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Jonathan had tried to ignore the evil looks Jervis kept throwing his way but it was becoming too much “What?!” he rasped from behind his mask.
“People who don't think, shouldn't talk” Jervis snapped as they ran into another alley.
Jonathan huffed “Now that isn't fair” as they both pressed themselves into the alley wall. Jonathan craned his neck around the corner to see whether they had lost the gunman following them. Once he was assured no one was going to come flying around the corner he continued “I really don't see how this was my fault, patients suffering delusional episodes often focus their paranoia on an external tormentor.”
Jervis glared at his partner and snarled “You don't take tea with someone else's Alice!”. Taking a few calming breathes he went to continue but was interrupted as a bullet shattered the bricks in the wall by their head.
Jonathan gripped Jervis by his jacket and began running… Again. Both Jervis and himself had been dodging the Penguin's henchmen for the last 24 hours. He blames Harley. Jervis blames him.
“The king has seen red and wants our heads, all because you couldn't keep the Riddler out of your bed!” Jervis snapped.
“We didn't sleep together. We were just asleep together.” Jonathan explained as they ran through another one of Gotham’s back alleys. Angrily he muttered “Harley should know better to share potentially distressing information with someone who clearly displays anxious and fearful thought processes, along with bouts of irrationality and delusion. The risk to harm to both the patient and doctor--”
“Oh, this is maddening!" Jervis interrupted "Blame, blame, blame. It is all the same. You know not to join the Riddler in his games” Jonathan attempted to jump in and defend himself but Jervis waved him off and sighed “Allay your fears. I don't need anymore tears. The hypnotized never lie, so I believe you innocent of this crime.”
“At least someone does.” after a few moments he said “Wait. Did you just say you hypnotized me?” while Jervis just hummed a tuned, ignoring Jonathan's question, a smirk on his face.
They eventually spotted the warehouse they had been trying to reach. It was their most secure safe house, Penguin would have to get up close and personal to get at them here. They had almost gotten close a number of times since this began but every time an array of bullets had them scattering in a different direction.
They dived in quickly, slamming the door shut and breathing a sigh of relief as they heard the security locks engage. Safety... But for how long.
Normally they were both more than capable of handling a few goons but Penguin appeared to had given explicit instruction for them to stay at a distance, preventing hypnosis and an up close dose of his fear toxin. Jonathan had exhausted all his canisters on the first wave but they were relentless. The took one down to only have another two pop up in their place. Penguin seemed to have dedicated his entire forces to his petty vendetta.
“Edward needs to fix this, it's hardly conducive to pursuing our research” Jonathan grumbled as he checked their supplies.
Jervis rolled his eyes as he fiddled with the speaker system and said, with surprising clarity “You are trying to understand madness with logic. This is not unlike searching for darkness with a torch.” The act of performing a familiar task calming his nerves some what and allowing a few moments of lucidity before he quickly fell back down the rabbit hole and chimed “Our dear Penguin's mind is all a flutter, and we all know the Riddler has never liked it when it's full of other clutter.”
“That's insane” Jonathan exclaimed, horrified at the implications that Edward would want this.
Jervis smiled ruefully before simply saying “This is Gotham. We're all mad here”