Jonathan leaned heavily against the wall of the isolation cell, his only company the corpse of Victor Zsasz. Slowly his breathing was evening out, though bouts of intense pain would radiate from the broken arm hanging uselessly on his left side. So many thoughts were racing through his mind, answers to questions he had been asking himself for weeks now that were so close but yet he missed them. These answers were right in front of him but for some reason, either through sheer ignorance or an unwillingness to commit to the truth in front of him, his sharp mind had missed these important revelations. In turn these revelations could have helped him prevent the events already set into motion. And even with all these thoughts running around in his mind, Jonathan still needed to have confirmation that his current revelations were correct. These answers he would get, soon enough, but for now he desperately needed to take care of his wounds. Only then could he begin to track down the clown himself.

Collecting his discarded bag from the floor and slinging it over his right shoulder, Jonathan looked one last time towards his fallen foe. 'He deserved this. He will be but the first to die in my quest to get Aura back.'

'Are you trying to justify to yourself the fact that you just killed a man?' Scarecrow questioned, oddly soft in his tone.

Jonathan shook his head as he retreated from the room, slowly making his way back towards the elevator at the end of the hall. 'I in no way, shape, or form feel guilty for killing Zsasz. He was a rabid animal that should have been put down a long time ago.' Jonathan leaned against the metal wall of the elevator as it began its slow ascent, 'Perhaps if the red tape and bureaucracy of this disgusting town was not as bad as it was. so many innocents could have been saved from his madness. No, I did this world a favor by ending his life.'

Scarecrow gave off a noise of approval before replying, 'Then why is your mind so full of confusion? You can't hide it from me. I can feel the tormented thoughts running through your mind. Even I am having trouble trying to find one coherent thought among the rabble.'

'I apologize for the mess. If its bothering you, you can always feel free to retreat to your corner and leave me be for once.' Jonathan sighed as he unlocked his office door and moved inside. Scarecrow said nothing as Jonathan slide his arms back into his suit coat, stuffing his costume back into the bag. Finally, he sighed inwardly before saying, 'I apologize, my friend. Today has been trying but Nygma is right. We need to learn to work together. For a few moments in that cell I felt our minds combine. I know you did as well.'

'I did. I have to admit it felt good to finally be at peace with you and work together towards a common goal.' Scarecrow laughed softly, the sound slowly echoing through his mind. 'What are you trying to say to me Jonny?'

After locking the door to his office, Jonathan began the long walk down the hall towards the exit of the psychiatric department. 'I'm merely trying to say that perhaps we need to start trusting one another and attempt to work together efficiently if we hope to complete our goal in a timely manner. Aura could be ours all the sooner if we were to be united in this task.' Jonathan stopped suddenly thrusting his right hand out to catch himself on the wall beside him. A sharp, throbbing pain shot up his ruined arm and continuously became worse as he walked down the hall. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead as he fought to control the pain paralyzing his body from moving forward.

Scarecrow slowly pushed himself into the forefront of Jonathan's mind, cradling his subconscious. Softly, even tenderly for the demon himself, he spoke, 'Let me help you. My tolerance for pain is far superior to your own. Simply tell me were our path lays and I will see us to the end.'

Hesitantly Jonathan relinquished control of his body to his darker half. Scarecrow easily was able to ignore the pain in his arm, merely treating it as if he were scraped from a fall, and continued down the hall. Once outside of the psychiatric ward, he moved towards the exit of the building itself. Jonathan directed the Rogue along the cobbled pathways between the island's buildings until they reached the Medical Ward. Scarecrow swiped his badge, the door unlocking from its magnetic seal, before continuing into the ward itself. A few turns and a massive hallway of empty and dark offices later, they stopped before the door to the man Jonathan was looking for. Scarecrow retreated to the recesses of Jonathan's mind, giving up control of their shared body. Immediately the pain intensified tenfold and Jonathan had to bite into his lip to keep from crying out in agony as the adrenaline was wearing off. Breathing heavily, Jonathan slowly lifted his hand and knocked on the glass pane of the door.

