Well a day late, sorry.
Isabel was shaking. What had come over her father? There was such a desperate look in his gaunt eyes. How could he even think that she would allow him to die? Did he really think Jonathan was mistreating her so badly that she would be that eager to get away? Pressing her face into Jonathan's chest she refused to look at her father. Jonathan was stroking her hair. Isabel closed her eyes to its calming effect.
"It's alright Pet." Jonathan said loud enough that she knew her father heard. However, her father did not respond to the taunt. Yes, Isabel was aware that Jonathan was trying to provoke her father. She did not know why though. There was no reason she could see but honestly right now she didn't care.
"Wolf, let him go." Isabel heard the woman release her father and the sound of him sliding down the boxes to the floor. Reluctantly she opened her eyes to look at him. He was slumped against the boxes knees up against his chest and his head in his hands. Isabel pulled away from Jonathan her daughterly instincts compelling her to help her father.
"Dad?" She asked crouching down next to him.
"Dad? Dad? Who is this 'Dad'?" He replied in Russian.
"Please, Dad, I know you're under a lot of stress but you have to understand I can't lose you too. I know that the relationship between Jonathan and I is odd but you know, I love you." She said still in English.
"Love me? No, you do not love me because you do not listen to me." He said stubbornly in Russian.
"How can you say that? I am your daughter you are my father. Of course, I love you."
He looked up at her cold tears in his eyes and said in English. "I have no daughter; my daughter is dead and replaced by someone else."
The sound of Isabel's hand slapping his cheek rang out around the warehouse. "How dare you," she said in angry Russian, "how dare you?"
Isabel struck her father again. Her anger was overwhelming. She was so angry she couldn't even speak. Quickly she stood and walked away from her father. Right now she couldn't be around him. She had never been this angry before she didn't know how to handle this much emotion.
"Isabel," Jonathan said from behind her.
"What?" She asked far more harshly then she meant to.
"Would you like some time alone?"
"I don't know. I just—I need some air." Isabel turned to look at Jonathan. His face held a touch of concern but she could see a cold anger behind his eyes.
"Very well, Wolf, take Isabel outside. I'll watch Mr. Warren." There was a slightly menacing edge to his voice but before Isabel could ask Jonathan not to harm her father she was shepherded out the door. The fall air surrounded her cooling her face. Isabel touched her cheek and realized that she was crying. She tried to wipe away the tears with the end of her shirt sleeves but they kept on falling.
Suddenly a tissue waved in front of her face. Isabel took it staring at Wolf who hadn't said a word this entire time. Blowing her nose Isabel used the remainder of the tissue to wipe the tears away. The tissue was able to accomplish what her sleeves could not and the tears ceased.
"Thank you," Isabel said.
"Of course…Ms. Warren—"
"Isabel." She said with a smile.
"Isabel. You must know that the world you have been taken into: Gotham, the Rouges, Jonathan. It is a dangerous world, Jonathan is a dangerous man." Isabel's face fell. Yes, she knew Jonathan was dangerous. How could she not? "That being said, during these past weeks Jonathan has become far more subdued than he has been. I think it might be hard for you to understand but ever since the Albright incident Jonathan had become very sour towards the world. Spending time with you though, he has returned to a less volatile and violent than after Albright."
"I don't understand what you are trying to say." Isabel said honestly.
"What I am trying to say is that with you Jonathan is better. Your father doesn't know Jonathan, not like I do. However, I cannot speak to you. I do not know if you are better with or without Jonathan. Your father doesn't think so but that is something you are going to have to decide for yourself."
Isabel closed her eyes. She knew what Wolf was saying but that wasn't something she could think about right now. If what she was saying were true though should that really change things? "Wolf—"
"Elizabeth."
"Elizabeth, thank you. Honestly I cannot even begin to think about something like that right now."
