AN: Jessica got here through trying to be nice in 'Stranger Danger', located in last year's Don't Turn on the Light. She turned out to be a badass. Go, girl, go! (But not too much, I still need him. Sorry.)
This is 'fear of injury', because it's the closest I could find-interestingly, there doesn't seem to be a name for the all-encompassing parental fear of 'harm to one's child'.
Forbidden Moons-NOT. ANOTHER. WORD. Your self-preservation is poor, isn't it? Tsk, tsk. I live in Arizona, so I'm used to sunlight. It was just so weird because Gotham's always cloudy or it's nighttime and I just...that's not natural.
McStaken-Yeah, I was fairly well freaked for most of the game. And at least his suffering would probably be over a little faster. He gets found now, he can enjoy a lifetime of terror-induced insanity.
Jessica comes to on a cold cement floor. Her head is foggy and her only coherent thought is, where's Jon?
"Mommy…Mommy."
Jon is fine. Well, as fine as he can be, given the circumstances.
"S'okay, baby." she murmurs. "S'gonna be okay."
"It cold."
"I know." She forces herself to sit up and look at their surroundings. "We're getting out of here."
Their surroundings are dark. She can see large shapes-tables and cabinets, she thinks-but nothing specific. It smells bitter-yet-sweet, like a funeral home.
"Mommy?"
"Shh." She can't stand-she can't even feel her leg, and when she puts her hand down she feels heavy wrapping-but she drags herself up a little more. What are they in? "Are we in a room, Jon?"
"Uh-uh. Cage. Like the circus aminals."
Okay.
"Can you fit through the bars?"
"Donno."
"Try."
She hears him doing exactly that for a few minutes before whining, "I can't."
"Okay. It's okay. Is there anything around like your baseball bat?"
Silence. She can hear him shuffling around-it's not a big cage, doesn't sound like. Hmm.
"No."
"Okay. We're gonna be okay…"
"Oh, you're really not."
She screams and yanks Jon closer to her. A chuckle slithers out of the darkness and a light turns on.
"What do you want?"
"We discussed this already." The man comes forward. "Don't be dense."
She says nothing. There's no reasoning with madmen.
He leans against the bars and she wishes, god she wishes, that she could get up and punch the son of a bitch in damn balls.
"Who are you."
He grins, a nasty smile with a few too many teeth.
"You'll see." He cocks his head. "Now, now…what ever shall I do with you?"
"Stay back or I'll fucking kill you."
"Seeing as you can't even stand…I doubt that."
"Wanna find out?" she threatens. "Touch my son and I'll rip your balls off."
He snorts.
"What is it with you mothers? Every single one of you makes that threat, and none of you get to carry it out…and what is it that inspires such devotion, hmm? I know it's not biological, no matter what you claim, so…" Thin fingers wrap around the bars. "No matter. I don't particularly care. But it does provide a unique…opportunity."
"Stay away from him."
"I don't normally like experimenting on children." he continues. "Their voices are shrill, and I'd swear those screams can shatter an eardrum…but since I have one here already…"
Leg be damned, she surges up and stumbles towards the bars. He laughs at her and steps back, ignoring her clawing hands. She'll teach him to threaten her son, claw out those pretty eyes of his and make him eat them!
"Fuck you!"
"Belligerent, aren't you? I love those, they're always so much fun to break." She screams at him, feeling like a trapped animal. "Later, my dear, later. I'll be down in a little while. Do sit down, that can't be helping that leg of yours."
She presses against the bars, trying desperately to get at him, and he clicks off the light.
When the light comes back on, it's not the man, it's the woman with the pipe. Close up, she's a lot smaller than Jessica remembers. Though when someone is chasing you with a pipe…
"How's that leg of yours?" She draws it back and pushes Jon back behind her. "Ungrateful little…I'm just trying to be nice."
"Then take my son out of here, please-"
"Why would I do that?" She pulls up a chair. "Any swelling, numbness, feeling of maggots eating you alive?" Jessica scowls and purses her lips. The woman sighs. "You got shot in the leg. I know it hurts, but it'll hurt more if I have to chop it off because it got infected."
Fuck her. She doesn't care. Let her come in here and try it-Jessica's not above using her severed leg as beating instrument.
They sit in silence for several minutes, staring at each other, before the woman shrugs.
"Fine. I tried. But remember…can't help your boy when you can't even walk. I could walk right in there and-"
"Try it, then." she hisses, low and deadly. "Come on."
"Jonathan was right-you are awful." Jonathan? Who the hell…oh. The asshole. "Whatever. It won't be long now."
And with that, the lights goes off again.
