Chapter 29: Nightmares Coming To Life
Disclaimer: read chapter 1
"Please! Please! I don't know anything!" a British woman cried.
Lacey regained consciousness to see herself in a lab of sorts. She moaned, turning her head to the side to find a woman dressed in yellow. The woman's brunette hair tied in a loose bun, her back turned from Lacey, talking to some guy behind the glass.
"You don't want to end up like that cop, do you?" a man asked rhetorically.
Lacey stayed quiet, listening to the conversation intently.
"No!" the woman begged with tears falling down her eyes, "Please! Please!"
"Dr. Crane is a private man. He doesn't like his..." the man paused for a moment, thinking about the right word to use, "uh, research meddled with."
Lacey put her hand over her mouth, holding back the gasp. She realized that the man was working for Jonathan. The head doctor was guilty, after all. He knew that she was on to him, and no doubt, will spill the beans to Rachel. Unfortunately, Lacey was trapped in this room with the unidentified woman, both about to become victims of Crane's experiments.
"I don't know anything, I swear!" The brunette continued begging, hoping that he'll believe her statement and let her go. Unfortunately, that was just wishful thinking.
"Oh? If you don't know anything, then how come you were in the basement?! Huh?" the man demanded.
"I was... I was just lost!" she lied, but the man wasn't buying it, and neither was Lacey. This woman was a terrible liar.
"Uh-huh. Sure, you weren't nosing around any canisters or nothing."
"No! No! I don't know anything about the toxin! I just-"
"I didn't say anything about a toxin!" the man pointed out.
"Please, I just want to go home!" The woman begged with tears.
"Your home is in a cell now, Miss Thomas," the bald man replied, "A red jumpsuit and a world of hell!"
Miss Thomas? Emma Thomas? Crane's secretary? The woman who sent the gruesome tape the night before?
"No! Please!" Emma begged.
"If I were you, I would start talking to me than Dr. Crane. He's not as merciful as I am. Since you're so damn curious about Crane's work, feel free to sample one of those gas canisters in there. Give me a good laugh."
"No!"
Lacey had enough. She raised herself to her feet, ready to give the bastard a piece of her mind.
"Listen here, son of a bitch!" Lacey approached the glass, pointing the thug in a scolding manner.
"Ah!" the man chuckled, "Look who is awake."
"Okay, I don't understand why you are here or why you decided to work for a guy like Crane..." The man huffed, rolling his eyes. Lacey continued, "but if you let us out now, I might convince my boss to give you and your friends a lighter sentence."
"Might?" The man laughed louder, walking away.
"Hey, get back here."
"Love to stay and chat, sweetheart, but we got a city to poison."
Lacey furrowed her brows, confused, "Poison? Is Crane making a toxin to poison Gotham?"
The man didn't say anything, only walked away. Lacey turned to her new cellmate, who nodded in confirmation. She widened her eyes, looking around the room, trying to find a way to escape.
What she saw were gas canisters, canisters she knew to stay clear, equipment to operate a man's brain. Lacey was skeptical about the scissors with different shapes, tweezers, and clippers. What exactly do the doctors do with those tools? They're supposed to be psychologists. She opened a drawer to find air masks and gloves - no phone or a key to escape.
Lacey huffed in frustration, "Miss Thomas, do you know a way out of this place?"
Her answers turned to screams. Lacey whirled around with a gasp of fright. Gazing at the cell glass, a dark figure - the hero Lacey never thought to see again - stared at the women intently.
"What the bloody hell are you?!" Emma screamed out, shaking with fear.
"I'm here to help," Batman assured. The blonde couldn't help, but blush with his intimidating presence. She couldn't help but get all boy-crazy for him. He's tall, dark, mysterious, and his voice was so deep but sexy. Every girl would dream of being in Lacey's shoes right now. She noticed a man's pair of legs sticking at the corner of a wall outside. No doubt unconscious. No doubt Batman was the cause.
"Help us!" Lacey begged. "Get us out of here!"
"Please! Please!" Emma rambled frantically, "Please, Crane is taking over the whole-"
"Tell me where Crane is!" Batman ordered.
