Phantom in Cell 47

*1

It was a regular day for most people. Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, had to escort the Joker back to Arkham once again. While going through the halls of the peanut gallery, Batman had sudden chills run through his spine. What was that feeling? And if it couldn't get any weirder, the temperature started to drop. 

"Oh, Batsy! How rude of you!" Joker exclaimed as he rolled his eyes. Batman raised a brow, silently asking what he meant. Batman stopped and signaled for Joker to continue. Joker rolled his eyes at the supposed 'greatest detective's ' obliviousness. "You didn't say "hi" to Phantom!" Joker pointed out as he looked at the side. 

Batman followed his gaze and it landed to a small frail-looking boy with pearly white hair, and enchanting toxic green eyes. He looked small. He looked weak. But his aura was cold. 

The boy stared back at the caped crusader in wonder. He slowly tilted his head and continued to stare. If it weren't for his glowing eyes or his demonic aura, then this would be called "cute". 

"Hey, Phantom! Miss Uncle Joker, already?" Joker asked as he smiled at the boy, wanting to intimidate him, even just a little. The small boy's brows slowly knitted together as he turned his gaze to Joker. 

Joker's smile fell and his body shivered. 

The boy glanced at Batman again and then walked off. The farther he was, the warmer it became until it was brought back to the average temperature of the Arkham Asylum. 

Batman wondered who was this boy. Why was he in Arkham? What did he do to be in Arkham? 

Batman put those thoughts aside and continued to escort Joker to the peanut gallery. He kept on looking over his shoulder, checking to see if "Phantom" was there. Nothing.

After he escorted Joker, Batman went back to the front desk. He asked, "who's Phantom?"

The front desk's eyes widened for a but then started to write papers to avoid eye contact with the Dark Knight.

"He's the ghost boy," a worker said, coming out of a room. Batman gave him his full attention. The worker continued, "he has no criminal records so we really don't know much about what he did. All we know is that he just appeared in Cell 47."

"He's very scary," the front desk said, finally looking up at Batman. "And powerful, too," the worker said as he leaned on the front desk with his arms crossed.

"How powerful?" Batman asked, his face emotionless. But inside his head was a million questions. "He has 7 restraints, and yet, his powers are all oozing out," the worker replied. "And he has never spoken. Ever!" The front desk replied.

"The Boy won't give us any info about him," the worker said as he shrugged his arms. "He is underweight even with all the food we give him, he's too quiet, and you can't even hear his footsteps."

"It's like, he's made out of thin air," the front desk added.

"Can't hear his footsteps?" Batman wondered out loud.

The worker nodded while the front desk "eeped!" and hid behind the desk. Batman raised a questioning brow. The worker pointed behind him and there stand Phantom.

Batman will not admit it, but he was a little startled.

"The Boy..." The front desk man whispered as he peeked out of the desk only to hide again.

Batman examined the boy. The orange uniform that he wore was loose on him. His hair was messy and unkempt. And his eyes were dull but still shone brightly. There were 7 restraints on him. 1 for each of his forearms. 1 for each of his wrists. 1 for each of his legs. And 1 for his neck.

To Batman, it seemed strange to see a youngling have so many restraints. What did he even do to deserve this?

The boy tilted his head as if he was also examining the Dark Knight.

The two made eye contact when the boy turned and walked away. Like what they said, Batman could not hear his footsteps.

He glanced at the boy again and then he turned around to exit the facility.

He has some research to do.