Nothing to Fear

I didn’t know exactly what I was feeling as Dr. Crane walked to his desk to attempt to make a phone call. Of course I felt fear, but it was an overpowering kind of fear. It was the kind of fear that seeps through your every thought. I was completely paralyzed by it.

I gripped the arm of the chair I had been sitting in just minutes before, back when my heart was racing a mile a minute. Dr. Crane would glance at me every moment or so as he dialed a number into the phone. When whomever he called answered, he turned away from me as he spoke. Because he was so quiet to begin with, it was no surprise that I couldn’t make out what Dr. Crane was saying.

Faraway, I could hear shouts. I closed my mind in an effort to block out the horrible images forming in my mind. It didn’t matter how many times I told myself that I hadn’t really seen anything in the darkness. I was fully convinced someone was there watching me. After a moment, Dr. Crane hung up the phone and turned to me. His blue eyes were transfixed on me. I swallowed deeply, fear still strangling me.

“I believe that it’d be best if you stayed here, Miss Knight. I’m afraid they have blocked off all three roads off the island.”

“What exactly is happening?” I asked, afraid to know the answer. Dr. Crane watched me for a moment before he grabbed his suitcase from beside his desk.

“I have to be somewhere,” he whispered. My head jerked up and my heart began to throb.

“What? No. You can’t just leave me here. I-I can’t be alone.” My voice nearly came out in a cry. I was surprised by how desperate I was, how afraid. In a smaller measure, I didn’t want to be alone.

Once again, an unreadable expression came onto Dr. Crane’s face. He took a few steps towards me, leaving us about two feet apart. He set down his suitcase next to him, his eyes never leaving mine as he did. Then he stood up straight, looking down at me. “What are you so afraid of?” He asked gently. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could the door from behind me busted open.

I turned to find a man in a security uniform. He looked surprised to see me and his eyes kept tracing back between Dr. Crane and I. “Dr. Crane, you’re needed in Medical,” he spoke.

“Did they catch him?” I asked, nearly breathless. The man turned to me and waited a moment as if he were deciding if it were all right to answer my question.

“No. They haven’t.” My eyes fell.

“I will be there shortly.” Dr. Crane spoke. I looked up in him in disappointment.

“But he said you should leave now. It’s urgent,” the security guard protested. Dr. Crane eyes went cold. Even the fear and disappointment I felt moments before melted away.

“Go.” He instructed darkly. “I’ll follow. Just give me a minute.” The security guard nodded and backed out of the doorway. Dr. Crane’s eyes found mine. “Don’t leave this room.”

“I want to come with you,” I persisted, much like a child. Dr. Crane shook his head. There was some kind of intense anger flooding through him. “Let me come with you,” I asked once more.

“You will stay here, Miss Knight, and if you don’t then you’ll be confronted with something you’re really afraid of.” The harshness of Dr. Crane’s voice made me step a few feet back. Picking his suitcase back up off the floor, he stepped out of his office, shutting the door behind him.

I sighed deeply, casting fear away from my thoughts. My eyes scanned Dr. Crane’s office. Hopefully the power wouldn’t go out again. I shivered at the thought of it. Even if I was overreacting, something wasn’t right. Something truly dark was happening at Arkham. I could see that.

I looked around the room once again, attempting to throw away my dark thoughts. It looked slightly different without Dr. Crane in it. Everything was still and silent. There were a pile of papers sticking out of one of his file cabinets. I took a step closer to them, but decided against it upon hearing a scream a couple doors down from my own.

My mind completely blanked and I felt dizzy. Something was making its way towards me. I knew that much. I frantically looked around the room in search of somewhere to hide. My eyes focused on Dr. Crane’s desk. I dove for it, tripping on a trashcan on my way down and bumping my head on the edge of his desk.

With a throbbing head, I crawled underneath it. I brought a hand to my head and closed my eyes. The floor was trembling beneath me. My grip tightened around my knees. A strange clanking noise sounded from the door and then it was silent. The only thing I could hear was my own breathing and even that sounded heightened. I held it, in hopes that whatever was in the room hadn’t heard me.

