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The Mind’s Power Over the Body

Part 27: With Friends Like These

Story summary: They only ever had each other. It had been that way since high school, ever since Elianna transferred to dreary Arlen and took Jonathan under her wing. They go separate ways for college, and when they're reunited at Arkham Asylum professionally, Elianna comes to find that they've both changed during their time separated. Can she look past the promise of danger and stay by Jonathan's side as they slide further and further into the darkness while she grapples to come to terms with the truth about herself? Can she accept what needs to be done in order to hold onto the only person who holds any meaning in her life? This is a very self-indulgent AU that draws from several different canons of the DCU and ignoring others, starting in the Batman Begins Nolanverse. This will follow the plot of the movie, although the timeline has been very slightly tweaked.

Word count: 1556

Sorry it’s been so long! I’m a full time employee again, so it’s been hard to find the time to actually sit down and work on anything. Plus, we’re getting to the end of TMPOtB! Make sure to keep an eye out for the sequel Why I Do What I Do, and I hope you enjoy!

It had been four weeks. Two since ex-warden Sharpe had disappointed them. Regular police had begun to avoid them, and they had amassed a new following of goons. Even found a semi-permanent hideout.

Though, for all of their success, Jonathan had begun to sink lower and lower into himself. In fact, more and more often, he preferred to let Scarecrow be in charge. The only sure-fire way to keep him around for more than two hours together was when more toxin needed to be made.

At first, Scarecrow had been thrilled to be in charge. He had gotten quite a kick from going on sprees, terrorizing the public, especially if it might help them find Elianna. Jonathan wanted to find her for sentimental reasons, but Scarecrow?

Scarecrow wanted her back for possessive reasons. But, if he thought about it, he supposed the history behind their motivations was the same—companionship, kindness, loyalty. Jonathan seemed to crave it, but only from her.

But the straw man felt that it was something they were entitled to after all those years of consistency from her. Oh, he cared for her wellbeing, sure, but only because no one else would give them anything. As such, no one would ever be allowed to lay a hand on her again. But, more than anything, he craved attention, and despite Jonathan's endless warnings not to give it to him, El had always satisfied that need with a strange sense of fulfillment. The world owed them something, and she was the only person who would give them anything.

She was theirs.

So, when after weeks of rampage and fearmongering had yielded no results, Scarecrow found himself in a similar stupor to Jonathan, although it affected him differently. He seemed forever bored, irritated, and volatile.

It wasn't just Jonathan and Scarecrow who were affected by Elianna's absence either. The goons that had flocked to them (some out of fear, some out of necessity, some out of ambition) had very quickly come to regret the decision. Violent outbursts were often expected, and the men had had to take measures in order to keep themselves out of the line of fire.

Regardless, it was becoming more clear day by day that the longer El remained unaccounted for, nobody would last very long.

So when one day a young blonde tentatively approached the base of operations, folder in hand, asking for "doctah Crane," claiming to have an idea for where to find the elusive woman, Axel was more than happy to tell his men to stand down and let her through.

"He's upstairs, but it ain't the doctor, so don't call him that," he advised. "I'll take you up and stay in the room with you, but you gotta just give him the file and get out." The blonde nodded, a sad look on her face. "Did you know him before?"

"Yeah. We worked together at the Asylum. We weren't friendly or nothin', but he was always polite. I was—am, friends with El. I want her back too, so I started askin' my friends from med school to keep an eye out. So when I got this, I thought the best way to get her back was to bring it here." Axel nodded.

"Alright, well let me take a look. If it doesn't look good to him, he's gonna get angry and that won't be good for any of us." The blonde nodded and handed over the folder with the file inside.

Some of the information had been redacted (for legal reasons, no doubt) but as Axel scanned the paper, he felt a weight being slowly lifted.

Patient name [REDACTED]. Female, 30 years old, red hair, green eyes. Transferred to [REDACTED] from Gotham County General. Admitted with an unknown substance present which affected brain function. Severe injuries to full body. The patient was detoxed and consented to a medically-induced coma in order to treat mild trauma to the brain.

Notes: Patient has made a swift recovery, but will likely be admitted to psych. Demonstates an unhealthy obsession with "scarecrow," which has caused multiple outbursts against personnel.

