Who: Eddie & Crane What: A little meeting & the the first steps to Gothtopia Where: New Arkham Asylum When: Recently! Warnings/Rating: Some description of death/suicide.
In the days since Jonathan had first slipped his new concoction into the drinks of several of Arkham's residents, the air within the asylum had taken a definite swing for the better. Things were simply happier, and when no one died after ingesting his happy drugs, Jonathan got bolder and bolder and began to push it to not just more of the residents but the staff as well. The change was so palpable, one almost expected to see forest animals and butterflies frolicking in the halls, that's how happy things got. There were fewer arguments, less stress amongst the staff and patients alike, and overall just nice. One wouldn't think that the people housed here in New Arkham were some of the worst of the worst, the incurably insane or violent. It was hard to imagine that when said patients were colouring in the day room or having lively conversations about whatever was on the television.
It was perfect. And Jonathan couldn't have been prouder.
As things progressed from those six initial patients he had chosen for his test, Jonathan found it easier to get access to more of what he needed. Pills ground down into powder, some of them highly addictive and potent, and the staff were oblivious to his actions. He found a lab to work within, but still returned to his room at the appropriate times, keeping close tabs on how everyone was behaving. No hitches, everything moving along perfectly, so Jonathan pressed forward. The next batch was a little stronger, a little more potent, and he grew closer to what he wanted to release to the city proper. It was around then that Leland was slipped a dose of her own in her morning coffee… He wouldn't have touched her, not at first, but Jonathan saw the suspicion in her eyes at how nice things had become within the walls of her asylum, and he couldn't have her raising the alarm yet. There were still things to be done, formulas to perfect, and he needed more time.
The afternoon was idyllic in the asylum, the patients quiet, and Jonathan sat near the outside walls of the day room with his new copy of Ulysses in his hands, a thoughtful gift from his very thoughtful Valentine. The staff members loitered near, peaceful expressions on their faces, and Jonathan glanced up from his reading to marvel at the utopia he had created within Arkham. Who said that the strawed man couldn't do some good for this city after all?
Eddie could feel something off. His mistake? He took it as a comfort. God, he had been stressed. It showed in the way his hair insisted on springing up in that messy curl, how he showed up in jeans and a nerd t-shirt (a velociraptor solving a Rubik's Cube) under a giant bomber jacket instead of a nice suit. The Watchtower had taken everything out of him to the point where arts and crafts for a month on Arkham Rock didn’t sound so bad. He watched the tranquil patients shuffle past him and sighed as if he had just let go of some heavy burden. Even a man who had been a street rat his entire life enjoyed some peace and quiet once and a while.
“Crane. Hey, Strawman!” Eddie snagged his visitor’s pass, clipped it on his jacket and saluted the guards who escorted him inside before taking off towards the thin young man he hadn’t seen since Firefly died. “Hey- uh.” He made a hand gesture like he was going to say something, fingers wiggling in the air and then his wrist spun around, animating the tick-tocking of his brain. “This place feels more like a spa than I remember. Right? Leland is kicking- hey is that a new copy of Ulysses? The hell are you still doing reading that? Or, I guess, what are you doing reading it again?”
The riddled man was known for his rambling, but this was the first time it sounded a little manic. His mind snapped from one subject to the next, his dark eyes moving as if he was trying to keep up with himself. “Is this why you came back? Did they put in some fucking jacuzzis or something?” His language had gotten worse, too. Thanks, Stephanie Brown.
Jonathan heard him before he actually saw him, the voice ringing out clear through the room, giving him only a handful of moments to prepare himself his 'friend's' appearance. With all that was going on recently, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to see Eddie, if only out of the fear that the other man would see right through the guise of innocent and tame that he had worked so very hard at constructing over the last few months. But it was as good of a time to put things to the test as any, wasn't it?
"I'm reading it again because I enjoy the book," Jonathan explained in a patient voice, marking his place in the copy he had received from his Valentine, only part one of a gift that would hopefully prove itself useful in the future. "And I came back because I wasn't ready to be out. I realised that quite quickly." It was only half of the truth, but he hoped that it would be enough to satiate Eddie's curiosity. "Are you alright? You seem a little…" Crane trailed off, looking up towards the other man, his brow furrowed. "High-strung," he finally concluded. "Do you want me to get you something to drink? Tea, perhaps?"
