"Excuse me." Rachel sighed to Bruce, before answering her cell. "Rachel Dawes."
Her expression changed instantly, and Rachel demanded, "Who authorized that?"
Her blue eyes – the same shade as Rebecca's - narrowed while Bruce watched her like a hawk as she barked into her phone, "Get Crane down there right now; do not take no for an answer. Call Dr. Lehmann, tell him we'll need our own assessment on the judge's desk by morning."
Bruce was frowning outright now as he watched Rachel hang up angrily.
"What's wrong?" Bruce asked as soon as she had, but Rachel was already calling someone else.
"Hang on, Bruce." She apologized shortly, before saying into her cell, "Becky?"
Bruce stiffened instantly, but Rachel thankfully didn't notice, too busy saying to her sister in a sharp tone, "Listen, you said you would get that investigation clearance for Arkham Asylum by today right?"
Rebecca must've replied, because Rachel explained quickly, "Can you take me with you now? Yes, now. It's Falcone; Dr. Crane moved him to Arkham on suicide watch. Yes, again. But this time it's Falcone."
Her tone clearly said what she was thinking, what Rebecca apparently shared in thinking because the next second Rachel was saying, "Thanks, Becky. No, I can get there on my own, I caught a cab. Just meet me outside. See you in twenty."
She hung up once more, and Bruce interjected worriedly, "You're going to Arkham now?"
Rachel didn't answer as she stuffed her phone back into her bag, and Bruce reminded warningly, "It's in the Narrows, Rachel; and you're taking your sister?"
Rachel just looked up at him as she said flatly, "You enjoy your party, Bruce. Some of us have work to do."
Bruce hesitated, but as Rachel turned to go he called after her, "Be careful, Rach. Tell that to Becky, too."
Rachel shot him a look of startled surprise, before her face softened just slightly and she nodded back at her old friend. She then climbed into the waiting cab, quickly giving the address and it took off once more down the drive.
Bruce used the time to open Rachel's present, eyeing the slim - and expensive – pen inside. It was the brand his father had used often when they were still children, and Bruce was both surprised and touched Rachel remembered.
A small note on top of the silky wrap that kept the pen safe read, 'To make up for the last eight years; happy birthday. Love, Rachel'
Bruce looked back up after Rachel, watching her disappear with a sigh. He knew Rachel was being genuine in her gift; but why did it feel like a bribe to take her words seriously about her sister?
'Probably because you feel guilty.' A small voice in the back of his head pointed out.
But, he pushed the thought away for now – he had things to do. And besides, if you thought about it, he was taking Rachel's words to heart; he wasn't going to let Rebecca be hurt. Whether it was because of him, or anyone else.
The instant Rachel was out of sight, Bruce turned and hurried back up the stairs, his heart pounding as he strode into the deepest part of the mansion.
"But, Master Wayne," Alfred protested as he hurried after Bruce, "the guests will be arriving."
"Keep them happy until I arrive." Bruce answered shortly as he barely kept himself from running.
He turned to Alfred as he added, "Tell them that joke you know."
Patting the old butler's shoulder, Bruce turned and quickly headed into the room with the piano, playing the off-key notes to open the secret panel. He sped his way inside, heading down to the Batcave all while praying that he would get there before Rebecca – and Rachel, he added – could get hurt.
Rachel stood with narrowed eyes before the cell holding Falcone.
The man was clearly out of his mind, shaking and muttering the same word over and over again. 'Scarecrow.'
Rebecca was busy scaring the security away with her 'authoritative tone', having basically forced her and her sister's way into the Asylum with her badge. She didn't have a warrant for search, but Gordon had stepped in to help speed the processing of her authoritative power to at least get a pass into Arkham.
Technically, it didn't extend to include Rachel – but Arkham security didn't have to know that.
"Just go fetch Crane if you've got nothing better to do." Rebecca snapped at the guard who was insistent on hesitating between letting her take control and protesting her presence. "Tell him Detective Dawes and assistant DA Dawes are here."
The guard finally relented, leaving to fetch Crane after shooting one last anxious glance over his shoulder at the two sisters.
"Finally." Rebecca grumbled as she returned to her sister's side.
She turned her eyes on Falcone and she watched the man, noticing all the signs, and she muttered so only Rachel could hear her, "He's exactly like the other reports on Crane's patients."
"All of them?" Rachel checked, and Rebecca shook her head.
"We don't know." She explained. "That was mostly why I was pushing for the investigative approval even if I couldn't get a search warrant yet. There's not enough public information, but I'm certain that at the very least all of Falcone's men who ended up in Arkham came up with these symptoms."
She nodded where Falcone was twitching against his restraints, and Rachel's lips tightened further.
A noise down the hallway made them both glance to the side, and both sisters straightened as Dr. Jonathon Crane himself came hurrying down towards them.
"Miss Dawes." He greeted Rachel, before looking at Rebecca. "And Detective Dawes. We have never met."
"I would say it's a pleasure, doctor, but…" Rebecca let her sentence trail off meaningfully, and Crane's lips thinned slightly.