The name of whoever had provided this information had been blacked out, but it seemed likely that this information was what they had been looking for. Looking up from the file, Axel was met with big blue eyes staring up at him hopefully.

"Alright, this looks good," he sighed, and the blonde was visibly relieved. "Come on, you should be the one to give this to him," he handed back the folder and jerked his head for her to follow. "You know where she's at, right? That information was taken out." She bobbed her head, anxiously rubbing her thumb over the spine of her folder.

"Yeah, the girl that sent this to me had her place of work listed on her Facebook."

"Good."

The pair walked together through the previously abandoned building, up two flights of stairs and down a series of halls.

"Do you all live here?" The young doctor asked, gazing around the environment as they walked.

"Sort of. All of us take shifts staying in groups here to keep trespassers out. The big man," here, Axel pointed to the door at the end of the hallway as they approached, "has a place in the Narrows so that he doesn't have to stay if he doesn't want. Between the two of us, it's a much better gig when he's not around." She nodded in agreement. Based on the news reports, that was to be expected.

Reaching the door, Axel held up a finger for the woman to wait as he knocked. "Boss? There's a woman here with some information. I looked it over, I think it's her." It was silent on the other side of the door for a moment before a muffled voice told them to come in.

Axel opened the door with a pointed look at the woman, letting her enter first.

The man sitting at the desk inside certainly looked like Jonathan, but it didn't take Harley long to notice the changes in him. Jonathan always kept himself clean-shaven and carried himself with an air of uprightness. Scarecrow didn't seem to share those concerns. Stubble had been allowed to grow along his jaw, and he was slouched into his chair like he was bored.

When he caught sight of her, there was a glimmer of recognition in his eyes before a lackluster grin broke over his face. "Doctor Quinzel, I don't think we've been formally introduced." The sentence was accompanied by what was surely meant to be an intimidating chuckle. He just didn't have the energy.

"Scarecrow," she greeted, unable to help the pity that crept into her heart. "I...I guess I'll just get right down to business. I know you're looking for El, and you haven't been able to find her in the city, so I reached out to some people that I know who work in neighboring cities, and I think I found her." She stepped forward, folder outstretched for him to take.

He frowned, skeptical of the information, but took the folio anyway with a telling look at Axel: if this isn't her, you're the one to face the consequences.

But scanning the memo through narrowed eyes, his attitude slowly changed. Suddenly, there was no way that it wasn't her, and a sudden urgency took over everything as he stood.

"Where." Not a question, a demand. Harley quickly gave him the city and hospital, startled by the abrupt turnaround. "Good," seeming to briefly forget that she was even there, he turned to Axel with a sense of urgency. "Get our best boys ready, we're going now." The thug nodded and began to pull Harley out of the room before the voice stopped them again. "Harley," it barked, and the blonde's head swiveled to look at him again. "You know what's going to happen to that hospital. To your friend that works there."

"Yes, I do." She had known from the beginning. It had been so many years since she had even thought about the other woman, and they hadn't been close to begin with. To be perfectly honest, Harley wasn't even sure if she had ever liked her to begin with.

It made it easier to make this decision, although realizing that she even could make that decision had been surprising.

Scarecrow seemed to understand and went back to studying the file further, leaving the pair to leave the room, closing the door behind them.

"You did good, doc," Axel assured the blonde as they retreated down the hall. "But if it isn't her somehow..."

"I know," Harley gulped. She had seen plenty on the news of what happened to people who let Scarecrow down in this particular search.

Sensing the woman's apprehension, Axel spoke again. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. Who else could that be, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." She nodded. "I'm gonna get outta your hair now. Good luck, all of you. bring her home, yeah?"

"You got it, doc."

With that, Harley left and Axel went about rounding up the troops. He wasn't exactly looking forward to the havoc they were about to wreck upon the unsuspecting hospital, but ultimately having El back would be best for everyone involved.

For everyone's sake, it'd better be our girl.