"Down below in the basement," Emma explained, "but you'll never reach him. The security here is-"
"There's always a way," Batman interrupted.
Emma shook her head, "No. I-It's impossible. Somebody would have to take out Arkham's entire electrical grid if they wanted to get down there."
Lacey had no idea what Emma was saying for she knew nothing about security systems or electric grids. Looking at the Batman, he seemed to understand every word she said; so Lacey decided to stay out of the conversation.
"Good. You two stay put, and wait for help," Batman commanded, "Where you are is as safe as you'll get."
"I can't stay here! Are you joking?!" Emma looked at Batman as if he was crazy, then gazing at Lacey with widened eyes. "I'm asking a vampire in tights if he's joking!"
The women turned to the window, only to find the Batman no longer there, he vanished in thin air.
Lacey sighed, knowing that it was up to them to escape this place. They couldn't open a door or break a window.
Her eyes raised to find an air vent above the patient chair.
"Emma! Look!" Lacey removed her shoes to climb on top of the chair, reaching for the gate vent. "A vent! We can climb it." She jumped to her tippy toes, straining her leg muscles for the lid. "Emma, help me!" She didn't get a response. "Emma!" She heard repeated banging against the cell glass. Lacey looked over her shoulder to see Emma attempting to break the glass with a toxic gas canister. Lacey widened her eyes and gasped, realizing what the bald man said to Emma before.
"Since you're so damn curious about Crane's work, feel free to sample one of those gas canisters in there. Give me a good laugh."
"Emma! Don't do that! Crane's gas is in those-" Lacey's words cut off as she watched the canister in Emma's arms exploded. Gas evaporated out of the cartridge, spreading inside the room. Emma screamed at the top of her lungs. The fear gas, Crane had created, affected her physically and mentally. Lacey feared to be victim number two.
~000~000~000~
"Wake up, kitten."
Kathy slowly regained consciousness. She heard a voice and tried to reach out to it. His voice was sweet, alluring, and somewhat familiar. She wanted to open her eyes, but her eyelids were too heavy. Her whole body was numb; she could barely move. She lied there still as if she was Sleeping Beauty, waiting for something to wake her up with a kiss.
"Wake up," this man's tone of voice turned impatient. "Get up!"
"Maybe she's dead," another male voice suggested.
Kathy shivered as she felt two, icy-cold fingers against her neck, feeling for her pulse.
"No," the first voice replied with a huff, "she's still breathing."
Then unexpectedly, she felt a hand slapped against her cheek, giving her a stinging sensation, causing her to cry out in pain. Her eyes opened, shocked from what happened moments ago.
The first thing she saw was blurriness. She could hardly see anything until she turned her head to face her dangerous unknown enemy, the Scarecrow.
"You see, gentlemen?" Scarecrow smirked behind his burlap mask, "I told you she's not dead."
Kathy screamed when she saw a hallucination of snakes crawling all over Scarecrow's head and body, and one coming from the mouth of his mask. Her body shuffled backward, trying to avoid the snakes.
"Get away from me! Kill them! Get away from me, please!" She screamed again, feeling a presence behind her. She felt a pair of arms around her waist. Instead of seeing plaid, she looked down to see black scales. Tears ran her mascara down her cheek.
She could barely breathe, "No! No! No!"
"Restrain her," Scarecrow ordered the goon, that was holding Kathy from behind. The goon nodded as he shoved her away from the edge of the table, and forced her body down, pinned her arms to the level of her head. Kathy was hyperventilating, she had never been so scared in her life since that day in the woods. She kicked her feet in the air, hoping the snakes would slither away. Another goon came in front of her and held her legs down so she won't kick anymore.
Kathy turned her attention back to Scarecrow, who stared back at her. Because of the burlap mask, Kathy couldn't see his face, or figure out what he's thinking. All she heard was a wicked chuckle from the Scarecrow, sending chills down Kathy's spine. She struggled as snakes were creeping down his form and peeking up the table.
"Now, this is interesting. Very interesting. I never knew you could be like this when you're scared until now." Scarecrow took a step closer to Kathy, causing her to cower before him. She attempted to shift away from Scarecrow's touch, but the men holding her down were keeping her from doing so. "I'm delighted that Johnny-Boy didn't kill you."
