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All I see now is red. The white from the walls of the nursery hall in Arkham is surprisingly smeared in a dressy form with all the blood and guts from the inmates I sliced open minutes ago. Harley is just curled in a corner of the room, with something in her eyes I can’t tell if it’s fascination or pure horror. Zsasz’ head is splitted in God-knows-how-many pieces and there isn’t actually any hint of the real floor below all the corpses and some of their dismembered parts. The only ones standing are I, Croc, Harley and a really ironically scared Crane.
//
I just made Harley do what I planned (Her fellow shrinks didn’t noticed that now she was like one of the more insane individuals between the walls of Arkham, bless them), wait till I was dragged along with a dozen of other ‘patients’ to the hallway of the wing her Mr. J spent these last years, then she just had to sneak into the control security room. Kill the only orderly that was supposed to be in there catching him off guard and lock both of the principal doors in the hallway with the control panel. She made it, of course, she is a one clever minx. Then I just had my fun with the two guards that were dragging me. Stun one with his own taser and choke the other one with my own handcuffs while the other orderlies watch helpless from the principal door glass trying to open it. Simple.
Croc ol’ boy here was a center piece. I liked him, too scaly to my taste, but he knows how to play cards, keep his mouth shut, and rip off someone’s throat with his mouth, like he did with his guard. I just took the security cards from the corpses while action happened around me. And I only had to open the...box of Pandora.
They thought they could just get rid of me, because this self-glorified Bane had freed all the scum Dent put between bars in Blackgate and now they feared him to make his way here and let all the loonies scourge Gotham. The remaining authorities that weren’t deep down in Gotham sewers rotting with the rats, though about moving the most dangerous inmates in Arkham out of the state. I wasn’t going anywhere. This is the storm I was waiting for.
The next step was easy, just a couple of guards, fat nurses and cleaning staff in the wing. The rest of the orderlies had to go to the control security room in the core of the asylum, which door was now blocked. Harley needed to resist and give me time, and she would do it. I thought about this weeks ago, and everyone was willing to participate. And here it was the next part: Crane and his fuckboys from the old mob like Victor Zsasz. Boy, this was going to be fun. We liberated the building that gathered altogether Gotham’s finest. What bright mind thought this was a good idea? Oh yeah, that old humpty dumpty of Jerry…
Taking the rest of the asylum with this lot was quite anticlimactic, too easy and because of that, too boring. But the best part was still missing: the punchline. It’s hard to admit it, but that was a work to not proceed alone. Crocky could be very helpful. Harls was right behind me when it all began, the moment we reached the isolated area of the nursery hall with the idea of picking some drugs for Scary-crow to use and make some of his fancy toxin... you can’t expect more by a guy who wears a potato sack as mask. I picked a good-looking scalpel and started to open wide all the necks I could aim for.
//
Messy and exhausting, but such a relief. Since I bit the fleshy cheek out of one guard’s face last month I didn’t get a taste of blood since then. I just wanted to see if a man really could scream and bawl like a dying and hysterical pig by that. I just got curious after watching that popular zombie show of nowadays: ‘The Wanking Dead’, or some shit like that. He could. Definitely. I’m beating around the bush, anyway. Now I was standing right in front of the shaky ole Doc.
“What’s the matter, Johnny boy? I always thought that Arkham would seem really cozy with a little of red paint.” I just grinned widely meanwhile Crane tried to search for a way out of his room corner.
“W...Why...you murdered them? Where was the p-point in that, clown?”
“Oh, I never needed a reason to display myself in such a way, Doc. But ya know, I think I really had a reason.” Now everybody in the room was expectant, except from me and Harley. Croc should had thought that only was for my amusement, he never really cared, he only thought about the pile of money that I didn’t burn and hide before getting caught by Bats. Besides, I was a good friend to him in this shithole if you get past all the random violence and lizard puns.
“What do you mean by t-that? My m-men didn’t do anything to you, we were working toge…”
“For me, my little bag-face Doc.” I sing-songed, really wanting to get this over and not stand more stuttering.”Waylon boy, you can go out and eat some more Arkham staff”
Calling him by his old name was a sign that this was not an offer. As soon as Croc was out, I started pacing around to just settle down in a welcoming litter near the confounded Jonathan.
“I would really like to share a story with you, Johnny.” Harley was now just watching like a child expecting her good-night tale, hugging herself by the knees on the floor. ”You see, years ago there was a handsome young man called Jack. He never got an easy childhood, but he was still kind-hearted with everybody. He joined the army when his old grumpy pop kicked the bucket. His mother was far gone by then. Just 16 and alone in this world.” Crane didn’t knew what to make out of that. He just waited for more with a dumb expression quite unnatural in him.
“After a couple years of training, he got real action. He specialized in explosive disposal and got Afghanistan as his destination. When he was 21, ranked up, thinking of himself as a badass after a few direct confrontations, even a goddam medal, could you believe it?” Now Crane apparently was paying full attention, realizing there was no point on trying to do something else futilely. ”He got some months of military leave like some of his squad fellas and decided to visit his old Gotham with them. Now, one night, one fucking night he was sitting in a bar with his pals, some beer and relax. But he saw something in the corner of his eye. Something that just in a second he could tell was not normal. And he saw her. A blonde doll who looked like a fallen angel.” Harley’s eyes were shining now. Crane caught it and seemed like he was starting to catch on but there was still a glimpse of perplexity in his not-so-smug face now.