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Had a dream where this became the new meme for a bit

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something evil is afoot in East LA

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I am SUPER CHILL with that actually jsksjdhfj

oh good lord 😦

(thanks for the tag @jar-jar-ate ! 😂)

pspspspsps @federfleisch @transgayhoffman @stumacher-theghostface @inbred-trashbile @backyardbats​ @sweet-little-thing​ @quinnmoon77​

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Guys, I’m simping HARD for Heisenberg from RE8, do you think if i started a fic and posted on AO3 folks would read it????

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The Mind’s Power Over the Body

TPart 26: Nowhere to Hide

Story summary: They only ever had each other. It had been that way since high school, ever since Elianna transferred to dreary Arlen and took Jonathan under her wing. They go separate ways for college, and when they're reunited at Arkham Asylum professionally, Elianna comes to find that they've both changed during their time separated. Can she look past the promise of danger and stay by Jonathan's side as they slide further and further into the darkness while she grapples to come to terms with the truth about herself? Can she accept what needs to be done in order to hold onto the only person who holds any meaning in her life? This is a very self-indulgent AU that draws from several different canons of the DCU and ignoring others, starting in the Batman Begins Nolanverse. This will follow the plot of the movie, although the timeline has been very slightly tweaked.

Word count: 1286

I finally got to write a dramatic warehouse interrogation 😈. Trigger Warning for violence!

"Warden Sharpe." The hood was yanked off of the older man's face, and he looked around the room, blinking blearily as he tried to get his bearings. Gradually, the dingy room came into focus; he appeared to be in a warehouse.

Not an abandoned one either, judging by the crates stacked against the far wall, although he could sense the open space behind him. Standing facing him, partially obscured in the shadows of the poorly lit area were the three armed thugs that had abducted him from his car, but the voice that spoke had come from behind him.

Sharpe would have recognized that voice anywhere, but even so, when the tall, thin frame of Arkham's former ambassador came into view there was no stopping the chill that traveled down his spine. Crane had made quite a reputation for himself in the last two weeks. The warden knew what the younger man wanted, but he couldn't give it to him.

"Crane, listen to me, I don't know where she is." Jonathan's eyes narrowed as he rubbed the material of his mask between his thumb and forefinger. He was working hard to keep Scarecrow at bay, but holding the mask served as a remarkably effective interrogation tactic.

"I wish I believed you, Warden. See, I made a list of everyone most likely to have the information that I need, and you're the last name on that list. So, if you can't give me what I'm looking for, then what does that mean for Gotham?" The older man began to sweat, the true magnitude of his situation suddenly settling on his shoulders.

"Believe me, if I knew where she was I would tell you! Wh-when you started all of this I looked, but no one knows what happened to her! I think maybe she's—" Sharpe cut his rambling off quickly; the madman in front of him didn't want to hear about the likelihood of Elianna Montgomery's death.

His fragmented sentence hadn't gone unnoticed, however. The ex-psychiatrist's head snapped to face his captive, and those piercing, too-blue eyes seemed to stare into his soul.

"Maybe she's what, Warden?" The voice had become too calm, a sharp contrast to the fury rolling off of its owner in waves. The man tied to the chair found himself unable to respond. "Maybe she's dead? Buried in an unmarked grave somewhere?" Just like that, any previous notions the warden had of escaping this encounter with his psyche intact were erased, vanishing just as quickly as his captor's sadistic alter had appeared.

"No!"

"Then by all means," Sharpe had always found Crane's lack of expression unnerving, but as the Scarecrow smiled with Jonathan's face, he realized that this was worse, so much worse. "Tell us. Maybe. She's. What?" Scarecrow's free hand shot out to grab the warden's face as he snarled out the last word. Sharpe couldn't help the frightened whimper that escaped as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"I'm s-sure that she's alive somewhere," the words struggled out, his voice further betraying the fear that he felt. "I just don't know where." That wicked smile returned to the bespectacled man's face.

"You're a terrible liar, Warden." The older man's heart sunk as the glasses were removed, tucked into the breast pocket of Jonathan's suit. He knew what that meant. "Not about her whereabouts. No. The fact is that you're not sure she's alive somewhere. And the only thing I hate more than being lied to for selfish reasons, is being lied to in a feeble attempt to save Jon's feelings."