I felt my eyes open, daring to see if the coast was clear. Perhaps it would be and I could breathe again. My eyes scanned the bottom half of the floor, but I wasn’t far enough under the desk to see fully. With caution, I sunk down a little and skimmed the crack under the desk. I saw the bottom of a bookshelf, the chair I had been sitting in, and the door, but other than that there wasn’t anything. Not a reptile-like human in sight.

I exhaled and laid back, at which point my phone began to buzz. Over the buzzing I heard a loud sniffing noise, almost like sand paper against wood. I hurriedly yanked my phone out of my pocket and shut off the sound. As I was doing so, a pair of yellow eyes peeked at me from the other side of the desk where I was in full view of a hideous beast.

It was no secret that the scaly creature in front of me was Killer Croc. He was over 10 ft tall with a chain rapped around his neck. It was dangling to the floor as his head stared me down as if hypnotizing me. I couldn’t even get myself to blink. I just kept staring into his beady yellow eyes.

“I had a surgeon earlier, but who’s to say I’m on a diet?” He said in a croaky growl, surprisingly not the one that I had earlier heard over the speaker. He licked his razor sharp teeth and inched closer to me. I let out a shriveled cry. He sniffed my hair once he was close enough. “Coconuts?”

“W-what are y-you going t-to do with m-me?” I asked, stuttering every now and then. It seemed that communication was my only route of escape. Despite the fear in my heart, I had to keep going.

“I thought it was obvious, but I’d be glad to,” he paused to sniff me once more, “break it up for you.” I swallowed deeply. “Oh, don’t take it personally, lady. An animal has to eat.” He chuckled. It came out inhuman sounding.

“Y-you aren’t an animal,” I forced out. A growl bellowed from deep inside the beast. “You’re a person. You’re Waylon Jones.” He snapped at the mention of his own name.

“And what are you? Some kind of doctor trying to tell me that you understand me?” Killer Croc spat out the words and proceeded towards me. “Well, I have news for you, Doc. I’m hungry.” My eyes pulled themselves shut and I waited for Killer Croc’s sharp teeth to penetrate my skin.

“Not on my clock, Croc.” A low voice promised. My eyes flashed open just as Killer Croc lifted his self back from behind the desk. This time a black figure had hold of his back. I yelped as the two battled, moving it outside into the hall. It took everything inside of me to raise myself up. I stepped out from under the desk.

Dr. Crane’s office was a disaster. It was clearly not designed to house giant reptiles. My eyes darted every which way in search for an escape. If the black figure didn’t stop Killer Croc from doing so, he’d be back to kill me. My eyes stopped at a vent opening. Surprisingly, the barred entrance was already ripped off. I stepped towards it. It was nearly 3 feet over my head. I crouched my knees and pushed off the ground. My hands took grip of the vent, my muscles aching as I pulled myself up. I made it into the vent just as Killer Croc came sailing into the wall beside me.

His growl sounded off and the dark figure came plummeting after him. I backed up in the vent. Fear felt so real and it didn’t help when something grabbed my foot. I protested the yanking and held onto the vent as much I could, but it was no use. My body was forced out of the vent and into a set of arms.

“Are you alright?” It wasn’t until I looked straight at him that I noticed that the dark figure was Batman. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. My eyes found Killer Croc laying on the floor beside Batman. Batman saw that my attention had been drawn away from him. “He’s unconscious. He won’t hurt you now. You’re safe.” I didn’t respond. “Do you mind me asking what you were doing in here?”

“I-I was having an interview with Dr. Crane. H-he left.” My eyes remained on Killer Croc. “He was going to eat me.”

“Most cannibals would. I have to go. You should be safe here. A team is on their way up to take care of him.” Batman gestured towards the unconscious creature.

Batman took out a gun-like instrument from his side and aimed it at the vent entrance. I barely got out a ’thank you’, before a claw shot out from it and he was inside the vent making an escape.

An assembly of men entered Dr. Crane’s office moments later. Many had tools and preparations to getting the giant back behind bars. A woman stepped over to me. She was wearing a long white coat and glasses. Her dark hair was pulled into a bun. I assumed she was a doctor.

