Always Look Forward
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!
Chapter Seventeen
Jackson felt relieved once the plane landed, and he disembarked with Crane, who was still upset about his hand. Lisa slept on, knocked out by the combination of his head-butt and the antidote. Jackson ignored her, as two orderlies from Arkham Asylum removed her still form from the plane, and took her away to a transport that Jackson could not see. Clearly, he was not going the same place as Lisa.
"I've got to take care of this hand before we head over to Arkham," Crane explained, leading the way to his car. "Can you handle driving?"
Jackson raised an eyebrow. He was not much better off than Crane at this present time. He had little use of his right arm thanks to Lisa's damn fine aim. Plus, he was well-known for his reckless driving skills.
"I can, but can you handle me driving?"
"How bad could it be?" Crane asked weakly and Jackson rolled his eyes. The doctor was in for a big surprise.
Crane tossed Jackson the keys and he climbed in the driver's seat, eager to scare the crap out of Crane. Jackson knew exactly what he was doing when it came to driving a car, but Crane did not know it. He would give him a little taste of his own medicine as mini-revenge for harming Lisa. Not that Crane would connect the two.
He slipped his arm out of the sling and flexed it several times before turning the key in the ignition and shifting the car into drive. "Fasten your seatbelt," warned Jackson and he smirked as he heard Crane fumbling with the seatbelt. "Now, where am I going?"
A white-knuckled car ride later, Jonathan fell out of the car as Jackson came to a screeching halt in the driveway. He could have sworn that Jackson was driving poorly on purpose. But he did not dwell on Jackson's driving skills long as he emptied his stomach into a nearby hedge.
Jackson snorted and Crane shot him a dirty look. He longed to shoot his brother with a dose of the fear toxin—just to teach him a lesson. But the fact of the matter was that Jonathan needed Jackson on his side. Jackson was powerful ally and an even more powerful enemy.
"Feel better yet?" Jackson questioned, his blue eyes focusing on the identical blue eyes that glared at him from behind a pair of glasses.
"Between you and your blasted wife, I'm feeling just peachy," hissed Jonathan.
"Awe, that's just too bad."
Sure. Like Jackson really cared. Jackson did not even know that they were related and Jackson was a logic-based person, like Jonathan was, not an emotional person. Emotions had no place in the mind. They made people weak and prone to fear. Jonathan thrived on other people's fear.
"Well, will you open the door?"
Jackson stopped twirling Jonathan's key ring long enough to unlock the front door. Jonathan sighed and shook his head. It was hard to believe that this psycho was his twin brother.
"Stay put," ordered Jonathan, as the two entered the house and Jonathan disappeared down a darkened hallway.
Jonathan entered the fancy bathroom and immediately reached for the rarely-used first aid kit. He cleaned the dried blood and bite marks left by Lisa Rippner's attack from his hand, before wrapping the wound with gauze.
Once satisfied with the wrapping job, Jonathan left the bathroom and trekked back down the hall to where he had left Jackson. Just as he had expected, Jackson was gone, off searching his house. It figures that he would waste his time to trying to find out about Jonathan. There was nothing in the house that showed his darker side. He was smarter than Jackson in that respect. According to his research, Jackson had been caught with documents regarding jobs in his house several times. That was why Lisa left him shortly before the birth of the twins.
Jackson would not find anything in his house regarding his fear toxin. All of that information was kept hidden at Arkham. Where they would be headed as soon as he found Jackson…
A dark-haired head popped back into the entrance hall. "Ah, there you are," remarked Jackson.
"Where were you? I told you to stay put!"
"Just walking around," smirked Jackson. "Chill out, doc."
"Let's go, and I'm driving this time. Give me the keys," ordered Jonathan, his hand out for his key ring.
"If you say so."
Jackson dropped the keys into his palm and opened the door for Jonathan. He did not know what to make of his brother. Jackson was a strange one and he would have fun figuring out all of his problems, once the deal with Ra's Al Ghul was taken care of and Lisa Rippner was terminated by mental instability or Jackson's hands.
