Unwanted Allies- Dr. Jonathan Crane Story

Nightwing's Redemption. Ch 4

Phobia's first request was predictable: She wanted an hour alone with Crane in a room that was unmonitored and sealed off so no one could look in. Of course, she was giving the impression of seeking intimacy, but really, she simply needed to divulge her plan to him. She was probably already in Scarecrow's bad books after leaving him in Arkham for so long, but she was doing so to... teach him a lesson of sorts. Scarecrow knew too well that Phobia was no longer the woman who followed him around like a lost little puppy. She had learnt how to... negotiate with the Master of Fear, who doubled as her husband, and in her opinion, it only made their relationship stronger. As for why she was teaching Scarecrow a lesson by leaving him in Arkham, the pair were having... differing parental ideologies. Scarecrow wanted an heir to his work and Phobia wanted to be a proper mother. Particularly, Scarecrow had told Phobia that he had planned to use his Fear Gas on their hypothetical child at six months old in order to create the perfect next Master or Mistress of Fear that could continue his work. Phobia didn't take too kindly to that and hence, there she was, six months later. She hoped he was going to drop the subject altogether once they were free again, but Scarecrow was stubborn and he wanted a child as bad as she did... just for all the wrong reasons. 

"Okay," Nightwing said, "Batman has confirmed that the location you gave was true. You'll get your request. Now it's time for my question."

Lilah's eyes shifted back onto the young, masked man. God he reminded her so much of her brother. So much so that she found it difficult to look at him.

"What is it?" She asked, rolling her eyes slightly. It made no sense as to why Nightwing was so interested in her. In the five years since she had first met Crane, she was nowhere near as infamous as some of the other inmates.

"I want to know why you compare me to your brother." Nightwing spoke seriously and Lilah had to admit that the question caught her off guard. There were many reasons why Nightwing reminded her of Mercious. But those weren't things she particularly wanted to get into, although, in many ways, she figured she had nothing to lose. Nightwing already had two locations of the bombs and she wanted nothing more than to get her other three requests before she broke Jonathan out.

"Well, you have very similar personalities." Lilah sighed, "You're not like Batsy, or the other Robins. You have... a kindness to you. Just like Mercious did. No matter what I did, he still thought there was good in me. He never gave up... but that hope killed him." Lilah's eyes fell onto her hands as she remembered the day her brother died like it was yesterday. She would never forget it and she would never stop blaming herself for what happened. "Does that suffice?" She asked in a sickly sweet tone of voice. Nightwing gave a short nod.

"I guess so." He replied. "Shall we get your first request over and done with then?" He asked and much to his surprise, Lilah shook her head.

"No, that one I want last." She said with a smile. The rest of her requests, all minus one thanks to her having to calm down Edie, were all ones that she wasn't entirely sure she would get. Getting time with her husband was an easy request, but the others involved Nightwing taking her off of Arkham Island and she was sure Batman would have a lot to say if Nightwing allowed it. But, that was exactly why she had bombs.

"Okay then." Nightwing said with a slight frown.

Lilah couldn't get over how young he was. He would've been around twenty five or twenty six years old if she had to take a guess. In some ways, she thought it was reckless of Batman to involve men of such a young age in his vigilante acts. The worst thing was that Nightwing seemed to be the oldest of all of them. Her mind then shifted onto the one that now referred to himself as Red Hood. He was just a mere child when Joker killed him all those years ago and how could anyone blame anyone other than Batman? Lilah wondered how Nightwing felt about it. It had been four years since the second Robin met his fate and two since he had been resurrected in the same way Ra's al Ghul continued to be. Lilah had met the Red Hood quite a few times now and he was definitely not one to mess with. She was thankful that her big mouth was enough to get her out of the close calls she had with the young man. But it also made her wonder how screwed up Batman and his collection of crime fighting children were and how it made them better than the rest of them. If Batman had any sense of morality, he would have killed the Joker years ago, but instead, he is allowed to continue to break in and out of Arkham and kill thousands.