With that, Scarecrow secured his face, breathing in deep the scent of the burlap. He had gotten to wear it more and more often lately, and the feeling of the scratchy material against his cheeks was so...liberating.

The warden was struggling against his bindings now, a futile attempt to escape. Even if Aleksi hadn't been raised on his father's boat, Sharpe wouldn't have made it more than two steps before being hit with a facefull of toxin anyway.

Jonathan had sent their help to his apartment in the confusion of the city rebuilding itself for his equipment and notes. Once he had everything that he needed, he had been able to make more toxin from what they already had. His growing need to find El had motivated him to construct a way to make more, although Scarecrow couldn't be bothered to even try wrapping his head around it.

All that mattered was that it worked beautifully.

Warden Sharpe's efforts to release himself redoubled as the Scarecrow rolled his neck in preparation for what was coming next, bargaining with the madman to no avail.

"No, don't do this! You don't have to do this, if you let me go I can look again! I have resources, I-I'm sure I could find her for you!" Scarecrow's rasping laugh echoed around the spacious room. "Please, I have friends I can ask! I swear, if you let me go I'll find her!"

"Warden, any friends you may have who can help me will get the message when you're found by the workmen here at the beginning of the next shift." Scarecrow's head cocked as though he were listening to something, but the eyes behind the mask remained blank as ever. "Jon wants you to know, you never should have been in charge anyway. A man like you? No ambition? It was only a matter of time before your inmates got the better of you anyway. Better to get a little fame out of it, don't you think?"

The warden surprised himself by how long he had lasted in this interaction without breaking, but the knowledge that there was no bargaining for his fate had finally broken him. Thrashing and crying out for help, he watched in horror as Scarecrow took a step back from him, vaguely aware of the goons securing gas masks over their faces.

With nothing left to discuss, Scarecrow threw out his arm in the direction of the now ex-warden of Arkham Asylum, taking sick pleasure in the hissing sound of the sleeve rig releasing a stream of the aerosolized form of fear toxin to form a thick cloud around Sharpe's head. The older man, in a last-ditch effort to think his way out of the situation, held his breath, desperate not to breathe it in.

This angered Scarecrow, who turned to face his goons, gesturing to one of them. The shortest of the three stepped closer, face invisible behind his gas mask, gun in hand. Before the older man could ponder what this meant for him as his lungs began to beg for air, the goon closed the distance between them and slammed him in the gut with the butt of his rifle, winding him.

On instinct, Sharpe began gasping for breath, coughing on the big gulps of the toxin entering his mouth and lungs. He swore internally, wondering what had given him the mad idea that holding his breath would work.

"You'd be surprised by how many people think to try that," Scarecrow chuckled darkly, relishing the visible symptoms of the gas beginning to take effect. "Don't worry, someone will be along soon. For now, enjoy the darkness, warden. And hope, for Gotham's sake, that we find her alive and well." As he spoke, Axel, Aleksi, and Sam set about shutting the dingy lights off.

Sharpe's watched as the four men disappeared through a door to his far left. The soft light of dawn seemed too horribly bright to his toxin-addled brain, and the last thing he saw before the door closed and he was plunged into blackness was the creeping tendrils of darkness closing in on him.

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Scarecrow: You can ban me from Gotham University but you can’t unwatch what I did to get thrown out.

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I booted up Skyrim again for the first time in a while recently and accidentally reignited my massive crush on Brynjolf. Let me marry him, TODD!

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Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer INCEPTION (2010) dir. Christopher Nolan

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Cillian Murphy's street style is something very personal to me.

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The Party (2017), dir. Sally Potter

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The Mind’s Power Over the Body

Part 25: ...Before They Hatch

Story summary: They only ever had each other. It had been that way since high school, ever since Elianna transferred to dreary Arlen and took Jonathan under her wing. They go separate ways for college, and when they're reunited at Arkham Asylum professionally, Elianna comes to find that they've both changed during their time separated. Can she look past the promise of danger and stay by Jonathan's side as they slide further and further into the darkness while she grapples to come to terms with the truth about herself? Can she accept what needs to be done in order to hold onto the only person who holds any meaning in her life? This is a very self-indulgent AU that draws from several different canons of the DCU and ignoring others, starting in the Batman Begins Nolanverse. This will follow the plot of the movie, although the timeline has been very slightly tweaked.

