Updates! Updates everywhere! I apologize for the cliffhanger ending of the last chapter, it was very cruel of me, I know. Hopefully this quick update will make up for it :) And notice, I did change the description to keep it up to speed with what's going on in the plot. I hope you guys have as much fun reading this as I did writing it!
Jonathan Crane paced impatiently back and forth across his mind. He did not enjoy it when Scarecrow shut him off so completely- he was the dominant after all, or he was supposed to be, anyways. He had made his disapproval clear to Scarecrow, but he only snickered and ignored him, like he always did. Restraint and control- that was what Crane valued.
He was standing alone in the dark when a patch of light caught his eye.
"Finally," he muttered, hastily striding towards it. As he did, gradually his senses began to return to him. The first the return to him was his sense of taste- and a coppery tang of blood filled his mouth. The next was his sense of touch: a sore ache in his stomach and throbbing in his toe. "What have you gotten us into, Scarecrow?!" he shouted, unsure if his other half could hear him or not. Then his ears were filled with the sound of splashing water, and the faint shouts of a girl. "Scarecrow?"
Then in a rush, his sight returned, and he realized what Scarecrow had been up to. He was holding Elena in front of Killer Croc's lair, and pulled her back just in time before the crocodile's jaws could clamp down on her arm. They fell backwards, and Elena was quick to jump up and take off running.
Slowly, he got to his feet as well. His suit was drenched, but he'd saved the girl at least, No thanks to you, he directed at Scarecrow.
Oh, loosen up Johnny boy, have a little fun.
"Hey boss, what gives?" demanded Killer Croc, pressing his face on the metal bars.
"Having a little fun, that's all," he responded, in a tone of voice that made it clear he was not amused. He walked away, ignoring the looks his subordinates were giving him. Brushing the grime off his jacket, he noticed streaks of blood stained his coat. Examining his arms and head, he determined he was relatively uninjured, which only meant-
Better hurry up now, and find your little girlfriend. Looks like the big bad alligator did a number on her, said Scarecrow, cackling.
Muttering under his breath about the chance of him contracting hepatitis and AIDS, Crane stormed up the stairs in pursuit of his runaway patient. He was in no mood to play hide-and-go-seek, so he was somewhat placated to see that she was waiting for him in the elevator. He turned the key, and the elevator doors closed. Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, she saw she had three deep scratches along her arms. And she was steadfastly ignoring him.
"Try not to drip blood on the carpet," he said unsympathetically.
Normally, a comment like this would have provoked a venomous response from her, but now she remained quiet. He supposed he should be pleased with this development.
You're welcome, crooned Scarecrow.
"You are going to the hospital when we get off," he continued. "And you are to tell them your injuries were self-inflicted." It was the only story the nurses were likely to believe, besides the truth, anyways. Still, the Moretti girl said nothing.
He cleared his throat uncomfortably, unused to the silence that usually did not accompany her presence. Typically, he was the silent one. The elevator rang and the doors opened onto the second floor, and he was spared making any further conversation.
Without a word, Elena stumbled off the elevator and turned right, intent on going straight back to her cell. To hell with going to the hospital, she wanted to escape as quickly as possible and forget about everything that had just happened.
"I believe the infirmary wing is the other way," he said calmly, stepping in front of her and blocking her path. Ignoring him, she moved to the right to get past him, but he did as well. Furious, she moved to the left, but he sidestepped again and they were now chest to chest, glaring at one another. It didn't help Elena that he was a full two inches taller than her.
Some obedience you taught her, he commented to Scarecrow.
Well you didn't let me finish, Scarecrow snapped.
He could see the color draining from her face with each drop of blood that landed on the linoleum floor. She was shaking slightly, and for a moment lost her balance. She grabbed his arm to steady herself, smearing blood on his coat- again. He observed how annoyed she was that she needed his help to stand, and couldn't resist chuckling softly.
"You are unbelievable," she hissed.
"Finished with the silent treatment, are we?Well, it is of no consequence to me whether you believe me or not, as long as you get yourself to the infirmary."
Crane predicted what would happen next right before it did. Elena's knees suddenly gave in, and for a moment he debated simply letting her fall, but at the last moment caught her.
Scarecrow wolf whistled. "Nice catch there."
"I believe, Scarecrow, it is time for your break," he said aloud, tired of his constant tricks and pranks.
"Oh come on, no hard feelings now Johnny?"
