Daniel had gone to work early the next morning. It didn't surprise Isabelle. He was trying to keep a company afloat after a time of panic had been installed onto Gotham. No one was sure what was going to happen. Gotham was going to be given back to the public. Bane would make sure of that. Isabelle knew who she needed to go and see. She left her mother sleeping at six in the morning before picking up her car keys from the kitchen and jumping into the car.
She drove quickly through the quiet streets, keeping her eyes open and peeled in case she saw something which wasn't normal. Explosions had taken place all over Gotham. Pieces of buildings blocked some of the roads and no one was about. The time when all businessmen would be on their way to work had changed. It was a ghost town. She drove to the outskirts of Gotham, remembering the way which she needed as she pulled up to the Manor.
She'd researched last night about how Bruce Wayne had become broke. His company had gone under and he had been in hiding ever since. And before then he hadn't been out in eight years ever since the Batman had been accused of murdering a man named Harvey Dent. Isabelle didn't know what to believe. She didn't think Batman would kill anyone. She knew Bruce Wayne never would.
She knocked on the door quickly, her eyes scanning around the Manor as no one answered. It looked deserted and not as well kept since she had last seen it.
"Hello!" she shouted out, knocking on the door again but she received no answer. "Bruce! Bruce!"
"Excuse me, miss."
Isabelle turned around on the steps, looking down them to where a man stood outside of a Gotham Police Department cruiser, his hands in his pockets as he looked at her through his brown eyes with an arched brow. His hair was black, cut short and his face was defined yet quite handsome. He was dressed in normal pants and a jacket which covered the grey top he had on underneath.
"Are you looking for Bruce Wayne?" she asked him and he nodded at her. She moved down the steps, standing on the gravel and pushing her hands into her jeans pockets as she shrugged. "There's no answer."
"He's been gone for the past few days," the man spoke to her. "Just when the city needs him."
Isabelle's eyes went wide as he said it and she looked at him with scepticism, wondering if he knew about Bruce. He looked back at her, eyeing her up with the same amount of wonder before he motioned to the house with his chin.
"How do you know Wayne?"
"An old friend," Isabelle settled on. "He helped me when I needed him."
"Hm?" the officer simply said and Isabelle settled on a firm nod.
"And how do you know Bruce?"
"You know, don't you?" the officer simply said back to her and it took her a moment to wonder what he was talking about as he smiled and bared his teeth, his hands held flat up to her. "I know, too."
Was she really that bad that he could easily read her? She didn't know but she looked him up and down.
"What happened to him?" Isabelle whispered, fearing that someone may be able to hear them as he looked around in discomfort, his weight shifting from one foot and onto the other.
"I don't know," he whispered. "I think Bane...he may have gotten to him..."
Isabelle remained quiet, hearing herself take in a sharp breath before she shook her head. It couldn't be true.
"The news said the cops were buried underground," she changed the topic, looking at his cruiser as he turned around and did the same. He shook his head at her and then looked heavenwards, as if that held the answer.
"They are," he said. "Expect me."
"Then don't you think it is ridiculous?" she checked with him. "You're driving around in that thing when they're hunting you down?"
"My personal car was blown up in that explosion yesterday," he said, his voice curt and full of annoyance. He seemed like a hot head. "I needed to come and make sure Wayne wasn't here. I don't know what Bane has planned by giving the city back to the people, but, I know that it can't be good."
"I'll give you a ride back," Isabelle declared, pulling her car key from her blazer pocket and unlocking her mom's Mercedes.
"There's no need to do that, miss," the officer promised her and Isabelle shook her head.
"It's like I said," she drawled. "They are hunting you down by the looks of it. And Gotham could use an officer...well...one is better than none."
"In that case, can I have your name?" he wondered and Isabelle remained looking at him.
"Isabelle," she declared. "Isabelle Dubois. Officer..." she motioned off, giving him the option to state his own name.
"Blake. John Blake. I'm a Detective, too," he added on with a sly grin and Isabelle rolled her eyes as she climbed into her car and he jumped into the passenger seat, looking around uncomfortably to make sure he had an escape plan. He always did that.
"So, why were you here looking for Bruce?" he asked her as she drove, her eyes fixed ahead as she went.
"Because, I think he's the only one who could have stopped this bomb from going off," Isabelle told him truthfully. "I think I needed some reassurance that he was still around."
"Well, me and some other men are looking into the situation already," he promised her. "You should just go home and make sure you stay safe."
"Do you think Gotham knows what the word safe is?" she asked him, a brow arched on her forehead.
"It did," he repeated. "And then this all happened."
"And there's no way out, is there?" Isabelle checked with him and he shook his head at her. The news had been presenting up to date coverage. All the bridges from the main island were closed off, refusing to be opened by anyone.
