Chapter 4

Oh, look at me now


Four years later.

August had been working in a popular European bakery, baking pastries and cakes for the rich glitterati of Gotham. She had always wanted to own her own bakery, but money was tight. Mostly she tried to save as much money as she could by walking everywhere instead of taking the bus or the train and eating things from work. It also didn't help that she had been mugged last Friday walking home to her studio apartment.

Tonight though, she wasn't going to her apartment. August walked down the wet sidewalk, hugging her long coat and thick scarf closer to herself, taking care not to smash the hot apple pastry concealed inside. Winter in Gotham was always freezing, and the drizzling rain only helped to worsen the seasonal cold weather.

August stopped at a familiar wrought-iron gate. Arkham Asylum always brought chills to her spine. She did not visit very frequently, for obvious reasons. It was a cold, dank place, with patients that would leer out at her from behind their barred or Plexiglas-covered cells.

The entrance hall was just as cold as it was outside, except for the rain. She strode through the metal detector, and headed toward the small booth where an unpleasant man was sitting. The sign over his head read, "Visitors must sign in". August told the man that she had an appointment to see one Jonathan Crane. He handed her a visitor's badge, which she pulled onto her neck. She checked her purse at the security guard's station, and proceeded toward the elevator, pressing the button for the top floor.

The security guard on the 7th floor tipped his hat to her in acknowledgement, and watched her walk down the hall to the chair he had provided for her in front of the patient's cell. He had noticed that she came in at the same time almost every week, and so had provided a chair for her, as normally visitors were forced to stand.

August stared straight down the corridor, forcing herself not to look at the patients. She only turned when she had reached the hard plastic chair, and her fiery amber eyes met with the steely blue ones of Doctor Jonathan Crane.

His face was waxy and white, and his cheekbones were more pronounced than they had been back at the University. But there still remained a tiny flicker of life behind his once engaging blue eyes, and that was the only reason why August visited the Doctor. She knew that deep down; there was some part of him that was still the same quiet, thoughtful, person.

But she could have been wrong to think that. She had been wrong many times before.

The doctor's frigid, metallic voice brought August rapidly out of her thoughts. His voice had changed; it had an unused quality about it. obviously he hadn't much occasion to use it since his incarceration.

"You're looking rather defeated today Miss Macgregor. And you also appear thinner than when we last met. Have you been eating?"

"Yes."

"Now don't lie to me. I can tell when you're lying. Why haven't you been eating?"

"Because I got mugged last Friday. They took my paycheck. I don't have any money."

The Doctor was silent. He sat down on the small chair in his cell, turning it to face her. August took out the warm pastry from her coat pocket, and carefully slid it through the slot meant for food.

"Thank you. This pastry is the only part of the month I look forward to. The food here is terrible."

"I'm sorry."

The Doctor was quiet for a moment.

"I need to get out of here, August. I'm going more insane than I already am."

"I don't know how I can help. The doctors say you're a danger to yourself and others."

He raised his voice considerably, "You have no Idea what it's like, being locked up in your own institution! It's all the fault of that… that Batman!"

Before, an outburst like this would have terrified her, but she had gotten used to them after the visits. He wasn't as cool and calm as he used to be.

"No. It's your fault, Jonathan," she responded back.

She had noticed that calling the doctor by name seemed to calm him down, and so she used it frequently whenever he would get angry.

"You know Doctor, it's Christmas on Sunday. I thought I might give you your present early, as I won't be seeing you until after New Year's."

"You really needn't get me anything. I don't deserve it."

"You don't. But I'm giving it to you anyway."

August took out a thin, tissue-wrapped package, and slid it through the slot. Their fingertips brushed lightly, but it was enough to make August shiver.

"I'll save it until Sunday morning. Thank you… even the smallest things are appreciated in here. I'm the only one on this floor who ever gets a visitor, you know. "Perhaps you should stop visiting so often. I think some of the inmates are rather… jealous.

"They all whisper at night about you, wondering who you are. It's interesting to hear the theories." He smiled slightly, but it was a mocking smirk, full of bitterness.

"For example, that man across the hall, Jervis Tetch, I think is his name… he calls you Alice. He's quite mad you see, obsessed with the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Always spouting poetry… and that man next to me… dear God. He never shuts up about you… I think he's some type of sexual predator…"

"Miss, visiting hours are over, you're going to have to leave!" The friendly security guard called down the hall.

August adjusted her coat and stood up.

"Merry Christmas, Doctor Crane."

"Merry Christmas, Miss Macgregor."


When August finally reached her tiny apartment, she immediately turned on the space heater and started to undress, pulling flannel pants and a t-shirt from out of her dresser.

Suddenly she felt the frigid night air against her bare skin and heard a faint rustling sound, as if a large sheet had been thrown into the room. August turned around and her jaw dropped.

It was The Batman.

August wanted to say something, anything, but speech seemed to have been snatched from her by the hand of Fear.

He spoke in a deep voice, one that seemed somehow familiar and yet unlike anything she had ever heard before. It was a voice full of authority, one that commanded attention.

"How is he going to escape?"

Speech finally returned, though it was not at a normal volume, rather, it was about an octave higher than usual.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You do. The Scarecrow told you that he was going to escape. I need to know how."

"I don't know! He didn't tell me!" she paused, and then lowered her voice. "How do you know what he said?"

"I have my sources."

August stared at him for a long while. His build, his features, his gait… if she could somehow remember who he was…

She stepped closer. He stepped backward.

"You and the Doctor are very much alike. You never let anyone get close."

On this note she stepped closer to the Batman, and reached out to close the window. His hand on her wrist stopped her.

With that firm, familiar grip, her suspicions were confirmed. August's eyes flickered knowingly up to the blue ones of the Batman. She smiled slyly, but then shivered as a cold gust of wind blew through the open window. The Batman took this as his cue to leave. He reached into his belt and pulled out a tiny rectangle, with a small green light in it.

"If he ever comes around, use this. I'll be there as fast as I can."

August stared at the small object, but when she looked up to say thank you, he was gone. The chill breeze was still blowing, and August reached out to close the window. Suddenly, she realized that she was completely freezing. She turned to look at the long mirror hanging on her apartment door.

"Oh. My. God. The Batman saw me in my bra."


hope you liked this chapter, I'm working hard on the next one!

oh, and cookies to anyone who can guess where I get the chapter totles from!