A knight in Arkham

Chapter 1: Memories

"Hello? Is Someone there?" the young man cranes his neck desperately as slow, deliberate footsteps echo from beyond the narrow circle of light, "Batman? Is that you?" the fragile hope is plain to hear.

"Batman isn't coming to save you, Jason," the prisoner flinches away from the figure hissing in his ear.

"He'll come," the man in a red cuirass, green trousers and black boots argues.

The figure, clad in a purple pinstriped suit, mustard yellow shirt with acid green hair, plaster white skin and an exaggerated make up clown smile shakes his head then leans over his prisoner's shoulders, "It's been six months now, Jason," the figure then gets a cruel smile, "I think it's time to face facts."

"Screw You!" Jason growls, rocking roughly in the wheelchair he's bound to and spitting as best he can at his gaoler.

The gaoler recoiled then smiled warmly, "That's the Spirit. You're a real chip off the ol' Batblock," he then looks away and mutters to himself, "not that it'll do you any good."

"Why won't you just Kill ME!"

"What?" the gaoler actually seemed genuinely shocked, "no, no, no, no, I'm not going to kill you… not yet, anyway. You're my sidekick now," Jason started struggling again, "Imagine it. You and me, together, out on the streets, starting fights, picking on the weak. A regular Dynamic Duo. Just like Bats and that new kid of his."

"No, he wouldn't," Jason said, almost pleadingly, not seeing the gaoler pull out a photo.

"You think?" the gaoler asked, almost sincerely, then leant down and held the photo for Jason to see, who looked then recoiled, "so, this isn't Batman then, hmm, weird," the gaoler stood up and examined the photo once more, "The pointy ears are usually a dead giveaway…"

"No!" Jason whispered pleading.

The gaoler looked at Jason then put the photo away, "I didn't want to show you that photo, really I didn't. But, well it was the only way for you to get closure."

The gaoler then took several steps forward, holding a crowbar, "Now, I know it hurts," he then stopped and took a stance for a golf swing, Jason looked up in time and shook his head in panic, "but you gotta be cruel to be kind," Jason cried out as the tool struck him and his wheelchair shot off into the darkness, soon followed by his gaoler.

The screen flickered, then a similar image appeared.

Jason hung by his bound hands from a claw, he looked asleep.

"What do we have here?" the gaoler stepped out of the darkness, holding a glowing branding iron, he leans down in front of Jason, "wakey, wakey."

Jason wakes and starts struggling.

"What's wrong? Do you think I'm going to hurt you?" the gaoler asks, walking slowly in front of Jason, "Why? I'm not the bad one here. Oh, no, no, no, no. It's Batman, thrown you away like an unwanted puppy," the gaoler crouch down, looking away from Jason, holding his hands together as though begging, "Can I have him, daddy. Oh, please, please, please, please, please. I'll take weal good care of him," he said mockingly in a little girl voice.

He then stood up, stepped forward, performing a one eighty and stood straight, holding the iron like a rod, "anything to make you happy, princess. Just make sure everyone knows he's yours."

The gaoler clicked his fingers and the claw opened, dropping Jason to the floor, Jason struggled to regain his bearings, "we don't want him ending up back here, do we."

Jason sat upright just as the gaoler started towards him ominously, he tried to scurry away as fast as he could, "No we don't, daddy, I want to keep him forever."

Just as Jason left the circle of light, the gaoler pounced, "No, no, please? No, No…"

The video cut off as a horrific cry of agony pierced the darkness.

"Jason!" tears flowed freely down her mask and onto her cheeks, she reached out and touched the screen, as if wishing to reach through and pull the tormented man out.

Batgirl, a.k.a Barbara Gordon, had entered the disused wing of Arkham Asylum following a lead on Joker's latest escape after Aaron Cash noted he'd been seen entering and leaving several times in the past year, they hadn't investigated the building as Joker was always found leaving or just inside as the guards entered.

