#Torn to Pieces | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

emotionalcadaver · 1 year

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Part 5: Torn to Pieces

Fandom: The Dark Knight Trilogy

Pairing: Jonathan Crane x OC

Summary: A new nurse at Arkham makes a horrifying discovery about two of its doctors.

Word Count: 6,116

Notes: Warnings for depictions of blood, murder, drugging, hallucinations, and spiders.

Masterlists: Main • Series

Previous Part • Next Part

Katie tugged at the hem of her shirt. The scrubs scratched a little at her skin, and were an ugly faded blue color, but she didn’t care. They had the name of the asylum stitched into the spot just above her left breast, and under that, her name. A bloom of pride blossomed in her chest every time she’d looked at it.

Dr. Sinner guided her swiftly through the halls, showing her where everything was located, chattering about the different protocols that the asylum utilized.

“There’s a key required to access the basement?” Katie asked, running her finger along the little slot in the panel as they stepped into the elevator.

“Yes,” Sinner said, punching the button for the level that contained all of the doctor’s offices. “Only the psychiatrists are permitted down there, unless you get special permission.”

“Oh.”

“I wouldn’t be too disappointed. There’s not much down there but old records and Dr. Crane and Dr. Sullivan’s laboratory.”

“Laboratory?”

“They’re the only doctors with permission to conduct experiments with the inmates. They do most of their research down there, where it’s out of the way,” Sinner hesitated. “They…don’t particularly like to be disturbed.”

“I see.”

The elevator dinged and Sinner gestured for her to follow. “Come along.”

Following Sinner at a near trot in an attempt to keep up with the other woman’s long stride, Katie listened intently, eyes darting to the plaques that lined the doors they were passing, each with the corresponding doctor’s name and credentials listed in little black letters. As they passed, one of the doors opened and a man stepped out, eyes lowered to a file clutched in his pale hands.

“Dr. Crane, hello,” Sinner greeted. Crane’s eyes darted up, and Katie had to stifle a gasp as she got a good look at his face. His features were wonderfully crafted, jawline sharp and cheekbones high, contrasted with the subtle roundness to his cheeks and the fullness of his lips. The eyes were a little disconcerting; bright blue, and…empty in a way that Katie couldn’t quite place. But that was alright.

“Hello, Dr Sinner,” he said, voice rich and deep as he tucked the file under one arm and adjusted the rectangular glasses on his nose.

“This is Katie. Our new nurse,” Sinner gestured to her. “Katie, this is Dr. Jonathan Crane.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said. Crane looked her up and down, expression bored.

“Likewise,” he didn’t offer to shake her hand. “Now if you don’t mind, I have an appointment to get to.”

“Yes, of course,” Sinner stepped out of the way so he could pass them in the hall on his way to the elevator. Katie watched him go, mystified. “Katie.”

“Yes?” she turned to find Sinner looking at her expectantly. “Yes! Sorry,” she rushed to catch up.

“Don’t mind Dr. Crane. He’s not a big people person,” Sinner said simply.

“And yet he’s a psychiatrist?”

Sinner just shrugged. Katie hesitated before speaking again. “...He looks so young.”

“Graduated with his doctorate at only twenty-one. We hired him and his lab partner, Dr. Sullivan, straight out of college. They’ve been with us for about a year now. Come on.”

She followed Sinner past the remainder of the offices, but was unable to fight the temptation to continuously look over her shoulder, towards where Crane had disappeared.

∗ ∗ ∗

She was finishing up her rounds on the third floor, peering into the last few cells to check that the inmates inside were still peacefully asleep. Satisfied, Katie headed to the nurses station, mouth beginning to pull into a smile when she saw that Crane was there, a stack of files set on the counter in front of him, scribbling a few notes onto the papers. His brows were pinched, lights glinting off of the lenses of his glasses. But when a small, black haired woman sidled up to him, the seriousness in his face melted, glancing over at her with a small smile. The woman had sharp cheekbones, her pale skin dotted with a thick dusting of prominent freckles, lips painted a dark red stretching into a smile as she pointed to something on Crane’s papers. He looked back at her with a tender expression.

