A Misled Lamb 35. Fortitude

35. Fortitude

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For the first time in what felt like forever, Young wasn't about to collapse by merely standing. She felt the slightest bit of exhaustion, but it was nothing compared to the all-nighters she had pulled working before on her pet project titled Titan. Designed to help weaker patients survive the harsher treatments at Arkham, Titan was still going through testing after so much time. Young's reputation was tied directly to the formula, both as Arkham's head of research and as a professional. If it failed, then so did she.

Things had been progressing well, all things considered. After acquiring patient X for testing everything had improved drastically, his Venom fueled body ideally suited to study. Young wasn't looking for another steroid like Bane's Venom, only meant to increase one's strength, but also one that could strengthen patients mentally for their treatment. Some could just not handle the methods of Arkham, which were proven to be very effective clinically and helped many low-threat cases within the decrepit facility.

Young just needed test subjects that could handle it in its infancy…if she could not study their mental acuity for more than a few minutes, then she would never succeed in perfecting that portion. The physical parts of it needed much of the improvement, with many subjects becoming as hideous as the walls of Arkham, or simply put their entire body was like Two-Face's bad side. That was slowly showing improvement though, with the subjects becoming less and less monstrous as experiments continued.

Young was still not satisfied with the test subjects she was presented with on a constant basis. She asked for strong, durable ones for the time being until she could master the Titan formula, but often received people skinnier and less healthy than Jonathan. They lasted thirty seconds on average, and despite that being an increase it was not worth the countless lives that were thrown at it. A couple strongmen criminals could advance the project so much further, but if this were to continue Young was keen on stopping all experiments until that kind of candidate was found.

That was unless she received aid from someone else familiar and skilled with chemicals…instantly thinking of her favorite patient, Young gasped as she realized that she was about to be late for their appointment. She had to do a couple more tests before she could leave, especially another reading on patient X.

Approaching the unmoving giant carefully, Young held her breath with the hope that he was asleep. When she reached him she was startled, almost dropping her needle and gasping as the patient opened his eyes and shifted his head towards her. When he didn't speak, Young decided to try and keep him calm, "I'm just taking your vitals and a blood sampling Bane, you don't have to thrash around ag-"

His face twisting in rage, Bane bellowed, "The day I get loose I will break you Bruja for what you've done to me!"

Leaning away from him, Young held her arms up in protest, "Now now, you don't have to be so rude. Once we finish the Titan project you'll be moved in with the other patients and everything will be normal."

Returning to a calm state, Bane looked Penelope in the eye and scoffed, "When you finish it? Don't try making me laugh Bruja. I've been chained far too long to laugh at such a petty joke."

Approaching him once again, Young injected the needle into one of the bulging veins on his arm all the while asking curiously, "And what do you mean by that? Every trial we've come closer-"

Turning his head to see her, Bane just laughed for a moment before speaking, "Do you think that Senor Blanco is going to understand your constant failures? How about your inability to keep a Titan user alive for more than a minute?"

Becoming silent briefly, Young sighed before responding to the hulking man, "My formula is flawed, but we need stronger test subjects to get a better idea on how to improve it-"

Lowering his head and shaking it in disgust, Bane continued to insult her, "Whatever you want to convince yourself, Bruja. When 'Mr. White' comes knocking, expecting results, I suggest you don't open the door."

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Scurrying into her office, Young placed her notebook and clipboard down on her table before hurrying over to her patient, "Sorry that I'm late Jonathan. We can extend the appointment if you want, I have no-one to see after you."

As Young undid his straightjacket, Jonathan replied to her, "Thank you for the sentiment Doctor Young, but it is really unnecessary as we often go over our time limit as it is. Thank you for the food as well Doctor."

Now that he was free to move around, Young walked over to her chair at a more relaxed pace, "Anything to keep you healthy," taking a seat and breathing in deeply, Penelope smiled at her patient, "So, is there anything you want to speak about today or should I pick a topic at random?"

Crane looked at her thoughtfully, mulling things over before giving any response, "I would prefer for you to choose. I have been mentally preoccupied recently and have no topics in mind," deciding that he had to start upping the niceness he showed in order to finish this project off, he added, "By the way, I am glad to see that you are feeling better."

Taking note of her patient's kind attitude, Penelope beamed at him, "Thank you Jonathan. I must admit that I have been feeling quite exhausted the past few days. I feel much better today though and I'm glad that we can have a normal session again."

Jonathan had to resist a slight smirk. She honestly had no idea that someone had been drugging her, and by her mood he could tell that she hadn't noticed her missing files yesterday nor noticed their magical appearance back in their place today. He was still thankful that the poison hadn't been intended to kill her...but who would go to lengths to poison her without the intention of killing her? Sure, maybe a full dose of it may have made her slept permanently, but he had a feeling that such an event would be unintended. She probably couldn't finish a full dose anyways before collapsing...whatever the case, he had a bone to pick with someone for almost ruining the Scarecrow's long term goal, "As am I."

Still breathing heavily, Penelope tried to calm herself. She wasn't the most physically fit person in Arkham, so running from the lab had proved tiresome to her. Still, she preferred to not be nearly panting in front of her patient. Thinking back to the lab, Penelope remembered what she had been thinking about earlier.

"Jonathan, would you care to help me with a project?"

Seeing an opportunity to erase all of her doubts as to his sane state of mind and that he was a bad person, Jonathan smiled as he replied, "Why that would be interesting Doctor Young," suddenly he recalled that he had read in his own file that she was curious if he could contribute to the Titan project, whatever that was, "Are there any details you can share with me at this moment?"

Slightly stunned by the fact she had actually asked him coupled with the fact that he was willing to help, Penelope grabbed her notebook and clipboard off her desk, "Why of course. This project is titled Titan and it is a special steroid formula based on the Venom used by Bane. The difference is that it improves a person's mind as well as their body, and it is intended to allow weaker patients such as Nigma to undergo more intense therapies."

Handing Crane the materials, Young hovered by his side as he began looking at them, "We have been studying Bane intensively to understand better how the Venom he uses works so well with him in the hopes that we can have such great effects with the Titan."

Realizing that this must be the cause behind Bane's disappearance, Jonathan merely nodded as he continued to read all the information in front of him. Curious as to what his opinion was, Penelope mumbled, "So, if you're interested, you could help me finish the formula. I'm not the greatest chemist, but if you can do half of what others say you can then I am sure that you can fix what's wrong with it."

Taking one last look at the major details, Jonathan looked up at his doctor.

"Sure. Not like I have anything better to do."