Catch and Release
Prologue
Jonathan Crane was being released from Arkham.
For two weeks prior to his first step into Gotham City, newspapers and stations discussed his release. The entire personnel of Arkham Asylum agreed that Crane was stable enough to be released- they did not mention that they needed as much space as they could get. They had far worse patients than Jonathan Crane.
His release raised controversy, to say the least. Most residents of Gotham remembered very clearly what he had done before being carted off to Arkham. No one wanted a repeat performance. One night of fear was more than enough. With the current situation, however, with Joker having just run off without a trace and Harvey Dent found dead, killed by the Batman, the people of Gotham were forced to admit that they had larger problems on their hands than Crane.
This was part of the reason why Jonathan Crane went into hiding. He stepped into Gotham City and out of the public view.
He found a suitable apartment in the Narrows. It was the best place he could find with the little money remaining in his possession- The ceiling did not leak (except for the west corner, but he had a bucket), the kitchen was furnished (who needs a dishwasher, anyway?), and the bathroom was clean (if you ignored the reddish smear that refused to wash off the wall next to the shower). All in all, it was a decent place.
And now it was Jonathan's.
It took slightly longer to find a job. He found himself in a cafe run by people who either never read the news or just plain did not give a shit. As long as he kept the customers happy and served the coffee still hot, they did not care if it was the Batman himself in their employment.
Jonathan fell into a simple routine. And, surprisingly, he liked it. As long as Scarecrow stayed quite, life was going well. Oh, sure, there were those few times when Scarecrow saw the little girl crying on the side of the street and wanted to see just how loudly she could wail. For days after that Jonathan stayed indoors, calling in sick until he was sure he could go out again.
"Oof."
He collapsed, exhausted, onto the bed and promptly winced as his back met the revealed spring. Only one on the entire mattress, and he had to hit it. He rolled over onto his stomach, away from the treacherous metal.
It had been a long day. A waiter had called in ill- a waiter with double shift. Jonathan had offered to take up both since he was there anyway. The managers were pleased and kept him for the rest of the day. Now, however, that he could let the charming smile fall from his face, he nearly regretted it. If it weren't for the fact that he needed to pay rent soon, on top of filling his fridge again, he would have offered to take only one shift.
He had briefly considered going back to producing and selling his drug. Scarecrow had absolutely loved the idea, but Jonathan was not so sure. He still remembered Batman spraying it into his own face, the figures that haunted him for weeks after. A shudder involuntarily passed through him, shaking the bed.
So no, he could not possibly do that again.
Jonathan Crane, free man, ex-psychologist, stayed exactly where he was and fell asleep.
-T.B.C.-
Hello out there, and welcome to my first dive into the Batman fandom. I was trying not to write new stories while others are still in progress, but I so wanted to try Jonathan Crane. So here we are. Chapters will be longer than this prologue.
The rating of "M" will apply to later chapters. Language will slip into these early chapters, but nothing more. Later, though, the rating will come into play.
So please read and do tell what you think!