Chapter 25
I do not own Batman Begins or any relating characters
I'm going to use music lyrics to introduce this chapter. I don't usually do that but I felt this song in particular related very well to Layla's character. Enjoy! :3
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"This is a wasteland, my only retreat. With heaven above you, there's hell over me."
- Pierce the Veil, Hell Above
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The moment Layla retreated out the doorway of Crane's little anti-asylum, it dawned on her that she had no idea how to make her way toward the actual exit. She had no sense of direction, no light, only pure adrenaline was pushing her forward. She had a choice to make - right or left.
Multiple sets of footsteps were growing nearer from behind her. She recognized Crane's voice - no, Scarecrow's - but it was obvious he had brought along some of his henchmen with him...
"She doesn't have any idea how to navigate this place. You two take the left, you come with me. Don't let her escape, she knows too much."
Layla shivered. The sheer enthusiasm in his voice made her heart jump into her throat; he was just so eager to poison her.
Nearer and nearer the footsteps came, so Layla made the split-second decision to take the left hallway. It was pitch-black and narrow; she had never really been the type to become uncomfortable in tight spaces, but she felt as though she was going to suffocate.
The hallway opened up into a large boiler room. Layla immediately got a sort of skeptical Freddy Krueger feeling for the place, which was kind of appropriate anyway. Maybe Crane wasn't coming at her with a set of claws, but he was certainly coming at her with something equally as terrifying, if not more.
The footsteps were getting closer, and Layla could not see any other exit out of the boiler room - obviously, she couldn't go back the way to came, so she did the most reasonable thing she could think of. She hid.
She ducked behind the boiler furthest from the doorway, her knees pressed up against her chest. She covered her mouth with her hand in order to silence any accidental screams or noises, but a small squeal of terror still managed to escape when she realized she was not alone back here.
Someone was huddled in the corner, just a few feet away from her, muttering incoherently to themselves. It was hard to see what they looked like due to the nearly pitch-black environment, but Layla was pretty certain it was a female, considering the long, straggly hair.
"Who are you?" she whispered, as quietly as she could muster.
"L-Layla?" replied a tiny, terrified voice.
Layla recognized the voice, although she used to it being loud and obnoxious, rather than small and afraid. Her roommate from Arkham. "Rachel?" she said incredulously.
"Shhh, don't let him hear you, please!" replied Rachel in a panic. She gazed around erratically, as though expecting someone arise from the walls and grab her.
"He?" asked Layla softly. "Who's he?" she said, although she was pretty sure she already knew.
"Scarecrow," Rachel whimpered. "H-he told me he would g-get me out of that f-fucking asylum if I-I would just come and-" she inhaled a deep breath- "work for h-him. I-I'm losing my mind. I feel things c-crawling on me, I-I can't even t-trust myself anymore, I'm so... s-scared."
"It's not real, Rachel," Layla whispered. She reached her hand out to her previous roommate as a potential comfort, but Rachel simply recoiled and shooed her away.
"No, it's too real," she cried.
The two of them sat in silence for a few moments, Layla unsure of what to say as Rachel sobbed into her sleeve. The silence was interrupted, however, when a malevolent voice chimed in, "Come out, Little Red Riding Hood. I know you're afraid of the dark."
Rachel's head shot up, and she looked to Layla with an expression of pure hatred and rage. "You led him her. You led him here? I just got away from him, you fucking BITCH!" she roared.
"Rachel, be quiet, please-"
The back of Layla's hair was suddenly gripped in a choke hold as she was ripped up from the floor. A cocked and loaded gun was pressed against her temple, the feeling of the cool metal tip causing chills to go up and down her spine.
"Don't kill her," said Scarecrow. He stepped close enough so that Layla could see him, even in the dim lighting. His henchman tightened his hold on her hair, and she gritted her teeth and began to struggle. "Take the blonde back for experimentation. I want the red-head for myself." He waved his hand at Layla, and the worker nodded, threw her against the ground, and focused his attention on a sobbing and begging Rachel.
Layla's hands were shaking once more as she lay at Scarecrow's feet, gazing up at the burlap-clad face that was oh-so-much-more terrifying than it had been when she'd been on his side. She tightened her hands into fists to stop the trembling. "Get away from me."
"I haven't even done anything yet," said Scarecrow in amusement.
"You used me," said Layla bitterly, biting her lip. "I was just a fucking pawn."
"You came to me," growled Scarecrow, "perhaps next time you should stop to consider what you're doing before you start fucking around with scary people." He gave a swift kick to Layla's face, and she heard the distinctive sound of a sharp crack before blood began to pour out of her nose. "Bruce Wayne's little prodigy. You made this all so... much... easier."
Layla pressed the back of her hand against her throbbing nose. "Bruce will stop you. Look at you, you're nothing without your stupid mask."
"Neither are you," snapped Scarecrow. "You are an ignorant, self-centered little girl who's gotten in way over her head."
"Is that your diagnosis, Doctor?"
Scarecrow leaned in close to her, releasing a cloud of toxin directly in front of her face. Layla held her breath, attempting not to take in any of the substance, but to no avail. The effects were instantaneous - the sudden knotted feeling her stomach, the pure panic buzzing around inside her head, the absolute fear; she hadn't the slightest idea how she was going to escape this situation without losing her mind first.
Layla glanced around the room hysterically. There seemed to be bugs of every kind, crawling all over the entire place, crawling all over her. She rolled over on the floor in order to brush them off of her, but this just seemed to agitate them, as they then began to bury themselves inside of her skin. She screamed and looked up at Scarecrow; his mask tore itself in half, and underneath was not Crane's face, but instead the man she was truly most terrified of. Her rapist.
"You don't look so good," Scarecrow taunted. His voice was far gone beyond its normal tone - it was now low and sinister, more of a growling than anything. Layla stared up at him in horror, her gaze fixated on his mask.
Hey little girl, what's someone like you doing in a place like this?
"You're not real," Layla whispered.
Didn't your parents tell you not to go wandering around the Narrows?
"YOU'RE NOT REAL!" she screamed, and with a panic-induced kick, she nailed Scarecrow in the groin so hard that he fell onto his knees.
"Bitch," hissed Scarecrow. He grasped Layla by the neck, yanking her up off the floor. She began to scream at the top of her lungs and flail about as much as he would allow, until he slammed her head against the side of the nearest boiler, shutting her up in the process.
"You're really starting to irritate me," Scarecrow told her, bashing her skull against the edge of the boiler a second time. "If you weren't so amusing, I'd kill you right here." He continued to collide her head with the side of the boiler until she was drifting in and out of consciousness.
Layla reached up to graze her fingers against skull. They were covered in blood.
"You're so afraid, aren't you?"
It only took one more hit before she slipped completely into the dark.
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Review please. :3
Oh and I just had a question out of curiosity: if you had to choose between facing Scarecrow, Bane, or the Joker, who would you choose? My friend asked this the other day and it was actually difficult coming up with an answer haha. I chose Bane in the end though, I figured he'd probably kill the quickest.