However, he maintained his composure as he said to Rachel politely, "This is most irregular, Miss Dawes. I have nothing to add to the report I filed with the judge."
"I have questions about your report." Rachel returned curtly, and Crane glanced at Rebecca as he asked, "Questions involving the police?"
"Perhaps." Rebecca answered for her sister. "Though I am leaning towards a positive, Dr. Crane."
She gestured to Falcone while Rachel noted with more than a hint of accusation in her tone, "Isn't it convenient for a 52-year-old man, who has no history of mental illness, to suddenly have a complete psychotic breakdown just when he's about to indicted?"
"Well," Crane replied smoothly, "as you can see for yourself, there is nothing 'convenient' about his symptoms."
Rachel's eyes narrowed dangerously, when Rebecca suddenly commented, "What's 'Scarecrow'?"
"Patients suffering delusional episodes often focus their paranoia on an external tormentor - usually one conforming to Jungian archetypes." Crane answered without skipping a beat. "In this case," he waved vaguely towards Falcone, "a scarecrow."
"Mm, much like most of your other patients... right Dr. Crane?" Rebecca noted flatly as she turned to fix her blue eyes on Crane's brilliant but cold blue ones. "Or, at least, all of Falcone's men in your care."
Crane, to his credit, didn't even flinch as he remarked, "They are of similar backgrounds, so it is hardly surprising. Outside, they were giants; but in here, only the mind can grant you power."
Rachel's eyes scanned the man before her, and she noted, "You enjoy the reversal."
"I respect the mind's power over the body." Crane corrected as he looked back at the older Dawes sister. "It's why I do what I do."
"And I do what I do to put thugs like Falcone behind bars, not in therapy." Rebecca retorted flatly as she stared Crane down and his eyes flickered over to her briefly.
"And I do what I do to keep them there." Rachel added, before she nodded at her sister. They were done here.
Together, they left Crane, heading back down the hallway and Rachel added over her shoulder, "And I want my own psychiatric consultant to have full access to Falcone, including blood work. Find out what exactly you put him on."
The pair stopped by the elevator, and Crane joined them once more as he answered with a sigh, "First thing tomorrow, then."
"Tonight." Rebecca corrected as she pinned Crane with a stern look.
Crane looked at her incredulously, and Rachel explained with a smirk, "I've already paged Dr. Lehmann at County General."
And he would have full police escort, Rebecca added though only in her mind. She didn't quite trust Crane to rub that into his face just yet. There was something still very off about the whole deal, and she was determined she would dig to the bottom of things – which was also why she'd secretly informed Gordon to bring the entire force if she didn't call him back with results within the hour.
Of course, Crane didn't know this, and Rebecca watched him like a hawk as he got into the elevator with them, saying, "As you wish."
"What are you doing?" Rebecca asked suspiciously as Crane turned a security switch on the elevator panel before leading them down.
"There's something I think you should see." Crane answered smoothly, and Rebecca's eyes narrowed.
The elevator doors opened once more, and Crane led the way as he said, "This way, please."
Rebecca stepped up first, carefully placing herself in front of her sister as they followed Crane down a dubious looking corridor in the basements of Arkham Asylum.
He pushed open the doors at the end of the corridor, leading them out onto the highest level of some kind of underground lab. Rebecca and Rachel both stared down at the groups of scientists moving around below where they stood on a walkway, and Rebecca noticed the sharp looks they were receiving from a few of the workers.
She tensed while Crane explained calmly, "This is where we make the medicine."
It was at that moment that her eyes fell on something else, something distinctly strange and – if she had to bet – sinister. Rebecca watched a small group of workers in the corner of the room pouring something into an open water pipe, one that probably went around all of Gotham judging from the size.
She slowly took a step back, as Rachel clearly saw and felt the same thing - the same danger -, just as Crane commented casually, "Perhaps you should have some; clear your head."
"Run!" Rebecca ordered her sister, pushing Rachel back into the corridor while she drew her gun on Crane.
"Dr. Crane, I am placing you under arrest." Rebecca said sharply, but he just smirked as he answered, "Oh, Detective. You don't even know what you're up against yet."
He suddenly lifted a hand, spraying her in the face with some kind of gas that had been hidden inside his suit sleeve.
Rebecca coughed as her mind instantly went fuzzy, and she stared in alarm as a bat appeared to worm its way out of Crane's mouth while he sneered, "Let's see how well you fight against your worst fears."
He knocked the gun out of her hand as Rebecca gasped and choked, and he placed his Scarecrow hood on his head as Rebecca's whole world spun around while bats started to fly out of every nook and corner.
Her rolling eyes caught sight of him, and Rebecca screamed as a bat crawled out of each of the dark eye holes while Scarecrow cackled, "Welcome to your worst nightmare."
He nodded for his henchmen to grab Rebecca, who knocked her head hard on the railings in her vain attempt to escape, before he himself went after the older Dawes sister, trapped inside the elevator that he'd locked to be immobile.
Rebecca slowly started to come back to consciousness after the hard blow to her head as she was dumped onto a metal operation table, while her sister was dropped, unconscious, on the table beside her.
