The crisp late afternoon air flew between the towering authoritive buildings in the heart of Gotham City. The breeze whistled by Crane's ears filled with evil intentions, egging on his every terrible whim.
Watch them scream. See them suffer.
Sunlight still peaked over the high rooftops providing reasonably good lighting for the maze of grungy back alleys that were routes for the undesirables. Crane gave out a questioning note and continued along the slime covered pavement. Whoever labeled him a criminal was doing more harm than good. When those miscreants saw him coming they stayed clear allowing him free rein over the conveniently linked dark pathways all over Gotham. No one dared interfere, well maybe the odd person but he made examples out of them. They all feared him and it was best that way.
Yes. Revel in the fear.
Unlocking the maintenance door the doctor stepped inside, locking it behind him. Oh no he didn't want anyone to be leaving this experiment at least not so soon. Retrieving a copy of the maintenance key was child's play. After a few calls were placed soon enough a carbon copy of the key was left at a drop off spot and retrieved. They clearly didn't have quality security for one of the most important and influential buildings in Gotham.
Placing a duffle bag on the floor of the maintenance room he began to take off his coat. Everything was already in place and now all Crane had to do was dawn his mask and begin testing. Preparations had been completed about three days earlier when he infiltrated City Hall with an experimental batch of his most potent fear gas yet. With such an important task as sabotaging the water sprinklers with his concoction naturally he'd do it himself. This would be his greatest experiment yet; a toxin that instills fear and anxiety in it's victims...permanently. By breaking the minds of the bureaucrats and officials the city would fall into a cloud of panic. No one would be able to function accordingly let alone run the place; it would fall into anarchy.
It will be glorious.
With a sinister smirk he pulled on his burlap sack completing his signature garb. Making his way towards the emergency release valve for the sprinklers he couldn't help but be overcomed by a feeling of pure giddiness. In just a few moments he would be right in the middle of crazy-eyed higher ups, jotting down notes and basking in his victory. He will walk down the halls like a king as they all trembled at his feet weeping tears of nightmares.
One mighty tug and the valve gave way activating the sprinklers. A hazy white gas poured from the ceiling filling the maintenance room. Being safe from the toxin himself due to the built in filters in his mask Crane opened the strong metal door and stepped out into the hallway. Expecting to be met with bloodcurdling screams he was surprised to find absolute silence. The Scarecrow racked his mind trying to think of an answer as to why. Perhaps his toxin was a complete failure? He scoffed at the thought; repeated checks of his mathematics and formula had revealed a foolproof chemical.
A quick glance into the nearest door window came up short along with the next few that he checked. They were gone. They all vanished. They couldn't have! He'd gone over schedules dozens of times and had memorized them to a T. There had to be some other explanation.
Entering the main lobby of City Hall was fruitless as well. He couldn't even spot civilians passing by the large foyer windows. Anger built up inside of Crane causing him to harshly kick the secretary's roller chair into a wall. He had planned and concocted his formula for weeks! All of that preparation for nothing!
His steaming rage was interrupted by the loud shattering of glass from the skylight above. Shards rained down upon Crane as he heard the thunderous landing of something heavy behind him.
"You're too late Crane. Everyone has already been evacuated."
The voice provoked a fire inside of Jonathan as he whipped around to face the monster face to face. With a level unemotional voice he masked his anger underneath.
"Amuse me, Batman. How did you manage?" His hand slowly snaked into his pocket, wrapping around his pocket knife. He had expected this to be a quick job, in and out; no need for Batman.
The white gas swirled around the Caped Crusader and trailed out, dissipating into the exposed sky above. A black gas mask was secured over his lower face, guarding him from madness.
"I'm not exposing my tactics to you." His attention was drawn to slight shift of Scarecrow's arm; Bruce knew what was going on.
"Oh you will...once I rip that damn thing OFF YOUR FACE!"
Flicking out his knife the Scarecrow lunged only to have his arm grabbed and his body thrown to the floor. Rising to his feet he continued his vicious barrage of stabs and jabs each being deflected or thrown away.
"I would appreciate it if you would...STAY. STILL."
Running on pure rage Crane gave a mighty swing which was sidestepped only to be retaliated with a blow to his elbow. Sending tremors up his arm his hand shook violently making the knife fall from his grip, landing on the tile floor with a clatter. With the black flash of a cape Batman tackled the burlap man. Landing face first on the ground Crane attempted to flip over but was stopped when a heavy boot landed on his back. The heel ground into his spine as if attempting to squish an incessant bug. A monstrous growl similar to one of an alligator's emanated from under the Crusader's foot while limbs reached back, clawing at the armour.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Crane."
"Like I would EVER surrender to you." Jonathan craned his neck, giving a piercing spite filled glared.
"Fine"
With one word Batman snagged both of Crane's skinny wrists with one hand and leaned toward his head. With his free arm the Caped Crusader reached for the Scarecrow's only line of defence against the dreadful fear filled air. Jonathan went wide eyed when he realized what was happening; there was only one thing that he was afraid of and he didn't want to be scared out of his wits forever.
"Wait! NO! Don't-"
His words were halted as the white gas swirled into his mouth and nostrils, filling his lungs. Crane's vision was swarmed with nothing but darkness and fear, suffocating him like a python. His body violently convulsed under the Dark Knight's boot as his blood curdling screams echoed through the voluminous lobby. Peering out of the corner of his eye he watched as the Caped Crusader contorted into a beast with horrifyingly mangled features accompanied by slobbering rows of teeth. Giant shredded wings emerged from behind the monster's back seeming to encompass them both.
Crane's chest tightened with each breath he drew and screech he let out. The anxiety. The stress. The fear. It all bared down on him, squeezing with an invisible force. He couldn't take it anymore. His brain shut down knocking him out cold.