A/N: Just a random story that popped into my head. When I was typing it up, I realized it was getting Waaay too long. SO, it'll probably be in two parts (or more). If anyone wants a little more, just ask and I'll see what floats into my inspirational bubble. K? (I had actually typed this up and sent it to another site in April, but I thought I'd see what anyone over here thinks. Please let me know if you like it, cuz I love comments!! ^w^)
((P.S.: I don't think Batman is quite IC, so I'm really sorry for that! I tried to put him IC, but I think my typing thought "Nope! We're doing it this way." So, yeah. Sorry again about that. :/ Oh, and forgive the lack of stylized writing. I did this around 3 in the morning, so it fluctuates from running smoothly to just sucking completely. Anywho, it also ends rather abruptly. But by then, I felt like "Screw it! I'm tired." Sooo, yeah. If anybody is interested in a second -or even third part, depending on how long this gets- part, I have typed about 50 or so words of it so far. Yeah I know, really progressed, haven't I? XD I guess I just need some more motivation *hinthint-winkwink-nudgenudge-saynomore* C:))
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Batman wasn't sure how to interpret his feelings towards the formless bat-signal in the sky.
For one, it shouldn't be there. Gordon had informed him through a text message a while back that he had destroyed it with an axe after the tragedies with Harvey Dent and everyone else they lost happened. It wasn't his decision to do it, and Batman knew that. Blaming everything on the Dark Knight for all the murders, Gordon was forced by the unanimous vote to cut off all links to the murdering vigilante that they had. Even though it was all lies. Nevertheless, it had been done, and had remained seemingly forgotten about since then.
Except now here it was.
A few ideas came to Batman as to why Gordon would be bold enough to light it up again. The biggest one--which made him drive a bit faster to the MCU building--was that something beyond his control had happened and he flat-out needed Batman's help and be damned to who knew it.
It made him uneasy, because it had to be something extreme going on for the Commissioner to so blatantly call upon him. But, it also didn't feel quite right. Something was off about the whole thing, and Bruce knew it wasn't just because the signal was on at all.
It was the way the searchlight shown that was putting him off balance. It didn't look the way it use to when it was turned on regularly. It's shape was off, and almost an entirely different one for that matter. But it also seemed to constantly be out of focus. Almost as if it wasn't stable at all. Every now and again, if Bruce looked up at it at the right times, the form seemed to disappear all together. Only to quickly return moments later.
It was all so confusing. He only hoped that nobody else had noticed it up. That would bring attention he really didn't want to deal with at this point in time.
As per usual, Batman parked his tumbler in a relatively isolated spot semi near his destination. Putting it on lock-down he made his way to the building, and when it seemed no one was around to notice him he quickly scaled it and swung himself over silently on the roof. He was eager to talk to Gordian and find out what was the problem, but all that fell to the floor when he saw the individual in front of him and what he was doing. He froze and just stared, staying in the shadows.
It was Thomas Schiff, and he was holding what looked like a child's cut out version of a bat symbol against the glass of the spotlight.
Now it all made sense as to why the signal in the sky looked the way it did.
He was clearly having trouble holding it still in the middle while the blinding light was impairing his vision and his nerves were getting in the way. Batman could see from where he stood that Schiff was sweating and fidgeting more than usual. It slipped from his fingers when he tried to cover his eyes with one hand. He swore aloud, then quick as a flash picked it back up and slammed it back in its place. He was mumbling something the whole time and every now and then seemed to let out a small giggle. He never once stopped wiggling since Batman saw him.
For Batman's part, he didn't know what to think of this. Why was Schiff on top of the MCU building, holding up a homemade bat signal? How did he even get up here without Gordon's men noticing? What did any of this mean?
When he thought of this, he became angry. How dare he mess with something that was once a warning to criminals to beware? If he was here, than that would mean his boss was somewhere nearby. Most likely in the building 'taking care' of the residents inside. That would certainly explain why there were no men in blue up here apprehending the schizophrenic.
