I don't own anything, believe me when I say that I would like to, however I do not. They in fact belong to DC Comics, Warner Brothers Studios, Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, and the late Heath Ledger. All elements of Gotham City are based off of Chicago, IL and are designed around blue prints and street maps I have of that area. Other elements are named for their original comic counterparts, as the back stories and basic personality traits are also based off of the comic counterparts. Read, enjoy, and review! Thank you!
"You don't, uh, seem to be listening here Batsy… He doesn't know any of us. In fact, he uh, he doesn't know anything."
Batman –Bruce- hadn't listened to the meaning of those words when the Joker had started explaining why he'd been calling Jonathan Crane, and just why he'd been found in the same apartment as him again after Crane's lengthy absence. (Or why the man was, once again, covered his more than his fair share of bruises, cuts, and bandages.) The Joker had just laughed and mumbled something about screeching wheelies before saying those words…words that maybe he should have paid better attention too before starting yet another grappling match with the ever unstable Jonathan Crane.
"You see, Jonny isn't quite…well for lack of better terms, right in the, uh, head now. Not that he really was before hand either, but even more so, uh, now. That's why he's Jonny now, not Crane, not Crow, but Jonny."
Or Jonny, as the Joker was calling him.
At least he hadn't gotten any stronger in the missing time he'd been away, not like Bruce had really been expecting that. Crane wasn't really one for weight lifting, or physical activity in general he thought, so he hadn't really needed to worry about that. But he hadn't seemed to get it through his thick head that The Batman only really wanted to help him, to protect him from himself really, and not hurt him without just cause. Well, at least this version hadn't, anyways. In fact, none of them probably had.
It hadn't really taken much or very long to subdue him again, his frail body slamming into the mattress once more before he went still, if a bit disoriented. He hadn't knocked him out, just rattled him a bit, which was good. The Batman would need him awake for any sort of questioning once he figured out how to get Crane out and the Joker located without alerting the majority of the GCPD too –or Crane's- whereabouts. He would of course call Commissioner Gordon later, but right now, he couldn't afford to deal with both SWAT teams and the homicidal nature of the Joker all at once. Not when he was also trying to figure out just what had happened under his very nose.
When he'd finally gotten enough oxygen back into his lungs to start allowing for firing of neurons again, he realized that the phone was more than likely still on regardless of its position on the floor at the foot of the bed, and that Jonathan had rolled onto his side, away from him, into the fetal position and started to shake. He just prayed, absolutely prayed, that he hadn't done more damage than the Joker most likely already had. Physical wounds weren't all that difficult to tend with, since you could clearly see the full extent of them thanks to medical improvements. Emotional wounds, however, weren't even close to that…and when dealing with Jonathan Crane, nothing was as simple as it should be.
Bruce had to force the urge to shout in frustration (or sigh, since he couldn't decided) down within his gut before walking –stalking- over to shut the phone off. Whatever the Joker would have said probably wouldn't help anyways, and see as how he wasn't here now to hinder any sort of progress; he'd decided to take Crane away. He wasn't quite sure where he was going to take him yet, seeing as how he didn't know the full extent of his injuries or the events surrounding them. He could just drop him off at Arkham, of course, but seeing as how the Joker left there on a whim, something told him that if the clown had really wanted too, it wouldn't have taken much for him to waltz right in the front door and snatched Crane right out from under their noses. And if there was one thing that the clearly distressed man didn't need right now, it was having his world totally shattered by an over-bearing, homicidal clown.
Or the sudden withdraw of his medications.
Bruce could have nearly slapped himself upside the head for forgetting that tidbit of information. Jonathan wasn't ever un-medicated, even he knew that. The man was a recovering patient from his own hallucinogenic drugs, on top of already being a Psychopharmacologist and a heart-care patient. (Which, was something Batman had just learned from old medical files he'd recovered from Arkham, since most of them were "lost" when all the patients broke out into the Narrows) Jonathan Crane was sick before any of this had happened, albeit lighter than he was now, and the new head of the facility, Jeremiah Arkham, had attempted to not only cover it up, but to get rid of all the evidence that Jonathan Crane had existed before being thrown into their care in the first place.
That's why a copy of those files had found their way onto both Arkham's desk and Commissioner Gordon's…and hopefully Crane's newest carrying physician.
He expected great things from Joan Leland.
After all, she'd been top of her class and recommended by all her mentors.
But hopefully she would be enough, enough to get through the terrifyingly cold outer shell that made up Jonathan Crane's personality, and into the real helplessness and want that he knew the man buried deep within himself. He wasn't a psychologist or anything, no, far from it, but even he was bright enough to see that a majority of Crane's problems stemmed from the loneliness and isolation he's suffered throughout his lifetime. (Well, that and years upon years worth of mental and physical abuse.) That's where his alter ego –the separate personality even- of the Scarecrow had come from. It was an effort to disassociate from the world around him, the helplessness, and the isolation.
And though he didn't outright show it, Bruce really did care.
Now if only he could find the man's medication, he could start working on how to get Crane out of this place without significant damage to himself or to the ex-doctor, and to a place where he could not only get the help he needed, but a safe environment in which to live.
For the time being, anyways.
Dun, dun, dun! The plot thickens, and we all get a nice little insight into Bruce's head. He really does want to help, after all, that's why he pours so much money into Arkham and the asylum's care anyways. And I rather like Joan Leland, so she gets a shout out.
Also, someone asked for more Batman/Bruce insight, and so I happily tried to oblige, though I've gone almost what? Two months without posting? Sheesh, I'm sorry. I'll try harder to get these updates along faster, I promise.
