Chase Me: Ch 9

Wordlessly, Batman stepped up onto the Batmobile's hood and everyone seemed to go wild. Everybody in the ever growing crowd turned their eyes on him, craning their necks as they watched him step down into the drivers seat and settle himself in.

The Dark Knight placed Scarecrow's mask between the seats, then glanced sideways to the unconscious, handcuffed doctor slumped forward in the passenger seat. Crane looked like a disheveled mess. His torn open cheek was pressed against one of the forward panels, but thankfully none of the buttons. His long gangly legs had slackened Batman reached over a hand to Crane's neck, feeling that there was indeed a strong, steady heartbeat. He'd be conscious again soon enough.

Probably.

Batman pushed him backwards into the seat, leaving a bloodstain behind on a dashboard monitor. Crane's head lolled like a drunk who couldn't discern his surroundings.

"BATMAN! I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES!", an unknown woman screeched from somewhere directly behind the Batmobile. A loud rippling of laughter washed over the crowd at this.

The creature of the night gripped the wheel tightly with both hands then started to reach for a panel of buttons. His gauntlet covered hand paused in mid air for a moment as if considering something. Slowly he stood back up again, inside the car, turning around to face the group of ladies gathered around the back of the car. He stared downwards at them piercingly from behind his cowl, the glowing white slits holding them in a hypnotic fashion.

The young women moved close together, blushing and staring back up at the wide shouldered night creature breathlessly.

"I don't recommend standing in front of the exhaust", he informed them simply, motioning a gloved hand down to the massive exhaust port in front of them.

With that, he dropped back down in his seat, settled himself in comfortably and buckled up his seat belt. Batman flicked a switch up and pressed the blinking red button beside the dark steering wheel. The roof started to slide back over his and Crane's heads as Batman revved the engine. The women moved away from the Batmobile to give it room, and erupted into joyful squeals amongst themselves.

"DID YOU SEE THAT? HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!"

"Oh nice one..."I want to have your babies? Yesh...-

"Hey, so would you!"

"Of course, but you don't just-

"HE WAS TALKING TO ME!"

The excited comments and piercing noises from the entire crowd was welcomingly quieted to Batman's ears as the roof section slammed back into place over his head and locked securely with multiple loud clicks. Only faint sounds of chatter could be heard through the Batmobile's thick armor. Through the windows, several reporters snapped away excitedly as their cameramen rolled footage.

Eye's narrowing, Batman grabbed the dark throttle poking up from the floor right next to the steering wheel and pulled it backwards. Gripping the wheel in both hands, he pressed his armored boot down on the gas pedal. The car shot forward on the pavement, large dark tires screeching excitedly as it accelerated like a race car. A huge red and yellow jet of flame shot out the back afterburner as it tore out of the ecstatic crowd, picking up speed as it carried the occupants away.

After only a few moments, the sleek Batmobile had flown down the length of the rain drenched street. It spun hard around the corner of the building opposite the apartment complex, fire and smoke still trailing behind it as it glided over the pavement. The vehicle left the mob of people behind and was soon out of sight, moving to it's intended destination.

----

It had been a lengthy trip getting all the way across the city and to the island across the main bridge from Gotham, in addition to the numerous armed checkpoints, but they had finally arrived at their destination. About that time, Crane's wounded body started to stir. A stab of pain shot though the length of system as his body caught up with his mind, and he uttered an instinctive hiss, eyes still forced closed. He could feel the familiarly heavy, wet coat still wrapped around his pained shoulders, along with the slipping glasses on his nose.

The pain, aching and memory of the prior events hit him all at once from everywhere. Chest, forearm, his thin, sallow face, bony shoulder.

Where...

Crane slowly raised his head, and as he did so, he felt the glasses slip back down on the bridge of his nose. His eyes opened, peering through the cracked lenses. He had regained consciousness in time to see the Batmobile speeding towards the familiar high iron gate between a pair of stone pillars at the front of Arkham Asylum. His head felt better. The pain hadn't gone away from his body in the slightest, but he felt certain he could move a little.

Right then and there, her beautiful, ghostly pale, masked face shot out into the center of his mind from nowhere. A cold helpless bitterness overtook him in a tidal wave of confusion and self shame. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the image. It did nothing, if anything, it made her much clearer. That playful taunting smile playing on her lips. The image opened it's mouth in an attempt to talk.

Before her voice could seep in through his ears and taunt him, Crane gritted his teeth and drove it away with massive effort. Stars seemed to explode in his head as he succeeded, and he forced himself to refocus his attention elsewhere. Thankfully the sensation and weight resting on his wrists provided this welcome distraction.

