Nowhere to Hide | J. Crane [ii] ✔️

Chapter III

After Lilith had stocked up at her hideout, she finally continued to move to her next destination.

Scarecrow's Boat in the Industrial District.

Hood up, she briskly walked passed three of Joker's thugs who were stationed a couple of feet in front of the entrance. At first they were confused as a hooded figure walked passed them but quickly acted. "Hey, we got ourselves a little trespasser, I suggest you get back over here before you get hurt." 

Lilith slowed down her strut and came to a stop, but refused to turn around and walk back.

"Good, now take off the hood and walk over here, why don't ya?"

"If you value your sanity, I'd stop while you're ahead, if I was you." Lilith spoke up.

"This is our turf here, so you do what I say, unless we can bring you to the boss, but he's a lot worse then I am." The thug said as he started to walk towards Lilith. "Now take off the hood!"

The thug grips Lilith's hood and pulls it off only to be met with gas in his face. "What the hell? What was that?!" He exclaimed as he breathed it in and coughed, waving his hand trying to get it away.

"Your worst fears coming to life." Lilith said.

The other two thugs looked scared as they watched the guy start to scream and cower. "I told you there's some other freak dressed as Scarecrow!"

"Correction, then name's Panik." Lilith said as she raised her clawed fists at them to defend herself as they went to attack her.

One went to punch her, but Lilith swiftly dodged and stabbed him with the needles attached to her wrists and injected him with toxin. She then kicked him to the ground. The next one went to tackle her, but Lilith again sidestepped and injected him as well. The two thugs ended up just like the third. Screaming and cowering in fear.

The Mistress of Fear stood before them with a grin on her face before she puts her hood up and proceeds to walk again.

Soon she was met with some type of structure on the bridge that had two stories. The bridge ended after this before going to Joker's turf. So, Lilith decided to climb it, possible to get a better look at the boats. There she was soon met with a bunch of crows, who quickly scattered as she climbed up. Walking over there was a pile of straw and laid on top of it was a mask, she was all too familiar with. Kneeling down she picked it up and observed it, it was his and that meant with what Edward said was true. Scarecrow is here, or at least was, if he hadn't already found a way to escape.

She picked it up and walked over to the edge to see the boats, there was only five. Lilith looked to her left, to see one of the boats farther from the others, a loner. In a position which someone didn't want others gaining access to it. "Bingo."

With that she climbed down and even with most of the water being in her way, Lilith had managed to hop to each boat and/or platform to make it all the way to the lone boat.

Once on top of the boat, she went to open it but it was shut and locked. "Great," she mumbled.

She didn't make it all this way just to be stopped by a stupid locked door. She had got down on her knees to observe every inch of it, looking for any sign of lock or secret buttons. Running her fingers along the edge, she hissed in pain as her pointer was pricked. She pulled down the makeshift gas mask and put her finger in her mouth to suck the blood, Lilith had thought she had a splinter, but there was no wood chip in her finger. She quickly backed away as the door opened by itself.

"A blood lock, opened by mine." Lilith said aloud. She somehow wasn't surprised Jonathan had managed to find a sample of her blood.

With that she climbed down the ladder and looked at her surroundings. It was dark and there was shelves filled with crates of insects, as well as dust and webs everywhere. There were also files, but before she could go through them, a scream pierced her ears. She snapped her head to the source to find a random Joker thug in a chair. She walked up to him and checked his pulse to find that he had just died from the effects of the toxin.

'Hehe, scared to death. Funny.'

Jonathan must of used him as an experiment when he was here. With no use of the thug, she ignored him and walked towards the papers.

One was a shipping invoice labeled #CRANE0016 from Falcone Shipping for the attention of Dr. J. Crane. The invoice listed, "Biological Containment Vessel Type 3" as well as shipping and sundry costs that totalled $560,550. There was a customs declaration of, "Live insects for medical research purposes." It also contained shipping notes that stated, "Jonathan, I hope you find everything to be satisfactory, Mr. Fine was very specific about the shipping details and we have followed them to the letter. By now you will have received the initial 15 shipments. The rest are in transit and will be with you shortly." followed by an unknown signature.

'That would explain the roaches.' Lilith shuddered as she continued to go through the papers.

She soon found an envelope, her eyes widened at the sight of the name it was addressed to.

"Dr. Lilith Matthews"

Jonathan had written her a letter? He'd knew that she would try to track him down. Lilith quickly but gently opened the letter to read it, hoping it would hold answers to his whereabouts. The letter was in fact his, for it was written in his handwriting.

"Dear Lilith,
I've seen that you have been busy since that night at Arkham and noticed you have been trying to uncover my whereabouts. I was able to break free from Killer Croc and swam to Gotham on one of Joker's TITAN containers. From there I had gone into hiding to heal my injuries and plan my revenge for Batman. I'm currently in my safe house in Chinatown, awaiting for your return. I've see you have been taken to Arkham City, you must try to get out of there quickly. It's more than just a prison, it's a trap. You can find yourself a way out through Strange's Vault. I'm sure that a feline friend of mine is also interested in it. Find her and come to me.
Love, Jonathan.
P.S. Burn this note after you read it."

With a new found strength, Lilith quickly crumpled the note and looked to see a lighter and lit the note aflame. She then dropped it as it burned to ash and stepped on it to put the fire out before leaving the boat. Once Lilith got out the boat and back onto land. Her next plan was to find Catwoman.