boxofmisfits | A Simple Mission

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A Simple Mission

The Scarecrow seemed to have the worst luck. Here he was, a brilliant man, able to give the Dark Knight a run for his money with his array of toxins and psychological trickery, and yet he kept failing. One would think he would have learned by now, but he was a persistent sort.

Crane had decided to try his hand at spreading terror through a neighboring city, only for the bird from Bludhaven to show up. His plan to spread terror through contaminating perfume and body spray hadn't gone through, thanks to Nightwing, and he'd been swiftly captured.

So now here he was, handcuffed, and looking out the window of the helicopter. His gauntlet lay out of reach, and if he tried anything, Nightwing had no problem knocking him out. It really was a no-win situation. Soon, he'd be back in Arkham, plotting his next escape while he toyed with whichever doctor was foolish enough to ask to be assigned to him.

Crane looked over at Nightwing.

"Does this make you feel proud? Being a vigilante, taking the law into your own hands?"

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"Hmm, you know what..." Dick said in a mock-thoughtful tone, pausing for a moment before flashing Crane a cheeky grin "It really does. If I can leave even one person sleeping a little safer in their bed tonight, I've done something good."

He can almost see why somebody might lash out at a world that's cruel to them, but that's as close as he can get to Crane's point of view - the thrill of helping people is just too addictive to want to hurt anybody but the bad guys.

"Maybe you should try it sometime, help instead of-" he was cut off by a juddering noise from the controls in front of him and lights starting to flash on the display.

"Well... that's not good." he muttered, alarms beginning to beep as their flight got a whole lot less smooth. Something was very, very wrong. If he didn't get this helicopter to the ground and fast, they were going to the ground a lot, lot faster.

Crane wanted nothing more than to give Nightwing a good dose of fear toxin to wipe that smirk off his face. See how smug he was when he was screaming in terror. Teach him to mess with the Scarecrow.

His head went forward at that noise, blue eyes widening. He didn't know a lot about helicopters, but he knew that was a bad sound.

"Do something," Crane hissed.

"Oh, really? I mean I thought I'd just sit here and let the helicopter crash but hey, that's a pretty good idea you've got there." Dick shot back sarcastically, wrangling desperately with the controls to try and keep the craft from veering all over the sky.

He spotted a clearing in the forest coming up ahead of them and jerked the helicopter towards it. The unpleasant smell of singed wiring made its way into the cabin and Dick muttered a prayer to whoever might be listening that he could get them down safely - the prospect of crashing had now become the prospect of landing as a ball of flaming metal and he'd rather not do that either.

They were almost on the ground when the propellers cut out entirely and they dropped the last dozen or so feet at an alarming speed, smashing into the ground with a disturbing crunching sound. Dick was tolerably certain he'd done himself some kind of injury and his ears were ringing, but the adrenaline coursing through him put him in autopilot and he unbuckled his seatbelt and dived back into the cabin, grabbing Crane none-too-gently and pulling him from the craft, not stopping until they were a safe enough distance away from any potential explosion that might happen.

Crane would have made a retort back, but he recognized that it wasn't the time. His heart began racing, his breath getting short and his eyes dilating. He was afraid. It would have been exciting if he wasn't so sure he was about to die. He just didn't give Nightwing the satisfaction of hearing him scream.

He jolted in his seat when they crashed, not having any time to react before Nightwing grabbed him and pulled him out. He didn't even have time to grab his gauntlet before he was unceremoniously pulled from the wreck.

Once they were a safe distance and Crane had a moment to breath, he looked at Nightwing and said, "Where did you learn to fly?" He was still shaking.

"Hey you're lucky I got us down in one piece," Dick replied absently. The sudden burst of energy had left him feeling a little woozy, he's pretty sure he has a concussion and the pain is starting to set into his wrist from that last jerk of the controls as they crashed, but he doesn't want to give Crane any indication that he's injured so he tries to focus, paying attention first to the helicopter to try and assess the damage.

The craft had automatic fire extinguishers that appeared to have gone off, so the wreckage was oozing white foam but at least blessedly wasn't burning any more, so an explosion didn't seem likely. There would be no taking off again, though, it was down for the count without serious repairs. Once the metal had cooled he could go through it to see what supplies had survived, but he wasn't hopeful.

