Never…

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

Chapter Twenty

Jackson and Lisa arrived back at Joe's only to find the front door was left wide open. Jackson, immediately suspicious, cautiously placed himself in front of Lisa and slipped a gun out from underneath his jacket. His aim had improved considerably over the years and a gun was more threatening to an intruder than his knife would be. Lisa did not see the gun as she was focusing only on her father who lay motionless on the floor.

"Dad!" cried Lisa, bending down to check his pulse. "Daddy!"

"Leese," Jackson called to her, pulling a note down from the wall.

Lisa breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed that Joe was still breathing and hurried to Jackson's side. "What is it?"

"He took her," Jackson said bitterly. "He took Amy."

"But why?" she asked despairingly.

"He wants you, Leese. He wants you to join him and he'll let her go."

Tears began to fill Lisa's eyes and Jackson did not feel the need to tell her that if they refused, Jonathan would murder Amy. It was an absolute given. Jackson tried to comfort Lisa, but he knew that there was nothing that he could say or do for her except get their daughter back.

I won't let him destroy my family again. Never again will he hurt them. I'll kill him for what he's done.

"We'll get her back," Jackson promised and she nodded.

"How?"

"I have to kill him, Lisa. That's the only way. This has to end now."

Lisa sighed. "Just get Amy back. I don't care anymore. Do whatever it takes to get her away from him."

"I will."


Bruce Wayne was furious. Livid actually.

How could she slip out undetected? I was supposed to protect her!

"Crane's gone," Rachel sighed, sitting down on a couch as he paced the floor like a caged animal.

"What do you mean gone?"

"There's no one at home. Lisa Crane is missing too. All Gordon found was a broken mug and a stained carpet."

"Any blood?" Did Crane capture them both? Is he taking them to some remote place to kill them?

"None."

"Was anything different about the house? Anything at all?" Bruce was curious. Something, no matter how insignificant, might lead to a clue.

"Well, the security system was down. Someone bypassed it from the outside," Rachel shrugged.

"Have you told Gordon about this yet?"

"No, why?"

"Why would Jonathan Crane bypass his own security system from the outside if he knew the code?" Bruce responded, already dialing Gordon's number.


"Jonathan, I knew you'd come back!" cried Dr. Betsy Gruber, throwing the door open to her office.

"Be quiet," growled Jonathan. "And help me."

Taken aback, Betsy closed her mouth awkwardly and helped Jackson carry in the unconscious girl he had in his arms.

"Is she dead?" she asked quietly.

"In due time. I suppose all good things come to those who wait."

"She's just a child!"

"Since when did you acquire such an ambivalent attitude?" snapped Jonathan. "You've provided assistance to me for all these years and just recently you decidedly choose to have a sense of morals?

Betsey fell silent again. She really did not comprehend him at times. Why did I fall into this relationship in the first place?

"Is that the girl? The annoying brat you speak so often of?"

"Finally, it dawns on you!" teased Jonathan sarcastically.

"Once you get rid of her, will you be able to stay with me?"

"I still have to contend with her mother."

"Oh. The wife." Betsey sounded bitter. Why Jonathan was still with that woman was beyond her comprehension.

Jonathan did not respond. Instead, he started rifling through the drawers.

"Can you try not destroy this place?" Betsey asked, irked by his sudden appearance with his pest of a niece. Had he come alone to the door, she would have been much more pleased.

"Where's the toxin?" he demanded, glaring at her.

Betsey pulled open a drawer that Jonathan had yet to reach and handed him a zippered case filled with needles. A wide smile contorted his face as his fingertips brushed the syringes and vials, lovingly.

He filled one and carefully flicked the air bubbles from it. He then bent down over Amy and injected the toxin into her vein. He bypassed the first drug and moved on to the second containing the hallucinogenic effect that he needed. Then he refilled the syringe, ready to increase her dosage to an unsafe level if Lisa dared to stand him up.

Either way, Amy was as good as dead. Even if Lisa returned to him, the brat would still die, but at a slower and far more agonizing pace as the poison would course through her system gradually destroying her mind. Amy was dangerous and he needed to neutralize her permanently. However, Lisa was an increasing threat as well.

No matter. All of his problems would be solved before the end of the night.


Lisa wandered up to the office on her own. Jackson was lurking around nearby, searching for a back way in and despite her fear, she trusted him to get them both out of this desperate situation. Yet it unnerved her completely at the thought of seeing Jonathan again. There was no telling what he would do to her.

She raised her fist and knocked on the door for her old therapist. Dr. Betsey Gruber, the woman who had referred her to Jonathan all those years ago. Apparently she was friends with him and he had instructed that their meeting take place there. Why not back at home?

