Welcome to Gaia! ::

Chapter 1~ New Arrivals

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The halls were dark, yet not as dark as the newest addition to the Arkham board of Psychiatrists expected the halls to be. With all of the stories he had heard, he had expected the halls to be dark, a few scattered lights being the only means of visibility down the long and seemingly never ending hallway lined with cells. Full of the most deranged criminals Gotham had to offer. All just waiting for a chance to break free and mow down anyone in their path. All just waiting for some lucky psychiatrist to crack them and reap the benefits of the scientific community.

But it wasn't like that at all. The halls were very well lit.. kept remarkably clean... and the cells that lined the hallway walls looked about as impenetrable as a bank vault door. Save for the unbreakable glass located next to each door, allowing full visibility of the patient inside. All in all... the place looked as clean, safe, and professional as one could imagine the famed Arkham Asylum to be.

Walking down a set of the said hallways, was an older looking gentleman, and a younger man. Both wearing clean white Arkham regulated lab coats, a name tag, a pass card, and a clip board tucked under their arms as they went. The older man was tall, aged, and his silver hairline had receded to the point that there was nothing left on the top of his head. His thick rimmed black glasses barely gave any one a clear view of the man's face. The younger man had a fresh-out-of-grad-school kind of look about him. Young face, neatly combed but stylized blonde hair, blue eyes that were taking in every detail they could come across, and an arm full of any possible bit of information or resource he might need.

After a few moments of walking down the hall, the older Doctor glanced over to address the younger man. “Since you're new here, I thought we'd start off with a few of the... less hazardous cases.” the older psychiatrist said out loud. The younger gentleman looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

“Less hazardous? But... this is the same wing that they hold some of the worst patients. Pamela Ivy, Harleen Quinzel, and-” the younger man began.

“And some new patients who have just been brought in today, Doctor Stevens.” the older man said, pulling the clip board out from under his arm. “Because of your qualifications, I don't want to start you out too lightly. But I don't trust letting you sit in with any of our regular patients just yet. So... we'll have to make due with simply keeping you on your toes for now.”

“Keeping me on my toes?” Stevens asked.

“Oh yes.” the older man replied, tapping a pen on the metal clip as he breezed down the first paper. “It is unfortunate, but escapes happen here. As I'm sure you've heard. A fleeing patient will not hesitate to take hostages or eliminate anyone in their way.”

The younger man's face turned a shade of white as he followed the other man down the hall. His eyes now scanning the cells as they passed by. “So... if the Joker or Two Face were to escape their cell...”

“They'd have to take the back halls, or come straight down this hall.” the man replied, as though it were nothing.

“Doctor Mattis, isn't there any way to-” the younger man began. The conversation was interrupted by a series of grunts and curses that echoed down the dark hallway.

“Will you just hold her?! How hard could it possibly be to- AGH!” someone shouted from the dark end of the hall.

“Sounds like our final arrival has just woken up.” Dr. Mattis said quietly, staring down the hall where the source of the commotion was coming from.

“Final arrival?” Dr. Stevens asked his eyes wide as he stared down the hall.

“For today I imagine.” Mattis replied as he turned his attention back towards his clip board. Another round of curses bounced off the walls of the hallway as he flipped through a few papers. “We've had about three new patients that have just been transferred over to us today. Two of whom are already locked up in their new cells. This one had to have a few... extra precautions taken before we could move her into a cell.”

“Extra precautions?”

“Yes. She's a magic user. We had to take extra steps to ensure that she would not be able to spell anyone, or break out of her cell. Normally the heroes would take care of a powerful threat like her... but with her mental state, its best that she be here.” Dr. Mattis explained, flipping through another paper.

Stevens' face turned another shade of white, and he uneasily glanced down the hall again.

“Don't worry.” Mattis said, assuringly. “These patients need another evaluation before we decide upon who will be treating them. Misty Blackstone seems... cooperative enough. But since she just arrived today, we can't be sure how she will react to her situation, or evaluations. Vincent... that's all we could find on his name... has a unique ability to bring out... problematic emotions in others. His doctor will need to be hand picked to lessen the odds of succumbing to Victor's abilities. And Janet Loveless...” he began, then paused as the sound of scuffling became louder.

“Well, I'm sure you'll see why we need to re-evaluate her before we assign a doctor. On the plus side... here's your first encounter with an attempted escape.” Mattis continued, then handed the young boy his clipboard. “You may want to step against the wall.” he added, gently pushing Stevens back with the arm he was handing over his clipboard with.

A moment later, a woman came running down the hall. The bright orange jumpsuit pants she wore scrapped against her legs and bare feet as she ran. The belts and loose straps of the straight jacket around her torso shook behind her, almost taunting the few burly guards that were chasing after her. Three more guards suddenly burst through a side door on the wall across from the two doctors. The woman spotted them, realized that she wasn't going to be able to make it past them, and stopped in her tracks. Her black hair shot forward at the sudden stop, draping across her shoulders and face like a dark curtain. She did NOT look happy.

Still fighting off the drugs that were still in her system, she became too focused on the guards in front of her. Forgetting all about those behind her... giving one the chance to grab her from behind.

Gossamer let out a guttural snarl at the action, and thrashed in the man's grip. As the other guards walked up to help, Gossamer hooked her feet behind the man's legs, and put all of her weight forward. The man lost his balance, and as he fell forward, Gossamer shifted her weight to the side, so that she landed on him rather than the other way around. The guard let go as he hit the hard floor, and Gossamer rolled out of his reach, and past two of the other guards. When she came back up, she sent a kick to one of the guard's throat, then another to the next one's face.

