Six months after Arkham incident...

Shot. Then another one. And then another. All of them hit the target in the head, leaving three, gaping holes.

I looked proudly at the result and lowered my gun. I took off the earmuffs and placed the weapon on the table.

"Nice, kid. Really nice.", said Jim, an older guy sitting in the corner and watching my training.

"I had a good teacher.", I answered with a smile. Jim was somewhat harsh, but he appreciated the effort I put into our lessons.

"Sorry, kid, but I'm afraid it's late already and I gotta lot to do tomorrow.", he said.

We said goodbay and I left the shooting range, heading to my car. I started looking for the keys in my purse, when suddenly I heard a voice.

"Gimme the purse, lady. Either that or you can say goodbay to that pretty face."

I turned back to see a mugger with the knife and green bandana on his mouth. He was tall and seemed to be rather strong.

I looked him in the eyes and dropped the purse. He looked at it, slightly surprised.

A mistake.

I elbowed him in the face and kneed him in the ribs, making him drop his knife. He made a few steps back. He grabbed his bleeding nose; it was probably broken.

"You bitch !", the mugger shouted.

He tried to charge at me, only to fail miserably when I dodged and hit him in the back of his head. He then turned to me and I punched him in the face, knocking him out.

"That may, or may not, leave a mark.", I said, looking at him. "The cops probably miss you, pal."

I rushed inside the diner and looked around, looking for my brother.

"Alice !", the familiar voice shouted. I notice him, sitting at one of the tables.

"Jeff !", I shouted with joy. It was almost a year since we last saw each other.

I hugged him tightly and he hugged me back.

"Hey, sis."

"Hey. Sorry for being late. Something stopped me."

"It's okay. It's so good to see you.", he said with a smile. "C'mon, sit. Alright, now tell me how have you been ?"

I looked at him, pretending to be neutral.

"I'm good."

"You know what I mean. The Asylum. I can't even imagine what you went through. I wanted to see you earlier, but..."

"I know, soldier's life is demanding.", I said sarcastically. He remained silent for a second.

"I'm sorry. I just feel that I should have been there. To watch out for you.", he said.

"I've already had someone to watch out for me.", I thought. "It's not your fault. I'm okay. The past is just the past. We can't change it, so we have to accept it.", I said. "Maybe just we should just eat something and then talk ? I guess you're fed up with military cuisine."

"You're kiddin' ? I'm starving."

"Me too."

We chose some extremely unhealthy food to celebrate our meeting and a nice, older waitress approached us and we made our orders.

"I like this place. The atmosphere is pretty nice, considering what's on the outside.", Jeff said and looked at the another gang of bikers on the street.

"It's not so bad.", I said with a smile. Martial arts and hand-to-hand combat lessons highly raised my confidence, as well as the marksman training. Everything sponsored by TYGER company and Hugo Strange, who deeply cared for his future psychologists.

"Aren't you afraid ? I mean, you worked in Arkham, but there's something wrong with this city. The crime is everywhere."

"I know how to take care of myself."

"Since when ?", he asked with curiosity.

"Since the incident.", I answered. The memories of that night returned to me, floading my mind with images of death and suffering.

"At least this nightmare is over. The place was shut down, right ? Actually, where do you work now ?"

"Some time after the Asylum was closed, I was invited to participate in a big-scale, psychological experiment unlike anything we've ever seen. You've seen that big wall covering one of the neighborhoods ?"

"Yeah. What about it ?"

"Part of the town was transformed into prison area. The law was pretty flexible, as it seems.", I said with suspicion.

"What ?! Please, don't tell me you're gonna work there.", Jeff said with worry on his face.

"Relax, the inmates will have to participate in psychological evaluation from time to time. I've got four sessions per week, forty-five minutes each. There's security over there and we have our own, protected offices. We don't spend any time with prisoners outside of the sessions."

We were interrupted when the waitress brought our meal.

"Thank you.", I said to her, while Jeff just nodded and smiled.

"I still don't like it.", my brother said.

"You didn't like it when I started working in the Asylum."

"And for a very good reason.

After two hours, we left the diner and we headed back to my place, listening to the radio.

"I've had no idea that you like rock, sis.", Jeff said.

"Cause you never asked."

"I though you're more into something more, you know... dark."

"We talked about this.", I said shortly.

"Sorry. I thought you're over it."

"Because I am. I'm not doing this anymore.", I said coldly, avoiding his glance. "Why do we even talk about it ?", I asked.

"Because we never really did that before. People should talk about things like this, right ? You're a psychologist, you should know that you can't just keep it all inside. I'm just... listen... I know it was... hard for you when dad..."

"Yes. It was."

I left the car nearby my apartment. It was faster to walk than to look for a better parking spot.

"You know... it was hard for me as well. I had to take care of you and mom. It was hard for us all.", Jeff said.

I remained quiet.

"It was even harder when you moved out.", he said.

"So now it's my fault ?", I asked coldly.

"Of course not !", he said peaceably. "But I didn't agree with your choice. You left so soon after graduation. And for what ? To listen to some maniacs' confessions ? When dad died..."

"When dad died, I was fourteen.", I said. "I needed to know why he... why he did what he did. I needed to know how someone so happy can just end his life.", I said through tears. "When mom told us what the doctors diagnosed... I couldn't believe. All those years, he tried so hard to... schizophrenia can be treated. He didn't have to... Why did he do this ?", I said, now openly crying.

"I don't know.", Jeff said and hugged me. "I don't know."