Moving forward tentatively, feeling suddenly as though she’d encroached upon an incredibly private moment, Katie cleared her throat.

They both looked at her, eyes boring into her like she was something in a petri dish, examined under a microscope. Crane’s eyes didn’t blink, expression pinching back into one of minor annoyance at the intrusion. The woman stared at Katie curiously, chin tilted upwards. Despite her short stature, she carried herself as someone who was much taller. She wasn’t dressed in nurse’s scrubs or an orderly uniform, so that meant that she was either one of the doctors Katie hadn’t met yet, or perhaps a janitor or something.

Please, just let her be a janitor.

“Hello, Dr. Crane,” Katie greeted.

“Vanessa, this is Katie, the new nurse,” Crane said to the dark haired woman. “Katie, this is Dr. Vanessa Sullivan.”

Damn it. “Nice to meet you, Doctor,” she said. Sullivan looked her up and down, a dark brow kicking upwards.

“Hello,” her voice was low, speech slow. Like she had all the time in the world. Soothing but terrifying.

Katie glanced back to Crane, who had returned his gaze to his papers, uninterested. “Well it…it was good to see you both.”

Sullivan gave a little dip of her head in acknowledgement. Crane just grunted softly. Shuffling around them, Katie rushed towards the elevator, hitting the button to take her upstairs.

The staff break room had a few comfortable couches and armchairs set up in it, a small television in one corner, a tiny kitchen equipped with a microwave and refrigerator for employees to make their lunch–or dinner, for those who stayed late–and a table to eat at. Collapsing into a chair with her humble little salad, Katie pouted.

“What’s up with you?” Denise asked, tomato slathered pasta twisting around her fork.

“I just ran into Dr. Crane and Dr. Sullivan downstairs.”

“Oh?” Denise raised an eyebrow. “And how was that?”

Katie shrugged. “Fine.”

“They give me the creeps,” Denise shook her head, looking down at her food.

“Dr. Crane seems nice,” Katie chimed in. Denise’s brows shot up her forehead, fork freezing halfway to her mouth.

“That’s just your ovaries talking,” she said finally, shaking her head. “He’s got a nice face, I suppose, but his eyes give me the willies.”

“I think his eyes are nice.”

Denise huffed out a single laugh, shaking her head. “Just give it some time, get to know him. You’ll be agreeing with me soon enough. Not that it matters, anyway.”

Katie shot her a look. “Why?”

“He’s spoken for.”

“He is?”

Denise gave her a look. “He and Sullivan have been together since college.”

“I didn’t think that Dr. Crane actually liked anyone.”

“Yeah, well, he likes her,” Denise said. Katie thought back to the look of tenderness that had crossed Crane’s face when looking at Sullivan. “Rumor is that he refused to agree to take a job here unless she also was offered a position.”

Katie scoffed bitterly. “So she got her job just because she’s fucking him. Figures,” stabbing irritably at her salad, she grimaced, eyes darting down so she wouldn’t have to watch the way Denise’s eyes widened at the comment. “I didn’t mean that.”

“Sullivan also graduated at twenty-one with her MD. She’s smart as a whip, you’ll see.”

Katie nodded, gloominess still heavy in her chest. “Okay.”

Denise cast her a sympathetic look. “Welcome to the madhouse.”

“Ha,” Katie deadpanned, then smiled. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

They both fell silent as the door suddenly opened and Sullivan strode into the room, whisking directly to the fridge, pulling out a small container of food. No one said a word as the microwave beeped when Sullivan entered the cook time into it, the whir as it hummed to life the only sound in the otherwise silent break room. Sullivan leaned against the counter, arms crossed over her chest. Despite keeping her gaze down and focused on her salad, Katie couldn’t shake the feeling that Sullivan’s eyes were boring into the back of her head. Like something was scratching at her skull, trying to burrow inside.

