Falling || Scarecrow

Ch.15

A loud clattering of medical instruments being knocked down awoke Maria up. She sat up fast, accidentally getting her IV yanked out of her arm. Not even realizing it until some blood dripped on the clean sheet.

"Maria. Calm down."

It took a second for her to register the person in front of her.

"Thomas?"

He nodded and gently pushed her back on the hospital cot. Then grabbing a bandage, he wrapped it around her IV wound. Yet she still felt nothing.

"What happened?" She croaked. "Where's Jonathan?

Thomas averted his eyes as he tied off the bandage. "Arkham."

"Already? It has only been a day."

"You've been asleep for a week Maria. A lot of people didn't think you were going to make it."

She gazed at him in shock. "But..."

"My advice is the ideal man or woman in this case bears the accident of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances."

"Poetic." She said softly.

"Aristotle."

She nodded absentmindedly.

Thomas cleared his throat. "I take that quote as revenge, and use it for all its worth. If anything happened to Claud-" He stopped abruptly. "Never mind. Just rest for awhile. You need any sleep you can get."

Maria nodded and watched him leave.

...

She was able to leave one day later, and as she slipped on her white flats a woman entered that looked about her age and about the same height. Her hair was a natural black, wavy, and shoulder length. Her eyes were grey and looked slightly clouded.

"Hey!" She called cheerfully. Walking forward in black boots, also clothed in a black trench coat and turtleneck. It was still autumn after all.

"Hey?" Maria echoed.

"Oh, I forgot that you don't know me. I'm here to help you home."

"I know my way." She said coldly. Not wanting her to see where her new home was.

The other woman tilted her head slightly in amusement. "Thomas said you couldn't drive yet, and... He said I could drive you."

"Are you a friend of his?"

The woman wrung her hands in thought. "Kinda. Maybe more. Maybe not. I kinda take it as it goes."

Maria frowned. "Is your name Claud by any chance?"

"Claudia." She corrected. "But yes! Has Thomas mentioned me?"

"Yes." She replied and smiled while standing up. "He seems to care about you a lot."

Claudia took on a distance look. "Interesting." She muttered. Then playfully slapped her head. "Oh yeah, I came here to help. Anything to carry?"

Maria shook her head in amusement. "Nada."

"Alright then, follow me and I'll take you home."

...

It was far too soon when Maria arrived home and entered the building. Turns out she could stay where Jonathan and herself lived. Silence greeted her though, seeming strange after the constant chatter between Claudia and her.

Each step she had to force herself to make, really not wanting to stay here alone. But she made it to Jonathan's lab, sat in his chair, and just let everything sink in.

She was alone again. Jonathan was gone. And she had no clue on how to break him out of a secure asylum. Except for...

Maria quickly changed into her Reaper's costume. She grabbed some smoke pellets and a revolver and holster that was Jonathan's, latching them on her belt.

She left home and jogged at a steady pace till she was near where she used to live.

Entering her first home, she felt more alone than ever. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she found a case of gasoline in the closet and trailed the liquid around the interior and then the exterior. Then she lit a match and tossed it.

Flames blossomed and bloomed till they looked like hands reaching for the sky. Trying to eat away the eternal dark. She put her info red goggles on and pulling her hood up, she crouched on a small abandoned building across the street.

It wasn't long before her goggles picked up the warm body of a certain Bat. She pulled the hood back down and slid the goggles down to rest on her neck.

"What do you want Maria?"

"You know what I want Batman." She said coldly. "I want Jonathan out of that hellhole."

"He's in a secure place away from you. Making you able to have a chance of a normal life."

"I can't, don't you get that!?" She turned her head away. "You don't know what happened that night at the Charity Ball."

"Then tell me."

"It was Bolton!" She burst out. Disgust in her tone. "Jonathan wanted me to go undercover and basically kill him because of his new plans for Arkham. But he found out before I could inject him and he grabbed me, and pushed me into the room where you later barged in.

"I honestly have no idea what he was going to do to me, but I managed to stand my own before he uprehended me. That's when Jonathan came in to help, injecting Bolton with a pinch of toxin that made the court target Jonathan with false accusations. He was trying to save me and got beat badly in the process.

"Then you come in and see me and Jonathan first thing. And you automatically blame Jonathan since he's the Scarecrow."

Batman averted his eyes. "I didn't know. But it doesn't change the fact that he's a criminal and he still was trying to kill Bolton."

She glared at him coldly.

"But I'll look into Bolton. Will that calm your worries and let you move on?"

"I want to see him once more. That's my terms." She crossed her arms and tilted her chin up defiantly.

He gazed at her with an unreadable gaze. "Tomorrow. 2:00. Afternoon."

Then he was gone.

>Random question.. If Ivy was to love someone from the DC universe, who would it be? And what did you think of Claudia?<