Word count: 1738

She knew it was wrong, but El couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed herself this much. She and Scarecrow had stumbled across an abandoned police horse running loose and had been riding it through the streets. The added speed gave them the chance to experience more of the anarchy in a shorter amount of time while still letting them be amongst it.

It was...intoxicating.

Several people on the streets had looked up at them riding by on the horse and succumbed to their poison induced terror. There was something about people being afraid of her that made her feel good. She remembered feeling it for the first time when they had dosed Zsasz in the basement, then again when they had cornered Dawes in the elevator. But at this scale, El felt her blood singing through her veins, the most incredible high she had ever experienced.

Jonathan, getting closer to the surface, could hear El laughing behind them, and as she grew more comfortable, her once tight grip around their torso had begun to relax. He was sure that she was in her own world, not paying attention to their surroundings. He knew the feeling.

He had started his experiments out of necessity and fascination, but after a while, he had slowly grown to enjoy the power. It was at that time that Scarecrow had begun to grow stronger.

He wondered how long it would be before Elianna was that far gone. Before she was unrecognizable.

Conversely, Scarecrow was on top of the world, much like the redhead at his back. Reveling in the screams, the panic, in her laughing and holding onto him. With free reign to spread his influence, it was what he had been aching to do ever since he had come to be.

He didn't care what Jonathan thought. Him? A protector? No, he was meant for this. To redistribute fear and retribution on a world that had done the same to them.

And damn, did it feel good.

Suddenly, a movement caught his eye, and he would recognize that particular voice anywhere.

"Well, well well, look what we've found, Doctor Montgomery," he laughed, catching El's attention. She leaned to look around his shoulder and immediately spotted what he did.

"Oh, Rachel," she cooed with mock pity, only loud enough for Scarecrow to hear. "Always in the wrong place at the wrong time. She should have quit while she was ahead." Scarecrow urged the horse faster, eager to see her under the effect of the toxin again. The gas in the air didn't seem to be affecting her, but that didn't matter. Just a little closer and she would be within the range of El's sleeve rig.

She seemed to be shielding a child, eyes wide open in fear. That was the beauty of the whole city in turmoil: even if one person wasn't affected by the gas, the fear of the environment would still get to them.

As they approached, they could hear her voice as she tried to soothe the boy that had tucked himself under her arm, loud over the violent discord of the streets.

"It's okay! It's okay, no one is going to hurt you," the brunette shushed, trying to remain calm. This made El—fully caught up in her euphoria—laugh as they approached.

"Of course they are!" She called as Scarecrow pulled the horse to a stop mere feet away. She had never particularly liked children anyway.

"Crane? Mongomery?"

"No." The pair snapped at the same time.

"Scarecrow," the masked man corrected. El, however, hadn't yet thought of what she might want to be called. She was happy to let Scarecrow take charge of the moment until he turned the horse side face to their quarry and reached his hand back to rest on the outside of her thigh. "And The Rook." She grinned under the mask at the name. It was perfect.

Rachel, knowing what was sure to come next, grabbed the boy and bolted away. The fog of the gas and pollution was thick and provided good cover as they stumbled through the streets, the ominous hoofbeats never too far behind.

She and the boy both choked and coughed against the fog, praying to anyone who would listen that they wouldn't cross anyone else before they could hide; before it was too late.

Finally, it seemed that they had found somewhere, zigzagging back and forth. The clicking of hooves was still audible, but for a moment, it seemed far enough out of the way that they might pass them over.

It didn't last long. When the booming voice spoke up again, they had cornered themself against the building, and Rachel cursed her own lack of foresight.

"There you are!" The horse reared, and although Rachel knew that the effects of the toxin couldn't reach her anymore, she could swear that its eyes were a glowing red. She could only imagine what the boy was seeing. She pulled him behind her protectively as Scarecrow spoke again.

"There is nothing to fear..."

"But fear itself!" Montgomery's voice wasn't as loud, but it was just as clear and gleeful, and in the context of the situation, just as terrifying.