It was a few moments before the door swung inward and Jack Barrow smiled down at his colleague. The smile soon faded however as the doctor noticed the bloodied cuts, bruises, and intense look of pain on the young man's face leaning against the wall in front of him. "Jonathan, what have you done?" Barrow whispered as he wrapped an arm underneath Jonathan's shoulders and helped him into his office.

The young doctor collapsed heavily into the wooden chair, holding his left arm close to his chest as the pain continued to shoot up his arm. "A minor irritation that had to be taken care of."

Barrow shook his head, the smile returning to his face. Kneeling down beside Jonathan he held out his hand. "Let me see it." Slowly Jonathan moved his left arm, allowing Barrow to gently grasp it. Barrow tenderly palpitated the limb, making small noises of approval as he examined. Jonathan growled out as the doctor turned his arm over to look at the other side. He had to bite his lip again, drawing blood into his mouth, as Barrow gently squeezed the bruised section. "Well the good news is that the break looks clean. Give me a minute to get some supplies and I'll cast it up for you."

Jonathan sighed in relief as the man left his arm alone. "So it should heal on its own?"

Barrow nodded down towards his companion and smiled softly, "You should only have to keep the cast on for about six weeks but I think you'll be just fine." The doctor left, returning a few moments later with his arms full. "You're lucky that you are a healthy, young man." Barrow carefully wrapped Jonathan's arm, taking care to immobilize and stabilize his arm before placing it inside of a sling. "I won't ask what happened and if anyone asks me why I bandaged you up I will simply tell them you had a nasty fall at home."

"Thank you Jack." Jonathan carefully placing the shoulder of his jacket back onto his left shoulder, covering his arm. "I appreciated all that you have done for me over the last few days. I intend to repay your kindness."

Barrow shook his head, "Just invite me to dinner when you have your woman back. I would love to meet the lady who claimed your heart, she would have to be one incredible person."

Jonathan smiled and gratefully accepted the painkillers offered by the doctor. Once inside his car, Jonathan pulled his phone from his pocket and sent a short text to his next destination. Parking his car in a dark alley next to the Riddler's safe house, Jonathan quickly made his way to the door. The door swung open as he stepped towards it and Edward Nygma ushered him in and up towards the computer room beyond the top of the stairs. Jonathan sat in his usual armchair in the corner and watched as the Riddler resumed his spot on the wheeled stool before the main console of his computer. A few clicks later, Nygma spun on his chair to give the man in the corner of the room his undivided attention. "So what is this lead you found?"

Jonathan was silent for a good long while, his thoughts once again running rampant inside his mind. The entire time the answer was right there and now the man in front of him, Jonathan suspiciously thought that Nygma knew all along, would give him the conformation he needed. Aura and Net Runner, what was their real connection? Both people came from Metropolis and both seemed to disappear from the big city at the same time. Aura could be a hacker, she was smart and anything was possible, but was she capable of creating something as deadly and dangerous as supposedly the Net Runner created? She did claim to have saved her own mother from a debilitating mental disease, whereas the Net Runner was able to manipulate the mind as well using today's technology. Then there was the other things that Zsasz had said and the only photograph known of the elusive hacker. Both claimed that Net Runner had white hair, and naturally white at that. Aura had beautiful, curly black hair, now dyed red from Halloween. Unless that too was a lie and she did have white hair all along? Why would she not just tell him the truth though? If she was that hacker, why not just tell him?

'For the same reason you hide me.' Scarecrow called out. 'If she is the Net Runner, and it is likely at this point...'

'Then she didn't want us to judge her. She didn't trust us enough yet.' Jonathan closed his eyes, 'That will change soon though.' He knew that for now he would need to focus his mind on finding Aura. Then after she was located and within arms reach would he confront his friend about the hidden secret he kept.

"Everything okay over there?" Nygma called out to his friend.

Slowly Jonathan raised his head towards the bare chested man sitting there across from him. Only wearing a pair of green question mark pajama pants, Nygma did not strike an imposing facade. "I'm fine why do you ask?"

Nygma gestured towards the bandages covering the cuts on his face and arms, the giant bruise on his neck, and the sling on his left arm. "What happened?"