Eddie didn’t notice he was bouncing with high-strung energy until it was pointed out to him. He shook his head, confused that Crane could see a weakness in him that he didn’t know was there and then shrugged. “Long month, that’s all. Long couple of months.” Eddie was clearly tangled up in his own problems to the point where he couldn’t see clearly. Someone could have hid a bear until a cloth and called it a table and Eddie wouldn’t notice. Still, he smiled at Crane, friendly and charismatic as always. He was the kind of man who could keep smiling brightly even when the only thing he really wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep the rest of the year off.
“So, is it just me or is everything really laid back here now? I see Harold the Human Noodle over there and he’s not doing any noodle stuff. He’s not even trying to bend himself in half.” Eddie pointed across to Harold who was calmly reading a book and enjoying his day. “Is everyone like that? But, you look like your old stuffy self.” Then, Eddie’s mind started tick-tocking. Was it the drugs? In which case, why wasn’t Crane acting weird? He turned to Crane, that high-strung daze snapped out of his dark eyes and he slowly reached to poke the Strawman’s face. “Eeeehhhhhhhhhh?” Eddie’s expression sharpened, narrowed eyes staring down the Crow.
Until, suddenly, Doctor Leland appeared looking like an absolute wreck. Her usually prim and proper coat unbuttoned with the collar half up. Her hair a tangled mess bursting out of what was once a tight bun. Her eyes bloodshot and cheeks stained with tears. “Oh, Edward.” Leland trotted forward, one of her shoes loosening from her foot and clanking on the ground as she reached to sling her arms around him. “No one sees the darkness. No one- but you know it you’ve seen it!”
Eddie froze in place, arms out at first until Leland couldn’t hold herself up against him any longer. He had clearly never given this woman a hug or even shown affection (only gratitude and respect from the riddled man, something very difficult to obtain). He looked to Crane with a worried expression. None of the guards seemed to care. The other patients barely looked up from their delighted daydreams. Eddie felt like the only sane person left in the madhouse. “What’s- you’re okay, Doctor Leland. It’s fine. Look how great-”
“That’s the problem! They’ve got you too already? No, Edward you’re the one who’s supposed to see!” Doctor Leland screamed, suddenly slapping Eddie as hard as she could across the face before bolting out the door without one person following after her. Eddie whined, holding the side of his face as he looked back at Crane, his curled hair suddenly bouncing forward as he dark eyes went wide as saucers. “Ooowww what the hellll.” His face scrunched up in pain.
"Perhaps the doctors here have finally settled on a proper combination of drugs for the patients here," Jonathan responded, his tone as natural as could be. His brow furrowed as Eddie reached out to poke him in the face, getting ready to flinch away, but he never quite got the chance to do that. No, that seemed to be Leland's cue to make her dramatic entrance, and wasn't she just a thorn in his side as of late. With the success of his drugs on the patients and other staff, Crane had made the decision to take a stab at the good doctor. Unfortunately, they didn't work as well on her, and the doctor had responded… well, unfavourably seemed to be putting it mildly. Horribly was a more apt description, and he hadn't yet had time to figure out why that was the cause.
He watched with a sharp gaze as Leland started babbling at Eddie before actually slapping him across the face before bolting out the door with a scream. His head canted to the side in curiosity slash worry, and moments before Eddie looked back towards him with those widened eyes, his expression smoothed out into something less suspicious. "She's been acting strangely as of late," Crane said with an appropriate amount of concern peppering his words. "Even some of the nurses seem concerned about her. It's not my place to ask questions, though, but perhaps you might be able to talk to her."
Crane clasped his hands between his knees as he looked up towards Eddie, his calm matching that of the patients around him who sat so quietly and still that they seemed more furniture than actual people. "You and her have been close in the past, have you not? Perhaps you should go see if you can talk to her. Find out what she's talking about." He needed just a moment, just a moment of Eddie's attention focused elsewhere. No, Crane didn't want to drug his best friend, if Eddie could be described as such, but he could see the gears turning already in the riddled-man's head. No, he knew too much, even if he didn't know the cause. It wouldn't take long for him to put two and two together and come out to a solution of Scarecrow. It needed to be stopped before it reached that point.
He preferred gasses, enjoyed the way they snuck up on people, but that didn't mean he was against other methods. Because of that, a syringe was in the pocket of his trousers, capped and ready for use, and Crane had a feeling who was going to be getting that dose.
