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4: I Will Plan

As much as I wanted to rush and get him out of Arkham I knew I needed to take my time. I needed to study everything he gave me. I needed to make a plan. Scratch that plan, new plan. Revise. Revise. Revise until it was as close to flawless as I could make it. I needed several alternatives, in case the primary plan failed. I needed to strengthen and heal. I needed to be sure I wasn't going to fail. Failure meant he would be stuck. Failure meant a possible death. I spent a month planning with Drew by my side. It was nice having him around. He kept me sane. I think I kept him sane too, but he was mainly filled with sadness. I could see it in his eyes; a part of him was gone. When he laughed it was never completely sincere, when he smiled it was shallow, but I couldn't blame him.

"I keep having trouble with this section," I pointed to part of the map. "I know its like, the most important part, but I keep messing up on it."

"Let me see." He examined the map closely for a few minutes. "Here," he put tracing paper over it and began to outline the area. "We can give you a cheat sheet."

"I think it will be a bit of a hassle to carry around a bit of tracing paper."

He laughed his empty laugh, "Not paper. I'll tattoo it on you. That way you can't forget it, and if you do it will be right there."

"That's not a bad idea." We continued our work. The whole month I had let him tattoo me. Partially because I knew it gave his life some normalcy and partially because the pain helped me. It helped me harden myself for the journey ahead. I had gone to the other location Jack had indicated on a map a week ago. Small explosive charges were ready to go, a few machine guns were locked and loaded, everything I needed. I took the supplies back to my house, making sure to be careful with the dangerous bits. "It's starting to get cold. We'll all need wetsuits for the swim across the river."

"We'll all? It's just you two isn't it?"

"You can go with us. Get out of this ticking time bomb. Plus, I want to go see Camille and her husband. Make sure they are okay. They will want to go, too."

"Camille Faraday?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, do you know her?"

He grimaced, "She and her husband have had a trial."

"What kind of trial?"

"Sometimes they play them on the TV. It was before you came to me last month when I saw."

"What kind of trial?" I heard my voice growing sterner.

"Well, the 'elite' of Gotham. They have all been sentenced to death, or exile. Exile is basically death though."

"So she's dead? They're dead?" I was fuming.

"I'm sorry."

"Who did this? That gigantic freak?"

"Kind of. You remember that guy who used to be a psychiatrist over in the narrows? He's become a judge of sorts. But yeah, Bane is behind all of it."

"I should have killed him when I had the chance."

"You can't kill that guy. He's a goddamn monster."

"New plan," I stood up. "We get Jack out, and then we make these men pay. They need to pay for the Faradays. They need to pay for your Ashley."

"First let's just focus on getting Jack out, alright." He was trying his hardest to calm me down. "Then we will see what he thinks."

"Where do they sell wetsuits?"

"There is a board shop a couple miles from here."

I grabbed Jack's coat. "I will be back in a few. Stay put." I put a few knives in my pocket as well as one of the guns I had from my Stealing Siren days. I dare someone to fuck with me today. I dare them.

The walk to the store was shorter than I hoped. No appearances by the masked monster either. I was let down. I broke into the store and looked around for the wetsuits. There they were. I checked the price tags, figuring the most expensive would probably help the most. Then I grabbed two for each of us in escalating sizes. It was better to safe than sorry. I tried to figure out how we would carry our things. We would just need a bunch of money really, and all of mine was safely tucked in a vault on the other side of the country where my son was probably playing now. My parents would be filled with worry, but they know I am a fighter. I wonder if my sister even cared? Did she even noticed he home town was being held hostage? Who cares? I went to the drawers at the cashiers' stations and emptied them of all the remaining cash. Only $500. I would give half to Drew, but we still needed more if Jack and I were going to make it to Oregon. I stuffed the suits in a bag along with a few coats I thought might be useful. On my way back to my home I broke into a few more stores and took the money from the registers. Just a little over $2,000 should be enough. We were quiet the rest of that day. Going over the plan, getting everything ready for the swim across the river. In two days we would go to Arkham, but first we would have to move to a closer location. That was today's plan. Crossing the bridge to the narrows was nerve racking. We moved at night, heavily laden by all of our things. I was glad he was with me though, and not just because he could carry some of the stuff. He was great to have around really. He may have been depressed, but that didn't hold his snarky comments in. He may have lost the one he loved but he shared my hope. He had family out of Gotham. Family he would be going to see any day now. He would go and have a life, and it would be for Ashley.