Batman clenched his fists until the gloves squeaked. He locked his jaw in place, and with eyes blazing, he stormed forward towards the smaller man.
At the first little sound, Schiff spun around with a frightened gasp dropping the bat symbol and pushing himself flat against the spotlight base. His face brightened when he saw who it was, but fell almost as quickly when he saw how angry and fast the Batman was moving towards him.
"NO! Nonono!! Wait! Stop! I'm not here to cause trouble!!" Schiff practically screeched at Batman while sprinting to the other side of the searchlight waving his hands high in the air.
"I came here to talk to you! I don't want to fight!" Bruce slowed down in his pursuit when the other man kept the exact same distance between them, holding his hands out in front of himself defensively. His eyes were wide with panic and his voice was pleading. Batman had been use to Thomas's quirks by now, but this was different than the other times. Before, when he would be all wired up like this, it was always because he was waiting anxiously for what to do next from the Joker. Now, however, he seemed...lost. Or at a loss as to what to do. He looked like a man who was at the end of his rope.
"There's nothing for us to talk about." Batman growled to him. He wanted to keep his intimidation over the paranoid one, even though his curiosity was getting the better of him. "Where's the Joker? What is it you're doing here?"
Schiff seemed to falter as to a response to give the bigger man. His face contorted from confusion, to holding back a laugh, to downright lost and helpless again. He was ringing his hands tightly, as if trying to squeeze some invisible liquid that was still sucked into them. He darted his eyes around, shifting from one foot to the other. Just when Batman thought he wasn't going to get a response, Schiff suddenly began to speak very quickly in almost overlapping words.
"It didn't seem like a big deal, but it happened so fast none of us were prepared for it, Boss said it would all work out to our advantage, that he was the ingredient that we needed, but he just kept screaming and we didn't know what to do, and then he took off after it was done but he just kept screaming and screaming--"
"Schiff--"
"He started to claw at his face and clothes, and when Johnny tried to stop him he ran like he was afraid of us, it all happened so fast, and Boss didn't want us in the room when they talked it over, first Crane showed up late and Boss didn't like that, he threatened to cut out my tongue if I said anything again about coming on time, but he wouldn't stop screaming and it kept getting louder and louder and louder--"
"I can't understand you, You're going too fast--"
"When he started to attack us we had no choice but to lock him in his room, but he kept writhing around on the floor and then suddenly went calm, we thought he was dead he just wouldn't move and Crane never came back, we couldn't find him when we went out looking, it all seemed fine at first and some of us were looking forward to it but me and a couple others thought this was a bad idea but Boss was so sure of it we believed in him and tried not to worry--"
Schiff you need to slow down--"
"But then he woke up just as crazed as before, it took five of us to hold him down and make sure he didn't swallow his own tongue or rip open his throat and then he went calm again and didn't move, we thought for sure he was dead this time but he kept doing this and each time was longer and it wouldn't stop, it just wouldn't stop, and it all happened so fast...it happened so fast...and all I really wanted was a Root Beer--"
"DAMMIT SCHIFF! YOU'RE RAMBLING!!!" Batman roared over him much louder than what was needed. He startled himself, but especially Schiff, who coward slightly under the vigilante's wrathful volume. The poor man was shivering like he was freezing, his mouth quivering from all his effort to refrain from laughing out of fear. Eyes wide, they stared helpless up at the dark commanding form.
Bruce immediately became ashamed of himself for letting his anger get the best of him so easily. But Schiff's constant, incoherent jabbering was getting on Batman's nerves, and he finally couldn't take it anymore. Nothing he said was making any sense, and it was clear he just kept jumping from the beginning then to the end and back to the beginning of some important story. Sloshing it all together and spewing it out as fast as he could was not helping the Batman understand anything that was needed to be told. For all Batman knew, it was truly nothing of importance to begin with. He was mentally ill, after all. And clearly off his med's.