Jessica wakes to find a green man staring at her with no small amount of interest. He looks familiar…
"Please." she whispers. "Please, you have to help me, before he comes back."
"Oh?"
"Take my son." She swallows hard. "Take him out of here before that bastard can hurt him. Please-"
The man's brow furrows and he calls up the stairs, "Jon! Your subject is still sane!"
"Haven't gotten to her! Get out of my lab!"
No. No!
"Please! I'll give you anything you want. Money? Pussy? Anything-"
"Did you kidnap a streetwalker?"
"Get out of my lab, Edward!"
The green man steps back but doesn't leave, preferring instead to reorganize a handful of bottles on a table.
"No rhyme or reason, a miracle he doesn't go crazier than usual…"
"Please." she says again. "I'll stay here, just take my son, please, get him out of here-"
"Children have sticky fingers and germs." the green man says. "Absolutely not. Besides, Jon would be upset."
Jon?
"That's my son." Maybe if he knows his name it'll be harder to depersonalize him, trigger some guilt. "He's only four."
"You have no idea who has you, do you?" He grins. "Riddle me this: you won't find this mannequin in a field of cattle herds-instead he'll be in a cornfield, keeping away the birds."
Well. She knows who the green man is now, at least-the Riddler.
"Fuck off."
"Your subject has no manners!"
"Quit antagonizing her and get out! And don't touch my chemicals!" The Riddler tips his hat and saunters up the stairs. The hated voice greets him at the top. "If I've told you once, I've told you a dozen times-stay out of there. It is delicate and you failed to learn what the rest of learned in third grade: look with your eyes, not your hands."
"Sometimes I know your subjects! I was curious."
"When have you ever known one."
"You had an old hench of mine once."
"Stay out."
"You sons of bitches!" Jessica screams up the stairs. "When I get out of here, I'll kill you both! I'll chop your dicks off and choke you with them!"
Silence. Then the Riddler's hushed voice says, "Hm."
"She's been very creative."
"Uh-huh."
"Shut the door."
"That's right, be afraid!"
They both laugh at that one and then the door shuts. Jessica scowls and limps to the edge of the cage. Still nothing to get them out of here.
"Mommy?"
"S'gonna be okay, baby, we'll get outta here." She sits back down, leg throbbing. "We'll be okay."
She wakes to the cheery (how DARE there be cheer!) jingling of keys. Jon is huddled near her knees.
"Rise and shine!"
They're both here, now, and there's a little light illuminating the room. Well, sort of-she can see bottles and handcuffs and what looks like a dentist's chair, and her first, horrified, thought is, oh, god, it's some kinda sex dungeon.
Okay. They gotta open the door. Is there anything she can grab for? Are any of those vials dangerous-looking, like acid?
"That leg doesn't look well." the woman says. "I'm going to have to treat it or you're down a subject."
"Fuck you!" It comes out as a rasp, but they hear her.
"Please be quiet, the adults are talking." The man adjusts his glasses and looks down at his companion. "You're sure?"
"Mm-hm. Positive."
Maybe even a broken bottle…if she can get them to take her closer to that table…
"Fair enough. Come here, Mister Mash." An absolute giant of a man lumbers out of the shadows and she grabs for Jon, pulls him against her. "Take the boy."
No. NO.
"You touch him and I'll kill you."
The woman opens the door with a long creeaak! and the giant man steps in. He has to stoop, a little, and there's no way to run around him, but she struggles up anyway and shoves Jon behind her.
"Get back."
"Uh, boss?"
"I'm happy to use you as a replacement subject if she dies."
"Right."
The giant is faster than she thinks is fair and before she can do anything, he's closed on her, grabbed her arm in one meaty hand, and yanked her to the side. Her leg bends wrong and she cries out, goes down and latches onto his ankles.
"Don't you touch him!"
"Mommy!"
"Gently, Mister Mash…take him over there and keep him quiet."
Jessica tries to bite the fucker's ankle and gets a mouthful of denim. Grabbing for his balls (she's not above twisting them the hell off!) gets her kicked in the ribs and forced back to the floor.
"No! No! You bastards, don't you touch him!"
The thin man sighs.
"How about this, then. You allow Kitty to treat that leg of yours, and I'll give him back. You have my promise. As I said, children are not good subjects. Too shrill, unable to articulate anything of value."
"What do you want from me?"
"Do we have a deal?"
Jon's crying, muffled behind the giant's hand. She doesn't have a choice.
"Fine."
