Perhaps because the brief spell of clear weather had only just passed and the dark clouds had not yet fully closed in, Gotham's dusk seemed especially rich and vivid. Golden-red sunset light, the kind no Gothamite had ever seen before, traveled north along the Gotham River to the barren island near the North District, making Arkham Asylum's old fences, now being demolished, gleam brightly.
The workers were tearing down the old railings, erecting sturdy new fences and hammering them deep into the ground. The damp scent of freshly turned soil mingled with the smell of paint, only to be scattered by the sea breeze before long.
This weathered old asylum had finally been reborn. It had moved from the southwest of Gotham's North District to an island off Gotham's northern shore, expanding its grounds by more than tenfold.
An ordinary psychiatric hospital had no need to occupy an entire island, but the newly built Arkham Asylum oversaw research centers for mental illness, brain science, psychology, and other fields. The island also housed laboratories for chemistry, cryonics, botany, human life sciences, mechanical dynamics, and more.
Of course, their official name was not scientific laboratories, but "Arkham Asylum Patient Exchange and Activity Centers."
As for why Arkham Asylum, which had just undergone renovations, was in such a hurry to move and expand to this extent, that had to start with the turning point in Schiller's career.
Previously, Schiller had temporarily put his teaching position at Gotham University on hold and become Arkham Asylum's attending physician, returning to medical practice.
Bruce's view on the matter was—this was a rare opportunity. It was time for Schiller to lead all of Gotham's mentally unstable villains into an academic arms race.
So he personally got to work and built every lunatic a headquarters.
There were all