his face to the doctor, "BOO!" Then burst into laughter.

The action caused the doctors and security to get away from him in startle. Miss. Piper and I didn't flinch.

Once everything calmed down, Joker asked, "Need to take my temperature? I'd be happy to drop my pants."

Annoyed and disgusted, the doctor answered to Boles, "He's all yours. Get him outta here."

"He's good. Get the door open." The officer, that was driving Joker's bed, told the door operator.

The four-toned tune played again and the female voice spoke, "Alert in Intensive Treatment. Category 9 patient in transit. Pacification system active. Shoot to kill permissions granted."

We wanted into the room and waited for the transit elevator to show up. Along the wall were more security.

"You heard the lady. Another psycho is on the way." The security guard, in front of us, alerted.

The elevator arrived, but seemed to be having a bit of trouble. "Can you smell the excitement in the air?" Joker asked, "No? Huh. Must have been one of the guards, then." Then he looked behind him with a smile, "Croc old boy, is that you?"

The elevator revealed a large creature, with reptilian-like skin, wearing prison pants and shackles, inside. The gate opened so the creature could move out.

"Get ready." An officer alerted, "Keep your weapons trained on it at all times."

Miss. Piper smiled, "Waylon!"

I kept her behind me.

Waylon Jones is another known criminal in Gotham. But he mostly tries to keep to himself in the sewers. The reason he does criminal jobs, is so he could survive.

In the Underworld of Gotham, Waylon is known as Killer Croc, due his appearance. He was born with a rare skin condition, which childhood trauma mutated him into a crocodile-like creature.

As Killer Croc made his way out of the elevator, a guard grimaced, "He looks angry."

Killer Croc got out of the elevator and stood upright, stretching from being cramped in a tight area. A light shone into his face, but he looked unaffected. Croc sniffed the air.

"That thing looks pissed." A guard whispered, as Killer Croc looked at me.

He glared and turned to face me. "What's it doing?" Another guard asked.

"I've got your scent, Batman. I will hunt you down." Waylon growled.

The collar around his neck sparked and shocked Croc out of his aggressive attitude.

Killer Croc snarled, "A toy collar won't stop me from killing you, Batman." Then he walked over to the next room, "I'll rip you apart. Eat your bones."

The other guards followed after him and left the room. To break the tension, Joker spoke up, "That reminds me. I really need to get me some new shoes."

"Ok. Move up." A guard told us.

We walked forward and entered the elevator. The gate closed behind us and the guard shouted, "Hold tight!"

The elevator started going down and Joker cheered, "Wheee! Great night for a party."

"Not where you're going." I answered, finally able to speak after a while of silence.

Joker smiled, "The night is young, Bats. I still have a trick or two up my sleeve. I mean, don't you think it's a little bit funny, how a fire at Blackgate caused hundreds of my crew to be moved here?"

"I thought I told you to stay quiet!" Officer Boles snapped at the Clown.

Miss. Piper pinched her nose with a look of disgust

"Oh, Frankie. You really should learn to keep that fat mouth of yours shut." Joker told Boles, then added in a dark tone and lightly motioning to Miss. Piper, "It'll get you into trouble."

"Tell me something. You've never let me catch you so easily. What are you really after?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing much. Hundreds dying in pain and fear. All their meaningless lives brought to a horrifying conclusion." Joker answered casually, then added in a low tone, "All thanks to you and a book of matches." Then he asked in his normal tone, "Was that the answer you wanted?"

Then, Warden Cinch's extra video started playing, "All patients should avoid contact with prisoners from Blackgate Prison Facility. Their presence in our institution is-"

Suddenly, the elevator stopped working, and the power went off. Joker burst into laughter. The officers started panicking and looking around.

"What's he doing?" The guard asked, then he shouted, "Stay where you are!"

Joker's laughter started to sound choked, as Boles shouted, "Get a flashlight! Get a light on him!"

The elevator regained power and the lights revealed Joker being held by the throat, by me. The video continued where it left off.

Joker looked at me, "What? Don't you trust me?" I let go of him.

"Our guest has arrived." The guard spoke up. The gates in front of us opened.

The four-toned tune played again and the female voice spoke, "Intensive Treatment lower floors are now at level Red Alpha."

Boles, Joker, Miss. Piper, the other guard and I continued walking, making our way to Patient Handover.

"So, you're back. You killed three of my crew when you busted outta here." A guard told Joker, as we walked past him.