“What the hell is with you!” Eddie grabbed Crane and shook him. Panic settled in from being surrounded by completely calm, unnoticing people while the woman who helped keep his head on straight was losing her goddamned mind. At that point he was convinced Crane had been hit with something, too and who the hell would have done something like this? Wasn’t too subtle for the clown? Was it Mad Hatter? No, he was more gimmicky than that. The riddled man’s mind tick tocked and he stood still, running through a gauntlet of options. Eddie loved a good riddle and part of this was exhilarated to find a new one he couldn’t solve right away. It would have been a lot more satisfying, of course, if Eddie didn’t feel like the only one who could see clearly.
“Okay, Strawman you’re staying with me.” It was a protective motion, all the suspicion gone as if he was calculating who he’d want to get off this rock alive. And, Crane, despite all logic, was one of them. A faint pinging sound started and Eddie held his wristwatch to his mouth. “Machina, I want you to scan the air for something unusual.” Ping, ping, ping! “And if there’s people hurt, I expect you to heal them this time. I’m not stitching up an asylum full of crazy people.” Another set of pinging, that sounded motherly if that was even possible.
Eddie turned to look at Crane and then motioned for him to follow after Leland outside. The yard was full of docile, smiling patients looking curiously at the frantic doctor as she disabled security, carefully climbed up the Arkham wall and teetered on the edge over the jagged rocks and ocean below.
Now, Eddie was never one to run towards someone in trouble. He was usually busy making a messy escape or standing tall as someone tried to run towards him. He wasn’t a hero and he didn’t save anyone.
Still, he lowered his wrist to the ground and a multicolored light with rotating, sparking geometrics shined from his motherbox and pushed the earth upwards like steps of naturally made stairs. Eddie took off at a sprint up them, a flash of color across the blooming rock formations that shook out of the ground. “Leland! We can hug this out!”
“Open your EYES EDWARD!” Leland screamed back at him, her dark hair tangling up in the wind as her doctors coat opened and she twisted backwards into the ocean below. Eddie only just made it to the ledge of the wall when she dropped, her tiny body hitting the jagged cliff before sinking into the crashing waves in a cloud of red blood. Eddie had seen death, he had lived it, but he had never lost someone who cared for him right before his eyes.
The ground shook again and Eddie stumbled, almost falling into the drink after her. He whined, eyes closed as he could feel his face turn hot and his blood boil. Flashes of Muerte dead in his bunker. Flashes of Leland’s body hitting those rocks. All of it too much for his riddled heart to handle. “I have to, I can still-” Eddie took a step back and then another, tripping over the rocks he had pulled up from the earth with the power of his space magic and then slipped off them with an oof. He landed on his side, slowly sat up and pulled his jacket around his body. Eyes closed as he replayed failure over and over on his head.
He didn't expect to be grabbed, and Crane certainly didn't expect to be shaken like a small child. But if the expression in Eddie's eyes was anything to go by, it seemed the riddled man was more suspicious that he had been affected by something in the air than he was of him being the actual cause. He wasn't stupid enough to try and correct him, so he was shaken, his expression remaining that carefully schooled neutral that matched quite well to that of the patients around him. "Nothing's wrong with me, Eddie," he explained as soon as the world stopped rocking back and forth, giving him an easy-going smile, a little vapid, a little absent.
There was a bob of Crane's head at Eddie's insistence that he stay with him, and he watched as the other man worked his magic with that device wrapped around his wrist. It was a curious thing, something he wanted to know more about, but now was not the place for those kind of questions. Maybe later, when Eddie was seeing the world through Crane-coloured glasses. Luckily, there was nothing in the air to be detected, no patients that were in need of medical treatment. The drugs in their systems would be expected in patients in an asylum; it was the combination that was special, the combination that made them work in such a magnificent manner.
Or not so magnificent, it seemed, in Leland's case. He didn't need prompting from Eddie to follow after him and Leland into the yard of the asylum, stumbling out into the cool air as he watched Leland disable security and scale the wall that kept the Arkham patients from simply throwing themselves into the ocean. The fervor she was gripped with, that single-minded desire to bring things to an end… it was a curious and unexpected side-effect of his cocktail, and one that truly needed more examination before he could even think to understand it.