"Good bye, Scarecrow," he said, and imagined in his mind Scarecrow tightly bound to a chair with duct tape over his mouth to silence him. His other half furiously struggled against the binds, but they held. Perfect.
Crane had managed to solve one of his problems today, even if the solution was only temporary. However, there was still the girl to consider. He could risk bring her to the hospital wing, but he was uncertain of how she would behave when she awoke. From what he gathered, Scarecrow had impulsively shared their plan to dose the entire city with fear toxin, which was a secret he could not afford to be leaked. But if she didn't receive medical care, she may very well contract an infection and die. Is she worth it? he wondered, but Scarecrow had been silenced, so he would receive no guidance. Finally he made up his mind, and lifting her small frame in his arms, he began to walk in the opposite direction, away from the infirmary.
Elena cautiously opened her eyes and found herself back in her cell. She had a killer headache, and her left arm was sore and throbbing. Lifting her arm off the bed, she saw a handful of tiny black stiches dotted her arm. Pulling herself up, she found the cell block quite empty. The first thing she did was try the cell door, but she found it quite locked. "Damn it," she muttered.
Her last encounter with Crane had left her shaken. Remembering how the crocodile man had gotten ahold of her arm and left three deep scratches left her feeling weak and nauseous. She had been sure Crane was going to let him bite her, but at the last possible moment he had pulled her away, causing both of them to fall to the floor. It was ungraceful, and rather unlike him, almost as if he hadn't been planning it. But he had got what he wanted. She admitted it, if only to herself, but she had been terrified out of her mind of that creature. How did something like that even happen? Was it something in the water? She suddenly regretted all those days she had drank the grey tap water in solitary.
Heavy footsteps alerted her to the presence of an approaching guard. "You're late for breakfast," the badge said gruffly, and buzzed open her door. He marched her down to the dining hall, and after "taking" her meds, she got her tray of food and sat down at a table with Harley and Ivy.
"There you are," said an ever so bubbly Harley Quinn. "We were worried about you!"
The drop dead glare Ivy gave Elena told her otherwise, but she smiled back all the same.
"Yeah, I was just…" She struggled for words to explain what had happened. "Tired from my appointment with Crane."
"He's your psychiatrist?!" exclaimed Harley. "Girl, you're lucky. I have fossilized Dr. Kellerman every week."
"Trust me, I'd trade if I could," Elena replied, starting to eat her overly bland porridge.
"Whaaat? You're insane!" Harley's outburst drew nasty looks from patients surrounding them, and Harley had the decency to look embarrassed and lower her voice. "Mah bad, poor choice of words, but really, that man is so yummy! Just look at his cheekbones- I mean even when I worked here-"
"I take it you've forgotten about the Joker, then?" interrupted Ivy.
"Nah, Mistah J is my one and only, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little eye candy now and again."
Ivy scoffed at her reply, but said nothing else.
"Don't ya agree Elena? Ain't he something?" implored Harley.
"I've never met the Joker," she said.
"Nah, Crane! I mean, just look at those sexy eyes."
"I guess you've never met him, because he's positively awful." Her statement seemed to disappoint Harley, and eager to change the subject, Elena said, "So have you thought about it?" She spoke discreetly, leaning in so there was less of a chance of them being overheard.
"With Crane? Oh sure- oh." The eager look fell from her face when she realized that had not been what Elena was talking about. "Oh, you mean flying the coop."
"We are not interested," said Ivy, putting extra emphasis on "we" to make it clear Harley was not interested either.
"Well then, have fun being caught," said Elena.
"You think you are so smart, don't you?" Ivy spat, offended.
"No, I'm not, that's why I need both of your help." This shut Ivy up, giving her the chance to continue speaking. "I have a plan, but I need at least three people to help carry it out."
"There's nothing wrong with our plan!"
"There is," Elena said stubbornly. "Remember last month when the Joker tried to break out of Arkham? It was all over the news in Gotham. He murdered one guard with a contraband pencil and snapped the necks of two more. He made it over Arkham's walls, but they caught him right after he made it over."
"What's your point?"
"The point is: the response time of the guards is too quick. If you try to fight your way out of here, someone is bound to sound the alarm. And even if you do make it out of here undetected, the heat sensors or searchlights outside are bound to spot you."
"C'mon Ivy," murmured Harley, placing her hand on Ivy's. Ivy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Finally, she replied, "What is this brilliant plan, then?"
