Gotham Is... Chaos

Chapter 5: The Rogues Of Gotham (Arkham)

They snuck up to the roof of Gotham, dragging a knocked-out Worm behind them; Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter.

"If I'm right, this should work." Scarecrow, fully rejoined, prepared a needle filled with a glowing green liquid. "If I'm wrong... Well, Batman's the only one here not immune, so we'll all be immediately doomed."

They waited in tense silence as the 'patient' was injected. He squirmed, moaning, then opened his eyes with a gasp. "Where... Haigha?"

"Hey, Hatta." Scarecrow smiled softly, too tired to care about people seeing, and kneeled by his friend. "How are you feeling?"

"... Like I could go a month without touching Through The Looking Glass." Jervis groaned, sitting up. "What happened?"

"Talia hid a pendant here last year." Scarecrow explained. "I forgot about it, but it's magic. It absorbed one of my experiments and made things get out of control."

"Wait, why were we immune?" Joker asked. "I thought it was a chemical thing..."

"It is, slightly." Scarecrow agreed, his voice switching to a lecturing tone. "An immunity to the magical side is more important. I'm immune thanks to being possessed, you and Ms Quinn are only affected by curses you know about (however the heck that works), Dr Isley is technically undead-"

"I was reborn, I'm not a vampire." Ivy grumbled. She hummed in thought. "Makes some sense, I guess. Croc's half monster, and whatever Joker did to Manny definitely wasn't science."

"What about Victor?" Harley asked. "He's not magic!"

"My working theory involves the, blech, power of lo-"

"I'm in a survival suit, you morons." Fries actually scowled for a second. "The dust can't reach my person. Now that we've established what actually happened and have a cure, shall we dispense it?"

"Someone's in a hurry." Batman commented.

"He's missing the Dormouse." Jervis explained, leaning on Scarecrow as he stood. "They talk about the White Queen, and how to bring her out of the Red King's domain."

"The dream world." Fries translated. "I'll admit, I have become a little fond of Edward. But my urgency is a simple desire for sleep, and to get back to helping my dear Nora."

"How much of the cure do you have?" Batman asked.

"Not enough." Scarecrow shook his head. A grin slowly spread across his burlap face, splitting it in two. "But if I had one of the dispensers you use for the Fear Toxin antidote..."

"If you reverse engineer this, I'm telling Gordon where you keep your crows." Batman threatened, taking out a small silver device.

Scarecrow pouted. The demon side of him muttered "You're no fun."

Three days later, Bruce Wayne walked through Arkham Asylum, peeking into the closed cells. The inmates were eating, yelling, fighting, even making out -- only a handful were currently reading.

"Heya, Brucie!" Joker called, playing Go Fish with Clayface.

"Hey, Mr Doe." Bruce nodded, smirking as Joker's face fell in shock. "I hope the staff are treating you well."

"... I am going to hurt you." Joker hissed, groaning as the nurse wrote the new surname down. "They better not put my first name as 'John', or I swear I'll..."

The inspection went rather well, many new pockets of hidden rooms were found. Bruce didn't believe they had found all of them -- he knew for a fact that a few areas had been 'overlooked', though he had nothing to do with that.

He was glad to see that, despite the bumps, Arkham was vastly improved from how it had been years ago, before Wayne Enterprises had started taking a personal interest in the asylum.

In the (regular) Rec Room, Victor Fries and Edward Nygma were back to playing chess. Crane was taking a nap, his demon laying on his chest, rune collars keeping both contained.

Through an open door, he could hear as a group therapy session turned into a debate between Scarface and Harvey Dent. In the yard, Isley sat in the sun, Harley laughing as she braided her hair.

Arkham was technically a medical facility and a prison in one, but it had never really been either. It had been an illegal testing site, a torture chamber, a villain base, and more.

Somehow, for the Rogues of Gotham, it had become a home.