The Masked Mastermind

My heart hammered in my chest. My senses were in overdrive. Roman was dead. I was screwed.

Two-Face rushed forward and literally picked me up by the waist with one hand while he was still wielding the gun in the other. I didn't look back as he kicked the door to the outside open. The chilly night air hit me at once. I didn't look back. This is your entire fault. He wouldn't be dead if you hadn't have asked for his help. I didn't ask for it! He offered it! And he was dead because of me; I couldn't look back. I didn't want to see his lifeless body. I'd gotten two more people killed tonight. You're gonna hit double digits soon, sweetheart.

I took a moment, but when I realized I was being carried out the back of the asylum towards a white van waiting for us, I started struggling. I was about to scream when Two-Face stopped carrying/dragging me along and clamped a hand over my mouth, "Don't scream. I'll have to shoot you if you scream and neither of us wants that, right?"

He was still dragging me along towards the van, which I now realized was idling with its back doors open. Well, looks like you're getting off this island after all. I didn't scream as this thought raced through my head. I was getting off this island. It was selfish, but that's all that really mattered right now. I'd grieve for Roman later. Or maybe not. I shook my head.

"In you go." He pushed me into the back of the van, which was more of a delivery van than an actual car van. He got in after me and shut the double doors. It was dark inside and I was lying on the cold metal floor. My heart was still pounding and my cheeks were hot from the adrenaline surging through my veins. I was getting out of Arkham.

My body lurched forward a little as the van sped to life. I couldn't tell who was driving it since I was lying directly behind the driver's seat, but the woman sitting in the passenger seat was unmistakable.

"Ivy?" I knew that look that passed between them had meant something. But I never thought it meant something like this.

She turned her head towards me. She was still in her inmate scrubs, her flaming hair down around her shoulders. Even in the darkness of the van she had that certain aura about her. That calming sense. She smiled serenely at me. If the lights were on I may have noticed the more sinister undertone to this smile.

"Hello, Violet." Her attention shifted to the man calmly sitting across from me on the floor of the van. "That took longer than expected? Did you actually need that?" In the darkness I saw her nod her head towards the gun he was cradling in his lap.

"Took out a few guards with it." He replied with a smile in his tone. I closed my eyes, but the image of Jerry's brains getting blown out was too much for me to handle, so I opened them quickly. "And Sionis." He chuckled.

Ivy remained quiet for a few moments, and then said in a matter of fact way, "That's one less person we have to deal with later, anyway." You obviously trusted the wrong people. I felt like screaming. It was because of this damn voice in my head that I hadn't trusted Roman or Eddie enough in the first place! Obviously, I should've. Maybe if I had had more faith in them, Roman would still be alive. No wonder he denied liking you. People who like you tend to die. Like your sister.

Ivy turned back around in her seat. Everyone in the car remained silent now. I sat up, bracing my body against the metal siding of the moving van. I made the mistake of glancing at Two-Face who was staring at me. He smiled when he saw me looking, but didn't say anything. I didn't look at him again after that. However, glancing out the windshield, I was able to determine we were indeed crossing the bridge that took you out to Arkham Island. Or back into the city.

We drove. And drove. And drove some more. After what had to be at least a half an hour we were way out in the outskirts of the city. There was less development out here and definitely much less business. Just the place I'd expect wanted criminals to hideout in. Finally, after what seemed like the longest car ride of my life, we pulled into what looked like an abandoned motel.

Two-Face stood up across from me and held out his hand to help me out. Roman's dead, Violet. Don't be dumb. Don't be resistant. Take his hand and act like everything is just peachy. As much as I didn't want to do this. As much as I wanted to scream at him, I digressed with the voice in my head. I took his hand, making him smile, and stood up. We exited the back of the van together. I took in my surroundings as Two-Face slammed the doors shut behind us.

The building was decidedly out of use. There were weeds overtaking the railings and road around it. By the moonlight, I could tell that it was a two level motel. I couldn't tell how many rooms were on each level, but I'd say a fair few. As we started walking closer towards the building, I could see some of the windows to the rooms were broken. On the upper floor of the motel some of the doors were open. At first I just assumed that was part of the deteriorating building or homeless people, but then I saw the men standing in the darkened doorways. They all wore gas masks and carried guns. What is this place?

The driver of the van, it turned out, was none other than a guard at the Asylum. And the van itself, was a transportation unit used for transporting patients to the asylum. Arkham Asylum was printed neatly along the side of its white exterior, something I'd overlooked when Two-Face was dragging me along beside him. On the bottom level of the motel, a door opened and a masked thug came out, handed the "driver" an envelope, and walked back to the building. The driver turned and got back in the van. No words were exchanged. This was all planned. It just wasn't part of our plan.

Ivy was walking in front of us now. Two-Face was still beside me. No one has spoken since we were leaving the asylum. Whatever is inside this building, I've decided I'd rather not be a part of. It may not be as bad as getting lobotomized, but it could also be a lot worse. Stone-cold murderers surrounded me and I wasn't sure why I was with them in the first place. They had no use for me. Right?

The door the masked man had come from was still open. I knew that's where we were headed and I felt a wave of dread wash over me. Two-Face placed a hard hand on my back and guided me through the door. Whatever I expected to be in this particular motel room was definitely not what I was actually seeing. What had originally been a single motel room was converted into one that was about five rooms wide in all. I could tell someone had crudely knocked out the walls that divided the rooms judging from the chunks of wall still hanging from the ceilings in places. The room, or rooms I guess, that I was in didn't house any motel furniture. It was a lab.

There were tables everywhere with bubbling chemicals and who knows what else. I could only stand in the doorway, looking around in utter surprise. What the hell was this? Spread methodically throughout the room were armed guards, just like the ones on the upper floor, wearing those gas masks. Great, we're probably being poisoned as we stand here.

I couldn't see around the room too well since the lighting was darker in some places than others. This, mixed with the massive set up of chemistry equipment, made it practically impossible to see from one end of the room to another. Someone obviously saw us walk in however.

"Ah! It's about time you showed up." Two-Face placed his hand on my shoulder, not in a crushing grip, but definitely a firm one. "So this is our specimen." Ivy had disappeared somewhere into the room, but another figure caught my attention. One who was emerging from the back of the room, shrouded in shadows. This man, if you could call him that, was about as creepy as creepy got. He was wearing some sort of gas mask, but it had a burlap sack over top of it.

"Things didn't go as smoothly as anticipated." Two-Face explained. I noticed the hand holding the gun twitch a little as this man approached us.

The man in question had blended so well into the shadows because he was wearing some dark coat looking thing. It was hard to tell what he was wearing since he had canisters of something strapped to him with tubes leading somewhere underneath his clothing. My eyes remained on the canisters and tubes however. In them was a liquid. A liquid that looked suspiciously like the murky serum I'd been getting injected with since being moved to category nine. Oh Violet, look what you've gotten yourself into now. "Where do you want her, Crane?"

"Place her over here." The masked man, Crane, motioned towards a stool next to one of the tables with bubbling chemicals on top of it. "I need to take a blood sample to synthesize a more potent batch." What have I gotten myself into, indeed.

A/N: Sorry to tease Crane, but there's so much more yet to come. I got the idea for his look from how he'll appear in Arkham Knight (which I'm so excited for, by the way!). This chapter was more of a filler, but the plot is definitely going to pick up rapidly from here on out. This story is also going to get a lot darker pretty soon. But until then, let me know what you guys think about this chapter!