But he was willing to give Schiff one more chance to explain himself, purely out of wanting to know what exactly his regurgitated story was about. That, and there were a few points when something seemed to set off his inner alarms to investigate more.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. "We'll try this one more time. What is so important that you had to come up here just to signal me?--And think good and hard about what you are going to say. Because if you ramble on like that again, you better hope they carry plenty of ice packs in Arkham." The last part was more of a threat, but he meant it.
Thankfully Schiff seemed to understand that.
The littler man swallowed hard. He looked as if he was going to faint right then and there. But he had a mission he needed to complete. He had to somehow get the Batman to come back with him to their hideout and help them. There was no room for failure. Because if he did...
He would lose him.
He put his hands to the sides of his head and paced back and forth in front of the vigilante. His eyes were shut tight as he tried to recall all the events that took place earlier that day in chronological order. He had to get this right, he just had to.
"It's uh, it-it's a little muddled at the moment. All the details seem to have meshed together, b-but I'll try my best to explain what I remember. Did that happen..? No, that was later. And that happened yesterday, so that's not important. This is happening now, so then that must have been...yes. No. No I didn't say that. That was-hmhmhm!! Alright, then it started like this."
Thomas swished his hair out of his face with a shake of his head and turned to face Batman head-on. His hands automatically continued their wringing motion, otherwise he tried with great effort to keep himself under control and speak slowly and clearly to the Bat.
".....Uhm, wh-where would you like me to begin?"
Batman stared at him incredulously. "How about at the beginning?" What the hell was he still doing here? Why didn't he just leave? God he was sick of crazies...
Schiff just stared at him, seemingly lost in thought. "O-okay..."
"At the beginning of what you wanted to tell me, Schiff." Batman added quickly for fear the schizoid would start with his life's story instead. He was getting really impatient.
"Right." Thomas lowered his head and stared at his feet. He cleared his throat then looked back up seemingly more confident.
"It all started several hours ago. Boss had been planning a meeting with Dr. Crane for a long time, and today was the day. Y-you see..." He was hesitant about admitting this, knowing Boss would most likely kill him for telling anyone about it in advance. But he needed the Bat to understand everything, so he felt it important to include it as well.
"You see, Boss has been trying to create a new 'toy' to use on people that would kill them and leave a grin on their face, similar to h-his." He flinched at this confession but continued. "It was going to be in a gaseous form and held in a can. Where he would j-just have to pull the s-string out and throw it where he wanted to. Then e-everyone in that area would, well...'die laughing with a smile on there face,' as he put it."
Batman wasn't hiding his horror and disgust at this new information. Lying or not, that was a diabolical plan the Joker was concocting. He only hoped Schiff was making it all up and this was just some ruse for Batman to be distracted while something else was going on. He had a feeling it wasn't, and decided to listen to whatever else Schiff had to say.
Schiff seemed to be unaware of how Batman was taking the news. He just kept going with more confidence as it all started to become more clear in his head.
"We all agreed it was a great plan, but Boss was having trouble with getting the recipe right. He eventually confided in us that he was going to use Dr. Crane's help in figuring out the last 'ingredients'. We all thought it strange at the time that those two would actually be working together on anything, but Boss said it would be alright and he knew what he was doing, and something about having him 'right where he wanted him'. The last thing any of us would do is question his judgement, so we had no choice but to trust his decision. Too bad we hadn't questioned his judgement...maybe then...oh but, he would have killed us for doing so..."
"Schiff."
Thomas looked at Batman again, after his eyes had drifted to the floor. He looked so pained and filled with regret, it took Bruce back a moment. But he recovered when Schiff shook his head slightly to try and get himself back on track.
"Uhh, but, today was the day when Dr. Crane was going to come over to discuss what else needed to be done. He didn't come when he said he would, and Boss got really upset about that. Really upset. He hates being made to wait, and when that happens he starts to get creative with his knives out of boredom. After giving two of us 'makeovers', Crane arrived."
"That's when things started to go downhill." Schiff paused briefly to search the Dark Knight's face for some signs of understanding. When he noticed that Batman was looking more and more irritated, he continued without hesitation. Still wringing his hands.
