Chapter 21:
Then She Learns ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This is what you were talking about?"
"Yes." He firmly said looking to the doctor.
Dr. Crane shifted his eyes from the file spread open on his desk to look at the man in silence. His glacier eyes then fell to the flower in his hand. He gently took the blue flower out of Al Ghaul's hand, holding it close to his eyes for inspection. Dr. Crane was looking for something that set it apart from all of the flowers he had before seen in his life. There was nothing particularly fascinating about it. "You're sure about this?" He again looked up, across his desk, to meet the eyes of the older man.
"I've used it as the main ingredient before." His said calmly and clearly, folding his fingers together in front of his chest. "If these flowers can have an affect of fear of those that breath it-- while being mixed with primitive ingredients– in the snow covered mountains that are far from civilization... well, I'm sure that you, Doctor, can make something much more...powerful."
He gathered the papers together that had been spread across his desk, shuffled them together, and put them back in their folder before turning all of his attention back on the flower.
"With this flower-" Al Ghul continued, "You could... Create the very meaning of-"
"Fear." Dr. Crane finished, his eyes glued to the petals of the flower. His mind was instantly racing with ideas of all sorts. His mind wondered how intense the fear would be, how long the feeling would last. He was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice that Ra's Al Ghul had stood up to leave the room. By the time the door was closed behind him, the Scarecrow was laughing with delight. Laughing out loud with utter delight.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Where's Charlie?" Melissa suddenly asked as they had been lazily gathered in the new-found room in Arkham Asylum basement. 'They' being Jonathan's usual workers. A couple heads turned in her direction, but none offered an answer. The heads turned away from her. One lit a cigarette and took a long drag of it as his eyes scanned the room. Another slowly paced back and forth, spinning a small gun around his finger. Two were involved in a game of cards. The few others were either sitting or standing.
"It's a good room." The smoker announced. "Nice. Big. Spacious... Closer than the factory, too." There were murmurs of agreement from the others. He changed the topic once again, "When's the Doc suppose to be here?"
"Hour and a half, I think." Melissa answered. He nodded and gave an 'oh'. She narrowed her eyes, "So you all can hear me?" She snapped with annoyance. It was such a snap that she caught all of their attentions and they all stopped to turn to look at her. "Tell me... Where is Charlie? I haven't seen him for... two weeks– maybe more. Where is he? Did he get caught by the cops or something?"
"Or something." The smoker answered, watching Melissa. She raised a brow and he glanced around to the others. "Well... Crane never said NOT to tell her, right?" He got a few nods. It was good enough for him. He turned back to Melissa. "Crane had it in his head that you and Charlie are not well together."
"But we had always been together at the start of things. We didn't always get along, but it isn't like we–"
"No, no, not like that, Melissa." He licked his lips, considering what words to use. "Maybe those weren't the best words to use..." He took another long drag before flicking the cigarettes's ashes off.
Letting out a huff of smoke, he began, "A while back, back at the factory, Charlie and Crane... The relationship between you and Crane didn't sit too well with Charlie. I'm not saying that I think there's something going on between you two and I don't know if that's what Charlie thought. I don't know what Charlie thought. I think he felt like you were getting special treatment from Crane. Long before you came along to this little operation... Charlie was Crane's right-hand man. Crane's first-mate or some shit like that. Either way... It was changed once you came. I think that Charlie thought like his place was threatened."
Melissa only shook her head, "But... I don't see why that explains why Charlie isn't here."
"The Doc likes to have his 'high and mightiness'. Charlie wasn't so keen on it that night." The one that had spinning the gun now chimed in. He put the gun back in its holder and folded his arms across his chest. "He also seems to be a bit possessive of things, Melissa. Plenty of things. You included. I think that Charlie started to get awfully suspicious of things. I think Charlie saw you as a way to get back to that first-mate position. Like said before– before you it was Charlie."
"What?" Melissa asked with her brows furrowed.
One of the card-players looked over to Melissa and cleared his throat, "I'm sure the doc realized that Charlie thought that way– he is a psychologist, after all. I think he saw Charlie as some sort of a threat to you. Most times, things can be settled differently. As in us working it out by ourselves... Crane is possessive of you.. So now it's different. I mean, you wouldn't want to see something bad happen to something that you were possessive over, would you?"
The other card-player then chipped in- "Crane saw it better if you and Charlie would see less of each other. After that night in the factory, Crane wanted to see less of Charlie...Crane threatened Charlie by threatening his father. Told him that Charlie was to listen to his orders and do them without question. Charlie then wanted to see less of Crane. When people want to see less of each other... it just continues to get lesser and lesser. I haven't seen Charlie for a few days, actually."
There was a brief pause before Melissa shook her head and again asked, "What?"
"All in all," The gun-slinger said, "They weren't too trustful of each other. No trust at all now, I think."
Melissa looked at him"Where is Charlie?"
"What day is it?"
"Thursday." She answered.
"Visting his father." The smoker said, turning to Melissa. "Retirement home. He usually always had Thrusday off. Asked him what he did on those days, and he said he visits his dad. I think the place is called... Harbor View... Port View... Bay View... Something about the water and then 'View' at the end."
Without another word, Melissa left them as she hurried up the steps. They watched her go.
"You think that we should've tried to...keep her here?" The first card player asked. The second one looked back to his hand of cards and raised his brows, shrugging. "Probably. Too late now, though." He muttered, slipping a card into his hand from his sleeve. The other player turned back just in time to catch this. "You're cheating!" He shouted. All attention had now disappeared from the staircase Melissa left on to the arguing card players.