He knew he was staving off the inevitable time he would have to think about it.

She isn't going anywhere...I don't think.

The doctor glanced down at cold black Batcuffs locked firmly around his joined wrists then moved his eyes up to all the blinking monitors. He'd left behind a dry bloodstain on one of them, apparently. Crane looked sideways to the drivers seat.

The Dark Knight sat stiffly upright at the wheel, his stubble covered face scowling determinedly on the road ahead. His jaw was tightened firmly as ever. Suddenly he reached his blood covered, injured hand over to the throttle and cranked it back. The doctor was thrown forward, smashing his forehead against the window and falling back against the seat as the vehicle accelerated faster. He growled and rubbed his already injured face painfully.

"Welcome back doctor", Batman greeted quietly. He didn't take his serious eyes off the road.

Welcome back Doctor, the voice hidden away in his mind echoed to Crane mockingly, no more then a whisper.

Crane ignored the other, with difficulty, forcing himself to speak. It hurt him to no end to move his lips, which sent rippling pain shooting through his jaw.

"Haven't run us off the road or anything, Little Bat?", Crane asked coldly. "It wouldn't be the first time you've crashed these things...how many 'Batmobile's' have you gone through by now?

The huge black figure behind the wheel didn't answer, not hearing the raggedy figure. Crane snickered darkly and turned back towards the tinted, bulletproof wraparound window.

Home sweet home, Crane thought to himself bitterly. They passed underneath the massive cast iron sign hanging over the road to the asylum. Despite the poor visibility the weather provided, he could make out the words:

Arkham Asylum: Home For The Emotionally Disturbed

Crane had no idea why Sharpe had replaced the original words 'Criminally Insane' with 'Emotionally Disturbed'. It had to be some kind of public representation thing to improve his image like everything else he did. If someone bothered to visit the asylum, they'd easily see how much more accurate the original words had been.

Crane had never liked the idea of people tampering with logic, history and unarguable facts, which was exactly what Sharpe had been doing with the change, to benefit his own overinflated ego like the plagiarist and coward he was. It felt like an attempt to rewrite what was happening in the city. Just the idea of it made Crane clenched his teeth, wondering to himself what the good warden would look like hanging upside down by his feet in a sewer, with razor wire wrapped around his blood soaked elderly body...after breaking his mind with fear first, of course. The wonderful thought made him break out into a satisfied smile.

Don't soften the words...'emotionally distressed...' call us what we are dammit...call us what...

Peering through the bulletproof window, he spotted it far away, sitting up there in the distance. He ended his angry intensified thoughts at once. They could wait until later.

The massive Asylum looked truly monstrous in the night sky. Fog had started to rise around the damp, concrete and stone slab covered building, making the effect more dramatic. It loomed over the surrounding valleys in the distance like a castle over its keep. Crane had to admit that it did look a lot more like a castle then a hospital. Over the years the asylum had been built up to contain it's ever growing lunatic population steadily climbing.

The doctor had seen the photos of the place way back when it's founder, Jeremiah Arkham, had first had it built. It barely held any resemblance to the old building anymore. The faint glow illuminating from the various windows grew ever brighter through the fog as the Batmobile sped closer, passing the dark shrubs and trees sitting on either side of the road.

The Batmobile tore up the long winding path, turning every so often on the paved road. Before long, it began to slow as it neared the building. Batman guided the long vehicle through a large parking lot, past it, around a few parked vehicles belonging to the staff and up towards the Asylum. The massive vehicle came to a sudden hard stop at the side of the muddy road in front of the giant main double doors.

Batman shifted the throttle again and tapped several bright buttons on the panels. The computers and flashing lights blinked off as the engine stopped suddenly. He unclipped his seat belt and suddenly paused for a few moments.

To Crane's surprise, the hood of the car hadn't slid forward yet. He turned over and noticed what had happened.

Batman's glowing eyes merely stared out the window. His lower face was still set seriously. The eyes beneath the cowl, seemed as if he was apparently lost in deep thought.

Before Crane could say anything, Batman had turned and dug into a compartment beside his seat, producing yet another glass vial of liquid, along with a long medical syringe. This vial had a bluish green tint to it and a glow like Crane's fear toxins had. Crane watched confusedly as The Dark Knight took off the Vial's top and placed the needle inside.

He drew the plunger back slowly, and the liquid leaked into the needle. The vial emptied and the needle was now filled halfway. Batman carefully checked the needle, then reached over to the long gauntlet covering most of his left arm. After placing it in his lap, he raised the needle over his exposed, large muscular forearm, clenching his slightly injured hand into a fist, injury courtesy of the scythe.