She continued to cry some more at his words.
"Hey. Hey. Hey. It's alright now," Scarecrow reached out to caress her cheek, then her lips, down to her neck, to her collarbone, "I won't kill you, yet. Right now, I will sit back and enjoy watching you squirm."
"Don't flinch," Kathy ordered herself, as she stared at Scarecrow's eyes, Jonathan's eyes - the ones that used to comfort Kathy. She thought that Jonathan was the only man that could keep her safe, love her, comfort her.
But now, those eyes terrified her.
She felt his hand brushing down her arm, then back up to her chest. She couldn't help, but feel the cold shivers down her body. She had no idea what's going through the man's head right now, but she knew that it wouldn't be pleasant, for her at least. It couldn't be worse than what he did back in the office. It was horrifying — life changing. Her perceptive changed forever. There was no going back now.
She continued to stare at Scarecrow's eyes and nothing else. If she looked away, she was afraid that she'd see the snakes again. his distracting hand and the change of his eye color to piercing gold was making that task far more difficult.
She tried to ignore the thoughts of what Scarecrow was going to do to her, forced to have positive thoughts. She thought about the memories she had before she came to Gotham: finding seashells on the beach, building sand castles, the sun, her family, her old friends from school. Her mind slowly shut down her reality to focus on her dreams.
Scarecrow was watching Kathy intently, finally removed his hand from her. He noticed that she was calming down and becoming less afraid then she was before. She was fighting back her fears. He had victims, screaming and begging for mercy longer than the girl did. None of them ever calmed down. He gave her a concentrated dose of his hallucinogen that not only could see her greatest fears but could slowly kill her. She should've been dead by now, but now she's staring at him with those beautiful brown eyes.
Scarecrow scrunched his brows together in confusion.
This wasn't according to plan. The drug was designed to make Kathy scream until her mind was lost, then he and Jonathan will never have to put up with her again. But now... the plans changed. Usually, his victims would start begging for mercy and tell him to stay away. They would even attempt to fight off the drug without succeeding. If she did all those things, he wouldn't think of her differently. But here she was lying before him, not screaming. She cringed in the beginning, but now she chose to fight back and appeared to be succeeding. She was different. It would seem that he might be wrong about her. He underestimated the poor, petite girl. Her now quiet resistance was slowly beginning to fascinate him. She's proving herself to be a worthy opponent. Maybe he won't have to kill her right away. Perhaps he'll continue playing with her until the game decided to end itself.
Kathy jolted slightly when a cold hand touched her inner thigh. Was he going to retake her dignity?
"Why are you doing this to me?" Kathy asked in a whisper.
Scarecrow pulled away from his thoughts when he heard her question. He chuckled, shaking his head, "Don't blame this on me, my dear. Look in the mirror. You stuck your nose where it shouldn't have been, couldn't leave stuff alone..." He hovered his face over hers. "This could've been preventable. Johnny warned you. He told you to stay away, but no..." He clicked his tongue in dismay, "you dragged yourself down this crazy world of ours, and here we are now."
"You are poisoning Gotham," Kathy said tiredly, she can feel herself dozing off. "Why? You - you don't need to do - do this."
"My reasons are none of your concern, Kitten!" he said harshly, "Besides, even if I want to tell you, I doubt you'll understand. You are my prisoner now! From now on, I ask the questions, and you answer! Understand?" Kathy stared down at him with anger her eyes, refusing to respond. He sighed heavily, leaning in closer. His hand on the other side of her face, he was close enough to kiss her. "Tell me, Kathryn..." He mockingly hissed her name, narrowing his eyes at her, "who else knows?"
"W-What?" she asked breathlessly.
Scarecrow sighed in irritation. He always hated repeating himself, "Who else knows you're here? Why did you even come here in the first place? Who else knows - talk, damn you!" Scarecrow banged his fist against the table in frustration. Kathy and the goons flinched at his sudden outburst. Kathy looked down at Scarecrow's fist on the table, that was an inch away from her stomach. Her eyes went back to the Scarecrow, not responding to his question. She was too shaken and too drugged up to speak.