Jonathan sat back as he told Nygma about him confronting Zsasz and the fight that followed. Being careful to skip over his suspicions while telling his story. Jonathan finished his story and locked his icy blue eyes on Nygma's. "So Zsasz mentioned twice things that eluded to a boat and pier. Joker obviously threw him overboard after he disobeyed his orders."

Nygma immediately turned around and began clicking keys on his keyboard. Screens popped up and silently he began reading over everything. Jonathan felt his eyes grow heavy and slowly let them close as the man in front of him worked. "Is Penguin at Arkham?"

Without opening his eyes Jonathan responded, "Yes, he was admitted a few days before you escaped."

Nygma hummed and continued to work on his computer. "Do you have any idea if he has a way of conducting his 'business' while on the inside?"

"Why the sudden interest in Cobblepot?" Jonathan questioned, cracking one eye open when the typing stopped. Nygma had turned to look at the young doctor.

"Oswald Cobblepot makes a lot of his money smuggling illegal goods in and out of the Gotham docks under the guise of oil. He would be the first person I would go to if I needed to move human cargo out of the city and was also being hunted by the police." Nygma shrugged, "Cobblepot is a business man and I'm willing to bet that if the Joker paid him enough, even the Penguin would work for the clown."

Jonathan closed his eyes as he thought back to Arkham and the Penguin. "Doctor Long is his therapist and from what I have heard the man is in Penguin's pocket. It could be safely assumed that he is a gopher for the Penguin and helps the man conduct his business while still inside of the asylum."

Nygma nodded thoughtfully and turned around back to the keyboard. "So all I have to do is hack into the Gotham dock master's terminal and see if there is anything suspiciously being shipped over the last few weeks." Turning back with a squeak, he addressed the doctor again, "This might take awhile if you want to help yourself to the kitchen or take a nap. You look like shit, Jonathan."

"Fuck you too, Nygma." Jonathan uncharacteristically growled out. Lifting himself slowly from the chair and stumbling down the stairs, he made his way into the kitchen. After combing through the fridge and cabinets, Jonathan settled with making himself a grilled cheese and glass of milk. As soon as the food hit his stomach, did the doctor realize just how hungry he was. After making himself two more sandwiches and another glass of milk was he finally satisfied. Crawling onto the couch in Nygma's small living room, he curled up under the blanket that was thrown on the sofa and rested his head on his good arm.

'Do you really think we have a good chance of finding her?' Scarecrow questioned just as Jonathan's eyes slid closed.

Jonathan smiled to himself, 'If anyone can find out if she was smuggled onto one of Penguin's ships, its Nygma. I trust him and his mind is a valuable thing in a situation like this.'

'You should have let me fight Zsasz, Jonny. It was stupid of you to willingly put yourself in harm's way simply because you wanted to prove yourself a bigger man in our little pissing contest. This broken arm will be a hindrance in getting my Aura back.' Scarecrow's growls continued to get lower and full of menace the longer he berated his better half.

'Our Aura. She will belong to both of us. Besides I need to learn my own limitations and I do apologize for the timing of wishing to learn that same lesson. We will be fine in the end; the clowns are nothing compared to the fury and anger in our heart.' Jonathan pulled the blanket further up his shoulders before resettling himself down on his arm. 'For now, my dark friend, we need to rest this tired body of ours. We have both been negligent to our physical well being.'

Groaning loudly, Aura slowly opened her right eye. The left having become too swollen from that monster's punch to her face. The room was fuzzy as she tried to look around the metal room she was in. After closing her eye and reopening it again, the room finally came into focus. The walls were a thick, rusting metal with no windows or any decorations to be seen. There was a single desk across from her, a man with his feet kicked up on the desktop was sleeping soundly. Aura winced slightly as she tried to move her body and only then realized that her arms with numb. Looking above her she saw that she was still chained to a pipe in the ceiling, her arms ghostly white as the blood was draining from her limbs. Any slight movement and her arms would start to sting as if one thousand needles were being pushed into her skin. She closed her eyes again, trying to remember what had happened in the last week. After the van stopped, the night she was kidnapped, they knocked her unconscious. She awoke in the same metal room she was in now, listening to the sound of what could only be water slapping the side of the ship's haul. When she woke up, a thin man covered in counting tick marks all over his body greeted her. Zsasz was what the clown's men called him. He was the very definition of a monster. Overhearing a clown talking to him after the first night in this room, she learned that he had one simple job, to keep her quiet long enough for them to leave the pier they were at, and then again when they arrived at their destination.