Also curious, Crane thought, was Eddie's frantic behaviour as the doctor teetered on the top of the wall, the wind picking up her coat and tangling her hair. Crane made no effort to follow Leland and Eddie up the earth stairs that had suddenly sprung out of nowhere, instead watching as Eddie reached the top just moments after Leland flung herself backwards, over the wall, and to the rocky outcroppings below. Maybe it was telling that Crane didn't find himself feeling much of anything in response, even as Eddie wavered, and for a moment, Crane thought he might simply follow the doctor over the edge. No, that wasn't to be, he discovered, as Eddie stumbled backwards and then tipped over to fall onto the ground beside the rocky stairs that had been pulled up.
It was then that Crane came closer, dropping down to his knees even as the riddled man started to curl in upon himself with his jacket wrapped around him, making himself a small thing against the dead winter ground. "I'm sorry," Crane said quietly, dropping a hand with the palmed syringe, the needle sticking up through his fingers to keep it away, to rest upon Eddie's shoulder, because that was the right thing to do in these situations. "I'm sorry," he said again, and then his hand shifted from that comforting position to something much more active, and as the listless, calm patients watched, that needle sunk into the side of Eddie's neck, the strawman letting out a soft sigh as its contents were emptied. "I'm sorry," he repeated once more, his other hand coming up, long fingers resting alongside Eddie's cheek. "But I promise you. It's going to be okay."
Eddie was sobbing by the time Crane found him huddled next to broken earth and dislodged snow. Everything crashed down for him when Leland’s body hit those rocks. Risking Selina’s life because it was logical and she made him feel disposable first. Losing Muerte for the last time despite clawing to bring her back into his life. Successfully recovering the Watchtower, but failing to do a simple thing like keep a friend from falling. All of it was too much and when Crane dropped next to him, Eddie reached out for comfort like a child who had fallen and scraped his knee. “I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t save anyone!” He choked out, feeling useless, begging Crane for an answer.
And, that’s when the Strawman gave him one.
He barely noticed the sharp bite of the syringe and his mind didn’t have time to focus as it tumbled out of reach from Gotham. Comfort bled cool and simple through his nerves and Eddie leaned his face into the strawman’s hand, eyes closing as his head rolled back and rested on the earth behind him. Everything started to fade. The curtain closed. His father never threw him down a flight of stairs. He never spent his youth running around as a carnie. And, that stint as one of Gotham’s more recognizable bad guys? That was gone, too. His mind searched and searched for a replacement, pulling spare parts out from fantasy and want.
Machina started to ping frantically, but Eddie couldn’t make out a thing she was saying. And, hey, wasn’t it true that he never could understand her in the first place?
Eventually Eddie’s eyes opened, face still cradled in the palm of Crane and he looked up at him with a hazy smile. “Did I fall? Well, that’s what I get for trying to make an obstacle course at your facility, Dr. Crane.” His eyes went sharp, but there was no knowledge of what had happened to him behind it. Only bliss. Beautiful, simple, bliss. “Sorry for ruining your grounds, I’ll pay for the damages if my little Machina here won’t fix it herself.” Eddie laughed and motioned for Crane to help him back to his feet.
Crane was sure it was a touching picture, a sobbing Eddie reaching out for comfort, Crane offering it with a simple touch, his expression strangely calm despite all that had just happened. The other patients around them had gone back to whatever it was they were doing before their doctor fell to her death, as unperturbed by it as they would be by anything else going on around them. But Crane's attention was not on his fellow patients but the man who leaned in against his hands, hands that held him up as the drug slipped home, a heavy dose, more than the others.
He shifted slightly to let Eddie come to rest on the ground, fingers quickly capping the syringe once more and tucking it away on his person to dispose of later. The pinging of the device on Eddie's wrist, and then those eyes opening slowly, Crane simply offered a smile to the waking man, letting him guide the moment into whatever the drugs had molded it into.
And then he said those two words. Dr. Crane. And oh, he liked the sound of those. The reality of being a doctor was a long ways from him, something he wasn't sure he would ever have the ability to reach here in this Gotham, but with the haze pulled down and the world viewed through those tinted glasses, it was possible. "Just a tumble," he explained, already releasing the other man as he unfolded long limbs up to his full height, reaching out a hand to help him up. "And don't worry about the damages if Machina can't repair them. It'll just be a new addition to the yard." Another friendly smile and Crane gestured the way back towards the building. "Let's get inside. We wouldn't want you to catch a cold being out here in the cold air, would we?" It was an easy guise to fit himself into, and with Leland gone, there was no one around to argue against him simply slipping into her position, so long as those outside didn't hear about it immediately. No, there was more to be done, problems to work out with the formula before he let it go on Gotham City proper, but he was so close he could taste it.