God, had she heard what Katie had said about her?

The microwave beeped to indicate that it was done, and she couldn’t help her flinch at the way Sullivan slammed the little door shut, grabbing up her food and storming back out into the hall and towards the offices.

∗ ∗ ∗

“Hello, Dr. Crane,” she smiled, trying to fight back the fluttering of her eyelashes when she glanced up at him.

“Hello, Katie,” he said, sweeping around her to thumb through the files behind the nurses station.

“How…how are…things?” she asked, biting at her lower lip. It was so hard not to stare at him; all slim lines and striking features. His icy, unblinking eyes darted up to look at her, brows furrowing as if in confusion.

“They’re…fine.”

“That’s good.”

“Hey, listen…” it was wrong; he had a girlfriend. But she couldn’t get his eyes out of her mind, or the shape of his lips. Surely, it wouldn’t hurt; just to test the waters a little bit. “I don’t know if you’re busy tomorrow night, but…”

Crane’s shoulders went stiff. Still, Katie soldiered on.

“I’d like to get to know you a bit better–”

��I have a girlfriend,” the stern coldness that was always in Crane’s voice had suddenly increased tenfold. Katie felt her eyes widen.

“I-I didn’t mean–” she tried desperately to backpedal.

“He knows what you meant.”

Katie almost screamed, spinning around to find Sullivan standing behind her, eyes cast down at the papers cradled in her arms, flicking through them before handing one to Crane. Finally, those dark eyes snapped to Katie. Peeling her back, layer by layer. Prodding around inside her brain.

“I’m–I’m sorry, Dr. Sullivan.”

“Get back to work,” Sullivan said simply, moving to stand beside Crane, who had leaned back against the counter, arms crossed in front of his chest, watching the interaction with an expression that might’ve been amused.

“Yes, Dr. Sullivan.”

Her cheeks burned with a combination of shame and embarrassment as she rushed away, the skin-crawling sensation of their eyes still trained on her enduring until she rounded the corner and vanished from their line of sight.

∗ ∗ ∗

“Where’s Denise?” Sullivan asked, looking Katie up and down as she finished writing something down in a file and closed it. Katie gulped, shifting uncomfortably under Sullivan’s scrutinizing gaze.

“She’s out sick today.”

Sullivan’s jaw twitched in annoyance, but other than that, she didn’t say anything. Just jerked her head in a silent order for Katie to follow her down the hallway towards one of the cells. Sullivan’s stride was surprisingly fast for someone so short, her footsteps brisk enough that Katie almost had to trot to keep up with her. And she moved silently, boots not making even a whisper of a sound against the tile floor. As if she were a ghost.

“Hello, Daryl,” she said in that low, slow croon, keys clinking together as she unlocked the cell. The patient’s head snapped up at the sound of her voice, immediately seeming to shrink in on himself at the sight of her. “This is Katie. She’s filling in for Denise today.”

“Hello, Mr. Johansson,” Katie greeted, the man looked at her suspiciously. Head tilting, Vanessa pulled out a pen and notebook from her pocket. When she took a step forward, Daryl tensed and drew further into the corner. But his behavior didn’t seem to even phase Sullivan, who just moved to sit in the chair across from him.

“Now, I just want to ask you a few questions, Daryl. While Katie draws your blood.”

“Why do you need my blood?”

Sullivan’s red painted lips pulled into a small smile that Katie suspected was supposed to be reassuring. “We need to check to make sure that your new medications are being properly absorbed. Katie?” she shot an impatient, expectant look towards her, and with a tiny nod, Katie approached Daryl slowly, fumbling with her needles. He let her take his arm and swab it, wide eyes remaining trained on Sullivan fearfully.

“Now,” Sullivan said, crossing one leg gracefully over the other. With her black hair piled atop her hair in a bun, she looked nearly regal, high cheekbones on full display and the paleness of her skin accentuated by the black of her clothing. “Tell me, Daryl, are you still seeing things?”

