A/N: This story takes place a little before Bruce's original party...and the time between to before the mass-intoxication.
"Dr. Crane?" Rebecca knocked on the door, peeking her head in. Dark brown hair fell to her shoulders, and her hazel eyes seemed endless.
"Ah, Dr. Chase." He smiled slightly. "And to what do I owe this great pleasure?"
Rebecca gave her colleague a 'Yeah-right' look. "I've come here purely on business, I assure you Dr. Crane."
"Please, call me Jonathan."
Quickly walking into the dull office, Rebecca sat opposite from Dr. Crane, and glared at him. "...Jonathan," She choked on the name, before continuing with a shuddering breath. "I assume you know of Bruce Wayne?"
"Yes...I've met him occasionally..." Dr. Crane simply stared at Rebecca, interested in hearing what she had to say. In no way did he doubt that she was very smart. Maybe not as smart as himself, but above the rest to say the least. Hearing Dr. Chase stumble on his name was amusing enough for him to smirk.
"Well," Rebecca stated, staring darkly at Dr. Crane's neatly organised desk. "Bruce has been tagging me lately - I've no reason why," She hurriedly looked up and met Dr. Crane's blue eyes. They were slightly alarming if they caught you in surprise. Actually Dr. Chase knew the reason very well but didn't want to throw her hard-earned career down the drain just because of one little slip-up.
"Hm," Dr. Crane murmured, pretending to be in deep thought about the whole situation. "And you'd like me to do what to him? Analyze him? We both know you can do that well enough on your own, Dr. Chase."
She shut her eyes, and shook her head a fraction, as if a battle inside her mind was raging war. Quickly opening them, Rebecca found Dr. Crane looking at her, most curiously. "I cannot. Everytime I brush him off with a very well spun lie, Bruce turns on me and iknows/i it's not true." Both in the room knew Rebecca was a very talented little liar indeed. "I know of your...experiments, Jonathan."
If Dr. Crane felt any surprise, he masked it like a professional actor. He had known Rebecca almost all his life - She was a year younger than him, but she stopped the bullies any chance she could. Which wasn't much from the start.
"Do you now? Then I suppose you would like to see my mask?" Dr. Crane pulled out an ordinary looking briefcase onto his desk.
"No!" Rebecca shouted, throwing the desk's objects including the briefcase, to the floor in a desperate attempt to stop him. Dr. Crane looked more than slightly irritated, and glanced at his mask peeping out of the case.
"Would you mind explaining why you acted so brash?" He lightly sneered.
Rebecca stepped back once then stared disgustedly at Dr. Crane. "You were going to poison me with your damned fear toxin," She whispered, and saw a flicker of many emotions cross his face, but they disappeared in a blink. "Use it on Bruce at his stupid Galleria party tonight - I have something you may want."
Dr. Crane boredly checked his nails for nonexistant dirt, then looked back at Rebecca. "And that would be...?"
"A brazilian magfrost." Rebecca smirked, digging out a small clipped picture of a sturdy looking, green petaled, flower.
"What good would that do me?" Dr. Crane was getting annoyed by having to ask questions so much at this hour.
"Your fear toxin - so close, yet so far, yes?" Rebecca glanced at Dr. Crane's curt nod. "The brazilian magfrost can make it iperfect/i. It has strong enough effects so that if someone merely so much as sniffs the petals up close, you'd have insomnia for years. That, combined with your fear toxin..." She left off, leaving the idealistic of what could be, up to Dr. Crane.
He nodded, a smile slowly curving his lips upward. "And all I have to do is get Bruce off your back?"
"That's right," Rebecca smiled. Jonathan and her seemed alike in many ways.
"We'll see," Dr. Crane spoke softly. "Oh, and Dr. Chase?"
Rebecca cocked an eyebrow. "Yes?"
"You should clean up the mess you made," Dr. Crane tilted his head towards the pile of papers and his briefcase.
"Bite me." She rolled her eyes and turned to leave. She smiled to herself as she left, closing the door behind her. Perfect...almost too perfect. Who knew Dr. Crane wanted that flower so badly? But, she had good connections with Ivy, and that woman was happy to give her that flower.
Dr. Crane watched his female colleague leave his office. 'iWhat a crude remark/i...' He thought, 'iThat was always her favorite passtime/i.' Pushing a button under his desk, a secretary appeared opening his door, "Yes Dr. Crane?" She asked.
"Get someone to organise my papers," He jutted his chin at the mess on the floor, before quickly closing the briefcase and leaving the office. Those notes weren't of that much importance...merely fliers for that Galleria party of Bruce Wayne's. He'd been sending one for each of his staff members, and Dr. Crane hated the advertisements.