"No," Blake replied lowly. "They've got us all trapped here good."
"Jesus," Isabelle complained. "I should never have come back," she whispered, hoping that he hadn't heard her, but, he was a cop. He picked up on everything.
"You're not from here?" he asked and she looked at him as she took the quiet road back into the city, her radio making a buzz noise in the background as her hands gripped onto the wheel tighter.
"I was," she corrected him. "I left when I was twenty one. Eight years ago, to be precise. Moved to California, got a job. I never wanted to come back here. There's nothing but bad memories?"
"Why did you come back?"
"My mom..." Isabelle whispered. "She has terminal cancer...she's got three months..."
"I'm sorry," Blake said after an awkward moment of silence and he looked down at his lap where his fingers were entwined. "I know what it's like to lose your parents."
Isabelle remained silent again after that before she said the same thing back to him.
"I'm sorry."
"It was a long time ago," he simply whispered. "What about your father?" he changed the topic and Isabelle winced as she heard that.
"He died when I was twenty one," she muttered simply. "My mom is my only family...except for my Aunt who hates me."
"Looks like we're both alone, huh?" John said, trying to force a smile onto his face. "So, why did you leave Gotham?"
"For a police officer, you sure ask a lot of questions," Isabelle said, irony being held in her voice as John shook his head.
"I'm a Detective." He reminded her. "We're supposed to ask a lot of..." he trailed off as he saw her turn to grin at him and he rolled his eyes, looking out the window as she went back to driving. "Very droll."
"I know," she grinned in amusement. "Bad memories, that's all Gotham has for me."
"It has for me," he assured her. "I didn't leave, though."
"Maybe you're stronger than me," Isabelle shrugged. "I don't know."
"Sh," he suddenly instructed her as he reached for the dial on the radio, turning the volume up as the buzz lowered and a high voice was heard. John tried to tune it in better, Isabelle focusing on her driving as she heard the mention of Blackgate Prison and she shuddered.
Two years ago the letter had been sent informing her of his movements. He wasn't seen as being so mentally ill that Arkham was the only option for him. She had screwed the letter into a tight ball, throwing it into the bin before she went to work, trying to forget about him.
She listened as it was read out that Harvey Dent hadn't been killed by the Batman. Commissioner Gordon had known the whole truth all along, he just hadn't said it. And then the questions were asked about how the Commissioner should resign. John's cheeks turned red as he heard that. He'd been lied to. Everything was a sham.
And then he gave the people Gotham.
Isabelle's foot hit down on the brake pedal as soon as it was announced that prisoners from Blackgate had been freed. She shook her head, her hands holding onto the wheel as she turned pale and John adjusted himself from the sudden braking.
"What the hell was that about?" he asked her before she placed a hand over her mouth to hold in the noise which escaped her lips. "Miss Dubois...are you okay? What's wrong?"
"He's out," she whispered.
"Who?" Blake asked her but she remained silent, unable to do anything but shake in her seat.
...
John took charge of the situation, quickly swapping seats with Isabelle as he looked at the Sat Nav which had 'Home' installed into it. He drove quickly, managing to avoid the chaos of Gotham by going down the side streets until he pulled up into a driveway. Turning the engine off, he pulled the key out and climbed out, opening her door and wrapping his strong arm around her waist as he led her to the door. He knocked quickly as Isabelle remained silent, her features distinctive against the ghost like nature of her skin.
"Isabelle!" a woman's voice shouted out as soon as she saw her daughter. "Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick!"
"She was at Wayne Manor, miss," Officer Blake said back to the elder woman as she hurried them inside, locking the door as she went. "She was looking for Mr Wayne but he wasn't in. I turned up and she offered to give me a ride home-"
"-Why?" Lydia snapped at the man, extending her arm to motion to the room as Blake nodded once in agreement, moving Isabelle to the sofa and sitting down beside her.
"I'm a cop. Officer Blake," He explained. "I was in my cruiser...she said she'd give me a lift...they'd kill me if they saw me in that thing..."
"Oh, Officer!" Lydia exclaimed. "Isabelle's not insured on my car-"
"-I don't think you need to worry about insurance, Ma'am." John assured her. "Anyway, we were driving when it was announced the inmates of Blackgate Prison have been released. She froze and said something about he's out."
This time it was Lydia's turn to pale as she looked at Isabelle who was still staring straight ahead. John's arm had moved from around her waist and he now stood up, looking between the pair of them in confusion.
"Isabelle...I'm just going to make Officer Blake a cup of coffee," Lydia said after a second. "Shout me if you need anything, honey."
Isabelle nodded, leaning back and clasping her hands together. She knew her mother was going to tell John why she had acted strangely. She was going to tell him about her ex husband.
