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Edward Nygma hated Arkham.
He hated bleeding out hidden in some bushes off the side of the road from the asylum even more.He knew that breakouts never go as planned, getting a unanimous decision made among insane criminals is virtually impossible and as usual someone had let slip that a plan was in motion. He knew that there would be GCPD officers at Arkham by now, the Bat probably a few steps ahead and some of the other rogues already back in their cells.
He also knew that lying on the ground in a cold, damp cluster of bushes clutching his side was not a good way to die.✷ ✷ ✷Jonathan Crane needed to get away.
He could hear sirens nearer than he would like and Jervis had come sprinting past a few moments ago screeching about Batman, that was a sure sign Jon was fucked.Fuck fuck fuck fuck fucked.Not far enough away from Arkham. No toxin. No Edward.Ed.Where the fuck is Edward. Had he seen him when they all went streaming out of windows and doors? No. Had he seen him when they heard helicopters and sirens? No. When will everyone split up? No. The last time he had seen Edward was dinner. Nearly three hours ago.The thought hit him suddenly. He had seen Ed. He had seen him when he had been running down a corridor away from Bolton’s lackeys. Shots had been fired, he was sure of it. He was certain Edward had been hit.✷ ✷ ✷The Riddler snapped back to consciousness with a start. He dared to glance down where he could feel his own blood crusted around the hole in his side.“Ah.” he breathed out, then though gritted teeth “Fuck.” He winced as pain rushed through him. The longer he lay slouched in a ditch the more ground the bat covered and closer he got to picking Ed up by the scruff of his neck and dropping him back into a cold grey box. A few minutes passed before another wave of stinging pain hit him hard. It took every fibre of his being not to groan out loud. A stifled whimper came out instead. “Oh shit” thank fuck jon wasn't about to hear that.Shit.Jonathan.Where was Jon?✷ ✷ ✷It was so goddamn cold. The ridiculous orange arkham clothes were providing no warmth. Jon was trudging away from the asylum parallel to the unkept road, hidden by the overgrown woodland on either side. He had to find edward.As he got further away from Arkham the sounds of panic and disorganised head counts faded away and were replaced by distant traffic and the sounds of the foliage under Jon’s feet, twigs snapping with each step despite the recent rainfall. He was on edge, every noise was a potential GCPD sniffer dog sent out to find stragglers. Edward didn't really like dogs. He was a cat person.Jon trudged through the woods, head whipping around at each noise in case it was Edward.Please god let Edward be okay.
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It was fuzzy. Fuzzy? Blurry? Like his glasses were really dirty. ‘Where are they? Not on my face. On the floor? No.’ Ed shivered, his cheek pressed into the wet moss, his glasses lying discarded a few feet away from when he first fell down.He could make out vague shapes of shrubbery, blurred from not just his lack of glasses but pain. His head felt disconnected from the rest of his body. Far away he heard footsteps. He couldn't make his thoughts line up. ‘Nice change of pace’✷ ✷ ✷Edward looked fucking awful. His face glistened with sweat and rain and probably tears. A small, weak smile found its way onto his deathly pale face.Jon sprinted forward the moment he saw another disgusting striped jumpsuit.
“Eddie!” he dropped to his knees grabbing the unconscious man's face with his spindly fingers. “Hey! Ed. Oh god come on. Up we go” Jon heard his voice shake. Ed had been shot before, loads of times before, but he was normally fine. He never got hurt this bad. How did he get this bad?Jon dragged Edward further away from the road. Jon settled with his back against a tree and propped Edward up so his head rested on Jonathan’s shoulder. He should probably look and see how bad the wound was.Jon peeled Edward’s top away from the hole in his abdomen.“Swear to Eddie if this gets fucking infected.” he muttered as he pulled the top down to the shorter mans waist, careful to avoid where he had been hit.He looked down and saw red. There was so much blood god it must have hit a fucking artery or something. He couldn't see any bones or anything. Nothing that looked vaguely muscley or organish either. Just a dark bloody fucking hole through his partners freckled skin, a bit above his were his liver is. Near miss.He gently leaned Edward forward, no hole on his back. Thank fuck it was still in him. The little fucking thing didn't do a good job of keeping the blood in, that's what bullets are supposed to do when they stay in isn't it?Scarecrow knew that this was a far from ideal situation to be in. Very very far from it. He needed Edward to wake up. Needed him to tell Jon where he kept all his post-breakout phones.He gave Edwards' bony shoulder a small shake.“Eddie. Ed. Wake up.” Jon hissed into his ear.Nothing.“Ed for god's sake do you want to die.”Nothing.✷ ✷ ✷He felt colder. Had he died? Dead people are cold. Real smart Eddie.Do dead people get told they are going to die? Who was that? Edward knew angles were not real; he wasn't his father. But if he was dead, who's to say. Maybe he was wrong.If he did have an angel it wouldn't be southern. Why in fuck was his angel southern?Edwards eyelids fluttered. He squinted up and saw a tanned, scared face. That was his tanned, scarred face. Jon’s face.Jon!He tried to say “where they fuck were you, you bastard.” but all that came out was a slurred mess of sounds not even remotely close.Jonathan looked down. Edward looked up. Jon smiled. Ed tried to smile. It turned into a grimace as the scalding pain from his side came back with his awareness.“Bastard.” Edward eventually managed to mutter.Jon just laughed.