Cash had then said the wing was closed after the money for the upgrades to the security systems dried up, it had been closed as the older systems were considered a risk compared to the newer systems in the other facilities. She'd caught some grumbling from the guards at that point about how the solid state electronics weren't hackable anymore and the hydraulic mechanisms for the cell doors couldn't be bypassed, leaving the inmates trapped in the event of a riot. She'd looked into it herself and agreed, nothing she had could do a damn thing unless hooked up to the main board in the control room which was all too easily fortified.

Cash also mentioned the security systems were regularly maintained in case they needed the wing again, so if Joker was up to anything the mainframe may have a recording. She'd braced herself for any number of things…

But not what she'd pulled from the Mainframe's camera recordings.

She'd had a crush on Jason since they met, and judging by his body language and flirting shortly before he disappeared he felt the same way, but he'd disappeared before either could do anything.

For nearly four months they'd searched, her, Batman and Nightwing, but after that Nightwing had headed for Bludhaven and Batman had returned to his patrols, that isn't to say he wouldn't investigate any credible leads but they seemed few and far between, but then Tim had come along and...

She clenched her fists in anger, Batman had at least taken a pragmatic stance about a new Robin but Dick had given Jason up for dead, and then the prick had the nerve to flirt.

Well, he never tried that again.

She didn't know if she could watch the last tape, but she had to, she had… they had to know.

Jason's hung up again, this time bound to a meat hook, the time stamp indicates ten months have passed since he disappeared, almost two weeks before; his outfit is ragged, hanging off him. Several of Joker's thugs step into the light, including one she wasn't expecting.

"Johnny Five Aces, been a while," Jason's greeting is met by a punch to the face.

"No thanks to you," Johnny retorted, "but tonight's not about me, Boys!"

The thugs close on Jason, tearing into him with fists, brass knuckles, lead pipes, baseball bats, anything and everything, it was the hardest fifteen minutes of cctv she'd ever watched as her friend was beaten to a pulp.

After a while Johnny called them off, "enough, the Boss wants him breathing."

As Johnny steps forward, Jason looks up, his breathing is laboured, cracked or broken ribs, "That's it? Harley love taps harder than that!"

Johnny growls but signals the thugs back, "Love taps, huh? Well, maybe I'll just have to change that?" he walks over, drawing a long knife, he grabs Jason's belt and tears the blade down through his pants.

Her breath catches in her throat as her eyes lock on the prime piece of knockwurst now hanging free, but Johnny's next sentence crashes her hormone induced fantasy.

"Joker said you had to be breathin', not whole or male."

Her eyes widen but gunfire erupts before Johnny can lift the knife, a rifle round catches Jonny's head at an angle, painting Jason with what passed for Aces' brains but otherwise not harming him. The rest of the thugs fall quickly.

After a few seconds soldiers in strange armour enter view, most start checking the bodies but two head for Jason, but are interrupted by a thug playing dead sinking a knife into one of their squadmates, the retaliation is swift.

"Fuck, get him to evac," one of the others puts the wounded man in a fireman's lift and carries him out, "who the fuck is this, a featherbrain wannabe?"

"That gears the real deal," another soldier said.

One of the soldiers removes his helmet, revealing a handsome forty something man with greying brown hair, "Can you hear me?"

"Who are you?" Jason asks nervously.

"Captain Balgowen, The Rifles, It's ok, you're safe now," the captain replied, then looked to one of the others, "cut him down!"

As the soldier drew his knife and started at the bindings, Jason looked at Balgowen, "What's a British Unit doing in Gotham?"

"Hunting a POI, got a lead he frequented here, lucky for you, can you walk?" Balgowen caught Jason as he collapsed.

"Not really," Jason gasped for breath, clutching his ribs.

"We'll get you fixed up," Balgowen turned to the other three, "We're leaving, we'll catch up to them another day."

Just as the men walked out of picture, one spotted the camera and shot it.

Just then the doorbell rang, Barbara closed her laptop in frustration, she put her laptop on the coffee table, stood up and walked over to the door, "Colleen? Is that you, again?"

But when she opened the door, it wasn't Colleen…

"CANDYGRAM!"