"Have you been getting addicted to Venom or something, Little Bat? Is that how you keep up your strength?", Crane asked mockingly. In his mind, however, Crane's curiosity was piqued. He'd seen Venom first hand, and this liquid before him certainly wasn't it. "Bane must have pushed you the wrong way after that painful little incident between you".

Batman said nothing. He carefully plunged the needle into his arm and began pushing down the plunger slowly, taking his time. The bright liquid slowly disappeared down the syringe and into Batman's system.

"Tell me, what is it really?", Crane asked, his eyes narrowing on the needle. Curiosity had always been one of Crane's major traits. The more he knew, the more he could use against others. "What the devil are you doing that for?"

Batman pushed the last drop into his veins and retracted the needle back out.

"A temporary inoculation", His low voice finally answered. He placed the needle and vial back into the compartment carefully and pulled the dark unyielding gauntlet back over his wide, exposed forearm. Batman flexed his hand into a fist again, then released it slowly.

"Against what?", the doctor asked, becoming slightly annoyed. Despite this, he couldn't help but be amused "Would this be another of your paranoid little endeavors? One of those 'Just in case' precautions against a threat?"

Crane laughed mockingly at the thought, and it was worth the agony in his gut of doing so. The Little Bat was possibly more paranoid than himself.

Batman turned his head towards the doctor, the glowing white slits of his eyes penetrating the doctor like an x-ray. Again, he didn't speak a single word to Crane. Instead he reached down in-between the seats and picked up the large, tattered Scarecrow mask in one hand. With the other, he flicked a switch in front of the wheel and the roof section slid forward down the hood of the long car.
Rain poured down on the pair of costumed men again as the much larger of the two stood up in his seat and grabbed the other, pulling him upright to his flat soled feet. Pain rippled through the doctors mid section and he clenched his teeth down tightly. This action in turn send a slamming wave of agony through his torn right cheek.

"I can move on my own again, Little Bat", Crane muttered angrily, trying to shake off Batman's grip. The Dark Knight obliged, loosening his grip ever so slightly.

"Next time perhaps you should try to do a better job at disabling me..."

The doctor climbed painfully out of the vehicle, over the hood and down to the muddy puddle by the drivers seat. Crane turned away and stared up the long cement stairs leading up the hill towards the main doors. The coldness returned, swimming over his exposed, wounded, nearly emaciated stomach. In a seconds his clammy stomach was soaked again from the patter of rain. Through sheer effort, he didn't allow himself to shiver. To show weakness.

It wouldn't be much further now, but in his condition each step felt almost as bad as a knife slamming into his gut. And he should know how that felt.

Minor internal bleeding, undoubtedly. A trip to the infirmary may be in order.

Batman climbed out after him, still holding the bizarre scarecrow mask in one hand as he stood beside the Batmobile. With the other hand, he reached into his utility belt and removed the small black device again. Pressing down one of the buttons, he spoke a single command into it, before tucking it back out of sight.

"Shields".

There was loud clicking and whirring as the sleek armor panels obeyed their command, instantly shooting up from underneath the car. The roof section slid back into place as the armor started wrapping carefully around it. After a few moments, the cocooned Batmobile sat locked up beside the road safely, the sound of raindrops bouncing lightly against the smooth armored plates.

Batman whirled around, his slightly torn cape billowing behind him in the fiercely howling wind. He grabbed Crane by the back of his dirty, soaking wet duster. This time, however, Crane was able to walk slowly rather then being dragged the whole way. Batman silently pointed a large gauntleted hand towards the steps leading to the Asylum.

"Move".

"Of course my paranoid fellow...there are few other alternatives available...clearly".

Here I come, Warden, Crane thought to himself bitterly as he climbed the first step, a shot of soreness echoing through both gangly legs. He stepped up to the next, and soon, he could block out the unpleasant sensation.
I'm sure you can't wait to see me again... your guards too, for that matter.

At least I can see the rest of the good old gang again.

The thought of seeing them again filling him with a strange mixture of anxiety and content. He was right at home with them...but at the same time, Arkham Asylum was hardly a good place to call home.

Over another flash of white lightening, Batman moved carefully with his prisoner over the tall steps. They ascended up the looming hill through the dark, rainy and foggy night like a pair of ghostly apparitions, moving towards the stationary pole lights sitting on either side of the massive main entrance.

The lights illuminated their completely contrasting outlines. One a titanic shadow person, moving with purpose, and the other, a gangly shuffling skeleton.