Friends and Scars Ch 6.1

Friends and Scars</u>
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I do not own Arnold Wesker, Scarface, Rhino, or any of the other Batman characters presented here. They belong to DC Comics (Batman, in particular). The other characters are from my imagination. This was written purely for fun.

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Chapter 6 (part 1)

   For a building that housed some of the world’s most dangerous men and women, Arkham Asylum was surprisingly quiet this evening. The dark sky was still slightly tinted with the remains of the sunset. The moon overhead shone brightly, casting its light on parts of the building and shadowing others.

   “Are you done yet?”

   Mugsy looked up from his work on the speaker box, his eyes full of irritation. He gazed down at the massive brute he was standing on. “The more ya ask, the longer I’m gonna take,” he explained slowly before returning his attention to the box.

   Rhino grumbled something under his breath, but kept still for the man standing on his shoulders. He took a quick look down at his boss.

   Arnold Wesker stood silently, staring down at the ground. He had hardly said anything over the past day and a half, aside from discussion on the plan and his arguments with Mr. Friend. Each fight he had had with the dummy left him more and more drained and less and less comfortable with his decision. As if he wasn’t uncomfortable enough before, the puppet only made it worse. He was just like he was after he revealed his decision to the dummy: preoccupied and distant. He wasn’t even trembling--

   “Mr. Ventriloquist?”

   Wesker nearly jumped out of his skin when Rhino tapped  him on the shoulder. His eyes shot up to Rhino and Mugsy, who were staring down at him with concerned looks.

   “You sure you wanna do this?” Rhino asked again.

   Wesker blinked, looking between the two men. He silently scolded himself for zoning out. He just had so much on his mind… There was his own escape from Arkham Mr. Friend still yelled at him about…the planning for his boss’s escape…his constant bickering with Mr. Friend…and, of course, Scarface. There was no denying it: he really missed him.

   He scolded himself once more when he realized he had zoned out again. He blinked from his thoughts and looked back at Rhino. “I’m sure,” he said without fumbling for words.

   A small beep ended their conversation. Rhino took a look at his pager. “Ratso’s all set up,” he announced. He glanced up at the man on his shoulders. “Are you done?”

   “Yes, actually, I am,” Mugsy replied sharply, giving the brute a harsh look. His eyes softened when they shifted to his boss. “Ready?”

   Wesker drew a shaky breath and pushed his glasses back into place. “Yes.”

   With that single word, Mugsy cut a wire. Rhino knelt down for Wesker to climb onto his other shoulder. Wesker stood on shaky legs and put a hand on the wall to keep from falling.

   Mugsy looked back at him. “Ready?” Once the Ventriloquist gave a firm nod, the redhead cut another wire. He pulled out the speaker, messed with a few other wires, and held it up to his boss.

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   “Alright, you only have ten minutes before it’s back to your cells!” a guard yelled over the asylum’s cafeteria. None of the inmates listened, nor did they really care. This was one of the few times during the day they were allowed to actually talk with one another.

   “Did you hear--” the guard stopped in mid-sentence when the PA system overhead crackled into life.

   “Code 1223 in the cafeteria,” came the voice of one of the Arkham psychologists, Dr. Myers. “1223. All personnel to the cafeteria immediately.”

   “What the Hell?!” the guard yelled as he looked out over the criminals.

   The criminals and villains were craning their necks, staring up at the speakers. They looked just as confused as the guards.

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   “Code 1223,” Wesker repeated in Dr. Myers’s voice. As Mugsy withdrew and turned off the microphone, Wesker cleared his throat.

   “Hope this works,” Mugsy said as he jumped off of Rhino’s shoulder.

   As Rhino knelt down for Wesker to hop down, Mugsy  carefully pulled one of the doors open a crack. He watched a great deal of guards and doctors run by.

   The massive brute looked over at the Ventriloquist, who was putting on a white overcoat. “If you run into any problems,” he began, pushing his cell phone into his boss’s hands, “redial.”

