Chapter 24

Madeline touched up her makeup in the bathroom mirror while the music continued to blaze outside. That dance with Harley Quinn had been something else and Madeline hoped that Waylon had enjoyed her little show for him. Of course he did, he was a guy, what guy didn't like watching two hot girls making out. As she reapplied more lipstick the door to the bathroom opened and another person walked in. Madeline wasn't really paying attention to who it was but then a hand landed on her shoulder and spun her around violently.

"What the hell was that!" Paula yelled, shaking Madeline by the shoulders and causing her to drop the lipstick. It hit the ground face down and smudged, leaving a red splodge on the tiles.

"Paula? What are you doing here?" Madeline asked, shoving her friend away a little and retrieving the now busted up lipstick.

"Working. Which you'd know if you ever came to work anymore." Paula scolded, folding her arms and glowering at Madeline. She was wearing the golden sequin attire of the other dancing girls. Madeline wondered perhaps if she had been another victim of Harley Quinn's little kissing rampage.

She shrugged at Paula's complaints and tossed the lipstick in the bin. It was too ruined to repair and she could always get more for cheap.

"I've been taking a break. You know, like a couple mental health day days. Or weeks perhaps, I lose track." Madeline theorised, not quite sure just how long it had been since she'd gone to work. She'd been spending all her time with Waylon and those nights seemed to fly by so she'd lost all concept of time.

"How is going out to parties conducive to mental health?" Paula exclaimed, blocking Madeline from leaving the bathroom with her arms. Madeline tried to step around her but Paula just moved into the way. She sighed.

"Some people meditate. I party, get drunk and have copious amounts of sex. We all respond to things differently."

"I sincerely hope that the copious amounts of sex are at least with human partners." Paula growled. Madeline giggled nervously.

"Well..." She began, blushing a little. Guess there was no point keeping it a secret from Paula anymore since everyone else seemed to know about it.

Paula's face turned as white as a sheet and her jaw dropped.

"Oh my god!" She spat with disgust. "Don't tell me you're fucking that crocodile freak!"

"Hey!" Madeline protested, jabbing her friend with her finger. "He can't help it, it's a genetic mutation."

"So? He still looks like a fucking giant crocodile. What's wrong with you?"

Madeline rolled her eyes at her friends tiny mind and attempted to escape the bathroom once more.

"Wait a second." Paula gasped, getting in the way once more. "Is he 'The Guy'?"

Madeline scratched the back of her head and blushed, giving Paula all the answers she needed and contorting her face into another shocked and disgusted one.

"You lying bitch!" She snapped, shoving Madeline back.

"How am I liar?" Madeline protested, her hands in the air protesting innocence.

"You said you met him six years ago back when you were at home." Paula complained, folding her arms and scowling at Madeline, obviously hurt by this betrayal.

"I did. He was a part of the travelling circus that came to town." Madeline confessed, and Paula became even more shocked.

"He's a carnie as well!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air as if that was somehow worse than giant cannibalistic crocodile man.

"Oh come on. As if trailer trash is any better than a carnie." She grumbled. Paula was right though, carnies were pretty low down on the social ladder.

"So let me get this straight. You're having sex with a giant cannibalistic crocodile monster, circus freak show act super criminal?"

"Technically I'm dating him but essentially yes." Madeline confessed blankly, it sounded ridiculous when Paula put it like that but it was indeed true.

"That's even worse!" Paula screamed, sounding like the world was coming to an end.

"Hey, I don't judge your choices in men." Madeline argued. "Remember that dude that looked like a pig. Lenny or something?"

"At least he was human."

"And Waylon is human. He's just different." Madeline explained, calming down and sighing heavily. "And I care about him. And he loves me."

"Oh my god you sound like a delusional teenager in love with an older man who is so obviously using you." Paula hissed, sounding like a know it all parent.

"He's twenty seven." Madeline exclaimed, probably sounding like said delusional teenager trying to argue her case. Twenty two and twenty seven weren't that far apart though.

"That's not the point! The point is that he is a psychotic murderer who eats people."

"I don't care about that!"

"That's the problem. You aren't thinking outside of your little bubble of desire!" Paula accused. "You aren't thinking about the future. What happens if he gets bored of you and tries to eat you too?"

"That's not going to happen." Madeline threatened, taking on a very stern tone and glaring at her friend. "I know it's not. And I don't care about the future so long as I'm with him."

She shoved her friend to the side to stalk out of the bathroom but Paula grabbed her arm before she could get through the door.

"I'm just worried that you're going to get hurt." Paula begged, her eyes almost in tears but not quite glazing over. Madeline just yanked her arm free and scowled at her now ex friend, and slammed the door in her face. She pushed through the crowd of people and tried to get her bearings on where the couch was. She needed another drink, a stronger drink this time.