"Though, I fear I'm going to have to insist that you spend the night, Eddie," Crane was saying as they went back inside, the warmth of the facility and it's happy patients embracing them. "You hit your head when you fell, and it's my responsibility to make sure that you're alright before you head home. I hope you understand." Another night. That would be enough, he hoped, to get the drug into the water, out into the city. One night, and the rest of Gotham City would be as happy and carefree as the patients (his patients) and Eddie were.
Eddie’s posture and demeanor completely changed. Gone was the nervous energy, the heavy burden of Gotham bearing down on top of him. All that was left was charm, kindness and affection. Wasn’t that what everyone wanted from Eddie anyway? “I’ve got a charity thing to go to tonight.” Which wasn’t true until Eddie got stuck in the neck with a needle. “But, if you think you can be more entertaining than Stephanie Brown in a cocktail dress, how could I refuse?” Confidence was back and he rubbed his cheek, staring at the leftover tears in wonder before rolling them away between his fingers. He was on his feet again, clapping Crane on the back like an old friend and then checking his phone.
“Can we go explore the old mansion? You promised, Jonathan. You said I could go on a treasure hunt for the rumored gold buried somewhere in this old place.” He wagged a finger at him and then brought his phone up. “Should I text Stephanie that we’re having a boys’ night? She’s going to be jealous. You haven’t been by our new place at all since you landed this gig.”
"I'm not sure if the entertainment that I can provide is anything in comparison to that of Stephanie, but I can promise, at least, that you will not be bored." There was a stumblestep forward at the clap of a hand against his back, but Crane recovered quickly, leading the way down the hall to Leland's old office. It would take a bit of fixing up, but that was something he could do later. Get settled in. Make it his. "Have a seat, Eddie," Jonathan implored him as he settled behind Leland's desk, fingers steepled in front of him. "And of course we can explore the old mansion. I did, as you so kindly reminded me, promise you, after all. But in exchange, I've a small favour to ask of you. Go on and tell Stephanie that I'm stealing you away for a night, and I also promise to stop by sometime this week. And after that… I hoped we might discuss some security upgrades I had in mind for my facility. If you're willing, that is."
Eddie walked into Leland’s office, completely under the impression that it had been Crane’s for a while now. He plopped down in the chair across from Crane’s desk, put his feet up and stuck his tongue out as he texted a string of affection, flirting and love towards Stephanie. That was actually not out of the ordinary for the riddled man. “Upgrades for the facility, eh?” Eddie quirked a brow up at Crane. “But, everything’s been so nice lately. The Gotham PD are so bored, they’re lucky if a purse thief runs past the station. Everyone here is healthy, thanks to you and the only problem we’re having is making sure there’s enough champagne at the galas.”
It was interesting to listen to the story that Eddie painted of the current state of Gotham City. Peaceful? Healthy? A far cry from the Gotham that Crane knew and tolerated, but he'd play along. "It's not so much for crime, Eddie," Jonathan explained, one shoulder shrugging up in careless ease. "More for the equipment we use here. I'd hate to see someone get hurt if they stumbled into a room they shouldn't be in. Last thing we need is someone ending up dead because they took something they shouldn't have, right? But if you don't think you're up for a little work and challenge, that's quite alright with me." He smiled then, the picture of ease and comfort as he leaned back in Leland's chair. "I'll trust your opinion. You know better than me, after all."
Eddie glanced up at the security cameras, out the office window at the guards and then turned around to look at the door and shrugged. “Challenging me is the best way to get me doing anything. You sly dog.” Back to his phone as he started pulling up schematics and tech in the facility. “If I have time between treasure hunting I’d be happy to upgrade the facility for you, old friend.” And, there was a smile. All the stress of never being the man that could be a true hero gone in place for Riddler’s true form. A man who did not give a damn.
Just what he was hoping to hear. Crane gave him a smile as he watched the other man work on his phone, that smile on the riddled man's lips as he worked. This… this is what this city needed. Some peace. Some calm. So maybe he wasn't as different from his predecessor as he claimed, but their goals were different, he could tell that much. "As soon as you're ready, then, we'll head to the mansion. I think we're going to have a very good evening together."