“Jacky was never skillful with the ladies and very shy, but she was not ordinary, he could tell by only looking at her. He gathered all the confidence he could came with, and he just approached to her with the idea of breaking the ice with a stupid joke of a honeycomb in a brothel…” Watching Crane’s distraught face as Harley giggled as remembering it, I just continued to carry on.
“Ah ta ta ta ta...I know what you are thinking, Johnny” I said playing with the scalpel in my bloody hands. “How could a guy like that make it out? But he did, oh yeah, he did. Months passed and now Jacky and this beauty were a happy couple, how they call it? They were in love, hehe! She got pregnant when she was still studying, he went and came from his service. They never married, because they didn’t care about that, all happened too quickly that they only wanted to be together. More years like nothing and their little princess was already a roguish little rascal and a pain in the ass for her mother because her father was not many times at home.” At this point, Harley face was traced by silent tears that were accompanied with a sad smile meanwhile she was staring almost lifeless.
“Then, a really bad thing happened…” I lowered my voice, and Crane looked to me like preparing himself for something. “Good old Jack was thinking of his family when his patrol started being ambushed by insurgents. They got surrounded and outnumbered. But, don’t be afraid, the air support was coming.” I paused at this point, something inside me was feeling volatile, perturbed, even distaste-fuuul. I ignored it. “And it came. But it didn’t aim really well, because Jacky was bathed in his friends entrails before he could realize what happened.” I started to walk very slowly to Crane before continuing my monologue.
“They called it a technical error. Some shit misplaced in the prototype drone that burst Jack’s unit. I suppose Uncle Sam isn’t very strict on millionaire contracts with Wayne Enterprises.” I chuckle a little thinking about the irony of Batm...Oh, don’t deviate your attention now. Crane was already aware of what’s all this about but in his face is clear that he doesn’t know why is this for and how it will end.
“But the best part, it’s that...it’s that…” I try so hard to stifle a beastly laugh. “The best part is when he hears about a terrorist attack on Gotham, and the most affected part of the city was the one where his little family lived in.” Oh yes, now Crane’s face showed what he came up on his mind.
“N-Now I-I...do-” Bag-face silenced his mouth in the moment I stuck the blade on his pit.
“Shss ‘Doc, don’t ruin my punchline, aye?” Crane eyes now are full of unsaying pleas while his body is stiffened like a stone. ”Jacky boy tries to phone to his family, but they don’t answer. Another call, nothing. He tries again. Nothing at all. Again. Silence. One more. And one more. He keeps trying. He doesn’t believe it. Things like that don’t happen to people like him, right? Just keep trying. They must be busy with all this thing happening on town. Keep. Trying. And days passed like this, with only silence. He was alone. Just like when he started his life. Alone.” Crane is quenching like a junkie squirrel now. He cannot look me in the eyes. I would bet he pissed himself.
“Aaaand you know what he did, hm-mm?” Crane shook his head slightly, not quite sure myself if it was to respond the question or simply a natural tick due to the situation. “He just started to run, run, and run not knowing where to, because something more frightening than Forrest Gump’ bullies was chasing him. Giving his back not only to his supposed duty but to everything else he was before. After that, well, you could say that Jack was gone like dust in the wind.”
“And from here, I think you are smart enough to figure how things went. There were a lot of strange and grateful coincidences, tho’.” I said looking to her. Harley had approached to me without any sound and she was at my side with surgery scissors in each hand.
“Can we do it now, Mr. J?” She says tightening his hands and only staring at the afraid Doctor with fire in her eyes.
“Please,...don’t do this, I-I never meant to do anything like wha-whatever happened to you...your daughter…J-Jac-” He was trying to do what he could to stand in his feet.
“Silly you, Johnny-boy, there is no Jack here. Not anymore. But ya know, some scars heal faster than others. And to get rid of them for sure, you just need to cauterize them and burn whatever could remind you of it, ‘cause it keeps bringing back little bits of what was used to be me before the...unleash.”
“Pl-Please, I beg you! I would do anything you want to, to r-restore what I-I made to you two!! Please, please…” He was now sobbing like a child, and that only made Harley’s face to turn red in fury and she had already her arm extended, but I stopped her.
“But Jay...you say th-...” She looked up at me incredulously, like she was seeing actually an insane man. Oh my.
“Don’t spoil the fun yet, Harley. Rage makes you very inpatient, and babe, after all this time stuck in that madhouse, I certainly learnt to be ‘patient’.” I initiated a sick laugh with my bad joke, and Harley quickly joined in, finally soothing her tension. “Anyway, ‘Doc, I think Harls and I should really give you some appreciation though, after all, you can’t taste true joy before tasting true sorrow.”
What came next was a perfect definition of bizarre delight, but there was another feeling on the bottom on their souls that they knew was shared between them in that very moment only staring at their eyes. Meanwhile Crane’s skin was being flayed away from his body and his screams echoed in the emptied nuthouse, they still didn’t get their eyes off of the other one’s. It was just like the noisy doctor was in a completely different plane. They were the only ones there. Not in the room, neither in the asylum and not even in this town. They were alone in the world, just he and she.
When the noises finally died, I grabbed her now smiling face and kissed her like no other time. Maybe only during a few seconds or a few hours.
It wasn’t really a way to tell, they had been together almost all their lives, at least when they could have been named as such. Even after what happened, they reborned to be side by side.