I don't own Batman or any of the characters related to the character. This is just a fan made story created for the enjoyment of fans.
Samantha Dent walked out the school gates of Gotham High, ignoring the happy chatter of those excited for winter break and the whispers of those who looked at her. The sixteen year old passed a small group of teenagers boys laughing at something in their glasses, probably a YouTube video.
"Hey Dent!" a voice yelled out, belonging to none other than the queen of the school Vera Vale. Samantha knew from past experience that, despite how much she wanted to, it was not a good idea to just ignore her and walk away.
"What do you want Vera?" she asked, gripping her school bag tightly unconsciously as Vera approached Samantha along with her two followers Bethany and Jasmine.
"Just wanted to check up on our resident psychopath. Heard any voices lately? Started to collect those coin things? What about a powerful desire to burn half your face? Because trust me, you couldn't look any more ugly." Vera laughed, while the two sheep with her copies her terrible insult.
The insult was terrible because it was untrue. Granted Samantha didn't do as much as Vera or her followers to seem pretty or attractive, with all of them at least wearing some form of makeup at all times, she was by no means ugly. Her dark brown bed hair, dull grey eyes and slightly pale complexion may contrast Vera's perfectly brushed blond hair, bright blue eyes and fake tanned skin, but Samantha has seen a few boys look at her when they thought she wasn't and some trying to work up the courage to talk to her. But, like how things were when she tried to make friends, the actions of her grandfather made it impossible to start any kind of relationship with anyone.
"Very creative Vera." Samantha said, having heard this insult before. "You could have been Harley Quinn."
"Who?" she asked in response.
"How can you not know this, we just had a lesson about her and the Joker half and hour ago?" Samantha questioned, though immediately regretting it.
"Well, unlike you, I'm not interested in knowing about costumed freaks who haven't bothered the police with stupid gimmicks in nearly twenty years." Vera snapped, before grinning maliciously. "Of course, as we know you like hearing about that stuff. After all you probably keep a bunch of photos of all the people your grandfather killed in your room. I bet you imagine yourself killing them. Don't you?"
"Is something going on here?" a voice suddenly said, which caused Samantha to unclench the first she had been making. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice to find it belonged to an elderly man. He was hunched over slightly and leaned on his wooden cane. He wore black simple clothing that were buttoned up tight, and his face was that of a kind grandfather who would secretly give his grandkids sweets when the parents weren't looking. But as he drew closer, you were clearly able to see that his eyes did not match his face or polite smile.
"Hello Samantha. I hope you are well." the man said to her, before focusing on Vera and her friends. "How do you do young ladies. My name is Jonathan Crane, a friend of Samantha's father."
"How do you do sir?" Vera said politely, giving him the same smile that made everyone think she was a perfect angel. Samantha could barely stop herself from laughing as she saw the uncertainty on Vera's face slowly appear as Crane stared at her with his cold and lifeless eyes. Eventually, even she couldn't take it. "Well, it was good meeting you."
Slowly, much to the confusion to Bethany and Jasmine, Vera walked away from Crane and Samantha. Samantha suppressed a chuckle, while Crane was showing a rare smile to the world. However, everything became serious when he focused his attention to Samantha.
"So why are you here?" she asked.
"Bill asked me to make sure you got home safely, considering what's been going on with the Ivies lately." Crane explained, referring of course to Gotham's biggest gang/cult, inspired by some plant woman from the days were it was normal for grown adults to dress up all the time like it was Halloween. While they should be easy to find, with all the cameras and surveillance, this was Gotham. Everyone knew that the cameras were just to show and only half were really cameras. Nothing helped the police stop crime.
"I'm fine. And shouldn't I be safe?" Samantha asked as the two began to walk away from the school. "I mean, don't they focus on men or women who promote gender stereotypes?"
"Maybe they did, but not anymore. I swear if Pamela could see what people have done with her legacy, she would rather marry that stupid clown than join that cult." Crane replied. "Though she would be happy to find out that she did in some way contribute to people taking batter care of the environment than ever before. Anyway, how have you been?"
"I've been alright. School is great as usual." Samantha told him, despite there being no point to lie as he had just clearly seen what school was like for her.
"You know, I was bullied as well as a kid. You could talk to me about it if you want?"
"Do you really think I should talk about bullies to a guy who invented a fear toxin and became a supervillain because of his own bullied childhood?"
All her life, Crane and her father have never made the former's past a secret. That the old man walking beside her had once been someone that the media called the master of fear. Scarecrow. That he spent a lot of time in a lunatic asylum and terrorized Gotham alongside her grandfather Harvey Dent, called Two-Face, alongside many others. Despite this, Samantha has never treated him in any way other than a family member, despite there being no blood relation.
"Ok, first of all I never invented the toxin. My uncle did, and I only made it better as Scarecrow. Second of all, besides your father I'm the probably the best person you could speak to." he told the sixteen year old. "Plus, I kind of need to know how to help you. I did promise Harvey I would look after his family."
"Yeah well, I don't need you to fight my battles like I'm some damsel."
"I know you don't. Even without those self defense classes you took, you could easily tear that girl apart. I would say she could only survive a minute in a fight with you tops."
"I'm thankful for the vote of confidence, but it doesn't work like that. I'm Samantha Dent and she's Vera Vale."
"Huh, did anyone leave this city after all the craziness was over?" Crane wondered, before seeing the confusion on Samantha's face. "I knew a Vale once. Well, sort of knew. She interviewed me one time before deciding she would rather talk to Nigma of all people. She quickly changed her mind however when she realized she preferred a lunatic who babbled about fear to an arrogant egomaniac with a inferiority complex."
"I think most people would." she said as they turned a corner, barely acknowledging the police cars driving above them. While Crane probably would be amazed by such things, as he has been known to mention how fast technology has advanced, they were commonplace for Samantha though it was still normal for people to drive road cars. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Do you miss it? Being Scarecrow I mean?" she asked him. Crane became silent, and a strange look appeared in his eyes. For a moment Samantha wondered if she had insulted him, before he looked at her and began to speak.
"Sometimes. I mean, it's a lot easier to make people fear me than it is to try and tolerate them." he told her, before shaking his head and giving her a smile. "But that's part of my past now, and something that's not important to me anymore. Now come on, let's get you home."
Jonathan nodded and the two focused on getting back to Samantha's apartment, rarely talking. It took them about twenty minutes, but eventually they arrived at the street that Samantha lives in. So they were surprised to see several police cars parked outside.
"What's going on?" Samantha asked Crane, despite knowing that there wasn't anyway he could know what's going on.
"I don't know. Maybe they're finally going to arrest me." Crane joked. He made jokes like that a lot. The two of them entered the building and walked up the stairs to the second floor, at which point Samantha was horrified to see her apartment door open and police entering and leaving through it.
"What's going on? Where's my dad?" she asked the nearest police officer.
"Are you Samantha Dent?" she asked, and Samantha nodded. "Look I don't want to worry you, but some neighbors heard loud noises and when we got here your dad was already...gone."
"Gone! What do you mean gone?" Samantha asked, but before the cop could say anything she dashed into the apartment, slipping past the other police officers in the hallway. She looked around the living room once she got there, horrified by what she saw. Overthrown furniture, damaged walls, a broken television. But the most horrific thing was the spray painted leaf on the wall. The calling card of one specific gang of Gotham that meant only one thing.
The Ivies had kidnapped her father. And, like so many before him, were likely going to kill him.
I know, nothing worth a mature rating yet, but I will try to include something in the next chapter. Tell me what you think and if there are any spelling mistakes or sentences that don't make sense.