"So, what's your next request?" Nightwing finally asked when Lilah realized that she had been silent for quite some time. Lifting her head, she once again looked at the man,

"I want to go to the Gotham Graveyard." She said confidently. "And before you say anything, obviously I expect you or Batsy to chaperone me." Her tone was filled with a thick layer of sarcasm that made her feel like who she was before Scarecrow. Now, she felt like she was thirty three years old going on fifty and felt as if the world was weighing her down. While she still had the same wit and fire she had in her teens and twenties, the fire that burned within her seemed to be no more than a candle flame now. She had spent the past five years taking care of her husband, Edward Nigma and Harley Quinn. The three of them gave her life purpose and meaning. Zoe had grown so much as well and while they talked and Zoe had a small understanding of who her mother was, Lilah knew it was best to keep her at arms length. She spoke with her daughter a few times a month all of which was done behind Jonathan's back. But, it felt nice to have her daughter back, even if they could never be a true family because of who she had become. She also knew that Floyd did the same and the pair had a similar relationship to what Zoe and Lilah had.

"Why the graveyard?" Nightwing asked and Lilah flashed him a small smile.

"Because I'm not allowed to go there because of you know... the whole wanted criminal thing." She smirked at the man who shook his head at her.

"That's not what I mean-" Nightwing began and before he could finish, Lilah cut him off.

"I know what you mean. " She sighed, "I want to go and visit my brother and my best friend." She told him

"I thought Harley was your best friend." Nightwing said.

"She is... this was my first ever best friend. He still deserves that title even if Harley means the world to me now." She said, smiling lightly as she thought of the blonde girl. In some ways, Lilah loved Harley more than even Jonathan. She was like a little sister to Lilah and she would go out of her way to protect her. It was part of the reason that she hated the Joker as much as she did. She had spent years begging for Harley to leave the horribly abusive clown, but nothing her or even Ivy could say could convince the bubbly blonde. Lilah wasn't exactly one to talk either however, when Scarecrow took over, Jonathan had violent outbursts that saw her as the target. Unlike the Clown, that was a rare occurrence and Lilah could not count how many times she had seen Harley covered in cuts and bruises. 

"Okay, so you want to see Mercious and...?" He was waiting for an answer and was almost as annoying and persistent as Edie could be.

"His name was Christian Sawyer." Lilah told the man, who looked at her in disbelief.

"You mean billionaire Christian Sawyer?" He asked her. "How the hell did you know him?"

"You clearly know nothing at all about Christian." Lilah laughed, "He funded Jonathan's Fear Gas all those years ago when Batsy first came galloping in to be Gotham's hero." Nightwing had a look of intrigue on his face as he waited to hear more. "We met when he first came to offer his money after Carmine was arrested."

"How did he die?" Nightwing asked. Lilah found it quite odd that Nightwing didn't know about her connection to Christian, but then again, he was fairly good at covering his tracks and from what she could tell, Nightwing was trying to fill the blanks with all of these questions. Taking a deep breath, Lilah remembered Christian's death and the anger she still felt towards Jonathan all these years later.

"Jonathan pushed him off of a building." She told him with a small, bitter smile. "They never quite got along. In fact, I think out of myself, Floyd, Edie and Jonathan, I'm the only person Christian did get along with. We had... similar senses of humour I guess you could say. Now, do can we go on a little road trip or are we gonna sit here and continue to go down memory lane?" Lilah asked, leaning forward as she spoke. Nightwing paused for a moment. She half expected him to ask Batman for confirmation, but instead, he rose to his feet and looked to the guards behind her.

"Get us a van." Was all her said as he turned on his heel and walked out. Lilah couldn't help but smirk as she watched him leave. He was definitely her favorite Robin.

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A/N: Please feel free to vote and leave a review. I went back over to read the story and the reviews left and have never laughed so hard. Some of them were hilarious and have pushed me to continue writing.