Once the man entered the room, Aura began hammering him with questions. She demanded to see Joker, claiming she would never help him with anything. Quickly the man slapped her across the face before dragging a knife up the inside of her leg and reminding her that there was still one person whose life depended on her continued assistance. Jonathan's life. Remembering the threat against him was enough to quiet her, but not quench the fire in her soul. Day after day in that room she would be hung from the pipe, only let down long enough to eat or relieve herself. Zsasz would take pleasure in hitting or punching her. He told her only once that Joker had only told him that he can't leave any permanent marks. If anything Zsasz was a master with his blades. He would leave light, little cuts all over her body, taking great care to smack those areas until she screamed out in pain and then he had an excuse to choke her until she passed out. Finally about the fourth day, Aura's mind all but broke. Zsasz approached her and Aura used all her weight to kick the man in the face, breaking his nose. He laughed as blood poured down his face and onto his chest. Wrapping his hands around her throat, he choked her until she was almost unconscious before releasing her neck. He then tore the shirt from her chest and dug a knife deep into her side dragging it down about three inches before pulling it out. He reared back to thrust the blade into her side again but her screams had alerted one of the men in black and white, the ones in black and white apparently did not work for Joker directly, who then ran into the room and knocked Zsasz to the ground with a heavy punch to the back on his head.

Joker was summoned himself after that. A small woman, frightful of the clown standing in the room glaring at the monster out cold on the floor, was brought to treat Aura's wounds. They uncuffed her from the pipe while the woman stitched her side. Joker kicked and punched Zsasz, all the while screaming that he couldn't even wait for them to leave Gotham before trying to mess up everything. Joker ordered some of his clown faced men to gas Zsasz and throw him overboard. Ever since then, this other man would watch over her. Apparently they were already away from the Gotham docks for if she screamed or was loud the man made no move to stop her. Aura opened her eye again when she heard the scrapping of a chair on the metal floor. The man had stood and was coming closer to her, a bottle of water and rag in his hand.

Nervously the man looked over his shoulder and then back towards Aura. She tried to move away from him, fearful this man was going to hurt her, but softly the man shook his head. "I'm not going to touch you I swear." Slowly the man raised the open bottle to her lips. "Here, I know you have to be thirsty. Its clean and cold. I promise I didn't poison it in any way." When she didn't open her lips the man laughed under his breath. He was a large man, twice the size of any normal man, and when he laughed the movement only made him seem awkward. "Here I'll show you," the man took a swig of the water, "see its clean."

Aura parted her lips and the man slowly poured the ice cold water in her mouth. The taste made her moan as they rarely gave her clean water, only stale and lukewarm murky water with her meals. She sucked it down greedily until the bottle was almost drained before stopping and breathing heavily. "Why are you helping me?" she asked, out of breath.

The man smiled towards her. He soaked the rag in the remaining cold water before wiping her face with the now cool, damp cloth. Aura's eyes rolled closed as the caked dirt and sweat from the warm room was removed from her skin. Something about this man was familiar though she could not place it. Though when he talked again did she remember him. "I have a sister around your age. Well I had a sister around your age." Gently the man wiped down her neck, letting the coolness ease her bruised flesh. "She died from cancer about three years ago. I just can't stand by and watch you suffer."

He stopped when Aura laughed gently. "Isn't it your job to make me suffer?"

The man looked at her, his eyes full of remorse behind the clown makeup. "He only said my job was to watch over you and make sure you don't alert any coppers when we reach port."

"Where are we going?" she asked quickly.