Knowing that she had to react quickly, Rachel dug her taser out of her inner jacket pocket, aimed, and fired.

For the masked pair, watching the wires spring toward them happened in slow motion. El had turned her torso to look at the vulnerable brunette, and one of the nodes made contact with her exposed collar bone, while the other stuck itself into Scarecrow's straitjacket.

The second they made contact, the current was released. The barbs burned El's skin, and the pair cried out in pain. Not expecting their quarry to fight back, and in an attempt to get away from the current, the straw man snapped the reigns, sending the horse running without a destination.

Elianna felt herself being jostled uncomfortably and no longer secure on the saddle. She had only been holding onto Scarecrow with one arm, and the taser had hit the front of her shoulder on that side. Her grip strength decreased dramatically, and she scrabbled to hold onto the back of the material. Scarecrow didn't seem to notice as the rage and frustration rolled off of him. His mind was focused only on finding more victims.

Trying to make up for the lack of stability, El did her best to keep herself on the frightened horse with leg strength alone until she could tighten her fingers enough. Unfortunately, the hard bouncing of the horse's hindquarters tossing her about made it difficult for her to orient herself enough to entirely assess the situation. She was afraid that swinging her other arm forward would be just enough to throw her off balance.

She grit her teeth from the effort as her thigh muscles began to grow sore; she wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to take it.

They had only traveled two blocks when the horse made a sharp turn down another street. Feeling herself being wrenched off of her perch, she made one last desperate grab at Scarecrow's back, her nails scratching the skin beneath the material of the straitjacket as she was thrown to the ground.

The last thing she felt was her head connecting painfully to the concrete, knocking against the long beak of her mask and sending it clattering to the ground a few feet away.

.xXx.

As the masked pair had pursued Dawes, Jonathan was able to pull himself closer and closer to the surface, until finally, he was just barely out of control.

As such, he could faintly feel El trying to hold on, something that Scarecrow apparently didn't notice.

Scarecrow, hold onto El. Nothing. Stop the horse; she's going to fall. Not even the slightest indication that he was heard. Then the horse was turning, and the sensation of nails on their back...

Scarecrow! Jonathan was beating against the proverbial walls of their mind in a mad dash attempt to get the straw man to pay attention, but he was too enraged by the taser to register anything else. Stop, we have to turn around, she fell!

Jonathan couldn't even turn his head to see if she was okay. He strained as hard as he could to push Scarecrow out of the driver's seat, but as Scarecrow felt him on the edges of his consciousness, he strengthened his control. The straw man could barely hear Jonathan's protests, and frankly, at that moment, he didn't really care.

By the time Jonathan could finally interrupt Scarecrow's rampage, they had made it another borough over, and it seemed like the toxin had been stopped—likely by the Batman. Expected, but still infuriating to no end. That fact, on top of that fact that they had lost Elianna in the middle of a city desperate to survive and crawling with violent, psychotic criminals, Jonathan was not having the night he thought he would be.

Scarecrow's spree finished, he had quickly joined in the shame and anger at having left her behind, kicking himself. She was theirs, and if he found out that anyone else had laid a hand on her, there would be hell to pay.

If you had paid attention, this wouldn't have happened. I told you—

Don't start with me, Jonny. I'm in the same place as you. Just fucking get her back.

That was that. Luckily, it seemed that all of the first responders in the city were somewhere else as Jonathan urged the horse as fast as it could go to the corner where El had been thrown off.

Nothing.

No, not nothing. A mask. A mask with a long, curved bill, lying small and pathetic, alone on the concrete. Before he knew it, Jonathan was off the horse, which immediately trotted away, eager to get away from the masked maniac. He picked up El's mask, turning it in his hand.

The swarm of rising emotions—anger, panic, worry, anger again—blinded his vision, and he began walking on instinct. He couldn't go back to their apartment, but he needed somewhere safe to plan.

Back to the Narrows it was, then. There were always plenty of abandoned, empty apartments and very little police presence.

No matter how long it took, how many people they had to kill, if they had to burn the city to the ground, they would find her.

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Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer INCEPTION (2010) dir. Christopher Nolan