"Talk!" Scarecrow cried out. More snakes appeared on the Scarecrow's body again. Kathy screamed and turned her head away from him.
At that moment, the lights went out, and everyone except Kathy looked up at the ceiling. The two goons that were holding Kathy down loosened their grip. Kathy took that opportunity to pull her arms and legs away from their grasp. She lied there still, covering her eyes to keep herself from looking at the snakes. Once she did, the goons didn't bother to grab her again. Instead, their attention was on the burned out light bulbs from the ceiling. The rest of goons raised their guns, prepared to fire if they see anything out of the ordinary.
Scarecrow took off his mask and spun around, running his fingers through his dark hair, looking at his surroundings. He knew perfectly well that an intruder was here, and the identity of him.
"He's here," he whispered.
"Who?" one of his goons asked.
"The Batman," Scarecrow stated slowly and clearly. All the thugs became afraid, preparing to fire the guns if they saw movement in their shadows.
"What do we do?" another thug asked nervously.
"What anyone does, when a prowler comes around..." Scarecrow turned to one of his men, smirking at him, wickedly, "call the police."
~000~000~000~
A vent in the foyer burst open. A blonde climbed out covered in dirt, cobwebs, and sweat. The air mask over her face was responsible for the source of sweat. She yanked it off, coughing hoarsely. She managed to escape the toxin just in the nick of time. Her eyes filled with sorrow at the thought of her witness - Emma Thomas. The woman was stupid. Lacey remembered the lady's screams, coughs, and gags until they forced silent as the gas covered the whole room.
The fire alarm was ringing. The fire department should be here by now. There was no fire as far as Lacey was concerned. Who pulled it? The Batman? Lacey finally escaped Arkham, barefoot, rushing through the bridge that connected Arkham and the Narrows, dodging people and firetrucks. She thanked the Good Lord that the bridge remained descended, otherwise she had to wait for a boat ride to get to Gotham City. The downside about running the deck was her bare feet, running on rocks and hot concrete ruined her pedicure. She cursed herself for not wearing her tennis shoes.
After she crossed the bridge on bare feet, she looked around the city frantically for Rachel's car. She heard honking noises across the street. She followed to where the sound was coming from until she came across a vehicle that parked beside the sidewalk across the street. Lacey recognized that car, it was Rachel's.
After looking both ways, she ran across the street, and frantically tried to open the door handle. She peered inside to see Rachel pushing a button that unlocked the car doors. Lacey opened the door and sat down on the passenger's seat. As soon as she sat down, she finally had a moment to breathe. She ran her fingers through her curls, processing what just occurred in Arkham.
"Lacey, what the hell took you so long? I was getting worried," Rachel said, "I saw the fire department, people running and screaming - I was close to driving through the bridge."
"Thank God, you didn't!" Lacey snapped.
Rachel's facial strict expression changed to worry, "Why? What happened?! Did you see Crane?"
Lacey nodded, "Oh yeah!"
"Lacey, what's going on?! What the hell happened in there?" Rachel demanded.
Lacey took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to explain the whole story, "I-I don't know where to start."
"How about you tell me about Falcone? Was he sane?"
Lacey shook her head, "No... He's not."
Rachel managed to look at Lacey's pale face - her mascara was running caused by tears and sweat, and she was shaking to bits as if she just saw a ghost. What's worse was her current state of dress, it was covered in dust, dirt, and dead bugs.
"Lacey, what happened?"
"He..."
"He who?"
"Crane he..."
"What?" Rachel asked anxiously, "What about Crane?"
"He's scary, Rachel!" Lacey cried out, and as soon she said it, she clutched her chest, gasping for air.
Rachel furrowed her brows in confusion. Lacey was confident to stand up to Crane, why was scared of him now? "What?!"
"H-He's dangerous, Rachel! Dangerous! He's Scarecrow!"
"Scarecrow?" Rachel asked for confirmation.
"That's not all..." Lacey coughed. "He makes toxins! He's a mad scientist! Crane is making a toxin that makes people see their fear! He created it! It killed Emma Thomas! I saw her die! He planned on using it for Gotham too!"