The man sighed again. "Does it matter? Joker is never going to let you go and you know that." He looked over his shoulder again before lowering his voice. "Why didn't you run when I told you to? When I saw you walking down the sidewalk towards me, my heart stopped. You are so young you could have stayed where you were and let the police stop Joker. Why did you come here?"

Aura hung her head, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I had to save my parents."

"Joker killed them. He planned to kill them all along."

"I had to try!" Aura exclaimed.

The man quickly shushed her and looked over his shoulder towards the door. After a few minutes he sighed sadly and turned back to her. "You're brave, but he's going to take everything he can from you. Even that man he said he would kill. The second you stop being of use to him, Joker will find him and kill him too, just to hurt you."

Aura was quiet as she contemplated the man standing before her. He was the exact opposite of what she thought he was upon making her first impression. He was kind and concerned about the direction her life was going. Aura blurted out, before she could stop herself, "Why are you here? Why do you work for a man like that?"

Slowly the clown looked up at her with a sad smile. "What other work is there for a felon like me? I tried to get a decent job but as soon as the employer finds out about the girl I molested when I was a teenager, I'm always sacked. One bad choice in my life; one bad decision to trust a girl when she said that she was 17 but was really 14 and I was 19, and I can't find any job to live off of. Working for a criminal is the only choice I have now to provide for my little girl." The man pulled his wallet from his back pocket and showed her a picture inside. A small two year old girl with caramel skin and a bright toothy smile, shone from the picture like a ray of sunshine after a thunderstorm. Aura felt her heart break at the sight of the beautiful girl and the thought that her daddy is putting his life on the line to provide her with a better life. The man looked at the picture himself before hiding the wallet once again. "Look I can't say that I can get you out of here, but I can at least help you. You're a world class hacker right? So if I can get you whatever components you need to make something that would alert the police to your presence without letting Joker know, could you do it?"

Aura thought for a moment and nodded. "I might be able too." She stopped and smiled small at the friend she seemed to have made. Though she couldn't fully trust him, this man seemed genuine in his declaration. "What's your name?"

"Marco."

"Marco, Joker took a communications device from my bag and put it in his pocket. If I could get that back I may be able to contact the GCPD or Batman." she whispered to him.

Marco frowned, "I should be able to get it for you. I'm a veteran around here and never caused trouble among the men so I'm pretty trusted. But...," he stopped and looked back towards the door before continuing, "we're not in Gotham anymore. We are in Metropolis."

Jonathan felt his shoulder being shook softly and heard a whispering from above his head. "Jonathan? Come on wake up, I think I found something."

Quickly Jonathan sprang up from the couch, wrapping a hand around Nygma's neck and squeezing tightly. Slowly his mind caught up from the fog of waking from his deep sleep, and he immediately released the man. Breathing hard he fell back on the sofa, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Don't ever wake me up like that again."

Riddle coughed while trying to suck in air from the vice like grip that was on his neck. "I tried calling your name but you never responded. I thought you were dead."

"I haven't slept in days. Sorry about that Nygma."

Nygma shot him a dark glare before repeating, "I found something."

Jonathan nodded and followed the Rogue to the kitchen were Riddler retrieved a glass of bourbon before leading the way back to his computer room. "What is it?"

Slurping down half his drink, he pointed to the screen in front of them. "Its a manifest for one of Penguin's main ships. Only thing is that the harbor master labeled it as carrying only grain and vegetables. Penguin never uses a cover like that plus the ship itself is an oil barge so there is no way they would carry food on it." He finished off his drink before continuing. "Plus there's this." Nygma clicked into another report and stepped aside to let Jonathan read it. "A policeman monitoring the harbor was sniffing around the barge when he heard the unmistakable sounds of a woman screaming on board. Unfortunately the ship was pulling away from port before he could investigate but, and here's where things get interesting, Victor Zsasz was thrown overboard from the same ship and the policeman fished him out of the water."

Jonathan felt his breath catch in his throat. Even Scarecrow was waiting with baited breath to hear what Riddler had to say. When he didn't continue Jonathan stood to his full height, the excitement coursing through his veins like wildfire. "Where is the ship heading?"

Riddler smirked maniacally, "Metropolis."