While the closest guards to her were not layed out on the ground, Gossamer spun on her foot and moved to take off again. She was stopped by another hand grabbing her, and yanking her to the side. Droctor Mattis slammed her against the glass of the cell next to them, and pinned her while she was momentarily stunned. Quickly, he sank the needle of a syringe he had closed up in his pocket into the side of her neck. Gossamer snarled again, this time a more coherent and colorful vocabulary, before her eyes widened as her legs gave out from under her.

The minute Doctor Mattis felt the woman's weight shift to the ground he released her and let her slide down to the ground. The guards that had recovered quickly got to their feet and grabbed the woman before she could recover herself.

Mattis sighed lightly, again as though it were nothing, and wiped off the needle with the corner of his lab coat. “As I said... we'll have to settle with keeping you on your toes for now.” he said, pulling what looked like a glasses case from his pocket. He opened it, and slid the syringe inside before locking it back up. “She'll be paralyzed for about an hour. Plenty of time to get her settled in. We'll have to check in on Miss Loveless when she has calmed down.”

Stevens just stared at the group, his eyes wide and his face a slightly paler shade of white. He stammered a bit, trying to find his voice.

Mattis took note, and shrugged him off. “You'll get used to it. You'll have to. If not, you'll end up in the medical ward or worse. Now then, why don't we head down to the two patients I was intending for you to see today. We can start with the woman who claims to have the powers of an ancient, extinct alien dragon. Or we can go to the woman who believes she's from the future, was sent to the past, and has lived since the dark ages.”

Stevens just blinked back at the man.

Mattis, for the first time that day, cracked a smile. “Well... at least today isn't going to be dull. This should be fun watching you get your bearings here. Welcome to Arkham young man.”

((Because at the rate THEY'RE going . . .))

"HEY! Lettus go, y'all! We're de GOOD guys!!" one of the other newer inmates growled, struggling to get loose of the ten men who were trying to hold him down . . . a thick Cajun accent with a husky smoker's rasp, funny eye and a messy pompadour. It seems like Arell had gotten himself into one hell of a jam, but he wasn't the only one.

"You can't do this to us! We're ********' AMERICAN CITIZENS! I want my lawyer!! We've been framed!!" his sidekick hollered. Messy brown hair that was hidden under a baseball cap, but the two were stripped of their regular clothes for inmates' jumpsuits . . . and both men were quite angry about their situations:

Arell and C.J. had finally been captured by their own "allies" and thrown in Arkham!

"We ain't sayin' a damn thing 'til we talk to our lawyers! Now let us outta here, ya big palooka!" C.J. cursed, struggling to get himself loose from the guard. It got to the point where C.J.'s baseball cap flung off his head and hit the ground with the amount he was trying to free himself. The guard stopped, but only to get a better grip on the angry young man.

"Yeah! Wha' he said! Doan' MAKE me use my other form, ********> Arell growled, him needing NINE MORE MEN than the guard carrying C.J. to his cell was bad enough . . . and he was still a human! Perhaps turning Gator on them would get these big jerks to leave 'em alone, right?

"And THIS is unlawful detainment. That damn b*****d half-brother of his threw us in here for doing our jobs! We got every freakin' right to be pissed off!!" C.J. responded. Getting an arm free, he smirked. "Take THIS a*****e. He's been draggin' me by my collar since I got IN HERE!" C.J. growled, his last two words got emphasized by throwing a punch at the guard, missing, but the guard caught it, beat him over the head and put the cuffs on the upstart, dragging his unconscious body off to their cell.

Arell on the other hand, got real calm. "Get a reeeeeeaaaaallll good look at us, che'. You won' get dis view fer very long." Arell growled calmly before the two got placed into the cell.

Unfortunately, what C.J. was saying was true-er than people thought, and it made ol' Gator Boy twice as mad.

Meanwhile, who else but ol' Blue-Lantern Dundee caught up and made it to Dr. Gray.

"Hey, doctor . . . I hope that they weren't too much of a hassle getting processed." Dundee said. Arell just stood there, giving his be-powered step-bro the death glare.

The woman looked over to the ((Blue Lantern, waitwhut? )) man in the blue and white costume as he approached them. "They were resistant, as most of our new arrivals are. Though they did calm down and comply." she said, then turned to him and brushed some of her hair from her face. "Now, I haven't been completely caught up with why they were brought in yet. But, I'd like to get both sides of the story, so if you would ple-" she began, then turned her head towards Joker as he spoke up.

Doctor Gray frowned heavily. She was SO glad she wasn't in charge of that man. She wasn't even interested in filling in for a day. She sighed slightly and turned her attention back to Arell. She'd address CJ, but he was a little unresponsive at the moment. "Please don't let him encourage you. More people actually leave this place and stay out if we're sure they're level headed enough to do so. He does his own thing and breaks out, and I can assure you he is always sent right back here."

The woman turned her attention back over to the clown, then tensed up a bit. After a moment's pause, she sighed and glanced away from him. She figured that she hoped that if she didn't give him much attention, he'd get bored and mind his own. "I'll see what I can do. I'm sure someone has some time off today to see you if you're really wanting to see someone." she replied.

((Oncaro and I talked about it. Kinda needed the practice))

"Aww, believe me. Wit' what I been through so far, I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet." Arell growled snarling at Dundee like a shark.

Dundee sighed. "Somehow I knew that would happen. I just hope that they learn to adapt better in soci-" he was cut off by the big, burly Cajun man scoffing.

"Boy, only thang gon' get learned is I'm gon' learn you t' not betray your own family!" Arell growled. Those iron bars were the only thing getting in the way of knockin' Dun's head right off his shoulders.

C.J. on the other hand came to after that and whoo boy were they in a spot! He thought it was just a dream!