A/N: Hey lovely people! I'm back! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Here's a chapter to get you started this week :) Shout out to the lovely Guest who left me a review encouraging me to continue on with the story! Your review really brightened my day and convinced me to continue. Thank you so much!
And thank you to everyone else who reads and is enjoying this story!
All rights reserved to DC comics. The only thing I own is my OC, Alouette.
Chapter 7: Background Noise
Alouette sighed weakly when she looked down on the papers in front of her. A small frown was placed on her lips and she moved a strand of her hair putting it into place behind her ears. But before she hurled into another workload, she heard a small knock outside of her office door. She welcomed the unknown guest in and hovered the papers elsewhere.
"You look stressed." Jonathan said, adjusting his tie.
"Well, psychology can be sometimes draining. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to be the one in a white room." She mentioned to him with a small chuckle.
He was taken back by her humor and nodded.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I feel the same way. Psychology can also be draining for me too, but I remember what I'm usually here for, my passion for psychopharmacology. " Jonathan told her. He took a seat down in front of her desk and put his hand on his right knee. He saw her in her natural beauty, noticing she wasn't a fan of makeup. Even though he knew she worked long hours in the office, only a slim of darkness creased under her eyes, but Jonathan was able to see the brownness in her irises that gave out a hint of light; diminishing her bags. He noted loose baby hair curls that ran down her ears, framing her oval-shaped face.
"Oh that's right! I remember you were one of the few in specializing in college. That's an interesting approach, I'm happy you were able to find something less generalized." She told him with an exciting smile striking her cheeks. Jonathan felt a little click inside of him and he gripped the ends of the chair, holding himself stiffly.
"Thank you. I came here to ask you a question, actually."
"What is it?" She looked at him with curious welcoming eyes, making him more unsettled. He wasn't used to having someone be in his presence longer than 5 minutes let alone make him feel like a person.
"I-I was wondering if you are content with the idea of being invited to dinner sometime this week, maybe even tonight if that was good for you. To help with my poor first impression and at least repay you for all those years of my arrogance." She saw him mumble the last few words, causing her cheeks to flush in a pale pink. She cleared her throat and nodded.
"That will be a good idea, it means a lot being invited to dinner from the all-time genius, thank you." She poked fun at him and wrote down a reminder on her yellow post it note. She then placed it on the corner of her computer screen. Jonathan gave into the joke and smirked.
"Very well. I just came here for that, I'll leave you to work then." He got up, pushed back his glasses and waved a small goodbye to her.
Once Jonathan got out of room, he exhaled deeply. Walking immediately to his office, he shut down to his chair and brushed his hand to his hair.
'What in the hell was THAT?!' Scarecrow voiced loudly at him.
'That was me having a decent conversation with a young woman without you interfering. "
He heard a dark chuckle in the back of his mind and he stiffened again. Jonathan tried to remain calm, but he started to get anxious.
'Oh Johnny…JOHNNY!' He heard the voice inside his head scream at him. He twitched in his chair and he bolted his hands to grip the sides of the chair again.
"I want to live a normal life. I can't have you inside my head." He told Scarecrow.
'Don't you remember why I'm here? I'm here to help you motivate yourself in continuing your father's plans. The toxin. After all these years, we were best buddies, but now you decided to be boring, like the rest of the wits in Gotham.'
"I didn't sign myself to be clinically insane. I wanted to help my father, but I didn't want you inside of me and controlling my every move!"
'I never did control your every move; you despised this girl, didn't you? In those past several years, your blood will boil with just the mention of her name. What makes it so different now!?'
"She actually treats me like a normal person. She doesn't see me as an arrogant bastard anymore. I did not like her existence at a point in my life, but her intelligence and overall forgiving personality is something that I have been unable to come through nowadays. She actually gave me a chance. Why are you belittling me!?" Jonathan gritted his teeth and the knuckles
'I'm not belittling you, Johnny…I'm trying to have you open your eyes for once and make you listen to the stupidity that comes right out of your mouth!'
Jonathan winced as if he can hear the identity screaming in front of him in person. The memories of his abusive grandmother hurled into his brain like the circling waves of a sea storm. He took his head into his hands and dropped his eyesight to the blue carpet. He tried to remain calm as he felt a clear tear drop ooze out of his left eye. It fell to the carpet, leaving only a dark mark of its shape.
Jonathan's lips started shaking, but he remained to start calming down. He went back up to his original position and looked around to see the files he needed to organize. Taking the papers to his hands, he went back to work, avoiding anymore conflict with Scarecrow like a click of a switch.
An eerie atmosphere started to fly over the city of Gotham. A few streetlights illuminated the area of the Narrows highlighting the parked cars that were in the darkened solid streets. There were a few puddles of rain that made the roads look like a glittery golden color. Perhaps the puddles that came from the rain were the only things that shine in the area of the Narrow, at least it seemed like it to Alouette. A few people were walking around, no faces shown underneath the hoods of their raincoasts.
Alouette was on her way to get ready for her dinner with Jonathan until she had the idea to visit the old apartment that her parents lived in when she was a small child; before her father started to make a living. She remembered the area briefly and she knew it was abandoned based on what her mother told her a couple years back when she was still in school. They never really went back to the old place, but Alouette wanted to redeem her childhood memories as a way to escape from her daily activities.
She got out of her car and walked upstairs to apartment. It was awfully abandoned and there was nothing left of it except for the few pieces of broken glass from past burglaries and the dishes that her family left. She looked around to see how it was completely trashed and she assumed people who didn't have money to live anywhere else in Gotham inherited the area after her. The electricity wasn't even working and she noticed it when she tried to turn on the main living room light.