"First off, me and Johnny didn't like the way 'Scarecrow' was eyeing our Boss. He was looking at him like he had an ulterior motive for being there. A sick motive. We tried to stay as close to Boss as we could, but that's where the next problem came in. And the biggest mistake we let happen. Boss invited Dr. Crane to his office room, but forced the rest of us to stay outside of it. We didn't want to leave him alone in there with him, but Boss refused us entrance. He then led him in there, and...Oh, we should have insisted in coming into the room no matter what he'd do to us!!"
Schiff's face had twisted in grief and he started to pace again. He wrung his hands into his black hair and pulled at it. Mumbling again, he was losing himself in the memories of what happened. Whatever that was.
Bruce felt his insides sink. Something was wrong with this. For the longest time he wasn't even sure that Schiff was telling him the truth. But after hearing the little bit that he had told him, and seeing him react this way now, Bruce knew it was all real.
Something had happened in that room, something so bad it was driving the Schizoid even crazier. He couldn't help himself, but he wanted to know more. He had to know more.
Schiff began to whine in short spurts, and Bruce knew it was either now or never if he wanted to get the rest of the story out now, before Schiff became too lost in his own mind.
Batman took a slow step closer holding his hands up. "Schiff, you've got to calm down and tell me the rest. If you need my help, you've got to tell me what happened in that room."
"I can't!! I don't know what happened!! I DON'T KNOW!!!" Thomas screamed at him. He grabbed his face in his hands and bent over, seemingly lost. He just kept repeating 'I don't know' over and over again in sobs. Batman felt at a loss as to what to do now. He thought about grabbing him by the collar and shaking--or hitting--him until he came back to his senses. But he didn't. Instead, a part of him was saying 'Fuck it. You don't need this, go home.' And as much as he really wanted to know what was going on, he didn't want to put the effort into wringing it out of Schiff when they were all his enemies. Who cares what happens to them? He had more important people that needed to be looked after who were more deserving than any of them. So he decided to leave.
He turned around and headed toward the edge of the building, when suddenly he felt something grab onto his cape and cling close to him.
"NO!!! Wait, please! You can't go now! Look, I-I'm calm! I've got myself together! Please don't leave! I'll tell you what I do know, just please don't leave!!!"
Batman turned to look at the sad figure pulling tightly on his cape and saw he had tears forming in his eyes. "Please. You're the only one who can help him. Please."
"How? Help who? How can I help them? You're not making yourself clear! And why should I? You all disgust me."
"Just, just listen. Please, we don't have much time. W-when they went into the room, the rest of us hovered around outside the door. To try and calm my nerves--Don't push me away! Please listen!--to calm my nerves I went to the fridge to get a Root Beer. We were out, and not wanting to leave Boss alone I tried to live without it. I-I honestly don't know how much time went by before I couldn't take it anymore and decided on getting one from the neighbors or something, when all of a sudden we heard a crash from inside the room, and....and....a scream."
Batman had somehow turned himself to face Schiff, prying his hands off his cape and holding onto the Schizoid's wrists. His eyes were darting from the Bats to every other object within sight. He looked as if he was trapped between a decision of either laughing hysterically or breaking down and crying at the Bat's feet. As much as Bruce was telling himself that he should leave, he also couldn't help but find himself wanting to know more about what had happened earlier today. Schiff had gotten his full attention, and the crazed one didn't waste time in losing it.
"We didn't have to be in the room to know who's scream that belonged to. We had heard it many times before, whenever he was really mad. But this time it was worse than any of us had ever known. My blood ran cold after the first initial shriek. It froze when it didn't seem to stop. When we heard another crash and it looked like something heavy had banged against the door, we all ran towards it and found it was locked from the inside. On the third kick-attempt we broke the door in, oh God! There he was on the floor..."
Schiff seemed unable to support his own weight and he fell to his knees. Batman was still holding his wrists, and he got down on one knee. He wanted Schiff to keep going, he was too drawn in by now for him to stop.