Johnson wearily plopped down into the plush leather desk chair in his office. Lisa Rippner had gotten the better of him. All of the Rippners had.
A few men from the company had dragged him from the safe house before the emergency vehicles arrived. The Rippner family had escaped, but that was with two of them listed in critical condition. Lisa and Jackson had attacked each other in front of their children. Jack had come back for revenge and Lisa had stopped him.
He had just gotten word from a contact at the hospital about the arrival of Dr. Jonathan Crane. Dr. Crane was to give Jackson Rippner a mental evaluation and provide one for Lisa Rippner as well.
The phone rang and Johnson picked it up.
"Johnson," he answered.
"Mr. Johnson, I'm afraid we have a problem," spoke the contact at the hospital.
"Well, what is it?"
"They're gone sir—all of them. All four of the Rippners are gone."
Shit! There was no way that this could be happening! They should not be able to travel and at least not without the help of another person.
"When?"
"Lisa and Jackson Rippner were slated to be transferred to a mental hospital by a Dr. J. Crane. When I went to check on them, they were already gone. As for the children, they were taken away by a Joe Reisert," reported the contact.
"Where were they being transferred to?"
"Arkham Asylum in Gotham City. Dr. Crane runs the facility."
Crane. Why did that name suddenly seem familiar? Where had he come across that name before? Papers following a discussion with an affiliate of the company had mentioned a man named Crane in conjunction with Rippner. What had the paper said?
Johnson hung up the phone quickly and began shifting through the papers upon his desk. It had to be there somewhere!
Sure enough, he found the paper and in black-and-white it said that Dr. Jonathan Crane was the long-lost twin brother of Jackson Rippner. They were separated at birth and neither of them knew of the other until recently. A man was working with Crane to produce some toxin and he recognized the young man and thought he was Jackson Rippner, who he had worked with before. Of course, the man was not Jackson, but the research produced the information about the two brothers. Now Jonathan Crane knew, but Jackson still knew not.
And now Crane was working with the company to take down the Rippners and put Jack in control.
What a mixed-up family…
Jonathan drove the car into Arkham Asylum and Jackson could not help but gawk at the sight of the building. So this was where the mad doctor worked and where Lisa was being kept. Great…
Arkham Asylum was situated on an island, far away from the main part of Gotham City. It was rather a strange structure. But that was mainly because it was used to house mental patients or what was known as mental patients.
"Come on, I'll show you around," Crane called eagerly as he headed towards the double doors.
Jackson paused for a moment. As soon as he stepped inside the building, then he would be in Crane's domain. In Crane's domain, anything was game. He had seen that in the way that Crane had handled Lisa. Crane ruled Arkham Asylum and what he said was law. Jackson had no power once he entered Arkham. Crane was in control and Jackson was just a bystander. Crane could do whatever he wanted to Lisa inside that building and there was not a damn thing that Jackson could do to stop it.
With a deep breath, Jackson crossed the threshold and entered Crane's private world. What Crane did inside those walls was Crane's business and no one else's.
If only he could have known then exactly what Crane was up to. Then he would have never stepped inside those walls. Except maybe to rescue Lisa…
He was not going to leave Lisa at the hands of this madman. He would not do that. He loved her far too much to leave her at Crane's mercy. He was going to rescue her, no matter what he had to do first. He would work for Crane and do his bidding, just to save the love of his life.
Jackson did not care anymore about good and evil, black and white. He never really had, but when he married Lisa, he had intended to only be good and only do good things. And since the birth of the twins, he had kept his past in check, until now. He would do whatever it took to get his family back and to disappear for good.
Jackson was desperate. And desperate times called for desperate measures…
Author's Notes:
This was a pretty long chapter! I promised that they would get to Arkham, so they did. Enjoy! Next chapter coming soon.