Then she spotted someone who looked out of place in a sea of dancing club goers. Tall, muscular, but no one seemed to paying any heed to them. They weren't dressed for a club, and instead wearing a heavy jacket and gloves. Madeline couldn't see his face and as she tried to move a little closer to get a good look people moved into her line of sight. It didn't feel right, he wasn't just another party goer who happened to be dressed weird. He had a purpose. Then she spotted him reach into his coat and produce a strange silver gun of some kind and again no one seemed to notice him do so. It was only when he aimed the gun that people started to back away but not totally freak out. This was when they moved from Madeline's line of sight and Madeline saw the man's face, or rather, the Mexican wrester mask he wore over it. He was one of Bane's men.

The gun was like a dart gun pistol and clear as day in the chamber was a dart containing a familiar green liquid in the glass cylinder.

"Oh no." Madeline gasped, and the thug gave her a wink before firing the gun. The dart sped across the room and Madeline already knew who the target was. She shoved through the crowd which was hard to do due to her size and height but when she made it to a clearing and looked over at the booth, Waylon was already hunched over clutching at his neck, clearly in a lot of pain. Madeline glanced back at Bane's thug but he'd already left and everyone else looked around with confusion. Riddler was the only one anywhere near Waylon and was attempting to see what was wrong.

"EDWARD GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Madeline screamed, running over as fast as her heels would allow her and almost tripping over herself. "IT WAS TITAN. THEY SHOT HIM WITH TITAN!" Riddler immediately scurried away and ran the way Madeline came. As they passed mid run he grabbed Madeline around the waist and tried to take her with him.

"What are you doing? I have to get to him. I have to calm him down before he..."

"There's nothing you can do. Whatever it is you do to calm him down won't work with Titan. Its chemical not psychological. All we can do is get out of here!"

Riddler attempted to pull Madeline away from her goal but she resisted and eventually he was forced to let her go and save himself. Madeline ignored his warnings, she had to get to Waylon, she had to help him.

Waylon clutched at his neck where the dart had hit him, clawing at it and leaving gashes in his flesh. He gritted his teeth and growled loudly in immense pain as the Titan began to course through his body and alter his mind. Madeline got to him and tried to look at his eyes but they were shut tight.

"I'm here. It's going to be okay." She cried, the tears already forming in her eyes. It wasn't going to be okay. Waylon looked to be resisting the Titan's effects but it acted quickly and his whole body shook with intense pain. He couldn't keep still anymore and threw his arms out, knocking over the table and tossing Madeline to the floor. He roared loudly, Madeline froze up in place, and everyone else screamed and ran. He opened his eyes, but they weren't yellow anymore. They were green. Toxic Titan green without any pupils. Just a haze of green that seeped into his mind and cut off all humanity.

Madeline didn't even attempt to start singing, Riddler was right, it wouldn't work. This Titan was too powerful, and dangerous. Waylon looked around and growled like an animal at everyone in the club desperately trying to escape, even the other super criminals making a run for it rather than facing this enraged monster. Waylon looked around for something to kill and his vision landed on Madeline, baring his teeth and snapping wildly as he made a lunge for her, claws reached out to slash rather than hold.

Madeline scrambled to her feet and just about missed being torn apart, making a dive for the bar and ducking behind it. But it offered little protection and with a powerful roar Waylon tore the bar from the floor, taking fragments of the tiles with him and tossing it aside into a group of people who were trying to take the emergency exit, crushing them. Madeline grabbed the first bottle she could find and tossed it at Waylon who didn't make an attempt to stop it, the glass piercing his face as it shattered in the alcohol getting in his eyes. He roared and clutched at his face as Madeline scrambled to her feet and made a run for the exit. This wasn't Waylon anymore. This wasn't her boyfriend. This was a monster. This was Killer Croc, and he was going to kill her.

Once Waylon tore the glass from his face and glared through the alcohol burning his eyes he had forgotten all about his first target and went for someone closer. Madeline looked back just in time to see Waylon snap his jaws around a person and lift them into the air. He shook them like a vicious dog and the poor victims stomach tore in two. The lower part of their body went flying, blood splattering and intestines spilling out. Some of the blood splattered onto Madeline, speckles of red on her arms and face, even showing up on her dress. There was blood everywhere. People screamed and ran about, some getting caught by the terrible monster rampaging around them, getting slashed to death or even eaten in the process before he turned to his next victim. Madeline couldn't breathe, it was all too much. She couldn't think. She couldn't come up with a solution or a plan. There was nothing she could do to stop him or help him. She had to get out of there, she had to go, she had to run.