"We'll have to find some other form of transport."

"Unless you had an alternate vehicle stashed away somewhere in these woods, I foresee us walking for the moment." Crane could feel the adrenaline wear off, and his hands stopped shaking.

Crane looked around the woods, gauging the situation. He'd never been camping before in his life, but he'd read plenty of survival stories. They were going to need food, water, and a fire. He could only hope Batman instilled some sort of survival training into Nightwing.

Once the fire died down and the metal wasn't hot to the touch, Crane approached the helicopter. His hand fished around in the cabin, until he pulled out the gauntlet. The syringes were shattered, most of the needles were bent, with one broken off completely, and the frame was bent and charred. Crane tested out the mechanisms, and, as he figured, they didn't work. "Wonderful."

Edited 2019-01-05 22:25 (UTC)

"Funnily enough, I didn't expect to crash here." he retorted, wondering what he'd done to deserve this happening - getting back home with Crane successfully in tow without going crazy (a real and dangerous possibility with Crane) was going to be unpleasant to say the least.

At least the gauntlet was broken, Dick was about as pleased about that as Crane was disappointed, it would keep him a little safer - although he'd still have to sleep with one eye open.

"How about we try and find something actually useful?" he said with a sigh, poking through the singed wreckage for anything he can make use of. There had to be some survival gear in here somewhere.

Crane strapped the ruined gauntlet to his belt. Even if he couldn't use it anymore, he felt a need to keep it. He'd just build another when he got back to Gotham City. Unfortunately, he knew he'd never be able to get back on his own, and therefor he needed Nightwing. It didn't mean he had to enjoy it, however.

He searched the cabin, pulling out the first aid kit from under the seat. The case was partly melted, but thankfully the contents were fine.

Dick managed to dig out a slightly charred but (he hoped) still serviceable survival kit. It had a few things in it that they'd be able to use, although it was only really designed for one person so sleeping was going to be very interesting if they didn't find some shelter before nightfall. Still, it had some emergency rations and flares and a few other things they might find useful so it was something, and the waterproof bag it was all packed in had at least saved most of it from both the fire and the foam.

"Okay, that's probably all we're going to get from here. We should make a start moving-" he paused, feeling another wave of dizziness overtake him. What he really needed was to sit down and take stock of his injuries, but that wasn't really an option.

"Moving on. Let's go."

Crane didn't like it, but he had to work with Nightwing if he was to survive. He could see that the younger man was in pain, possibly hit his head. He was conflicted about it. On the one hand, he could think up more than a few ways to use that to his advantage, but on the other hand, he still needed Nightwing or he'd never make it on his own. Meaning he'd have to play nice for now.

"Lead the way, little bird."

As they walked, Crane kept looking out into the trees, keeping his eyes open for anything dangerous.

The survival kit included a compass, thankfully, and he'd known roughly what direction they were travelling before the crash, so it seemed like the most sensible thing to do to just continue in that direction for now, it would be better than going backwards.

So he set off, rolling his eyes at Crane's comment. He wasn't sure it was a good idea to leave the man behind him, but he was still handcuffed and if he was going to run off into the wild to take his own chances, well, good luck to him... only Dick knew he wouldn't actually just leave him to it, if Crane decided to make a break for it he'd track him down again, partly to bring him to justice but partly to make sure he was safe.

It was a couple hours walking with no signs of habitation before Dick decided the throbbing in his head was too much to ignore and he paused, glancing back at Crane.

"I think we should rest for a bit."

Crane was already trying to think of ways to get out of the handcuffs. He could try and break them against a rock, or the classic technique of dislocating his thumb. Perhaps he should have taken up Harley on her offer to show him how to pick handcuff locks.

"Not a bad idea." He could see that Nightwing was in pain. "I know first aid." He hated offering it to the other man, but he needed Nightwing if he was going to get back to Gotham in one piece.

The man was a doctor, technically, though Dick didn't actually know what he had the qualification in, and the man definitely didn't have a medical license. That all aside, he needed someone to take a look at him, and while he could try and patch things up himself it was going to be a lot easier to let somebody else do it.