“Miss Knight?” I nodded in response. “Dr. Crane wanted me to tell you that he’s sorry. He’ll like to schedule an appointment for tomorrow around noon if that’s okay.” I swallowed, still unable to speak. “Are you alright? The main road is opened. We called an ambulance. It should be arriving shortly.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” I whispered. The doctors’ lips pulled into a thin smile.

“It is entirely up to you, Miss Knight, but I caution that you do get examined for any injuries.”

“Killer Croc is known to mark his victims for later,” a voice called from within the crowd of people surrounding Croc. My head shifted towards the crowd, but no one claimed the assumption.

“Really, Miss Knight, it is your call whether you go or not. Just be sure to come back here at noon tomorrow. Dr. Crane will be at his offices in the Medical Facility tomorrow, seeing as this place is in ruins.” I nodded, thanked the lady, and walked out into the hall.

Batman and Killer Croc had turned the hallway into a disaster. Walls were destroyed, the whole hallway needed retiled, and the office across from Dr. Crane’s was a pile of debris. Since the elevator was no longer running, I had to take the stairs. Because I hadn’t been there once before, Arkham Mansion was like a maze. I had to ask for directions a couple times. I guess the designers of Arkham Mansion didn’t find it convenient to put the staircases directly below each other.

Once I got out into the lobby, I pulled my phone out, remembering that I had a missed call. Mrs. Culpepper (though I grew to calling her Nana), my nanny from childhood, showed up on the screen. I pressed redial and listened to the sound of the dial tone as it rung.

“Hello?” Her pleasant voice spoke through the phone.

“Nana, you called?” I asked as I stepped out of the building after waving at the secretary who I had spoken to earlier. The rain came pouring down and I had to run to get into my car.

“Yes, Sweetie. Your father said you had an interview at Arkham. You didn’t even bother to call me about it? I said he was a fool for believing such a thing.” I felt her smiling as she spoke.

“Sorry! It was a bit last minute. I just found out yesterday.” I hopped into my car and through my bag in the back seat.

“Well, tell me all about it. You know what? Better yet, why don’t you come over. I can make us a nice stew. It’s the perfect thing for this kind of weather. Keep you from a cold when you get this high dollar job.”

“Sounds good, Nana. I’ll be right over.”

“You be careful on those roads, now. Those maniacs are always out this late at night. They’ll kill you.”

“You have no idea. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” I shut my phone, set it inside a cup holder, turned the ignition, and began the fifteen minute drive to Nana’s house.

Nana, also known as Mrs. Madeline Culpepper, is maybe about 150 years old. Even though she’s referred to as Mrs., she isn’t married. I’m not entirely sure if she ever was married or, if she was, what happened to the guy. She’s lived in Gotham ever since her parents moved here from the South when she was just a little girl. She was very homely and perhaps the kindest person I knew. She retired as my nanny the year I turned 15, though she still remained a huge part of my life. As a child I called her Mrs. Culpepper to sound older, though after awhile she insisted I called her Nana. I guess the name stuck. Everyone seems to call her by it now.

I turned into a part of Gotham that was referred to as Old Gotham. Her building was directly across the old gas station. I’m pretty sure she’s lived in the same three-story apartment her whole life too. Her family once own the whole building. Now Nana just stays on the 2nd floor and rents the rest out to the city. House hunting can become very common in Gotham.

I parked on the side of the street beside a couple other cars. The rain had lightened slightly, but the gray sky promised more rain to come. I grabbed my bag, my eyes finding an envelope on the backseat beside it. Taking it in my hands, I unfolded the flip. Inside was an invitation written in extravagant gold ink. There was no doubt that it was the invitation for the party at Wayne Manor.

My eyes skimmed the paper. It was a masquerade party. I’d have to dress up. As if the party itself would be overwhelming alone, I would have to dress silly in front of my fathers’ co-workers and other well-known people from Gotham. I tapped it with my index finger before placing it inside my bag.

Stepping out into the pattering rain, I looked up to see Nana’s giant building. Something was different about it. My eyes traveled up towards the 2nd story window that looked into Nana’s dining area. The window was shattered into many different pieces , framing something I couldn’t quite make out. I lingered in the rain, letting the drops fall into my hair. I saw a head jerk and an arm swing. It was a man.