All thought escaping her mind she turned away from the carnage and ran towards the door, passing the dead bouncer whom only Bane's thug could have killed to get the weapon into the club. She ran out of the door, up the stairs, through the alley and onto the street that was now drenched in rain as the heavens opened and the thunder cracked like a demon from hell. She kept running, not stopping to look back or even retrieve her shoe that fell off when she tripped. She just kept running, following the sidewalk through the dark and cold, her makeup running and her air becoming a tangled mess. There was blood in her hair too but she didn't even notice it. She just kept running away, away from it all, away from the monster that was not her boyfriend, it was not Waylon. It was something else, a monster or demon from hell. It couldn't be him. It wasn't allowed to be him. She needed that not to be him. It was all the Titan's fault. It had nothing to do with him. All that savagery, all that primal rage and monstrosity did not belong to Waylon at all. It couldn't be. She needed it not to be the case.

Madeline ran for what felt like no time at all, but when her legs finally tired and almost buckled over, she was practically on the other side of Gotham. It was late and no one was around on the streets thank god, and only the odd taxi drove past, slowing down to peer at the strange running woman in their headlights before moving on. Madeline's knees shook and she couldn't stand anymore. She fell forward onto her hands and knees on the wet sidewalk. She panted for air, each breath making her shiver and quake. She felt her eyes burn as she wanted to cry, so she let it, and sat there on the sidewalk in the cold night air with tears running down her face. No one stopped to help her, they probably thought she was crazy. Maybe she was crazy. It was cold and wet, and she felt her body turn to ice but she made no attempt to move.

Everything was going to be alright, she thought to herself. Waylon would go back to normal and no doubt feel terrible for what happened. He would probably curl up in a sad ball out of guilt and Madeline would have to coax him out of it. She'd tell him everything was alright, that she didn't mind that he'd tried to kill her and that none of it was his fault. But he had tried to kill her, and while it wasn't his fault she was still terrified at the fact he'd almost succeeded. Even if it wasn't really him, even if it was the Titan making him flip out and become a monster, that monster had to come from somewhere, and while Madeline didn't really mind that he was dangerous he had never been dangerous towards her. She'd always been the exception, the person he couldn't get vicious around, the only one who could bring him back from the brink of insanity. But now...

She got her feet and began to walk. She didn't know where she was going but she wanted to go home. Not to her home, to Waylon's home. Perhaps he'd be there waiting for her. Blood on his hands freaking out at what he'd done. If she wasn't there maybe he'd think he'd killed her or something. How long did Titan take to wear off?

As she slowly walked, her legs heavy and almost foreign to her, she passed an electronics shop that had the televisions playing for passersby. Madeline glanced at the eight screens stacked like a pyramid showing a woman sat behind a desk in a studio with a piece of paper in her hand and a screen to her left.

"Breaking news in downtown Gotham this evening as police received a call to a well known underground nightclub after reports came in of the notorious super criminal, Killer Croc, slaughtering the nightclubs patrons."

Madeline pressed her face against the glass window and peered in, horror on her face. Oh no, this was bad.

"When they arrived at the scene there were already mass casualties and the Batman is assisting the police in bringing this dangerous creature." The news reporter explained, reading from the script she had been provided on the topic before putting her hand to her earpiece to listen to new information. "I have just been informed that the police and Batman have successfully brought Killer Croc down and are returning him to Arkham Asylum for containment. We now go live to Vicki Vale at the scene..."

Madeline backed away from the window and culched her hair. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. They had him in Arkham? How was he going to get out? What was going to happen to him? What were they going to do to him in their again? He was traumatized enough about the last time, and now he'd have to re-live the whole thing again. She had to get to him. She had to go to Arkham and make sure he was okay. She had to get him out, but how.

She didn't have time or the mental stability to figure it out and hailed the next taxi that came along. The first taxi ignored her, seeing her as a crazy woman on the side walk and speeding up to get past her, but the second stopped and she climbed into the car.

"Where too miss. Home?" He asked, leaning over the back of his seat.

"Arkham Asylum please." Madeline asked sheepishly, folding her arms to keep warm.

"Arkham. That's way out of town." The taxi driver protested, going to switch off the meter he had just turned on, abandoning the job.

"I have money." Madeline said, reaching into her handbag that had somehow managed to stay with her the whole time. She produced handfuls of cash and thrust them at the driver who just looked confused and slightly worried.

"Please take it all." Madeline insisted, tossing more his way. "Just take me to Arkham."

So Waylon is back in Arkham Asylum and Madeline might be suffering from PTSD but who knows. What will happen next? Will Waylon be normal or has the Titan screwed up his mind for good. How will their relationship work when he is in the Asylum, will Madeline get him out somehow? I have to say writing this chapter really broke my heart and made me super sad so I hope you guys feel heartbroken too. Also next chapter we will get a small snippet of the story from the perspective of Aaron Cash so don't freak out when you read the next one.