He hesitated. Sullivan raised an eyebrow, head cocking. “Yes, Dr. Sullivan,” when he spoke, he kept his eyes lowered, like one would when faced with a dangerous, aggressive animal.

“And what have you been seeing recently?”

“A, uh,” he winced as Katie slipped the needle into a vein, eyes darting to her only for a moment before snapping back to Sullivan. “A s-scare-scarecrow.”

Sullivan’s pen scratched against the paper inside the notebook. “Go on.”

“A scarecrow and shadows. Shadows with…with hands,” a tiny sob fell from his lips.

“Sounds spooky.”

Katie blinked in surprise. Was she really making fun of him?

“And what does this…scarecrow and his shadow want from you, Daryl?” Sullivan asked. A shudder wracked through him, his arm trembling beneath Katie’s hand. She finished filling the vials of blood and pulled the needle from his skin, pressing a bandage into place.

“They want…they want to hurt me.”

“I see,” Sullivan’s pen continued to scratch against the paper. “Run along and get those samples down to be tested, won’t you, Katie?” she didn’t look up as she spoke.

“You’re not coming, doctor?”

Sullivan’s gaze was dark and empty as she glanced up at Katie. “Mr. Johansson and I need to chat for a little bit longer, I think.”

There was something in her screaming not to leave him alone with her. That there was something wrong. Very, very wrong. But the rest of her needed to flee. To get out of there. No matter how illogical she tried to convince herself it was, she was certain that if she stayed in there a moment more, she would die.

So she just nodded respectfully, picked up her blood samples, and shuffled out of the cell.

∗ ∗ ∗

It was late enough that it had grown dark outside. Katie had been on edge all day, chewing on her bottom lip until it was bloody, hands wringing together anxiously. She couldn’t get Daryl’s huge, frightened eyes out of her mind. Or Sullivan’s cruel smile.

She should go home. Just go home and eat her sad little microwave dinner and watch sitcoms until she forgot about it all. Standing from her station, she sighed, tugging the hoodie she’d thrown over her scrubs tighter around her. As she padded down the hallway, the walls seemed to creak and groan, as if the asylum was alive. Stepping into the elevator, she pushed the button to take her downstairs to the lobby and front door. Foot tapping rhythmically against the floor, she flinched as she ran her tongue over her raw lips, frowning.

Moving suddenly, she pressed a different button on the panel, and the doors opened with a ding onto one of the cell blocks. Moving swiftly down the line of cells, she rushed to the door of Daryl’s cell. She just needed to check in on him. Make sure he was alright. Otherwise she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

His cell was empty.

Katie just stared at it for a moment, brows furrowed, lips parted in surprise. Turning on her heel, she rushed back to the nurses station on that level, thumbing through the files behind the desk until she found the ones marked Johansson. There were no indications about him being moved to another part of the asylum or being released.

Well he didn’t just vanish into thin air. Where was he?

Putting the file back, she hurried down the hall, back into the elevator. Jogging out onto the main floor, she rapped her knuckles insistently on the door to the security room. It took a while, but finally one of the night guards cracked the door open, looking at her with narrowed eyes. Behind his shoulder, Katie could make out a wall of monitors displaying footage from the security cameras scattered throughout the asylum. Another guard was sitting in front of them, doing a crossword.

“Yeah?” the guard at the door asked, popping the wad of gum in his mouth.

“We have a patient missing on floor three.”

The guard stared at her blankly. “So?”

Katie sputtered. “So!? Shouldn’t we start looking for him?”

“How do you know he’s missing?”

“He’s not in his cell! And there’s no indication of him being moved to anywhere else on his chart!”

“One of the docs probably just forgot to mark it before transferring him. I wouldn’t worry about it. He’ll probably turn up by tomorrow.”