When she slowly started walking to the middle of the room, she saw a mustard cushion chair with small toys. She looked closer, bending down and noticing they were stuffed animals. It was strange to see these toys in the middle of the room, as if someone placed them here to leave it for a child. She didn't recall a bunny rabbit as one of her playmates as a little girl. She stood up to see that the chair was placed perfectly in front of the windows.
Again, slowly walking towards the windows she saw no one except for the emptiness of the Narrows and the glistening of the rain dropping on her fingertips as she reached her hand towards the air. She wanted to close her eyes until she heard a couple of footsteps above her head. She quickly ran and hid inside a grimy closet.
Her brown eyes urgently looked inside to see a towering figure enter the room through the window where she previously was standing. He looked around and she held her breath in order to not have him find her hiding.
He was tall and had a figure of a bat. She wasn't able to have a clear depiction of his face since it shielded by a onyx colored masked, covering half of his notable features. She attempted to stood still inside of the closet as she watched the unknown man roam around; an ambience of pure darkness surrounding him.
Batman? She silently thought to herself.
He crouched down in front of the same chair she encountered and he picked up a stuffed animal, expecting it, until the opening of the front door was heard. She saw him quickly disappear into the shadows near the kitchen.
Alouette held her breathe one more time until she gasped when she recognized the person who was leading the group of two men.
The figure was no other than Jonathan Crane. He was holding a flashlight and carefully looking around the surroundings of the damped room. The two other men she did not recognized by face, but they were carrying large gallons of gasoline. She winced of the thought of having her childhood home burned to the ground, alighting her innocence.
"Get rid of all traces" Jonathan said to the two men. Alouette didn't recognize his voice by the moment he said his order. It was spoken with a sinister tone; making the hairs behind of her neck perk up. He face wasn't lit up like she usually witness when she sees him in Arkham. He looked cynical, completing off putting.
The flashlight was glowing on the chair filled with the toys.
His eyes lost sight of it and he went to look at the opened window where Batman entered. Alouette assumed that Jonathan was here before and remembered not having the windows open.
He walked closer to the open dormers, suspiciously looking around, probably for the Batman. Alouette was forcing herself to breathe slowly until she heard a crash of shards of glass inside of the bathroom. She held her hand to her face to not let any more noise come out. Her other hand was shaking in fear, still, she remained in her hiding horror.
Suddenly, Jonathan's companion was stumbled by the Batman. He was punched unconscious, groaning silently to his agony. She lost sight of Jonathan until she saw him wearing a rag onto his head, revealing the form of a Scarecrow.
She arched closer to the small openings of the closet to see the events that were occurring in front of her. A gas was filled into the air between Batman and Scarecrow, making Batman trip on a bottle of beer. He waved his gloved hands around to get rid of the traces of the gas that erupted in front of him.
"Aw, having trouble?" Jonathan said to Batman as he turned his head slightly to him; who had difficulty in remaining his balance. He fell to the ground in front of Jonathan.
"Take a sit, have a drink.." Jonathan spilling the remaining's of the beer bottle onto Batman.
The bat figure struggled to push off with whatever was making him not stand on his feet correctly. He was tripping on his own feet and even worse with alcohol in his eyes.
"You look like a man who takes himself too seriously.." Jonathan said, revealing more of his threatening tone. She was in shocked to see this side of him, especially towering over the Batman himself.
Alouette had the urge to run up and stop Jonathan from hurting anyone until Jonathan was holding a lighter in between his fingers, ready to erupt the fire. Her eyes grew bigger in the sight of his darker identity.
"You want my opinion? I think you need to lighten up." He threw the lighted lighter over Batman, emission-growing flames onto the suited body. The flares caused Alouette to gasp in terror, seeing him fall backwards outside of the windows.
Jonathan quickly ran out of the apartment, leaving the two other men behind.
Her hand was still shaking from the events and she desperately ran out to see where the vigilante has landed. She looked downward to see him, faintly on his back. He was coughing loudly and he urgently went back up to his feet again. He started walking towards the end of the corner, forcing his feet to go along with his dragging body.
Alouette ran as fast as she can outside to help him. When she got outside, his body vanished. Taking one last look to the end of the corner where he supposedly ended up being, there were oddly no traces of him. She stood there, blinking, and thinking to herself if she really seen what she just perceived. Small groups of people were looking in the same direction as her, whispering to each other questions. At this point, she didn't want to attend dinner alongside with Jonathan, but she knew that she needed answers. In the same time, she didn't want to make her presence known in the events that just happened if it was truly him. What would Jonathan be doing in her old home? In what was all those stuffed animals doing there? Was Jonathan in part of something that was known to anyone else except for him and his allies? Was it really Jonathan that she witnessed to burn off the Batman? She questioned her sanity when she reached to her car and started driving to the restaurant where they agreed to meet later.
Images of the past events ran through her head when she parked in front of the building of the Italian restaurant. She waited fifteen minutes to get a hold of herself, making sure she didn't look like she got out of a potential murder scene. Locking her car and walking towards the doors, she brushed off dust from her dress. The hostess welcomed her and she verified her reservation of two.
Tonight will be the night where she will know mysterious Jonathan Crane like the back of her hand.
A/N: And that's the end of Chapter 7! Tell me your predictions of what Chapter 8 will be? Will Jonathan come forward about what he has been up to? Or will Alouette be seen as a problem to Jonathan after slowly getting on his soft side? Let me know how I did with this chapter with a review/follow/or a fav! See you guys next chapter!
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