1Disclaimer: Yeah, I know its been a long time since my last post. Writer's block and life have been hitting hard what can I say? This is my rewritten version of events from the "Stranges Minds" episode of 'The Batman'. Not to be confused with 'Twisted Flashback' which was meant as a follow up. This is telling the actual story of that episode with my spin on it, fixing my only gripe with that episode (it is still my favourite episode of the entire show regardless) which was the underuse of Ellen Yin in that episode. Anyway enough from me, hope you like it!
"Joker!"
That was the last word to come out of Detective Ellen Yin's mouth before all hell broke loose. Before she had time to react, her front door had come crashing down on top of her, throwing her across the apartment. She had instinctively drawn her sidearm, but something wide and heavy was thrown across the room, slamming into her and knocking the gun out of her hands.
The next thing she knew, Yin was on one knee with her back to the wall, as the silhouette of the Joker moved in front of her, blocking the light from the hallway outside. Still in a state of shock, Yin barely had time to think before Joker brought his arm around, brandishing a small spray bottle.
"And as promised! The soda is free!" came the taunting voice, following by a cold jet of liquid, which hit Yin squarely in the face. She flinched, raising an arm to shield herself from the substance, but it had already reached her nose. Joker simply stood and watched with an expectant smile.
Move! You can't let him take you!...
The batwave device was only a few feet away inside her jacket pocket. If she could just reach it, she'd be able to warn Batman. Yin tried to move her body, but the drug had already worked its way into her system. Her legs wouldn't move, and her eyelids were starting to get heavy. She tried to keep her head up as her vision began to blur and she felt the strength leaving her body. Yin was unconscious before she even hit the ground.
It was dark when Yin regained consciousness. Her head still felt heavy from the effects of whatever Joker had sprayed her with. She gently raised her head and slowly took in her surrounds. It was almost too dark to see but she could just make out a low ceiling over her head and enclosed walls all around her.
"Where am I..." she murmured as her drowsiness wore off. Yin felt something move in front of her face and realised that something had been placed on her head, squeezing tightly against her cheeks. Some sort of hat? In fact, she now realised that even her clothes seemed unusually tight on her and there was something even tighter around her chest.
She looked down at herself in confusion, expecting to see her black t-shirt and jeans, but was instead greeted with purple skin-tight fabric and thick dark cords wrapped around her torso. The hat on her head some kind of harlequin hat, it jangled every time she tried to move. It was then that Yin realised she had been tied down in a sitting position, with her wrists and ankles bound tightly in place.
"What..."
In a moment of panic, she began to struggle desperately against her bonds, but they held. Yin didn't give up immediately however, rocking back and raising her still bound legs up to her chest. "Ugh! Joker! Let me out!", she yelled as she kicked out at the wall in front of her with all her strength. The wall held, but Yin kicked the wall again, silently cursing herself for having gotten into this situation.
"Joker! JOKER! LET ME OUT OF HERE!"
Bruce took a moment to ponder at the strange contraption that lay before him. It looked not too unfamiliar from a hospital bed, if it had been tilted upwards, and was strapped to something that looked like an EKG machine. Alfred watched his ward lay down on the machine, a look of concern and uncertainty on his face.
"If I may say sir, this is positively daft. You could be risking your own sanity!"
Of course, Bruce had his doubts about the health risks of what he was about to do. Afterall, no one had ever entered the mind of a homicidal maniac in search of the whereabouts of his hostage. This was completely unexplored territory, but Bruce couldn't bear to let another person he cared about die. He'd already been through enough, with the death of his parents and the loss of Ethan. Bruce couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't Yin's involvement with him as the Batman that had made her a target for Joker's twisted plans. His thoughts were interrupted by a beeping tone coming from the device.
"System's ready."
Bruce pulled down the cowl and waited for the machine to activate. Alfred watched the readout on the display, as it searched for the right frequency. He looked up at Bruce, with a grim expression.
"Frequency captured."
"Send me in".
