Never…
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye or Batman Begins!
Chapter Eight
"Hello, Amy. My name's Rachel and I'm here to help you," Rachel Dawes said softly, as she sat down beside the distraught teenager who was shaking in fear.
"Maybe now isn't a good time," Bruce suggested, looking worriedly at her.
"She will be okay, Bruce. Just let us girls talk, all right?"
Bruce nodded reluctantly and left the room, closing the solid wood paneled doors behind him. Rachel observed Amy for a moment, noticing the dark bruises upon her throat and her apparent distrust of others.
"Do you think you can tell me what he has done to you?" Rachel asked her quietly.
"Why do you care?" snapped Amy, her blue eyes hash and cold. "No one has ever given a damn before."
"Excuse me?"
"What? Do you think I actually would do drugs if I had a choice?" Amy snorted. "Or slit my wrists? Come on; give me a little credit here."
Rachel was confused. One moment Amy was silent and the next she was bragging about her past crimes? What had Jonathan Crane done to her?
"Are you saying that Jonathan coerced you into doing that or that you did it yourself?"
"I did it to myself to get away from him. Yet, every time I got shipped straight back to him. Why should I believe that this time is gonna be any different?"
"Amy, if you can tell me every thing that he has every done to you and be willing to go to court as a witness, then we can put him away for a very long time. You will never have to see him again."
Amy smiled despairingly, shaking her head. "It sounds nice but you do realize who you are dealing with, right? He won't let me get away."
"Why not, Amy? Why do you think that we can't stop Jonathan Crane?"
Amy was silent for a moment as she finally sighed and took a deep breath. "You can stop him but can you stop Scarecrow?"
It was not Jonathan Crane that Amy was worried about. It was his other half; the monster within him known as Scarecrow that haunted her. Scarecrow was the one who wanted to torment her.
Sure, her father controlled the monster within himself, but she could take being around Jonathan Crane. Even with all of his abuse and regimented rules Jonathan was a piece of cake compared to Scarecrow, who was the ultimate demon that dwelled inside him, which was the reason behind all of her fears.
And now without Scarecrow to keep her in check, Amy was remembering everything that he had ever done to her. She remembered the relentless 'therapy' sessions, the tests, and of course, the ever-present masked man. Scarecrow had never been far away; always lurking in her father's shadow, waiting to spring free and attack her in order to feed off her fears.
It was Scarecrow who needed to be stopped.
"Who is Scarecrow?" Rachel asked. She vaguely remembered Carmine Falcone having uttered the same name in his hysteria and Rachel had asked the doctor the same question. His answer had been evasive and formulaic as if he was giving a university class lecture.
'Patients suffering delusional episodes often focus their paranoia onto an external tormentor, usually one conforming to Jungian archetypes. In this case, a scarecrow.'
He had claimed that it was simply an archetype derived from the patient's mind, but what were the odds of two of Dr. Crane's patients having identical fears of the same horrific image? Plus, why would she insist that I stop Scarecrow, instead of Crane?
"You know who is. You've met him before."
"Your father? Amy, is Jonathan Crane 'Scarecrow'?"
Amy nodded solemnly.
"Was it Scarecrow who hurt you?"
"They are one and the same," she whispered in response. "He's both."
Rachel could already see the insanity defense that Jonathan Crane was going to employ. He was going to plead temporary mental insanity and get away with it unless Amy opened up to either her or Bruce.
"Amy, is your father mentally unstable?"
"That depends on what you consider 'unstable'." Amy was enjoying jerking Rachel around; speaking in circles.
Rachel sighed and tried again. "Does Jonathan have any type of mental disorder?"
Amy smiled. "Well, let's see. He's sadistic...if you haven't already figured that much out and he seems to be psychopathic as well as being afflicted with MPD."
"Okay then. That answers that."
Amy smirked at Rachel. Being difficult was a defense mechanism for her. Even if it often got her into trouble, it was a way of separating herself from the overwhelming pain that burdened her mind.
"Now, Amy, can you tell me if Jonathan or Scarecrow ever hurt you?" Rachel was begging, determined to get a clear answer out of her.
