ʀᴇᴄʟᴜsᴇ! homesick

CH 16: Memories

I couldn't seem to catch a break.

Usually, after a villain executed an attack on Gotham, the rest would stay low for a while, cooking up their next plan.

I went to school a couple days after Two Face robbed a bank. Key word, tried.

Luckily me and the Red Hood were there to save the day.

Overnight, it turned into February. Gotham City thought it caught a break from villainy for a while.

We were wrong.

I had sat down in my physics class, when the intercom came on. We all stood to say the pledge of allegiance, like we had every morning, but it never came.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

A terrible voice rasped over the intercom.

"Hello Gotham Academy." A figure crooned. "Dr. Jonathan Crane at your service. I've been asked to speak at your school today."

It was Scarecrow. He was known for his eccentric flair. Crane never bothered with the little schemes like all the others did, no. He did it big, and he did it bold.

"Actually, Dr. Crane can't come to the phone right now, but if you would like to make an appointment, just tell The Scarecrow. You're going to help him instead with an experiment today, does that sound alright kids? Let's see how a bunch of rich and privileged brats react to my new batch of Fear Toxin. You have 5 minutes."

The intercom buzzes off, and the student body moved in terror.

Everyone tried to get out through the doors and the windows. Teacher tried to get their kids in an orderly fashion so they could evacuate.

I slipped away, unnoticed after I grabbed the keys from Mr. Newport.

Eventually through the chaos I found Damian.

"Damian, wait!" I call and he stops.

"We have to go."

"Yeah, you go to the roof through the teachers lounge, here's a key I swiped from a teacher. You go to the roof to fix the ventilation system before the East side of the school gets gassed too."

He nods and sprints off, weaving through students.

I help everyone evacuate, there are a few stragglers, mostly little kids who were separated from their teachers.

After I was satisfied I was the last person in the building, I began racing to the door, but I guess I was too late. The green gas started emanating through the vents, and I tried blocking it out with my arm. I wouldn't make it to the doors in time, so I veered in a classroom, to see if I could make it out a window.

The windows were locked, and I was holding my breath, trying to break the glass.

I sucked in air without another thought and started panicking.

I slumped to the the floor, but I wasn't in the classroom.

"It's not real. It's not real. It's not real."

I opened my eyes and I was in a car. The car my parents had crashed and died in.

My stepdad was driving, and my mom was in the passengers seat.

I tried to warn them what was about to happen next, but I couldn't find my voice. I looked outside of the moving car, to see we were on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.