"He...he was writhing around on the floor, clawing at his face and anything else that touched him. When we ran to his aid he scurried away from us really fast...He looked so scared, so frightened of us. Of us! Johnny searched the room for Dr. Crane, flat-out knowing he had something to do with it. But he was gone. The window in the tiny office had been opened and we could only assume he crawled out that way. Several of us went out to search for Crane and beat the shit out of him till he tells us what he did to Boss and how to fix it...But we never found him. We still haven't found him! We don't know where that coward is hiding, but all we want is his blood. For what he did...what he did...."
Schiff looked straight into Batman's eyes. "It...it was his Fear Toxin he sprayed into Boss's face, wasn't it? Why? Why would he do that? Why?!"
Batman didn't know what to say. He watched as the tears streamed down Thomas's face in waves. The poor kid was falling apart. Before he could answer with anything, however, Schiff kept going.
"The rest of us, including me, stayed behind to try and help the Boss. But it seemed whenever we got close he would freak and go completely berserk on us. Even when we weren't close he seemed to do the same! Some of the boys just stood there with their hands in front of their faces unable to think of anything to do. Then, just when we felt like we'd go crazy from the screaming, Boss suddenly stopped everything and laid perfectly still. He just laid there, calm with his eyes open. We knew he was dead, but none of us wanted to admit it. I moved first up to the body and felt for a pulse. You can't even imagine my relief when I found out there still was one. He was alive! But barely, it was a slight pulse...That's when Johnny came into the room and told us about the news of Crane. He pushed me out of the way and grabbed the Boss. But when he tried to lift him, that's when he suddenly came back to life and wailed on Johnny worse than anything I've ever seen him do before. His screaming seemed louder this time, and even after we managed to pull Johnny out of there, he kept flailing his whole body around. None of us dared approach him when he was this way. We didn't even help him when he whacked one of his arms hard on the side of the table and I thought I heard a crack. But, like before, he suddenly went calm again and with his eyes open, he just laid there as if he was paralyzed. We were all so scared, we didn't know what to do. We only hoped he wouldn't wake up on us as four of us carried him into his bedroom, laid him down on the bed and lock the door. Once we had the door shut though, we heard him go off again! And then silence, and then the screaming, then silence, and oh God it just kept going on and on and on!!! Each time seemed to get louder and longer, but sometimes it was shorter. And his breathing, Oh!! His breathing! He sounded like he was struggling with every breath! It's beyond wheezing! He's scaring us, Batman! We...I.....think he's dying. We're going to lose him, and we don't know what to do!!!"
Schiff finally broke down and just cried. Every now and again it sounded as if he was laughing instead, but it was really hard to tell the difference. Batman had to sit back on his one foot and take in all this new information. It wasn't surprising to Batman why Schiff was so broken and lost, now that he knew the reason. What bothered Bruce most of all, however, was that it seemed 'Scarecrow' had come out with a newer and altogether different kind of spray toxin. That was anything but good. What was worse was that Bruce hadn't even known about it if a certain overwrought henchman hadn't confessed everything to him in order for him to help.
And speaking of that...
Batman let go of Schiff's wrists and abruptly stood up. He stood tall and peered down at the form below him. Schiff looked up at him, confused.
"You still haven't answered me as to how I'm suppose to help. Or even why."
Schiff seemed startled by this response, which eventually morphed into a blank stare. His hands went back to their usual busy motions as he sat looking around hoping to see someone help him. When he realized he was alone, he stared back at the Batman and answered him in a soft voice the only answer they had all agreed on.
"Well, the 'how' is that because we heard through certain connections that you yourself had been doused with a load of Dr. Crane's Fear Toxin a while back. Everyone who's ever been hit by it has died. Yet here you are. Now, either you have some sort of antidote around, or you really are as immortal and inhuman as everybody says you are. I'm really hoping, for everyone's sake, that it's the former that's true."
On Shaky legs Schiff stood up. When he had balanced himself out he once again looked into Batman's eyes and kept them there.