Katie gaped. “But–”

“Look, little lady,” the guard huffed. “I know you’re new here, so take a bit of advice: keep your head down and don’t worry about the…little oddities that go around here, okay?” he gave her a look. “It’s safer that way,” and with that cryptid statement, he closed the door in her face.

Teeth grinding in frustration, she stamped her foot rather comically, fingers clenching as her mind rushed through what she could possibly do. Just leave, and hope that Daryl was back in his cell come morning? No, no. She’d never forgive herself if it turned out that something had happened to him. The guards wouldn’t help her…only the night nurses were around, and they probably knew just about as much as she did. Most of the doctors had already gone home for the night.

Crane and Sullivan often stayed late.

The realization struck her suddenly. Every day, without fail, they ventured down into the basement to work on their research in their lab. They were always still there when she’d left in the past, and she was pretty sure that they hadn’t gone home yet.

Besides, Daryl was Sullivan’s patient. If anyone had an idea where he was it would be her.

But she would need a key, to be able to access the basement. A key that only the doctors were permitted to have.

Moving at a snail’s pace back towards the elevator, she pressed the button to take her up to the offices. Then it was down the hall, her arms wrapping around herself as she came to a stop at Sinner’s door. A shudder of disbelief trembled through her. She never broke the rules. At least not like this. And still, her fingers fumbled at her hair, pulling free one of the bobby pins that held her bun in place.

It took a significant amount of jiggling and a few muttered curses until the door finally clicked open. Whisking in as quickly and quietly as she could, Katie rushed to the hooks mounted on the wall behind Sinner’s desk, snatching up the ring of keys dangling from one. Heading back out into the hall, she fumbled with them until she found a little silver one marked basement. There was a resounding, final click as she slid it into the slot at the bottom of the panel and turned it. And then the elevator groaned, jerking and rattling unnervingly as it began to descend downward. As if in reluctance.

The doors opened into a dingy, dimly lit hallway. To the left were closed wooden double doors. Katie instead turned right, heading down the hallway. There were a few more closed doors to her right, the lights above her flickering. At the end of the hallway were two barred double doors, but one was propped open, leading down another long hallway. The second door on the left was cracked open just enough for her to see the light shining from within.

“Dr. Crane? Dr. Sullivan?” she called. There was no answer, save for a muffled sound that might’ve been a whimper from the other side of the door. Gingerly pushing it open with her fingertips, Katie gasped, hand flying to cover her mouth and to keep herself from screaming at the sight before her.

The room was set up as a basic science lab. In a corner, there was a large wooden desk. Against one of the walls, a huge cabinet containing microscopes, beakers, syringes, scalpels…all sorts of scientific and medical equipment. A huge work table stretched almost from wall to wall. There were some hooks by the door, on which hung two white lab coats. Another cabinet was shoved up against the wall next to the desk, armored with multiple heavy-duty locks.

Good god, what could possibly be in there that required that level of security?

On the other side of the room, furthest from the desk, there were two huge cages containing little more than ratty looking cots. The white sheets on one of the cots were stained a crimson red.

And in the middle of the room, chained by his arms and legs to a repurposed medical chair, was Daryl. A gag was stuffed into his mouth, sweat beading along his forehead, eyes puffy with tears.

Hurtling herself forward, Katie grasped at him, fingers shaking as she tried to undo the restraints holding him down.

“Oh my god…my god… what happened? Who did this to you?” she asked, pulling the gag from his mouth. Daryl just whimpered again, bottom lip trembling. “It’s okay. I’ll get you out of here,” there was a huge brace strapped across his chest, the tremors in her hands making it hard to loosen. “Okay. Come on, can you stand?” she had to wrap an arm around his middle, hauling him up. He seemed stable enough to stand and walk on his own, so she just firmly grasped him by the hand, leading him along as she headed back towards the door.

They had just stepped back into the hallway when the lights went out. In the darkness, she heard Daryl whimper and press closer to her.