"I know. I just wanted you to hear it. Personally I can't even begin to imagine what you have been through and are going through with Jonathan; but I can say that I have struggled with what is right and wrong, far more than any of the other Rogues you've met. So if you have any questions, now is the time to ask."
Isabel nodded meekly. Why was this all so confusing? "Thank you for your offer of aid but I really only have one question that I think you can help with: who is this Albright person? The Mad Hatter mentioned them as well, they obviously had some importance to Jonathan but he's never mentioned them."
Elizabeth sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry that is the one thing I shouldn't tell you. Jonathan is the only one who can properly explain his dealings with Becky Albright and yes it is a woman. What I can tell you is that she wasn't like you in the slightest."
"I see, thank you for that at least. I suppose I do have another question. What day is it?"
"Oh, today is Monday the 13th of October."
"Is it?" Isabel laughed a little bit. "Amazing." It had been about a month and half since she had been taken by Jonathan. It did not feel that long or maybe it felt longer she couldn't quite tell. Come to think of it her birthday was in a few days on the 17th. She had never been one to celebrate her birthdays with anything other than a nice dinner but for it to have it sneak up on her like this was shocking.
"Are you ready to go back in? I don't think we should leave your father with Jonathan for much longer."
"Yes, I'm ready," she lied. Isabel did not want to go back in at all but now was as good of a time as any.
Elizabeth opened the door for her and theatrically bowed her inside. Once inside Isabel saw the Jonathan and her father were no longer where she had left them. She looked over at Elizabeth who was sniffing the air like a dog and turning her head trying to pinpoint the sources of the scents.
"This way," she said. Isabel followed the woman through the maze of tall boxes and shelves. From somewhere ahead Isabel could hear Jonathan's voice but his words were indistinguishable to her.
"Scarecrow!" Isabel jumped at Elizabeth's warning call and Jonathan's voice ceased. They rounded a few more corners and Isabel gasped in shock. This is what her father had been building!?
She could see why her father had thought that the machine would destroy the city. It was well over ten feet tall, big and hulking. It looked like a monster. A mass of welding metal and wires contorted to look like a man. Needles stuck out of the fingers of one hand connected to large canisters of toxin on the back. The other hand was a cannon; a cannon for what Isabel did not know. However, it was the head of the machine that made Isabel's knees weaken. It was a maw of inhuman proportions with sharp metal teeth surrounding a gaping black hole.
"Is it not beautiful Isabel?" Jonathan asked drawing her out of her disbelief.
"W-what is it?" She asked not able to hide the alarm from her voice.
"I call it the Scare-suit." He said placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Which is a stupid name, I call it Scarebeast," Elizabeth said from the other side of her.
"I have told you it is a mechanical suit not a beast. Therefore it is a Scare-suit."
"Yeah and I designed it I get naming rights."
"The naming rights are mine, I paid for it."
"Yeah and what happens when I leak the name to the press the night of? 'Scarecrow is in Amusement Mile! But he's like some sort of beast! A Scarebeast! You have to get down here, he's beating Batman!' They're going to take the name and run trust me."
Jonathan's hand tightened on her shoulder as he bickered with Elizabeth. It would have been humorous if Isabel hadn't been still in shock at the machine. Slowly her eyes left the machine to find her father sitting on a chair near a work bench that was littered with scrap metal. His head was once again in his hands, he looked miserable. If there were a vodka bottle nestled besides him he would have looked the same as the day they had buried her mother. Maybe she was being selfish by choosing to stay with Jonathan when her father so looked as though he wanted to die. If he was willing to sacrifice his life for hers…no. No matter how much her father had insulted her or wanted to die she couldn't allow him to. She knew that's not what her mother would have wanted and that isn't what she wanted. Isabel had always done what her father asked and tried to make life more comfortable for him and for once it was time to do something for herself.
"Jonathan," she said placing a hand over the one he had on her shoulder.
"Yes Pet?" He asked instantly breaking off the argument he was having with Elizabeth.
"Please can we just go? I don't think I can stand it here anymore."
