Always Look Forward

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye or to Batman Begins!

Chapter Nineteen

A loud speaker interrupted Jonathan and Jackson before they could enter Jonathan's toxin room. It also filled the empty silence that had been left by Jonathan's pronouncement of his relation to Jackson. Jackson's head was still spinning from the information that Crane was his brother.

"Dr. Crane, paging Dr. Crane. This is an emergency!" shrieked the loud speaker and Jonathan sighed.

"Well, let's go see what it's about," Jackson suggested and Crane led the way back to the main desk.

"Dr. Crane!" exclaimed a frantic nurse, rushing towards the pair. Jackson hung back, and kept his hands deep in the pockets of his dress pants. His right shoulder ached, but he ignored it. He refused to wear the debilitating sling any longer.

"What is it?" questioned Crane, trying not to snap and to remain calm.

"One of the patients—the new transfer—she's dead!" cried the nurse. "I went in to check on her and she's dead!"

"Show me," ordered Crane and the nurse led the way to Lisa's room.

The nurse stayed in the hallway as Crane entered the room, taking note that the door was ajar. Jackson followed his brother—as strange as it seemed—out of curiosity.

Inside the room, the bed was empty and the blanket was tossed in a pile. Someone had clearly left in a hurry. Crane's blue eyes narrowed behind his glasses. She had escaped! Just what he need was her on the run. Ra's al Ghul was on his way and eager to see a test of the toxin. The perfect experiment was gone—vanished into the night.

"What's going on?" Jackson asked Crane.

"She's gone," muttered Jonathan, running a hand through his dark hair. "She's gone!"

"Who?"

Jonathan turned to face his twin brother, ice-cold eyes blazing with hatred. Jackson knew who it was before Jonathan even spoke her name.

"Lisa Rippner—your damn wife!"

Jackson froze. This was extremely bad news! How was he supposed to help her now, when he could not find her? Oh Lisa, why did she have to run?

"She couldn't have gone far," Jackson reassured Jonathan. "We'll find her."

Jonathan nodded and rushed back to the main desk. "There's an inmate loose in the building. Initiate lock-down immediately. She must be found," ordered Crane, keeping his cool, despite the situation.

"Now what?" rasped Jackson, rushing up to Jonathan's side.

"We find her."

"How hard can it be?"

"You tell me, Jack. Where is she likely to hide—what is she likely to do? You know her better than anyone except Jackson…" Jonathan said, trying to pry information from him.

Jackson swallowed hard. Crane was itching to gas Lisa again. She had disobeyed him and defied him. She was testing him and he hated it. He wanted to teach her a lesson—and he needed Jackson's help to do so. Crane was using him as a bloodhound to track down and trap Lisa.

What was he to do?

Rachel loaned Lisa some clothes, once they arrived at Rachel's brownstone. Lisa was grateful for clothes that fit and thanked her profusely.

"No problem," Rachel replied.

"I guess you want to know why I'm in Gotham," Lisa said quietly. "It's only fair that I tell you after all that you've done for me."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I need to tell someone. I need help to get out of the city."

"Why? What's going on?"

Lisa sighed deeply and glanced down at the floor for a moment before meeting Rachel's eyes. "About three days ago, my house was leveled in an explosion. That's when it started."

An explosion? Was it caused by the people that wanted her dead? Rachel had so many questions, but she kept them to herself. Hopefully Lisa would answer them without her prying.

"Later that night, my children were kidnapped and Jackson, oh god, Jackson lost control. Jack came back that night."

"Who's Jack?" questioned Rachel.

"Jackson's other half—his split personality. Jack hates me with a passion and was conspiring to have me and Henrietta and JR killed. He blames me for everything."

Split personality…interesting. Was there a connection between Jackson and Dr. Crane? Dr. Crane was a psychiatrist and this would be right up his alley. Did he know about Jackson? Was he one of the people after them? Rachel would love to get Crane for something—the loathsome doctor had once again gotten a criminal off jail time due to his psychobabble. He had to be stopped…

Lisa continued, "I escaped Jack and managed to rescue the twins. I ran into Jackson again and he—he stabbed me with a knife. I shot him in the shoulder and we both ended up in the hospital. There's a restraining order against him that my father ordered and he was having a mental evaluation done."

"Who did his mental evaluation?"

"Uhh," Lisa thought for a moment, forcing her toxin-addled brain to think back. "A Dr. Crane, Dr. Jonathan Crane."

So there was a connection to Crane! Why was Crane even at the hospital? He was supposed to be at Arkham Asylum, tending to his criminally insane patients—some of which were just plain criminals—and preparing to meet her in court the following day.

"Did you ever meet Dr. Crane?"

"Yeah, he's the reason I'm here. He drugged me with some kind of powder. He made me insane and took me away from Miami. I though he was Jackson at first."

"Why would you think that?" Rachel asked. There was something very strange going on and she knew that Crane was behind it all. But what was going on?

"He's a copy of my Jackson—they have the same eyes, same build, same hair color. Expect Jonathan dresses differently than Jackson and he wears glasses. They look like twins!" remarked Lisa, after picturing both her husband and the psychotic doctor in her mind.

A Crane look-a-like? This was just getting better and better… She would be able to find something for sure that was illegal. Lisa's information would help her finally nail Crane. She would bring Crane down and take him away from his precious asylum. He would no longer take criminals out of prison for Falcone.

"He took us to his asylum. I escaped and got on the monorail. I know that he's looking for me. I've got to get out of this city before he finds me!" panicked Lisa, the fear toxin beginning to show again.

"Calm down," Rachel said calmly. "He's not going to find you here. No one is."

"What about Jackson? What if he hurts him? And my children… Oh I left them…" Lisa was now close to tears.

"I'll help you get your children back and I'm sure Jackson will be fine," Rachel reassured her. "Now, where are they?"

"My dad's. I need to call him."

"Okay, there's the phone," Rachel pointed out. "Take as long as you need. If you can have them flown in, I'll help you pick them up from the airport."

"Thanks," muttered Lisa, striding towards the phone. She was going to get her children back and then they would disappear. Crane would be looking for her and so would the company. She needed to leave soon.

Author's Notes:

The next chapter's going to be about the trial at the beginning of Batman Begins and we should see Batman/Bruce Wayne soon!