"What!" Rachel cried out in shock by this revelation. She thought that Crane was an annoying, corrupted man, but he's proven himself to be more than that. "Are you saying that he's trying to poison Gotham with a toxin?"
Lacey nodded, "He used the gas on Falcone to make him crazy, the same one that killed Emma, and now he will use the same drug on Gotham!" Lacey continued sobbing, "He's crazy, I tell you! Crazy!"
"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.
Lacey glared at her as if she asked a dumb question, "What kind of question is that?! He attacked me! Emma almost got me killed by her stupidity! Of course, I'm not okay!
"Where is he now?" Rachel looked out the window frantically, hoping that she won't spot Jonathan outside.
"Don't know, but we have to tell everyone - warn them! We are in danger!"
Rachel pulled out her cellphone and dialed the emergency number, "I'll call the police."
"Good idea!" Lacey leaned her head back against her seat, trying to breathe evenly. That task was difficult because she was shaking from her life and death moment in Arkham. If she were to make it out alive, her vow was never to set foot in that dangerous asylum again.
~000~000~000~
Everyone was confused by Scarecrow's words, especially Kathy. He cut her phone line to prevent her from calling the police; now, he changed his mind. Why did he want the cops here now? She could've done that job for him, and not get drugged.
"Call the police?!" a thug questioned him in shock.
"Exactly," Scarecrow explained, as he got a syringe out from his sleeve, "They can't stop us. But the Batman has a talent for disruption. Hold him off, until they arrive."
As he was talking, he roughly pinned Kathy's arm down and stuck the needle through her skin. Kathy hissed and squeezed her eyes shut, looking away from the needle. She hated needles ever since she was a kid. Kathy hated going to the doctor's office to get vaccinated. She heard that a flu shot could make her sick, instead of preventing the illness.
"They'll take care of him," Scarecrow finished as he threw the syringe away.
After Scarecrow put his medicine inside her, Kathy felt light-headed, although she didn't hear a sound of slithering snakes anymore. She took a risk and opened her eyes, not seeing snakes anymore. She turned her head to look at Scarecrow in confusion. He was supposed to torture and kill her. Why did he make the snakes go away? Maybe Jonathan returned, and he gave her his antidote.
"What about the girl?" the thug who pinned her arms asked.
Scarecrow looked down at Kathy, who stared back at him questionably. He chuckled, amused by her agape facial expressions. She was adorable. "I very much doubt Batman's arrival on her shoes was a coincidence. I got an idea. Grab her and follow me."
"W-What about us," another thug who was far away from them asked, "What about that bat creature?"
"I heard he can fly!" another thug interjected.
"I heard he can disappear!" another one added.
Scarecrow smiled as he looked up the ceiling again, "The rest of you wait here for him. Find out if he can die." Scarecrow turned to the thug, who asked about Kathy, "Let's go."
Kathy yelped in surprise as the man who was pinning her arms before dragged her out of the table and held her like a rag doll. He then followed Scarecrow, who put his mask back on. They exited the basement through another door nearby. Kathy prayed that Jonathan would return to his usual self soon, this scarecrow version of him was scaring her. If that won't happen, she's hoping that the Batman will come to the rescue fast.
~000~000~000~
Bruce made it to the basement and managed to knock out every goon in the room. However, there was no sign of Scarecrow anywhere. Crane must've gone somewhere else in Arkham.
Bruce took a moment to look at his surroundings. He noticed that the water maim had been open, and there were buckets of chemicals near it. Bruce figured out what Crane and his men were up to. They were spreading the toxin into the city through the water pipes. Bruce knew it was too late to stop the poison from spreading, but he wanted to travel through the sewers to go deeper into the asylum. Eventually, he'll find Scarecrow, and when he does, Crane will pay for all wrongdoing.
He came to a halt, noticing something on the ground by an old rusty table — a heart-shaped locket. He knew the keeper of this jewelry and sadly figured out that she was here in danger or already dead. Bruce needed to find Crane and make him talk. Jonathan Crane was going to answer for what he had done.