"Excellent." The man's glasses flash. "We are going to take you out now. Try anything, and Mister Mash there will crush the boy's skull. That's not instant death, by the way. Takes a few minutes. Sometimes there's screaming, a bit of flopping around like a fish out of water…unpleasant to observe, I understand."
Fine. She'll be good. But the first chance she gets, even if it's a shitty one…
They enter the cage and haul her up by the arms. She doesn't try to stand on her own. Fuck them.
She's dragged to the dentist's chair and strapped down. The light is better here and she can see more bottles, more boxes. There's a small flower box in the far corner of the room, filled with blue, spiky things, and that's what makes everything click.
"God no-"
"Hm…oh. Now you know where you are, don't you?" Jonathan Crane steps back. "I did wonder…do you need anything, Kitty?"
"No. Deep breaths, sweetie, this is going to hurt."
It doesn't. Not at first. The feeling of scissors going through dead flesh is more strange than anything, but then the sharp tips strike inflamed muscle and splintered bone.
Either she passes out or blocks out a significant chunk of time. Whichever it is, she comes back to reality with her throat sore and her leg throbbing. She can still hear Jon, though, and he's still crying and snuffling but that's good he's okay he's okay.
"Well, we've got her out, she's mostly stable, so if you want…you never did show me the new batch."
"I didn't?" Crane sounds playfully offended. "Forgive me, Kitty, I could have sworn…we'll have to remedy that." He snaps his fingers and Jon's crying comes closer. Jessica tugs at the restraints. They're firm, but there's give. Not much, probably not enough, but…maybe…if she can just get her thumb… "Stand there, Mister Mash. Wouldn't want this one getting ideas."
She's got ideas, asshole. Most of them entail ramming a syringe through your eyeball.
Come on, come on, she's seen people do this-
Pop!
It takes everything she's got not to scream. But her thumb is out and now it's so easy to slip her hand out of the cuff. Now it's a matter of waiting. He wants to experiment on her, he's gotta get close.
And he does. He's got a needle in his hand. It's glowing, a little, a soft yellow light, and she's got once chance or it's all over for them.
She can't fail.
"This particular batch is a little more violent than usual…higher incidence of self-maiming, hence the lack of free-roamers." Heh. Good. "Tilt your head, now…deep breaths-"
She takes that deep breath.
And grabs for the hand with the needle, rips it free, and rams it into his neck, finger on the plunger.
"You. Let. My son. Go."
The monster smiles at her. Smiles! Like she's not a centimeter away from injecting him with his own damn poison!
"Well, well, look at you." There's the sound of a gun being cocked. "It's all right, Kitty…very well, Mister Mash, release the boy. Gently, now…"
Jon's crying suddenly increases in volume. It's the most beautiful sound she's ever heard in her life.
"Now undo the other cuff." Nobody moves. "Fucking do it!"
Richardson unlocks it and Jessica motions to Jon with her free hand. He scurries over, sneakers scuffing against the tiles.
"Mommy?"
"We're leaving, baby. We're leaving right now." She jerks her head. "I'm getting up. You try anything, I push this down. Got that?"
"Oh, of course." WHY IS HE SMILING AT HER. "You have us all completely at your mercy."
"Damn right."
It's an awkward movement, slow and jolting, but she manages to get up (and barely stay up, that leg is starting to shake and shake badly) without losing her leverage.
"Upstairs. Let's go."
That's even harder, but the other two at least stay in the dark. Crane is starting to laugh a little, the movements making the needle wobble a tiny bit in her fingers.
It's bright upstairs, painfully bright, and she has to squeeze her eyes nearly closed against the kitchen (kitchen? Yeah, there's a stove.) light. Outside, it's dark-
CRA-ASH!
She and Crane go down, Crane with a monstrous black shadow on him, and the syringe skitters across the floor. There's quick footsteps coming up the cellar stairs and NO NO NO NOT AGAIN FUCK THIS THAT AND THEM.
She grabs Jon and scrambles away from the shadow. Or tries-her leg gives out and sends her sprawling.
"Go! Go to the police!"
Crane's laughing in earnest now, jerking with hysterics like a dying insect, and the shadow rises.
The Batman. Holy. Shit.
"You're safe now."
Jon's stopped crying, eyes wide, and Jessica can't find words. The door opens and Batman twists, radiating cold fury.
"It's over."
Richardson-it's her with the gun-doesn't shoot at him. She smiles like Crane had done and sets it down, holds her hands above her head.
"Of course, Bats. Look at you, just in time to save the day."
On the floor, Crane twists his head so he's looking straight at her with those searchlight eyes.
"We'll have to have a follow-up appointment." he says, grin growing wider. "But until then…good night."
THE END