Joker faked a gasp, "Only three? I'll be sure to try harder next time. What say we aim for a hundred?"

Once we entered, I noticed Commissioner James Gordon, or Jim, on the desk, filling out the paperwork.

I looked over and asked, "Long night, Jim?"

Commissioner Gordon looked over and smiled, "Heh. Joker invades City Hall and holds the Mayor hostage." He shook my hand in greeting, "Leaving me to juggle SWAT teams, the media and you. Yeah, it's been a helluva night."

He joined us in escorting Joker to his cell. "Hopefully, the last one we'll ever have with him." I noted about Joker.

"Fingers crossed. Run a joke for too long and it's not funny." Miss. Piper spoke.

"Wise words." Gordon smiled at her, then he asked, "What brings you back to this place?"

"Thought I might do good here." She answered.

Once we reached the gate, a security officer stopped us, "Hold it there. Sorry, Batman. Arkham staff only."

"I assure you, if anyone's qualified, it's..." Commissioner Gordon was about to argue, but the officer stopped him, "Listen, I appreciate the assistance. But, he'll unsettle the more violent inmates."

Boles and the guard got Joker out of the gurney and moved him toward the doctor and the officer. He chuckled and looked at me, "I think he's talking about you, Bats." The officer took Joker and the electric field opened. "Don't be a stranger. You're always welcome here. Gotta say, it's good to be back."

The officer and doctor lead Joker into the main lobby and the gate closed behind them.

Gordon looked over to me, who was a little on edge, "You okay?"

"He surrendered, almost without a fight. I don't like it." I answered.

Miss. Piper shook her head in agreement, "Me neither. He sounds too calm." Then she asked me, "Was he smiling the entire journey?"

"Yes." I answered, "Why?"

She shrugged, "Just a hunch."

"At least he's back where he belongs." Gordon noted.

Miss. Piper, Gordon and I walked into the office, and watched the officer and doctor take Joker to his cell. Out of nowhere, Joker collapsed to his knees.

The officer went to his level to help him, "Get up. Now!"

Joker gave him a head-butt, then wrapped his cuffs around his neck, choking him.

"Joker's loose!" Miss. Piper alerted.

"Alert the Warden!" I told Gordon.

"Hurry. We're loosing him, Doc!" Joker pleaded in laughter.

The doctor unlocked the cuffs, freeing Joker. I punched the glass, weakening it. Joker let go of the guard and kicked the doctor to the ground.

He returned to the guard, "The choke's on you."

Then he started dancing and laughing, then pointed at the second electric gate.

He looked at the security camera, "Honey, I'm home."

Within a second, the gate was down. I jumped through the glass, but Joker ran to the other side and announced, as the gate closed again, "Welcome to the Madhouse, Batman. I set a trap, and you sprang it gloriously!"

Joker ran into the office, and the cells opened, "Now let's get this party started."

The inmates, within the cells surrounded us, as Joker spoke again, but in the speaker, "Ladies and maniacs. I apologise for this interruption to your regular entertainment. Up until a few seconds ago, I was going to kill everyone in the room and then watch cartoons. But then... Well... You know how I do love a captive audience."

I took out the inmates with ease. Joker smirked, "I'm just warming you up, Bats. Fresh from Blackgate Correctional Facility, with a combined sentence of 752 years. Ding, ding, ding, ding! It's round two!"

More inmates were released and surrounded me. I took most of them out, but my muscles tensed behind me. I turned to see Miss. Piper take out three of the inmates, behind me, and took a low stance.

Joker checked his watch and alerted, "Sorry. Gotta run. I've got places to go and people to slay." With that he was gone.

Miss. Piper and I were able to take out the last of the inmates. Then, Gordon's appeared on the screen, "The system's jammed. We're stuck in here. Joker's in full control of the security gates!"

"We'll find a way out." I assured, "Gordon, try and contact the Warden. Let him know what's happened. We'll be back."

Joker's image appeared on the screen, as he was running down the hall and looked at security camera, "Don't make promises you can't keep, Bats. I'm in control of the Asylum. You're not going anywhere I don't want you to. Understand?"

In a low tone, I threatened, "If you think I'll let you run..."

"Blah, blah, blah. Always with the hero speak. I'm getting bored of watching you. Why don't you just come find me..." Joker countered. The gate that lead further into Intensive Treatment opened.

Gordon appeared on the screen again, "You know it's a trap."

"Of course it is." I noted.