Elena was delighted she was being given a shot, but she forced herself to keep a straight face. Ivy would probably interpret a smile as an insult. "Well," Elena said, "Everyone expects us to try to climb over Arkham's walls, they'd never expect us to go under."
"We can't possibly dig" Ivy spluttered.
"And I'm not asking you to" Elena replied calmly. "There are sewers beneath Arkham, I saw them myself today. They all seem to drain north, exactly where the Gotham River is. If we can get to the sewers, we can get out of here."
"The sewer?" asked Harley, disgusted.
Ivy hushed her, and motioned for Elena to continue. "We need to start a fire- a big one- so that they evacuate everyone. And no one in their right mind takes elevators during fires, right? So that will leave it open for us, which we'll take down to the basement, emptied of workers due to the fire. Then we'll follow one of the sewer pipes until we reach the sanitary drain, and slide down and out of here!" She could hardly keep the excitement out of her voice as she spoke.
"You say patients work down there," Ivy said skeptically. "So why haven't any of them discovered this escape route?"
This is exactly what Elena had been hoping to avoid talking about. "Well, the gate's locked." And there was the murderous lizard man that lived there, but that was a talk for another day.
"Yeah, but what about Mistah J? We can't leave without him."
"Why not, Harley?" Ivy countered. "He would leave without you. In fact, he has left without you before."
"He explained everything to me, he tried to break me out but it was just too difficult. He deeply regretted it, he tol' me so! He was so afraid I'd hate him for leaving me, but I told him I forgave him, because I'm understanding! Why can't you understand that I love him, Ivy?!"
"Okayy," interrupted Elena, trying to diffuse the situation, but it was too late.
"Because he's using you, that's why. He's been manipulating you ever since you first met!" Ivy shouted, standing up and kicking her chair aside.
"You're just jealous that I have someone! You're still pining over that scientist that poisoned and dumped your ass!"
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT!" Ivy shrieked, jumping across the table in an attempt to strangle Harley. Elena's ears were filled with the shrill of a whistle being blown and was pushed aside as guards tried to pry the two away from each other. She sighed, frustrated. This was the team she had to work with.
"317," said a guard, "Time for your appointment with Dr. Crane."
"Can't think of a better way to start my morning, boss."
Please God, don't let them kill each other, she prayed silently.
Crane wasn't the type to obsess over anything, unless it was his research, of course. So when he dug through his filing cabinet to find Elena Moretti's files, he was simply being curious. He flipped through her grade reports, academic achievements, medical history- and found the file surprisingly short. She had a birth certificate, but there were no records of her birth in any hospital in the city. Finished with his reading material, he had nothing to do but run their conversations through his mind over and over again- purely due to his scientific curiosity. He'd dismissed her at first, believing her spirited but otherwise harmless. However now, he was considering the possibility that perhaps he might have miscalculated.
"You should listen to me more, Crane," she had said to him, before Scarecrow had taken over. It was the first time he had seen her smile- her dark grey eyes had danced in amusement, even though he had been nothing but cold towards her. It was because of his staffing arrangements, he deduced. Why had she been so interested? She must have been glad to see Mr. Williams, or "Red", as he styled himself nowadays, leave but how could she have known he had fired him?
So when Crane decided to go through all of the video recordings from the previous day, it was only because he was mildly interested in the girl. Nothing more. Fast forwarding though all of the footage, he paused the tape right as Mr. Williams was walking down the hall with a skinny blonde in tow. Playing the material, he watched as his former employee pressed her against the wall. He couldn't help but be overwhelmed with cold fury as he zoomed in on the black haired man tilting his head to kiss her. But then she seemed to be saying something to him, and after a moment's deliberation, the orderly released her. So intrigued by this turn of events, he almost didn't notice the second peculiar event that occurred. He had to rewind the film to convince himself of what he saw, but the second time he played the recording, there was no mistaking it.
Instead of walking to the right, she turned left into the Men's Washroom. The same washroom that set off the smoke alarm. It was clear Mr. Williams was never in that restroom that day- only a scheming grey eyed blonde. A taciturn smile appeared on his face at this realization- his appointment with Elena Moretti would without a doubt prove to be very entertaining.
Please let me know in the reviews how you are liking Ivy and Harley. I think Harley is kind of my spirit animal, just saying. And is it alright that I'm switching between Elena and Crane's viewpoints, or would you rather there be just one? Let me know, and I hope to update soon :)