"You are just like your father; a useless, troublesome brat." Jonathan's harsh voice echoed in her head. They were having a session and he always mentioned her father during their sessions, when he let his guard down.
Amy smirked. "Aw, thank you."
"Luckily, I know how to deal with that." Jonathan's sadistic smile appeared as he prepped the needle and harshly jabbed it into her vein, smiling as she gasped with pain.
The next thing she knew, Scarecrow had arrived and she was fighting him. He simply laughed at her feeble attempts to escape.
"Amy? Amy?" Bruce was shaking her awake. Her blue eyes wearily opened and she caught sight of his worried face as Rachel paced behind him.
"Scarecrow," she whimpered. "It was Scarecrow…"
"What did Scarecrow do?"
"Toxin, he injected the toxin. Then he attacked…"
"When was this?"
"Our last session…"
"What about the bruises, Amy? When did he strangle you?"
"Tonight. He found me in the attic. The trunk… Rippner…" Amy was dazed, still not realizing what was going on. She was awake, yet not quite all there.
"What trunk?"
"L.R.R. & J.R." Amy chuckled, as if it were a grand joke. "He knew I saw it too."
"Where is the trunk?"
"Attic, if he hasn't destroyed it yet."
Bruce stood up and turned to Rachel. "Can you stay with her?" he asked.
"Bruce, what's going on?"
"She saw something that Crane did not want her to see. He's got something to hide from her and not just his experiments. Whatever it is might help our case. And this toxin he put her on...I've got to find it."
"But—" Rachel started to protest, however Bruce was already gone.
A short while later, Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon were back in the Crane home, heading for the attic. They found it quickly and Bruce went inside the room first. Jim had managed to secure a search warrant for their on going investigation of Amy's kidnapping as well as the possible abuse.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Jim asked Bruce, who was resolutely probing the tiny attic for the trunk Amy had mentioned.
"A trunk Amy mentioned which has something to do with 'L.R.R. & J.R.'. That's all I know."
"Are we sure that it's up here?"
"That's what Amy said. Unless Crane has had the time to destroy it."
"He hasn't."
"Then it's in here." He swept the flashlight around, looking for any clue he could find. His eyes glanced to the floor, noticing several footprints in the dust. A struggle?
There were two sets of prints and one was positioned as if someone had been peering into a box, and the other set of footprints looked as if someone were leaning against a trunk in the corner. Bruce came closer. The footprints were small enough to be Amy's. Shinning the flashlight on the lid, 'L.R.R & J.R.' became clearly visible to him.
"I found it!" he announced, Gordon hasting to his side as he opened the box. Whatever was inside, Crane was willing to kill over.
Once the lid was open and the flashlights were aimed at the interior, Bruce understood why she had been curious. Amy had found Jackson Rippner. Or at least his clothes.
But why would Crane kill her over the clothes? Did Amy remove something else?
"What are we missing?" Gordon questioned.
"The toxin. Where could Crane hide it? What was downstairs?"
"Some turned-over tables and broken glass; nothing much. A briefcase…"
"Briefcase. That's it! He hid the toxin there and assaulted Amy with it…"
"I think he probably used it on Lisa Crane as well." Gordon said.
"Why?"
"Her injuries were not consistent with Crane's story. They were methodical and slow, not haphazard as a quick slash in the arm would have been. Plus, there was a bullet hole in the ceiling."
"So? What if they missed?" Bruce could not figure out Gordon was hinting at.
"While holding the gun on the Cranes? Doubtful. It's more logical that Crane was playing some sort of demented mind game and either Lisa or Amy turned the tables on him."
"How will we know for sure?"
"We find the briefcase and I think we will find a whole new side of Jonathan Crane." said Gordon, smiling.
Author's Notes:
MPD is a mental disorder known as multiple personality disorder, which occurs usually due to trauma and causes the appearance of several people in one. One is the core personality (in this case, Jonathan) and the other are alters. There is no limit to the number of alters. Jonathan only has two alters though—Scarecrow and Jackson. Enjoy and major thanks to emptyvoices! The next chapter should be up soon!
