Diabolical | T. Drake ✔

[26] Clone Boy

The Drake Manor's basement answered a lot of Bruce's questions. It was clear that the basement hadn't been as abandoned as they thought, judging by the provisions, a pillow that Steph was sure had come from Tim's room, a thin blanket, and the very visible signs of a tussle.

They found the missing lens from Tim's shattered specs, a few empty syringes, and a beaker of water. And by the signs of it, something terrible had definitely happened in the basement that night.

One thing was for certain, Tim had come to the basement instead of going to the Narrows so Miguel must have been involved too, Bruce thought, the cover story he had given to them was far from the truth.

As he and Steph returned to Wayne Manor, Richard gave them a very unexpected report of his encounter with Crane.

"He was in Arkham?" Bruce asked, not expecting him to be there after they had been so sure that he had escaped.

"Yes, I saw him in his cell and tried to talk to him but he was not behaving the way he usually does."

"What does that mean?" Steph asked, curious to know what was going on.

"It felt as if I was talking to somebody else. He told me that Doctor Crane wasn't there and that I should call him Jon. It felt absurd... I could see that it was him physically, but it didn't feel like him."

Bruce and Steph, who had read Tim's notes, understood what Richard was trying to explain.

"I see... You must have met one of his alters," Bruce remarked, a thoughtful look taking over his face.

"Alters?"

"Yeah, according to Tim, he suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder. He thinks Scarecrow is the unstable alter while Jonathan Crane is the host," Steph elaborated, "although he never mentioned any alter by the name of Jon."

"What intrigues me is that Crane is back in Arkham while it was quite obvious that he had escaped," Bruce mused, then added for Richard's clarification, "Tim had been helping him stay hidden in his basement, we found enough evidence down there."

"Oh dear," Richard looked both confused and concerned, "but why would he do that?"

"To experiment on him, I suppose. Although that answer would be provided better by Tim himself."

"Could it be that Crane only went back to Arkham to throw us off his trail?" Steph suggested, thinking about the situation as well, "maybe he did hurt Tim but returned to Arkham so that he could have an alibi."

"Could be possible. I can't say for sure without talking to Tim myself."

Bruce looked very serious about it so it was safe to assume that Tim had a lot coming his way.

"And I will also try to visit Crane when he is in charge so that I can figure out what he has to say about all this," Bruce sighed softly, the worry for his adoptive son showing on his features, "both of you should go rest now. We'll see what we can do in the morning."

After Bruce had left, Steph turned to face Richard, "that Miguel guy definitely has a lot more to do with this than he makes it seem."

He nodded, "that's what I am thinking too. Tim once stole my wallet to give money to his family but it could have been a bribe for getting Crane out of Arkham."

She shook her head, lips pursing into a slight frown, "why can't Tim just let him be? Bruce says that he's worried Tim is borderline obsessive when it comes to Crane. Sometimes I can't help but think it's true."

"I'm worried about this too. If Crane knows that, he can easily use it to his advantage and manipulate Tim. And if Crane had escaped Arkham for long enough that Tim was able to take notes and make medication for him without anyone of us suspecting, then that's a rather alarming aspect."