Nightshift 36: Main Hallway, 2-West

[spirit-forge.livejournal.com]

[from here]

No one else appeared to be in the hallway. It should've been good news, but Archer still found it disconcerting. There were usually other patients around by now, but he couldn't be certain. His sense of time felt off in this place.

He might as well move on, since he was short on time. Not to mention that he didn't want to risk getting attacked.

[to here]

Comments

[jokers-wildcard.livejournal.com]

Well... Okay, the guy had a point there. The place definitely wasn't normal by any means. At first she had assumed these nightly things were just blackouts, but who heard of consistent blackouts every single night? The staff seemed to make no attempts to fix the problem as far as she could tell. In fact, at night she didn't see so much as a security guard wandering around, let alone all the nurses that overran the place during the day.

Odd. She hadn't actually stopped to think about it, but it really was like they were all alone at night, alone with giant man-eating bugs and monster cats. So what did that mean exactly? Not that she really felt she should care. She had to escape eventually. And it's not like it was really her place to sit around and try to make sense of what other people do. ...Or should she?

His other point was true, too. Everything he said couldn't be more than just a coincidence, and if he was some kind of delusional nut who only thought he was Professor Crane, well, he wasn't doing a very good job of it at all. What kind of delusionist gets the image all wrong?

Weird as it was, 'alternate realities' didn't seem to be the immediate conclusion to come to. At least Crane seemed to realize this all sounded strange.

As soon as he mentioned her babies, her eyes snapped up to his in surprise. What he said... it made sense. She was only sure they didn't release her sweet hearts because no one else had seen them after that day and couldn't imagine that weirdo doctor actually setting them free. Why would he?

The idea of using them as hostages she dismissed after only a moment's thought. If that were the case, they would have given her their demands by now. You don't take a hostage and hold them for days on end before using them.

And the thought of anyone torturing them, using them as guinea pigs, and possibly killing them...

"N-No... No! I won't let them! I'd kill them all first! There better not be a single scratch on their faces or I... I..."

But what if it's too late?

She hugged herself a little at that thought. No... She'd taken too long to come get them. So many days. It very well could be too late. Harley looked down the hallway that led to the animal storage labs. Now she was kind of scared to go... What would she find when she got there? What if they were just... a bloody residue by now?

"No..."

[scaredy-crow.livejournal.com]

When she looked up at him that way, Crane knew he was on the right track. She was already scared that he might be right, and he could use that. "You'll what, Miss Quinn? I don't think there's much you could do in this condition if you have to fight, not even with that," he gestured to the bar in her hand before looking back down the hallway, trying not to smile. He'd pegged that one easily, but this was just the start. Now what else could she be afraid of?

Or rather, what else could he bring up in regards to this fear? He hadn't exhausted all his options yet. This was certainly a far better way to convince her of who he was than by rattling off the chemical formula for his toxin (which was a secret, anyway, and there was no way he was telling it to her). Even if she didn't catch on, it was still fun for him.

"But I suppose you'll still want to try, correct? After all, if something happens to them, then you'll be all alone here, with no one to need you to look after them. All alone to fight off the mutant cats and insects and hope that you live long enough to escape and make your way back to your other cell in Arkham. Or perhaps that gang you said you're a part of...but wouldn't they have attempted to bail you out by now?"

There was no way that he could know any of that for certain, but there was a good chance that it would work.

[jokers-wildcard.livejournal.com]

He had hit it right on the money with that word: alone. The thought was utterly unbearable. Even if she was alone now, knowing her darling, her family, and her friends were all out there waiting for her was enough to keep her going through anything. Sedation or no, she would keep moving for their sakes. She didn't like the implications he was trying to drive home here, and it showed on her face.

"Well, yeah but... It's not like they know where I am. Heck, I don't even know where the heck this place is! How could they? So that's why..."

No, wait. That made no sense. Red had obviously found out she was here and had been able to make it. If Ivy was able to track her down, then surely her puddin' would have been able to locate her by now. Harley looked away from Crane, looking lost suddenly. If Red had left her here, then did that mean Mr. J was doing the same, too?

"No. H-he wouldn't. They wouldn't. ...Would they?" If they did leave her, and if it really was two late for her sweethearts, what would she have left? Mister J. If he left her there, she'd have nothing to live for. She'd...

...She'd. KILL. Him.

[scaredy-crow.livejournal.com]

It might not have been that sort of screaming fear that he so loved, but it was satisfactory enough. Enough that he wanted to drive his message home a bit further before hinting at just why he was doing this.

"I don't know," he replied simply, shrugging and trying to keep from smiling. Her reactions were just far too fascinating, but even if she'd looked away, there was still the chance that she would look back at him. "I'm unfamiliar with your gang. But I've heard it said that we're supposedly in New Jersey. There's only so many other institutions on the eastern coast that could be checked if you were transferred here directly from Arkham."

Of course, fear of abandonment and being alone were nice, but he wanted to move this along to at least glimpse what else she might be afraid of before letting on why he was doing this. If nothing else, she seemed bright enough to recognize that once he discovered her fears, he would hold some power over her. It wasn't always the best way to do things, but he could get her as an ally one way or another.

[jokers-wildcard.livejournal.com]

In New Jersey? That was a pretty random place to stick some giant, psycho mental institution with a massive bug prob--

Okay, maybe not.

But that was far closer to Gotham than she'd expected. With the wacky regulations and the excessive number of Japanese people (who didn't look at all Japanese), it might not have surprised her if she wasn't even in America anymore. ...Though thinking on that, it'd be hard to be anywhere but the east coast, seeing as she'd been transferred in only one night.

If she hadn't been moved far, then surely it wouldn't be difficult to track her to this new location. ...If they really wanted to find her that was.

It all clicked in her mind right then. Nothing made any sense at all if she assumed people were actually looking for her, if people wanted her back. If people needed her. But if they abandoned her, everything fell into place. Even the doctors who'd sworn to help her and the town she'd lived in for so long didn't want her anymore. Why else would she have been transferred. It made sense. It all made sense. No one wanted her anymore!

The excessive emotions of terror, shock, and hopelessness were not doing anything to help quell the sedatives in her body. She might as well have run a marathon because her mind and vision was swirling all over again. She let out a whimper similar to what a 5-year-old might give when about to start crying. Harley reached a hand out toward the wall again to try and steady herself, but touched nothing but air, stumbling a step.

"No... They..." Her other hand grabbed at Crane's arm as best it could while still holding an object, mainly for stability's sake. Harley turned that cornered mouse look up at Crane, looking about ready to explode. "They left me? They really left me here? No one's... even my puddin'? After everything... I..." Her voice suddenly choked back a second. "Everyone's leaving me here?! They're not coming for me?! They don't... they don't care?"

In about twenty seconds, Harley was either going to throw the biggest temper tantrum physically possible in her condition (and likely collapse) or Crane was going to have a heart-broken girl bawling her eyes out on his shirt.