Cassidy planned to call it a day.

The sun was setting, and the mist swirling outside her office was growing thicker and thicker. So, with that, she switched off the lights and shut the door.

CLICK!

The sound vibrated through her ears. She didn't even have to look to know what it was.

The office lights were back on.

Cassidy opened the door... No one was there.

Trembling, she noticed the small chip on the window.

She approached, leaning close. Closer. A tiny thing, like a scrape on a car windshield, but how it got there, she couldn't begin to-

C R A C K!

Cassidy cowered away as the glass split in all directions, threatening to break at any point.

She held her face in her hands, petrified. The whole thing came out of nowhere, she didn't even touch it! It had to be something from outside, a rock, or...

... But how?

Cassidy peered into the darkness of the gardens outside. And there stood a figure, hidden in the layers of the mist.

Frantic, she ran past the staff and inmates; anyone who tried calling out to her, she couldn't hear them.

She could only focus on one thing.

The person who smashed her window. The same person- she thought- who had trashed her office not so long ago.

Whoever they were. It had to stop.

///

Cassidy sprinted through the gardens, right under the view of her office.

Where the figure was.

The mist swayed over the figure like a maelstrom, until finally breaking apart for Cassidy to see underneath...

Her heart sank.

It was a statue, male, hardly recognizable through the rust; his figure loomed over the plaque, which read:

'In Memory Of

Dr. Amadeus Arkham

1885-1970

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die'

"You ok?"

Cassidy flinched to see Lyle Bolton leaning against one of the benches, hardly acknowledging her.

"I..."

Cassidy turned in a cold sweat.

"... Has anyone... Been out here?"

"No. Just you and me. Why?"

Cassidy turned away from him, her lips quivering.

"Hey. Is someone giving you trouble?" Lyle asked as he approached her "I can-"

Without warning, she buried her head in his chest, clinging to him in a cry that was almost too quiet to hear.

Lyle wasn't the hugging sort of person. But he didn't pull away.

The fountains dripped as time passed. Quiet. Where birds would rest in the day, by night, were no more than a well of dried-up water and dirt. No real evidence of nature, either. Everything, down to the hedges and lilies was artificial. Unhallowed ground.

And yet, Cassidy and Lyle sat there- with only the lights of the asylum keeping them from vanishing.

"I'm sorry" Cassidy croaked out "I don't know what came over me... I..."

Cassidy ducked her face, choking back another sob.

"... I think I'm losing it..."

Lyle sighed, shuffling back up to the bench.

"I've been there"

"You... Have?"

Lyle scoffed, lighting a cigarette.

"Who wouldn't?" He said, taking a drag. "We work our ass off here, playing zookeeper for those people, when all they do is treat Arkham like a vacation. They come in, we lock 'em up, they escape again"

He blew out a puff of smoke before taking the cigarette out of his mouth, observing it with disgust.

"What a fucking joke"

He threw the cigarette to the ground, crushing it under the sole of his boot with unnecessary malice.

Cassidy rubbed her arms, watching the glow of the flame still in the cigarette, tiny as it was, flickering for a second before it died.

"Some days I thought about quitting- I mean, what's the point..."

A moment's silence passed. Lyle's eyes drifted to the floor.

"But your grandfather... He was a good man. Gave me a reason to carry on" Lyle spoke in a softer tone. "That's all he wanted, you know? To help. Guess that's why you remind me of him"

Tears trickled down Cassidy's smile as he reached over, his hand almost brushing against hers before he pulled away.

"Here"

Cassidy looked up to see Lyle reaching into his pocket for a small brown diary, old and leathery, with a brittle strap wrapped around the opening. Labeled on the side with initials 'J.A.'.

The last dozen pages, Cassidy noticed, were completely ripped out. There wasn't much comfort to be had in that. Not at all.

"Jeremiah told me to keep it safe. Figured you should have it"

Without as much as a goodbye, he left it on the bench with a somber glance before walking away- as if he had come outside for that reason only.

She didn't know what to make of Lyle. There was anger in him- but also something else. Something she couldn't quite make out. Almost... sad.

Confused, Cassidy picked up the diary, reading the first page:

'01/08/1970

Phone call at 11:55. Amadeus has passed away.

Dr Cavendish said he went quietly in his sleep, which is a relief- he suffered enough already.

My poor uncle.

To think he died in the very institution he founded, I can't imagine. I only hope he is at peace now.

Tomorrow I'm traveling to Arkham to begin my first day as administrator, although I can't help but feel uneasy. But I will get over it, I owe it to him to continue his work.

After all, it is part of our family'

Diary in hand, Cassidy walked with unknowing dread.

She looked back at Arkham, unaware, as one of the security cameras followed her every move.

///

The Control Room was messy. Built like a spaceship, with harshly lit monitors cramped together above tangles of cables, buttons, and computers. Only 4 guards could sit in there at a time, though only one usually bothered to show up every shift.

Showing on one of the screens, Cassidy headed toward the car park.

And then, all the cameras switched off.

The guard, Frank Boles, was rough-shaven, with blotchy red patches on his skin and nose. He leaned back, chugging a new bottle of whisky as he flipped one of the switches for Maximum Security. To Joker's cell.

The lights outside flickered, only to turn back on as three large guards appeared outside, one with a baton, one with a taser, and one with a bike chain.

If Joker was asleep, then he wouldn't be for long.

Joker's eyes opened, but he didn't bother to move, not even as the armed men came into his cell.

His grin widened.

A/N: This doesn't look good...