"Fine," he said after a moment, "Come here I'll take off the cuffs. If you try and run for it, I'm not so injured that I can't still kick your ass, got it?"

"Understood," Running away right now would be a dumb idea anyway. He'd wait until they got back to Gotham, and he was back in his element, before he gave Nightwing the slip. He approached Nightwing and held out his wrists.

Dick fished the key for the handcuffs out of one of his glove pockets, unlocking them from around Crane's wrists.

"Any trouble and they're going right back on." he warned, tucking the cuffs and key away again. He took a seat on a nearby rock and motioned Crane towards the first aid kit.

"Go on then."

"You dying decreases my own chances of survival."

Crane brought over the first aid kit, before he began feeling Nightwing's scalp for bumps and lacerations. He could tell that Nightwing had bumped his head and likely had a concussion.

For a second, Crane flitted with the idea of removing that mask and finding out the vigilante's secret identity. But Nightwing would no doubt cuff him again if he dared to do so.

Reaching into the first aid kit, Crane retrieved some painkillers and handed them over to Nightwing. "We may have to rest for a while."

Dick nodded slightly in confirmation - at least Crane recognised that, and it would make this whole endeavour a lot easier if he continue to remember it.

He was surprised at how gentle Crane's touch was, but he appreciated it, and he was equally glad that there didn't seem to be anything too dramatic, though he was pretty sure, like Crane, that he had a concussion.

He took the offered painkillers, swallowing them down without water and pulling a face. Hopefully they would kick in soon and they could keep moving.

"Agreed. Hopefully we can move on soon though."

Sadly, there hadn't been any bottled water on the chopper. They would probably have to find a source of water at some point. And possibly food. Crane wasn't exactly an expert on creating snares, nor did he have a book on hand to show him how.

"Just focus on recovering for now." Crane looked around, then said, "I'm going to scout ahead. If I'm not back in five minutes, come look for me. I promise I'm not about to bolt."

Dick paused, giving Crane a long, suspicious look. It's even a sign of how dire the situation was that he was actually considering trusting the other man, normally he would have vetoed that particular suggestion before Crane had even finished talking.

Eventually, he nodded, motioning for Crane to go looking "Alright, I'll trust you. Don't go too far and pay attention to your direction of travel so you can find your way back, do you want a compass?"

"If you have a compass on you, it would certainly help." Crane wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Nightwing was allowing him to temporarily leave, instead of cuffing him again. Normally, he would have used that trust to his advantage and given Nightwing a dose of fear toxin. But this wasn't the time for that.

"I do," He nodded, fishing it out of his pocket and handing it over. The last thing he wanted was for Crane to get lost and leave them both stranded alone.

"Don't stay away too long." he warned "I can't afford to wait back here forever."

"I'll try not to be mauled by a bear while you wait." Crane glanced at the compass before heading off. They were loosing daylight, and would have to find a place to camp at some point.

In his search, Crane saw a cave in the distance, and he couldn't tell from this distance if it was empty or not.

Going a little farther, he heard water running. He went towards the sound, finding a creek bed, right next to a clearing in the trees.

A little over five minutes had gone by before Crane returned. "There's a cave to the west, and a stream to the north."

Dick tried to focus on the trees and noises from the nature around him to keep himself from falling asleep, the rest was good but the dizziness from the concussion was not helping. He was glad that Crane wasn't gone for long, however strange it felt to be glad to see him.

"We should probably head to the stream first," he decided, though he looked to Crane for confirmation that he agreed "We can get a bit cleaned up and have a drink to keep us going. I guess we could stay in the cave but personally I'd rather try and get a bit further before we have to stop."

"I agree," Agreeing with Nightwing, what was the world coming to? Even if this was a survival situation and Nightwing no doubt had more knowledge on this kind of thing than he did. Crane was a scientist, he was in uncharted territory.

He waited for Nightwing before he pointed in the direction of the stream. "It's this way." Making sure the younger man was following him, he led the way to the water.

Dick nodded, standing slowly to try and avoid getting too dizzy and followed Crane towards the stream.

A bit of fresh water would help clear his head and he could figure this out. They couldn't be that far from civilisation, surely?

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