“This way,” she whispered, trying to keep her breathing under control, heart pounding in her ears. Their footsteps seemed loud as thunder as they began to walk towards the elevator. It was raining outside, flashes of lighting illuminating the hallway. Looking back over her shoulder, Katie could have sworn that she saw the shadow of…something against the far wall, revealed for only a split second before the hallway was plunged back into darkness. Daryl clung tightly to her arm, practically borrowing into her back as he cowered behind her. She pushed the button to call the elevator with a shaking hand.

Nothing happened.

The power. The loss of power must have also taken out the elevator. Shit. Shit.

There had to be a stairwell around there somewhere. In case of a fire or something.

The sudden crash of glass breaking down the hallway they’d just come from made them both jump. Daryl let out a tiny cry, pulling his hand free from Katie’s grasp.

“Daryl, no, wait–” she hissed, but he was already staggering away, shoving through the wooden double doors. Cursing, Katie took off after him.

The doors led to a balcony overlooking the rest of the room down below; a large open space that looked more like a yawning, open black hole in the dark. Daryl continued to shamble away, towards the end of the balcony that opened up into another hallway. Katie struggled to keep up. It was a goddamn maze down here; she’d never find him if she lost sight of him. Especially in the dark.

“Daryl!” she managed to catch him by the arm, pulling him towards her and taking him by the face. “You can’t go running off like that. We have to stick together, okay? It’s going to be fine.”

He was shaking his head back and forth. “Get me…they’re gonna get me…get me…get me…”

“Who?” she asked in a quiet voice. Daryl began to tremble violently. “Who’s going to get you?”

“Scarecrow…” fat tears began to stream down his face. ��Scarecrow…scarecrow…”

Katie tilted her head slightly, a shot of sympathy running through her. The poor thing was still stuck in his delusions and hallucinations. “Okay. It’s okay. I promise, alright? Come here,” she tugged him in close for a hug, rubbing his back. Daryl sniffled miserably, but clung to her. He was just beginning to settle, when he suddenly tensed.

“Daryl?”

“Shadows…the shadows…”

“What? What do you mean?”

He started to wail. “She’s here! She’s here!”

Katie pulled away to find him staring, open mouthed and terrified, at the space behind them. There was nothing there. Still, the hairs on the back of her arms stood on end.

“There’s no one here but us, Daryl, okay? No one is going to get you,” she wasn’t going to think about whoever it was that might’ve strapped him to that chair. One problem at a time; they just needed to get out of there first. “Now come on,” but he refused to go back the way that they’d come, still staring at the open hallway in horror. Katie sighed. “Okay. I guess we’ll find another way out.”

Every crack of thunder caused another sob to emanate from Daryl’s chest, and even Katie was beginning to grow uneasy in the dark.

Another flash of lightning, and she almost yelped at the sight of something peeking around the corner in front of them. Something pale with its dark red lips stretched into a twisted grin.

She blinked and it was gone.

Swallowing hard, she forced herself to continue moving forward, breathing a quiet sigh of relief when they rounded the corner to find nothing there.

It was just the dark starting to get to her; that was all.

They made it about halfway down the next hall before a sound behind them had her coming to a stop, glancing over her shoulder. But Daryl kept moving forward at a shuffle. There was nothing behind them, but still she stared for a moment, trying to place what that sound had even been. It sounded like the very foundation of the asylum was moaning.

Or maybe it was screaming.

Daryl moved to round a corner, and something shot out of the darkness. Something black and fast and terrible. There was an audible slice, the squelch of liquid and a heavy thud. It took Katie a moment to fully comprehend that Daryl’s head, recently removed from his shoulders, was rolling down the hallway towards her, his features frozen in an expression of terror.

The scream that sounded from Katie’s lips didn’t sound like her own; it sounded like some faraway thing. She staggered a few steps back, still staring, mouth gaping, at Daryl’s head. Eyes snapping back up to the abyss of darkness that the ax–she was fairly certain that it was an ax–had come from. Something in the darkness seemed to shift, staring back at her, and when she caught the glint of light reflected against a pair of dark goggles, she turned heel and ran.