   “Alright,” Wesker mumbled as he pocketed the phone.

   “All clear,” Mugsy declared. He looked at Rhino and Wesker. “Good luck.”

   “Hold on,” Rhino suddenly said. As Wesker glanced up at him, the brute reached into his suit and pulled out a small white ball. “Ratso cooked this up for ya,” he explained, handing it to the Ventriloquist. “I’m pretty sure you’ll know when to use it.”

   Wesker stared down at the sphere in his palm before placing it in his front pocket. He drew a breath and looked back up at the henchman. “Let’s do this.”

   Mugsy stepped aside as Rhino and Wesker ran into Arkham.

   The two criminals dashed across the empty hall and up the stairs, Rhino leading the way. They made it to the second floor and burst onto the landing. So far, everything was going smoothly, but the continued to press forward. They only had a small amount of time to be in and out.

   Wesker saw the intersection approaching up ahead. He drew a nervous breath as he raced ahead of Rhino.

   “Any problems, Wesker,” Rhino reiterated between breaths, “redial.”

   “Got it,” Wesker said softly, without turning.

   “Good luck,” Rhino wished him quietly. He took off down the opening of the adjoining hall.

   The Ventriloquist finally stole a quick look over his shoulder when the brute had vanished. He returned his eyes to the hall before him, concentrating on the trail to his doctor’s office, displayed perfectly in his mind.

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   Farther and farther from the office and his boss, Rhino ran. He had only one task during this break-in, and he had no intention on failing. The guards and doctors were sure to quickly discover the warning over the PA system was a faulty. Once that happened, they would surely storm the building. It was up to him to keep those guards off of Wesker’s tracks.

   He stopped at the end of the hall, pausing to catch his breath. As he just stood there, taking deep intakes of air, he could hear pounding footsteps down the hall he and Wesker had just come from.

   He pressed himself to the wall, his massive hand reaching into his suit jacket. He pulled out his handgun, aimed at the opening in the hall, and waited.

   No more than ten seconds had passed before a guard appeared. The massive henchman pulled the trigger and fired, intentionally missing him by several feet.

   The officer visibly flinched and his eyes shot to the enormous thug standing down the hall. His eyes widened when a grin spread on the man’s face and pointed his gun again. “Intruder!” he yelled as he dove back behind the corner of the wall. “Intruder!”

   Rhino fired another shot before he whirled around and took off farther down the hall. He took a peek over his shoulder to find seven men running after him.

   He faced forward again, a small smirk on his face. The game of cat and mouse had begun.

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   The sound of a gunshot echoed down the empty hall, finally reaching Wesker. He didn’t turn, didn’t stop, didn’t hesitate. He just continued--

   A second shot sounded. As he turned a corner, he took a look down the hall he had just come from. Two shots…? Lord, how he prayed they both came from Rhino’s firearm. He had no idea what he would do if Rhino, or Mugsy and Ratso for that matter, were harmed in any way, shape, or form during this break-in…his idea…his decision.
   
   He pushed those thoughts aside for later and focused on the present. He finally recognized where he was and continued to run toward Dr. Myers’s office…

   …toward Scarface.

   His nimble footsteps and light panting were the only sounds he could hear. His white overcoat billowed softly behind him as he ran.

   His eyes lit up when he spotted his psychologist’s office door. He slid to a stop and grabbed the doorknob.

   The door gently pushed itself ajar with the release of the latch. He threw the door open and rushed inside. He flicked on a light and looked around. He was thankful Dr. Myers had already left for the evening.

   His eyes fell on the massive desk sitting across the room. He moved toward it and--

   “Freeze.”

   Almost instantly, he stopped dead in his tracks. His breath caught in his throat as his chest tightened with terror. A tremble covered him head to toe when the cocking of a gun sounded. His wide, panicked eyes glued to the wall in front of him.

   Caught