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A phone was sitting on a table surrounded by papers and various other mechanical parts. It began to buzz. The two young women in the room turned to look at each other.“Nina. ”
“What Dee?”
“The phone! Go get it.”Deirdre sighed.“Don’t be an ass. It’ll be the boss callin” Echo said “it's one of his breakout backups. He's probably in an alley somewhere. Just ask him where he is and we can go get him.”
“Fine, fine.” She huffed.Query got up off of the couch where she had been sprawled, watching TV. The screen across from where she had been was showing live news coverage of the most recent breakout from Arkham Asylum.She stretched when she got up, she walked across the room to where the phone was lying on a desk, buzzing.“Hiya Eddie it's Dee. Do you need a lift?”
“Echo? Query? Whichever one you are…” Query cut the voice off,
“Oh. Nina is Mr Scarecrow.”A faint uh huh was heard from the next room followed by footsteps.Echo walked into the room, “Gimme the phone Q” she said as she held a hand out. Query rolled her eyes and threw the phone to her.“Query?”
“And what do you wanna know?” Silence on the other end of the phone. “That was a joke, it's Echo.”
“Uh okay, well I need you here with a car.”
“Yeah that's normally what our job is after breakouts mr scarecrow sir.”
“Okay god yes. Ed’s been shot and it’s bad.”
“Well fuck. Dee got the car started Eddie’s been hurt bad according to the good doctor here.” She said to the woman in front of her. Query nodded and scurried off. She stopped just before the door and whirled around
“Ask if we need a first aid kit.”
“He's been shot Q. Yes we need a first aid kit.”✷ ✷ ✷In the Riddler’s brief stint of delirious consciousness Jon had managed to work out the location of the redhead’s nearest escape stash, meaning he now had access to some bandages, what looked like damp trail mix and, most importantly, a phone.Edwards insufferable PA, whichever one she was, had answered the phone. Better than some dullard goon he supposed. Edward had passed out again shortly after Jon had got back from retrieving the kit. He was honestly amazed that the riddler wasn't dead yet, if anything edward was better than when he had found him. No new blood, being awake for a few minutes at a time and well, fairly coherent. Things were looking up.“Jonny” he heard a weak whine from the ground.“Hi Eddie.”The riddler looked up at him, eyes still unfocused. “I don't know where I put my glasses.” He said.Jon looked at edwards glasses (they looked far better than Edward did) “I’m gonna keep them for now okay Ed. Don't trust you not to fall forward cushion yourself with your face and shatter em.” Edward did not acknowledge that Jon had spoken. He wasn’t even sure the other man had heard his response.“Jonnn.” Edward whined.
“Edward”Before Ed could finish what he was going to say footsteps could be heard, close. Jon froze motioning for Edward to be quiet.“Fuck Ed ssh” Jon said his voice panicked. The riddler opened his mouth to ask why he was being shushed but no noise came out.Its the Batman, it has to be. Jon thought, its fine he wouldn't beat Edward up. Would he? Fuck he might actually. He would definitely beat me up, no offence Ed but you are a bit less of a city wide threat than the scarecrow is. No one could make much in the dense forest, despite the ever present glow in the sky from early morning Gotham.“Mr Riddler sir?” a voice called. Followed by another,
“Hellooo?, anyone out here?”
“Boss? Eddieee?”Jon sighed. God fuck its the girls. “Over here.” he hissed.