There came no sound from the thing chasing her, but she was certain that it was there, even though she refused to look back. Taking random turns, feet skidding against the floor, she had absolutely no idea where she was anymore. All that mattered was getting away. On the next hallway she found herself in, a random door was open and she ducked inside, turning to slam it closed behind her, but the shadowy thing caught the edge of the door with a black gloved hand before she could fully closed it, and with a shocking heave of strength began to pull it open. Sobbing, Katie scrambled backwards, instead grabbing a gurney and attempting to wheel it between them, at the very least to slow the thing down. It didn’t do much, the shadow just shoved it to the side with one hand and sent it wheeling away to crash into the wall. But by that time Katie was at least through the door on the other end of the room. She raced through a few more connected rooms, then back out into the hallway. Maybe if she got far enough away she could find some place to hide.

Forcing herself to slow so that her footsteps were quieter, she crept through the winding maze of halls, trying to keep her breathing under control. Her little gasps sounded so loud in the dark.

The foundation of the asylum groaned again, and she stopped, trying to discern if the sound was anything to be alarmed by.

It was the quiet squeak of a boot against the floor that alerted her to thing that had been slinking in behind her, and she barely managed to duck in time, the wind from the swinging ax kissing at her cheeks as it zoomed past her head, colliding so powerfully into the brick wall behind her that a few chunks broke off to clatter to the ground.

In the time it took the shadow to pull its ax free from the wall, Katie was already down the hallway, but the thing was fast, gaining on her quickly despite her head start.

And then it was gone again. Disappeared from behind her completely. Where did it go? Did it veer off into one of the other hallways? Take a wrong turn? Had it even actually been there at all?

She continued mindlessly running, lungs burning and thighs aching. Jogging down a short flight of stairs, she found herself in the lower level overlooked by the balcony. Chancing a glance over her shoulder, she slowly skidded to a halt at the realization that nothing was chasing her anymore.

Trembling with her arms wrapped around herself, Katie let out a tiny sob, glancing around. How to get out? Where to hide? What should she do? God, it killed Daryl. Spinning around in a tiny, helpless, hyperventilating circle, Katie glanced up at the balcony above, and let out…not so much a scream as a startled squeak, hand clapping over her mouth a second too late.

The shadow was leaned casually against the railing, adjusting its gloves with ease, as if it had all the time in the world. The huge goggles covering its eyes glinted, and when it tilted its head down slightly, she was able to make out the details of a gas mask covering its nose and mouth. Head cocking when it noticed her looking at it, the shadow tossed the ax clutched in one hand to the other, and wiggled its fingers at her in a taunting little wave.

Staggering backwards, eyes still focused upwards, watching the thing to make sure that it didn’t move, Katie let out another banshee-like shriek as she nearly collided with a person leaning against the wall behind her. She was barely able to comprehend the man dressed in a suit with something pulled over his head before he caught her by the throat, nearly lifting her off of her feet as he pulled her close.

“Hello, Katie.”

She choked. “Dr. Crane!?”

He tsked. “You were warned that the basement was off limits, my dear.”

“There’s something…there’s something–” she tried to point up, towards the balcony, but…oh, god, it was gone. Where did it go?

“Yes, yes, I know. Who knows that you’re down here?” Crane asked. Katie attempted to thrash and wrestle away, but he was considerably stronger than he looked, batting away her attempts to strike at him with a disapproving click of his tongue. “Now, don’t make me give you to Vanessa. She’s not nearly as nice as I am.”

Sullivan. Sullivan was the monster that had been chasing her? That had decapitated Daryl? Looking at Crane, masked and clearly off his rocker, it made sense that his girlfriend would be just as demented.

“The guards. The night guards.”

Crane sighed, heavily. “I can see a lie in just the eyes, Katie.”

