Concealed Into the Night
Chapter 8- Enemies
The drive back to Gotham took its time even though they both wished that their "day trip" wouldn't have to come to an end. Approaching Selina's old town apartment, Bruce placed his sports car on park. Selina laid her hands on her lap. The lapsed silence wouldn't last long.
She took off her seatbelt and began to glance at the apartment building, already assuming that Holly should be home awaiting for Selina's arrival. "Thanks for everything, it was kind of nice to slow down and relax." She felt her voice trailing off.
"Anytime! I've never had a chance to relax in long time, so accompanying me made it more worthwhile." He replied, while he kept a steady gaze at her.
Selina grabbed her purse and without another word, she leaned in giving Bruce a small kiss on his cheek. "You're a great man Bruce, you showed me not every man in this city is cruel and spoiled." She felt her voice faltering once again.
Bruce felt her kiss, even if it was on his cheek. He didn't want to ruin the moment he was sharing so instead Bruce watched her open the car door. "Selina, wait!"
She stopped and turned herself around to face him. The cool breeze from the outside gently made its way inside the car. Selina felt somewhat uncomfortable and weak for stating the obvious. She felt like a lost stray who didn't know where to go.
"Promise me something?" He asked.
"Depends on what's the circumstances." She affirmatively stated.
"Promise me to follow your heart. Not someone who could manipulate you into the wrong decision. I know that we're friends, but I care about you. And if you need anything, I'm here for you."
His words were like knives to her throat. She despised the word "care", but when Bruce says it, it means something else entirely."Why is he acting like a need therapy? Does he know who I really am?" She thought to herself.
Selina took a deep breath. "I promise. But what if I break it?" She narrowed her gaze at him.
"I won't be let down, it'll be on your shoulders to carry the leverage." He countered calmly.
"Nice metaphor! I'll see you around." And with that, she slammed the car door shut and disappeared in an instant.
"She always does that." He reminded himself before leaving her apartment and towards the batcave.
"It looks like Crane has drugged two of our best cops, but he has to be working with someone else." Detective Rob reported the news to the Commissioner.
The bodies laid weak and could've been unconscious for many hours at a time without anyone noticing their disappearance, until now. Scars scattered in various parts of their throats and forearms. The Commissioner held his finger up to one of the men's throat to get a pulse. The officer was still alive yet, it'll take him awhile for the induced chemicals to wear off his system.
In the meantime, Officer Rob gathered some DNA from the two men; in hopes that he could create an antidote before it's too late. "I'll contact some analysts to look over this evidence and figure out what Crane did to these guys."
Commissioner nodded in response. "Is everyone else safe? Crane could've taken some of the patients in Gotham General to use for whatever the hell he plans on the entire city!"
"I checked with all the nurses and physicians, they're all safe." Detective Rob assured.
"We can't risk the lives of these people." The Commissioner took a deep breath. "If Crane pulls another trick like this, who knows what he'll do next.
Detective Rob rapidly punched random numbers onto his phone. "We'll have our men scatter the city, hoping we can find this man before it's too late. "His eyes wandered back to the Commissioner. "Can't you call "the batman"? Maybe he can help us investigate the drugs Crane induced."
"I sent him a message, but he went dark on me. And besides he's not like the Joker, we can handle Crane." He reminded the detective.
"But you said Crane could be working for someone else, then what?" The detective contemplated for an answer.
Instead Commissioner ordered the Detective to contact other officers to stand in patrol. Before leaving the premises, Gordon took one more look at the frail bodies laying on the ground. The feeling that these men might see another day thrashed his insides upwards. This would be a war, but he doesn't know how bad this one cruel act could lead to several in the coming weeks. He needed to prepare himself for the worst, no matter what.
Inside an abandoned warehouse, Jonathan Crane sunk his body into a metal chair. He discarded the scarecrow mask to conceal his identity of driving fear into the innocence.
He was exhausted, the break in Gotham General nearly took all of his strength. The job was getting harder by the minute. Crane rubbed his eyes, to ease the enormous migraine that he was still overcoming from the day. He abruptly interrupted by loud footsteps approaching in his direction.
"Sorry, this place is private property, so leave premises or you'll have to face the consequences." Crane warned the intruder.
The Shadow being placed his hat on the table in front of Crane. The man revealed himself into the dim lights of the warehouse. He wore a black mask.
"And who might you be?" Crane asked without hesitation.
"The name is black mask, and Carmine Falcone sent me here." Black Mask's voice roared.
Crane chuckled at the name. "Why should I trust you? I'm already stuck with Falcone, doing his dirty work and now he sent you here?"
Black Mask slammed his fists with anger. "Listen Crane, you're the only one left to carry out my plan. If you help me, I'll make sure the shares will be given to you at any price."
"See that's the problem." He stretched his out his limbs onto an empty chair. "I don't go for the money, greed is what drives this damn society. Why do we need more spoiled pricks, like you to put a price out into the open.
Black Mask took off his disguise. He threw it onto the ground, distressed. "Fine, what do you want?"
"Well, if it isn't Roman Sionis. Now I see why you have the mask." He averted his gaze to his Scarecrow disguise. "Since you offered, I need more toxins, but my office closed the division after my criminal offenses, so now I'm running out."
"I'll get you some, but I need you to get rid of Bruce Wayne." Roman affirmably stated.
"Listen, I can't just get rid of the Prince of Gotham without a reason. If we're partners, then we need to find grounding. Just look how Joker conjured chaos two years ago. He was targeting the batman and he failed miserably." Crane crossed his arms.
"What do you have in mind?" Roman asked.
Crane smiled and replied. "We target citizens. Unanimously people will get poisoned with my toxins, the victims will never see it coming because it can be inhaled into the human nose in anyway possible. The cops and batman won't be prepared for these attacks. Turning Gotham City into an epidemic with poisons."
Roman scratched his chin and nodded. "Alright, we'll follow your plan, but I need to get my revenge on Bruce Wayne for taking away my family's company and to do that I'll get through his girlfriend. She works at the clothing boutique, it's the only way to weaken his heart."
"Interesting, using a man's heart as a weakness. And maybe while we're at it, we can play a trick on the batman. Just to get our plan geared in full swing." Crane responded.
Roman removed his hands from the table and took a few steps back. "I'll have some of my guards keep you updated on the situation and send you the toxins for the attack."
Before Roman took another step, he heard Crane yell out his name. "Don't tell any of this the Carmine Falcone, he can't be trusted no matter what. Stick with whatever deal you had, but nothing more."
Roman opened the door of the warehouse and answered. "I understand."
When the door slammed shut, Crane was once again lost in his thoughts.
"What's batman afraid of?"
A/N:Sorry this took so long to write. It might have some grammatical errors, so I'll fix them later. Thanks for reading!:)