"Does that mean you've decided?"
"Yes…let's just go back, please, I'll spend the time with you until everything is finished. But please can we go?"
"Of course. Wolf, get Mr. Warren back to work shortly and no more additions to the machine, those teeth look awful."
"They're cool." Elizabeth said as Jonathan began leading Isabel away. Isabel looked up at Jonathan just in time to see him giving Elizabeth 'the finger'. Despite herself Isabel smiled at his childish behavior.
Isabel had been silent for the duration of the car ride so far choosing instead to gaze listlessly out of the window. Jonathan could tell she was thinking about her father. "Isabel."
"Yes?" She said in a monotone voice.
"Would you like to talk?"
Isabel didn't respond. Jonathan stopped at a red light and looked over at her. She hadn't even moved and was still looking out the window. "Very well."
"Why did you do it?" She finally said as Jonathan made a left turn.
"Do what precisely?"
"You provoked him on purpose. You gave me this necklace so he would see it. You called me Pet in front of him. All to make him angry."
"You are partially correct. Yes, I did those things to provoke him. I enjoy making people squirm far too much to miss an opportunity."
"So you ruined my relationship with my father for some joke? For your own pleasure?"
"No, that was merely a consequence. I did it so he would finally see that you don't need him. You could get on fine without him and that he could no longer control you."
"I don't understand he knows that and he's never controlled me."
"Does he," Jonathan asked stopping at a light once again. "Tell me, how long have you lived in your father's house? How many years ago could you have moved out? You didn't go to college because you thought he needed you. You've lived in the same failing farm town your whole life because of him. You slaved over your library because he couldn't move on from your mother and he couldn't let you move on either. Elizabeth told me how often your father would say that you needed him, that you couldn't survive without him. How, he must keep you at home like a little doll so nothing would ever happen to you like it did you mother." A horn honked behind him and Jonathan drove on.
"Don't say that. You don't know him."
"No, but I know you. Did you think I gained nothing from you talking about him? You try so hard to justify his behavior towards you. The shaking, the anger, the manipulation to make you stay with him and care for him. I am dying to know, did you take over your mother's spot in the house when she died? Doing the household chores and tending to your father's needs while he lessened the loss with alcohol and you buried your feelings inside?"
"Why are you doing this?" Isabel cried and Jonathan now noticed that tears were pooling in her eyes. With an internal moderately regretful sigh Jonathan pulled over to the side of the road and put the car in neutral. He turned towards her as much as he could and put an arm around her shoulders causing her to look up at him.
"I went too far, forgive me. I was merely trying to show you that you're better off without your father." A few tears fell and Jonathan wiped them away with his other hand. "Can you forgive me Isabel? I truly did not mean to cause you such distress."
Isabel sniffed deeply. "I think I might be able to but not yet. I need some more time to work through everything. Soon, I just need to think some, it has been a very stressful day."
"Alright, you're right it has been a long day." Jonathan removed his hand from Isabel's shoulders and checking to make sure the coast was clear, pulled back out into traffic.
So something happened to one of the fanfics I was reading...long story short the author of the fic was picked up for some of her non-fanfiction by a publisher and she was told she must take down all of her fanfiction. Her username was March Glen (just in case any of you read her stories too) and I was wondering if anyone here has heard of that before or can think of any reason why besides 'the publisher doesn't want to risk being sued even though this is a pretty much anon site'. She doesn't even allow PMs anymore so I can't ask her for more specific reasons as to why.
Also if you wrote something that had a chance of being published would you take down your fanfic for it? I have this odd dream of a more gritty (probably with a non-romance story arc) version Elizabeth/Wolf someday making into a real Batman comic but I don't know if I would be willing to take down the fanfic for that to happen.
Also, Scarebeast is actually something from the comics, though I've changed (a lot) how Jonathan because Scarebeast it's worth wiki-ing because it is really interesting how it happens. And the Scarebeast is wicked creepy.