A sob trembled from her mouth. “Please, please, please, I won’t tell anyone–”

“Now, what did I just say? It doesn’t matter what you tell us. One way or another, you’ll only be leaving this place in tiny little pieces. So don’t bother lying.”

What could she do? What could she do? Appeal to his ego, maybe? Yes, that might work. “I really liked you…”

Crane sighed. “Yes, I know. That’s part of the problem, my dear. I have no interest in you. And Vanessa doesn’t like to share.”

A sob. “Please, don’t give me to her.”

Crane cocked his head. “I already promised she could have her fun with you. And it does seem only fair, after all those nasty things you said about her.”

In a last ditch effort to get away, she tried to slam her knee upwards into his groin. He caught her at the last minute, but he was distracted long enough for her to land a hard punch to his chest, right below his collarbone. Crane let out a choked sound, grip loosening just enough for her to rip free from him. Spinning, she moved to run past him, back up the stairs.

SLICEEEEEEE.

Her legs were knocked out from underneath her and she landed hard on her face, cutting her chin open on the hard stone stairs. Blinking the fuzziness from her eyes, she started to shake uncontrollably as her eyes trained on a pair of black boots standing in front of her.

Sullivan straightened from the semi-crouching position she’d taken when slashing the ax, allowing it to swing back and forth gleefully in her hand. Blood dripped from the blade.

Blood?

“Now, that wasn’t very nice, now was it?” crooned the familiar, low voice. Distinctive enough despite being muffled by the gas mask Sullivan was wearing.

Pushing herself up onto her hands, Katie let out a startled scream of pain, Gaze darting down and over her shoulder, vomit building up in her throat at the sight of her left leg laying a few feet away, cut off at the mid-thigh.

A wailing sound began to howl from her throat, mind spinning with a combination of pain and horror and no, no, no, no, no, no…

Sullivan grabbed her firmly by the shoulder, rolling her over onto her back. Crane stooped by her leg, examining the bloodied stump with more curiosity than concern. Pulling his belt free from his pants, he wrapped it around what was left of her thigh, and she howled, black spots appearing in her vision, as he pulled it into a tight tourniquet around her leg.

“Focus here, now,” Sullivan ordered, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look up into those terrible dark goggles. “We need to keep you alive for a little longer.”

She opened her mouth. “Pleas–”

“That doesn’t really work with us, sweetheart,” Sullivan purred, patting her cheek, stalking around both Katie and Crane in a little circle, she allowed the ax to drop low enough that the blade scraped sinisterly against the floor. Katie flinched, sobbing.

“Please, please. I’m scared.”

Sullivan chuckled. Even with his face obscured by the burlap mask, she could tell that Crane was smiling.

“Oh, my dear. That’s the idea.”

There was a hiss, and a sudden burst of gas, thick as fog, was fired into her face, her chest spasming as she began to uncontrollably cough, lungs trying to force the substance from her body.

“What do you see?”

Scrambling to sit up, she glanced around, blinking through the haze of lingering gas. There was a prickling tingle on the back of her hand, and when she looked down she yelped, hand slapping at the little spider that was crawling across her skin.

Another prickle tickled along her collarbone. Then her arm. Then her ankle. Then her cheek. Hands brushing and slapping frantically at her skin, she let out a bellowing wail as she glanced around to see millions upon millions of spiders crawling through little cracks in the floor, descending down from the ceiling, streaming in through grates. They were crawling all over her skin, under her clothes, into her nose and ears and mouth. Her nails raked agonizingly down her skin, trying to shake them away, body rocking and rolling violently in an attempt to free herself from them. Blood exploded where her hands tore through skin, then tissue, and it was getting hard to breathe, her vision fuzzy…

In the end, Crane was right. She left Arkham Asylum torn apart; into teeny, tiny pieces.

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#jonathan crane #jonathan crane x oc #the dark knight trilogy #vanessa sullivan #vanessa sullivan x jonathan crane #my ocs #fanfiction #my fanfiction #torn to pieces

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