Prince of Darkness ~ Gotham

~ Chapter Thirty Two: Arkham Asylum ~

"Have you found anything new to snatch?" Holly changed the subject. "Duh, of course!" Selina reached into her pocket and laid out a bunch of jewelry ranging from ruby bracelets to sapphire brooches. Holly's eyes widened at the sparkling mound, wondering if Selina just got back from robbing a jewelry store. "The rich are stupid to keep their jewels in plain sight walking downtown. Makes them an easy target," Selina smirked. "How do you..." Holly trailed off. "Pretty easy. Since most of them are on their phones lecturing and yelling," the delinquent explained. "It also helps when they're out late at night,"

While Holly didn't condone the addiction to thievery, she had to admit Selina never failed to surprise her. She wasn't the perfect thief, but the fact Selina managed to get away with stealing such high-value items while others were quickly caught and thrown in jail spoke volumes of how thorough and planned out she was. "That's crazy, Selina," Holly responded. "Still Ms. Goody Goody, I see," Selina raised a brow. "Far from that, I almost bit off that guy's fingers, remember? And I'd happily do it again!" The Gordon scoffed.

Selina tried to hold back her laughter as much as she could for Ivy's sake, but her laughter filled the entire kitchen, and Holly soon joined her. "Oh god. Just because you bite someone, it doesn't mean you're not a goody-goody anymore. It just means you've got a pair of sharp teeth," Selina said. "But A for effort though!"

~~~~~~~~~~

Working as a security guard at Arkham was one of the most boring and stressful jobs in Jim's life. Fights between unstable patients would break out every so often and as much as Jim tried to pull the patients off each other, one would always get beaten so bad they'd have to be sent to the medical wing. And every single time without fail, the director of the facility, Dr. Lang, would chew him out and threaten his job. But despite the hardships and the constant yelling, Jim tried to power through not only for his sake but for Holly's.

One night, the patients gathered in the common area, watching the retelling of The Tempest. Jim had never been a big fan of old English plays, he didn't know why. But there was always something that made it hard to get through. Maybe it was the fancy and unclear translation, or maybe the story wasn't convincing enough for him to listen to, at least willingly. He wouldn't say it out loud, but watching this knock-off play was more torture than someone pinning him down and yanking out his wisdom teeth. Not only was he uncomfortable watching this, but so were the majority of the patients, as many of them covered their ears, blocking out the loud booming voices.

"Full fathom five, my father lies. Of his bones are coral made, those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade. But doth suffer a sea change into something rich and strange," One of the patients named Royston, sang his lines on the tiny stage. Eventually, another patient named Frogman Jones had enough of the singing and charged toward Royston, knocking him to the ground, and started beating on him. Some patients started screaming as the nearby nurses tried to get everyone under control while Jim tried to break them up.

He grabbed Frogman by the back of his torn white shirt and threw him onto the ground as he and another aide restrained him. Dorothy, one of the nurses who had been directing the play behind the curtains, jumped off the stage, and rushed to the alarm, the loud screeching filling every hall in the asylum and riled the patients up further. A stretcher was wheeled into the room, and Jim and the other medical professionals placed Royston onto it before rushing him to the medical wing.