Sarah Cassidy

Dr. Sarah Cassidy is a character from the 2009 video game, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Cassidy is one of the psychiatrists at Arkham Asylum. She is the personal therapist for Victor Zsasz.

Biography
Dr. Sarah Cassidy has been working at Arkham while assigned to the case of serial killer Victor Zsasz. She was stalked and targeted by Zsasz after his most recent escape. Cassidy is good friends with Dr. Gretchen Westler, another Arkham doctor. She lives alone in a Gotham apartment with her cat, maintaining a good relationship with her best friend, Garianne. Cassidy works the night shift at Arkham's Medical Facility during the fourth week of every month.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Dr. Cassidy was among the many doctors present during the Joker's takeover of Arkham Asylum. An army of Blackgate convicts temporarily housed in Arkham broke free and seized Arkham West, led by the Joker and Harley Quinn. Cassidy was oblivious to the situation outside the Medical building. She was in working in her office in the Medical Facility's Sanatorium when armed Blackgate convicts led by Quinn burst in, under orders from the Joker to capture all the doctors working there. They shot the asylum guards in the Upper Corridor and killed several medical staff while rounding up two orderlies and another doctor. They dragged Dr. Cassidy out of her office and into an adjoining room while Harley Quinn proceeded to the Medical Facility with a captured police Commissioner Gordon, who had been at Arkham to supervise the Joker's transferral, in tow. Cassidy attempted to resist her assailants but they held her at gunpoint. Dr. Cassidy reluctantly complied with them while holding back tears. Discouraged in the face of the impending situation, she cried quietly in a corner as the Joker's men strapped two orderlies into electroshock chairs to prevent escape. As the convicts stood guard, Batman found a way into the Medical Facility upon arriving from Arkham East. He contemplated why the Joker would want all the doctors and gained access to the Sanatorium through a ventilation shaft in the Maintenance Access. Batman defeated the convicts holding the doctors prisoner and approached Sarah. She explained she was carrying out her normal duties when armed thugs had come in and captured her. She and another doctor explained they had heard gunfire from the Upper Corridor, and that Dr. Adrian Chen had gone to the Surgery Room, Dr. Steve Kellerman had gone to Patient Observation, and Dr. Penelope Young had gone to the X-Ray facility. Batman advised the doctors to remain in the Sanatorium before leaving to search out the other doctors. Dr. Cassidy set to work freeing an orderly in one of the electroshock chairs. ("Hold still, Mike. I'll get you free.") After she and another doctor had freed the orderlies, they examined one of the convicts Batman had defeated earlier while awaiting his return. When Batman returned with security guard Aaron Cash and Dr. Young, he found that the elevator was bringing someone up from Secure Access. He left Dr. Young with Cash to go retrieve her notes in the Arkham Mansion, and ordered Cassidy to go to the Patient Observation Room with the orderlies and barricade herself inside. Cassidy left the Sanatorium, and followed Batman's instructions. She regrouped in the Patient Observation Room with Dr. Kellerman, and the two doctors helped seal off the room with large pieces of furniture, mainly cabinets and desks. Dr. Cassidy remained in the Patient Observation Room, conversing in low tones with Dr. Kellerman for the remainder of the Joker's takeover, which ended as Arkham's remaining security forces and the Gotham City Police Department retook control of Arkham island. Cassidy survived the attack on Arkham and returned to her duties after the Joker was placed back in custody. It is unknown if she met her former patient, Zsasz, during the takeover, as he had been freed from his cell during the chaos.

Patient Interviews with Victor Zsasz
Patient Interview #1, November 4th In his first recorded interview, Dr. Cassidy was assigned to Zsasz to try and reason with him through therapy. She told him that they should get to know each other, and he told her that he didn't need to know her, as "everything is meaningless". She thought that his view of life was very negative, and he asked if she read his file. She described how it said he was born to a rich family, how his parents died, and how he lost the money gambling. He simply said, "none of it matters", and that only the "mark" matters. He describes his "work" (tally marks) to her and says that he has a spot for her mark, asking if she would like to see where.

Patient Interview #2, November 19th In the next interview, Dr. Cassidy continued to discuss Zsasz's victims, and pointed out 20 women killed in Gotham and left in life-like poses. Zsasz referred to all his victims as "zombies", working through the "daily grind" and waiting for someone to "liberate" them, and said that the 20 women were all "lucky" to receive his "gift". He asked the doctor how she felt when she went up the elevator and into her apartment every day. He expressed knowledge of where she lived, mentioning the six locks to apartment 433 and pointing out that she forgot to buy her cat food...again. She asked how he knew that, and he went on to say how she sat in her favorite red chair, cat on lap, "waiting for something to happen". He told her that he could "make it happen", and that he was Sarah's "salvation".

Terrified and shocked by Zsasz's knowledge (apparently through stalking her), Dr. Cassidy went on leave from Arkham to get away from Zsasz. Dr. Gretchen Westler was assigned as Zsasz's replacement doctor. He told her that he was depressed. She asked why he was depressed, and he said that it was because of the "one that got away", the one he "chose" (referring to Dr. Cassidy). He said that he needed her "mark" and voiced that he wanted it several times during their next interviews. Zsasz later attacked a security guard out of fury and was placed in an isolation cell.

In one of her next interviews with Zsasz, Dr. Westler recalled Zsasz's isolation and was quite aware of his fixation on Sarah Cassidy. A guard rushed in and told her that Zsasz had escaped. She was frightened, but the guard told her that it was safe and that Zsasz had definitely left the island. Relieved at first, Dr. Westler alerted the guard that Zsasz would need to kill again and urged him to warn the authorities. She quickly realized that he had gone after Dr. Cassidy, and called Sarah to warn her. Before she could tell her of Zsasz's escape, Sarah said someone was at the door. Gretchen yelled for her not to answer it and that Zsasz was free.

Road to Arkham
After the door was answered, Zsasz kidnapped Sarah. Zsasz took Dr. Cassidy to an Old County Hospital in order to kill her. ("Remember how you poked and prodded my brain at Arkham, doctor? I thought I'd return the favor..") Zsasz held a knife to Cassidy's head and prepared to stab her, but was thwarted by Batman. An anonymous tip had been found in Cassidy's office, leading Batman to the hospital, where he saved Dr. Cassidy from her gruesome demise. Zsasz was subsequently put back in his cell at Arkham.