"And as to the 'how', truthfully I have no answer for you. Except that you've just got to help him. Please, you're the only one we can turn to. You help those in need, right? Well, we're in need. He's in need. He..." Schiff bit his bottom lip and took a small step forward. "He needs you. Won't you help him? Please..."
"That's not a good enough answer. You're going to have to do better than that. For all I know this is all a hoax, a trick! One big joke that he's set up for me and it'll only work if I fall for it. Well, I'm not."
Schiff stifled back a laugh, nearly choking on it. He pulled himself together at the seriousness of it all. He was this close to losing it all. He had to make the Batman see.
"This isn't a trick, hoax or a joke. Believe me, if it was I wouldn't be up here." He shook his head fast. "No, nono. What, do you think I wanted to come down here and confront you? Alone? You scare me. I am so...incredibly frightened of you I'm surprised I haven't pissed my pants in your presence yet. We all fear you, all of us...Except Boss. I don't know why he's so attached to you, but he is. We don't see it, but then again that's probably what makes him so, incredible. Is that he sees things others don't, and he sees something in you. I don't know what it is, but if he does than it's got to be there, Batman! It's got to be! Now please, he even cried out for you..."
He took another step closer to the vigilante, hands and eyes showing nothing but pleading. He was grasping at straws, but he was desperate.
"If that doesn't get to you, then how about the fact that I am begging? Hm? I've heard you can't turn that down! Not when someone is in need! And if not that either, than how about the fact that Dr. Crane has a new Fear Toxin, or whatever? You're going to want to investigate that, don't you? It's still in my Boss! Take blood samples if you want, anything!! Just say you'll help him! Please!!"
Suddenly, there were several heavy footsteps and shouts heard running up the stairs and behind the Rooftop door. Banging on it, and shouting "Hey! Open up! This is the police! Where's the damn key?! Forget the key! That's one of Joker's men up there, break it down!!" The door began to get a rhythmic 'THUMP' to it, as several bodies were ramming into it to bust it open.
Batman and Schiff both stared at the vibrating door. Schiff snapped his head towards Batman, panic stricken in the face. A whole new sheen of sweat began to form on his brow.
"I, I-I only knocked them out! I told you, I'm not here to fight!! Please!!!"
Batman growled at this new casualty. He didn't want to get stopped by the cops now but he didn't want to just drive straight home, either. In all truth, Batman wanted to help. Bruce wanted to help. If not for admitting to certain reasons, than it was for the fact the Schiff was pleading with him, and as his duty (even though they are villains) as Batman, if anyone comes to him in need, he must help them. Regardless of who or what they do for a living.
That, and the fact that Dr. Crane has seem to come out with a whole new toxin that's seems to be one Batman's never heard of. And if he's learned anything from the last time Crane used one of those, than he's got to stop this one before it gets out of hand as well. All he can hope for is that whatever he used on the Joker was just a prototype, and there won't be anymore. But still, he better study up on this one. The more you know, and all...
Batman turned back to look at Schiff and ignored the door. Schiff was right, and there was no way getting out of it. His conscience wouldn't let him forget it if he did.
"Alright, I'll help him."
Batman saw before he turned away the sheer happiness-glow off of Schiff. It made him smile a little. But before he could turn to jump and leave Schiff with the angry cops behind the door, he heard Schiff yell to him one last time.
"Oh wait Batman! You can't go yet, you don't know where he is!!" Batman glowered at him.
"Heh, we've moved. Boss doesn't like to stay in the same spot for too long."
Batman roared and ran at Schiff. He grabbed that little form and hauled it's wide eyed-terrified expression over his shoulder growling, "YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!!!" The door busted open with a bunch of men in blue tumbling out over each other at the same time Batman and Schiff jumped over the side of the building.
Schiff screamed the whole way down.
Batman raced to his Tumbler, threw the Schizoid and himself in, and drove like a bat out of hell yelling, "OKAY!! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU LIVING NOW!?!?!??!"