Scarecrow appeared above her, the worn weaved bag still on his head as he demanded in a strange, raspy voice, "Who knows you're here?"
Rebecca shook her head, shying away from the bats that she saw crawling all over Scarecrow's face and coming out from his eyes, nose, and mouth courtesy of the fear gas.
Scarecrow just leant in closer as he shouted, "Who knows?!"
Rebecca screamed in response as, in her mind's eye, she saw a bat come leaping out of Scarecrow's mouth towards her; when suddenly the lights in the whole lab went out, leaving only the emergency lights.
Scarecrow swiftly pulled his mask off and looked towards the shadows on the outskirts of the basement while his thugs all looked around warily and Rebecca's head rolled on the table.
"He's here." Crane murmured, and one of his idiots asked, "Who?"
"The Batman." Crane answered, articulating the masked vigilante's 'name' with a hint of mocking.
"What do we do?" Another of his men asked as they all searched the shadows warily, and Crane answered with a small sigh, "What anyone does when a prowler comes around."
He smirked as he glanced at one of his men and he ordered softly, "Call the police."
"You want the cops here?" The thug repeated, frowning. "She's one of them, even they won't let that slide easy."
He nodded to Rebecca, but Crane pointed out, "At this point, they can't stop us."
He spoke a little louder as he added mockingly, "But the Batman has a talent for disruption."
He lowered his voice again as he ordered his men, "Force him outside, the police will take him down. Go."
"What about them?" The thug asked, nodding to Rebecca and Rachel.
"Well, this one doesn't have long." Crane replied carelessly as he glanced at Rebecca whose breathing was starting to stagger. "I gave her a concentrated dose – the mind can only take so much. I'll just give one more to her sister and we can get out of here. Go."
He waved two of his men ahead to call the cops while the rest of them cocked their guns. Crane turned, about to spray Rachel, when suddenly a dark-clad figure swooped down.
Crane moved back quickly, barely avoiding getting squashed, as the figure grabbed Rachel before sweeping back up into the shadows.
"Get him!" Crane shouted, quickly running for the stairs while his men all raced to the edges of the lab as well, their guns raised as they desperately tried to find the man hiding in the shadows.
One of them heard something drop right behind him and turned quickly, about to shoot, but the Batman was too fast. He yelled as his arm was caught and twisted back, his gun pointed uselessly to the side, and another of Crane's men whirled around at the sound.
The man gasped and aimed his own gun to shoot, but the Batman forced the thug in his arms to fire his gun at the other thug's foot. The man yelled in pain as he dropped to the floor, and Batman used the moment to punch the thug in his hold, knocking the man out.
The other thug got back up, furious, and aimed his gun, but Batman dove at him. Catching the man around his middle, he pulled them both up quickly back into the shadows while the thug yelled as he fired his gun uselessly into nothing before he was knocked out.
Crane turned, trying to find the Batman, but the man was fast and swift in his attacks. Before they could locate him, he had dropped down and taken out another couple thugs on one side of the lab before disappearing again, only drop down again moments later in a different part of the basement as he took out more men.
But Crane's men were dwindling, and Crane knew it was only a matter of time before Batman had to come near him. The Scarecrow quickly hid in the shadows near some stairs, his mask on to ensure he avoided inhaling the fear hallucinogens he sprayed around, and he watched the two men searching nearby.
Sure enough, Batman dropped down abruptly on the two thugs, taking one out almost instantly while the other whirled on him. Scarecrow waited until he had an opening, and as Batman swung to avoid the thug's backward kick, Scarecrow leapt to spray the vigilante once more.
Unfortunately, Batman had anticipated him, and he caught Scarecrow's wrist, holding the man in place as he knocked the thug out and to the ground. With no one else left, Batman whirled on Scarecrow, punching him in the stomach before whipping the man's mask off.
Crane glared at Batman as Batman grabbed Crane's hair with his free hand, pulling the doctor's head back and staring down into the man's face.
"Taste of your own medicine, doctor." Batman said scathingly, before he twisted Crane's arm up and pointed the gasser hidden in the man's sleeve right at Crane's face.
Batman released the hallucinogen, and Crane coughed as he breathed it in while Bruce remained unaffected thanks to the antidote Fox had given him.
Crane's eyes rolled slightly as he gagged and gasped, before he grunted as Batman hauled him up, grabbing him by the hair and under his chin and forcing the man to look him in the eyes as he demanded, "What have you been doing here?"
Crane's eyes widened in terror as his hallucinogen kicked in, but Batman remained firm as he demanded, "Crane. Who are you working for?"
For a moment, it looked like Crane wouldn't – or couldn't - answer, but he finally whispered out as he stared at Batman in utter fear, "Ra's… Ra's al Ghul.
*A/N I know, I'm a terrible person. It's been too long since I updated this, but I've had a bit of a writer's block in all my stories and I was a bit hesitant to upload this. However, I feel that I have made you precious readers wait far too long. Hopefully this chapter will be able to make up for my disappearance. Thank you to all of you who waited so patiently, and as always thanks to each and every one of you who read and reviewed!