The door swung open and he jerked her inside. "Don't scream," Jonathan ordered, clamping a hand over her mouth. "At least not yet."

Lisa struggled against him and elbowed him hard in the stomach. He swore slightly and released her momentarily. She spun around as she allowed her head to collide with his and then swiftly delivered a knee to the groin while he was dazed. Jonathan fell to the floor in pain, but as she tried to run to find Amy, his hand snaked up and grabbed her ankle.

With a cry, Lisa was dragged down and Jonathan climbed on top of her, pinning her to the floor. He was clearly still in pain, but had been driven into a rage that she had never before witnessed. She struggled to fend him off and bit his wrist when his hand lingered too close to her mouth. He slapped her in response.

Grinning, Jonathan stuffed his tie in her mouth to muffle her screams and looped a piece of twine from his pocket cruelly around her wrists. Lisa suddenly knew what he intended to do. He was going to torture and kill her. He had never planned on letting Amy go free.

She twisted and writhed under his hold, prompting him to place his hands around her throat to throttle her. Her lungs screamed for air and dark spots started to infiltrate her vision but Lisa knew that she had to keep fighting. I have to beat him.

The world was getting fuzzy when suddenly a dark shape yanked Jonathan off her and she spat the tie out and gasped for air.

Jackson Her oxygen starved brain rejoiced.

"I was wondering when I might see you again. However your timing leaves a little to be desired as I'm already currently a bit behind schedule," Jonathan teased. "I hope you don't mind terribly if I kill your family. After all, you were the one to abandon them in the first place."

"Only after you lied to me!" snarled Jackson, wrestling with his slender twin.

"And your point?"

"I would never hurt them."

"But you already have."

"No more," Jackson swore, reaching for his knife. Jonathan's chilling blue eyes caught sight of the 12-inch blade.

"Jack the Ripper—I see that you are finally living up to your namesake."

"I don't prey on defenseless women like you, Crane. I'm above that."

"And you believe that somehow makes you a saint, doesn't it?" sneered Jonathan, unafraid. I doubt he has the guts to do it.

"No, ridding the world of you does."

Jackson slashed at Jonathan, who deflected the blow with his arm. The blade sliced through his jacket and nicked his skin, drawing blood. Jonathan frowned and rolled out of the path of Jackson's furious second attack.

It was a sickening dance of death that they were involved in. Both of the brothers knew that only one of them would walk away alive from the fight.

Lisa crawled across the floor. She could see the empty syringe gleaming at her and Amy's unconscious body lay near it. There was no doubt that whatever Jonathan had given her was for the intention of killing her daughter. Then it will hopefully work on him. There is only one way of finding out.

Wrists still bound, she grasped the needle and painstakingly made her way back to them. When Jonathan came her way to avoid another blow from Jackson, Lisa struck. She stabbed the needle into his neck and depressed the plunger. Jonathan shuddered violently as the toxin entered his bloodstream.

Jackson seized his chance to cut a neat hole in his brother's windpipe. "You wanted to be just like me, remember?"

Jonathan's icy blue eyes rolled back into his head as the toxin began to take affect. He was shaking.

"How does it feel now, doc?" sneered Jackson. "To be the experiment? Are you having fun yet?"

"Scarecrow," the psychiatrist muttered before tackling Jackson. Jonathan's greedy hands snatched the blade from Jackson.

"No!" screamed Lisa, launching herself into the fray. She landed beside Jackson in time to hear a gunshot ring out.

The knife clattered to the floor. Jonathan was clawing at his stomach, his fingers soaked in his own blood. Jackson gathered up the knife as he smiled darkly at Jonathan, began to slowly stab his brother viciously throughout his body. Jonathan was losing blood rapidly and was unable to fight off Jackson's torturous efforts.

Lisa was immobile on the floor as she could not help but listen to Jackson torment his twin and hearing Jonathan's pain-filled moans in response for the first time. It was sweet, sweet payback and final revenge for all the years she suffered under Jonathan's reign of terror.

"No one hurts them," Jackson swore. "Got it?"

Eventually, Jackson knelt by Lisa's side and gently gathered her into his arms, still covered in Jonathan's blood. Picking up his knife, he severed the ropes free from her wrists. "It's done, Lisa. He won't harm anyone ever again."

Is it really over? Will he ever truly be gone? Can I actually pick up the pieces of my life and start over?

Author's Notes:

That's the last chapter! Woo! Now all I have to do is write the epilogue which will be up shortly. Major thanks to emptyvoices for all of her help and to everyone who has reviewed!