The Mirrorverse: The Fear Family

[lepouvantail]

It had been strange, getting used to his new life. If being Fright Knight hadn't already done a number on his time and sleep schedule, then having Karen and Angie in his life was even more of a testament to how well Jonathan Crane could juggle his responsibilities.

He had never thought the day would come when he had any respect for his family, let alone sought them out, made a connection. It had taken time, but they had warmed up to him, as he had in return.

Charlie was still out and about, but Jonathan knew if that bastard tried to hunt down his wife and daughter, he'd have Fright Knight to get through first. And next the next time he crossed paths with his step-father, Jonathan wasn't certain he'd let him live.

It had been enough to have the hideout. Karen and Angie made the perfect front: a supposedly normal family moving into a supposedly normal house. And coming to see them made it easier to pop into the hidden lair in the basement, check in with Belle. That by itself made his other duties easier to handle.

Such as getting his students' papers graded. Saving the world was grand, but so was educating today's youth, as well as having a stable job. And final tests wouldn't grade themselves.

He was calmly working at the university, after hours as he often did as it was the most peaceful---and because he knew he was always on call, and the university was a good point in the city for him to easily get to other parts quickly if needed.

The day had been peaceful for Gotham. That he hadn't been called, and that the radio he was playing softly int he background hadn't had anything worse than dense traffic and one convenience store robbery downtown spoke enough of it. Jonathan focused more on his papers, alert enough if the news changed, or if someone came to his office.

Like now.

"Afternoon, professor," said a gruff voice.

Jonathan didn't look up, simply crossed off an incorrect answer to add to his tally. He watched him out of the corner of his eye, already feeling that trouble had started, mostly because the man had a ski mask on.

"It's after hours," he said, pretending to not have noticed, "and as you can see, I'm busy."

"I'm sure it can wait."

The man moved to grab him. The glass cup of pens on his desk was hurled at his face. Jonathan knew he wasn't alone, as two partners were already coming in to help. The first man had a hand over his nose, and Jonathan was already grabbing for one of the raven bookends he had only recently got back. The other men were quicker, one grabbing his wrist before he could throw it, the other getting behind him.

Jonathan knew well enough what the other man had, held his breath to avoid breathing in the most common knock-out drug in the movies. It would give him a moment to fight back, to kick at one of his attackers and try to move the rag from his face. He was already starting to feel faint, reached for the desk, trying to get to the canister of what most people presumed was breath spray.

He could feel one of the men reaching into his pocket to get his phone, toss it aside. Jonathan tried to fight back, but whatever these men wanted, they had been prepared to get it. And he had a feeling it had something to do with Fright Knight. He couldn't conceive any other reason. Not that it mattered as the world faded to black.

The cameras would show he had been taken.

And elsewhere in Gotham, a few others would be missing as well.

Comments

[lepouvantail]

"Take anything in his office desk," she said. "It's locked, but there's a key hidden in the glass raven in his living room."

One of the things that the Rogues had discussed was where sensitive information was hidden, and how to get to it in case they were compromised.

Harley was pacing nervously. It was bad enough when Billy was taken, but at least they knew who did it that time, and could narrow down how to find him. For someone to get the drop on Crane, leave almost no trace...

It unnerved her, admittedly scared her. He wasn't a physical threat, but he was more than intimidating, and could usually scrape by with a bit of manipulation and a little fear serum.

"...I'll call Eddie," she said. "If anyone can find any rhyme or reason to this, it'd be him."

She already knew that whenever Jack showed up, he'd have something more to go on. No doubt he'd already heard in that weird way of his.

"We also need to make sure Fright Knight keeps up a public appearance. That way, he can't be tied to Professor Crane."

[specialguestvillains]

"Do we know who might have done it? Anything, where they might have taken him? Where did they keep Billy when they took him?"

It made sense to keep Fright Knight in business, and she did still have the costume. But who could take over for him? Eddie was too short, Harvey too broad, Harley had all the wrong proportions and Jack was just out of the question. Who did they have whose frame matched Jonathan and who could match his fearful motions well enough to fool a crowd?

...oh.

[lepouvantail]

Jonathan had once donned the costume for Cypher, but it had been easier. Edward's blog and updates said enough, and Jonathan just once or twice needed to be spotted hunched on a rooftop in a trench coat, mask, and a question-marked bowler hat to make people think Cypher was still physically around while he and Ellie Mae had gone down South for two weeks.

This was different. Fright Knight didn't leave such a constant trace of his existence, there was no time frame for when he would be back, and it wasn't as simple as making a quick appearance for publicity's sake, then disappearing back into the shadows before one could properly determine things like height and proportion.

Whoever had Jonathan likely suspected he was Fright Knight, or at least had ties to him. It was vital to keep up the masquerade.

Harley was already racking her mind. She hadn't even considered Karen as a substitute, was just a bit more focused on considering what little clues they had.

"He was in an abandoned warehouse near the river," she said, "but Gotham has hundreds of abandoned buildings. We'd need a bit more to go on to narrow it down."

She pondered a moment.

"Immediate suspect goes to the Birds," Harley said, "but there was also that thing at the university."

Her mind went to the Boogieman cases.

"Someone was tryin' ta take 'is formula and make it into a weapon, and he beat 'em to the punch...but that doesn't mean they wouldn't try again once the case wasn't such a big thing anymore. 'Specially since Fright Knight was considered a copycat for that case due to different formula residue. Could be someone tryin' ta prove it otherwise."

It was a slightly more hopeful answer. It at least lessened the threat, gave more leeway to believe that Crane had more of a chance of coming out of this alive.

[specialguestvillains]

"So you don't even know where to start?" She was hustling up the steps to his apartment. If this wasn't done fast the cops would be all over it, and wanting to know why she was removing things from his apartment.

[lepouvantail]

"...No," she admitted, biting her lip, "but I'm gonna run it by Eddie. Like I said, he's bound to find something if we don't."

Harley took a seat on her bed, racking her mind.

"...We'll find him," she said, trying to be assuring. "And he can take care of 'imself until we do."

She hoped.