John followed Lydia into the kitchen, looking back at Isabelle as he did so and he remained silent as he stood in the vast space and Lydia hit the switch on the kettle, quickly pouring coffee into two cups.
"I'm sorry about Isabelle," she said quickly. "Do you know why she was at Wayne Manor?"
"She said something about Bruce being an old friend," Blake shrugged simply, not giving the full story and Lydia sighed gently and offered the officer a seat at the breakfast bar. "I know it isn't my business to pry, but, I know when something isn't right. I mean when something isn't right at all, not just a little disruption to the cogs, but majorly wrong."
Lydia poured the water into the cups, placing one in front of the young officer before standing on the other side of the breakfast bar.
"What I'm about to tell you was popular knowledge eight years ago," she informed Blake. "All of the cops are underground...but if the prisoners from Blackgate have escaped...well...there's one who may come here."
"And who would that be?" John asked, blowing on his coffee.
"Her ex husband," Lydia said and John's eyes went wide in shock. "You were young yourself eight years ago...weren't you?"
"I would have been twenty four," he simply told her. "I was just starting out in the force."
"You'll remember this. Of course, you've seen a lot worse...what with the Joker and now this Bane..." Lydia shook her head. "Dr Crane, have you heard of him?"
"Scarecrow?" John asked and Lydia nodded. "What about him?"
"He was her husband," Lydia nodded and Blake's jaw fell open as Lydia sipped on her drink.
"She was married to him?" he checked.
"He was a College Professor whilst she was a student. The two of them...they were...well...I thought it was love. Within a year they were married. Isabelle didn't find out until it was too late. He had been found mixing toxins under the Asylum where he worked. Arkham, you'll have heard of it."
"I know the story," Blake simply replied and he shook his head. He remembered that had been big news. "I just didn't register...she said she was called Dubois...I didn't think it would be her."
"It is," Lydia said to the officer.
"He kidnapped her again, right? A jealous rage because she had been sleeping with Wayne, wasn't it?" he checked and Lydia scowled at him.
"You mustn't believe everything which the papers tell you," she snapped at him. "She never cheated on Jonathan. What happened between her and Bruce Wayne was a one off. She needed...I don't know...she said it was just a kiss and Jonathan believed her. He knew she wouldn't cheat on him. That's the scary part, you see. He knows her better than she knows herself."
"But, the Batman apprehended him, didn't he?" Blake said. "He went back to Arkham."
"And then to Blackgate a few years back," Lydia nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. "She went to see him before she left for California."
"So...won't he still think she's in California?" Blake checked. "She'll be safe here."
"I don't know," Lydia admitted. "I don't know if he'll find me or Daniel...I don't know if he'll come and ask us where she is...and if he finds her here...I just don't know what to think about him..."
"It's been eight years," Blake whispered.
"Isabelle never moved on." Lydia said; her voice dark and reluctant. "I don't know if he will have."
...
The noise of the cell door sliding open was enough to send chills down his spine. The noise of freedom was echoing through the corridors as men rushed down, grabbing whatever weapons they could as they made it to the sunlight and onto the streets of Gotham. He had stood back and watched, walking slowly through the corridors as people pushed past him and he rolled his eyes at their impatience. He watched as guards were beat to a pulp but he didn't stop to help. No, he had bigger things to worry about. The exit was in sight, it was the place where everyone was running to. No one noted the guard at the collections desk who had barricaded himself in.
"Excuse me," the man spoke, his hands resting on the counter as the guard cowered in a corner and looked up at him, knowing instantly who he was. "Look, I have no reason to kill you. I'm not like the other loonies in here. I just want something back which I had to hand in when I came here."
The guard looked through the large pane of glass which separated him from them and he nodded, scurrying off into the back as the he remained stood, watching people rush past him with guns in their hands.
The guard returned back, an envelope held in his hands as he pushed it through the small gap. The man took it quickly, ripping the lid open and checking the contents of what was inside of it. The large A4 envelope seemed a daft necessity considering the object was so small. He reached his hand inside, slowly pulling the golden band out before he slipped it onto his third finger on his left hand and threw the envelope to the ground.
He walked out into the sunlight, the taste of fresh air playing on his lungs as he looked around.
Chaos was running around everywhere.
"Dr Crane," a sudden voice spoke out and Jonathan looked up, seeing the man stood there, towering over him. "I have a proposition for you."
...
A/N: He's out! Cannot wait until the reunion, I have it all mapped out and how she's going to meet him! Anyway, thank you to Sam0728, Undertaker's Hattress, LivinJgrl123, BaDWolF89 and mahxie fore reviewing the last chapter! More to come this evening so let me know what you think in the mean time!