Crushed Cigarettes | J. Todd ✔

[49]

Pain clouded her senses and it seemed as if she was drifting in and out of consciousness. The last thing she remembered was her finger being broken after Two Face had figured out that she was tapping her finger against the chair to send the Bats a message.

After that, she only recalled snippets and the sound of those ship sirens had muffled everything else in its noise.

Cold water struck her face, forcefully waking her up from that half-conscious state and she flinched, seeing that Two Face still hadn't left.

"Mister Dent..." Her voice was weak as she tried to call out to him, hearing that he was talking on the phone to someone about an explosion at the old hideout.

Deep down she hoped that Jason and the others had understood her message and not sent anyone to the old hideout or else they would have gotten blown up.

"What is it, girl?" He looked irritated, "be grateful I haven't chopped off all your fingers by now."

"Can I have some water? Please..."

"No," he replied coldly, "sit still and don't pester me."

"Can you at least... Tell me what's going on?" The dread of not knowing what was going on with the Bat vigilantes and why they weren't there yet was also making her worried, both for herself and for them.

"Batman and Nightwing got blown up instead of your boyfriend, happy now?" He snapped but it was clear from his tone that he hadn't wanted that to happen.

She noticed that he looked worried about the fact that the trap had been set off on Batman and Nightwing instead of Robin, almost like it wasn't part of the plan and something else would get screwed up as a result.

"You're worried..."

"Shut up. What gave you the nerve to talk anyway?" He snapped, eyes landing on her broken finger, "or do you want me to stick to my word and break all your fingers to pass the time?"

She tried to close her hand back into fists again, suppressing the pain that shot up her left hand. But Two Face didn't seem interested to follow that threat.

Something else was bothering him.

"You have one really lousy boyfriend that's for sure," he mumbled, "couldn't even come to save you himself. Would have spared me the trouble if he had."

"Why do you want to kill him?" She asked, gathering up her courage once again, "he's just another vigilante... He has only done what... Batman and the rest do. Why him then?"

"Because he is important to you. And I want you to suffer."

Her eyes flickered in what seemed to be pity and sorrow, "Mister Dent... You weren't always like this."

The fact that she repeatedly called him Mister Dent and her last words pushed him back to what he used to be before he had become such a terror on Gotham. He was once the district attorney, and he was leading a good life but one accident changed everything.

The day half his face melted from acid was the same day half of his personality evolved into something monstrous. And lately, revenge and anger were making that monstrous half of him become dominant.

"I said shut up before I permanently silence you. You know nothing about me," his voice thundered and she flinched, drawing back in her seat.

He was nothing like he used to be, she could see that too. Harvey Dent wouldn't have gone to such extremes but Two Face had and there seemed no way of return from that point.

In times when he got stressed and did not know what to do next, he would often flip a coin he kept with him. One side of that coin bore a normal human face and the other side bore a monstrous face. 

He used that coin flip to decide which side of his he should follow and as the coin went up in the air and landed on the floor in front of him, the monstrous face struck the ground and the normal side of the coin was facing up.

But then the door to that room opened and Two Face looked up, expecting one of his men to step in with news of the vigilantes. And one of his men did step in or rather was thrown in as he collapsed shortly after.

That meant the vigilantes had arrived.

Two Face stood up in alarm, preparing himself to face them. He could see that whatever Lydia had been trying to tell them through that video must have gotten them to that discreet location.

In that case, the closer he kept Lydia to him, the more chance there was for him to escape. He knew they wouldn't dare hurt him if he was in the position to hurt Lydia worse.

It might be the only time he would have to act against the decision of that coin flip.

"Harvey, let her go," Batman's voice sounded, and shortly after the Dark Knight entered the room, his cape and cowl making him appear to be towering over them, "your men are down and you are cornered. You can't escape."

"She betrayed me and she must pay the price," his handgun was resting against her temple and it was loaded, ready to burst her brains out if the vigilante stepped any closer.

"Let her go," Batman repeated, picking up the coin that he was about to step on, seeing that the normal head of the coin was up, "you always value your own decisions. Why not this once?"

"Step any closer and I will pull the trigger," he threatened, backing off with Lydia held in front of him as a shield.

She was no longer tied to the chair but due to the damage she had sustained in the car accident, she was rather limp and even the slightest of movement was hurting her immensely.

But she was aware that Batman wouldn't have come alone. There was still some hope for her.

Batman was reasoning with Two Face, trying to persuade him to let Lydia go and not make things any worse. It was also working to distract him and Lydia tried to see if she could escape without getting her brains blown out in the process.

Unfortunately, her leg was fractured so she wouldn't be able to get far. But then she noticed what was going on behind them.

Robin and Nightwing had snuck inside and they intended to sneak up on Two Face and get Lydia free from his hold. It was risky but the only option they had.

Nightwing struck with his Escrima sticks at Two Face, making him lose his grip on the handgun. Lydia knew the risk so she ducked, and was swept into Robin's arms shortly after.

But Two Face had growled out in anger, the gun pointed towards them and ready to fire.

"Take her and go," Nightwing told Robin as he and Batman dealt with Two Face, "get her to the hospital while we'll handle him."

Robin nodded, securely carrying her as he took out his grapple gun to leave. He knew he had to get her to the hospital immediately because she had already suffered a lot and would need instant medical assistance.

Her head rested on his shoulder and her eyes were closed, hands still balled tightly into fists. He saw that the index finger on her left hand was swollen, turning purple by then and she was in a terrible state.

It pained him to see her like that.

"I'm sorry, Lia," he whispered as he landed on the roof of a building close to the state hospital, "I should have gotten to you sooner."

She did not reply and he realized that she had fainted, the pain and exhaustion getting too much for her to bear. So he focused on getting her to the hospital first and foremost.

The sooner her wounds got treated, the better it would be for her. She had already gone through enough pain and he didn't want any delay to increase it further.

***