Alice
Warner woke up hoping to be in her comfy bed with her husband,
Billy, but he wasn’t there. She was
alone. She
wasn’t in her bedroom, but a cell. Instead of her
pajamas,
she wore an orange prison jumpsuit.
“My god, it
isn’t a dream,”
she said to herself.
In front of her cell, she
could see a man with
green hair, white skin, and red lips walking with two guards while in a
straightjacket singing “Be a Clown” as he walked
past.
“Joker,”
Alice whispered.
“Will you shut up
with that singing,
Joker?” said the voice of Edward Nigma, also known as the
Riddler. “I’m trying to think.”
“You never think,
Eddie,” smirked
Joker. “All those stupid riddles, and Batman and
his bird
brat always solve them. Some riddles.”
The Clown
Prince of Crime laughed all the way back to his cell.
Alice looked on as a female
doctor with gray
hair and horn-rimmed glasses came to her cell. The tag of the
doc’s chest read “Janet Van Dorn.”
“Good morning, Mrs.
Warner, did you
sleep well?” Janet asked her.
“How can I sleep in
this fucking
hellhole, Dr. Van Dorn?” Alice asked.
“For a
crime I didn’t commit, why did Judge Vargas sentence me to
the
most deadly prison in the world?”
“Arkham Asylum is to
help cure you of
your madness, Alice,” Janet replied.
“Look who
I’m with in this piece
of shit you call an asylum, Doc!” Alice
snapped.
“Joker, Riddler, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow,
Two-Face! The list goes on! I didn’t kill
my
parents!”
“I understand,
Alice,” replied
Janet. “I’m here to help you. I
don’t
want you to become like them. Try to understand.”
The doctor walked off to
another cell.
Alice just stood there hoping
that someone
will help her. “God, please help
me…”
Welcome
to Hell, Alice
“We the jury find Alice Warner guilty.”
“Guilty!”
“Guilty!”
“Guilty!”
“SHUT THE HELL
UP!!!” Alice
screamed, as she woke up from a nap.
“Alice?”
said a voice, as she
looked to see Dr. Jeremiah Arkham in front of her.
“It’s time for lunch.”
“Thank you, Dr.
Arkham,” Alice
said, as a guard opened her cell.
“What I found out
from your records is
that you’ve been doing fine in the last two days, since you
came
to the asylum,” replied Dr. Arkham. “If
you keep this
up, you’ll be out of here.”
“I’ll do
my best,” Alice
said.
“What were you
screaming
about?” Dr. Arkham asked.
“I kept hearing the
word
‘guilty’ over and over in my head,”
replied Alice.
“Everything is going
to be ok, my
dear,” said Dr. Arkham, as they went into the cafeteria.
Alice saw about hundreds of
killers, psychos,
rapists, and Batman’s Rogues Gallery talking and eating like
any
other prison. Alice sat next to a red-haired green-skinned
woman
and another woman with short blond hair smoking a cigarette.
“Tulip, put out that
cigarette,”
said Poison Ivy, as she ate a salad with a pealed orange.
“You know I hate tobacco.”
“Fuck you, plant
bitch,” Tulip
showed Ivy her middle finger, as she took another drag from her cancer
stick. “You’re a mother fucking
plant. Deal
with it.”
“I don’t
like smoking
either,” said Alice, as she ate a salad as well.
“It’s bad for your health.”
“Screw you, Dr.
Ruth,” Tulip blew
cigarette smoke into Alice’s face, as Alice coughed.
“Back off the
newbie, bitch,”
replied Ivy.
“I’m
alright, Ivy,” said
Alice.
“No,
Alice,” said Ivy, as she
turned to Tulip. “Apologize, slut.”
“Make me,”
hissed Tulip.
Suddenly, the pack of
cigarettes in
Tulip’s shirt pocket began to glow, as roots sprouted out
from
the cigs. The roots began to wrap around Tulip’s
neck.
“What the
fuck?!” Tulip felt
the roots strangling her neck. “You
bitch!”
“I’ll let
go, if you tell Alice
you’re sorry,” hissed Ivy.
“Go to
Hell,” Tulip snapped at Ivy.
“Pamela, stop this
at once!”
Dr. Arkham shouted, as he and three guards ran towards them.
“Fine,”
Ivy shut down her power,
as the roots that were strangling Tulip dissolved into nothing.
“Your ass is mine,
plant
bitch!” Tulip jumped on Ivy, as the two women
fought in a
catfight.
“FIGHT!
FIGHT!” An
inmate shouted.
“Will someone think
about the
children?” Joker cried, and then evilly laughed.
“I smell great fear
in this
fight,” said Scarecrow.
“When is a catfight
not a
catfight?” Riddler questioned himself.
It took ten guards to break up
the fight
between Ivy and Tulip. Dr. Arkham looked at them with
disgrace. “Take them both back to their
cells,” said
Dr. Arkham, as he turned to Alice. “Welcome to
Hell, Mrs.
Warner. Welcome to Arkham Asylum.”
Lyle Bolton was one of the best. For five years,
he’s been
one of Arkham’s best guards, until one day, he got hurt
during
the breakout thanks to Bane. His wife and children were
killed by
one of the inmates. Now Bolton has other plans than just
revenge,
but his own brand of justice.
“I’m ready
for you
assholes,” said Bolton, as he took out a couple of
AK-47’s
out of a box. “You killed my family, now
I’m going to
kill you all.”
“You’re
not going to do anything,
Bolton,” Lyle turned to see a dark figure in front of him.
“You’re
making a big mistake by
doing this,” replied The Batman. “I know
they killed
your family, but killing them isn’t the answer.
Live a
normal life, and forget this.”
“You’re
right, Batman, but you
forgot one thing…” Bolton turned to see The Batman
was
gone. He evilly smirked. “Lyle Bolton is
dead.”
Minutes later, he donned blue
and silver armor
and a black, metal mask over his face, except for his eyes.
He
loaded his van with enough firepower to take out the whole JLA.
Lock-Up
was
born.
“You want me to what?!”
Summer Gleason asked her boss, Derrick Powers, in his office at
GNN. “I’m a reporter, not a reality show
host!”
“Summer, I know
that,” replied
Derrick, “but we need the ratings. With the success
of Survivor,
The Amazing Race, and Big Brother,
Gotham needs its next reality show. I call it The Cell.”
“Mr. Powers, I have
a daughter to think
about,” said Summer. “Doing a reality
show inside a
prison, where contestants must survive a month as prisoners is a dumb
idea.”
“Dumb or not, we
need ratings,”
said Powers. “Look what’s happening to
The Baby Doll
Show.”
“So the brat
isn’t making any
boost to your ratings,” said Summer.
“What do I get
in this damn deal?”
“A major raise in
your salary,”
smirked Derrick. “I forgot to mention a
month’s
vacation.”
Summer sighed.
“I’ll do it,
but I won’t like it. What prison are we shooting
your
stupid show at?”
“Arkham
Asylum.” Derrick smirked
again.
~Alice~
Alice heard a voice in her
head, waking her
up. “What do you want?” She
asked.
~I know
you’re innocent, and I am going to get you out. ~
“Who are
you?”
~A
friend. Listen, give me a few days, and you’ll be
free. ~
“You’ve
been in my head for the
last few days, and I don’t know who you are.”
~Soon,
Alice, soon. ~
The voice was gone, as Alice
began to tear up.
Next
Issue: Alice has a run in
with the Joker,
as he tells
her a tale that will wet your pants. Lock-Up
takes on his first victim,
and more of the mysterious voice in Alice’s head.
Stories
© 2008 Patrick Moore
and may not be reproduced without permission.