Reluctantly, Alfred pushed the button and everything went dark around Bruce. Cautiously, he stood up from the table. A light opened up in front of him; a doorway to the Joker's mind. Raising his cowl, the Batman stepped through.
Immediately he could sense that something was wrong. He was upside down, in complete freefall. Batman could see what looked like Gotham below, hurtling towards him. He braced for impact, flipping in the air, and landed upright onto the ground below. Strangely enough, he felt no pain or shock from the landing. However, his arrival seemed to cause a ripple in the reality around him. A heavy presence settled around him; Joker knew he was here. Looking around, Batman noticed strange looking fish flying through the air, cackling with that tell-tale laugh. This was not the Gotham he knew. The statue in the centre of town had been replaced with one of Joker and the moon…it had a face.
"Ooh! A Bat in my Belfry!"
The voice boomed down at Batman, who stood his ground.
"Where are you keeping Yin?!"
"Howling at the moon, eh? I thought I was the crazy one."
Batman scowled.
"Tell me where she is Joker, or I'll make sure you never leave Arkham!"
The Joker-moon's face became smug.
"Make yourself at home Bats. Just watch out for the loose screws!"
The statue in from of Batman began to crumble, revealing an enormous screw, which began tumbling towards him. His eyes widened in shock and he dived to get out of the way. Suddenly the sound of a woman crying out could be heard down the street. Batman spun around to see a mother cradling her baby, in the direct path of the rampant screw. Not wasting a second, Batman leapt towards the pair, grabbing them out of harm's way.
The woman raised her head, revealing the wide grin of the Joker.
"Psyche!"
A little baby Joker emerge from the cloth it was wrapped it.
"What ma said."
Batman had had enough of Joker's toying.
"Enough mind games Joker, tell me where she is now!"
The two Jokers began to cackle madly, their mouths peeling off onto the ground, where they continued to laugh mercilessly. Batman stared down at the detached mouths, horrified. He began to move away from the strange display. If he couldn't get Joker to tell him directly, then he would have to look through the madman's subconscious for the answers he needed. Grappling up onto a rooftop for a better vantage point, Batman took a moment to think about how to even go about finding Joker's subconscious. He didn't have much time, so he had to think of something fast. Another loud cackle brought his attention to a large factory with a massive lightbulb attached to its roof.
"That looks like as good a place as any, don't you think?"
The familiar feminine voice came from behind Batman, startling him. He wheeled around to find Detective Yin standing there with her hands resting against her hips, looking up at the lightbulb.
"You'd think he wouldn't be this obvious about where he'd keep all his ideas, but who can really comprehend the mind of a maniac."
She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, as if it wasn't at all strange for her to be there. Batman remained stunned, unable to process what he was seeing.
"Yin?! How are you even here?"
Batman had walked over and grabbed Yin by the shoulders without realising. This startled her and she gave him a quizzical look.
"Whoa, take it easy Batman. You look like you've seen a ghost."
He let go of her apologetically.
"What if I have?"
For one brief terrifying moment, Batman thought that Yin might already be dead, and that this really was an apparition of his friend. His better judgement overcame his fear however. He wouldn't put it past Joker to lie about the eight hours before it was too late to save Yin, but somehow, he knew that wasn't his MO. Joker wanted Batman to know what he was planning just to watch the vigilante tear himself apart. He turned back to Yin, who was still looking at him with a puzzled expression.
"How is this possible?", he asked.
Joker couldn't possible have brought Yin's consciousness here as well. Professor Strange had only built two prototypes according to the Wayne Enterprises records he'd been able to access from the Batcave. Strange would have used his unit to interface with Joker's mind and of course Bruce had acquired the remaining prototype for his own entry.
Yin looked down at herself.
"I'm not entirely sure either. All I know is that you really want – no, need to find me."
Her eyebrows furrowed, "Which sounds weird when I'm standing right here."
She gestured to herself, with a smirk before crossing her arms.
"But wasting time wondering about me being here, is going to save me, is it?
Batman nodded, turning back to the 'ideas factory'.
"Then we'll start in there."